Monday, July 02, 2007

Two posts in one weekend. Well, long weekend. But this week at work
will be impossible because it's first of the month again, so I thought that
I'd better get another post in while I can. And I have made some nice
progress on my LHN project. My Mom came here yesterday for a visit
and dinner, and while she was here she knitted and I stitched. So I got a
fair amount of stitching done in that time. It might be possible for me to
finish this piece today, but I'm not going to push it. There are french
knots that have to be done for eyes and noses on the cats, which I hate
doing. I might browse the net and see if there are any "idiot proof"
instructions for people like me with ten thumbs and no patience.

Things in the garden are growing fairly nicely, but since we haven't had
any significant rain in the past weeks we now have a watering ban in the
Halton Hills/Georgetown area. No watering of grass allowed. You can
water your gardens, and your pots but that's it. And there is an allowance
made for people like us with a lawn care service who comes a few times
over the summer to fertilize and to spray the lawn for pests, as needed.
Our lawn was sprayed on Friday for grubs, and we're allowed to water
up to three days after that to soak the stuff into the ground to get rid of
those pesky grubs. Fortunately, it's been quite cool here, with
temperatures in the low 70's, so that is making things easier on the garden
in spite of the lack of rain. The pot in the above picture is full of double
petunias, which are so pretty. Just like those flowers we use to make out
of Kleenex for weddings and stuff. I have them in pink too.

As has been noted previously in this blog....I love books. I crave books.
I collect and fawn over books. I really, really, really like books. Okay.
I have many contemporary books, but my selection of classics was quite
limited. A number of years ago I discovered England's Folio Society,
which publishes limited editions of classic books of all types, and I began
to build a collection of their titles. This year I took advantage of one of
their sales to add a few more books to my treasury. So, to the left is
a selection of Beatrix Potter books (these were free), The English
Language (free), The Secret Garden, Little Women, My Family and
Other Animals, and Who's Who In Shakespeare (also free).
Here are The Secret Garden, and Little Women showing the full covers.
Funnily enough, both these titles appear on the LHN The Bookcase
sampler that I'm stitching at the moment. I have the other two books
featured on the sampler, but I didn't have these. Each Folio book has
illustrations, and comes in a matching box/sleeve to keep them safe and
well preserved.

This picture shows the knitting group at my Mom's retirement residence.
They knit caps, mittens and booties for new born's, scarves and hats in
the winter for Christmas, to donate to local charities, and they knit squares,
which are passed on to someone to be sewn together to make blankets,
which I believe are used in our local hospital. Here the ladies are posing
with one of the blankets which has been put together and is ready for
it's new home/owner. My Mom is the lady on the couch in the red pants.

All pictures are clickable.

5 comments:

Lelia said...

Goodness! I love The Secret Garden. I re-read it last Summer. I don't know how many 'readers' enjoy the classics. I just get the in mood & HAVE to go back to my shelf and read one : )

Sorta like stitching. It is fun & all that jazz; however, there comes a point where I HAVE to get out a reproduction chart & stitch something from another era.

It makes my mind grow ... LOL

Michelle said...

Thank you so much for your sweet comment on my blog - the kimono quilt will be a wall-hanging for our dining room (to go with Eric's Japanese swords). Your Peaches is looking great, so is your Bookshelf. I'm going to have to spend some time going through your blog for book recommendations - looks like you have some great ones I'll have to read!!

stitcherw said...

Peaches looks wonderful, such pretty colors. Also, looked at your other entry and love the Bookshelf one you are working on too. That is so neat that you have the same books in reality as are on the bookshelf project you are stitching.
Sue

Dani - tkdchick said...

Great progress on your stitched piece! Try Colonial knots to replace FK's I've never gone back since I learnt it!

Shannon said...

I adore The Secret Garden. Your collection of books is just amazing ! :)

Your petunias are gorgeous too. I haven't planted any other than waves in years - never had much luck with them for some reason. The doubles are just beautiful.

Your mom's knitting group photo almost made me cry ! My Grandma's knitting group looked almost exactly like that. Beautiful ladies, beautiful handwork. Thanks for sharing !

Oh - as for french knots. Try colonial knots. The end result looks the same, but most people I know find them much easier to do. I can't do french knots at all, but colonials are (somedays) almost easy. Good luck !