March comes to an end...

and what weather we are having on the last day of the month. I woke to howling winds and heavy rain and now the suns shining beautifully although the wind speed is still giving my lovely spring flowers cause for concern bending their heads to the ground

Block 2 of Shores is complete so i'm happy with progress on that this month. All ready to begin Block 3 tomorrow and on target with a block a month since the start of this SAL. Kathy (no blog) is also stitching this one which is nice, she is at the same stage as i am. Thanks for showing me a pic of yours Kathy. Quite an assortment of CHS designs being stitched by others at Needlecraft Haven too.

As i mentioned in the last post, i have joined another weekly SAL at NH, Barb is running this one to stitch any design by Tanya at The Sampler Girl.

I took my 'At home with Jane Austen' to the stitchy club last night and then continued with it when i came home, here's where i got to. Most of my stitching is over 2 at the moment so i decided that a teeny tiny would be nice and am stitching this over 1 on 25ct laguna in potato. Lizzie Mouse is keeping check on my progress and reporting back to Barb LOL

Friend or foe!

A little knitting time this morning on the sofa and a little fluffy boy decided he would like to sit next to mum IN my knitting basket. He tried very hard to out the plastic bag with the already knitted baby bits in, so i removed it and he snuggled down on top of my crochet magazine in the sunshine so i took a pic of him looking lovely and cute ..... the doorbell went and when i returned he had vacated the basket and was playing with the spare knitting pin - cue grab camera and take another pic whilst not disturbing him ....









knitting pin drops to the floor with a little help from a great big furry paw and it'a great game to play whilst mum is not here (or so he thinks, and it's a good job he went for the pin with no knitting on it!) but the games over when the pin just sits still on the floor and refuses to play ... one grumpy cat, no fun inside when things wont play with you and mum has spotted what you've been up to.









He's now gone upstairs onto my bed and is grabbing some zzz's with the sunshine streaming through the window on him, he does have a good life this kitty of mine LOL

Thank you for all your thoughts and comments on the JBW for mum. I decided to put 'Mum' inside the wreath and then go with her birthdate and age in the other 2 boxes. I tried it in a few of the colours i'd used in the design but decided to go with the paler lavendar blue as the others stood out too much and it detracted from the wording on the design. Just need to find a nice special frame now for it to go in, it's nice to have something completed in plenty of time and not rush to get it done, my forward planning seems to be going ok this year so far... hope i haven't spoken too soon!

Thanks for stopping by, i hope you are having a lovely day

What's a squirrels favourite food?

A few days lovely sunshine and my camelia bushes are beginning to open their buds to reveal these beautiful pink flowers









I'm beginning to think that Mr Squirrels favourite food is my camelia buds though, they must be the equivalent of chocolate to us as he can't seem to get enough of them. This year is not going to be such a good show as previous years due to his addiction. Does anyone else have this problem?

This little design is what i was stitching last week at the meet-up. It's one of the Sweet Nothings by JBW Designs called 'Our Family'

My mum will be celebrating her 70th birthday next month and i wanted something small to put into a frame. Instead of the charms the chart asks for, i've decided to add her age and maybe name into the spaces, but have left it for now whilst i make up my mind. What do you think would be nice in the spaces??

I've stitched this little kit from Elizabeth Designs before and it sits on my own tree. It was such a lovely design i kept the chart.

When i had my Christmas tree up last year, i had a couple of comments on how lovely it was so decided to make another one to give as a gift this Christmas. Stitched on 32ct cashel linen, no idea of colour, using Vicki Clayton silks in verdigris, dark evergreen and garnet, i think it turned out better than the original one i have LOL

Mothers Day will soon be upon us. The signed book i mentioned in the last post was for my mum and to accompany it i've stitched her this springtime bookmark. It's a design from a very old magazine called The Gallery, it used to be very popular here in the UK quite a few years ago but they stopped printing it.

This week i'm having a new start, i'll be joining Barb and the ladies on Wednesday night at Needlecraft Haven in their The Sampler girl SAL. The design i'll be doing is 'At Home with Jane Austen' There have been some wonderful finishes in this SAL, Tanya Marie Anderson is a very popular designer.

Did you all remember to alter your clocks an hour last night? The way i remember which way they go is by an old saying that my gran taught me 'spring forward, fall back' so it really must be spring now as we have all sprung forward, hopefully there will be plenty more lovely spring sunshine in the weeks to come.

I hope you have all had a good week and life is running along a smooth path for you all, thank you for visiting

Stitchers meet-up

Last week was a strange one, it started off very quietly but soon gained momentum, a couple of stressful days and a lovely surprise in the post from Karen. She's made me this lovely fob using her own handmade glass beads, aren't these little hearts the most beautiful thing, thank you so much Karen, its beautiful and i love it.

Friday, i was in a local department store attending a book signing. Lynda Page lives locally and writes novels set in the city i live in. This latest book - A Bitter Legacy - is her 25th and i have them all in my collection with about half of them signed copies. She loves to meet her readers and often has a book signing when a new one comes out, we had a lovely chat and she signed 2 copies for me, one for my own collection and one for a family member too. They are what i call a quick and easy read. Have you read any of her books?

Saturday was the meet-up of Needlecraft Haven stitchers

DH drove me over as he needed to use the car to get to the community centre open day with all his goodies for the table he was to supervise. He also took the camera with him so i only got to take a few pics on my phone.

The day whizzed by as it usually does. I sat next to Tina, i managed to sneak a pic of her busily stitching away! Tracy was on the other side of me which was nice as i had only briefly spoken to her a couple of times before. It was nice to get to know you better Tracy.

There were tables with goodies for sale for those who couldn't resist temptation. Dawn from Crafty Kitten brought along a lovely selection of her hand dyed fabrics and Vicky from India Grace also joined us. I think there were about 28 of us this time. Homemade goodies to eat - Chris your hubby's tea loaf was amazing and i really do need to get the recipe for that.

Chris, Lindsay, Rachael and Clare are all hard at work, and you can see how lovely the area is that we have to stitch in. Chris has some pics on her blog, she even managed to snap one of me sitting on the right of Tina and her friend Pat - we do look very busy don't we LOL. Rachael also has some pics on her blog too.

Mr Stick was unable to attend with me although i think the ladies were a little pleased. He did send a relative along to keep one of the ladies on track with her UFO stitching. I'd like you to meet Miss Tickling Stick, she is a little mischief maker and is still wearing her costume and red nose from Friday nights Comic Relief fun and laughter. I wonder if Clare will get St George (her long term UFO) finished soon as she now has a little 'sticky' helper to assist. Thanks for organising a lovely day yesterday and the stitching competition game was such fun, i better revise a bit more for next time though Miss LOL

Some of the wonderful stitched pieces on show




















The amazing HAED that Hazel's dad has been working on was there for us all to admire, of course i had to look at the back .... WOW it was so neat and tidy - well done Dad, would you like my QS to finish LOL












And finally just to prove that i have been doing something myself last week when i had five minutes, here are all 15 motifs for Floral Fifteen completed. I've also made a start on the cardigan using the lovely wool that Barb sent in the baby box for DD, a lovely pattern but it does need a bit of concentration, and i learned how to do something new in this pattern too.

I started a new small project and that was what i took to work on at the meet-up, just a small bit left to do before it's finished so i'll show you that next time.

Thank you to all who were at the meet-up on Saturday and to the pub for the meal afterwards, i had the most enjoyable day. It was just what i needed after the stressful midweek happenings. I very tired lady was collected by DH after the meal and was soon snoozing on the sofa after a short journey home. See you all next time, love to you all

Spring has sprung!

A couple of days of lovely spring sunshine and the garden is looking lovely, the snowdrops are still flowering and the daffodils have opened their buds to reveal such a splendid array of colour when i look out of my window.









Washing has been out on the line blowing about which always brings a smile to my face, i do like the simple things in life. A visit with my aunts this morning and my cousin was there too, so many laughs and fun times were had chatting about things that we used to do. Then, an afternoon with Amy, it's lovely to spend time with family, i certainly relish those moments.

Talking of Amy, she brought me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers last week that brought a tear to my eye, just a 'pick-you-up' gift she said. It was the second lot of flowers she had bought last week. She arranged for some pink carnations to be delivered to Barb as a thank you for the special baby box she received. They look lovely Barb, thank you for posting a pic on your blog so i could see them.

Last weeks stitching ...

Two more motifs added to Floral Fifteen, that makes a total of 13 now stitched, so only 2 more to go and the beads then i can start the construction process.

Shores also had some attention and we now have some little fishes and a great big fish added to the bottom of the sea scene. This block seems to have stitched up really quickly

A little crochet

I also spent a lot of time last week with hoook and wool. Granny squares using Stylecraft wool in the gorgeous colours spring green, sherbert and cream and the flowers are made with oddments from the wool bag. I saw this design as a cushion on Lucy's blog Attic 24 some time ago and then was able to see one made up by Hazel at the stitchers meet-up last October, so when Amy asked me for a snazzy little blanket to brighten up the dull dark grey car seat for the baby, i knew just what i was going to whip up for her. She loves it and is thrilled to bits with it, no one will have one of these she said, but i did say that i wouldn't be taking orders from friends so tell them that it is a one-off!

Thank you all for your lovely words of comfort on the last post. I'm feeling a lot calmer and brighter this week. Things to look forward to include a holiday that was booked by DH for later in the year and this coming weekend is the stitchers meet-up at Nuneaton. I've had to decline helping out at the Community Centre on Saturday as its the grand opening after the new refurbishments but i'd already said yes to attending the meet-up and i couldn't really cancel that. I'm sure DH will be able to hold the fort and give enough support for the both of us.

Happy stitching and crafting to you all ....

Quick note ...

Last weeks stitching was the start of Block 2 on Shores and the first of the 5 motifs on the green fabric for JN's Floral Fifteen.









Not a lot has been accomplished over the weekend though. I had a check-up visit with the neuro guy on Friday and received some rather important news. The latest MRI scan shows i have a growth in the middle of the brain, they assure me it's not a tumour only a cyst that they will monitor, it still knocked the wind out of my sails though i can tell you. I'm way behind on blog reading but will catch up with you all soon when i feel more chatty.

Did i mention we had a parcel?

and what a parcel it was too!!

I don't think i need to write anything about it, the pictures will speak for themselves.....

A very happy and emotional young lady left our house with this wonderful array of goodies that had been so beautifully knitted and put together by Barb. She found it very hard to understand how a lady who has never met her could send something so beautiful and special.

Thank you so much Barb, you really did make us both speechless and very, very emotional at your kindness. I'm looking forward to making the cardigan to match the hat you knitted with the wool you enclosed. xxxx