Last evening I finished Rose in my on going project Cottage
Garden. I know this is taking me forever to stitch, which is
frustrating because these are quite simple to stitch, but there
are so many things to do these days, and only so many hours
in the day to do them in. And I'm not a fast stitcher.

But I love this square, both for it's wonderful, rich colour
but also because of the little details in the design that charm
me. The little fence around the house is so sweet, and the
two birds are a nice change from bugs. All pictures are
clickable for closeups if you wish.


And during my holidays two weeks ago I made a new
start. I've had my eye on this project for awhile now
and decided vacation was as good an excuse as any to
begin something new. But this project is not going
as well as I'd hoped, mainly because of problems with
the chart.

To begin with, the lightest colour in the girls hair is
not listed in the colour key. So I've made an educated
guess about what it should be, which I'm not terribly
impressed with now that I've stitched one side. But
I'm not ripping it out now.

I also don't like the way the designs in this book
(Sweet and Simple Country Cross Stitch - Lori
Gardner) are coded. Little wee squares of colour,
which you have to translate from the chart to
the list of thread colours below. Some of those
colours look similar in shade but in reality are
different colours entirely, so it's hard to know
which one you're suppose to use. (is that a light
shade of beige or is that a light shade of yellow?)
I've been stewing over the colours in the girl's hat,
trying to decide which colour the flower is suppose
to be. Grrrr.... Don't know if I'll keep working on
this one or not.


Last weekend was cool, damp and very windy. We didn't
spend too much time outdoors because of that. This
weekend Summer arrived with a vengeance and during the
peak period of the afternoon it's too hot and humid to be
outside. Very frustrating. But my pots are doing well,
and the garden in general seems to like the cooler
temperatures and of course the rain. I'm taking
pictures regularly to record their stages of growth over
the summer and to help me remember for next summer
what worked best this summer.

This is the edge of the deck, with a corner of the stairs
showing. The blue pot is new and I've filled it with
pink Petunias, which look wonderful in it. We picked
up our hanging baskets yesterday too and have got
those hanging around the deck and garden. This is
the best time of year for the garden, before the bugs
and the heat take their toll on everything.


Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes. It made
me feel good to hear from all of you. I received two
bouquets of flowers on the actual day, including the
one above from my god-parents with flowers of red,
pink and white that were so lovely together.


And this bouquet came from my friend Charmaine and her
family. It's bright, cheery colours of yellow and white nestled
in a white basket were exquisite. And I'm not the only one
who thought so.

Behold the Phee.....after I'd had a seniors moment and
thoughtlessly left the yellow flowers on the kitchen counter
after watering them one day. DH found her with her face
buried in the blooms. Fortunately she was just sniffing at
that point so didn't get sick on them, but she did get her
nose and ruff covered in neon yellow pollen, which took
several days to wear off. Well, it does match her eyes.

I've been sucked into the wonderful world of Ebay in the
past few weeks and have won some lovely stash. But oh
my goodness that place is addictive!! I've got to rein
myself in and try not to get carried away with it all.
Which is easier said then done. I got a huge pile of
charts, some of which I love and some not so much,
and I'm waiting for some threads and some Lizzie
Kate charts to arrive, which I'm really excited about.

I've been reading of course, and finished Kelley
Armstrong's latest novel Personal Demon, which was
a wonderful romp and read as usual. Sexy, funny and
enthralling are apt descriptions of her style of writing
and I'm a huge admirer of hers.

Had a movie weekend last weekend, and my friend
Darlene and I saw two from our list of movies-to-see
this summer. The latest Indiana Jones movie, which
was lots of fun, and the latest Narnia movie which I
also enjoyed. I think I like this one better then the
first.

Indy was great but it probably ranks third out
of all of them for me. Raiders was best, and Crusade
came a close second. Harrison Ford hasn't lost his
touch, looks as handsome as ever, and can still
buckle his swash with the best of 'em. Wonderful
to see Karen Allen back again too. She should
have been in all of the movies, start to finish.

I've got visits to blogs and commenting to catch
up on, after getting behind during the past couple
of weeks. I'll be around soon to see what you've
all been up to.

Cheers!!