Having fun times

Home from our little trip away down south to Dorset.  We saw some lovely places, i think we'll be visiting this way again. 

Weymouth was our home for the week.  With a view over Radipole Lake and just a 5 minute walk from the beautiful harbour

 

and lovely sandy beach seafront with stunning town clock that was erected to commemorate the jubilee of Queen Victoria

 

 

We ventured out of town to quite a few places of interest during the week ....

 

Lyme Regis, visited by Jane Austin in  1803 and 1804 and mentioned in her book Persuasion and we walked The Cobb too although the sea was very rough and coming over the harbour walls.

 

 

Anyone been watching Broadchurch on the TV recently? We stopped off for a visit to West Bay where they had filmed it and a walk along the beach.  No clues to the murderer though and no sign of David Tennant....shame!  It was a really murky day with the sea mists rolling in and gale force winds, just the place to visit to feel the atmosphere ready for the final episode of the TV drama that was shown this Monday.  I didn't guess 'whodunnit', did you?

Nothe Fort built in 1872 tells the story of Weymouth at war through time.  Used by the British and then also by the Americans in the second world war when they embarked to Normandy from Weymouth.  A truly fantastic step back in time to see just how things were and walking through the underground tunnels thinking about what actually happened here was very thought provoking.

Many original items were on display and the big guns are magnificent.  DH loved our visit here and was chatting to the museum staff for quite a while about his family members from his family history research.

We climbed to the top of Portland Bill lighthouse.

 

Here i am right at the top next to the bulbs of the light.  Yes, i really did climb all those 153 steep and scarey steps, not bad for someone who likes to have their feet firmly on the floor and gets the collywobbles just standing on a chair!!

 

Cerne Abbas was so peaceful. The abbey itself and St Augustine's Well where i washed my hands in the waters. 

 

 

We went there of course to see the Cerne Abbas giant who stands 180 feet tall high on the hills, a famous landmark of the area. 

 

Please skip the next pic if you are dont want to see the naked man as he is called, although he does need re-chalking and is not as clear as he sometimes is!

 

 

Lulworth Cove  - very picturesque

 

Durdle Dor - magnificent, but a steep climb to view it!

 

A steam train ride on the Swanage Railway

 

 

 passing by Corfe Castle, we stopped off here on the return journey for a wander round.

 

and the final stop on our way home was to Stonehenge

 

 

There was a great big highlight to my week away.  I got to spend a whole evening stitching with my internet friend Barb on Wednesday.  We had the most lovely time.  Thank you Barb for welcoming me and hubby into your home, i hope we can stitch together again one day, for now though, i will have to be content with our 'virtual' Wednesday evenings in the parlour.

 

 

Barb was kind enough to donate a large quantity of books she had read to the Book Borrowers

 


Arriving home there were 2 packages awaiting me from fellow bloggers.

From Carol, one of her lovely ornaments and beautiful surprise goodies in her 1000+ followers drawing.  Carol stitches and finishes the most beautiful things, I am not surprised she has over 1000 followers to her blog, there is always something lovely to see when you visit there.  The little black and white thread holders are fabulous.  I have only ever seen plain white ones before.  Many thanks to you Carol and to your hubby for choosing my name in the drawing for the beautiful PS bunny ornament.

 

 

The second parcel was from Carin, I have never tried the Victorian Motto threads, so thank you Carin for including those into your parcel.  I will enjoy giving them  try.  Your little pillow is superb and I will treasure it.

 

 

Wednesday of this week I was treated to a day out. My friend had been given a spa and afternoon tea treat at Barnsdale Hall Hotel as a Christmas gift and she kindly asked if I would like to go along.  We had the most wonderful time.  A lovely swim in the pool and use of the spa facilities, a relaxing massage and then afternoon tea with homemade cakes overlooking Rutland Water, simply wonderful.

As if all this wasn't enough excitement for me recently, today was the meet up of the Needlecraft Haven ladies. We met at The Abbey in Nuneaton and had a fabulous day.  Thank you ladies for your company today, I've really enjoyed myself.

 

We had a book exchange - each person took a book (wrapped up) with a card inside to say what you liked about the book and why you thought it would make a nice read for someone else.  I wrapped up The Island by Victoria Hislop as mine which went home with Clare.  I had this one from Maggie.  I'm going to enjoy reading this, thank you Maggie.

 

 

 

We also did a goody bag exchange, the theme this time was afternoon tea.  I didn't take a pic of the goodies I put into mine that Maggie took home, but this is what I unwrapped from Diane (no blog) - thank you Diane.

 

 

There was lots of stitching on show for us to see.  I took the things I had been doing recently.

 

CCN - North Pole Post Office

 

 

Nativity Stocking (after last nights Friday stocking-a-long)

 

and my new start that I stitched with Barb last Wednesday, Little Hill by LHN which I stitched on today at the meet up.

 

 

Tomorrow is the reveal of the monthly challenge at NH, but i'm going to be naughty and show you mine tonight so it's included in this post.  I gave this little wind chime to Barb when I visited her.  I hoped the tinkling of the chimes would remind her of the chat and laughter we had when we met and stitched together, I added the year to the design as a reminder too. 

 

Well, I think that's caught up with all that's happened since my last blog post, just one more lovely thing for me this month, my brother will be visiting tomorrow for Sunday lunch and we'll be celebrating his wifes birthday.  April has certainly been a month spent with friends and family and of fun, laughter and happiness for me.  I hope you too have enjoyed some happy times this month.

 

Thank you to my regular readers and commenters, I see there are also some new followers, welcome along, I hope you find something interesting to read when you visit.

 

I really need to do a blog reading catch up after my busy couple of weeks, i'll be dropping in on your blog to see what you have been up to over the coming week.

 

Bye for now, love and {hugs} to you all

 

 

 

 

 

Round Robin has flown home

My speciality stitches RR is home.  I am so chuffed to bits with how it turned out. 

The first posting was way back in September so it's great to have it home safely after it's journey around the UK, to France and also to the USA.  There were 6 if us in it, no set pattern, just the rules that you did 3 bands on each persons piece of fabric choosing a speciality stitch.  The band width was set by yourself at the beginning and you could request a certain colourway if you wished and that was all.

For my top part i chose part of the chart Lake Julia's Bees by Wendy Mosbacher from Just Cross Stitch April 2005, the beaded flowers i added along the bottom to set the band width and start my flower garden.  Row 2 is double herringbone and Row 3 is a horizontal satin stitch.

It then went off to Angi (no blog), Dusty, Tina (no blog), Mary (no blog) and Rachael and finally back home to me.

Want to see how it looks now it's complete?

Thank you ladies, you have all added something really pretty to it and i love it.  I enjoyed stitching on each of yours too and thanks to Rachael for organising such a fun RR.

North Pole Post Office was out again this week on Wednesday for the Parlour evening at NH, a little more progress and we now have the post office and the mailbox.

Apologies to the stocking-a-long ladies as i wont be joining you this evening, but i did stitch on mine earlier this week instead. The top border is now being added.  I really am loving stitching on this each week.

I'm sorry to say that i wont be stitching on it next Friday either ladies, but I do have a good excuse! Hubby and i are off for a little spring break next week to the south coast.  I've kitted up a little new start just in case i get time to put in a stitch or two whilst away.

I've finished reading Educating Jack and it was an enjoyable read.  Having been involved with school life in a primary school myself, it's obvious that the author has many years experience in schools as a headteacher and a lot of the things that he talks about and describes and the conversations he has with the small children do sometimes make you laugh out loud when reading.  It's fun to read the Yorkshire dialect of the village characters too, but i'm not sure i would read any of the others as i feel they probably would be much the same. 

Camera is packed and i'll share our adventure/trip next time i blog.  We're keeping our fingers crossed from some nice sunshine, but just really looking forward to a nice relaxing break.

See you soon

The sun had got his hat on ... hip hip hip hooray

A few days of lovely spring sunshine and it's amazing what you see when you look out of the window, pots of lovely colour.

 

Even though the temperatures are still very cold, it certainly seems like we are finally saying goodbye to wintertime

 

A very welcome start to April, lets hope the usual April showers stay away for just a few more days.

Sitting in the conservatory and reading a book has been happening a lot this week, not much crafting to show.

Wednesday was the parlour stitching with the ladies at NH, and i made a start on North Pole Post Office. I did in fact stitch on it for a second evening too.  Is anyone else finding that these seem to be taking longer to stitch than you think they will, or is it just me?

Friday was the stocking-a-long and out came Nativity Stocking by Janlynn.

 

and i have been stitching on something else thats for a birthday gift so i cant show you that as i'm not sure if the person reads my blog. Those who visit Needlecraft Haven will have seen it as i know the person isn't a member there!

 

Are you wondering what i've been reading? 

 

A book i picked up from our bookcase at the Book Borrowers, its been read by a few ladies. A really lovely easy read called The Vintage Tea Cup Club, a debut novel by Vanessa Greene. 

 

The pretty cover had me hooked from the start ...

 

 

It's about 3 ladies who meet at a car boot sale stall and all want the same vintage tea set which is for sale.  Instead of fighting over it, they decide to share it.  Jenny wants it for her budget tea party wedding, Maggie wants it for a wedding her flower company is involved with and Alison wants use them to sell in her small craft business.  The story is of how their friendship grows and they become close leading up to the use of the teaset for the first time. 

 

Another M C Beaton book was read as well. The first in the Hamish McBeth series this time, its called Death of a Gossip.  A quick easy enjoyable read.  I do have the Hamish series on DVD and can drool over Robert Carlyle in his police uniform, although the character in the book doesn't quite thrill me the same lol.

 

Now we are in April the library choice has been delivered to us for this month, but unfortunately, there was a problem and we didn't get the book we requested this time.  They have sent us this one, Educating Jack.

 

Apparently it's the sixth in a series in the Teacher series and is about a headteacher and his school set at the time of Prince Williams birth, Greenham Common, the leg warmers of the famous Fame programme and the introduction of the 20p piece to our monetary system.  We've all decided to give it a go and see.  After reading reviews about it, it does sounds like it might be a fun read and after the last library choice of Sophie Hannah that was only half read this ones got to be better.... surely?

Time for a blog reading catch up session and see what lovely things you've all been creating.

Take care, love and {hugs}