Rabbit in the Rose Garden

I have to say that this piece was a real labor of love and I am so pleased with how it turned out. Time consuming...yes...worth it...double yes! One of my creative goals this year is to create more elaborate bases for my characters with the addition of cross stitched motifs and fancy needlework.

I am so excited about a cross stitch designing program I purchased...hoping to put it to good use this year...I was in the middle of reading this programs tutorials when I managed (what a dunce) to spill a good amount of coffee on my keyboard...LOL, the new computer is being shipped as we speak...I guess computers don't like coffee as much as I do!

"Rabbit in the Rose Garden" is part of my January Blue Bayou series. I stitched the design with Valdany variegated blue floss on white cross stitch fabric...2 over 2 threads; the pattern is an antique pattern I have modified for my own use; the two tuffets have thin tea stained chenille yarn sewn around their edges.

Last but not least...both tuffets were created with new and recycled wool fabric...and one lovely pearl button.

I still plan on having a small blog sale soon...been nursing a really bad case of tendonitis in my working arm...which is driving me bonkers...so I have been kind of slow to get things completed.

 I will leave you with these parting words...

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...”
Dr. Seuss 

Longfellow Poetry Pin-Keep

Snow~Flakes

Out of the bosom of the air

Out of the cloud~folds of her garments shaken,

 

 Over the woodlands brown and bare,

Over the harvest~fields forsaken,

Silent, and soft, and slow

Descends the snow.

  Even as our cloudy fancies take

Suddenly shape in some divine expression,

 Even as the troubled heart doth make

In the white countenance confession

The troubled sky reveals

The grief it feels.

   This is the poem of the air,

Slowly in silent syllables recorded;

 This is the secret despair,

Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,

Now whispered and revealed

To wood and field.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

January 18th, 2012

 Dear Diary

This morning I woke up to falling snow...the sky was downcast and melancholic...a perfect day to hike our rocky beaches. I love the feel of the coast in winter...some say it's depressing...you either have to revel in it or curl up and get depressed by it...I choose to revel in it. It was a very grey day, damp and chill...the kind of chill that numbs your hands in seconds. But I loved it...I love this wild quiet place...close to the big city but yet...it feels like you are a thousand miles away. Bald eagles alight on giant cedars, sea otters eat their catch on rocky outcrops, seals flit and fly through the water. Growing drowsy from the cold...relaxed and content...home for tea.

Homemade London Fog Tea 

    1 big mug of strong Earl Grey Tea. I like to preheat my mug with hot tap water before I pour my tea...me hates lukewarm tea.
  a good healthy splash of Organic Cream
3 TBSP Organic Vanilla Extract.

2 Packs Stevia Powder...I love really really sweet tea.

Will warm the cockles of your heart.

One of my favorite things to do is collect poetry...really visually inspiring poetry, I write it out, put it in my pocket, then go outside with my camera to search for landscapes that match the poem. Researching and reading Mr. Longfellow's poems inspired me to create a Mr. Longfellow Pin-keep.

Faded blues, Forget Me Not Flowers, French General Fabric, Linen Backing.
Ivory buttons, seam binding ribbon and a few tarnished pins embellish this piece. And one old vegetable ivory button to hold them all together...on the back.

Cheers,

Cold and Chilled Susan

TDIPT Update Tonight

My Tdipt lisiting starts tonight

 Adopted by a Sweet French Bear

Sorry to those folks who went to TDIPT at the right time to see my new Snowshoe Hare lisitng but instead saw my old Valentines Heart Lisitng. I had problems with my TDIPT page and so the new lisitng didn't get put on till just a while ago....this little guy is there now if your interested in giving hima forever home. Does this make sense...clear as mud. LOL!

Cheerio, Susan

Up for Adoption

Well...it's with mixed feelings that I have decided to part with my Snow Shoe Hare Pin-Keep. I have grown rather fond of him and will be sorry to see him go...sigh. He's been keeping me company while I stitch and sew the hours away...those little black eyes sparkling in the sun on my windowsill...I am sure he will go to a lovely home where his wee fuzziness will be appreciated.

  You will find him up for adoption on my TDIPT Mercantile page Sunday, January 15th between 6 and 6:30 PST.

North American Time Zones

( 6 pm PST, 7 pm MST, 8 pm CST, 9 pm EST )

Price $170.00 .U.S.

Shipping by Airmail with Insurance $14.00 U.S. to anywhere in the United States or Canada.

International Buyers email me for a shipping quote.

 

One of a Kind and guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

If you should have any questions regarding this piece please feel free to email me as I would love to hear from you.

Cheerio, Susan

Another Tantilizing Tidbit

Another tantalizing tidbit to add to my Blue Bayou Series of pieces which I hope to offer up for adoption at the end of this month. The date is tentatively set for January 27th ...will give you more details regarding this sale later on in the month. 

Don't ya just love surprises though...I know I do. They make life sweet and give you something to look forward to.

Cheerio, Susan

Storm Season on the Sunshine Coast

 

  The Storm 

Against the stone breakwater,
Only an ominous lapping,
While the wind whines overhead,
Coming down from the mountain,
Whistling between the arbors, the winding terraces;
A thin whine of wires, a rattling and flapping of leaves,
And the small street-lamp swinging and slamming against
the lamp pole.

Where have the people gone?
There is one light on the mountain.

Along the sea-wall, a steady sloshing of the swell,
The waves not yet high, but even,
Coming closer and closer upon each other;
A fine fume of rain driving in from the sea,
Riddling the sand, like a wide spray of buckshot,
The wind from the sea and the wind from the mountain contending,
Flicking the foam from the whitecaps straight upward into the darkness.

A time to go home!
And a child's dirty shift billows upward out of an alley,
A cat runs from the wind as we do,
Between the whitening trees, up Santa Lucia,
Where the heavy door unlocks,
And our breath comes more easy
Then a crack of thunder, and the black rain runs over us, over
The flat-roofed houses, coming down in gusts, beating
The walls, the slatted windows, driving
The last watcher indoors, moving the cardplayers closer
To their cards, their anisette.

 

 We creep to our bed, and its straw mattress.
We wait; we listen.
The storm lulls off, then redoubles,
Bending the trees half-way down to the ground,
Shaking loose the last wizened oranges in the orchard,
Flattening the limber carnations. 

  A spider eases himself down from a swaying light-bulb,

Running over the coverlet, down under the iron bedstead.
Water roars into the cistern.

  We lie closer on the gritty pillow,
Breathing heavily, hoping
For the great last leap of the wave over the breakwater,
The flat boom on the beach of the towering sea-swell,
The sudden shudder as the jutting sea-cliff collapses,
And the hurricane drives the dead straw into the living pine-tree. 

The Storm by Theodore Roethke

 

Susan's almost swept out to sea adventure. 

 Storm season has arrived on the not so sunny Sunshine Coast...

 and I am L o v i n g every minute of it!

Cheers, Soaking Wet Susan