As March Ends.......

My amaryllis were re-potted quite late this year, but now one plant is in bloom and adds some cheery colour to my kitchen.

 looks all fiery in the sunlight!

love the shadows!

 ahhh, it's triplets!













I have been consumed by the wrist cuff bracelets. My 'studio' is covered with bracelets in various stages, and so, very little other stitching has been accomplished.

the line-up
most of these just need the button and closure

closer look
I think the third one might need a little more........

some sport tatted flowers, lace, and beads

some have hand embroidery, too.

a bit more embellishing, and it's time for stitching.....

more fabrics cut and in the queue for titivations.........


As all the bracelets need to be finished for the first Saturday in April, all my other stitching has been put on hold.
All proceeds from the Embroidery Guild table sales are being donated to charity. I'll try to get some photos on the Fiber Arts Day.

I am adding a seam embellishment of bullions to my wrapping cloth, but progress is slow.

piece #11






Hope you've had a creative week.
Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz

March Middlings and Muddlings

 These pelargoniums are doing well on my window ledges, and have burst into flower with the return of the sun.

I have four large pots of these bright pink ones to put outside once spring has arrived and is well underway..........














Here's my completed Wattle HEX from StitchMAP. I chose to stitch an Acacia Purpureapetala which has purple flowers, instead of the usual cream- yellow flowers of the wattle.
This was fun!

Then, a Fun Friday Tute was announced at StitchMAP with a challenge to create a wrist band bracelet following some of Blogland's tutorials. Here's my first one completed with beads, lace, french knots, a pretty button, and a button wrap I stitched with blanket stitches across two threads of #5 perle cotton.

I have three more in the line-up. I think this design could be altered to be a pretty, functional, credit or debit card carrier, perfect for shopping trips when you don't want the bulk of a purse on your arm or shoulder. Just slip the card in and out of the bracelet.

And then, I got a little carried away........

I made another, and pinned  3 more for stitching......

and I thought I had better wrap it all up and get back to my CQJP tree skirt and my wrapping cloth............



but this distraction continued........

with another 3, the first one with a beaded dangle just begun,





the second with ribbon and lace flowers,






the third with a bit of lace....hmmmnn, I wonder what else?

then this one

and a smaller one for a young person........

and then I told myself I had to stop!

I needed to get back to my tree skirt and my wrapping cloth piece #11. I was quite stern with myself, and when I sat down to create that Sunday evening, I slapped my wrist and put away the bracelets.
"You have to tat snowflakes," I told myself. And so I did.

1 lonely little snowflake about the size of a nickel.........

well,......... that's not going to cover much of the tree skirt, is it?

Now, March is almost over, and I haven't made much progress on my CQJP. I've been distracted.
But, now I have to get back to it.......that is if I can keep away from those fabric bracelets!

We have snow, rain, and freezing rain in tomorrow's forecast. Like the pelargoniums, I am awaiting spring.
I did see the chipmunk out under the bird feeder filling his cheeks with seeds, so there's one sign spring is on the way!

Dovey was there, too!
Hope wherever you are, you have sunshine and time to create.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Marching Along......

Not a whole lot of stitching to show this week, as some has to remain secret for now..........

wrapping cloth piece #11 has been tacked, and I've made a beginning on titivating the fabric knot.....

with layers of buttonhole lace on the front and top

and on the back.....

2 shots of some of the wrapping cloth pieces put side by side in random order

 it's about half the size I hope it will become.......making slow progress.....

I've been working on 1 of the March HEX LABS from StitchMAP, and having fun stitching this pattern for a wattle.
A few more feather stitches, and it'll be time for the flowers

let's get that wrinkle out of there

That's better.......



















I think Spring might be trying to visit for the day.......it's gotten to 6C today with lots of sunshine! WooHoo!  I spied this pair out on the patio trying to soak up a few rays:

 They saw me peeking out the garage door window at them

Even though we still have lots of snow, this one corner of the patio gets the sunshine, and the snow melts quickly on sunny days



More snow in the forecast tomorrow........don't they know it's supposed to be spring?

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

March Madness

Happy March! I hope this month will bring warmer temperatures and an end to the snow. Maybe spring will arrive. That would be nice.
On the stitching front, this past week found me using up some of the leftover strips from the flimsy.
A friend had posted this on her blog, and I followed the links to find the tutorial and created these:

little quilted fabric boxes
I have a bit more fabric left, and one block that I'd made for the flimsy, so I'll be finishing a few more of these.


Thanks to Sherry for the inspiration and to Tina for the tutorial! Now my desk will have a co-ordinated look.

Snowflakes of the tatted kind are piling up in my tatting tin and ready to be applied to the tree skirt. I'll show photos later of my progress.

 I've added this bullion row with french knots to my wrapping cloth piece #10, and it's now finished!

There's always one that has to go it's own way!

piece #10 finished

Here's piece # 11 all pinned and ready for stitching.





On StitchMAP, our monthly HEX LABS have been released for March, and I want to make all 3 designs, but it will depend on how much time I have.












On a recent trip to a new second-hand shop, I found these treasures:

6 of these beauties......

2 of these napkins

3 meters of white patterned fabric and another 2 patterned napkins. I'll save all for my wrapping cloth. What good luck!
Have you found some treasures lately?

Hope you've had some creative time this week.



Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz