Green Pears and Golf

Easter and Passover Greetings to all my friends! Hope you have a memorable day with family and friends or just doing what gives you the most enjoyment! My Easter weekend plans fell through thanks to Andrew's employer.  He has had to work all weekend but he and Anna will come here next weekend and we'll just extend Easter until then.

It's another beautiful Easter and Masters Sunday here in Augusta. We have gone from 90 degrees on Monday to a cool 45 degrees Saturday morning - so typical of Augusta in April. The weather has been perfect for the thousands of golf patrons who descend on Augusta this time every April. Hope they are enjoying it as much as I am.

My free time this week has revolved around golf and the green A pear. Yesterday while watching the golf tournament on television I finished up all of the green diamonds on the A. When I think about the incredible stitch combinations that Amy thinks up for her stitch guides, I wish that I had half of the creativity that she has in just her little finger! She never ceases to amaze me with her talent for picking just the right threads and stitches. The silvery green Kreinik that is used on top of the light green basketweave diamonds positively glows. It almost looks like it glows in the dark although I don't think it actually does. But, it certainly gives that impression.

I believe I can finish up the A this afternoon and move on to the very last pear. There is still over half of the background that needs attention but the bulk of the stitching is almost completed. My thoughts about this project turn more and more now to one of the most important aspects of any needlepoint project - the finishing. One of my stitching friends here on the blog suggested a few weeks ago that I consider finishing it as a stand-up. I'm really leaning towards that idea and can easily see in my mind what it might look like. Just hope I can translate what is in my mind's eye to the finisher!

There was a little stash enhancement this week. My Sweet Dreams canvas by & more arrived from Amy's on Wednesday. I'll probably take it with me when I visit Amy's in May to pick out threads. First I need to think about which stitches to use in each of the stripes. This canvas will work so beautifully with the other needlepoint pillows on my bed. I stitched a custom canvas for my mother many years ago now that has the first three words of her favorite Easter hymn "Welcome happy morning" across it. "Sweet Dreams" will be perfectly paired with it.

I made a trip to Nurseries Caroliniana yesterday and came home with a trunk full of flowers to plant on the patio. I got most of them into pots yesterday but am ready to head out this morning and finish up the remainder. I want to take care of the planting this morning so that I have the afternoon free for stitching and golf.

I'll leave you with a plate of Easter/Masters goodies from Two Moms Bakery. Have a wonderful day!

A Big Week Ahead

It is Masters Week in Augusta this week. Unless you live here or religiously follow the game of golf or make the annual trek to the hallowed grounds of The Augusta National Golf Club, it is hard to imagine what this week is like around here. One of our local columnists for The Augusta Chronicle, Bill Kirby, wrote an excellent column in the paper this morning describing what this week is like for Augustans. This week has all the holidays rolled into one week. Groundhog Day - we focus on the weather and in this one week we can experience the temperatures of summer and winter and outbreaks of tornadoes. Memorial Day - we honor and remember the legends of golf - Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, etc.. July 4th - we celebrate freedom. Especially the children who all have the week off from school. Halloween - people dress up in crazy costumes (golf attire). Thanksgiving - this week brings families together - even if they have left town for the week and are together at some vacation spot. Christmas - like this special holiday, Masters Week involves travel, guests, parties, rituals, traditions, surprises, and spending lots of money. The airports are busy, the roads are clogged with traffic, and the stores are crowded. And then, of course, there is all the activity at the golf course and the famous back nine on Sunday afternoon. Whew! It's exhausting - but fun at the same time!

My thoughts this week go back 29 years to when my son, Andrew, was born on April 2nd.  What a blessing he is in my life! He's the best son a mother could ask for! Not only the best son, but my best friend! Happy Birthday, Andrew!

This week I finished up the M pear on the Christmas Banner just in time for the arrival of the last kit for this Home Study. Wow - where have the last five months gone? It doesn't seem possible that I have been stitching this piece for what is now going on six months. I won't be stitching Amy's next home study project but will look forward to finishing up the Christmas Banner and working on some other needlepoint projects. There are too many projects to name but you will certainly be seeing whatever I choose. Don't forget I am going to Amy's in May and will be working on another Christmas project while there.

I wanted to share with you a fun Easter/Spring wreath I put together this week. I found a really cute, quirky tubular mesh "ribbon" at one of my favorite stores and couldn't wait to find a way to use it. So I bought another flat mesh ribbon which I wrapped around a straw wreath form and made a big bow out of the tubular ribbons. A quick, fun wreath for the back door!  I hope there is a red and green version of this ribbon at Christmas - how much fun would that be?

I wrote about the Masters traditions that are such a part of this week for so many. A tradition that I have begun for myself is to collect small Russian Easter Egg charms to wear on a necklace. A local jeweler, Windsor Jewelers, brings in these small, handcrafted Russian eggs each year in the early Spring. I started my collection a few years ago and added another egg this week.

The center egg is my new addition to the collection. All of these pieces are individually handcrafted by Russian artisans now living in the US. The Russian gentleman who brings these to Augusta each year gave me the most interesting lesson on the different types of enameling that are used on these eggs. You can hear the pride in his voice as he describes the meticulous detail and craftsmanship that goes in to each piece. He has such a beautiful collection of eggs and it is so difficult to choose just the right one for my collection. I think I made a good choice this year!

I'm looking forward to lots of golf this week, Andrew and Anna arriving for Easter/birthday weekend, a family Easter dinner on Saturday night, and maybe an appearance by the Easter Bunny on Sunday morning. Hope you all have a wonderful Easter week and find a surprise awaiting you from the Easter Bunny on Easter morning!

Welcome, Spring!

It  is such a  beautiful Sunday morning here in Georgia! I think the worst of the pollen is over (please, let it be over!) so now it's time to get back outside. I spent most of yesterday in the yard cleaning and pruning. My perennials are all showing signs of making their yearly appearance - Ryan's daisies, Easter lilies, black-eyed Susans, butterfly bush, daylilies, and lantana. I picked up my Kimberley Queen ferns this week along with two Painted Lady hibiscus and a magenta bougainvillea from the big plant tent that magically appears on Washington Road a few weeks before Masters week.

The blooms on the bougainvillea start out a deep orange and as they fully open become a deep pink. I haven't tried this plant in a long time so I hope it likes the full sun location I am giving it.

The azaleas are in full bloom this week and are spectacular. These are in my backyard and are so beautiful right now. I still have some work to do on the patio with many containers still to be filled with flowers. But at least the pots are emptied and just ready for me to make a trip to the nursery.

My progress on the M pear was a little slow this week but all of the stripes have been finished. Now I can move on to beading the M. I think I'll have M finished by the end of the week - just in time for the arrival of the last lesson in this Home Study project from Amy's.

Did I tell you that I am taking Robin King's Sunflower and Berries class at In Stitches in late April in Atlanta? Robin will be teaching us some wonderful techniques on a beautiful NeedleDeeva canvas that features lots of ribbons and beads and sequins. Robin is blogging about it on the Needlepoint Study Hall blog - check it out! I'm excited to get back to In Stitches and looking forward to meeting Robin!

In eagle nest news, there is still no egg in the Norfolk nest. I have not completely given up but the season is quickly passing by. It seems like the 5 year old female may still be a little young for eggs. Female eagles usually don't begin to lay eggs until they are at least five. She is still showing some juvenile feathers - a further indication that she might be too young for eggs this year. She and Dad keep trying to make some eggs but the nest remains empty. At the Richmond, VA nest, the two eaglets are cute little balls of grey fluff and you can see how they are quickly growing day by day. Mom has a hard time keeping one of them down in the nest bowl (the deeper part of the nest). At the Decorah nest, the first egg should begin to hatch any moment now. I am so glad I have the second monitor to watch as I work. Even if there is no action in these nests, I can hear the sounds of the birds in the nearby trees. Such peaceful sounds! A wonderful thing when you feel like you are chained to your desk!

I hope Spring has arrived by now in your neighborhood and that you can get out and enjoy all Mother Nature has to offer. I think I'm headed outside now. The beading on that M pear will just have to wait!

Lessons Learned

This week I ordered from Amy's the three new DVDs in the How'd You Do That series - Back to Basics, Level 1, Parts 1, 2, and 3. The DVDs arrived yesterday and I have already watched Part 1 twice. Each DVD features the wisdom of Tony Minieri and the excellent stitching of Amy Bunger. Cudos to Robin King and Pat Ryan who filmed and produced the set - great job!

I am definitely a self-taught stitcher. I have had maybe two classes in my stitching life. The only reason I know how to stitch basketweave correctly is because I stitched a kneeler for The National Cathedral back in the mid 90's. The needlepoint guild there was/is adamant that basketweave be stitched in the correct method. It's the method we all know - slide down the pole (vertical threads) and climb up the stairs (horizontal threads). That's almost all of my knowledge of proper stitch technique right there. I can follow directions (for the most part) and my projects turn out fairly well. But so often I have had no idea why stitches are placed in particular ways or certain directions. In Part 1 of the Back to Basics DVD, so many light bulbs came on for me! I didn't even know you use certain types of needles for vertical stitches and others for diagonal stitches. I can't wait to see what is in store for me in Parts 2 and 3. If you're self-taught as I am, these DVDs would definitely be a worthwhile investment for you.

This week in my stitching I moved on to the M pear with all of its many stripes. Amy, as always, comes up with such unique combinations of patterns and threads. The light green stripe uses Russian interlaced weaving and just to look at it, it seems a daunting stitch but it really isn't. The compensation gave me the most trouble but I think by the time I add the beads to the M, the compensated areas won't jump out at me as they do now. I finished the Eight Ball stitch last night (the center stripe) and now understand why the stitch guide showed some specific stitch placements because just such a subject was covered in Part 1 of the Back to Basics DVD. How timely!

There is just one more thread kit and stitch guide left to come for this Home Study project and it will be concluded. My thoughts turn more and more these days to how I will have it finished. My original idea for finishing was to construct it in such a way that it could hang from my mantle (fireplace not in use!). That would work for the house I live in now, but what if I move somewhere else and there is no mantle? What if Andrew and Anna don't want to use it that way when it eventually is handed down to them? It would make an awfully long pillow so I am not thinking in those terms. I think Amy is considering having hers framed. Maybe that is the best idea but what do you think? You have been watching me stitch this for the last five months. I would love to hear your finishing ideas - please!

I think I will head outdoors for a little while despite the horrible coating of pollen on everything. We had an early morning thunderstorm today so perhaps some of the pollen has been washed away. The trees are leafing out, the dogwoods and azaleas are in full bloom, and there isn't a cloud in the sky. It's a beautiful 72 degree day out right now.

Hope you have a beautiful day to enjoy and a great week ahead!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's Just An Hour

If it's just an hour, why is it so hard to make the adjustment to Daylight Savings Time? Maybe it has to do with whether you wake up when it's dark or you wake up when the sun has come up. This morning I did both. I woke up at 5:30 (it was still dark), fed the cat, and went back to bed. The next thing I knew it was 8:30 and the sun was shining. The cat is still asleep two hours later so I think she is confused as well. I hope your morning is off to a good start with no confusion as to what time it is!

Earlier this week I started the gold flowers on the T pear. Amy chose the most beautiful Gloriana silk to use for the first step in this flower. It is so lovely with its subtle shading. The second step in the flower is to add accents of an amber colored Kreinik. It took several nights of stitching to finish step one and two of the flowers. The third step is to add Lazy Daisy stitches on top of the satin stitches. The fourth step is to add French knots to the center.

Honestly, I think if I were stitching it again, I would not stitch the Lazy Daisies. The satin stitches in the Gloriana silk are so beautiful and take some time to stitch properly. Then you cover them up with the Lazy Daisies. I think I may have liked it better to just fill the center with the amber colored French knots.  But, the effect of the raised Lazy Daisies is very nice and I am not unhappy that I stitched it according to Amy's stitch guide.

Now, it's on to the M pear and lots of stripes and interesting stitches and threads. A nice challenge for a Sunday afternoon!

In eagle nest news, there was a dramatic turn of events at the Norfolk nest this week. Early in the week we were hoping for eggs to be laid and Female #3 was showing signs that the big event was imminent. But, out of the blue on Wednesday evening, a 4th female attempted to enter the nest while Dad Norfolk was there and quite a scuffle took place. Dad let her know in no uncertain terms that she was not welcome. Female #3 was photographed earlier that day engaged in an aerial fight with this same Female #4. Their talons were locked together in combat as they flew over the gardens. The photos are extraordinary. Territorial fights are sometimes brutal to watch and I had a front row seat this week. It is probably a blessing that no eggs had been laid because they would surely have been broken as Dad defended the nest on Wednesday evening.

Now, what is sad and so ironic is that Female #3 has not been seen since Thursday morning and it appears Female #4 has prevailed as of last evening. Dad allowed her to stay at the nest last night and mated with her this morning. I think Dad is determined that he will have eggs in that nest this year and he is, at this point, not too picky as to who will lay those eggs. I had to laugh at myself this morning because the first message I looked at on my phone when I woke up was from the Norfolk Botanical Garden alerting me to the fact that Dad had mated with #4 at 6:50 AM this morning. I signed up for the text alerts when some momentous event occurs at the nest such as an egg being laid. The arrival of this new female this week is definitely a momentous event and those of us who watch the nest (15,000 at one point this week) have been waiting to see if Dad would accept this new female. Looks like he has as of this morning! It is hard to remove human emotion from the events at the nest this year and to step back and watch Nature truly take its course knowing we have no control over what happens there. Watching the nest is hands-down better than a lot of what is on television these days!

I didn't mean to go to such lengths about the nest activities this week but it was quite a week! I watched the birds in my own backyard yesterday. The cedar waxwings are here at the moment devouring every berry they can find on the Carolina Cherry trees. I heard a strange sound while out on the patio and realized the cedar waxwings were swarming all over the Carolina Cherry next door and the berries were hitting the tin roof and making quite the racket. These birds will probably only be here a few more days before they move on but I always enjoy their brief yearly visits.

Enough of the birds, it's time to get back to some stitching!

Have a great week - enjoy being Irish even if it's only for one day this week!

Flying Needles This Week

The fifth kit for the Christmas Banner arrived from Amy's right on schedule this week. I had finished the I and the S pears ahead of schedule so, while I waited for the next kit to arrive, I went back - all the way to the C and the H pears - and worked on the silvery brackets of fly stitch that make up the third component of the background stitch. It isn't my most favorite part of the banner to stitch - it is a time consuming stitch with 4 fly stitches to each square. But, I found that as I plugged away at it and got into a rhythm of stitching, it became much less tedious. I took a photo of my progress but decided not to use the photo as it really doesn't do justice to the subtle sparkle that the fly stitches add to the background.  You really have to see it in person to appreciate what this third stitch adds to the finished look.

I wish the color of the Vineyard Silk Classic that we use in the background of the T pear had shown up better. It is called "Mojito" and is the exact color of the tiny mint leaves that are starting to appear in my herb border outside the back door. Mojito is a wonderful rich green and the perfect name for this background color. The background and the T worked up very quickly and will allow me to spend this next week working on the gold flowers. Satin stitches and lazy daisies sound like fun for the week ahead.

My other stitching project this week is Kelly Clark's Candy Corn Halloween Apple with a stitch guide by Amy Bunger. It is such a nice change to work on a 9" square frame as opposed to the 40" frame for the Christmas banner!

This project feels like it is just zipping along but it really isn't all that much different in size from that of the Christmas pears. There are just less design elements within the apple. With the black background of the apple needing to be stitched this week, I hope I can find time for some daytime stitching. I need all the light I can get when stitching a black background - the eyes just aren't what they used to be!

The sun is finally out this morning after what seems like days and days of rain - and wind! It is so hard to watch on television the destruction of lives and homes that the weather has brought over the last week. I think it's time for another donation to the Red Cross. Will you join me?

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead!