A Garden Full of Flowers And A House Full of Frogs

What a long title but it just about sums up this post.



First of all the garden where the bluebells and whitebells are the best they have been for a few years now. The lavender and wisteria are just coming into flower, and the forget-me-nots are as always running riot through everything. When Keith is at work I like to use his computer as it looks over my little garden. Yesterday despite it being a grey rainy morning everything looked so pretty and fresh so I could not resist taking a couple of pictures to share with you.














And now for the frogs. Oh my gosh where is my head this week. Although I have had very little time for stitching I was pleased that my secret project was going well. I was trying to make a covered tape for my daughter - just a little extra for her birthday which was on Sunday. Friday night I put the last stitch in, most of which was 1 over 1 on 32 count (I know that is big for some of you but with my eyes I can assure you that is really hard work). I started to whip stitch the top to the side and by the time I was half way round I knew I had a problem. Either the top was too small or the side too long as it was quite obvious that I was going to have side to spare by the time I got round the top. I got the tape out to check against it and OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH the top was far too tiny to fit it (which meant the bottom was too). How did that happen I hear you ask - well doing things in a rush is the short reply. I have done these tapes several times now and because I like to play and design for the person to receive it I have a template for the border and for the top/bottom section on my computer in fact i have two sets one for 28 and one for 32 count and yes you guessed, in my haste I had run the template for top and bottom off at the 28 count size. Not all is lost as I still have the border but the top and bottom are binned and I will have to do them again - but not for a week or two I can assure you. Just to add to the fun I have worked two lots together as I was making one for a friends birthday too, so that means I actually have two lots of tops and bottoms to do again.



Saturday I had a wonderful day at the Crafty Natter meet-up in Derby, but when I finally sat down at night to do an hours stitching before bedtime I fell asleep in the chair, and as there was more talking and laughing done during the day than actual stitching I think I had about a total of 12 stitches for the day lol.


Sunday evening and the house free of children and dogs and all back to normal I wanted to get back to some sort of routine, therefore pulling out "I Still Do" was a real pleasure. I stitched the G and the little heart motif close to it and then went to start on the H - wait a minute something is wrong the H is not going to go where it should. Back to the map and I eventually realised that the orchid motif had been placed two low - thank goodness it was that one which I think is not too much work to restitch, but the rest of the evening was taken with the frog hopping up and down on the arm of my chair whilst I reverse stitched the orchid. One think that I was really worried about was with the thread being a dark red there would be some bleeding of the dye into the fabric and it would leave a mark but luckily this did not happen and after using sticky tape to clear the area of all the fluffy bits its hard to tell there was ever anything stitched there so tonight the orchid will be redone and I will carry on. Just crossing the fingers that the frogs are back in the pond.

It is now 8.30 so I must rush off and get dressed as its Mums shopping day and I have a good bit to do before I go out.

Hope everyone is well, I am doing my best to keep up with blogs but sadly I am again well behind so please forgive me, I will eventually catch up with myself and get my hectic life back on track.

Thank you to all who visit and leave comments. I have had a few new visitors recently but as they do not appear to have blogs of their own I would like to say a special welcome and thank you for the lovely comments to each of you.


Hugs


may your frogs stay in their ponds

More Than A Week

Yes its been more than a week since I last spoke to you all on here, though I have been good and tried to keep up with blog reading and commenting.

Well what have I done, stitch wise not an awful lot. Last week I had my grandson for three days, on one of the days we went to Rufford Park and did an egg hunt, the eggs were mainly hidden in the trees high up and though some where easy to spot some were really difficult to see - and this is meant for children. Still we all had great fun and thats what matters. Thursday was wet so we headed to the museum in Derby. The highlight of the visit was making a Peregrin mask.

I have only had him for a couple of days this week yesterday we were hunting garden centres as I wanted some nice pot plants for the garden. Luckily Oz enjoys going to the garden centre and seems really interested in flowers and plants, maybe because its not something he does with his parents who both hate gardening and the sum total of green in their garden is some trees at the bottom and a square of lawn - the rest being hard landscaped.

I have managed a bit of stitching on Water Tiger but I thought I had better give a before and after picture to see if you could spot it lol.

BEFORE

and AFTER

I am pleased to say that I have done rather more on I Still Do

though the extra motif I added on the right hand side was such a pain - I had more frogs visiting during stitching that little thing than in all the rest put together. I was so fed up after I had finished it that I moved across to the other side and I am glad to say that went far better, two motifs and seven letters so I feel really pleased with this.

I would like to move onto the Village next but I have some things that really do need to be done and I have kept putting them off and putting them off until now I feel that I must make the effort so for the next week everything is going to be put aside whilst I get some bits out of the way.

Oz is back to school next week but we are having the dog for the week so I will still get no peace. My DS and DIL are having a lot of work done on the house and next week the plasterer is coming in for the week so we are keeping the dog out of the way, which means lots of walkies and not much stitching time - oh I am so going to cry lol.

Thanks to everyone not only for the comments on my stitching coming home but also on the good wishes for the fast recovery of my nasty cold. Thank you so much they must have worked as it seemed to go pretty quickly. It did leave me with a bit of a cough but even that seems to have abated today thank goodness.

may your frogs stay in their ponds

Welcome Home

At long last I am happy to welcome home my Secret Garden. I actually finished this in May last year but i could not find a frame to fit so ended up taking it to be framed, and thereby hangs a tale. If you are not a regular reader and want to know the saga you will have to look in last months posts.

So - blast of trumpets - and here it is It was supposed to have had a double mount with a dusky pink peeping out about a 1/4 inch on the inside edge of the green. Than had not happened but I was not about to complain as I was just greatful to have it back at long last.

Not a very good picture I'm afraid which is in part due to the fact that it was difficult getting something without it being obscured by reflections or flash light and also by the fact that I do not have very good photographic skills. If you would like to see it as it was when I finished it then click here.

On Friday afternoon I had a lovely RAK suprise in the form of a little pillow ornament from Tammie (A Stitch In Time). I was quite amazed when I opened it and saw the tulips as they were almost identical ones to what I had in my room. Unfortunately mine have opened right out now so they do not look quite as alike as they did at the time but I wanted to take the picture in daylight so that you could see them together so it had to wait until this morning. Thank you so much Tammie and I can assure you it will be treasured. It always feels so special when you get something which has been handmade just for you.

My little bit of stitching - just for me this weekend has to remain a secret until the end of the month as I have done it as a special little gift for someone. All I can tell you is that I enjoyed stitching it so much that I will be doing it again next weekend but this time it will really be just for me..

Whilst chatting to a friend the other day she asked who had won the draw for the Flapper charts. Well unfortunately no one asked to be entered in my draw so there was no one to win them. I will have to have a think and maybe put something else up that people will like better for my next competition draw.

I have done no stitching at all this morning. I have no excuse other than I am full of cold and have a sore throat and really cannot be bothered. I am going to have another Beechams hot lemon and go back to bed shortly and then maybe later I will feel like it. I certainly hope to feel better by tomorrow as my darling little boy is coming to stay for three days and I am really looking forward to us doing things together. The forcast is not so good, I am thinking summer has been and gone now and rain is supposedly on the way again - which is really annoying when I had lots of plans for us to go to outdoor places over the easter hols. Oh well such is life, the best laid plans and all that bumph lol.

Thank you all for the lovely comments which I am sure by now you know really are appreciated.

Replying to some recent comments

Oh Julie I do wish that the sewing machine was conqured but I think I still need a lot of practice.

Colly - I think I have a way to go before I attempt quilting - though I admit the bag has whetted my appetite for trying more.

A few of you - asked about the "Spot of" seasons. Firstly they are all seperate designs (Spot of Spring, Spot of Summer, Spot of Autumn and Spot of Winter) from The Drawn Thread whose designs I just love. I just chose to stitch them as one long project and I intend doing a pinkeep type finish for them to hang on the wall in my bedroom. I also intend doing the pinkeep type finish for the Sheperds Bush, Be Attitudes which I am stitching. I love this finish and for our bedroom I think (I hope) they will somehow look softer than frames.

may your frogs stay in their ponds.

It's In The Bag..

Oh I am so proud of myself. I am useless with a sewing machine normaly but under the guidance of my dear friend Colly just look what I have made -

My Stitching Bag

with contrasting inserts

and inside out so you can see the handy pockets

I actually took it with me shopping today and its amazing just how much it holds.

I have been stitching this week though not as much as normal and we are away down to Wellingborough to see friends this weekend so there will not be too much done then either but I will post updates on Monday. Will also post a pic of the lovely RAK I got in the post this morning so that is something for you to look forward to.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Hugs

may your frogs stay in their ponds.