Flowers and Shy Fairy Embroidery

Hi, everyone! Spring is in the air even though it is still officially 'winter'. We have had a lot of pleasant days with temperatures in 60s-80s. It seems like every flower that can bloom is out in force.

Azaleas on the side of our house

Snowdrops in my mother's 'English' garden

We pushed ourselves last week by working as much as possible in order to have the four day weekend off from work for Mardi Gras.

These last four days have been a mental break we all needed. Looking at our city holiday calendar, our next four day holiday won't be until Thanksgiving.

I didn't spend the holiday downtown at the Mardi Gras parades, but opted to stay at home with a book and a few crafting projects.

I started my Shy Fairy embroidery project last Friday as my Frolicking Friday project. I love the DMC colors that came with the kit.

Yesterday was my 'Frolicking Friday' since I wanted a full day of stitching on my day off instead of my normal Friday of maybe two hours of stitching total.

I was able to finish up my Shy Fairy embroidery. I didn't stitch the small flowers and hearts around the main design since I wouldn't be able to display it in a hoop with those motifs embroidered. The fabric that came with the kit is cut too small to allow for the stitching of those motifs if you intend on displaying it in an embroidery hoop.

This morning while at Hobby Lobby, I was debating on whether to get another one of the Tamar Nahir-Yanai kits, but I persuaded myself not to since I know I have a bunch of small stitching projects I could stitch up instead.

I hope you are having a great day! Until next time ^____^

A Sick Kitty, Cherry Blossoms, and Friday Stitching

Hi, everyone! It's been a crazy week at our house. Last Monday, I dropped off our kitty Lily at the vet. She had been vomiting all weekend and wasn't eating and hardly drinking anything.

At first the vet thought she might be constipated, but later in the day when the medication they gave her along with an enema (poor kitty!!!) didn't work, they realized she had a bunch of foreign objects in her intestines (i.e. string, bits of carpet, hair). How in the world can a cat eat that stuff?! Never underestimate a kitten!

So they took Lily off to surgery.....$1,500 later we had a cone of shame kitty to contend with and let me tell you, she is not a happy camper.

For the past several days, we have had to keep her in a cage so she wouldn't jump or run which might cause her stitches to rip. The poor thing doesn't understand why we have to keep putting her back in the cage. 

Do cats have long memories? If so, she is going to remember this experience and hate the dreaded cat cage for a lifetime! It should be interested to see if we can get her in it if we need to in the future.

Here's Lily in her cone of shame! CONE OF SHAME!!!!

In other non-crazy news, our cherry tree is still going strong despite windy and rainy weather. I gotta enjoy its beautiful blooms while I can!

In stitching news, I worked a bit more on my Bohemian Paisley design on Friday. I satin stitched a few more areas, finished the outline stitching around the French knots, and started to split stitch a few areas of orange.

Split stitching isn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, but I will say I don't like how it looks in the end. Not that it is a horrible looking stitch, I blame the amount of threads the stitch calls for in the pattern. The pattern calls for three strands when I think they should be more......but maybe the pattern is trying to highlight other areas with fuller stitches?!?! LOL

Maybe I get some more stitching done this Friday. My friends and I are celebrating our friend Nicole's birthday. It should be fun. And hopefully by then Lily can be released from captivity and free from the cone of shame! Which would make for an even better Friday!

Until next time ^____^

Cherry Blossom Season 2017

It's that time of year folks! That's right, it's cherry blossom season. Well, at least in my first yard anyway. I am glad to see our tree blossom as we had a mini drought during the fall and I thought maybe it hadn't gotten enough rain, but it proved me wrong by budding last week.

It isn't unusual to see my cherry tree blossoming in January, but it is odd to admire it in 70 degree weather.

Maybe one day I'll be able to travel to somewhere that has cherry trees in abundance! That would be beautiful.

I hope you are having a good week so far!

Until next time ^____^

Azaleas in Bloom!

It's almost spring when azaleas start to bloom around Mobile. We have been lucky to see them in bloom this year because rain usually gets to them first.

Here are some azaleas in our front yard. So pretty!

I was hoping to go to the Fairhope Arts and Crafts Fair this weekend, but I didn't feel well today. If you go to Fairhope this time of year, their azaleas are in bloom and they have quite a display of them around town.

The fair is open tomorrow from 10 to 5 so head that way for a lovely day of browsing arts and crafts and viewing the blooming flowers everywhere :)

Until next time ^___^

Cherry Blossoms

Our Taiwanese cherry tree is still putting on a show despite our oddball weather. It seems to enjoy both cold and warm weather.

Until next time >___<

Cherry Blossom Season

Good afternoon! It's that time of year again, cherry blossom season. Our Taiwanese cherry tree is blooming. The first two photos were taken on a rainy day while the last two were taken yesterday on a sunny day.

Flowering trees always make me smile.

Cherry Blossoms Blooming

It's that time again for our Taiwanese cherry tree to start blooming.....

White Hibiscus

Another hibiscus plant blooming in our front yard.

It's amazing how large the blooms become.

Until next time >____<

Summer Solstice

Good afternoon. I hope you all are enjoying the first day of summer. I spent the morning picking blueberries and working in the yard. I managed to take the time to get some pictures of some of the flowers blooming in our yard.

Hydrangeas,  paper whites, and beautiful pink hibiscus!

Until next time >____<

Spring Garden and Birthday

My friend Bonnie had her birthday over the weekend on Saturday. We had cupcakes and snacks in the park and then went nearby to the Mobile Botanical Gardens. To my shame, I have never been to the gardens before despite being in Mobile since I was three years old.

While wandering the wood trails, I got my first mosquito bite of the year. I am glad we came when we did, the weather will only get hotter as the summer approaches, which means humid weather and a plethora of bugs including lots of mosquitoes!

Overall, it was a lovely time! The gardens were beautiful. I'm sure they are even more vibrant during the early spring when everything is in bloom.

Until next time ^____^

Spring Flowers

 Red Azaleas

 White Azaleas

 Pink Azaleas

 Blueberry Blossoms

Pear Blossoms

Spring is in the air! So many things have started to blossom. After working in the yard yesterday I went around and took some pictures of all the flowers that are blossoming. With our abnormal cold weather earlier this year we are hoping that it will help produce some yummy pears and blueberries!

Cherry Blossom Cute

I know Amanda will remember our Taiwanese cherry tree in our yard. Last year, it only had three blossoms, but this year (despite the snow/ice storm!!) it has several clusters of blossoms!

Blooming flowers always make me smile, especially after a gloomy winter! Flowering trees are no exception! One year I would love to go to a cherry blossom festival!!!

Until next time ^_____^

White Beauty

My mother's hibiscus flowers are blooming! This is just one of her plants......I wonder what colors we will see with the other flowers >___<

Until next time ^____^

A rainy iris

We have had an abundance of rain this week. Despite all the rain, my sister's iris bulbs have finally had the right combination of conditions to put off some blooms after three years!

Until next time ^____^

Snowdrops

My mother's snowdrops! Always a beautiful sight ;)

Until next time ^____^

Jasmine in winter

Good morning! We've got some odd things blooming this year when they aren't supposed to! I blame it on our crazy weather which has gotten into the 60/70s for the last week or so when it is clearly 'winter' according to the calender! Right now, it is back to the 30s.........go figure!

This is a photo of my sister's jasmine that has started to blossom. I love jasmine. It smells divine!

Until next time ^____^

Cherry Blossom

 

I was at work yesterday when my sister sent me this picture of our cherry tree in the front yard! I love the misty dew on the blossoms. As you can tell, we've have some odd weather lately.

We planted this Taiwanese cherry blossom recently and it finally decided to blossom this year. Perhaps it is due to the strange weather or maybe the pine straw we put at the base of it to protect it from cold snaps.

They call it a 'red bud' tree in South. I'm not sure why.....probably because from far away, it looks like a million little red blossoms on a tree when they are grown.

Until next time ^_____^

Red hibiscus

The red hibiscus decided to finally bloom! It might be the only bloom on the plant, but it was worth the wait :)

White hibiscus

My mother has planted some hibiscus flowers on the front porch! They are huge when they bloom....about the size of a plate!

Until next time ^____^

Azaleas

It's that time again! All the azaleas are in bloom around the city. I took some pictures of my grandmother's azalea bushes this afternoon after mowing the yard.

Until next time ^____^