Midweek

Today I am feeling much better and getting ready for a couple days away with Kev, we will travel down to Exeter tonight and return on Friday, I don't think we will visit my brother, we feel it might be too much for me.

I always know when I am feeling better, when I wake up in the morning I feel the need to change the quilt and bedding, which I have done today, it will be nice to know on our return we will have nice clean crisp cotton quilt waiting for us.

I have added the tassells to my spanish sampler cushion, I think it looks good on our bed,


I have not done any more stitching to my chickadee, but I am taking it with me, I have started this heart with squirrels, I love squirrels, we have three visit our garden most days, I am doing my own colours, they do not show well in this photo, but I will show you again when it is finished.
I have packed most of what we require for our stay, the place we are staying has a swimming pool, so I hope for a swim, Kev will be working both mornings, but that's great, it gives me time to do things.

We will go out on Thursday evening to Cullompton, to visit Kev's brother Peter and have a meal.

It will be nice to get away for a while, we are planning to go out to lunch with loads of friends on Sunday, Saturday I would like to pop to Fareham and do a bit of shopping and then visit Fliss, Steve and Josh, Fliss is doing well, her friends gave her a baby shower this week, which she enjoyed very much.

Busy day

Yesterday was another busy day.

I still was not doing any cross stitch, so I thought I would do some finishing, and start my Somerset patchwork patches.

My Spanish sampler I made into a small cushion, I want to get four tassells for each corner, I will pop to our local shop to see what they have, if I can't get anything to match I will make some.



Below is all my cross stitch projects finished, I am pleased with all of them, it's great to do some thing different, and not frame every thing, I do not have so much wall space in my office for hanging items. Kev did give me a look when I told him the smaller cushion was for our bed, we now have 7 cushions on the bed, I did promise no more!

I am pleased with the stitching on both of these pieces of work

I sometimes do patchwork with material, and my favorite is Somerset patchwork, the design is made by folding the oblongs into a triangle and then sewing them to a back cloth.

I have instructions for those who may not of heard of the design, to make things easy for me I make a template for the oblongs, I am using a piece of soft wood, which I have marked out into the required size, I cut long strips from my cloth, I simply mark the size on the material with a pen and then cut, I always use a poly cotton, it's hard wearing. the oblong size I use is 5" x 2.5", but you can scale to your project, if you make them very small, they can look bulky.

After I have my strips of material, I place them one on top of the other, how many you have is determined on how sharp your scissors are, cut each oblong to size.

Below is the stages of the folds.

1. With a steam iron, iron flat your oblong
2. Fold a small flap at the top, I do about 10 at a time
3. Fold onto a triangle bring top corner in to middle front, it is best to place both corners together at the same time to make them match.
4. When ironing ensure the top point is neat, this will be on show.
   

A couple of point's to add, I alway do 10 oblongs at once and let them cool before going onto the next stage, the material gets very hot and I find my finger will get sore if I'm not carefull, you will need a large amount of triangles, because you place them on top of each other.
Below I have placed the triangle just for you to see the effect, I have loads more to make before sewing, to sew you use a machine and sew along the bottom ensuring you sew over the folded area to hold it all in place.


I am off for my chemo this morning, it's a nice sunny day, so I hope not to be in the hospital too long. I will do a bit more of my kitten WIP, I did get some done last night, I started stitching the sofa fabric and have done a good amount, one thing I have noticed, the stitching I have already done for the second kitten is wrong, it comes one row lower than it should, so I shall be unpicking it, I'm lucky I had not done too much.

Mothering Sunday

Below is my Spanish sampler, almost finished, I mean it now,

I'm not adding any more panels

I am so pleased with it, I want to mount it in a cushion.

Last weekend was Mothering Sunday, and we had both girls around to visit, The Orchid was brought for me by Kev, he always gets me a card, that's why there are three there.

Su brought me flowers below and made a wonderful mixed soft fruit cheesecake, I did tell my daughter's not to buy anything this year, so they both made me things. Su is just getting into cookery.

Fliss brought a small cloth for the table from the pound shop and made it very spacial

On each corner she has embroidered each of our full names and added my mum's name.

Josh made me a beautiful picture.

In the house Kev is hiding our furniture again, this time we have taken all the units from the sitting and dining room and stored them in the spare bedroom. He is removing all the skirting boards, coving and any tacks on the walls, he is also renewing the radiators, the guy will be with us next week to plaster the walls and ceilings of both rooms, we have to choose the wooden flooring and the blinds, do the painting. Kev won't lay the new floor, woodwork is not his best skills. So another couple of weeks looking like a building site, but it is the last area we are doing this year.

With Easter on the way, we are planning to spend time in the garden, I have loads to plant.

Spanish sampler

I wanted to show you my sampler, I am working on the second extra panel.

Yet again my photo is not the best, I am not sure if it's me or my camera, but the quality of my photo's are not that good at the mo. I so love stitching this design, and at this point my stitching is very important to me. I am picking the lighter panels to redo. I want to make this into a cushion cover for our bed, I have gone cushion mad, we have 6 on our bed, and bless Kev each night and morning the are moved and then put back, he just laughs I hope he will not mind another one.

I have had a craft evening, Su our middle daughter is getting married in August, we have just designed her wedding cards for both day and evening. From these we have designed the order of service and the table name place settings. At the weekend we will go to Hobbycraft and buy everything required to make them, so I am going to be busy next week.

I am pleased to have sorted the design, I will show you them in a later blog, I'm sure I won't be allowed to show them before we send them out.

Colour everywhere

We have been in for 4 months, and have been very busy.

Here you can see our new kitchen, even though it is half the size of our old kitchen, I am very pleased with the finished look, very light and with clean lines, the old kitchen was so bad, we had to renew this one as soon as possible.

The down stairs bathroom just had a toilet and basin in, so it was always planned we would have to re do here, I love the tile top edging, it's very art deco, the bungalow was built in 1930's so it's a bit of the right era inside.

The spare bed room needs the curtains to be made, which I will do by the weekend, it's not the greatest of picture's, but it does show the colours, I am going to make two cushions for the bed, both will be a cross stitch patchwork, I will buy the kit in red, as it is sold and then make a second with yellow, both for the bed. The room as loads of African items, from holidays, with my Lion and my Tiger ( I do know he should not be here).


Last autumn I showed my Spanish sampler finished, well I have not done much stitching since we moved in. I have not been able to find a project to get started, I wanted to make my sampler into a cushion, but it was not big enough.
So I decided to make my sampler much bigger. I used photo suite on my computer to create what my sampler could look like.
I took the picture I had of the sampler and cropped it to one panel size, which I then saved, after I had made each panel as an individual smaller picture and then I placed them on the sampler picture until I found a combination I liked, below is my work in progress, I will add one extra panel each side and the a small edging.



I will keep you upto date with my progress, it's great fun to be doing more with it.

Hurrah

My Spanish Sampler is finished, and I am very pleased with it.
This is not the best picture, but with almost everything we own packed into boxes, I am glad to be able to show you.
I am looking for some pale green fabric, I will make a cushion cover and place this in the middle, I will also stitch a motif for one corner to bring it all together, the colours will match our new bedroom. If you click on the picture it will enlarge.

We are moving in 5 days, the house is now a shell, my craft room is empty, all my projects are in storage. I have to sort my plants, I have a very kind boss who is allowing me to take my plants into the office and sit them in the window, they will stay there for a couple of weeks.
The only place to pack is the kitchen, I will start that tomorrow.
We have far to much stuff, and we will sort so much after we move, I thought we had done enough but there is still to much for two people.
we have been very stressed for the last week, but now the moving date is getting closer we are feeling happy.
Both our cats have no idea what is happening, I keep telling them they are coming with us, but they wander around the boxes.

I will be off line for two weeks, I have the Internet at work, so I can visit all my fave sites.

Busy days

It's been a busy few weeks here, the weather has been kind and we are having a sunny September. So we have made the most of our time outside mainly walking along the water front at various locations around Portsmouth.

I have done some more work to my Spanish sampler, I have just one panel to finish, but as yet it has not been published, I check the site most days, so fingers crossed I will have it soon. I have decided to use it as a centre panel for a cushion for our bed. The colours match so well. I am now looking for my next project, I'm not happy without some stitching to do.

I have put our new cushions on our bed, once we have moved we are changing the quilt covers to pure white, our furniture and curtains will not change. I can't wait to see how it all looks. The two striped cushions I made using left over material from our curtains.


In between everything else I have read the book below, it was recommended to me by an lady in our local book shop. I found it fun to read, the story is between the war years, and told by a servant in a large house. Fliss is now reading it.

Lazy Mondays

We are having a break from work again this week, we should have been in Spain, but due to the house move paperwork being very close to signing, we decided to stay at home. We should have a firm moving date this week.

We have spent our time, walking, talking about packing
but not doing any packing and eating out.


We spent a great evening at Marwell Zoo, we took the twilight tour, with 18 other people, it started at 6pm and we were there for three hours.

Above is the latest view of my Spanish sampler, I am very pleased, when it is finished, I want to make it into the centre panel of a cushion for our bed, we have purchased loads of new bedding, cushions and throws for our bedroom in the bungalow. I know I can't believe Kev has been choosing colours and cushions, and not a moan.

I wanted to show you the signs of a new season arriving, our hedgerows are full of ripe blackberry's, we have had a bumper crop from the bush in our back garden. The rose hips are everywhere and the elderberry bushes are laden with fruit. My mum would say it's natures way of getting ready for a harsh winter, she produces extra fruit to fatten the birds and small animals for a hard winter ahead. After many mild winters, it would be nice to have a real winter, and who knows a white christmas.
We have close to here a wild life park, it is perfect for birds. It is surrounded three sides by water and the motorway crosses at the top end, on the edge of the city of Portsmouth, it does not sound a good location, but after walking there one sunny afternoon, it is the most peaceful place. We found loads of thistles drying in the September sunshine.

We will now have to start packing everything ready for a move, I will let you know how many boxes we will use, I have already been sorting my clothes and shoes, this morning I threw 12 pairs of shoes, and piles of clothes has been taken to the charity shops. I have even sorted my collection of magazines, and parted with loads. it does feel good to have a sort out after being in this house for 15 years.

Sunny Sunday

I have not done much stitching, our time is spend sorting, we have been in the attic (loft) this week, after living here for 15 years, we are awaiting our moving date, in about 4 - 6 weeks. So we have started at the top. I still love this Spanish sampler, the colours whilst not the normal ones I would choose, are beautiful. But it is still growing.


I woke early this morning with the sun shinning through our curtains, the forecast was for a dull day, so we got up early to catch the sunshine, to our pleasure the sun has got better throughout the day. It has been breezy, but a lovely day.
This afternoon for the 1st time, I went with Kev for a ride on his bike, after many years I decided I should have a go, it is his 2nd love, and I enjoyed it!. Kev has a big crusing bike, the ride was not to long and I would like to go on it again, Kev is a fine weather biker which suits me.

Above is another free plant in the growing, I love orchids, and once they have finished flowering, I leave them on my craft room window sill, I let them die down and when they look very sorry for themselves, I start to water them again and then new growth.
Below is my half price plant, our local Sainsbury have their orchids on special at the moment and one jumped into my basket as I walked by!

The salvia's from the garden are looking well, I love these plants, I have put them in a pot so we can take them with us once we move.

This African Violet has been in flower for a couple of years,
I am lucky they love my kitchen window sill.

Grace wanted to get on my blog again, she is sat on her chair in the sunshine, this is taken after she has had her tea, so she will settle for a couple of hours before going out when it gets dark. Thomas loves the evening sun and is lying under the hedge in the back garden.


My final news I am pleased to tell you is our healthy life style is working, to date I have lost a stone in weight, Kev has also lost weight, we had a walk along the coast line this afternoon at Lee on Solent, we try and walk most days. Today I am wearing a skirt I love, last time I was able to put it on was two summers ago. It's great to see my tummy disapearing. Through the Nintendo DS we walk 4000 steps per day, its a great system, today we have done almost 7000 steps! and I don't think I will ever tire of the wonderful salads we are creating.

One last note, please pop over to Joshy & Belle, Fliss my daughter has a wonderful site, her dialog is wonderful, she should be writing in a magazine. She talks about all aspects of her life and her craft.

Sunny Wednesday

Today as all this week I have been off sick from work, I have a small infection, which is not nice, but hopefully the tablets are kicking in and by the weekend I will feel better.

The sun is shining and it's very peaceful here, I can hear a bird singing, so Tom and Grace must be snoozing somewhere in the sun. I have not done much work in the garden so its looking a bit sad.


My Spanish sample is coming along and I am very please with the finish. once I finish this panel I will have three more to do, I love to be able to stitch in the natural light on these summer days.

We have sold our house and now have to pack everything into boxes, we are downsizing so we have to decide what to keep, and after 15 years in this house we have alot to sort. I think the charity shops might do well.
I have put an offer in on a super house we viewed last night, and now I have to wait

Sunday Morning

After the most busy of weeks, with family issues, I sat here on another sunny Sunday morning, Kev is playing golf and Grace is curled up in the chair beside me, I can see Tom in the garden laying in the sunshine, the house is quiet.

We had a great day in the New Forest this week, but forgot to take our camera, we wondered in the woods, sat in the car and watched an amazing display of aerobatics, we found a spot where people fly their model aeroplane, not something we are into but the display for about 15 minutes was inspiring.
We saw loads of ponies, and baby donkeys, I love the freedom they have in the forest, it's all so natural there. It just takes us under an hour to get there.
At lunch time we sat by a lake full of ducks and swans and ate our picinic, it was a beautiful sunny day, Kev and I walked, talked and laughed. A moment to treasure.

We spent yesterday in Somerset, where I was born and grew up, we visited my brother Martin, and then went for a super lunch to meet a new friend.

I am still working on my Spanish Sampler, not done much this week,
I have the pattern for three long outside panels,
I have to wait for the final two panels to be published.
I love the design so far, I can't wait to see the sampler finished,
as yet I have not seen a picture of the complete sample.
I am following Millys progress on her sampler here

Kev's 2nd love

Here is my Spanish sampler, I did not get to much done this weekend,
we had another fantastic sunny time and my sister came to visit, so another BBQ and loads of shopping.
Plus Joshy came to see us on Sunday and was so cute.

This is Su, she was having a great time on Kev's bike,
Kev was sorting the garage and bringing out all the items required for the BBQ,
and Su jumped on the bike,
I took a shot from behind so I would not show her face
but she wanted another photo taken and gave her approval.
It's a sham its parked next to the bins.

Not to be outdone Kev jumped on,
he did offer to take Su for a spin, but that was declined,
like me she is not a fan of the bike.

I'm off to do more with my sampler, I love it, but it takes up alot of my time.

Sunshine all the way

It's Friday night again, how quick the week goes, I have a busy but uneventful time, work is hectic, Su popped in for a drink this afternoon, and for once I did not require any work on the computer, It's very handy having an IT daughter.
My sister is coming from Somerset for the weekend, we are planning a BBQ for Saturday night, the weather forecast is good.
Kev is playing golf most of tomorrow, so we can wander through the shops, maybe do a couple of craft ones. I know I don't need anything, but you just have to look.


Joshy has been busy and made us cakes, these he can do all on his own, no oven required, mine is the pink one and the yellow one is for Grancha ( it's from the welsh language for Grandad) They look good enough to eat.

Most of this week I have spent my time sewing, I am very pleased with the results, its not the best photo, but it grows each day.
I have to say, I watched the last ER last night, I know it will run and run on the TV, but it's such a good series, I will miss the anticipation of a new episode. It was a great ending and I am going to miss all the staff, each and every one of them

Sunday Morning

The garden is looking good, full of colour,
but the snail's got into my little green house and had a feast!
We had a BBQ yesterday evening , first of the year
it was nice enough to sit there until 10.30pm
Joshy was there early on and had great fun in the garden,
he did not want to go home,
but mummy and daddy walked a very tired little boy home.

I wanted to show you my Spanish sampler, I stared last week, I have just started the third section, I love to stitch with lots of colours and not much canvas showing. This is on 32hpi with one strand of DMC thread. I saw this on Millys site, and knew I had to make it, I have a carpet I want to make for my dolls house but that will have to wait. kev is enjoying the quiet.

I spent time in the garden yesterday, and everywhere I go Thomas will follow.
He loves to have his picture taken and is a poser.

Grace is a little more reserved, she spend most of the time in her basket,
there is room for both cats, but Grace always has the best spot.