New Years Stitching Days 14 & 15/15

Hope you are enjoying your weekend! It was a beautiful sunny day on Saturday! My son had his first bowling tournament and came in 3rd place for doubles. It was all very exciting. Later that day I went to the grand opening of Ludwig's Roses in Phoenix. They are a South African Nursery expanding here to the States. Their website for the States hasn't gone live yet, but their South African one is, you just need to google it. There were around 300 varieties of roses to choose from and you can imagine how hard it was to just choose 1. A post about roses will come up from time to time, because they are another passion of mine.

I had my eye on several, one of the most absolute gorgeous roses I'd ever seen was called Queen of the Garden, and rightly so. She was straight and tall, with a gigantic bloom. She was definitely regal looking, except I already have a rose the same color, and wanted something a little different. One of my dear friends was trying to convince me to pick a wild rose, Miracle on the Hudson. It had a gorgeous yellow center and 5 or 6 perfect petals. Supposedly this rose is going to win Rose of the Year. I'm more of a petal person, I love gorgeous petals and the more the better. This rose was also more of a walkway rose, which only grows to about 3ft. I like mine a little taller around 5 or 6 feet. The last rose that I didn't choose, was a very romantic and dreamy rose, this is the one I regret not getting, because it was the loveliest shade of periwinkle and had the moset pleasant scent I've ever smelled. This will be in my garden one day, when I can sit on a warm sunny day, out in a hammock, just soaking up the sun, and fresh air and enjoying it's fragrance as it floats on a breeze. It's name was Ocean in Motion.

Ok, now the one I did choose is another winner that everyone was picking up left and right. If I didn't get the one I got they would all be gone. It's name is appropriately South Africa. It's a Floribunda rose, which means there will be many roses on one stem. Which is ok, I prefer hybrid tea roses, but I couldn't pass this one up. I love David Austin Roses, except I don't know how they would fare here living in a desert, and South Africa reminded me of a David Austin rose with it's ruffly quartet center. The rose is supposed to be a golden rose, but the rose on the bush was more apricot. Which I love even more. Here it is in all it's beauty and spendor.

Onto Stitching News:

Day 14: One of my WIPs that I really love stitching, is Chatelaine's 'Ruby' in her Gemstone Series. My birthday is is July, and I was stunned at the gorgeous shades of Red and Gold, mixed in with varigated rose silk and the shading of the black silk with grey. Absolutely gorgeous. Anyways, I missed a stitch and it went on time out. I am going to try and get this done for my birthday in July.

I just noticed I'm off a stitch on this one as well, and will fix it this week.

Day 15: One of the projects I really wanted to stitch for my mother for Mother's Day or her birthday is Mary Roe  by The Scarlett House  . Funds were running a little low with all the starts I'd been kitting up, and as it happened, someone in the Stitch Maynia group posted a WIP pic of a chart I'd had stashed away, with a Honeycomb and bees in a beautiful garden, that also had a sweet verse on it that my mother would truly love. So that's what I started yesterday. IF I have time and finish this for Mother's day, then I can start Mary Roe for her birthday to finish by September.

I have plans to sparkle it up a bit and I've never been fond of french knots, where they are I'll be adding beads. This is going to be a joy to stitch! =)

Today I am continuing on with the Gingerbread Village and Brooke's Books SALs, with Gingerbread House 1 and Grumpy Cat ornament. I'll post progress pics of them tomorrow as well as what my rotation schedule will be of working on the other 13 WIPs I now have going.

Have a lovely stitching day!

Until next time!

xo, Christine

Update: Ocean Unicorns Week 1, an almost finish, and New Stash

Happy Monday! Hope you had a beautiful weekend! It was a busy one around here. Saturday was a really fun day! It started Friday night when I baked 4 dozen Cherry Blossoms for Katelyn's Rummage/Bake Sale. For the holiday's it's my tradition and a way to remember my father who passed away when I was in my early twenties, that we would enjoy a box of Queen Anne's Choclate covered cherries, and this recipe didn't disappoint. It was almost as if  I was biting into one of those chocolate delights.

After the rummage sale, Lindsay and I went to go see the 'Peanuts' movie. Love Snoopy, and Charlie Brown and the Whole gang. It was wonderful to see a cartoon I grew up with continuing on for the next generation. 

In the afternoon, I spent several hours at my first Rose Convention at the Pacific Southwest Rose District, which included  Southern California, Arizona, parts of Nevada, New Mexico, and 

West Texas. I found myself surrounded by the most gorgeous blooms I have every seen.
One rose, that I found particularly beautiful, especially for this time of year, is named
'Hot Cocoa'. It is the loveliest shade of brown, that looks just like a cup of hot cocoa.

source

'Hot Cocoa' is a  floribunda rose, with a burnt orange. The rose I saw was more on the light brown side with smoky edges. 

I worked everyday on 'Ocean Unicorns', and here is the first week completed. I am loving the gorgeous blues and aquas so far. There was a little white, I stitched, and am wondering how I am going to like stitching white on white. Hopefully with all the blue, it won't be as bad as I imagine.

Last night I tried to finish CCNs, 'Be Joyful', but I couldn't keep my eyes open. It will be finished today! I just have two of the flowers to finish and the last half of the border flowers.

Also Saturday, I picked up CCNs, 'Gingerbread Train', for Stitch Maynia '16. When I am finished with 'Be Joyful', this will take it's place, and a couple of Weeks Dye Works the chart calls for, Pecan and Hazelnut!

Isn't this Extremely Blingy Sea Horse Needleminder gorgeous?

I found it at Cassie's NeedleMinderz etsy shop!

You can also find her Facebook page,

Cassie's NeedleMinderz FaceBook

Wishing you all a fun stitching week!

Until Next time,