The fault for this lying firmly at
Vonna's feet. I blame her completely I have to say. In my own defence I will admit that I have often looked at and even admired all the Neighbourhood Round Robins. I have never, not once, not even for a second thought "I ought to do one of those". Then Vonna mentioned on her blog something about the Me, Myself and I idea and of course being inquisitive (some might say nosey but i will stick to inquisitive), I just had to go and peep. I admit it was an interesting idea but not for me. I came away from the computer untouched - but a little seed had been planted while I was there and it started to niggle and grow. That night as I lay in bed I started thinking about what I would do if I had been going to join, but it was only in theory I was definitely not thinking of joining. I think it took two days to cave in and I did it I signed on the dotted line. We drew up a contract and I agreed that I would endeavour to construct a very nice neighbourhood where the friends of my heart could reside.
I freely admit that where housework is concerned maybe no-one will notice any
difference but where stitching is concerned they certainly would. I stared on Blackwork house last week and continued with it through the weekend (mainly because it was out and I could not be bothered to look out anything else). In all that time I achieved the little bit of roof on the right hand side and almost half a column again on the right. Its dreadful I know. Today was ISD and I dare not even take a picture of that as I think I have done all of 10 stitches.
The trouble is when I start to stitch it leaves my mind free to wander and I then have to put the stitching down so I come on here to get my ideas in order and do some more designing. I cannot afford to buy the charts I would really like (unfortunately sold as kits for about £24 each) but I have found a number of magazine charts of cottages I like and with the help of EasyCross I have managed to change each of the cottages I have done so far enough to use them at least twice and without it looking like the same thing. I am having such a great time and so enjoying the fun of making my neighbourhood come to life. How I will be when this actually goes from the planning department to the building department I am not sure but I can only hope that the building of my Neighbourhood is as much fun as the designing and just in case you are wondering the name of my village is Stitchery Nook ;o)
This week I have had two lovely suprises. The other day an envelope dropped through my door from my dear friend Sally (
stitchyangel treasures). A while ago she stitched the lovely Dinky Dyes satin stitch Christmas Tree which I admired and she sent me the chart saying that she would send the other part of the chart when she had stitched the little tree ornament. Anyway she decided that she would not stitch the tree ornament so sent the chart and the threads to me as a suprise. It came at just the moment I needed something to put a smile back on my face so bless you Sally and thank you.
I also got this lovely Glendon Place chart from Tracey (
The Passion Of My Needle) just as a thankyou for leaving nice comments on her blog. What a lovely thing to do but I really needed no thanks. If you have every visited Traceys blog you will know she does some beautiful and varied work and she works so quickly too. Although you cannot see on the picture the words on the centre of this chart are "Fill Your Years With Life, Not Your Life With Years" such a beautiful sentiment and one that clearly reflects my own theory.
I have also had two other lovely gifts this week and though not suprises none the less the kindness of the givers is wonderful. First Kathy (
Sit and Stitch blog) sent me a lovely dragonfly chart. She had said on her blog that she would give it to someone who wanted it and as it was so pretty I asked and got - lucky me. Also Tammy (no blog) from the Crafty Natter board put up some charts that she no longer wanted and asked if anyone was interested. I said I would like a little Seraphine birth sampler with elephants if it was available and she took it with her on a visit to a mutual friend so I collected that this morning. I love elephants and these are just so cute I think I am going to make a little sampler of them.
On Saturday my dh and I celebrated out 39th wedding anniversary - I feel sure there is a mistake in the figures somewhere as I certainly do not feel old enough to have been married for 39 year lol. Anyway in the afternoon we went to meet Nicola (
Tales from My Needle) and her hubby and had a lovely afternoon together, with drinks and cakes of course as Nicola is an expert on good Tea Shops lol. I find it hard to believe that I have gone all these years without knowing any stitchers close to me and suddenly I seem to be meeting lots and so far they have all been lovely. I feel so priviledged to belong to such a generous and kind community.
Well I am sure you have had enough of my ramblings so I will go and make the bedtime drink and then away to get my beauty sleep lol.
Thank you for reading this and for all those who leave such lovely comments in my blog. Can I just ask that if you are new or have not left a comment before that you do so. It can just say hello im...... but if you leave a comment it means I get to come back and visit you. I have found some lovely people just because they left a comment on my blog.
Goodnight all
may your frogs stay in their ponds.
Would you like to win all this wonderful selection of finishing fabrics. All you have to do is visit Jane at
and wish her a happy birthday before 8 am on the big day which is the 16th. What a lovely way to celebrate and I think she deserves a lovely birthday.
For the first time in I don't know how long I actually feel as though I have made some progress on Gracious Era. I have only had a couple of days to work on this but I think because I can see some structure in the fact that you can start to see the outline of the buildings it feels like I have achieved something. Of course like most of these things it always looks better when you see it as a photo, or from a distance as nothing looks as sharp when its right under your nose. Anyway I am happy with it and I cannot remember the last time I felt happy with this one. 
difference but where stitching is concerned they certainly would. I stared on Blackwork house last week and continued with it through the weekend (mainly because it was out and I could not be bothered to look out anything else). In all that time I achieved the little bit of roof on the right hand side and almost half a column again on the right. Its dreadful I know. Today was ISD and I dare not even take a picture of that as I think I have done all of 10 stitches.
I managed to get the cottage picture done this time and I am so glad as I cannot say I enjoyed that bit of it. That done it is now going away until next time when hopefully I will enjoy this stitching a bit more. 
We got our holiday confirmation but I think I was having a senior moment when I mentioned it last night. I said the date was the 21st July - errrrr where did that come from - silly me it is the 21st September; yes just under three weeks to go. We are off to get some much needed sunshine sailing down the Nile. I would say some culture too but maybe you need a brain for that bit and mine seems to have gone on its own holiday just lately. 
I did stick to my plan and worked on I Still Do today. I have got another year (on Saturday) to get it done but I will have to do more than I have managed to day if I am to be finished in time. I did spend quite a bit of time on it and only frogged a couple of stitches but the end result is not very impressive. I achieved what you see of the top right side motif. I enjoyed stitching this but just feel it doesnt look much for the time I put in - oh well such is life. 
