Spring is in the Air

Hi there. This is a surprise...an early blog. I've been at my sister's for the weekend so that I could attend a meeting in her vicinity. My DH goes on the golf course so he is hardly ever seen. Guess what he went with 'shorts' on. Hard frost and 'shorts'. He enjoyed himself so that is what it's all about. Thought I'd give you a shock!!!! I've got TWO finishes, yes Two. The first one is Munokoreria (The Dance Leader). I am turning her into a bell pull but am going to wait until I have finished all three so that I can hopefully get them all to looking similar. The next one of those I'm going to start has been put onto the frame by my DH but I have yet to put a thread in to it. It is called Kuihugura ( Looking Back). I'll possibly be starting it shortly.
My second finish my version of the Victorian Christmas Tree.
I've got another two to do of those yet but I may doodle along with something different for a while. I have to finish all of the ones done do far and put the hangers on. (I'm not too good at finishing anything off after I've done the stitching they just end up in a pile OOOOPs!!)

I've made a start on Waxing Moons 'Warm Wishes'. I took everything with me to my sister's. I had made doubly sure that all the threads were there and by some mysterious happenings my 'oatmeal' had decided it didn't want to come and had hidden itself away again with my other Gentle Arts threads . I turned my sisters lounge upside down looking for it as I was convinced I had it, this is the colour used for the snowman. All this to no avail it was still at home. Anyhow I worked round it and stuck to hats and scarf for a starter. I haven't used the Jobelan 'antique blue' as I had bought some 'Shaker' Grey-blue linen I decided to use this instead and am happy with the result. I think this could be a relatively quick stitch as well. I'll then have to find a frame. I was hoping that a Mill Hill frame would sort it but I think that they are just a little too small, I'll have to do some measuring.

Castles in the Air is coming along as well. I've finished 'The Folly' - even down to all the back stitching- and made a start on the 'Country Cottage'. I don't think there's really that much left of it to do, mainly the garden part and the white parts of the cottage. Fortunately there is still no fresh download from Papillon Designs so I may even manage a full catch up.( Now I've said that there will probably be a huge download in the next couple of days or so.)

The TLC Santas that I showed pics of last time I have yet to do any more with But for those of you who have never seen them before I bought mine at 'The Nimble Thimble' which I believe is the only UK Stockist. Chris from the TN will be at the NEC, Birmingham from the 24th-27th March. Apparently there are 25 of these little Santas as the designer does a new one every year, I'll put a link on that shows you the pictures again ofTLC Santas . The Nimble Thimble doesn't have a web site but I'll put the phone number the bottom of my post should you wish to contact them.

While at my sister's I went down to collect 'My Family is like Fudge' now fully framed by once again the Nimble Thimble. I'm pleased with it and am glad I bought the hand made frame from 'Poppy Creations for it, I've just got to make up my mind on where I'm going to hang it.

I promised last time that I'd show you some pics of 'Spring' appearing in our garden. Unfortunately I'm not good enough with the camera to catch the pair of Blackbirds or the Robins but honestly they are there.



We had been hoping to go to our eldest granddaughter's presentation of her Guide Baden-Powell Award today but sadly it was for parents only. Regardless of that her granddad and I are immensely proud of her.
Well that's it for now, thanks for popping in again many thanks for your kind comments. See you all next time . Until them 'May the Stitching stay with you'.



Nimble Thimble Details:[ Nimble Thimble, LLangedwyn Mills, Llangedwyn, POWYS 01691780088

A Great Time

I've had a busy couple of weeks, here, there and every where looking after grandchildren, must admit I always enjoy myself whether it's at my house our theirs. Usually if at my house they bake cakes, biscuits etc. not that my DH and I ever get to try them because they always want to take them home for their own Mums and Dads. Still the pleasure is in the baking and being Weight conscious (Ho.Ho.Ho.) perhaps it's a good job they don't stay at our house!!

Today my DH and I went to watch our younger son in his field hockey cup final. This is rather like watching the FA Cup final as it has been being played for several months on a knockout basis. It was a glorious day as we set out to travel to the venue at Preston, Lancashire. Summer had evidently arrived as my DH was wearing a pair of SHORTS. I can tell you it looked warm but as the pitch is not far from a river and very open there was a pretty cool breeze blowing. To give a better picture I had two coats on to fend off the wind. There was a good turn out of supporters for both teams, which was good to see, and the nervous tension was obvious. The first goal was scored by Blackpool, my son's team, and then the second. Next goal went to the opposing team. It went along on this vein for a while and then after half time with the score at 4 - 3 the goalie was sent off for 10 minutes. Horror of horrors. The substitute goalie let in a goal, not all his fault I hasten to add, so now on a draw. That ten minutes must have seemed like an hour to the Blackpool team playing one man down. Excitement and nerves tingling the final whistle was blown, 5 all, now what???? extra time, penalty flicks. No, it was decided to play extra time until first goal scored. Fans on edge for both teams off we go again. Then I heard a great whoop of delight and cheers all round the ball was in back of the net. Blackpool had scored......or had they? No it had come off a foot and that doesn't count. By this time everyone was shouting and cheering their team on like mad when there was a foul against Blackpool. A penalty flick shot was awarded, fingers crossed and everyone holding their breath the shot was taken and Yippees of Yippees it went to back of the net with a resounding crack. BLACKPOOL HAD WON.



My son accepting the trophy.

Many congratulations to the both teams for such a great match.


The winners

Well after the excitement here's some more positive progress. I have finished the Old Fashioned Tree from the Festival of Trees range. As I said before these have been stitched previously so I am adapting them as I go along. Not huge differences but just a little here and there. I think the next one I'll do will be the Victorian Tree, but that's not a definite yet.


Surprise here is another finish, at this point I must say this is the most I have ever finished in the first two months of a year, Yes, it's the Waxing Moons 'Our Family....' I have to get it framed yet so I'm possibly going to post it to The Nimble Thimble where the frame is already waiting and then collect it when I go to visit my sister.



This is where I now go into a rambling story to explain my reason for starting this next piece.

It's called 'Munokoreria' (The Dance Leader) by Anchor. The original artwork for this is a Kenyon artist named Gakonga and it's based on the tribal living of the Masai, Kikuyu and Swahili people of Kenya. This is where my husbands family moved to after WW2. They packed up their belongings and with their three children left for new adventures. At first in South Africa and then ending up in and around Kenya and Tanganyika. It is his childhood memories of playing with the children of the tribes local to the part of Kenya where they lived that prompted me to buy three pieces. The colours are lovely and I will probably finish them as bell pulls. I bought them a while ago and gave my DH the task of picking which one I would stitch first, between you and me I think he probably just passed me the first one he came too (but that's men for you!!). I have stitched it on four evenings so am pleased with the progress. There is quite a lot of back stitching to do on it and so far I haven't done any!!



Last but certainly not least here comes 'Castle in the Air'. I really have put some effort in on this one to try and catch up the 5 months I seem somehow to be behind ( can't imagine how that happened)

There I was thinking how well I was doing when another download has appeared so that's up to 6 months behind. Talk about 2 steps forward and one step back that's just how I felt. For those of you who aren't familiar with 'Castle' there were in the first instance 2 versions Cross stitch and Specialty Stitch , I have done a combination of the two as the whim took me. But great fanfare after had work I have caught up 2 months and ..............


part way through the first 'Fantasy' section. The 'Fantasy' has now had four sections downloaded and these are the parts that are causing me to hold back on the stitching as I can't quite follow the gist of it so I guess I'll be doing some of my own interpretations again at some point... that'll be a 'Watch this Space' moment.

Guess what it's cup of tea time. So once again thanks for popping and reading my ramblings. For all your friendly comments that have been left THANKS it's so good of you. Until next time keep up with the great stitching.