Rock Lover, that's me!

I love rocks! Do you?  In fact, I love stones and pebbles, boulders and rocks.
Where we live, there are lots and lots of rocks.
Every day we would go for walks, and each time we'd bring home a couple of rocks we'd found. We added them to our rock garden.
Sometimes we'd take the truck down the 1 km driveway and gather larger rocks, and we'd add them to our pile.

a look at one of our rock gardens

heuchera, roses, and lemon thyme

a closer look

wow, it's striped!

colours mixed in the same rock
grooves
gouges
pits
and more stripes

so many different colours of rock gathered from one property

a chunk of gold quartz






and a grey rock with a white stripe down the middle

pink and grey granite abounds

I really love this speckled oval rock......it reminds me of a speckled egg

spots, too

rings of colour in layers

there's one that's both spotted and striped.

my plants love the rock garden, too


I'm still collecting rocks on my walks

You too?

Have a wonderful week.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

TAST, CQJP and WIPs

I found out today that I had been doing the cable chain incorrectly...err, I mean, in an alternate way....heheheh.......but I did some on my June CQJP in several spots. It's fun adding the TAST stitches to my CQ blocks.

french knots on flowers,
entwined by red stem stitch

row of green buttons and one sparkly one

cable chain in red on red

in green on green with a Stef Francis rayon

in green on white, too

all together, my June CQJP looks like this!





I'm pleased with the progress so far, but I think there's a bit more I want to add to this block









My WIPs
My StitchMAP basic CQ course has me adding some beady bling to my first needlebook (it's a gift for a friend)

This one I'll keep for myself

beading on the pin cushion

and Spidey showed up on the thread roll-up!

here's how the thread roll-up looks now, but coming up is a dragonfly.........

In the garden last week, the pale pink peonies were out in full bloom...........until the thunderstorms arrived

This pink one is really pale with just a touch of pink on the outer petals

My pink climbing roses are very pretty

This is the first bloom on my favourite rose bush....and seems to have more pink around the petal edges than it did last year


The weather is fluctuating between hot and humid and cool and wet


at least the gardens like the rain


Hope you're having sunny days




Thanks for visiting.


Hugs from Suz

Stitching Catch-up

Since returning home, I've been madly stitching to catch up on my WIP's, TAST, and CQJP.
Blogger is playing games, and won't let me add text beside some of the pics, so, in order: 1-my May CQJP is complete and has the knotted cretan stitch and half buttonhole wheels: 2-the naked June block: 3- June to date with TAST buttonhole wheels in a row: 4- my thread roll-up to date: 5- a guest in the garden on a rainy afternoon. You can read more about my CQJP's and TAST on my Tuesday Stitchers post here

even a bit of tatting happened

Next up is the StitchMAP pincushion. I'll be creating some seam treatments.




Hope you've had some fun stitching, too.



Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz

Catching Up

I had planned to do a lot of stitching catching up on my week of holidays, but pulled obliques squashed that plan, and I spent the first four days attached to a microwaveable gel pack.  Happily, my obliques are now behaving.

On the second last day of our holiday, we went for a little walk along  Georgian Bay.


It was a cool, but beautiful day with a light wind, perfect for keeping the bugs away.

we returned home to find my favourite peony in bloom

the chives in flower

The bay wearing it's summer greens

our chairs waiting by the water's edge

lots of pale pink peonies in bloom

here's a double bumble bloom .....lol

And a shot of turtle island



it's good to be back home


I hope you've had some of the lovely weather we've had during the past two weeks.


Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Midnight to Twilight

I follow Vicki Welsh's blog and a while back she asked for suggestions of colourways for her hand dyed fabrics. Vicki creates wonderful fabrics and I wish I could buy every one.
I sent in a suggestion of purples to black to specific blues, and called my idea midnight, because it was dark and rich in my mind's eye.

And I was so surprised when Vicki wrote back saying she liked my idea!

I found a wonderful surprise in the mailbox on return from my week away.
As a thank you for using my colour suggestion, Vicki sent me a yard of her fabric 'Twilight'! WooHoo!
Isn't it gorgeous?
You didn't know I was a fabric designer, did you?  lol   (I wish!)  But it was fun having a wee part in the design of this colourway.

I really love these deep tones.

Thank you so much, Vicki!  I love it!

you can see more of Vicki's fabrics here

Now I just have to decide how to use this gorgeous fabric! Any ideas?

Hope you're having a wonderful day!
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

A Little Birdy

appeared on a branch on my thread roll-up, and I thought you might like to have a peek:

 here's a closer look
Those 'feathers' make me smile!

a required stitch was the double feather, and I wanted to use it to indicate leaves on the branch, but they looked too much like ferns, so I added detached chain stitches

there are white, half-circle bullion flowers on the tree

I've been distracted lately as I've also been working on my first ever quilt, as a birthday gift for DDIL. She loves the Lorax, and I just happened to find some Lorax material online........

it needs some tweaking before I quilt the whole thing....the batting and backing are on.......but I need to iron it and 'fix' one of the panels........
the size is approximately 4' wide by 5' long and the backing is another Lorax pattern........
hope she'll like her personal quilt

The clematis is blooming.......

you can't tell from the pic, but this white flower has delicate shades of mauve in the petals and a purple center

I transplanted this iris last fall, and I'm pleased it's blooming so well















DH and I are off tomorrow for a week's holiday, so I shan't be posting or visiting my fave blogs.........
Have a wonderful week! See you when I get back......
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz