Finished and Framed (Finally)

After months of on off stitching and lots of pricked fingers along the way, I've finished my Goddess of Prosperity cross stitch kit by maia (anchor).

I fell in love with this kit as soon as I saw it, I'm a big fan of Chinese wuxia films (lush, epic, fantasy drama, usually with lots of death defying martial arts, magic swords and doomed tragic lovers,) and this image really brought those films to mind. In particular, a favourite of mine, I first watched when I was around 13, it's called 'A Chinese Ghost Story,' and the goddess here reminds me of the beautiful heroine, a tragic ghost spirit enslaved by an evil tree demon, seeking redemption (check it out, it's quite silly but very pretty.)

 Here are a few close ups of the work in progress, she's such a big piece that it's easy to loose the details when I try to take a picture of the whole thing. I was filling in the backstitch here, which in many ways is more fiddly than the cross stitches that make up the bulk of the picture.

Here is a close up of some of the lovely floral details which really came to life when I started on the backstitching..



Here she is just before I took her off the stitching frame and went to get her stretched and framed. It was the first time I've ever had something professionally framed, I usually just do it myself but the finished piece was long and thin and I couldn't find a frame that really fitted so I decided to take it to a framers as they could custom make the frame as well as stretch out the work and make sure it was straight etc...

I think with big pieces that take up a lot of time and that you want to last; it is worth the extra expense but I felt pretty nervous leaving her in the shop as the process took about a week and I was anxious about whether I would like the finished frame. Thankfully, I did.

The finished project on the wall...

 

 

 

 

Bringing in the May...

 

Bluebells, a surprise present from my new garden to me...

 

We moved in as winter began, so its only in the last few months that I have really had the chance or desire to start venturing in to the garden to see what is already here.  I'm trying to resist the urge to start planning and planting straight away, I want to give the garden time to show me what is already happily growing and which areas catch the sun throughout the day...

 

As tired as I am of hearing the cloying phrase "spring has sprung!" I do in fact, love spring, it's probably my favourite season and not just because it heralds in my birthday.  It's the stirring of new life; plants turning green, trees turning in to confetti, animals building nests and engaging in speed dating to produce cute mini versions of themselves. The light slowly returning and making you realise just how much you've missed it... Spring is exciting, it's a season of change, all things start to seem possible again The lethargy of winter isn't quite over but it starts to feel like it could soon be...

The blossom this year has been pretty spectacular with minimal rain and winds to crash the party and send everybody home early. The parks have been full of blossoming trees, garish daffodils and jewelled tulips. The crows are building their nests and all the tiny song birds are out and about...




Magnolias are one of my favourite spring blooming trees, there's just something so irresistible about their flouncy goblet shaped petals. Like land stuck water lilies, swaying in the breeze...

I bought this tree for my garden recently and I hope it will provide me with many beautiful clarion calls of spring for years to come...

 The new garden has two established trees and the masses of blossom on this pear tree promises a lot of fruit to come, possible more than we will know what to do with...

My Japanese maple tree has happily survived the winter and is starting to open up its dusky red leaves, the bright early morning sunshine and last golden rays of the sinking afternoon sun are the best times to view the plant and the play of light on the leaves is a thing of pure pleasure...