Cross stitch designs

I was very excited to receive a copy of a Turkish magazine called Kanavice. The company behind this publication is Tuva who publish books and magazines for embroidery and cross stitch enthusiasts. Tuva have licensed my designs and have translated them into cross stitch charts.



The robin design has been made into the cushion in the picture above, the garden design has been worked into a garden picture. I was amazed to see how much love and devotion has gone into the stitching of each piece.



If you are interested in cross stitch you might like to visit Tuva here.
Looking at the photographs in this publication has made me long for the spring. How nice would it be to sit in that garden chair and stitch!

My Herb Garden

Ever since I visited Erasmus Darwin House in Lichfield, I have been trying to grow herbs with varying degrees of success. The herb garden in Lichfield is exquisite, all the better for being enclosed, it reminds me of a secret garden.

My herb garden is tiny, I have mint, parsley, thyme, chives, basil (from the supermarket!) and sage. A campanula has crept in but I allow it to stay as it looks pretty. Chives do very well, they grow next to my Dublin Bay rose and I have just learnt a new saying; "chives next to roses create posies", it seems that they help prevent black spot. I planted sage last year and it survived the winter, it's now in flower, a lovely shade of purple.

Sometimes my garden, albeit very small, seems overwhelming, everything grows so fast and it is a constant battle to keep things in check. I do have one helper however, especially good at digging and that is my Jack Russell, Ted. I am not sure what he was looking for but he certainly enjoyed himself!

The nice thing about growing herbs apart from the fragrance and taste, is that they make very good subjects for my designs.