Catching up - WIP's of Seed Sampler

Sunday morning here in England has been really pleasant - not too cold, bright and blue and all the daffodils are absolutely at their best, swaying gently in the breeze. I have a few really pretty pansies in pots on our patio that seem to have burst into life in only a few days. Their purples and pink/lemons are a wonderful complement to the Spring bulbs. Of course, the Spring heralds the start of a gardener's hard work .... since last weekend, the grass is really showing signs of growth. I am going to hold out until Easter before I even think about taking out the lawn mower... once the grass gets its first hair-cut, it suddenly says to itself "aaaahh it must be Spring, I can start growing like mad!!!" - so, like a baby, I will try to let it 'sleep in' for just a while longer!!

Here is the first WIP of my Seed Sampler which I began on Monday 3rd April. As you can see from the photo from the Chart, it is the first signs of being a Columbine - there is a fair amount of back-stitching, including the Words at the top of the "seed packet", but I will wait until I finish the section before I do that ... my original thought was to do all the back-stitching at the end, but this design is one that can be done in sections because each part is a mini-picture in its own right.

I managed approximately 10 hours' stitching - not as much as I wanted, but I have only been able to stitch some mornings before work. My evenings have been 100% into studying, although on Wednesday I was sooo tempted to do some more after work, as it was really starting to look like an Orchid so my motivation levels were up :-) Today I managed to sew the little terracotta square on the right, which will have the geranium pot inside. I love the way each square of the design links into the next one, as it will be nice to change colours from all the creams, yellows, lilacs and purples I have used all week.

Once I have completed this section, I will move downwards to the flowers called bleeding hearts which are mainly pink and red colours - there is some cream and turquoise in the background, so some different colours to "play" with. There are 4 main sections to this work, with some extra bits round the edges, so I think I will be stitching for some time to come!!

DH did not buy me an Easter egg by the way - I did not really want one this year as his parents always buy us chocolate so I thought it would be nice to have something to pamper myself. So I asked for some of my favourite handcream (Crabtree and Evelyn) - its for gardeners, which I guess is quite suitable as I am stitching a sampler with a gardening theme LOL! We went to see his Mum and Dad yesterday and yes .... we got lots of choccies (a big egg, and some Green and Blacks organic chocolate selection box). Yum yum!!

Hope everyone has had a wonderful time and enjoyed the break from work!