My 'MOJO' is still with me.

Yippee and wonders the sun has shone for three whole days ...Friday, Sat.,and Sunday all while we were staying with my DS and her DH, today, Monday it's been raining like mad for part of the day and then the sun arrived again,I hang out my washing and guess what it's started raining.!!!!! Am I a jinx?? Mind you it is April so perhaps that accounts for the uncertainty.
My DH and I had a lovely weekend with my sister and her hubby. My DH spends as much time as he can on a golf course and my sister and I do a reasonable amount of stitching.
My sister had ordered some buttons for me from Mary Jane Collection along with goods that she wanted. So as they had arrived when I got there I was able to complete my 'Warm Winter Wishes'

I am really happy with this as I think the Snowman has a very contented look on his face!! All I have to do now is to try and find a frame for it. Square frames seem to be out of fashion....

My African Lady, Kuihugura (Looking Back)is coming along as I've said before she is my evening stitching.

I tend to do most of the coloured part and then fill in the black sections. There is stacks of back-stitching on it YUK.

I have made a new start, this going to be made into a cushion.

Guess what it's a cushion for Christmas. It's called 'Agneatha with Apple'. I've had a bit of a problem getting into it but now I can see something happening . The 'Cat' part is a bit of a pain at the moment so I'm working on trying to get to the bottom edge and then taking it from there upwards ( not sure if that makes sense).The colours on Agneatha are quite close in parts and I have had bit of a problem differentiating between them. Anyhow this is as far as I have managed to date

Possibly the cause of my difficulties it that is on aida and I have not been doing much on aida for quite a while.
Now on to my 'handbag' stitching. This is the TLC Designs 'Santa II', he only grows very slowly, but at least he is growing.

Here is 'Santa VII' all finished. I'm going to give his mustache a trim but I'm still plucking up the courage. I think he'll look good on the tree come Christmas.

I bought this little chart at 'The Nimble Thimble' last time I visited my sister and as I finished my Waxing Moon's design decided I needed a boost to the moral.

I take a selection of things to either start or stitch. This time I decided to 'Start'. Now granted I still have to 'Finish off' properly but I quite surprised myself.

The Tree above still needs some gold beads attaching and I haven't had time yet to even look for some in my stash, so when they're on I'll take another pic. The next photo shows the miniaturised version of the first photo. It's the first time I have attempted any 1/1 , haven't decided yet whether or not it'll be the last. What do you think?

Here's a little bit of 'Spring' from our garden. This is the blossom on our plum tree and one of the pear trees I hope that the winds don't blow it all off before the little bugs have a chance to 'do there job' so that we'll have stacks of fruit later in the year...Yummeeeee...

Oh! there is a 'Give Away' it's for a blog anniversary if you are interested just click the link cenefas de flores and best of luck to you
Our pond needs some serious work on it after having had part of the surrounding wall getting quite a large crack in it owing to the severe weather we had over winter. Unfortunately the water is still rather on the cold side for my DH to wade about in it to mend the wall, so it's going to have to wait a little while longer. We also have to take out the plants and split them so they don't get too big and that's a job and a half.

Here is my last photo for this post... can you here the FANFARE..... Castles in the Air is up to date. Well it is as I write this post. I bet if I go and look there will another download just to catch me out. So do you know, I'm not going to look until I've actually 'pressed the button' and posted. Is that a cowardly move or not??

I have altered part of it (now what's new you are wondering). I have reversed the 'Swan', I didn't like the 'Mermaid' that should have been there, so in goes the swan. To me it has balanced the bottom section as at the top there are a pair of Peacocks.. I have also altered the swans slightly, if you have a look at an earlier post see if you can spot the difference...that's my challenge for you.. Good luck...

That's it for now folks... Thanks for popping in and leaving a much appreciated comment if you have had the time... Until next time as usual 'May the Needle be with you'

Garden and Stitching

Spring is most definitely making herself felt. Our small garden has suddenly become a treat to see with buds bursting on the fruit trees and early flowering climbers are out as well. Must admit it makes me feel as though we live in the South of England when we really live in the North West. I have a soft spot for Pansies as they always look like 'Smiley Faces' bobbing in the light breeze. I have no idea what the name of this pansy is but I bought the original plant several years ago and since then it has gone through varying stages from looking lovely to a bit straggly but each year it comes up again a mass of flowers. I now have patches of this plant all over from where I have taken a piece off and planted it elsewhere and also from the myriad of baby plants it has had. I have other colours but this one just seems to be the one that really likes my soil.

My stitching has been coming along well again so my 'mojo' must be well charged. Last week I finished off the 'Country Cottage' part on 'Castles in the Air'. I did a mix of the speciality stitches and the straight cross stitch.



If I was starting this now I would have chosen greens with a greater shade difference between the two darker shades. One is 3362 rather like a moss green and the other is 937 which is a slightly 'yellower' green. When they were next to each other in the full skein they looked very different but now stitched up the difference is hard to see, particularly on the photos. But 'hey ho' you live and learn.
True to form just when I thought I was on my 'catch up' a new download arrived. I looked at the chart and must admit it took a while for me to realise what it was!! I quite surprised my self and have actually finished it


.
Again I have altered parts to suit me, this is from colours to stitches and also some positional adjustments. I gave the 'bunny' a small nose (1/4 stitch) as I thought it needed one and a lighter tail. I also changed the cross stitch eye to a french knot on both the bunny and the hedgehog. The full cross stitch to me didn't look right but as usual that's just my opinion.
I've just got one section to catch up now and that goes back a few downloads to No 17. It's a mermaid. Guess what I don't like it !! So this is a 'Watch This Spot' space at the moment.



I've done a little on my TLC Santa, not huge amounts but as this is my handbag stitch when grandchildren minding, I'm quite pleased. I must make the mustache for the one that all the cross stitch is completed on and then I can finish it off completely.



With Winter in Mind (Ho Ho Ho) I've been getting on with 'Warm Winter Wishes', my Waxing Moon Design. I was doing very well until I ran out of 'oatmeal' by Gentle Arts and also realised that I hadn't bought the 'Snowflake' Buttons by JABC.


This led me to a new discovery..... I have been given the name of a supplier, Mary Jane Collection . I haven't been to it in person but I do know someone who has. Apparently it's a bit in the wilds of Wales but they do post out to you. It could well be worth a visit to the web site, their prices seem very competitive.

Now to warm me up .....my second African themed piece, Kuihugura (Looking Back) I enjoy doing these as the colours are blended into each other in the back ground so well that sometimes you can hardly see the difference when you are sewing it, but when you hold it up the subtle difference adds just that extra 'little something'.



Well I'm off now, back to 'Castles' to make some decisions.

Once again many thanks for popping in and leaving a comment if you've time. Until next time 'May your Mojo be with you.'