A Catch Up

Have realised that I didn't actually post a pic of the tag I made to take to Rosehill last Monday so thought I'd start with that:


I always pop the tags inside a plastic bag, to keep them dry, and take a large metal paper clip that I bend around so one end hooks and holds the tag firm whilst the pulled out end is pushed into the ground to keep it in place. This method works well, as the tags are usually still there when we next visit (unless the chaps have been tidying up!). The weather was rather horrible on our visit: cold, biting wind and raining. We called in at the Thornton's Cafe at The Outlet afterwards, to say Hi to my DSis and get a hot drink to warm us up. We had a lovely surprise when our Uncle T and Aunty S (Mum's brother, our last link with our Mum's side of the family, and his wife) came into the cafe while we were there - something they've never done before. I hadn't seen them both in quite a while, so I gave them both a big hug and kiss and had a natter, catching up with some of their news. I love it when the Universe brings about such happy chance encounters. :0)

We arrived back home in plenty of time for the Virgin Media chap coming to check the set top box. The upshot of that is that the box wasn't just playing up but was obsolete and officially cream crackered, so he changed it for a brand new, latest version one - and gave us a new card for the front too. It's brilliant: everything that's supposed to work does, so we can get the guide all of the time, bookmark what we want and it work and can now use the On Demand service. Yay! Such a shame that most of what's been on the TV lately just hasn't been worth watching though! LOL

The rest of last week was a round of the usual house jobs, blogging, stitching, getting out in the garden when the weather allowed, reading and cooking etc etc etc. Thrilling, ain't it? LOL Actually I don't mind things being that slow - every time I've wished for some excitement something nasty has usually happened....... so slow is good. :0)

On the stitching front Night Watchman had three nights of attention last week. Now you may think I'm aiming to be teacher's pet or going for a Miss Goody Twoshoes award with that but no, it was all down to: 1) not seeming to get much done in one night, so wanting to do more to make up for it and 2) really wanting to get to the bottom corner, so it would give me an idea as to how much more was left to stitch before that much anticipated HD would happen. Have a look-see:

I think I may take him on holiday with me, just in case I get time to do any stitching while we're away (doubtful, with my hyperactive DSis around and evenings of playing Trivial Pursuit, but you never know). He'll certainly be the easiest piece to gather everything together to pack in the car.

I started the finishing for my April Christmas Ornie last week but let's just say that it didn't go to plan and I've kind of ground to a halt with it. >:0( I've now thought of a way to hide the bit of damage that happened but it's going to take a while to do, so I have to leave it until my patience is up for it. Oh well, you live and learn!

The next Challenges have been announced. The JA/S&S Forum's challenge for May is a biscornu from any of the links that were provided - there's lots of choice and some very lovely ones too. Have chosen one and printed it off....... am now hoping I can fit it in, with one week less to do things in. The Challenge for a Finish challenge for May is a needleroll, any pattern. This one will be a first for me but I have something all ready in my stash that I've been meaning to get around to some time...... so have definitely got to fit this in. Meanwhile I've been stitching a couple of small pieces that will be going off to a new home once the finishing has been done. Not in my normal line but they were fun to do. I won't show a pic until they've reached their new home though . Sorry. ;0)

I finished my last book, Dan Brown's Digital Fortress, too. Another good read - there are more details in the side bar and over at The Reading Corner blog, if you want to know more. BTW, it's been registered with the Book Crossing site and is available, if anyone would like it. Current read is from my non-fiction stash: Mistress Peachum's Pleasure: The Life of Lavinia, Duchess of Bolton by Lisa Hilton. It's about an 18th century actress who made good, with much about the history of the times she lived in. Not as exciting as Dan Brown but interesting, nonetheless - especially when you consider the similarities between the things that were happening back then to what is happening now....... today's binge drinking crowds are nothing new and they are complete amateurs, compared to the gin swillers back in the 18th century! This will probably end up coming on holiday with me, as I can't see me finishing it beforehand.

DH and I have been stay-at-home bodies so far this Bank Holiday weekend and the garden has been getting some attention whilst the weather has been nice. Some of my pots that had empty spaces have now got violas filling the gaps. The crocus, snowdrop and daffodil leaves have been trimmed back and dropped tulip leaves gathered; the bird feeders filled; the ivy growing over the door to the Secret Garden (namely: the old air raid shelter) has been trimmed back so DH can get in there; a bit of conifer trimming and a dandelion dig out has been done and a lot of old dead bits picked out of nooks and crannies. If the weather stays fine tomorrow the strimmer will make it out for a once around the areas that the mower can't get at, then it'll be looking a lot tidier....... apart from the triffids at the bottom of the garden - they seem to have plans to take over the world, the rate they are growing. LOL The fresh air has been good and benefited the both of us...... we'll sleep well tonight.

Hope you are all having a great weekend, wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Thank you for visiting. :0)

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)

Cardmaking and Mother Earth

Many thanks for all the recent well wishes - after another nights' sleep I was more or less OK and the cold feelings and cold sore had virtually disappeared. Yay! I just haven't been around much this week as things got a bit busy here.

Sunday DH and I went out to Brigg Garden Centre for dinner. We had a look round at the trees etc afterwards....... we didn't come away with a tree or any plants but I did get a few other goodies: a pack of 50 pastel coloured pearlescent cards plus various embellishments and a couple of papers from the reduced box. I love a bargain! As it was a nice day and we hadn't been there for a while we had a trip out to Humberside Airport so DH could do a little plane spotting. I had pre-planned (I'm not daft!): I took my book and the JA/S&S September Challenge piece with me. DH enjoyed watching the planes and helicopters, plus catching a few rays, while I got a reasonable amount of guilt-free stitching done. I carried on with it after tea that night too.

Monday was my usual busy day doing jobs before Alex's visit for a coffee and a natter. After tea I managed to complete the Challenge piece stitching. Result! I was annoyed with myself for not stitching last months piece through letting time get away from me (especially as I voted for it), so was determined not to let the same happen this time round. I have an idea for finishing this but haven't had chance to make a start yet. Sorry - no pics until after Reveal Day. ;0)

Tuesday wasn't a good day: had a niggling in my back and head as soon as I got up but had hoped it would wear off. After dinner it soon became obvious that my head was feeling a whole lot worse and, although it wasn't full on flashing lights, there was some visual disturbance there: a migraine, the first one in quite a while. After taking some tablets and texting DH and DS to let them know not to phone or knock at the door and please be quiet when they came home I went back to bed. DS must have taken it to heart: I vaguely heard him let himself in but never heard him get ready or go out again. I woke up just before 6pm feeling much better and even managed some UFO Night stitching after tea - not happy with the amount of progress made I didn't post a pic as I'd decided to stitch more on Wednesday.

Wednesday I felt bright as a button and got up as DH left for work and got on with laundry, other house jobs and even had an hour in the garden, trimming all the dead stuff. By the afternoon, happy with the satisfaction of being a virtuous housewife (it doesn't happen often so I like to make the most of it LOL), I felt I'd earned a craft break :0)

First off was some card making. DS attended an evening wedding "do" on Saturday and I ended up having to do a rush job on a card for him - so rushed I didn't have time to take a pic or scan it for my album. I don't fancy another rush like that so made another so there's one in hand for next time:

Friday would have been my Mum's birthday so I made a tag to put beside her name plaque at Rosehill along with some flowers:

Next up was a birthday card for my Uncle (Mum's brother). He's a retired Merchany Navy Chief Engineer so the ship theme is spot on, especially as he and Aunty have been on a few holiday cruises too:

Sorry for the blurry scans - I'm still getting used to the new printer/scanner set up. Printing I've got cracked but the new scanning set-up is taking a bit of getting used to. Yes, DH came home with it last Saturday and he came home a lot happier than he went out......... mainly because it didn't cost him as much as he thought it was going to......... not that I'm saying he's tight or anything. ;0) LMAO

After tea I carried on with Mother Earth and felt much happier with the progress after a second stitching session - am sure fellow HAED stitchers will know what I mean when I say it doesn't seem to grow much. I'd last touched Her back in December 2007 - this is where I'd left off then:

This is how She looks now:

Glad to have got the trees bit done on the left as it means that next time around I'll be stitching Mother Earths' face and body....... much more interesting and the lighter colours will make a nice change. :0) Still not sure if this piece will be a regular UFO Night stitch though - I may just pinch Miss376's idea of stitching one thread length a day on this and choose something else for next Tuesday night.

I've also finally managed to catch up with all blog reading and commenting, something I'd been struggling to do since getting home from our holiday. It's been fascinating to see how many folks have said they weren't going to, have now caved and are signing up for the Me, Myself and I NRR and what plans they have for their neighbourhoods. LOL I like the idea and have bookmarked the blog, so I can watch everyone's pieces develop when it starts. I don't have any plans to sign up - it's not as if I haven't got plenty to keep me going already, is it? Except last night I did find myself wondering what a Blackwork neighbourhood would look like...... Get thee behind me! LOL

Tonight is Sea Stars SAL night so I'd best be off and get that motif finished and see how far I can get with another one. I did think about not stitching it this week as Barb (no blog) is away on her holiday but it's shouting too loudly......

Thank you for taking the time to visit and for the kind comments, they really are appreciated. :0)

Awards and a Tag

I still can't believe my blog has been given more awards and I can't tell you how grateful and honoured I feel that those who have given them think my wafflings are worth them. Thank you so much! :0)

Both Edda and Julie have given me the Brillante award.

Once again I will have to chicken out of nominating blogs for this one because just about all of the wonderful blogs I read have already been awarded it already. If I read and comment on your blog and you are one of the few who haven't already received this award then here are the rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Add links to those blogs on yours
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

Please consider your blog nominated by me. :0)

Mylene has very kindly given my blog this award:

The rules of the award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve nominated

As I didn't nominate any blogs for the Brillante award I will nominate extra blogs for this award, to make up for it. The blogs I'm nominating are, in no particular order:

1. Julie's;


2. Helen's;


3. Karen's;


4. Rachael's;


5. Elisa's;


6. Christine's;


7. Sally's;


8. Karen's;


9. Dawn's;


10. Miss376;


11. Lynn's;


12. Nicola's;


13. Kyrie's;


14. Edda's.

I could go on because there are so many more lovely blogs I read and enjoy, and I also hate leaving anyone out, but I guess I must stop somewhere. :0)

I was tagged by Miss376 Rules:You must answer the questions using only one word. Tag four others.

Here we go:

1. Where is your cell phone? Downstairs

2. Your significant other? Working

3. Your hair? Greying

4. Your mother? Passed

5. Your father? Passed

6. Your favorite thing? Stitching

7. Your dream last night? Forgotten

8. Your favorite drink? Coffee

9. Your dream/goal? Wisdom

10. The room your in? Unfinished :0(

11. Your hobby? Lots

12. Your fear? Loneliness

13. Where do you want to be in six years? Alive :0)

14. What your not? Thin

15. Muffins? Chocolate

16. One of your wish list items? Motorhome

17. Where you grew up? Doncaster

18. The last thing you did? Text

19. What are you wearing? Clothes

20. Favorite gadget? George

21. Your pets? None

22. Your computer? Working

23. Your mood? Happy

24. Missing someone? Yes

25. Your car? Honda

26. Something your not wearing? Blouse

27. Favorite store? Range

28. Like someone? Certainly

29. Your favorite color? Many

30. When is the last time you laughed? Today

31. Last time you cried? 11th

Have you any idea just how difficult sticking to just one word answers is for me? LMAO
BTW, No 20 is George, as in George Foreman Lean Mean wotsit grill and therefore totally innocent. LOL

I won't nominate anyone as I know tagging isn't to everyone's taste but if you want to take part, please consider yourself tagged and feel free to snag the questions etc. :0)

As this has been a word intensive and non-stitching related post I thought I'd lighten things up a little by adding a photo of the new family member we gained whilst on holiday:

He's quiet, is cheap to keep, makes himself very useful by propping open the living room door. His name is Baa-rry. ;0)

Many thanks for visiting and for taking the time to comment - hope you're all having a good week. :0)

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Miss376

1. What were you doing 5 years ago?
Sheesh, I struggle to remember what I was doing 5 days ago, never mind 5 years! LOL. Absolutely no idea.

2. What 5 things are on your to-do list today?
Wash the pots; do some laundry; potter in my garden; carry on stitching the Monthly Challenge piece and Blog. Not very exciting but it keeps me busy, happy and out of mischief. :0)

3. What 5 snacks do you enjoy?
McVitie's Milk Chocolate digestive biscuits; melon; Doritos & dip (don't have very often); crisps (occasionally); cheese and biscuits (occasionally).

4. What 5 things would you do if you were a billionaire?
Pay off my DBro's mortgage; help my DSis refurbish her home; totally refurbish our house and give it to DS; get DH to retire to our new bungalow and buy a motorhome so we can travel the country; plus I'd help as many cancer charities as possible, especially the hospices.

5. What 5 jobs have you done?
Shop assistant in a toy department; untrained nursery nurse in a private day care nursery; nursing assistant in a residential hospital for residents with learning difficulties; playgroup supervisor and, last but not least: housewife and mum.

I won't tag anyone, as I know some of you have been "got" a few times lately, but if you want to take part please feel free. :0)

TAG, You're It!

It's definitely the month for firsts! I've just been tagged for the first time ever by Mylene and have to name seven weird or random facts about myself. Hope I've figured this out properly and get it right!

First, the Rules:

1 Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2 Post the Rules on your blog.
3 Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4 Tag 7 people and link them.
5 Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Second, 7 weird or random facts about me:

1) I can read things even when they are upside down or back-to-front (although that excludes GP's writing - I defy anyone to decipher Doctors writing any which way up it is!);
2) I hate all fairground rides, apart from the Dodgems, and won't ride on them for anything (not even for mega-bucks!);
3) I love the smell and feel of clean bedding on my bed - bliss!;
4) I openly confess to being a sci-fi buff and a Trekkie and can do a Vulcan "Live long and prosper" salute with either hand (am also ambidextrous when flipping the bird too LOL) :0) ;
5) I love my garden and pottering around in it but am not much of a gardener and don't plan: if a plant is pretty and smells nice it gets in, usually the nearest available space, then it has to fend for itself;
6) I believe in ghosts/spirits and love watching anything about them (especially Most Haunted) but don't like watching horror movies because they are too scary!;
7) When I was a very small toddler I tripped and fell hands first into an open fire at my Gran's house - don't remember anything about it but I was scared of fires, especially big bonfires, and wouldn't hold sparklers for a long time until Mum told me what had happened when I was about 10 or 11 - been OK ever since, though still have some minor scarring on both hands as a reminder.

I have tagged:

Claire; Helen; Julie; Karen; Elisa; Dawn and Sally.

My apologies if you've already been tagged - I'm new to this and not sure of what the etiquette is. If you do participate, please come back to my blog and leave a comment. I look forward to reading your posts. :0)