Happy Spring!

Happy first week of Spring!  The sun has been out in the Sacramento foothills for 5 days straight and flowers are starting to bloom.  I caught a bit of spring fever last Friday, and instead of taking advantage of the sunshine to photograph some of my latest projects, I spent the afternoon puttering around in the backyard.

Pardon the tangent for a moment ... but does anyone else have this problem?  You have company coming over and already have a list a mile long of things that need to be done to make your house presentable -- fresh flowers for the table, cleaning every single nook and cranny of the house despite the fact that no one will be paying very close attention or will even think of going upstairs, grocery shopping at three different stores to find all the specialty items you have to have -- and then suddenly this idea pops in your head and now it would be ridiculous to even think about having people over without that thing done?  For me last Friday, I just couldn't think of having family and friends over to our house without filling our dinky little back yard with flowers, moss, and herbs.  So rather than cleaning house, or prepping food, I spent several hours in the back yard planting pansies, Irish moss, and a bevy of new herbs ... and loving every moment of it.

With all the spring-y-ness in the air, I can't help but be inspired by the feeling of fresh, new life all around and have decided that it's time to breathe some fresh air and fresh projects into my craft room.  I've spent SO much time recently admiring some very talented quilters who incorporate beautiful embroidery and applique pieces into their quilts -- check out Cinderberry Stitches and LeAnne's House -- that I've decided to sign up for a Beginner's Embroidery course at one of my LQS, Bearpaws and Hollyhocks ... and have even convinced one of my lovely co-workers to join me.  The course starts at the end of April, so there's still time to sign up if you'd like to join us.  Pictures will be coming soon, of course!

To satisfy my needlework urges in the meantime, however, I've picked up the cross-stitch project that I started last year.  This project is a bit of a daunting one ... the pattern is something like 24 pages long ... which means it will probably take me about 48 years to finish ... but I love the original painting so much -- and the legend of Cupid and Psyche is enough to bring out the hopeless romantic in all of us!!

"Cupid's Garden" - John Waterhouse

If you are feeling ambitious, Heaven and Earth Designs has a number of cross-stitch patterns depicting classical art pieces -- and the best part is that the patterns are emailed to you in .pdf format, so that you can go purchase the materials and start in a matter of hours!