Oh Wow

Thankyou everyone for yor lovely comments and the wonderful welcome back, I sure have missed you guys... I will reply to my emails this weekend. Thankyou too for the lovely compliments, I really appreciated them, Helen is the pretty one of us girls as she is such a petite little thing and very dark haired and slim, I'm the clod hopper LOL!! and the fair haired one (take after my mums side of the family)

Harry had his first night with me and seemed to settle OK, I was a little worried as he hasn't really eaten - he has had a little drink, so I contacted the girl I got him from - as I had worried mum syndrome - she said put him in his cage through the day with door open and give him a little chicken twice a day plus make suer his puppy dried food was there all the time, - he woofed (apologise for the pun) the chicken back, had  another drink and sniffed the biscuits - he had a cuddle from me til he dropped off to sleep and at the moment he is back on his bed in the cage, he slept all evening perchde on my shoulder its was so cute. He slept all night too in his bed in the cage beside me and was fine as well.

Tash knows he is here but is ignoring the whole business, just keeps smacking her lips (she does this when she is preturbed, but she is OK and I have made a big big fuss of her.

Will be showing some pics this next week of my other finish if I can manage to get it framed and also of course of Harry.

Til later

Hugs

 

So Sorry.........

.... to have worried quite a few of you, thankyou so much for the concerned emails and phone calls and comments on here, but I am OK - honestly!

I just seemed to lose interest in a lot of things in my life, I needed some time to myself and find what I think is me again (that is still an ongoing process LOL!). There has been such a lot of changes for me over the last 18 months what with  family changes and health issues, work status worries (still hanging in there at work by the fingernails) etc etc and I just think its all caught up with me in the end, without me realising it quick enough!

I don't have a lot of stitching to share with you as I don't seem to have done very much at all, stitching wise really, its been something I have been battling with in my mind for a while and so chose to take a break from that too.

But I want to share with you what I made for my lil' sis Helen for her birthday. Its stitched on natural linen using cream silk thread and framed in a Laura Ashley pearl frame - the silhouette reminded me very much of Helen and thought it was perfect for her.

I did pass my driving test on the 2nd attempt which was early August and I just LOVE driving. I drove over to mum and dads the 2nd weekend after I passed I was so proud of mysekf driving on my own to the opposite side of the country and made it in one piece. Mum and Dad was really proud of me too. Mum took my picture in her garden and as many of you haven't got a clue what I look like I thought I would share that with you too, if scarey sights upset you I suggest you scroll down a bit further and bypass that picture (I really hate my picture taken and I look like I am about to run off LOL!) Those that have met me will be able to see that I have grown my hair somewhat, gone very blonde and have lost 5 stone in weight (- hopefully Angela you will recognise me the next time we meet up)

Next up what to share -  Fobbles exhibition, that was a lovely weekend and I made a small collage of some of the exhibits so I could share them with you - sorry its not the normal fobbles exhibition posting that I would normally do, but I thought a little something was better than nothing at all. I really recommend that if you could ever attend one of them that you should go, its lovely to see all the work shown and it seems to be getting bigger and bigger every year.

What else - weeeeeelllll I think its one of the most important things that is happening in my life at the moment and certainly the most exciting - I would like to introduce you to Harry!! Harry is coming to live with me as from Friday 29th October when he will be 8 weeks old, he stands about 4" tall and is about 6" long at the moment - of course he will grow but he will always be very very small, especially as he is the runt of the litter and both his parents were runts too - Can any of you guess what he is?

There will of course be more updates about Harry and his progress and I do have some other bits and pieces to share with you - Meeting the truely wonderful Jeannette Douglas and doing her workshop, the lovely Lynette Anderson meeting, Harry, Knitting and even more knitting and a tiny bit more stitching, I think I have probably bored you all silly by now - that is if anyone is still visiting me?

Love and Hugs

 

A week has passed.....

.... and I cannot believe where the time is going. How are you all?  Ok I hope, thankyou so much for the lovely comments that you left about Mum and Dads garden, I have passed them onto them, and Mum said to thank you all for visiting.

What have I got to show you today, well I have the finish that I made for Tizy for the 'French swap with Nina' exchange and I was delighted to hear from Tizy that she liked my choice for her and that it had finally arrived on her doormat. - Things seem to take such a long time to srrive to Italy from the UK - it takes longer to get there than it does to to the U.S.A. - It always seems that way, whenever I have sent anything to Italy - have you found that too?

As I so enjoyed stitching my little scissor holder and fob the other month from the design 'Ancien filet crochet' by Danybrod, I decided to do it again.

This time I stitched it on 40ct antique white linen and used, red silk thread. The backing I used a vintage style rose fabric I had in my stach and trimmed the scissor holder/pinkeep with red ric rac braid.

The scissors are by Kelmscott Designs and I felt matched perfectly with the rose designs of both the xstitch and the backing fabric, I also added a vintage style crochet lace trim to the scissor pocket, and a large MoP ring for holding thread at the top - again the ring was from Kelmscott Designs.

The weather here has been absolutley awful, we have had torrential rain and gale force winds, everyones garden have been wrecked, and I do believe I am starting to get webbed feet! Yesterday and Thursday there were power cuts in parts of the village due to the weather conditions - I had no electric when I first got up and then it came back on again and then when I got home from work - No electric again, this time it was off for a good 2-3 hours which is a real pain, but today it seems to be OK.

News to tell is that next Friday 23rd & Saturday 24th is Fobbles annual exhibition of craft work (all things stitchy loveliness, beading etc etc), so if you are up this way and would like to visit, its open all day on both days and I can meet you, which would be fun - there is a small admission fee as all the proceeds go to 'Hospice at Home'. If you can't get up to visit, I will of course have pics on my blog again.

I'll leave you with another picture of Mums garden

Ooo and BTW I sit my driving test next Thursday 22nd at 08:20am - wish me luck!!

 

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!