The pedigree of honey does not concern the bee,
a clover, anytime, to him, is aristocracy
~ Emily Dickinson ~
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| My own Lavender and Bees |
Bees and Lavender would have to be two of my favourites things. When I started typing this post I was going to include a web image of some bees and lavender.... but then I realised that all I had to do was go outside and take a photo! But as with all great plans, the wind and bees decided not to co-operate. But I did manage to get a photo of a bee on my pink ruffled lavender eventually!
Now why do I post about bees and lavender do I hear you ask? Well, this post was inspired by my musings as to what to stitch for the exchange that Heather (
Heather's Stitching Story) had arranged. As
previously mentioned, I was late sending the exchange package to
CJ. Partly this was because I was very time poor when trying to get organised for this exchange, but the other issue was that I couldn't think of what to stitch! Until I decided upon a theme of "Bees and Lavender".
Then everything fell into place.....
Firstly I went straight to the
Snowflower Diaries Blog and downloaded the "Lavender Girl" design that I had had my eye on to stitch for quite some time. Once stitched I turned the lavender girl into a pretty little hanger.
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"Lavender Girl"
Designer: Maja, Snowflower Diaries
Stitched July 2014 |
So that was the Lavender stitch.... now for the bee stitch! I remembered that I had downloaded a freebie sometime ago which had a beehive and bees as the design, and from memory I thought that it should be a quick stitch. The other great thing about this design was that it had some different types of stitches instead of just cross stitch, so a great way to spread my stitching wings and try something different.
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Honey Pin Cushion
Designer: Keepsake Stitches
Stitched July 2014 |
The "Honey Pin Cushion" is a freebie from the
Keepsake Stitches website. I loved this design and it was so simple to put together as a little cushion. Of course it was only after I have put it together that I realised that I had stuffed up my bee on the back.... it should have been yellow and black... not yellow and blue! Goodness know what I was thinking when I stitched that! But hey, every masterpiece has to have a deliberate mistake, doesn't it!!!
So that was the stitching side done, now all I had to do was find some extras....
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Exchange gift sent to CJ
July 2014 |
As you can see from the photo above, I also sent CJ some lavender inspired gifts - a lavender scented candle in a tin, 2015 diary with lavender fields on the front cover, lavender coloured beads, pen, notebook and sticky notes that are sort of lavender coloured! I hope that she liked the gift... and more importantly that it arrived safe and sound!
I did find a third design to stitch but, as I was almost three weeks late sending my package off, I decided not to include this one in the package... which meant that I didn't have to rush and I could take my time and really enjoy the stitching of the cupcake.... I just fell in love with this cupcake as soon as I saw it - it was one of those
"I have to stitch this now" moments!!
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"Honeybees Cupcake"
Designer: Durene Jones |
This sweet little design was published in the World of Cross Stitching magazine issue 216. They have a regular feature called "Cupcake of the Month" designed by Durene Jones. Some of the cupcakes are really sweet but this is the first one that I just had to stitch right there and then! Not sure yet how I will finally "finish" this sweet cupcake but I will certainly show you when it is finally all done.
So that's it for Honeybees and Lavender - two of my favourite things!! It's now time for me to buzz off and leave you in peace to smell the lavender....
Til next time, happy stitching
Stitching Noni xx
