Better late than never

 As with everyone else, it's my turn for the Blogger bug,  

this is my third attempt, so fingers crossed.

We had a brilliant break, and decided on a quiet weekend at home, 

Saturday night we went on a wine tasting night out, with a lovely meal after.

Sunday was so great we went for a ride on the bike, top photo is Kev's bike,

we almost always stop at this bikers cafe, along with loads of other bikers.

I have done more stitching on my heart, I post a photo in my next blog, I have also done loads of gardening, harvest my first crop of parsnips and carrots. so things are going good out there.

Today(Wednesday)  I have a day off, just going in to spend the day with Fliss and Sammy, and Josh after school. It's a perfect day, after yesterdays thunder storms, we are hoping to have some stitching time, and loads of playing with grandson's time.

Catching up

 We are back from our break in the countryside, Devon is a great place, the weather was dull, with a bit of rain, but none of us got very wet. Hubbies had some great games of golf and we sat and rested and stitched, read books and chatted.

Every thing was much the same as last year, which was good, we settled in fast, I found I could not stitch my project I had taken, the light was poor for such fine work, so I started a patchwork heart, I have been designing it as I go along, adding colour and planning to add embellishments later.

 We did have a go at enameling, I had done it when I was at school, it's still the same, I decided I would make two hearts to hang from the top of  my stitched heart, I am very pleased with the finish on both. I tried to use colours from my work. The designs are made by adding glass canes on the top, they melt and form a hard cover.

I have just the top left side of the heart to stitch, I am going to have a floral pattern here, I then will add beads and ribbons, I have never added so much to my own design before.

We have had cuddles from all our grandsons, Logan in Taunton, we had a lovely afternoon together on Thursday, and yesterday, I popped in to see Josh and Sammy, mummy has been poorly so we had loads of cuddles and fun, Josh now loves my ipad, and we even had Sammy playing a "tune" on it.

We have nothing planned for this weekend, just catching up with everyone and stitching.

Heart is on 25 hpi, using 2 threads of DMC, with the size if 15cm x 16 cm, 
110 x 125 rows

Life's mix ups

 I have stitched for three night's this week, here I'm doing another heart. It's very Kath Kidston, which Fliss my daughter will love, but I think I am stitching for me. I have packed a couple of small projects for a trip next week, so I am looking forward to a craft week.

The joy of having a lawn, hubby now gets the weekly job of cutting it, after having our drought for 6 days, we have just had two days of very heavy rain, so the garden is looking great. Last weekend we cut back our tree, it was getting quite big, it does not look any worst for wear, so I hope it might flower again later in the year.

 Kev's present came yesterday, and he loves it, I'm married to a Welshman, who is very true to his roots and heritage, and moans at me for having so many union jacks around our home, so I searched on the net and found............................

The Welsh dragon, it's full of colour and looks great in our room, it's made of felt, if you are interested I got it from Debenhams, it's the most expensive cushion we own, but I have a happy hubby.

We are packing later today for a week away, Kev will be playing golf for four days, and whilst the hubbies play, us ladies have fun the the spa and craft centre, we went last year, as described here the fore caste is for rain so we won't be sunning ourselves as we did last year, but I am packing loads of cross stitching, and I want to try my hand at a couple of new crafts. I am taking April with me to see if I can frame it myself whilst there. After that Kev and I will spend a couple of days in Somerset with our families. I am taking my ipad so I hope to be able to keep up with you all.

A Finish and a new start

 Last night I had my first finish in over a month.I did the centre stitching and beads.

I used the beads from Su's wedding dress, I still have loads left, I love to see them in my bead box.
I don't think I stitched the centre is right, but I'm happy with the finish, I also decided to use a coloured thread to go with the pink beads.

 

 Then I made a start on this heart, I am hoping I like stitching it, I have a plan which might mean I have to stitch three of these. I packed my stash for next week, I have three different small projects, one of my friends wants her second attempt at cross stitch.

I'm having lunch with Su my daughter today, we will pop into Hobbycraft, so watch this space, it's not a need, when I get there it's a want!! and there's always alot of what I want.
I have just seen the cover of the new Just CrossStitch, can't wait for it to get to me, I see more projects.

Stitchy night

 Last night, I did some more on April, I brought Mill Hill Petite glass beads, white 40479 and pink 42018, I did also buy blue, but found they were the wrong size again.

At the top and bottom, I used the white and pink beads, I wanted a softer look here, but the centres I used just the white, I do like the sharper look here, all I now have to do is stitch the centres, I do have pebble beads for here, but I am going to try the pink Swarovski beads left over from Su's wedding dress. So fingers crossed it will be finished tonight. I have also decided to frame this one.

I am planning a quickie, we are away next week, 4 days in Devon with friends, hubbies play golf for 4 days, ladies have spa and large craft centre, last year I did sandblasting on glass for the first time. So I'm not taking any of my large projects with me, after we have 3 days in Somerset, which is home for me visiting family. I am going to see my sister-in-law who has just got the all clear from her battle with cancer, which pleases all of us. I also get to stay with my brother Martin.

Nothing much happening here, work, garden and family, but that's the way I like it. We are glad to finally get some decent rain, but fingers crossed it clears in the south west for next week.

PS watch this space I have brought the coolest litttle gift for hubby

A happy post

 After my last post, in which I moaned, I thought I would show you my other passion

If the weather is good, not raining, this is where I am, I'm not doing much stitching, but I am growing, I have the smallest veg plot, but it's full of things growing. below is another small harvest, red and white onions, radishes. This morning I picked fresh salad leaves for my salad lunch.

 My greenhouse is full, I have flowers on, Tomato's Peppers, Chillies, Aubergine and my Cucumber and Courgette are looking good. I won't get any fruit from my raspberries and strawberries I planted, but that's OK, by next year they should be a good size to fruit.

 Just a couple of roses from the back garden, I love the yellow one, the peach one was one of a few plants in the garden when we arrived here.

Enjoy the sunshine, we have rain later and tomorrow, good for the gardens, but keeps me inside.

Is it just me

 Somebody please put their hand up now and say it's me as well

Having stitched April, changed my mind with the beads,

waited for the new ones to come, 

and then BANG. 

 

Why do I do it, why do I think I can be better than the designer

What might you ask, have I done

Looks at the beads in the above photo,

I decided to use a higher dpi linen

so now I have to find more smaller beads,

I'm off to the shops this weekend!

the beads I brought were so lovely

 I have an infestation of mere cats in my garden, they sneaked in over the weekend, they have set up home in my bowl below, do I need to feed them? I have only found three and by the look of things they don't want to move on.

Just a normal week here, still trying to find more time to stitch,

Bournemouth in pictures

 A couple of Victorian views

 Sunny Bournemouth, from our hotel at West Cliffe.

 The Pier

TUSAL May

 My ORT pot is low this month, not alot of stitching done. 

there is shiny threads from April and 

dark colours from Winter Watergarden

I have started part 3, the trees, lots of counting, it's going well, but with four corners and eight trees ask me again in a while. I stitched on the trees last night.

The sun is shinning here and we have the promise of a nice day, typical it's Wednesday and most of us will be at work, but I do love to have an hour in our garden after work, just picking off a few dead heads, watering and enjoying all our hard work.