Kalanchoe and Ivy

Blogger has decided it is going to act up today and will not allow me to put a photograph in though i will keep trying to add the picture to this post.

I have not done a lot of stitching this week, or at least not a lot that I am willing to share at this moment. I have on and off all week worked on my UFO. I am really pleased that I got not only the Kalanchoe flower done but also managed a little on the ivy too, though i have not bothered to show you the boring ivy. I quite enjoyed this flower - mainly as there was not b/s involved. I am going to print off the next flower before moving on and will try to keep to once a week on this one.

I am trying to get back into my routine now and will work for a while on Come & Share tonight but tomorrow I want to try and make it back to Mondays being I Still Do day, and I will return to Come & Share on Tuesday. This is not one that seems to be grabbing my attention so unless things alter over the next few days then I will be moving on Wednesday to whatever comes next in the rota.

I do have quite a number of other things in the pipeline but I think rather than upset my routine I am going to work on those first thing each morning for an hour or two and then spend any other time i have in the day on rota matters.

Yesterday we went to Rutland which is the smallest county in England. We took Jules for a good walk but had to back track as we would have needed the whole day to get round the lake and we only had about 4 hours. It was lovely, warm and very enjoyable walk though.

Today we didn't go quite so far afield but headed for Beacon Hill near Woodhouse Eaves. Unfortunately the weather was not so kind to us and by the time we had got half way round the rain was falling steadily. We did get rather wetter than we need have done but it was just so warm neither of us could be bothered to get out coats out of the bag.

This week I have been given another three awards this time by Karan, Angela and Henny. Thank you ladies they are much appreciated ( though i will not bore everyone by adding them again they are all in my sidebar anyway) ot is just so nice to find so many people really like my blog. No one has actually said to me - you have been given this because no one else gave it you, however I have seen that written in some blogs. How sad to give someone an award not because you admire their blog but because you feel sorry for them - lol this to me rather seems to take away from the point of an award. Am I the only person who feels like this?

I do hope Kathy, Dani and Beatrice are having a wonderful get together weekend. I do not feel quite as envious as I have done in the past as now I have my weekend get together for the Crafty Natter forum to look forward to.

Keep your fingers crossed for me - we have booked a holiday for the 21st July and we are just awaiting confirmation that one part of it is available to us. I will tell you all about it next time if we get that confirmation.

Oh and one last thing I got these beautiful virtual flowers from Lynn during the week just as a thank you for being her friend, arent they lovely and isnt that a lovely thing to do. It made my day.

... and just to prove how arkward blogger is I tried again to put in a perfectly normal photo and it still will not let me even though it has allowed this. Silly machine.

Hope you have all had a wonderful weekend doing whatever it takes to make you happy. Thank you once again for being kind enough to visit me here in my little corner of the universe and most of all thank you for all your lovely comments which never fail to amaze me.

Hugs to all,

may your frogs stay in their ponds

HC Update

The hardanger cutting is all done and the hearts have been infilled with doves eyes - though not as neat as I would have liked. I do not know why but try as I might I never seem to get two eyes that look anything alike. I still have the bottom part to infill but I am giving it a rest and will then do that. I am not putting it completely away as I really would like to get this one done for Christmas this year (we shall see). Once the bottom is done then I have all the beads to sort out and put on and the ribbon work to do.
There are ribbon roses on the tree and also some colonial knots in ribbon which i have been trying to come to terms with and having no success, but now I have hope. Thanks to Karan I have found a brilliant site showing video footage of different stitches and it makes the Colonial Stitch look so much easier than all the diagrams do. If you click on the video library of stitches on the menu - top right - there are quite a good selection of stitches and the instructions are very clear. Anyway I need to practice both those and the roses as I have never done any ribbon work before.

As we have been without a printer for the last month I have been unable to carry on with my Tuesday UFO at Stitch and Stash forum. I run each bit of chart off as I need it so when the printer went crazy I was stuck. We had only had it 11 months so it was still under guarantee but it took over a week of doing different tests each night and downloading alsorts of bits of software before Kodak decided we needed new printer heads. These of course were out of stock so took well over a week to reach us. I was so pleased when they arrived and then ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh they did not solve the problem. More tests and download patches and then finally they agreed that we needed a new printer - mind this was the person on the other end of the phone but they could not sanction this only recommend it - someone "upstairs" had to say yes. Three days later they phoned to say yes we were getting the new printer and to tell me what to do when it arrived and give me the instructions for returning the faulty one. And that decision made the new printer arrived the following day - amazing. It is now up and working and when Keith gets back from yet another walk with the dog he is going to do whatever it takes to connect it to my computer too. So tonight I am going to do some on my UFO and I am really quite looking forward to it.

Hope you all have a great weekend and if you are in the UK then I wish you a really great Bank Holiday Weekend.

And lastly as always thank you for the wonderful comments you leave me they are so much appreciated.




may your frogs stay in their ponds

A Little Finish and A Lot of Chat

Well here at last is Tatty Teddy which has been a nightmare to stitch. The rug /shadow at the bottom should have been grey too but I would have screamed at another grey stitch LOL. I would love to tell you I enjoyed stitching him - I didnt I spent so much time dealing with the frog that decided to visit and began to think he would never get done. Still he is out the way and I am leaving my charity stitching on one side to go back to my rota for a while - I need to regain my sanity. TT will be washed tomorrow (a condition of the donation) and then I will let Colly have him for the Rainbows Childrens Hospice Quilt.

Yesterday Rachael (Brokenfairy) came to spend the day with me. She had bought some of her stitching with her. One of them was CDC which looks fantastic, I liked it in her blog but wow it looks so much different in real life. She had also been very brave and dyed the fabric for it herself and it was lovely. I really must have a go at that soon. I then bored the pants off her showing her all my finished pieces and all my wips - after all these years with no one to really share these things with I feel like the man wandering the desert and suddenly coming on an oasis.

I am off to walk the dog this morning - it looks quite nice out so that will maybe take an hour or two and then I am hoping to have a peaceful day stitching on Heirloom Christmas.

In the meantime I will leave you with a picture of my beautiful flowers which Rachael had bought for me. Oh I just love flowers.

may your frogs stay in their ponds.

Another Award, A Bit Of Fun & A Lot of Exercise

Firstly I have another Award, this is the "I Love Your Blog" award and is from both Rachael and Mylene, thank you to you both for giving me this honour. I have decided to put the awards in my side bar so that they can be seen but I will not nominate anyone. If I read your blog then I will leave a comment, if not every time I visit then at least most times. If I read your blog it is because I like it - I have almost a hundred blogs I visit on a reasonably regular basis, like the people who write them they are all so different even though most are about stitching, if I do not like something I am not going to waste my time reading it as I have plenty to do without that, so if I read your blog please help yourself to this award because I can honestly say "I Love It".

Next I pinched this little bit of fun from Rachael's blog while I was there and hope you will take part.

I do wonder if there is anyone who reads but doesn’t post comments, I don’t mind as I do read some blogs but don’t comment as well. But it would be nice just to say hello and maybe come and read your blog as well
So who reads my blog?
1. As a comment on this post, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! And if we’ve never met in real life, leave me a comment of your favorite post I wrote and why it was your favorite.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It’s actually really funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game and I’ll come to your blog and leave one about you.
3.Do you read my posts from a reader,blogroll or is this your first visit?
Thank you

On the news front I have almost finished my square for the Rainbows Quilt. This seems to be taking ages but I have not done a lot of stitching - even less than when I have Oz I think LOL. Jules may not chatter on all day but she does like walking and we have been lots and lots of nice long walks. One nice thing about this is I am really beginning to discover so many new places right on my door step. You stop to speak to someone walking their dog and the next thing is they are saying have you walked such and such a way, and so next time we go out we head off in another direction and along another footpath so its been quite an adventure. Another result of all this walking is that when I sit down to stitch in the evening I fall asleep so that is why my square is taking so long. I do hope it will be finished in the next couple of days as I so want to get back to my rota. Also I had been doing really well with my UFO and that has hardly been touched during the school holidays. The family have phoned from France twice already and they only went on Wednesday - I had been hoping for peace and quiet LOL.

And lastly I was gifted Winter Stitches by Jeannett Douglas this week. I was thrilled when Jan from A Crafty Natter contacted me to say that she had seen this on my wish list and if I would send her my address she would send it too me. Thank you so much Jan this is a lovely chart and I will look forward to stitching it sometime in the (I hope not to distant) future.

I do hope I will have a stitchy pic to show you soon but in the meantime enjoy your stitching and thanks as always to the wonderful people who visit and leave comment so often on my humble little blog.


may your frogs stay in their ponds

Dangerous Cake - be warned....

This is copied direct from the recipe as written on the Crafty Natter forum. Ozzie and I shared it and he couldnt finish his and I must be honest and admit I struggled though it was delicious. I think it would be better shared with two or three others. Also I made mine in a small pudding basin as all the pictures I have seen done in mugs its gone over the top (I didn't want to waste any). The other thing I would say is it does need cream, ice cream, custard or such as like most chocolate cakes it was a little on the dry side.

One other thing - I was warned that the cooking time seemed to be too long, my microwave is only a 700 watt and 3 mins seemed just right.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons cake flour(that's plain flour, not self-raising) 4 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons baking cocoa 1 egg 3 tablespoons milk 3 tablespoons oil 3 tablespoons chocolate chips(optional) a small splash of vanilla essence 1 coffee mug
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla essence, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Enjoy

may your frogs stay in their ponds

Another Week....

... and still not a lot of stitching. What has been done this week has been on The Quiltmaker and yes it was more blue 823 again. I have done a fair bit really but there is just so much blue its hard to feel you make an impression on it.

Yesterday we went to Bakewell to visit the Wye Needlecraft show. Well when I say we I use the term loosely as Oscar and Keith dropped me at the door, went off to park the car and then went into Bakewell to look at "boys" things. I spent a leisurely hours or two wandering round, admiring all the stitching that was on show but only buying 5 new ThreadworX threads. They are just so delicious I would have love to have bought more but they don't come cheap. Whilst there I stopped to have a look at the Loopylou display and though I had no intentions of buying any charts I do like to see what Linda has that is new - for future reference lol. Anyway imagine my suprise when I found the lady on the stall was Linda herself. It was so lovely to meet her at last. I have contacted her by email once or twice when doing her charts and getting stuck or needing some advice but it was lovely to actually meet. We had a lovely long chat.

Browsing done I phoned Keith and we arranged to meet just over the river, it was a beautiful afternoon so we sat on the wall watching the fish and eating icecream before having a wander round the town. I do not know if I lost my bearings of if it has now closed but I could not find the lovely patchwork shop that used to be there. As well as lovely patchwork fabrics this shop had a good selection of little charms and I had been hoping to get a little heart charm so that I could stitch it to my Friends Sampler and get it made up. If anyone knows where it is or if it has gone please tell me and put me out of my misery.

Also while Keith and Oz had been scouting round Bakewell they found a jigsaw shop (well expensive but some fantastic jigsaws) so Oz and I decided to go and see what the charity shops had on offer this morning. We bought three jigsaws that he liked but as the smallest was 500 pieces they are rather beyond him to tackle alone. I had been hoping to find some in the region of 100 pieces which is really about his limit at the moment. We came hope and made "Scooby" snacks (revolting jelly type sweets covered in sugary stuff) and then had lunch. After lunch Colly came. David picked her up and I told him to ask for Mrs Daisy Bumbleroot (her name on the Crafty Natter forum). Oz had heard this and shortly after being told Aunty Colly was coming this afternoon he came and asked - please can I call her Aunty Daisy 'cause I keep forgetting that other name LOL so Colly will now forever be Aunty Daisy in our house. We had a lovely afternoon, I cannot believe that a couple of months ago we had never even spoken on the internet, we just seem to hit it off from the word go. She is such an easy person to be with. Look at the beautiful flowers she bought me. The afternoon just flew by and Oz bless his was as good as gold, just leaving the two silly ladies to giggle away together. Colly also bought 4 new designs to show me - ooh girls you are in for a treat when these come out as they are really pretty, and not too big so nice quick stitches too.

Thank you once again to all those who visit and especially those who leave comments. If you have never left a comment please do as it allows me to return the compliment and visit your blog too. Many of my favourite blogs have been discovered just because their author left a comment here.

ooohhh and just must tell you Oz and I are going to make The Worlds Most Dangerous Cake tomorrow. I will let you know how it turns out and if its as good as it sounds then I will post the recipe here too.

may your frogs stay in their ponds

Happy Birthday To Me...

It's my birthday today and just wanted to share some of the beautiful stash I had from my stitching friends.

Needlerolls from AnnT, Terri and AnnP.

Charts to keep me busy for a while to come
Ribbons, threads, beads, charms, fabric and yummy goodies

Some of my beautiful hand made cards.

A big big thank you to Terri, Aunty, Annie, Karan, Rachael, Sally, and to many others who have sent me beautiful e-cards. Also thanks to the girls from Jaynes Attic and from The Crafty Natter group who have sent me lots and lots of lovely birthday wishes through the respective forums. You have all helped to make this a very special day.


may your frogs stay in their ponds

Help! I'm Exhausted

Later this month my son and dil and Oz along with my daughter are all off to France for three weeks. Peace you might think - not a chance Mum & Dad are being left in charge of Jules.

This is Jules and this weekend we had her to stay for a couple of nights - a sort of trial run as she has never stayed overnight with us before. She came Friday and we took her for a good long walk before bedtime. Saturday we were up early and following breakfast we went for another long walk. Home, some shopping and some lunch and then off for another long walk. Home tea and another long walk. Today and a little longer in bed (well it is Sunday) and a more leasurely breakfast and then off out - yes you guessed a long long walk - finally home again for a quick cuppa, pack her things up, take her home and collect Oz. Its years since I last did that much walking - probably since Jules did that much walking too - i think she was relieved to go home for a rest lol. I have come to the conclusion that when she comes for three weeks we will all be a stone lighter at the end of it. She looks a real old lady but she is only about four years old. The grey face is what does it but she has been like that since they got her when the RSPCA thought she was about 10 months old. She is the loveliest nature you could wish for and though not quite as obedient for us as she is for her master she is still reasonably well behaved and polite.

I have been stitching on ISD this week, with not a lot of stitching time it seems better to just stick to one thing at a time at the moment.
I got my DHs initials done and finished the long motif that runs across the centre at the top. I am quite pleased with the progress this time round.

Not sure what to do next. I have Gigi to stitch and there are two parts this month but neither is very big. I also have to finish stitching this months section of EMS Rose. And there is also The Quiltmaker which is the next thing in my rota. I also have several small things to stitch, two for charity and two for gifts but I really do not feel in the mood for stitching little fiddley bits at the moment. Will just have to see how the mood takes me when I next get to the stage of having five minutes to stitch - which I am hoping might be tomorrow evening.

Hope you have all had a wonderful weekend. I am slowly trying to keep up with blogs and to a degree managing this by leaving one big reply which covers several posts. Please forgive me if I have not got to you but I will get there eventually - promise.

Thank you for continuing to visit and leave such lovely comments, they really keep me going.


may your frogs stay in their ponds