Still sick but up and stuff to show you

Been signed off work for yet another week - having no immune system means that this viral chest infection is going to be here for a long while.  I hope to be well enough to go back to work on 11th May.

I am out of bed now and although coughing loads every time I move or speak I am able to sit very still in the workroom :-) - I did also step into the garden - find fresh air does help. So here are photos.

I have done three journal pages - they are a bit similar - same colour and same techniques but I hope to get a bit more adventurous.
Not sure why the photos sideways on when they are saved the right way up !
Left is my old A4 recycled diary sketchbook, right here is my new A5 landscape sketchbook

here is my other A4 sketchbook 

The garden looks lovely and spring/summer like. The Iris are looking good - fallen over so I have staked them.  

Most are very dark but in the corner there is a pale one !

 Then the Clematis Montana has gone absolutely mad on the fence and the one on the wall opposite is a double one.

 

And finally my pot apple tree - I hope that each of these blossoms will become an apple - here's hoping

Update October 2013 - garden, Cas Holmes (New York) and Klimt Jacket

This is the first year I have not gone to the Knitting and Stitching show - feel lack of inspiration - I know by going it may have ignited my inspiration but I have not been in the right place to encourage it.

Garden update: First celeriac picked and eaten (delicious!)

 Last of the tiny carrots - Yummy!!

25 pounds of tomatoes picked, ripened and these last few turned into Pasta sauce and frozen. Onions drying in the garage,

Cas Holmes course pics - I was really disappointed with the course - not Cas - just the work I did based on her ideas - I was not organised enough and could not 'see' what the outcome should look like.  This is my 'page' but as you can see it is not balanced or exciting - won't do more of these...

However I did have a bit of an ah ha moment when one evening I went of on a tangent using my New York pics - This was a left handed (I am right handed) drawing of NY from under the Brooklyn bridge when I was there a couple of years ago,

 Turned into a paper collage - This is roughly A3 in size and I love it.
It even looked good photocopied - the tonal values are good.

The next one was portrait in layout and was also lovely.  The next was stitched rather than drawn and did not look right so I cut it up and re-arranged it but am not happy with the re-arrangement 

so I have divided it into three and two sections look good on their own,

My next plan is to try to translate these pieces of work into fabric works.

Klimt Jacket update: I have started to join the main pieces together.  Sorry a couple of the photos are a little blurred.

 I have started working on the lace that will be the ruff at neck and cuffs- its made on fine net and has thread only edging made on water soluble - yet to be dissolved.

Close up.

Bank Holiday - non embroidery stuff !

Having aborted plans to go out for the day - have been baking, watching the wonders of nature and performing the annual hair cut on the lavender....
Lavender ..

Before photo.  There are twice the number of bunches than last year!

After - I can get to the back gate again !

 Watching nature - can you see the thin, long legged spider on the left?  Well that killed and started to wrap the bigger, fatter spider on the right (happened on my hall floor before I set to with the vacuum !

Baking!! a bit of morning madness - cinnamon swirls (minus the raisins as I did not have any) - got a little browner than I had planned but I think will taste ok. 

 Then back left - Parmesan cheese and sun dried tomato loaf, middle is onion, olive and chive loaf, right is cheese and celery loaf and at the front oat and linseed rolls.

 You need very strong teeth for the rolls - not  something I am good at  - but the bread - WELL - IT's AWESOMELY TASTY!!!!

Now its back to sewing as I have a lot of work to do.  I have made the White Rabbit although he looks more like a mad hare or mouse!! When I have finished his jacket will show you in the next post.

Stuff - from the garden

So this heatwave has caused trouble - Mum has been in and out of hospital with the most severe nose bleeds I have ever seen - they kept her in on the last occasion but now have finally sent her home.  It has also taken its  toll on my garden - I can't afford to water the lawn or flower beds but I have had to keep my veg watered.  This has therefore provided me with tons of lovely fresh salad leaves....

And the tomatoes - well none of them failed as I expected so I have 25 or more plants which have started producing lots of toms - hope they ripen soon!  The carrots are delicious, the celeriac is  coming along nicely and the beans have started to use the onions as support instead of the canes as some beans are next to the veg bed (post on June 23)....

The other magnificent thing is my lavender bush - it is nearly 6 foot tall - just by the garden gate it is as tall....  this means that the crop flowers will be bigger than last year.

I have decided that I must start using up last years crop - flowers dried and today I have taken the buds off -

That's my phone next to the bags of last years crop - so today I have started to make these......  they are from some lovely 5 1/2 inch Indian cotton squares - which I have had for years - quite big but lovely - not sure how many I will make but they will be up for sale soon!!

Busy !

I had a brilliant weekend with my friends from MEG (Machine Embroidery Group). I finished cutting the holes in the White Rabbit's Pocket Watch 

and worked on the inside - this is where I have got to so far.  

I also worked on my Klimt Jacket - coming along nicely...

And yesterday I had my first full portion of baby carrots from my veg bed - lightly steamed and topped with button - yummy!!!

A reflective Sunday - White Rabbit and Klimt updates

Three sections to today's post plus a few photos to enjoy - A reflective Sunday, White Rabbit Pocket Watch update and Klimt Jacket Update.
A reflective Sunday:
I have lived in this house since February 2002 - when I purchased it newly built - I don't consider myself a great gardener but I have planted things over the years and love how the colour changes season by season, how it smells delicious season by season (from lilly of the valley, through lilac and sweet peas to honeysuckle and lavender). How I grow veg year after year (this year being the most prolific) - see all the pics below.  Oh and  I pulled my first baby carrot to see how they are doing in the new 1 metre veg bed:

Tomato and French beans and the 1 metre veg bed

 The reflection is that when I opened one of the bedroom windows I looked out onto my busy garden and thought how very sad my neighbours garden is - they moved in about 6 months after I did and have done NOTHING in their garden - how sad is that:

 My garden on left and next door on the right.

White Rabbit Pocket Watch Update:
I have started cutting out the excess from the case of the Pocket watch and started the prep for the actual watch itself - free machine stitched the numbers and edge. Cut out rusted fabric cogs and started a rough layout.

Klimt Jacket Update:
I have made 65 metres of cord - It had three passes through the sewing machine so has taken a week to produce (no surprise there!!) Stitched the first outline shapes - cord thin at the top, doubling in the middle and triple by the time it reaches the lower edge.
Laid out the first section - the reds and stitched them down with a metallic thread - I think it may need more work here but will wait until I have done all the other sections to see where the extra is needed: