I have been away.............

.... visiting Mum an Dad, and whilst I was there I couldn't resist taking some pictures of their early summer garden .... sigh..... its so beautiful, Mum has such a great eye for planting. The weather was lovely too whilst I was there so I managed to get some really great pictures, so without further ado and because its said that a picture paints a thousand words I won't twitter on anymore I will just show you!!

The 'sparrow' bath

The foxgloves are just finishing

Dad dapper in his hat

The new 'hot' area, all the planting is in 'hot, hot, hot' colours which will be out arund end July/August

Bailey wanted his photo taken too

Mum captured doing a little weeding around the rockery

Rusty bird

Morning Coffee corner

There is always something else to find

Looking down one side of the garden

Bonnie saying thankyou for visiting today - 'I hope you enjoyed your visit'

I have so many more I could share with you, but thought I ought to stop, I can always show some more if you would like?

An exchange received

I received today a wonderful exchange piece from  Ellen  I feel very lucky, this is from the Swap with Nina Round 4 - French Designer exchange. Mine hasn't been received yet by my swap partner, so I can't show that yet, but this one is stunning that Ellen has made for me.

Ellen tells me that the design is from Les Petites Croix de Christne and is a freebie. I didn't get just one pillow I got 2, the little pillow is made with the same fabric that Ellen used for the backing on the larger pillow. Aren't they just lovely!! I also received a wonderful array of goodies, fabric, needles, beads and buttons.

Many many Thanks Ellen for my exchange pieces, You are a very talented lady - please go and visit her blog, she has stitched and finished some wonderful things.

Hope that your weather is as wonderful as ours is here. I have Mum and Dad staying with me a for a week, and I am so enjoying it, Mum and I are starting a little SAL, that we hope to have finished by Thursday.
I'll leave you with this weeks flowers in my jug - mostly stolen roses from next doors garden (they do know that I have taken them LOL! and some peonies from my garden added too.

2010 Fob - Shepherds Bush

What to do on a Rainy Sunday? Stumped for something to do? Well I thought I would do a little stitching and finishing and here are my results.

As you might see I made some changes, I didn't like the straw coloured fabric that came in the kit - now don't get me wrong I love straw fabric but this cutey seemed to me to cry out for a gentler, softer fabric and so I had a good ratch in my stash and came up with 'Mountain Rose' by silkweavers, this is 32ct linen.

The back of the design shows the fabric colours a little better I think, as you can see its a kind of bluey/grey/pink and I do like the stitched finish on this fabric better - I used all the recommended threads that came in the kit and I also used the wonderful over-dyed silk ribbon and the tiny little amethyst beads, it says in the kit that they are teal coloured  beads, but to my eyes they are definitley amethyst not a greeny colour at all (which is what I think teal is - my car is teal blue and its not purple LOL). As you can see I have also treated myself to the ginghers, though not engraved ones, they are such lovely colours on the handles - reminded me a little of Renoir colour choices in his paintings.

Rainy Sunday

After all the lovely weather we have had, its now raining, so I thought I would share with you some summer cottage sunshine, in the way of the flowers I bought on Friday.

A few white aliums, freesia and lysanthus and elephant grass, sitting in my creamy white jug on my mantle, they make me smile.

Hope you are having a good Sunday.

SweetHeart - Shepherds Bush

I couldn't remember if I showed you all this, and I don't think I did, I finished it earlier this year, in fact just before Valentines Day.
I've stitched it on 40ct fabric - colour was alabaster and I played around slightly with the colours and finished it with a tiny green button and some antique french lace I had in my stash, which my sister had given me a while ago from her trip to France. I also added a small MoP heart button at the top where the ribbon  starts.

I hope that you all have a really great weekend, its supposed to be hot and sunny here this weekend and I have plans to go out into the garden and do some weeding, cos after the rain we have had this week and the warm sun, the weeds have taken off, as has my grass so that needs cutting too, so a little work to do there Plus I want to finish painting my fence - one side of the garden is done and not the other so it looks a little odd.  I also want to get up to the allotment and weed my onions, if I remember to take my camera with me I'll take some pics of their early progress, I was talking to the club chairman the other day and he reckons that I really stand a really really good chance this year to win as they are really lovely onions, but I won't hold my breathe yet - just in case something disastrous happens LOL! Its a long time til the show in September.

BIG Fish

Another finish for the Fobbles exhibition next month, this time its Big Fish by CHS, - though why its called that I haven't a clue cos really he is just a minnow fish, he's not even as long as my hand and I stitched him on 30ct linen, using the recommended DMC threads to make him a little bigger, I decided to make him into a little pincushion, its such a cutey and I've christened him Fred!!.

Thanks for all your nice comments about my last couple of finishes I do appreciate them and that you made the time to leave them for me, comments are so encouraging and definitley brighten up my day and it was so interesting to see which of the flip flops you all preferred I do believe that most of you liked the seahorse one the best.

I've made a start on the SB 2010 scissor fob and its coming up a treat, though I have changed the linen fabric - the linen that came with the kit was just toooooo dull for this pretty design and the scissors.

I thought I would leave you with a picture of my Oriental poppies that have just popped open today, there are many more to come, but these are the first 2 of this year.

Some finishing

I thought I would do a little finishing this weekend and decided that I would finish this pretty design by Danybrod  which she designed in 2008. The design is called 'Ancien filet crochet'

I made it into a scissor keeper/thread holder, and I also made a scissor fob.

I edged it all with an ivory beaded trim and used a Kelmscott Designs thread ring.

This is the back of the scissor holder/thread keeper, I used a moda fabric and some 1/8" ribbon for the holder, and its the most perfect size for a pair of the Kelmscott 'Little gems' scissors.

The fob I trimmed with the same trim as the scissor holder, I also used the same ribbon. I finished it of with a MoP heart button so that it matched the MoP thread ring of the thread holder part.

Its all stitched it all on 32ct linen - colour unknown and I used silk thread - Belle Soie 'Vanilla Pudding'. I wanted it to have that soft vintage cameo look to it all and I am really pleased with how its turned out.

I do like Danys designs and have recently treated myself to a couple of them, I am looking forward to starting another soon.

I hope that you are all having a good weekend? The weather here yesterday was really nice - the sun was shining and it was very warm, but today we have had lots of thunder and now its raining quite heavily, but it still feels warm, I did a bit of work in my garden again yesterday for a while, and I am getting excited about my plants blooming in the next month or so, I really think its going to be quite pretty this year.

Holiday flip-flops

This year the theme for Fobbles exhibition is the seaside, and at the moment I am busy stitching little things that reminds me of the seaside, and nothing was more perfect than flip-flops. These little cuties are by Cross-eyed Cricket and they were so easy to stitch and finish.

I've stitched them on 30ct linen using the recommended DMC colours. They are quite small about 31/2" long, - I can't decide which out these 2 is my favourite - which one is yours?

Many many Thanks.....

....to all who have contacted me either by leaving a comment here or by private email, text and phone, I also appreciate the friendship and support you have shown here, I would have emailed you all personally, but I am finding this all so very upsetting, You never would think that something like this could happen where you live, this is such a 'sleepy hollow' area with very little crime. West Cumbria has been hit very hard over the past few months, what with the floods at Cockermouth  and Workington and the death of the 'hero' policeman and also the tragic coach crash 10 days ago when the children were killed - today was the funeral of one of those children, it all seems so pointless and a waste of so many lives, today I have really questioned my faith, and I am not a particularly religious person, but I am sure that there must be a greater plan somewhere to account for all the horror and that something good must come out of this in the end, we are all tested in strange ways and I hope that the survivors of this mayhem find comfort in their faiths and love  -  I truely appreciate your thoughts for all those in my home area, its been such a long and tragic day, more so for so many who have really been touched by this as it was members of their families. Cumbrians are very resilient people I have found in the 26 years I have lived here, and they have such a strong bond with each other, especially around here.

I also really feel for the gunmans family, they will probably be finding this all the hardest to bear, and I truely hope they have no repercussions of all this. I really do wonder what can make a person flip..... to do something that is so out of character from what his neighbours and colleagues have said..... we will never know now why!

Utter Sadness

This has happened in my village and surrounding area today, I personally know at least 2 of the people who have been killed today of some of the names that have been released, I am so upset by it all.

Twelve people have been killed and at least 25 others are injured after a gunman carried out a series of shootings in Cumbria.


The suspected attacker, taxi driver Derrick Bird, shot dead two colleagues in Whitehaven, Cumbria, before driving his cab through the countryside as he opened fire on other victims.


Following a manhunt, police found his body 20 miles away in woods near the hamlet of Boot about three-and-a-half hours later.
Officers have found a gun in the area and said he had taken his own life.

They added there were 30 separate crime scenes in the investigation.

Watch the latest developments live on Sky Player

Following the Whitehaven attacks, Bird, 52, drove south along the coast, shooting at people, apparently at random.

The gunman drove through Egremont, Gosforth and Seascale before turning inland and ending up in Boot.


Two people are thought to have been killed in Egremont.

A woman in her 60s is believed to have been shot dead outside the home of resident Billy Boakes.

Another man is understood to have been killed on the old bridge in the town. Eyewitnesses reported seeing a victim lying in a pool of blood.

A man was reportedly shot dead in Gosforth. The victim was apparently in a field trimming hedges with his uncle when Bird apparently drove past, wound down a car window and blasted him.
The victim has been named locally as Gary Purdham, son of farmer John Purdham.
Gary Purdham is the brother of Rob Purdham, who is a Harlequins rugby league player, Sky sources say.

Two people were killed in Seascale, where local GPs were called to the scene, according to Sky sources.

Stitchy Loveliness

I recieved a most wonderful package from Aniko the other week, she sent me a Thankyou gift for doing her a favour and I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened the parcel, inside I found this stunning thread holder/pin-cushion, scissors and fob, its ll stitched and finished absolutely perfectly. The fabric is 50ct - YES 50ct, and each stitch is a perfect cross stitch its so awesome in real life to see. The design is by one of my favourites - LA D-DA. Isn't it just wonderful! Its teeny tiny and just perfect. Thankyou again Aniko for the wonderful gift - I so love it.


Its my turn to say thankyou to you all for the lovely comments you have left me welcoming me back and about my lounge, I was very proud of my lounge finish and I loveed doing it. I will let mum know the praise you have given her regarding all my cushions that we made together.

The tour begins

I thought I would start my tour with my lounge, its so hard to take photos of it, I have struggled a little so that I could try and give you an overview, but it was difficult, I hope that you like the snippets that I show, otherwise you will all just have to come and visit and see it for real LOL!

Let me start with yet another cushion, remember me?!! I stitched this pretty EEF design a little while ago, and mum suggested finishing it as a cushion, and this is the finished result.

Next up is the view when you walk through to the lounge on the right hand side of the room. The footstool mum and I recovered together, we had fun doing it.

Would you like a view of the little vignette I did in the corner - yes? Ok here it comes

Next up more of my cushions that Mum and I made together, it was mums idea to add the MoP buttons to the sides of this cushion,

Transfer was a freebie on the web, fabric from IKEA.

The mantle view - Stocks from Marks & Spencer, candles from Melt, light from Ikea

The opposite side of the room, print is by Sue Fenlon - a wonderful artist who lives in Northumbria, I have another above the other sofa

A close up of the Love Pillow that Mum made for me, we saw these when browsing one day in a posh shop and they were £80 each, so mum said she would make me one.

View through the looking glass

I hope you enjoyed the look around my lounge, its very very different to what it was before as I had a gold suite and deep cushions and different mirror and artwork on the walls now I'm very happy with it as it feels like my space. Of course there are things I would still love to change - I would love to remove the carpet and have wood flooring put down, I would also love to change the fireplace and fire, but I can't do that, so this is my finish, I can't wait now for Christmas and to change the way it looks again LOL!

After the Rain

Two posts in One Day, almost a record for me I think LOL!!

Thankyou for not deserting me your comments mean so much and they give me great encouragement so thankyou!

I popped out in the garden earlier this evening once the rain had stopped and took a few pictures to share with you, I hope that you like them.

The one above is from my back garden, I can see this from my window, a few of the wild yellow poppies have appeared and look so pretty amongst the London Pride, Hosta, Day Lily and Meadowsweet.

This is my large oriental poppy

Grandma's bonnets (Aqaligia)

My lovely spring Clematis

Lace Cap Climbing Hydrangea, Hosta and Meadowsweet

A visitor among the Ivy

Tash amongst the self seeding plants in the front path

Well I hope you liked my little visit I made for you for the Garden, it looks so fresh after the rain today, I couldn't resist taking some photos and Tash as always had to join me, so that she didn't miss out on the photo-shoot LOL!

I'm Back!!

Wow I can't believe its so long since I have posted or even been around the blogs, also I haven't even really been on the computer very much at all! Thankyou to all who have emailed me, rang me or posted a comment to me wondering where I am and if I'm OK!

As the saying goes : Keep Calm, Carry On!! and yes I have had to think about that wee saying on and off over the past few weeks, at times its been tumulteous, as it was the anniversary of 'the Break-up' which I struggled with and also it was 'his' birthday and the first without me being around 'him'. 'He' has been on holiday with his'chick' (I say the 'chick' word loosely as I would very much like to call her something very unprintable, un-writable etc LOL!) which I also struggled massively with. But.... then I thought about all the things I have achieved since he went and how my life is changing and what I have learnt and I gave myself a wee pat on the back and thought I have come on in myself quite a bit, what with learning to drive (not yet sat the practical test yet, but I have booked a date), I've bought a car, All that decorating and re-designing the house and losing weight, not that far off my target either now just another 28lbs to go, I am now lighter than I was in 1999!

The cushion above is what I made for 'Him' for his birthday, as the saying can also apply to how he has been feeling at times so I gather, so I hunted around the internet and found the freebie design and printed it off onto transfer paper and made the cushion. 'He' told me that he liked it so that was good!

The cushion behind it, is also one of new ones that I made a whole assortment of different ones with Mum when they were over for the weekend a couple of weeks ago now. These I will show soon.
I have had lots of visitors too, staying from a couple of nights to almost a week at a time, this is the first weekend in ages when I have had nobody here and its giving me the opportunity to blog etc.

I have taken lots of pics of the house and will show them soon and also I have been working incredibly hard on my garden, it might be only a little space but I had let it overgrow this past year and so have worked at it and its now full of plants and hopefully will look wonderful when they all flower. I even have a couple of tomato plants - courtesy of 'Him' and will have my own toms this year which I am looking forward too.

Great news to share

Just a very quick pop in, but I am so excited I had to share with you all

I PASSED my Theory driving test today - so thats part 1 over and done with and I can fully concentrate on my actual driving and get ready to do my Driving test next, I got really good marks too whch so surprised me as I thought I wasn't ready for this part of the UK driving test yet and I passed first time with it, with flying colours- fingers crossed that the next part I can do first time too LOL, though I still keep stalling at traffic lights I must have a lesson soon I hope that I can sail through without making any mistakes.

Also Nephew number 2 sits his actual driving test on Thursday so I hope that he passes first time with it as he passed his theory test first time too a couple of weeks ago now.

A New Finish

Well I hope you all had a really good Easter and received lots of delicious eggs? I had a wonderful few days over in the North East with my family. I stayed with my sister Helen but spent a lot of time with Mum and Dad and my brother and his 2 very handsome young teenagers came up on Saturday and it was so lovely to see them all, we had some good days out - we wnt to Yarm, Durham, Northallerton and Middlesbro', we also went to Helmsley on Sunday and went to a a wonderful craft fayre which was a lot of fun (sorry no pics as I forgot my camera this weekend) and I went shopping and bought a couple of things for the house and some fabric too. I also found inspiration for cushion making.

This cushion above is actually larger than it appears here, its a full sized cushion, and I stitched JBWs 'The Queen Bee for the centre using 28ct Natural Linen and cream silk thread. The cushion is made up of some lovely heavy linen fabric that I had and I trimmed the bottom corner with some 'Love' ribbon that I had in my stash - thats cos I am thinking of giving this as a gift for a very very dear friend.

The trim I have used is some fine crochet lace and I used 2 MoP buttons for added interest.

As I was away I didn't get chance to do any work in the Garden at all, and today has been the best day so far this week - hopefully this nice break in the weather will mean I can get outside and do a bit to it all - I really need to pressure wash and seal my decking before the weather gets to warm and I won't feel like doing it, plus I need to do something with my outside wooden furniture as its quite a mess. Tomorrow I get my onion plants in readiness to pot them on to give them a start before they need to go in the ground in May.

I am still doing a few finishing touches (like making cushions and covering my footstool aand possibly new lounge curtains - Can you tell my Mum and Dad are coming in May LOL) to the house and it should all be finished completely after the first May Bank Holiday and so during May time I will give you my tour, thankyou for your kind emails and comments about my 'tour' idea I hope it won't disappoint.
Mum and I are having a 'crafty' Bank Holiday that first weekend, as they are both coming over hopefully and Mum and I have plans LOL!