Sunday 20 September 2009

Trades, a Card and the Garden

I'm getting on with the finishing on the charity ornies: got one fully completed over the weekend and the other just needs the rest of its trim attaching, then I can take pics to show you and send them off to Donna. Until then I thought I'd show you a few pics of some more acquisitions - though this time through trades - a recent card make and of a little more progress in the garden.

First up are the nice range of DMC threads I received in exchange for an Avid Lancaster Bomber chart:


They are now happily residing in my stash, until they're needed for a project. Next was the fabulous chart I received in exchange for some magazines:


Yes, it's Papillon Creations Mary Queen of Scots. This little stunner has been on my Wish List for some time - I never actually expected to receive it as a Wish and had only put it on there as a reminder that it was there..... and one day I'd get around to buying it. Was I Happy Dancing when it was offered in trade. :0)

A trade for some plastic canvas booklets saw this gorgeous Sugar Maple opalescent fabric added to my stash:



It shouts mermaid, fairy and Angel to me........ am so torn as to which would suit more. It's going to be a whole lot of fun deciding. Once again many thanks to the ladies I traded with - it was a pleasure. :0)

When DH and DS saw stash arriving in packages again they started chuntering away on that same old theme: supposed to be getting rid of things, not adding more. Well I soon pointed out that: the threads replace a chart and they probably won't be in my stash for long because I use DMC all the time; that one Papillon chart replaces six magazines, so it takes up a lot less space and, once stitched, I don't hang onto the chart and the fabric replaces four booklets - shelf space is freed up and less space is taken up by the fabric, which I fully intend stitching something pretty on it so it'll then hang on the wall. Therefore much more has gone than has come back in says I......... very carefully not reminding them about the e**Y stash bargains received the week before. ;0) LOL Just to make sure they were totally convinced my next words were: Oh, and it gave me an incentive to have another root round my stash and add a few more bits to my Trade Album too. Yup, not only did they stop chuntering but that gained me some serious Brownie points........ and was left wondering just when I became that crafty! LOL

I haven't been solely concentrating on stash acquisition though. The cardmaking goodies that Lynn very kindly sent were put to good use to make a card for Clare. Now her birthday has been and gone I can show you what I made:


It was good to finally do something creative, after what seemed like an age. I now have another two cards to make for FIL and an Uncle so I need to get my thinking cap on for those soon.

As for the garden. Well, remember how it looked at the end of the last tidying session:


The blue metal panels gone from against the privet hedge but still with those others leaning on the side of the shed and the one between us and the neighbours? We had another session out there after DH decided all the panels had to go and this is how it looks now:


No more blue metal panels. Yay! Doesn't it look bigger? By the way, those black plastic downpipes are there temporarily, to make a bit of an obstacle course should any scumbag from the local criminal fraternity fancy trying their chances - although now our neighbours have put up a good fence between them and the neighbour the other side there's much less chance of that happening. They seem happy enough with our plans for that end of the garden and may well not bother putting up a fence panel until after we've taken out the old shed and put the new summer house in its place.

The bonfire heap is still there - DH has been very restrained - so I may well suggest that we leave it until the impending Autumn Equinox and have it then. :0)

As for the garden bed along the side of the new fence.... well Mother Nature did her thing while we were on holiday and all kinds of things have sprouted....... and boy, have they flippin' well sprouted! We have no idea where most of it has come from either. This was one of the biggest surprises:



We think it must have been a stray sunflower seed from one of the bird feeders. There were a few more but DH got brutal and pulled a fair few out. That pink flowered thing in the background is so rife it's definitely at weed proportions. That'll teach DH: he's been threatening to do the weed killing session since the new fence went up and still hasn't gotten around to it, now it's twice the job it would have been. Men! On the other hand, the Pete's next door are really motoring on in their garden: in the last two weeks a new back fence has been put up, the old wooden workshop demolished and all the wood burnt, the area flattened and a new concrete base laid and the wood framework for the new one built and put up. The weekend has seen the roof area be boarded and insulated, the outer roof boards added and a start made on the waterproof covering. These guys really graft...... they have got to be on three Shredded Wheat! ROFL

Saturday we had a day at my DSis's....... we decided it was a bit to soon after her motorway detour to suggest that she came over here for the day. Sunday DH made a small start on replacing some of the damaged floorboards in the little bedroom before going to the Festival of the Plough. I didn't fancy it so had a quiet afternoon watching Stargate Atlantis re-runs and doing the ornie finishing instead. We both enjoyed ourselves in our own ways. :0)

Right I'd best be off to finish the last ornie so I'll finally have something stitchy related to show you in my next post, otherwise you'll be wondering if this really is a stitching blog! LOL

Hope you all had a good weekend. Thank you for taking the time to visit and for all your lovely comments. :0)

5 comments:

Christine said...

I love your opportunistic sunflower. I think the pink flowered thing is fumitory

Dani - tkdchick said...

Great stash trades!

Mylene said...

Lovely card you made for Lynn and great stash received.
Goodluck with tidying your garden.

SheilasEmbroidery said...

Looks as if your trades were good ones and there is progress in the garden, The Sunflower looks really at home and your good looks great. Well done.

Jackie said...

cant wait to see how your garden grows. u are good at making cards. lovely stash too.