Rhodies Are Red....

 

Bursting In Bloom... 

It is Almost the end of May, Dear Readers, and that means the Lilacs in this part of the World have long since given up their blossoms and ceded the day to the exuberant Rhododendrons! And I know that while a few of you might be hoping that someday you will see them both blooming side by side, I have never yet seen that happen in my RL garden, and can't assume it would happen here, even for a second. This year we have been experiencing a cool, very wet Spring with little sunshine. This is not a bad thing because last fall and winter we had a terrible drought, and now the rain has restored us to normal! But it does make it difficult to get lovely sunny pictures of the blooming Rhododendron shrub. This morning was no exception and I was despairing of getting anything to show you... and then the sun Almost broke through the clouds! I ran for my camera and snapped a dozen pictures... not quite sunny... but light enough to see the blossoms in detail! And I had to make sure you were also seeing the Summer Lilac in all its plain old green!

 And, of course, I had to take lots of pictures and can't decide which are the best!

 

I do love the way the shrubs wrap the porch....

 

And I know they crowd the path to the brook...

 

Just look at all those blossoms!!!

 

And the shrub wraps all the way around the side of the house...

and conceals the entrance to the Tree House in the roots....

And yes, Mr. Gnome has been enjoying the blossoms of spring!

(His house is hidden in the Garden somewhere... he hasn't told me where...)

 

It turns the porch into a lovely little arbor....

 

But the weather has been much too dreary for sitting out in the garden! 

I believe Will and Gabrielle have even needed to light the fire!

 

But I don't mind, Dear Readers,

 it is beautiful to behold, 

this Brilliant Red rhododendron, 

even on a dreary day!

 

Stitching And Stitching...

 

And Still More Stitching....

It Turns out, Dear Readers, that stitching is almost the only thing I got done in my Mini Worlds over the past few weeks. I realize now that it is so comforting to have something small to pick up and apply creative energy to between phone calls and doctor appointments. It was way back in April that I had shown you the beginnings of the Hound and his Mate on the fifth cushion in the series. It did not take me long to get all the blossoms stitched around them. I have really enjoyed the wonderful variety of blossom arrangements and different types and colors that are the "Mille Fleures" of these kits. Every one of the backgrounds is different, even though some of the flower types are repeated. Once the blossoms were all stitched it was time to outline them all in the darker red. This takes quite a bit of very careful stitching.

 

 

And once that is finished the bright red background is added.

 I am always surprised at how much difference the bright red makes!

 

 

It really tightens up the pattern and "cheers up" the appearance!

 And while I was still adding the background color,

 I was starting to plan the next stitching options...

Because all that remaining silk mesh was going to need some stitching to fill it!

 

And I had some good options to work with! You can see the beginning of another square cushion design in the upper corner. This is taken from a book I bought many years ago of medieval tapestry stitching projects by Candace Bahouth. Her designs are for RL size projects, but a few would translate really well into mini cushions at this scale of thread count!

 

 

 

This design is for a small bag or purse in RL size.... and it happens to be 60 stitches to a side, exactly the same as the squared cushions! How easy is that? And even though the chart calls for more colors than the Mille Fleures kits came with... I have ordered a few extra colors, hopefully to fill the gaps in the color range. So I started in with the stitching....

 

 

But several of the threads I had ordered were on back order...

 and might take weeks to arrive... so I didn't get very far with the Wyvern. 

But I had started another cushion outline as you can see in the hoop..... 

along the same pattern as all the other cushions 

because I was going to design one of my own! 

And this one would be a replica of a RL cushion I have had for years...

A version of the Unicorn In Captivity

 taken from a Medieval Tapestry in the Cloisters Museum in New York.

 Although the original tapestry has a green verdure background

 rather than the red of the Cluny Tapestries.

 

I had to do the complicated part of trying to get the graph paper chart drawing to fit the printed backgrounds to see how the figure would need to be placed among the blossoms.

But it also needed the complex fencing.... I decided I needed to chart the entire thing myself.

 

 

And part way through the process I realized I had to work within the circle formed by the original kit outline... which I used to help me keep the count of the stitches correct.... so you see here the fence fitted into the circle as best I could.

 

And I started in with the stitching!

 

 

Because I wasn't confident of my design details, Dear Readers,

 I decided to stitch all three of the "basic" unicorn colors simultaneously...

 the lightest one in this case is the body color and the darkest is the dark shadows and the middle is for lighter shadowing in the coat and mane. I needed to be able to see how they looked as I went along in case I wanted to make changes... but it looked pretty good as the chart was drawn.

 So I just kept on going!

 

 

Here the Unicorn is outlined. 

I needed to do this right away so the background elements

 would stay separated from him visually.

 

 

And because I wanted some of the flowers to be

 in front of the fence in the foreground... they had to be stitched first.

 

 

 And bit by bit the fencing is added and the flowers too.

 

 

And I needed to expand the flowers into the corners too...

 

 

Here you can see most of the fencing has been outlined too.

 

 

And the outlining has been completed. 

Now all that is needed is the bright red background color,

 but that will have to wait for another day.

As you can see, Dear Readers,

I have been finding Comfort in stitching

 and stitching, and Still More stitching!

 

Morning Sunshine....

 

May... Oh My!...

In my Real Life garden, Dear Readers, the Lilac has almost no blossoms this year. It was a harsher than usual winter after a terribly dry Late Summer and Fall, so I assume the shrub is stressed. Because there were so few blossoms outside, I almost neglected to bring out the Blooming Lilac Shrub for it's annual glory show in my mini world! But yesterday morning the sun was shining into my work room and there was the bare winter shrub still in place... I quickly switched it out for the blooming one! And Oh, my goodness, it lit up my day! So beautiful! So elegant! So exactly what I had imagined it could be when I started my four seasons lilac project all those years ago! And I will admit, it reminded me that I must not give up on the Leafy Green Rhododendron shrub which has been neglected in the past month while I drove my son back and forth to Boston for medical visits. (He is now recovering from his operation and so far things are going as well as could be hoped!) So inspiring was this lilac that I got right to work on the Rhododendron... but that will be the subject of another post. This is all about the Lilac!

 My workroom is on the Northeast corner of my house, and at this time of year the sun rises over the neighboring house to the east and shines briefly on the dollhouses... bringing that touch of realism I love when the sun comes to play. But it rises quickly, and early, so if you aren't quick, you miss the best sunshine. 

I just love the way it looks... no matter what the lighting!

 

And I keep trying to get the "best shot"....

 

But I can't ever decide which photo that is...

 

Whether in the dappled morning sun....

Or after the sun moves on....

 I think I love it in every way!

And so Dear Readers, 

I will keep on making the Rhodies too, 

Because someday they will also have their moments in the sun!