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,

It's been a while since I blogged about my stitching and what's been going on but I have been keeping busy. Still stitching away and knitting for the grandchildren though no photos to show as my camera has died and I'm hoping that Santa will bring me a new one. We've been busy decorating, not just a lick of paint but new plaster in a couple of the rooms so it's been a bit disorganised to say the least but I am ready for Christmas apart from a little more baking. We have a full house on both Christmas day and Boxing day and I'm so looking forward to the grandchildren opening their presents, I just hope they get all that was on Santas list, it was beginning to get rather a long list this year now that there are five of them.

Hopefully in the New Year I'll be back blogging once everything has settled down, until then I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas .

love and hugs

Sue x

Our new arrival

Oh I wish I could get myself better organised, you'd think that being retired I'd have plenty of time to sort myself out but time keeps rushing by and I get nowhere. But, never mind, I still manage to do the important things.

First of all let me introduce you to Alexander Samuel Lee, born on September 4th, our 5th grandchild.

He weighed in at 7lb 7 and a half ounces on what would have been my Dad's birthday and he is gorgeous. Sharon had to have a caesarean but she is doing well, I can't wait for another visit so I can have a cuddle again.

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to win Gaynor's giveaway, the prize was a $25 gift certificate from 123 stitch and this is what I bought.

These will keep me busy now that Autumn is here, sitting warm and cosy by the fire stitching is one of my favourite things to do in the evenings.

I was also lucky enough to win a chart that Julie was passing on over at Needlecraft Haven.

This is LHN Little House on A Hill and as you can see I couldn't wait to start it, thank you Julie.

I finally finished LHN Season of plenty so now I have to decide what I want to do with all four of them. They are made up into cushions on the chart but I think I might try and frame all four together.

I loved stitching this one the colours are so pretty.

L&L Noel is coming along, I have managed to put a few more stitches into her, not as many as I'd have liked but she's taking shape.

DH and I have had a few days out which has been lovely. Apart from a visit to Chester to visit our new grandson we also spent a few hours visiting the National Motorcycle Museum looking at the old bikes and bringing back many memories from my youth, oh those were the days!!

On Saturday we spent the evening on a steam train on the Great Central Railway at Loughborough. This was a Christmas present from our daughter Kim and included a six course meal which was delicious. We arrived to be greeted by this old steam train.

And this is a quick peek at the dining car.

Although we didn't travel very far, the whole journey and meal took three hours as we stopped along the way to eat at different spots which was a good thing when they were handing out the soup.

So all in all the past few weeks have been really good and I got discharged from the hospital too.

Life is good,

take care all,

35 years on

We had a lovely day yesterday remembering our wedding day and all the lovely people that were there to join in our happy day. Sadly a lot of those people are no longer with us but they are always in our thoughts.

I had a lovely bouquet of flowers from DH

and another from DD Rachel, (I do wish I could take better photos)

from DD Kim we had these, very naughty but so yummy.

Not a lot of stitching going on but I did manage to sew a little on LHN Season of Plenty.

I love the colours in this one.

It's a lovely sunny day so I am heading out to the garden to see if I can pull a few of the ever growing weeds out of the flower garden.

Have a lovely day all,

hugs,

Finally

Doesn't time fly when you're busy, July passed by before I knew it and here we are in the middle of August already. Life has been hectic for the past few months, not with anything special but with doing things that I wanted to do or needed to be done.

I have been enjoying the garden this year as I do every year but more so because I'm feeling better. The panic attacks haven't gone away but I'm coping with them even though it's always there in the back of my mind but I've beaten them before and I know I will do again. I'm just trying to stay positive and not let them rule my life like they have done before, I will not let them rule my life.

This is the first of my lilies to bloom in the pond isn't it pretty. We have found that we have two visitors to the pond, two little frogs that have been playing in the water and lying on the stones but the trouble is that the cats have found them too. Luckily there are lots of places for them to hide so they should be safe. It's the first year that we've had frogs so quite a nice treat for us. The garden has come and gone so quickly this year, especially the flower garden where most of the blossoms have faded despite my efforts to keep deadheading, there are still more plants to flower so I shall look forward to seeing them bloom. The veg garden is keeping me busy bottling beetroot and making jam and the blackberry is full of fruit almost ready to be picked. We have had a good harvest this year and there's still more to come.

The end of July was my daughter Kim's birthday and we had a lovely BBQ to celebrate with all her friends. It was touch and go whether it would go ahead as early afternoon we had a downpour but after that the sun came out and most of the guests were still sitting outside at midnight.

August came and so did my grandson Callum's third birthday.

Here he is all smiles with his Fireman Sam birthday cake. For the past three weeks I have been looking after his big sister Lily while she is on school holidays, next week they are both going on holiday so I shall have a weeks rest.

I'm gradually getting back into my stitching, just in the evening when I'm usually on my own. I finished LHN Season of Growth and started the final one in the set of four, Season of Plenty.

I've also managed to finish three more motifs on Beatrix Potter too, I'd really like to finish this as it's been on the go for too long. Celtic Noel has also had some stitches put in but I'll leave that for another time.

My final effort for last month has been this, a little cardi for my grandson who is due on September 10th though the doctors think he may make his arrival before then. Sharon only finished work last week and she's had to go to the hospital three times already to check on the baby and now Josh, her eldest, has come down with chicken pox so she's not going to get much rest before the baby is here.

Well I think that's about all for now, we are going to have a day out on Sunday looking at vintage motor bikes. DH has a classic bike made in 1932 which he used to show but this year he's just looking and he says it will be a day out for our anniversary on Monday! I was hoping for something a little different but after 35 years of marriage I don't think he'll change.

Take care all, hugs