The Handsome Fella

Yes, the little fella came out again for two more nights of stitching last week and they saw me slowly working away at all the background below him. Here's where I left off:

He's getting there, slowly but surely - fingers crossed for a HD some time next month. :0)

As it was Mother's Day (in the UK) on Sunday I also got my cardmaking goodies out last week to make the tag that I like to put by Mum's plaque at Rosehill, when we visit to take flowers. With all the new growth in the garden and the reasonable weather we've been having lately I was definitely in a Spring mood this time round. Here's what I made:


The visit was a rather blustery one but, once again, the whole Cemetery was looking beautiful with all the new Spring growth and floral tributes. The only niggle was having to go searching for a pot to put Mum's flowers in - the one we used last time had disappeared and there were very few about, as it looks like the local metal thieves had been to call. Reckon they've built up some bad Karma with that rather spiteful theft!

There isn't a Sea Stars update this time round. Unfortunately everything I stitched on it last Thursday night (quite a bit) will have to be frogged - one stitch out again! It's the second time it's happened on the big motif but the umpteenth time it's happened with the whole piece so I'm rather fed-up with it at the minute. I've decided to put it to one side for a couple of weeks in the hopes that a short break will help. I still love the design and do want to finish it, so am not abandoning it altogether - just having a break that will allow me to get on with a couple of other projects I want to do then, hopefully, come back to it with renewed enthusiasm. :0)

Friday was my delayed appointment with Jan, the Herbalist. We had a good natter after we'd covered all the health stuff and discovered we have more in common than we'd previously realised. All I can say is that I am so looking forward to the up and coming move to her new home: it has an annexe that will be used as a Clinic, plus the move will see the development of the Spiritual aspect she's wanted. There'll be lots of interesting workshops coming up, which can't currently run in the Ashby place, as it's too small. I'll post more about this visit, and what else happened, on my other blog some time this week.

Saturday and DH rang the holiday place and booked the cottage we wanted in Chapel Stile, so that's all sorted now. Yay! Mid-morning it was time for my monthly Reiki treatment with Aureen. It went very well once again, though I came away feeling tired this time, rather than buzzing with energy. Will post more about this on my other blog too. Afterwards DH met me in Il Sorriso, where we had dinner (they do a rather nice ham salad), then we called in at one of the flower shops where I bought some freesias to take to Rosehill on Sunday - they were Mum's favourite flowers. As I was feeling tired we didn't have the planned trip to Uncle Henry's to shop - instead, DH used the time to do an oil change on DS's Mini and I sat and did the finishing on the JA/S&S Monthly Challenge piece (will show a pic after Reveal Day) whilst desperately trying hard not to fall asleep. I slept rather well that night! LOL

Sunday we were up early to have our trip over to Doncaster. I got a card from DS before we left and my gift of The Duchess DVD is on its way from Amazon. We picked up my DSis first, visited Rosehill then went back to hers for dinner. In the afternoon DH did some work on the shed for her, to make it a little more secure. We had quite a good natter too. We came home a little earlier as all three of us were tired. The journey home got a little interesting at one point though, when we speed-bumped some roadkill - DH was on dipped headlights at the time, due to oncoming traffic, so didn't see it early enough to avoid it and swerving wasn't an option due to said traffic. Result: two rather nasty sounding thumps and two lurches as the front then back wheels went over it. Not nice! The only thing that made us feel slightly better about it was the fact that the poor thing, whatever it was, was already dead. It was a while before our heart rates returned to normal after that! Thankfully there's no sign of damage to the car.

When we arrived home there was a blue bag sat waiting on my chair and inside were these two potted plants from DS:

Aren't they lovely? Unfortunately my naff picture doesn't really do them justice. The blue flowers are a couple of shades darker than shown. They are currently sitting in the back porch, waiting for some decent weather so they can go outside - I plan on planting them out, when they've done flowering, and hope they'll keep on flowering every year. :0)

Today has been my jobs day and Alex has been for her usual drink and a natter. The rehearsal's for Carpe are gathering momentum now so she and DS are back and forth to those. They're both having to learn to speak their lines whilst wearing a set of vampire teeth - apparently it's quite a knack to speak without spitting all over the person they're facing! So looking forward to watching the performance in May. :0)

Tonight I plan on carrying on with stitching the piece for Challenge for a Finish. Am very happy with the colours chosen (without input from anyone else!) - let's just hope I can actually turn it into a half decent scissor case once it's stitched! LOL Am hoping that tomorrow I will get the finishing done on this month's Christmas ornie, then there'll be something new to show you. :0)

Thank you again for taking the time to visit and for all those lovely comments. Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend and a quiet start to the week. :0)