Colours

I have managed to skip a section and stitch these corners on Winter Watergarden, I did have to unpick the bottom left design twice, once I went wrong on the design, and when I finished re stitching it, I noticed it was in the wrong place, miss counted, now it is right.

 Where the curves meet over the reed beds, I have a bird to stitch, it's not that big, but I will use all of these 10 colours, all found in my stash, 

then I can do the outer walls and gates.

 The window sill in my office

The sun pours in here and plants love it

Lemon and Lime plants are doing well

 My Avocado shoot has doubled in size, I am still keeping it growing in mud, and I'm very please to see shoots on the top. The Lillie's are from my anniversary flowers from hubby, he hate Lillie's so it was really nice for him to choose them in the tied bunch, I love them.

  These are the plants I purchase last week for the pots in the garden, the Cyclamen are next to my back door and the mini Asters are by the front door. The Cyclamen cost £4 and the Asters were a £1 each in Tesco sale, I picked off the dead heads and it has come back quickly (there is second pot, the other side of the front door).

 This potmum, was given to me as a present, I love them, and this pink to fantastic, 

I do need to get it into a bigger pot for the next couple of months and then into the garden for next year. 

I am doing very well on Lowspend/nospend September, I have not spent any money since last Friday, we have been eating leftovers for two days, I will not require anything for a couple more days, and then only bread, milk and veg. Tomorrow we have a local market, I normally do not visit it, but I will look at the veg stall, my aim is to keep spending under £10 this week.
I am meeting my daughters for our weekly coffee tomorrow evening, but it's not my turn to pay, so one week I will have a coffee bill, but  we all have so much fun when we meet and chat, I would rather give up something else.
I am still very tired, so today is going to be a lazy day, I am going to spend most of the time stitching, Kev is away tonight, so I can get on with Winter Watergarden, I have a good feeling this will be finished this time, I first stitched it in March 2011. I have marked September as the month not to start anything new, which will be hard, because I do have some fantastic patterns to stitch, and a couple of Christmas gifts to make.
Now for a cup of tea and stitching......................

Tired in Hampshire

I was very pleased how our garden looked yesterday

 All set up for our BBQ, hubbies pride and joy set ready for our guest to arrive. 

 Sam and Logan our grandsons, with my great nephew Riley sat in the middle, this little bench was purchased 7 years ago for Josh, but now is belongs to Sam and Logan, here they are having some of the second cake from the BBQ. 

They played football and chasing bubbles most of the afternoon.

 Grancha was showing off his bike, 

so daughter Su jumped on with both lads, they all love the bike. 

 Today we eat left overs, 

I am so very tired, late finish last night, and an early start, both grandsons were up just after 7am, now they are both home, as is all the family who came to have fun and celebrate hubbies 65th birthday. With both daughters, their partners and Kev's youngest son and his wife, who had not been together since last Christmas day, we had loads of laughter.
My house looks like a tip, but housework will be done tomorrow, I have tidied the garden, the white table and two chairs are back at the bottom end of the garden, hubby cleaned the BBQ and it's back in the garage.
We have enough food in the fridge to last to midweek, but for now all I have is a refreshing cup of black tea, soon I will rest and watch TV for an hour. Just an early night planned for later.

Lowspend/nospend September, is still on track, we did have to buy a few things for the BBQ, but mainly bread rolls, cheese, pate and eggs for cooking,  but at just over £80 for 28 people, it was again a very low spend, using meats from the freezer and salad from the garden.
Without the BBQ spend I spent just under £14.00 on food, bread, milk ect, £2.60 to park the car in town and £6.00 on a couple of plants for the garden, which for me is a very low spend week.
So I start next week with a positive feeling, and no plans to spend anything.

Loads of cake

Another good harvest this week, 

This is the second picking this week for tomatoes, cucamelons and sweet peppers, plus my last two cucumbers

I have been nibbling Raspberries all week 

 

 Tomorrow we have been married for 28 years

we do not do wedding anniversary's

But hubby always buys me flowers. 

 I told my friends I was making cakes for our BBQ tomorrow, 

so Cat got us this anniversary cake, she pinched the photo from Facebook,

 and Steve got Kev is Red Velvet cake for his  birthday

I will still make another Pavlova with loads of soft fruits on.

 My last purchase in August arrived today, I will not be able to stitch it yet, I need a longer piece of linen, and can't purchase it until October, but I am working on Winter Watergarden, well I have not stitched it in the past couple of days, real life has gotten in the way.

I have cleaned the house top to bottom, which is silly, after tomorrow after everyone has gone it will be a mess again, but I do like everyone to arrive to a tidy place.
Tonight we are home together, tomorrow we will have loads staying over, including Sam and Logan, both are excited.
I have only spent money on our BBQ for tomorrow, most of the meats have come from our freezer, with loads of salad from the garden, and our gifts of cake, it is still a low spend event, normally we spend over £200.
Just a quick post tonight, photo's tomorrow.

At the beach

Yesterday we went out on the bike, along the coast, Lee on the Solent, Stokes Bay and Gosport, all the beaches are shingle. You can see the Isle of Wight in the back ground, this is a busy stretch of water, it leads to Southampton Port.

 Looking towards Lee on the Solent, it was the last day of the school holidays, so the beach and the water was busy. 

 The Ferry from Portsmouth to Isle Wight. 

Back home, my front little garden is coming along well, these box plants I am hoping will form a solid low hedge around the bigger plant, I keep snipping the growth to ensure they thicken up. It's a hard spot to grow anything, this corner of the house gets most of the bad weather, and I fight to keep the neighbours cats from messing here.

 I noticed this morning my Avocado stone had a bit of mould forming on the stone, so I decided to pot it up, ensuring the soil is very wet, more like mud than soil, fingers crossed it thrives. On the net where I am getting my growing instructions, they show this as the danger point when most die.

 My lemon plant has doubled in size, and will want a bigger pot soon, the Lime plant growth has slowed down, but it's still healthy. I love the colour of these leaves, so fresh.

My mind is full of our weekend BBQ, and keeping to Lowspend/Nospend September, we do have to pop to the supermarket today, but we have keep the list to a minimum, tomorrow I will be busy cooking.
So far this week I have spent £8 on food, just one visit to our local Co-op, normally our bill would be nearer £20. I have only spent £2.60 on parking my car today, I met a friend at lunch time, so feeling pleased with myself.

I have been experimenting with the header for this blog, I wanted to show some of my stitching, not an easy task, this is the best so far, I will have another go.
I have not stitched anything, my time has been spent with Kev, he's had all this week off, I hope to pick it up on Sunday.
Josh and Sam went back to school today, I will call them later to see if they enjoyed their first day, I have been so lucky this year to have had more time with them.