Hello Friends! Summer is in full swing around here and lots of wonderful things are happening in the garden. It is a glorious wonder, this garden of ours. Ever faithful and yet always changing, with a surprise around every corner . . .
A broken sprinkler has turned into an automated birdbath! Our drip-irrigation system is on a timer, so every morning a tiny fountain of water shoots straight up and splashes down in the middle of the bowl. How convenient is that? The birds perch in the tree above it and take turns plunging in. It's the main view from my kitchen window and highly entertaining!
July flew by! At the beginning of the month I uploaded four more fun (vintage) patterns on the PatternBee website under New Pattern Additions, and have a few more that are waiting in the wings for August. Have you ever done "cross-stitch plaid"? The effect resembles gingham. This type of stitching may appear complicated at first glance, but it's really quite easy. You alternate with a light and dark shade of the same color and work the center square in the darker shade like this:
See? Not so scary. Plaid radishes anybody? This design is from Superior #140, dated around 1940-50's. It will be one of my August additions, along with another cross-stitch plaid with baby animals (very cute!) and a day-of-the-week set of Charming Mexican Tea Towels with vignettes from south of the border. And of course, a new BONUS pattern too!