How many years

 It's February 9th, 

not a huge date in the world, here it's the anniversary of my blog, I wrote my first post back in 2009, seen here. I had no idea where it would lead, my daughter was enjoying blogging and suggested I try it. At one point I had 3 blogs, one for photography and another for my dolls-house, both are still there, I don't use either, hubby tried a blog, but lost interest, daughter no longer blogs. 

I still prefer the gentle medium of blogging, I have a great list of people who I follow and love to read, everyone living around the world, often with similar hobbies, views and lifestyles, I adore how we are all very close in our opinions, but very different in our lives. 

Each morning I sit at my desktop and catch up with my world, emails and blogging, I no longer post on Facebook, I still use my Instagram account. In these turbulent times it's good to have a space which feels safe and friendly.

 How long have you been blogging?

Gala at the castle

I went to the gala at Portchester Castle yesterday, it was hot, but over-caste and breezy, the gala happens every year, I went with youngest daughter and her 3 children. Back home we had a BBQ, and Will had loads of fun with these bubble guns, a lovely family day, hubby stayed at home, it was too far for him to walk, he is still not up to full strength. 

More photo's of a fantastic day.

George loved everyone, he was running (I know he has only been walking for a few weeks) everywhere loving so many people around, he is not happy with dogs, so we stopped and said hello to loads of beautiful dogs, there was a dog show there. Will loved the army people, he loves everything military, they let him have a go with the light guns, to shoot at each other, he tried hard at archery and managed to shoot some rubber tipped arrows. Daughter loves archery and had two goes and was highest scoring lady as we left.  It was as always a great family day, we only stayed for a couple of hours, enough time to have loads of fun. I have always loved living so close to the castle, we are able to walk there in 10 mins, often along the shore line, though not today, the pushchair can't make that route, it's a perfect back ground for events, there was a fun fair in the carparks, but we did not think George would like the lights and noise.

Hubby made a perfect BBQ, just simple food, both boys were hungry, Molly is now trying all foods and often will nick food out of Georges hands. Will loved the bubble guns, he took one home, the other will stay here for when they next visit. They stayed until just before 5pm, we tidied the toys away and the garden, had an early shower and rested all evening and an early night. Daughter had all three bathed and in bed early, so she had a restful evening. 

Today I will do nothing, running after a quick little boy is tiring  as well as fun, so nothing much planned, I will get my sewing machine out for one small task hubby has requested, should only take 15minutes. 

Sue over at My Quiet life in Suffolk, had a great post on Friday, basically asking has she retired too early or settled down to a quiet life too early, it got me thinking, because I am a home bird and always prefers to stay at home, chatting to hubby I realise I have settled too quickly, so I will look for the yoga class I have promised myself and find out about the WI in the village, it's time to get out and do more, thanks Sue. 

 

Boys, boys boys

The most perfect photo from last weekend

Josh really enjoyed playing with Finn

Sam and Logan spent loads of time together

Logan yesterday going into school

he had a good day and was happy

Sam started today and again another happy little boy
it was great to hear them describing their school dinners,
which all children now have when they start school

 A lovely gift in the post from Nine to five/Thirfty Delux

pop over and meet her, I love her post.

I have never done pulled work, something to look forward too

 Broken sash

tomorrow I should get the next section of  Carrie Rose

but I will work on this to the end of the week.

I am enjoying the sunny weather, we have gone for a walk each day after work, not too far but enough to get me out and about, we always manage to walk through our local park. One evening we met our neighbours from further up our street, it was nice to stop and chat.
Hubby has had a busy week so far, spending today at daughters house taking a small amount off all their doors after new carpets fitted, tomorrow he will get his second game of golf.
Saturday we are off on holiday, so suitcases are out and clothes being sorted, it's only for one week, I keep telling myself, I always over pack. But the promise of a rest in warm sunshine is really appealing.
Tonight is British Bake off, followed by a new drama Doctor Foster, so an evening sewing and watching TV. We enjoyed on Monday evening watching a programme about Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth and how similar their reigns are, to our delight they had footage of the garden party we went to at Windsor Castle for the presentation of the new colours to The Welsh Guards.
Work is going well, we have caught up and the problems are getting fewer and simpler, it's enjoyable in the office and all 8 of us get on so very well.

Thank you Pam

Beautiful stitching, Pam is a wizz with her sewing machine

she is set herself a challenge to raise money, 

she started with £5 and aims to make as much as she can

these are her 1st items made, so I requested to buy them, read her post here 

 It's a lined knitting bag, 

but great for my cross stitch, no more carrier bags, 

everything fits in, including the sewing frame. 

No progress on Skaters, not one stitch. 

 The cacumelon seeds have come up, I planted 5 and now have 3 seedlings, I'm please with that, I will only require one plant. Lemon and Lime plants are doing well, soon they will require another bigger pot and placing them outside, greenhouse first, then summer in the garden. My Avocado, is very tall,  has 18 leaves on it, it needs another pot. I have read on the net, it can take up to ten years to produce fruit, which would give me winter storage problems, so I will plant it out for the summer, if it survives next winter I will be very lucky. I have been very pleased I managed to grow the stone on 1st attempt.

Been shopping, Jo from the good life, has given a tip on how to ensure you have colour all through the winter, I think it's a great way to ensure I can build colour. Here's my 1st purchase. I will get a plant from the garden centre in March, it's a great way for me, who does not have a huge knowledge of plants to enhance the garden. Lovely tip, Jo thank you.

 My greenhouse staging collapsed over the winter, hubby was going to make me wooden staging, but this is much cheaper, bigger than the last one, but more space to grow things, if it works as well as I hope, I will get another for the second greenhouse.

We went to a few shops this morning, Wilkinson's for cleaning products and a nose around their gardening section, which at this time of year is full, I only purchased the two items. On to the The Range, dangerous ground for me, loads of craft, sewing and gardening. I only purchase a round pot stand on wheels, for my new pot, I really don't want to risk damaging it. I resisted on the craft dies, we got our cat food at the best price and stocked up.
I have not stitched at all, we watched all three programmes of Cilla, recorded last year, Sheridan Smith plays a fantastic lead role, well worth getting it on catch up, if you have not seen it, it was on ITV. I am still very tired, but the third section of Maryse SAL, has arrived, so I will do that next. 10th March my 2nd part of SAL Carie Rose is published, so I want to be free to stitch that. I also have more patchwork to do, next week is shaping up to be a busy week.

The winners are

Guess what, I changed my mind, again!

I finished box 5 and started box 7, but a design dilemma came up in this box, 

so for extra thinking time, I decided to stitch box 6 as I wanted. 

 The lower section in box 6 is stitched in blue for the sea, I was not sure if this would be too much blue, I have started the ship above it, but I am liking it. 

In box 7 there are two tree's and I am thinking of adding green for the trees, 

I think it might work. 

 We had visitors yesterday, here is Sammy stealing my stitching chair and looking very cute, I love the way his feet do not touch the floor, he played with Nanna and Josh for ages, it was great fun and loads of laughter on a very wet day.

 I normally only show my spare bed at Christmas time when it is full of presents waiting to be wrapped, but now I have another use for it, my greenhouses are not warm enough for planting seeds and I wanted to get ahead, the room is very sunny (on days when we see the sun), so fingers crossed I get to see shoots soon.

I think it is about time I sorted my give away for my 6th anniversary, 

it's very late and I am sorry for the delay. 

I had five people comment, and 1st out of the hat was

  Linda I love your stitching and really love the stable you are working on. 

But in true blog fashion, I am going to send a gift to everyone who left a comment.

So, Beauty Bonnet  Teresa,  all three ladies please send your addresses to marlenejjones@gmail.com, 

Laura and Cath I have your address, and within the next few weeks a parcel will arrive for you, 

still not saying what in inside, I love surprises.  

Nothing much going on here, normal life, grand sons, garden, shopping and stitching.

Photo heavy

Above progress on the Patchwork Sampler, but normal for me I am unhappy with the blue design, the pattern is very free hand, no repeats, which is strange, because every pattern on here repeats on it's self.
So below is my version, I took his first pattern and repeated it, added some infill, and I like it.

 I have filled in the gaps left by the removal of the panel, and I'm loving it, I have just over 3 pages to go, it has to be framed as Paula said it's far to nice to use as a cushion, and my sister and a couple of my friends are begging for it, but I'm keeping it, I'm thinking it will look great in the spare room with all the African items and colours.

 I won the give away from Loredana, and the postman came today, I have never visited Malta, so the postcards show her country, and a calender for 2013 with cats on, perfect.

 Some herbs, we have Rosemary in the garden, but noThyme, 

I will start them in two weeks after our holiday.

 Loredana does crochet, and I was hoping she would make me something, 

 This toilet roll cover is great, and white trimmed with blue, 

my bathroom has white fillings and painted blue walls and blue accessories, perfect. 

Thank you Loredana

Today has been good for me in many ways, 1st this morning I weighed myself and I have lost another pound, OK but not wonderful, but this morning I was 10stone 13 pounds, under 11 stone, which I have not been for over two years, since my health problems. 2nd, the lovely parcel from Loredana was waiting for me on my desk after work. 3rd I had a message from Hazel I have won her give away and she is sending to me "Tree of Life" by Klint, I loved it when I saw it on her blog.  So happy me sat here.

On Friday we are off on holidays, Saturday morning we will wake up in France, a weeks break, with Su and Gav our youngest daughter and her husband, we have been to France with them before, please keep your fingers crossed for good weather. Cos I know the food, wine and views will be perfect.

Sunny and cold

I love the shapes in this stitching, when I was in school we used to decorate our excise books with patterns like this, we would try and make them into shapes, we used a Biro, and in my case always black, so this feels very retro to me.

This is just a small ornament, but I just love it

 Very easy to stitch, it grows so quickly.

 Just a few shapes to finish on the back in black, I have done three of the white shapes, but I am thinking I might change the white, either to a shiny white or a pale grey/white, I will have to pull them out and look  to see which I think is best. This is going to be a hanging ornament for my daughter Su, so I am going to stitch another and stitch them back to back,

 We have flowers in the front and the back gardens, my garden is not looking great, I could do with a day outside, but I find the wind to be so very cold, I have always been a warm weather gardener, so roll on March/April once the temperature rises a bit I will be outside. I hate the coloured gravel on my front plot, I hope to move a lot and turn half the garden back to flowers, I have to leave a space to park my car,

Craft club was a bit disappointing yesterday, only 3 people and they had put things in front of the windows which made the light not so good, we then had some young girls pop in who chatted and made loads of noise, so all in all not a good afternoon, but I did get alot done. I also popped in to see Fliss, Steve and the boys, which was loads of fun, Josh showed us the games he had purchased from saving his pocket money, he is a good boy for saving his money.

Today is a day at home, hoping the girls will pop in later, I have some house work to do and then I want to look at Somerset House, I was please Laura enjoyed her rug which was one of my February RAK's, and thank you Laura for linking both of my blogs in your post. Paula I sent your parcel to you yesterday, It should be with you by Friday, I am also going to e-mail you some of the heart pattern's I have used, most come from magazines and the net, so they are Ok to share.

A post for Heather

 Yesterday I was sad to see Heather, upset by some one's misplaced comments, today I feel really proud to part of our corner of blog land, every one is so supportive of her, which is right when one of us hurt we all hurt, so.............................

Here are just a few ( and there are loads) of ruined, unfinished work, so Heather if you see this take heart, we are very good at showing you the great pieces we finish, here is my scrap box.

This forever friends, I ruined by the back stitch, I stitched it for my sister many years ago, with the practice I have had, my back stitch is much improved.

Please every body show your work you have hidden up to now, we are all the same stuffing work like mine above in the bottom of your work basket and then in the deep drawer and then it finds it's way to the attic, should have binned this years ago glad I kept it.

On top of it all

 I am now stitching the top panel on the sampler, I decided not to stitch the grandchildren names until I have almost finished, just in case I hitch them whilst stitching other area's, and as always I never take the simple route.

I have loads of books with different styles for letters, but I loved the style I have used, it was a quote on another piece of work, there was no capital J so I have had to make mine up, I am pleased with the results.   I want loads of colour in the four outside panels, I have loads of bright areas, so I wanted the background here to be pale.

I have 7 colours to use in this panel, I am doing three rows and then eight rows and then back to three row, so as the pattern goes on, each time one colour is stitched ie PINK, it will be in a thin panel and then next time it will show in a fat panel but I have alot of stitching to do!

I am also going to make another rug, I have 200 followers on my blog Somerset House, so I decided to make the 200th follower a gift, Christine has decided which design she wants and I am pleased it a pattern I love.

Good days

Yesterday was fantastic, I am feeling well and getting excited with Su and Gav's wedding next weekend. I popped to the hairdresser and had my wig cut, results later, I popped in to see Fliss and Joshy, did some baking, all in all a good day.

I even did some stitching, most of the work I have done is the white background, every part of this cushion is being stitched, I am at 74 squares with 26 left, I think I know what the last two patterns are, and can't wait to get to them. Click on the photo to see the detail.
I also spend an hour looking at books, showing the village Cannington in Somerset, where I grew up, below is how I remember it as a child, I spent lazy sunny days, fishing with nets in the brook. The countryside in Somerset in the late 60's was stunning. Click on the village name to see more.

I was so pleased tucked in the book was this book mark I made.

In a second book I found this photo, it is my mum's brother George, mum used to tell us of how she would help him prepare the horses manes with ribbons on special days, my uncle's were farmers, Uncle John once gave us a piglet when we were younger, I remember it we all got excited, but mum would not allow us to keep it in the garden so it had to live on the farm.

Our local Town Bridgwater, has a carnival each November, as does many towns in the area, Bridgwater is classed as the top venue, my sister Leanna brought this book for me for christmas, and the photo above is in it. Click on the word carnival to see the official website it is amazing.

I wanted to show you my new hair style, I am so very pleased, it looks like me again.

Yesterday I also baked Veggie Lasagna, which is a favorite dish of mine, with Su and Gav coming to tea I was able to bake a large one, the main problem I have with this dish is Kev is allergic to cheese and therefore can not eat it, well yesterday I made him a separate dish without cheese and he loved it, so the forward plan is to make it without cheese, once cooked I can add mozzarella cheese to mine and grill.

I am now waiting for Fliss and Joshy to pop in, then I can go to my other blog, Somerset House and have Joshy choose the winner of my giveaway. Also today my niece Tracy, hubby Taylor and baby Riley are popping in.

New blog site

Blogging has become a family thing, I have often linked to my daughter Fliss's site here
Now hubby is getting in on the act, try popping here
He is a biker amongst other hobbies, could be fun!!

I have a second blog, it covers my miniature projects, visit here
and view my 1820 Georgian house, and other room boxes

With regards to our pending move,
still no date as yet, there are only three in the chain and no one is doing much,
we live in a state of limbo.

I am waiting for the last part of my Spanish sampler to be published,
so I am reading a book.