Kate and William

Been shopping

It's been a busy few weeks, and to be honest I just have not felt like stitching, on the plus side my garden is looking beautiful. All my shrubs are in and growing. I have loads in my veg plot. Kev made a great cage for the fruit section of the garden to keep the birds away.

The photo above is of my peony, it belonged to my mum and was always in the corner of our garden, when we were growing up, when mum moved, we split the plant into 4, one each for the 3 daughters and one for mum. This plant has followed me each time we move, it's older than me and certainly looks better than me.

But I need to stitch again, I can't just get home from work and watch TV all night, have you seen the state of the programmes, I can't stand watching the soaps.

So a blogging pal sent me this pattern, it's an old pattern which you can't get anymore, hence it being passed on, I have been on the net and brought the Kreinik threads and the Mill Hill beads, can't wait for them to come and I will stitch again. The shades and textures look great, hurry Mr Postman.

Work is going well, the job is not hard, you need to be thinking all the time. I had a chat with my new boss today and told her my medical history, she was cool about it, and is Ok with me having another op this summer, we are getting together to find dates which fit in with everyone, guess I'm lucky, things are going well. I share an office with one other lady, similar age to me and two younger chaps. Next week I start learning the technical side of things, we sell CCTV products, should be a laugh, I know nothing, so it's going to be a huge learning curve, I guess telling them to "turn it off ", won't be an option.

Three out of Four

This Easter weekend, has just been the best,
My brother Martin came and stayed,
we have had two BBQ's and spent three days in the garden.

The two photo's here are of Riley,
my nephew and Martin's grandson,
he was a year old this month and
loved the garden and our water feature, it's just his height.

I have done no stitching, we have spent the hot sunny days outside,
and the best bit
Tomorrow is another day off
with more sunshine.

I hope your Easter weekend is full of
Sunshine, laughter and chocolate.

bright ideas

My heart for Fliss is finished, it looks wonky but it's just the material is stretched, I will stitch my family sampler this weekend.

Last Sunday we spent the morning in the garden, Shannon came to see us, she helped me pot loads of seedlings, and found the pink heart I had made her, it's for her bedroom at daddies house, I have to make another for her to take home.

The more I use my ipad, the more I love it,
how did we ever manage without it,
it's like my giant phone without the phone.

I have found a great apt, its called Xfloss, it list every DMC colour there is and you are able to load them in my stash, so where ever I take my ipad I have my silks list with me. I do take my ipad in my bag to work and the craft shop is just down the road. It's also good when I am at Fliss's, I can check what I have in my stash.
Work has gone well this week, tomorrow we are on 4 days off for Easter, we have some gardening to do and my brother Martin is coming to stay, and best of all the weather fore caste is very good.

I hope you all have a good weekend
filled with stitching and chocolate.

Spring in the garden

This week has flown by, I forgot how much time in the day you lose when you have to go to work, and I think spring is the worst time to start back, so much to do. I have done a bit more of the heart for Fliss, but I can only stitch in the evenings now!

Saturday was dull but warm so I spent most of the day in the garden, I have transplanted seedlings into the veg plot, we now have carrots, beetroot and parsnips. I also have spring onions, radishes and salad leaves to go in. My onions and leeks are doing well. My tomato plants are also coming along well.

In my pots I have loads of flowers

Loads of colour

Sunshine in a pot.

Today is very sunny, with the promise of being warm, Su is test driving a car and Kev has gone with her. Later we should see Fliss, Steve and the boys. After that we are going out on the bike, and having a very late lunch out. This evening will be chill out time.

Are we having a Royal Wedding!

Finally some stitching, I though I would do a quickie to get back into the swing, so daughter Fliss, booked another Union Jack heart, I have chosen the shades I think she will love.
I also made some Easter biscuits, I can't buy them anywhere, so I got my baking tray out, these are lovely, but they won't last long, I think I need to make more. It's a taste from my childhood.
I saw this on the net, and loved it, you can have it on most anything, mouse mat, place mat, cup......
I have the day off, the plumber has been nice and early. My new job is going well, I am enjoying being back at work, I have picked every thing up so far, and next week I am on my own, that should be fun, but it's only for 4 days, bets taken for how much I can muck up.

I am hoping my i pad arrives today, I an excited about it, Fliss has one and I have played with hers and that was it, I had to have one. The i pad is a good price now they have launched the i pad2, I will be able to blog away from the house, I can blog on my phone, but the images are so very small, this is just perfect.

Short on stitches

It is just so great to be able to plan the weekend and have the weather behaving, with warm sunny days, we have spent all the time outside. Saturday in the garden, Planting, weeding and then a BBQ.

My Acer is doing very well.

The Magnolia tree is still beautiful,
I have spend the last few days picking up petals off the ground,
but any work with this tree is worth it.

Kev brought me another White Orchid.

Sunday, we should have worked in the garden, but went shopping instead, and then we had a ride on hubbies motorbike, first time this year for me, and early evening we had friends come over and share a glass of wine in the still warm garden.

For the first time in months I have not done any stitching, it was just so nice outside, I did take books out with me I need to find some more patterns for my family sampler. The Mr Bump, came from a Mr Men Alphabet, which I have now passed on, so I don't know who produced it.

Today is my last day at home, Tomorrow I start a new job, after 10 months home, all part of my well again scheme, I am only working 3 days this week, and with Easter, Bank holidays and a Royal wedding, it's going to be 4 weeks before I have to work a full 5 days. Then I have a week off in June, so less time for stitching, but I'm earning again, so yea money in my purse.

Stitched up

I have done some work on my family sampler, but not alot, I still need to finish Thomas, I hope to get to the shop to get the thread I require this afternoon. I have also added Mr Bump, Fliss as a child loved the Mr Men.

I have done the red motorbike, Kev's is black, but his first one brought a few years ago was red. Kev loves it. I need now just to find him a golf motif.

I am pleased with my progress on this sampler, I did not want loads of letter and sayings, in the 21st centry we are far more visual, so I love having the images. I have had a bit of trouble with adding our granchildrens name on the right, I do not have enough depth for what I had planned, so it's out with the graph paper and sketch. I do have a design system on my computer, but I still love sketching. I plan to work on this for a few more days.

One last look at the finished heart I made for Su and the pink hearts I made for myself, I made them up this week. Another thing I am pleased with. I have a full picture in my finished item page, link at top of this blog.
Yesterday we had a perfect warm and sunny day, it's the same today, I hope to get out into the garden and potter, Kev is playing golf this morning.

Thanks for dropping in
I hope you are enjoying your day

More April showers

Today it's raining,
so almost every one is staying in except.......

Our squirrel,
Kev put a hanger for the nut ball on top of our bird house
and as you can see it works well.
Cheeky thing pops in most days

Thank you for your e-mails, I am feeling much better today

Getting along well

I have done some more to Thomas on my family sampler, I added some glitter threads to the steam for impact and got on with some back stitching, I have the wheels and rails to do now. I still need some blue for his engine. I hope Josh is going to like this.
I took the sampler off the wooden frame and now am using the Q snaps, for the first time I can see the whole area when stitching. I am very pleased with the work so far. Next I will stitch a motorbike under the guardsman, I have the pattern I need.

I did a bit more to the Winter Watergarden, before put it aside, I have just the reeds to stitch, but as I am still feeling the effects of this tummy bug, I wanted to sew a easier project.
The tidy bug in me is still active, I have been through my cross stitch drawer, looking at all the booklets I have purchased over the years, many never used, so I have put loads on e-bay, the magazines I did sort before we moved, so I intend to keep them. If you are interested in what is on e-bay, my seller ref is marlenej1955.

I have also uploaded my CV on job sites, it's time for me to look for work, with the summer coming and so many things to do, pennies are tight for any luxuries. Our washing machine has just gone BANG, and we had to purchase a new one, and we have the engineer coming to fix a filter to our boiler, which should stop an ongoing problem.

I am not planning to go out for the next couple of days, so I hope to do loads of stitching.

TUSAL March

It's been another busy month of stitching, and my dish is full again, Loads of pinks from my hearts, browns from the ABC heart, blues from Winter Watergarden, and a few mixed colours from my family sampler.

My jar is stuffed with threads,
I'm not sure it is going to be big enough for the coming year.

I am working on the second part of Winter Watergarden, the fourth part was published this week, so I am behind, I will catch up soon enough.

I love these reed beds, the designer has used fantastic colours, each stage the colours change and makes it perfect. I hope to finish these four beds this week.

It's Mothering Sunday here in UK, we are having a day at home, I caught the tummy bug going around, and don't feel up to going out far, so I hope to be able to stitch later, I am lucky and had lovely gifts from my daughters, Kev brought me flowers, and the Q- snaps stitching frames I keep telling you about.

I hope you have a good day, and you see some sun shine, it's gone from here

April showers

We have had three breezy days in a row, and rain, well April is here, can you see what has happened to our Magnolia tree in our back garden, most of the blossom has come off.
Typical, as my mum used to say " March in like a lamb, out like a lion", well we have had the attack in our part of England. We plan to lay a new lawn this month, the front small plot is my veg garden, and the second smaller plot has raspberries and strawberries planted.
This weekend is Mothering Sunday, my mum passed away five years ago, I still miss her. I have seen on other blogs, ladies showing work they have from their mum's, sadly I don't have any of my mum's work, in her later years her hands were twisted and she was unable to do any stitching. But I hope to have loads for my daughters, infact I have far to much stitching work. I do have a crochet blanket she did for me, I don't use it, I want it to last.

On Sunday, Kev and I are going out,
on his motorbike if the weather fore caste is good,
so fingers crossed.

I hope you all have a good weekend, what ever you are doing.