Where do you start?

Normally if I am stitching a largish project that is solid stitching I would start at the top left hand corner and work across and down from there. For some unknown reason when I started the Water Tiger I started in the middle. Silly me it was OK at first but by the time I was about half way down the middle page I was bitting and bobbing from side to side and seemed to have no aim. I also began to wonder when the page was complete which page i would go to next (its a 9 page chart). I have never actually done a multi page chart starting from the middle before, and I wonder if others do work this way and where they proceed from the central page if they do. I do not think the problem would have been there had it just been one page. Anyway this afternoon I had a little stitching time and decided that I was going to try and work up and across to that top corner and then I would feel that there was some structure to the work. So here is what I have done so far. It still doesnt look like much though when I look at it against the chart I can tell what I have done.

The Gift Shop in my village has been taken over by Sally; and Lisa if you are reading this then please can you send an application form to Karan as she would like to work for you in the craft shop. I still have the flower shop, the hair and hat shop and we still need a bank clerk/post mistress or we will not be able to get any money for stash buying or send off our gifts and exchanges so this is a very important person for the village. I actually think Christine would be the ideal person for the flower shop as I know she is a dab hand at flower arranging.

Anyway my dear friends this will be the last post for a couple of weeks as we are off on our jolly holidays on Friday and tomorrow evening I will be busy packing. Take care all of you and I shall look forward to catching up on all the blogs when I get back. Thank you again for all your wonderful comments.

Hugs


May your frogs stay in their ponds.

Village Progress Feb 09

Here is the latest progress picture on my Village. The landscapers have been completed for Ann's Garden, though there is still a little to finish on the far side of Terri's garden but that will not be done until the cottage on the other side of her is built.

Lisa will be taking over the care of the Craft Shop and plans to run classes and workshops there and Shiela will be taking over the Tea Room, with plans for many kinds of tea and home made scones - as I am not a tea drinker I do hope she will be serving coffee and hot chocolate too. Maybe she will have a little counter selling nice chocolates and sweeties too. Lisa the tea rooms are not quite next door but there is only the florist between you.

Building work has now been halted as I do not think there will be much time for building this week and the contractor has other tasks that need to be attended too. I did promise to show the plans but unfortunately blogger refuses to upload these so I am sorry about that and will try again another time.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on this project, I am so enjoying it. Angela thank you for the info on Beadle the Bard. Also thanks for the comments on my Interview and Lisa I will try to get my questions to you before I go off on holiday but if not I will do it when I get home so please do not think I have forgotton you.

Hugs to all my wonderful blogging friends out there.

may your frogs stay in their ponds

Interviewed by Kathy -

Kathy was interviewed recently on her blog and she asked for people to volunteer to be interviewed by her. I have to reply to her 5 questions and then ask if anyone would be willing to be interviewed by me. If you would like to be interviewed then just leave a note in the comment section and I get to ask you 5 questions. Nothing too personal I promise.



Here are the questions that Kathy asked of me.



1. What is your favorite cross stitch piece and why?

Oh goodness that is hard. I am not sure I have a favourite, I really like most of the things I have stitched.

2. What was your very first cross stitch piece and where is it now?

My first ever was a little kit I bought whilst on holiday in Sussex. It was a Teddy Bear holding a goldfish bowl and as my daughter did lovely cross stitch I was going to ask her to stitch it for me so that I could give it to my (then future) dil's niece for her first birthday. On a wet night with my book finished I decided to have a go myself and came home from the holiday with it complete. I have no idea where it is now. The next piece I did was the DMC Mother and Baby and I still have that on my wall.

3. When did you learn to stitch and who taught you?

LOL self taught - see above.

4. Where is your favorite place to stitch and why?

Another hard one. If I am at home then its in my den as the light is so much better there than anywhere else in the house. Anywhere in the world and it would be Bella Vista where we stayed when we were on holiday in Chang Mai, Thailand. It was shaded by the trees but lovely and warm and so so peaceful, I got more stitching done that holiday than any other I think.

5. I can tell by your email address that you love being a grandmother - please describe why it is such a special relationship for you?

In short I can't. I just adore my little grandson more than I ever thought was possible. He is a lovely, well behaved and well mannered little boy of 6 years old and he wraps my heart up in knots. I think you have to be a Granny to understand lol.

Well Kathy I hope I have done well in my interview, your questions made me think and maybe I have not been able to reply very well to some of them but I have done my best.

I do hope someone will now ask me to interview them as it was good fun.

may your frogs stay in their ponds.

Ann's Cottage

Here is my second cottage in the Village Of My Heart. Ann put her name down on this one quite early on but I still have quite a lot of properties free if any of my dear cyber friends would like to put there name down for one. I also have a bank/po, a florist, a hair dresser/hat shop, a tea shop, a craft shop and a gift shop that need owners if anyone is interested.

At the stitching meet up last weekend I managed to acquire a book called The Village which I was thrilled with as the church on the front was a much better size than the one I had (mine was more like a cathedral than a village church lol). When I got home and looked at the book more closely I found it contained three shops which were far prettier than the original ones I had, so they were replaced too and I added a couple more to make up what I wanted.

I am now working on the landscaping for Ann's cottage and will stick with that for the rest of the weekend and try to get that completed before my holiday.

Not much else to report on the stitching front. I have completed the main part of my tissue box cover and keep picking it up and doing a little more of the blanket stitch which has had to be altered slightly as I made an error when stitching the outer kloister block, still that will just make it "personalized" lol. Once the blanket stitch is completed it is just a matter of cutting and wrapping the bars then it will be done.

I will try and post after the weekend with both an update of the village and also a map of my village as I have now managed to do a printable plan - mainly so I can keep track of who lives where.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and thank you once again to all those who take the time to visit my little corner of Bloggers World.



may your frogs stay in their ponds

Just like the buses

This is just a quickie but I had to share my news. Just like buses that always come in threes I have won another blog prize today. Can you belief it I have won the beautiful Lavander and Lace chart "Angel of The Sea" on Susans blog.

I have had another lovely day today with my dear friend Colly. I did more frogging than stitching (those pests must have crept out the pond while I was not looking), though to be honest I think my concentration was rather lacking as we were laughing so much.

I am not sure if Wendy or Polly read my blog but if they do they will understand completely when I say I was sat in the "naughty chair".

I have just popped up to my den to let you know my news whilst Keith watches the highlights of the Derby Forest Match, he is in seventh heaven as Derby won. Now I better get back and do some stitching and make up for all the stitching I did not get done at Collys. Thanks for a wonderful day Col and all the hugs you need dear friend.


may all your frogs stay in their ponds (and may mine go back to theirs).

Baby Its Cold Outside.

We had snow today, nothing I know compared with what they get in some countries but for us it was major as I cannot remember the last time we had snow that settled here. Not a very good pictures but this couple were huddled up trying to shelter on top of the bird table.

First off I want to show you a finish - really it is a finish this time. Back in December I showed a picture of Off To Plough saying it was my last finish of the year. It was not until I published the picture that I realised I had not added the long stitching to it - silly me, so on Thursday I took it with me to Mums and added those missing bits.

On Friday we headed off down to Andover for me to attend the Crafty Natter get together on Saturday. While we were busy stitching my DH went off with some of the other hubbys to spend the day at a local steam railway so I think he enjoyed the day just as much as I did. The get together was great fun, there were only 9 of us there so we really got to know each other which was nice. I am not sure that a lot of stitching was achieved but we certainly had lots of laughs and good fun and we raised £22.50 for fabric for the Rainbow Childrens Hospice Quilts. We also raised £15.00 for the PTA of the school where our meeting was held.

Due to the weather forcast we wanted to set off for home early on the Sunday and so we managed to reach here for lunch time which gave me the perfect excuse to go and meet the ladies at the Hardanger group. Lots more fun and laughter there too, but then there always is with this group which is why i love going.

I had intended being very good and taking one of my WIPs with me to the meet up but at the last minute changed my mind. I had kitted up the "Be Attitudes" from Shepherds Bush, ready for my holidays so I took them with me and had fun stitching Be Calm. This should have fancy buttons but I am not sure yet what I want to add so will wait until I have them all finished. Which reminds me - Does anyone have a copy of Be Happy. I am told that this was a freeby but would love to add that to the others I am doing. I do not mind whether it is just a loan (I will take good care of it if this is the case) or if someone wants to do a swap with me for something.

Anyway here is my finished Be Calm - using colours from my stash rather than those called for.

All in all a super weekend and to top it off when I went onto the computer today it was to find that I had won, not one but two blog draws. First I have won a lovely coaster stitched by Mylene and then I have also won the draw for Chiloe's 2nd Blogoversary. I do not know yet what I will be getting from Chiloe so that is a suprise I have in store and I just love suprises. If you do not know these two blogs they are certainly both worth a visit.

Thank you to all the lovely people who visit my blogs and to the ones who comment. I am sure if you have a blog yourself you will know just how much a comment means. I know we all rush through and have a quick read and sometimes do not leave a comment (yes I have done this especially when trying to keep up with you all in this busy world) but remember if we never left a comment then no one would have the pleasure that such a small gesture gives.

Hugs to all

May your frogs stay in their ponds