An Update - Stitching and General

Bit of a busy few days, so I'm glad to be able to take a breath and start a catch up in Blogland again.

Saturday we had a long afternoon out: dinner out at Brigg Garden Centre, where DH and I had a nice meal, two drinks and a long chat then went shopping. Bought some gorgeous lemon coloured pansies (six plugs for a pound!) which will look stunning in my Arthur and Guinevere terracotta pots and against the red brick of the house wall and a pot of narcissi (also a pound), then found a great book on handmade cards that will be a useful ideas book and also some wording peel-offs and a bride and groom brass stencil for dry embossing. DH treated himself to a book on the London Blitz (WWII) and a diabetic quick cook book which has some Italian style food recipes in it - the food was one of the things he enjoyed over there....... the other being the local Grappa! LOL We then picked up a part for DS's Mini from a fellow Freecycler in one of the villages and followed it up with a bit of a drive round some of the other villages, ending up at the turf maze at Alkborough. We didn't hang around: the wind was blowing straight off the rivers, up at us and it was flipping freezing. Home for a take-out curry and I finally made a start on Part 3 of For Amanda.

Sunday we went to my DSis's for the day. I took the Alphabet Tree Challenge piece to show my DSis and she loved it, so it is now in her china display cabinet in front of a lovely photo of our Mum and Dad. :0) I also took some surplus 8x8 and 12x12 scrapbooking papers for her to add to her collection, ready for when she starts her new hobby. DH did a couple of small DIY jobs for her and (hopefully) sorted out the burglar alarm problem. As it began to snow on and off in the afternoon we didn't go out, so I did a little stitching on Night Watchman - again there's not really enough progress made to make an update pic worthwhile. By the time we were travelling back much of the snow had disappeared - until we came to the Thorne turn-off, where there was quite a good layer on the verges and in the fields. When we got home it was pretty obvious there'd been more snow there than over at DSis's. Glad to say it's now long gone but it's still bitterly cold out and the rain has taken over where it left off. Yuk!

Monday I got on with my usual jobs and fully intended finding the time to update my Blog and visit everyone else's but my DBro popped in for a surprise visit then, just as he was preparing to leave, Alex arrived for her visit - when she left it was time for DH to come home so I never really got the chance to. It was a good afternoon though: I don't get to see my DBro as often as I see my DSis, so it's good to have a catch-up and then Alex had brought some of her stitching to show me. Wow! She is very much in to freestyle embroidery and has made up about sixteen small "patches" of roughly the same size but of differing shapes: each of these has a base fabric to which she attaches various oddments of material (silks, sari fragments, kimono scraps, whatever) with stitching (feather stitch, I think) then proceeds to decorate each scrap however she fancies. Each patch is different, although they often incorporate the same stitches: some have beads added; others have a roll of fancy yarn that has been attached with metallic thread; one has a sisha mirror attached under embroidery; some she's added tiny flower embellishments to; others the flowers were on the fabric and she's developed them as a theme; gardens of lazy daisy daisies etc etc etc. Each piece is a little work of art with memories stitched into them (she could tell me exactly where and when each piece was stitched) and she intends to make up a quilted wall hanging with them all, using black dupion silk bands to join the patches. It is going to be stunning when completed and I am so looking forward to seeing it - am hoping she will let me take some pics to post and share on here. :0)

After tea last night I carried on with For Amanda and here's a pic of progress so far:


I love the script on this, as it just flows so beautifully. It's UFO Night tonight, so ET will be getting my attention, but I shall be back to this as soon as I can.

Will I finish ET and get a HD tonight? Well, that all depends on how much of a pain the metallic thread decides to be and how long my patience holds out with it! There's a Most Haunted (new series) on later tonight, so that will keep me sat in front of the TV while it's on. Watch this space......... LOL

Christine: don't worry and no rush, I was only joking - I still need to do a floss toss for Papillon. I'd also like to put at least one project "to bed" before making a start on a new one - I need to free up a scroll frame! :0)

Many thanks for visiting - hope you've had a good weekend and are all coping OK with the rather iffy weather. :0)