Jo's Stitching 2023

[fccs]

That bee is adorable!!! And I agree, the beads seem too big. I can't wait to see your replacement ones. This project is stunning!!!

[Steam.Jo]

Thank you Debby,

While I wait for my beads (which hopefully will arrive in the next 15 mins with the Postie ) and before I head off to our sewing group. A quick update on my work on my TW Peacock Tapestry:



Looking at the size of the pears in comparison with my own tree the picture is clearly one of an orchard in early September. Unlike my own Pear tree this one doesn't have any Hornets hanging around it eating the Pears

Jo

[rcperryls]

So beautiful! I would have a terrible time trying to decide which piece to work on.
I’ve never had a pear tree that wasps got to, but we had 3 plum trees with the most amazing fragrance from the flowers and I think we were never able to get more than a few plums before the squirrels and birds decimated them before they were ripe.

Carole

[Steam.Jo]

Thank you Carole,

The Post man FAILED to deliver my beads yesterday. Today looks to be a good day for stitching: The weather is due to be stinking hot so after this morning in the garden I will be forced into doing more stitching

Back to the Peacock: I have found further thread colours which there is not sufficient thread for, this time the browns for the tree trunk/branch. If I had not purchased those spare TW Peacock Threads I would be having to trawl through my thread boxes hoping to find some of the dark browns or waiting another week for each missing colour to turn up.

Bead delivery today

Jo

[Steam.Jo]

The new beads have arrived:





Jo

[rcperryls]

much better! These beads don't overwhelm the piece and have that same delicate and elegant feel that belongs with this project.

Carole

[Steam.Jo]

All the Beads are on and it is finished



You can't see the beads so:



And the bottom:



I did enjoy doing this one

Jo

[Mabel Figworthy]

I love the bees, and your replacement beads - they do look so much better!

[Steam.Jo]

Thank you Mabel,

I love bees this morning I rescued a Queen Buff Tailed Bumblebee from my conservatory. She was very tired and hungry having got trapped inside with out food. Initially I put her outside on a flower and she immediately started probing for nectar, quickly it became apparent that one flower was not going provide enough nectar to recharge her so I ended up sitting her with a blob of honey in front of her, it took no time and she was lapping it up. She "drunk" a surprising amount and after an hour took off again. Knowing she was alright has made my day

Jo

[fccs]

Wow! It’s so delicate and absolutely gorgeous!!

Knowing she was alright has made my day

Jo

This made my day as well. Last week at work, there was a praying mantis in the store, perched on the ice freezer. I mentioned it to a customer and she immediately opened a bag of lettuce she just bought. She coaxed the praying mantis onto a lettuce leaf and took it outside to a safe place. See? People can be amazing and kind.

[Steam.Jo]

Thank you Debby,

Having finished the Cow Parsley I have been routing around for another quick and easy piece to make. With my sunflowers going over to seed (the birds have not found them yet ) and the geese regularly flying overhead doing their training flights it had to be :



Bothy Thread's Sunshine But I must show self control as I have other pieces to finish and before all of that I have a lot of gardening to catch up on before it starts raining.

Jo

[rcperryls]

So so so beautiful. The new beads add to the delicacy and elegance of the piece. Perfectly perfect!

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

Love the new project, and sitting here with a big smile caused by the bumblebee and praying mantis stories!

[fccs]

Sunshine looks like it will be a fun stitch. I think the Wrendales tend to work up relatively quickly.

[Steam.Jo]

Yes, the Wrendale is going to be fun

In the meantime more work on my Peacock:



I have done most of the tree branch under the centre line and my next target is to complete everything under the branch.

Where there are fresh pears ripe enough to fall (if you recall that far back ) you also find:



Hornets

First thing to know about Hornets is they are not outright aggressive (unlike normal wasps) but if you have the misfortune of trying to pick a pear and catching a Hornet it might sting you, in which case quickly douse the area with vinegar and it will neutralise the sting Now that we have got that over lets sing the praises of the Gardner's friend the Hornet: It is an important pollinator and a predator of species that feed on our plants and crops. A noticeable feature, other than they are huge at up to 35mm long, is that they are Brown and Yellow rather than black and yellow of most bee/wasp species. Leave them alone and they will ignore you and go about their business of helping in the garden.

Here in the UK we are beginning to be invaded by the Asian Hornet which is another mainly black and yellow wasp, which is slightly smaller than our native European Hornet but they have a nasty habit of preying on Honey Bees and other pollinators.



If you think you see one of these here in the UK please notify the authorities as a Bee keeper these are the last type of Wasp I want anywhere near my garden.

Jo

[rcperryls]

Beautiful update on the Peacock ! Making really good progress.

And interesting information about wasps. I have no idea about the ones we have over here other than they love to make nests under the eaves of houses. We also have mud daubers which are wasps that I think build individual nests from mud and those are found near windows and doorways.
I stay away from all of them.

Carole

[fccs]

I know flying, stinging things are important pollinators. I also know I don’t like being around them. That’s one reason I don’t have flowers on my little patio, only three pots with succulents (hen and chicks). And I just spotted a squirrel sitting in one of the pots, so that was cool.

[Steam.Jo]

Yesterday during a thunder storm I was stitching around on my Harvester sampler and I realised I had missed out "wrapping" the serpentine backstitch rows:



It is simply stitching some Old Gold Rayon thread around each of the backstitch stitches but I think it does improve matters.

This morning I am back on my Peacock and realised it was time to scroll the piece down:



I had been stitching under the branch with the aim of first getting past the centre line (so I could claim being half way there ) and then finishing filling in under the branch but I have just spotted there is another branch of leaves and pears on the right of the Peacock's tail and they are still under the centre line of the piece

I may have mentioned that these TW kits are short of threads. I think over the last week I have found another 3 colours have run out on me doing the branches/pears so more would have been needed. Luckily you may recall I purchased a second hand TW Peacock which was missing the fabric and had what I suspect is two sets of threads in it. The better news is TW has a limited range of thread colours she likes to use so these will be spares for the other TW kits I have or Charts I might want to kit up

Jo

[rcperryls]

Easy to miss a section in a TW design. There is so much and so much detail. I think I tend to avoid ready made kits because of issues I've had in the past with the amount of thread provided (or not provided). If I remember correctly TW kits provide the DMC number so that if you have extra thread you can use it for other projects. Peacock is really beautiful.

Carole

[Steam.Jo]

There seems to be very little stitching going on I've just gone over the half way line on the picture part of my Peacock

But I now have to work on the Harvest Sampler. The Wheat row is proving to be very challenging:



and I have miss counted the placement of the wheat a few times resulting in some The target is to finish off this row this afternoon when it is due to be raining

Jo