Just another Friday night

 Tree of life is growing, not as fast as it should, but the lower branches are formed, the shades are perfect for this time of year. I would love to show you my ripple blanket, but I am still stuck on the 2nd row, I need to put my head together with Fliss to do some more.

 One flower on the top of our tree, late September is not the time for our Magnolia to flower, but this bloom is there, very pretty in pink. Soon the leaves will drop, Autumn is on her way, we have missed the flooding again, our area drains very well, we have had days of very heavy rain. So now is not really the time to buy a bike, but mine arrive today, it's a Raleigh, Oakland. I am loving the basket, hubby gets his on Sunday, we are off this weekend to get helmet, gloves, light and a lock. I feel a Miss Marple moment coming on!

We have a busy weekend ahead, tomorrow whilst hubby and Son-in-law play golf, Su and I are off to the spa, with a pedicure added in, should be a good time. Sunday I want to spend some time with Fliss, now she is working I don't get to see her enough, so I am hoping to take her out for a nice afternoon tea. Then some time with Josh, Sammy and daddy, so days are planned. We were talking about going out for a meal tomorrow evening, will have to see how we feel at the time, it might turn into a take away. Sunday evening will be home getting ready for the working week. 

I do want to factor in some stitching time, but we are so very busy. Well it's off to the pub for an hour.

Pass it on

 When I had finished stitching the above pattern I said I would like to pass it on, so putting the names into a hat from the comments I had from that post, I have drawn Kathy's name, so please send to me your address and I will send to you the pattern, the Noel thread and the three buttons. I hope you enjoy stitching it.

I also did a bit to Tree of life last night, I would like to get the lower branches done, I so love the colour of this design and it's so right to stitch at this time of year.

I have done my 1st row of 80 stitches for my ripple blanket in crochet, I would like to make a cushion cover, but I am not doing well on the second row, each time I try it I find I am one stitch out in the pattern, very frustrating, I will have to pop and see Fliss, but she is working most nights this week. So it will be the weekend before I can get any thing more done. I have also been thinking about Winter Watergarden, I can see that going back in the frame. I have also done some work on my house, my progress is here

I have been on line looking at patterns, but so far I have resisted, my stash is big enough.

Twice as good

 My Christmas stitching is coming along well, I love Santa, but my snowman has evil eyes, not sure about the French knots for his eyes, I think I will have to do them again. There are loads of shades in here which all adds to the design, next I am going to stitch the Christmas tree for the other end, but, you know me, I have planned changes.

 Yesterday afternoon, I was up for a challenge, so I got Tree of Life out, been a bit naughty with this one, I had a few hours on my own in good light, which for this project is perfect.

 I have done more on the branches and also on the ground on the left, I am now working on the ground and would like to have it all done, the shades in here are amazing and really do make the whole. Loads of counting, hence best to do whilst I am on my own. I have a few days before the next part of Sweet Flowers is released.

Angela my friend popped in to see me yesterday afternoon, we chatted for ages, caught up with all the family news, it was great. Today I am popping to see Chris, my neighbour to catch up, we have a couple of "strange" neighbours, so we have a giggle about them.

Later I want to stitch, but I am working on a project on my computer, it is very time consuming, I am now reading text, checking grammar and spelling, I have already fixed photo's and layout's. Once the grammar is done, I will check the whole look and it will be done. Then, I will have to do it all twice again.

I am walking to our local post office this morning, it will be great to get out for a while,

What a difference

 Sweet flowers is done for this month, I am pleased again with the pattern, and the changes I have made.

 I have done very little to Tree of Life, but don't you love the shades in this work, I was hoping to have done more, but with the heat wave we are having it's too hot to do anything.

 This is the view across the water, just 10 minutes from our house, last night we went for a walk, it was great just as the evening was cooler, it's still hot, but after all the rain we have had it has been great to have a week of sun shine, today was the hottest day this year, and we have more planned.

The Olympics start on Friday, we are staying home to watch the opening show, having a BBQ in the garden, just hubby and I, both our daughters are working that evening. Josh and Sammy are both unwell, so they are staying inside, I hope to see them over the weekend, I have missed my cuddles.

Work is good, I think I was missed whilst I was away, the office was very busy. every one is happy with the sun shine, we have lawns at the side and back of our building, so we can sit outside at lunch break.

Kev and I are walking much more, which will help move the couple of extra pounds we gained whilst in Cornwall.

I have been looking at all 200+ photo's from the Eden Project, I hope to be able to choose a few for my next blog.

Enjoy the sun shine, we have waited long enough for it.

Double stitching - TUSAL

 I've done some more on Tree of Life, the first branch is coming along, it has so many shades it is stunning. The next stage of Sweet flowers has been released, so I have swapped back to stitching that, the long panel should be all in grey, but I stitched the centre in pink, it looks very pretty, you can see a green smudge around the leaf, I did loads of unpicking last night, I should not start an new bit whilst watching a film!

 This is at the back of my sitting room, in front of the patio doors, my cats love it here, Purdy should be in the basket with Grace, they lie here and watch the rain.

So far we have had loads of fun, Saturday in the Space room with Josh for his party, loads of kids running around in a very large padded play room, perfect! and even a under 4's room for Sammy.
Sunday in town watching the torch, we had a man arrested for just wearing a mankini! each evening our local news follows the progress of the torch, great fun in the whole area. Yesterday Fliss and Sammy here for the day, it was great to catch up with Fliss, Sammy played with all the toys and gave us loads of chatter time.

Today I'm off for check ups in the hospital, I have to shop, need just one colour for Sweet Flowers, and Tomorrow we head for Cornwall..................

PS it's not raining !

TUSAL - I'm away on Thursday

mix it up

 Now I have my new camera I am playing more with my photo's

This is an early play, me in 1973, look at the cars, the silver Ford Cortina was ours. the photo of my daughters was taken at my 50th birthday 70's disco night a full fancy dress party.

 I have not done much on Tree of Life, just not had enough time to sit and stitch, don't look that close, I have a couple of stitches in the wrong place, this little section has loads of shades of the same colour, my photo does not do it justice, the colours are stunning.

My last purchase has just arrived, I have not done a printed pattern since I was a child, when I purchased this I thought I would do it free hand, but the linen is good so I will stitch it  as the kit says.

But for now it's in my to do pile.

We are on holiday this week, and it's going to be a busy one, today is Josh's birthday party, we will spend the afternoon with them at Mobys, they have themed rooms, but as yet we don't know what to expect.

Tuesday I am at the hospital for final check ups. 

Wednesday we head for Cornwall, 

Thursday we are visiting The Eden Project I have wanted to go for ages, it's all under cover which is helpful with our weather. 

Friday we are in Taunton with our grandson Logan, 

Saturday in the village with my Brother, back home on Sunday

A new start

Tree of life, its a start, I do love these colours, this is the ground at the bottom of the tree, because I am using a linen with a higher DPI, I'm not sure what size this will finish as, so I started at the bottom in an effort to not waste too much linen.

It's still raining here, so I plan to stitch tonight, oh for sun shine two days in a row, this is our 4th day of rain, and I mean rain all day, not as bad as else where in the country, but loads of rain.

 Sunday afternoon we managed a small walk, the tide was in so above is looking towards Portsmouth, I love all the little boats. Below another view of Portchester Castle, we did get home before the rain came back.

Hope your week is going well, I'm off to stitch.

All together now

 This is how Patchwork Sampler should look as done by Jan Houghman, its perfect, I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. Below is my finished photo's, I did not want the letters  through the design or the centre panel.

 Bottom rows

 Top rows

 Here in the centre was the biggest changes, 

I left out the large panel, and stitched the designs so they crashed into each other, reusing a couple of panels to fill in gaps. All was worked using DMC silks I stitched on Zweigart, Lugana, 25 ct, the fabric has perfect squares, 

 Arty shot, every one has one.

 Purdy loves my new camera, I love this shot, she is so contented with us we can get really close, I tried to get the same shot with Grace, but she is camera shy. Laura my camera is Samsung, PL122, 16.1 mega pixels, with a bright red case! I'm loving it

 My next project, Tree of Life,by Klint, using Madeira threads, I've not used them before, my only change is to use a finer linen, using just one Strand instead of two. Normally I use my DMC silks and then pass on the kit, but as this was a give away I won, I want to stitch it true, no changes I promise.

 Below sums up our summer, the flowers are there, but always raining, we have had 3 days of rain, many places in the south west had 5" of rain yesterday, loads of flooding, I am happy to say we and all our families are OK, but my heart goes out to every one who is suffering because of this weather. And to everyone suffer from the heat in USA, loads of us are having an off summer for so many different reasons.

The wedding dress is done, I have not made it just a few stitches to tidy it up, we changed the straps and also added fastening on the back, so the lace does not have to been done up tight and look scruffy, pics will be here in September. I have a book to read, Peace is every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh, it's talks of the Buddhist values, helping you to accept what you can't change, and showing how wonderful each day could be.
I'm off to get every thing done, we are watching the Murray final, I hope it will be as good as the ladies yesterday.