An Autumn catchup.

It's been a while since my last post and what have I been up to, well not as much as I'd have liked to have done. The garden has kept me busy as have the grandchildren as well as two weeks jury service which was interesting to say the least. I did kind of enjoy it but I don't think I'd want to do it again in a hurry. Birthday barbecues when we picked the only day in the heatwave that the heavens opened and DH and I celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary. Middle daughter has (almost) moved in with her boyfriend so we are nearly empty nesters again.

Tony bought me this lovely standard rose named "Red Romance" for our anniversary,

and the lovely bouquet was from Rachel.

Hopefully tomorrow will be my last day of the school run as Callum will be in full time school as from next week so I should have a bit more time to myself to potter round the garden and try and fit in a few more hours either stitching or knitting, well that's what being retired's all about isn't it!

Oh how I love this season, the gorgeous colours of the leaves and the feint smell of wood smoke in the air and happy days bringing in the rewards of all the back breaking gardening done in early spring. Although the garden hasn't been as successful this year, we have still managed to have some lovely vegetables to eat. The potatoes were a bit of a let down but we are still getting enough to provide dinner for us all, the climbing beans have been a huge success and we have been able to freeze a lot ready for winter. Blackberries have been made into pies and jam and we are now picking the autumn raspberries and apples.

A couple of months ago I was lucky enough to win Gaynor's giveaway on Facebook, I thought that I'd won one of her lovely charts but it turned out that I'd won a stitched piece.

Isn't it lovely.

There has been some stitching going on but not an awful lot, I thought I'd have a go at something different so I made this candle mat, all ready for Christmas.

and this is CCN Blueberries finally finished.

I think that's about all for now, I've still got a few more bits to show but it's getting late so I'll do them another day.

Take care all,

July already!!

This year is flying past, June went in a flurry of gardening and looking after my grandson but now hopefully it's time to sit back and enjoy watching everything grow. Across the road from where we live used to be allotments years ago but sadly neglected over the years. Last year someone bought the land and turned it into a smallholding with pigs and chickens and geese but the downside was that he chopped most of the trees down which left a lot of the birds homeless. Luckily for us the birds have nested in our very large hedge this spring so we've had lots of visitors that we've not notice before but along with the pretty birds came a pair of magpies which seem to think that our garden is theirs and theirs alone.

picture courtesy of www

 They are terrorising my three cats and that takes some doing and even the pigeons have been chased away which means that the veg plot has been left to flourish this year if it hadn't been for the abnormal amount of slugs and snails this year.

The fruit garden is doing well, although the rhubarb is almost over we are picking blackcurrants and raspberries by the bowl full, it's lovely to have so much fresh fruit and the blackberries are laden with fruit so much so that I think I may have to switch on my extra freezer to cope with it all.

Stitching took a back seat last month though I did manage to get a few stitches in. July 1st was opening day for the Gift of Friendship exchange. This is what I sent to Gail (no blog)

and this is what I received from RoseMary,

CCN Count your Blessings is finished,

and LHN Blueberries is almost done.

I've also put a few more stitches into Celtic Noel and made a new start on something else but they can wait until next time. One last thing to show, I received this mandala from Chris the other morning and it really brightened my day.

Isn't it pretty!

A little finish and a RAK

I've been meaning to do a blog post for the past week but somehow other things get in the way especially now that gardening time is here and last week we had some lovely weather in between the storms that once again left my peonies in tatters. But to brighten the day up I was surprised and delighted when the postman brought me a nice little surprise from Heather who had sent me a RAK and I'm really so happy to have been chosen. This is what she sent.

I can't wait to get stared on these. The LHN Blueberries is a thread-pack and tucked in with CCN Morning Song were some needles which will come in very handy as I'm always mislaying mine.

A little more was stitched on CCN Count Your Blessings

and I had a little finish with the ladies over at Needlecraft Haven, this was the monthly challenge a lovely design from The Little Stitcher.

I've also finished the exchange that I'm in for the Gift of Friendship group but I've decided not to put another picture up just in case my partner should find my blog and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Just a few pictures of the garden

Everything is starting to fill out now and the vegetable patch is looking better with the potatoes shooting up. We seem way behind this year but I'm sure whatever's planted will soon catch up.

That's all the news for now, thanks for stopping by

love and hugs,

Better late than never.

I thought I'd better make an appearance before the end of the month or April would have gone by with no post at all. I have had a good reason for being away for so long, well maybe more than one reason. Firstly we've been helping our eldest daughter put in a new bathroom, so every Saturday for the past couple of months, we've made the round trip of four hours to knock down walls, install a new suite and shower and re-tile the room. There's not a lot more to do and it is looking lovely but it's taken us all day Sunday to recover.

And as well as having Callum every afternoon we've helped our youngest daughter to move house as the landlady decided to sell up making Rachel homeless. The only one she could find that is still in the village is one round the corner from us and it's taken a lot of work just to get it liveable but they finally moved in on Sunday. Thankfully this means that the children haven't had to move schools as they are both settled in well and happy where they are and also means that I am still near enough for the walk to school.

I've hardly had time to do any stitching this month with all the decorating going on and the garden is looking in need of a little TLC to get it back in shape but hopefully I'll find a bit more time now that everyone else is settled.

I have managed to put a few stitches in this week.

Country Cottage Needleworks "Count your blessings" is coming along nicely.

and I managed another motif on Beatrix Potter,

This is an anemone for a summer exchange that I'm doing but I know that the lady I'm stitching for doesn't look at blogs so it's safe putting it on here.

And before I go here are a few pictures of the garden.

I was beginning to think that nothing was going to grow this year as there was such a lot of green everywhere but suddenly everything is starting to bloom.

And last but not least, this is Troy, never far away when I'm in the garden.

That's all for now, thanks for dropping by,

love and hugs,

Just because

I don't buy flowers very often but these tulips were calling out to me this morning when I called in our local shop. At the moment the garden is looking quite bare though there are plants waiting to spring into life but I needed a bit of sunshine in the house and these will brighten up the dullest room.

The weather has been gorgeous for most of the week and even though the wind has had an icy bite to it I've managed to get outside for an hour or two each day tidying up the winter garden and getting it ready for spring. The autumn raspberries have been cut down and the blackcurrant bushes have been pruned. The greenhouse is all ready for the first sowing of seeds, pots and trays all washed and for the first time for ages I haven't had to hunt round for the seeds that I'd saved from last year, they were still in the cupboard where I'd left them. Now does that man that I've been good and not lost them or does it mean that I've not emptied that cupboard for six months!!

Lily and Callum enjoyed the sunshine on Sunday and made the most of it playing on the swings and see saw. It was lovely to get out and play without sinking into the lawn.

Last week was World Book Day and Becky and Josh dressed up as their favourite book characters.

Don't they look cute.

I have been knitting and stitching but haven't taken any photos yet so I'll leave that for another day.

Tomorrow I am going shopping for a wedding dress, my youngest daughter Rachel has decided it's time to get married so they've booked the day for May 3rd next year. I definitely need to lose the extra pounds that have been keeping me warm all winter, just need to find some willpower so that I can fit into the lovely outfit that I've seen. Why is it so easy to put weight on and so, so hard to get it off.

Bed is calling so I'll wish you all a goodnight,

love and hugs,

Welcome February

Well, January has disappeared in a flash of bugs and infections, I've never been so glad to see the back of it. It started off ok as January 1st is my birthday so it was spent happily with the family, on the 2nd I had to have some teeth out and a follow up appointment the following week saw me losing some more so for two weeks I hardly ate anything apart from soft food. The third week I had a stomach bug followed by a chest infection and topped it off with a water infection all in the same month. The only good thing to come out of it is that I have lost at least 8lbs in weight which was a good kick start to my new year diet!

I've not been doing a lot, I just couldn't summon up any enthusiasm to do anything but I have managed to do a few bits.

This is Little House on a Hill by LHN,I finished this at the end of last year.

This was lovely to stitch so thank you Julie for passing it on to me.

I did another motif on Beatrix Potter,

It  is coming along now and I hope to finish it soon.

I also did the monthly challenge on Needlecraft Haven but forgot to send my picture in with not feeling too good. This was a lovely simple stitch.

I did have a new start which is CCN Count your blessings but I'm not happy with the fabric as it's so stiff and feels a bit plasticy but I'll have another go at it and see if I can get on with it any better.

Apart from that I've been doing a bit of knitting and lots of reading and lots of resting, I just need some sunshine now and I'd be a happy bunny, please hurry up Spring I think we've all had enough of winter.

Hope everyone is feeling well and keeping warm in this horrid weather,

love and hugs,