Cross-stitch fever

When I’m stressed about something I can’t sit still.  I can’t watch TV and I can’t concentrate.

So I tend to find myself doing one of two things:

Option A: Don industrial strength gloves and begin cleaning grime (currently, my oven is so clean you could eat off it and the bath tub so  sparkly the  kids no longer exit the bath with more grime than when they hopped in)

Option B: Turn on the tele and do some craft.

I go though phases of not making anything for months and then go madly finishing off projects and making new things.

Here’s an almost-finished cross-stitch still mounted on the awesome stand my hubby made me:
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I don’t really like cats, but I do like the colours in this cross-stitch.

and here are some I’ve done previously:

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Waratahs

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Grevilleas

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and my beloved chooks

Then of course there are the weird things I crochet:

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I seem to have a thing for chooks.

In a  strange kind of way, many works I’ve done remind me of the great times of stress in my life.  When my beloved Pop died, I made cushions which my mother has.
The waratah and grevilleas were done when we were first trying (and repeatedly  failing) to get pregnant: a years worth of worry there.
The cross-stitched hen and rooster were done when we were living nearly 2000km away from family and friends and I was incredibly homesick.

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So if you’re reading this, I’d like to know how you deal with stress.   I NEED all the tips I can get.

Pictures of our garden

Our garden is in bloom.

Our garden is based around our favourite native plants (with the odd exotic mixed in). The garden looks best during mid winter and midsummer when different plants flower. … not that we really get much difference in seasons here, and many of the plants flower year-round, but the garden really puts on a show twice a year.

In summer, the striking beauty of the pink, red and orange Corymbia crosses can stop traffic.

But right now, the garden is giving me a great amount of pleasure – especially the front yard:

front yard lrg

The garden is quite showy with the yellows and pinks of the Xanthostemons,

xanthostemon med

goldenpenda med

Grevilleas,

Grevillea sml

and Leptospermums in flower.

Leptospermum Merinda med

I’m also rather fond of our Xanthorrhoea species which is structurally stunning:

Xanthorrhoea sp

Oh and the chooks – let’s not forget them…..

chook house med

No veges in at the moment, so no fresh veges (although we are getting plenty of citrus, passion fruit and the odd pawpaw as well as a few herbs to add a bit of interest) … but maybe we’ll consider planting something soon as we can bucket water onto the vege patch as needed now that water restrictions have eased slightly.