What do you do ...

on a beautiful sunny evening when you've had a busy day at work?

Yesterday morning, i dropped hubby off at a customers house to collect their vehicle as he would be working on it all day.

As the day went on he called to say that the job was taking longer than he thought and would i be happy to go with him after the evening rush hour to return it and pick him up.

Of course, no problem, but that would mean a late evening meal wouldn't it ....

Aha.....a little treat of an idea formed in my mind after i had put the phone down.

How about putting a basket of goodies together and having our meal outside in the evening sunshine sitting by some water, only a mile or two from where we were heading. We have been having most meals outside in the garden for a while with the lovely weather we've been having, but this was different.

Want to see where we went ....

A short drive to park in the car park of Groby Pool. Groby itself is a little village mentioned in the Doomsday Book. The Pool is a place we have visited often when the children were younger, but in recent times we haven't been for ages.

Hubby wandered over the stone bridge carrying the basket of food


along the path and through the little kissing gate


Up the stone steps


Sit the basket on the little seat and ourselves too


and admire the view


We ate our tuna and sweetcorn salad from little plastic boxes


Crackers and cheese


and a piece of fruit each whilst soaking up the wonderful peace and quiet.

Friendly feathered friends checking us out


and some busy doing their own thing


We were kind and shared a cracker or two


Not a soul was about till a local older couple came to feed the birds. Greedy little things they are and all came swimming frantically across the pool for their evening snack of a whole loaf of bread!



The swans were magnificent, they were doing the most spectacular swimming and diving at each other, they even flew around in the air and landed again in the water, but always in pairs.



Lots of babies with their parents


There is even a very detailed noticeboard telling you all about the various kinds of ducks/geese/swans that inhabit the pool.


Too much effort for swimming, lots were happy to lay on the bank watching others having fun.


Soon it was time to pack up the basket and wander along the path back to the car


Take in all the wonderful natural beauty that was around us




The sun glinting on the water was mesmerising and you could have been fooled into thinking you were on your holidays and not just a 6 mile drive away from home. A beautiful place to visit, all free and right beside a busy road too.

Simple pleasures on a warm sunny May evening, we loved it!

x

Happy Birthday Rachael

Today Rachael celebrates her birthday. If you are a visitor to her blog you will know she has a deep love for cats.

As soon as i saw this lovely design a while back i just knew it would make a fabulous card for her, it was such a fun project to stitch. It's from a book i have called Quick to Stitch, Cross Stitch Cards.


Someone else i know loves cats too. My grandaughter Isabelle is fascinated with our cat and the 7 that come into my garden from next door. I showed her mum this free knitting pattern from Deramores newsletter and of course nanny had to get knitting straight away.


This week i had a visit from Tina (no blog). We meet at the stitchers meet up twice a year and she asked if she could take the short train journey to spend a day with me. We chatted and stitched and i even 'made' her call into my LNS - for me that stands for 'little' needlework shop as it really is not much bigger than a broom cupboard, and with DMC at a price of 89p i dont venture there often unless its an emergency. In this case i needed a DMC to make a start on Lynn's RR.

The summer exchange has been stitched, i finished that whilst Tina was here. I just need to make it up now but the post out isn't till mid June for that so a while before i can show you.

Monthly challenge has also been completed today. Stitched last week and made up this morning. I can tell you this months chart is What a Cut Up by Patrick’s Woods but again a no show till the last Sunday of the month. This one has been popular, i have seen a few different finishes of this in blogland recently.

Tomorrow, i am off to visit Clare.The RR goes to her after me, but, unless i get off here and stay up all night and stitch, she wont be getting it this visit!

I hope all is well with you and yours.

x

In the Parlour

Wednesday evening is parlour night with Barb and the ladies at NH to stitch on a design by The Sampler Girl. Lots of Jane Austen quotes to keep us busy and entertained.

I've been naughty though and not stitched a bigger design for a couple of weeks and did a couple of Tanya's smalls.

When browsing through my copies of the annual Just Cross Stitch ornament editions with a cuppa i came across a beauty in 2009 edition - The Sampler Girl - Early American Motif Ornament has become this months finish.


I decided to stitch my version on 25ct over 1 and the only change i made was to change the date to this years as it will join the others i have for gifts at Christmastime. I felt it needed a really simple finish so went with the blanket stitch contrast edging and twine hanger.

The latest free chart 'May' was a must stitch as soon as i saw it, another little birthday this month and after my successful tissue holder i chose the same finish for this small design. The fabric for this is from a Polstitches grab bag that i was gifted for my birthday, a real great idea for a stitchers gift.



Barb is such a generous and kind lady and has rewarded the ladies who have been joining her in the parlour each week with a small gift. Mine arrived today, postie knocked on the door - i so imagined that is was the postman from Larkrise to Candleford as i knew it was going to be a little giftie from the Jane Austen shop. I was thrilled when i opened it, a super little notepad with magnetic closure to go into my bag. Thank you so much Barb, it's a very special gift. If you visit Barbs blog you will see she is an avid Jane fan, she wrote in the little card that came with the gift using her new quill and ink, how exciting is that!


WARNING ....... (for those who get a little excited) ..... i have had Shores on the lap frame.... OMG i can hear you all saying, we thought that was going to become a UFO, and yes i know it hasn't seen the outside of the workbox since well before the wintertime.

Here's a before.... as i know you wont remember where i got to, i couldn't either

and as Block 6/7 are now.....


made me smile when i saw the saying 'I will wait for thee' it certainly was patient in the workbox LOL

I've been seeing lots of lovely work on blogs recently, well done to you all.

Happy hobby time!

x

Mayday Mayday!!

No panic, i am not in trouble....just the start of another month....and time to reveal this months challenge piece. The brief for the challenge each month is 'A free design to stitch and finish as you like'

The design each month is chosen by Christine at Needlecraft Haven and this month was Happy Day by Subrosa.

A small piece of 28ct lugana in what the ticket says is called 'blush' is a piece of fabric i chose from the oddment bag. I decided to make the little birdie a different colour and went with a peacock blue for him - i say him, it could be a her!



A handbag tissue holder sprang to mind when it came time to finish it and one of the ladies at the stitch club has a birthday next month, so this will go into her birthday parcel. I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. Other finishes for this design from members of the forum can be seen in the online album although some are still finishing off and will be added later.

The only other stitching happening has been to LHN 'The Rain Fell' and very apt it's been as that's exactly what the weather had been doing all week. My poor garden is sodden and yet they are saying we are still in a drought situation. As i heard a chap mention on the radio, this is the wettest drought i have ever seen.

I put the final stitch into it last night ...



I hope you are all safe wherever you are with the reports of floods in the UK. The first few pictures in this report showing localised flooding are only a short walk from my home.

x

Edited to add the link for the tissue holder tutorial i used