Part 3

Part three of Prairie Sampler is finished so by this time next week it should hopefully be finished.



I've run out of one of the threads though so with any luck it will arrive in time for me to finish on schedule. It's been lovely stitching this and I'm hoping to get it framed before Christmas.

It's been wet and windy again today, really miserable weather, so I'm making the most of sitting by the fire and playing with Lily. She's decided that she likes grandma's cakes!



I can't believe that Christmas is so near, we've been trying to sort out how we can get ten round our small table this year, I think there's going to be a lot of furniture moving. I've nearly done all my Christmas shopping which is a first for me as I usually leave it until the last minute but it's been a lovely experience shopping for grandchildren this year and I get to play with the toys first.......

hugs,

Sue

Rainy days and Mondays

I've had that song going through my head for the past couple of hours, especially the first line ...."talking to myself and feeling old", probably because that's how I've been today but rainy days don't get me down, in fact I love the rain on my face (as long as it's not cold rain) and since I've retired, Monday is just another day to do as I please, within reason.
Last week when we did have some sunshine, me and Lily made the most of it and got the paddling pool and play mat out and went for a splash.
She really enjoyed getting me and her mum wet! I can't wait for her to get her first words out, she is trying so hard to tell us something and she "talks" for ages in her own little way. She is so comical. Last weekend was my sister's 70th birthday party and it was the first time that Lily had been on a dance floor. She kept trying to catch the flashing lights that were on the floor and she just went round and round in circles until she was dizzy She didn't want to give in though and she got quite upset when it was time to go, but with kisses from everyone and a balloon to see her on her way she was smiling by the time she left.
On the stitching front I have finally finished LHN Natures Beauty, I say finally because when I'd put the last stitch in and sat back to admire my work I noticed that I'd stitched the flowers on the left of the verse half a stitch lower than the other side. Tony said that it wasn't noticeable but I knew it was there so I had to rip it out and start again.
I started another LHN called Starlight Sampler and I've also put a few more stitches into my Beatrix SAL so I'm happy to say that I'm feeling good about my stitching.
The garden at the moment has a mind of its own, some things are growing and some are definitely heading for the compost bin.
These are my first tomatoes of the season, followed by a sweet pepper or two.This is how the garden looked a couple of years ago; last year we decided to get rid of the drive down to the shed so that we'd have more lawn. Tony has decided to get rid of his old kit car that lives in the shed so we won't need the driveway down there any more once it's gone.And this is how it looks now, it's looking a bit bare but we intend to put some more shrubs in when we get round to it. The borders are filling up nicely thanks to all the seeds that Chris sent me, even the seedlings that she sent through the post survived and grew.Some days I wonder what I've done with my time but when I look back at these photos I know where my time went and I'm quite pleased with the results. Some days it's been hard work but I love being out there, it's so peaceful.
And finally, this is my old Persian cat Chester; he's twelve years old now and this is how he spends most of his day. Wouldn't it be nice to be so relaxed.

Hugs,

Never a dull moment

It's been a busy week what with looking after Lily and making sure that the garden is well watered now that everything is planted and growing. I can't wait for all my bedding plants to bloom, there's certainly enough in the ground now to give a good show.

I must thank Bev for the award that she gave me over a week ago and I've still not managed to put it on my blog but here it is now.Thank you so much Bev and once I've found my list of blogs to give it to I'll put it on here.
I have managed to do a bit of stitching, this is the scissor fob that I stitched for Janice on the Exchange Heaven blog, it was a quick little stitch and I really enjoyed doing it.

It's not a very good photo as it was taken when my camera was still playing up, but I think I've got it sorted now.
I've only managed a little on my Beatrix Potter this month as other things have taken priority and I do find it hard to keep the fabric from flopping around everywhere, but it's better than nothing.
I've even put a few stitches into my LHN Natures Beauty and hopefully before long it will be finished, but I've been trying to finish a bookmark that I'm doing for a Threads of Friendship exchange before I do anything else of mine.

I was looking through an old box with some of my earlier stitching in and I came across a UFO well hidden amongst my sewing stuff. I started this years ago and I loved doing it at the time but somehow it got pushed to one side, I think it's all the different colours in the garden that put me off. I was stitching it to make as a fire screen, maybe I ought to give it another try.
It's a Teresa Wentzler design called an English Garden Sampler, I've stitched the middle section with the alphabet and the potted trees and to be honest it looks a lot nicer than the picture of the kit above, there's a lot of green and gold in it which looks lovely.

And finally, I can't end the day without putting up a photo of Lily; she fell over today just after I'd taken this picture and she has a slight chip on her front tooth. I don't know who cried most, me or her. I felt so guilty that I'd let her fall over and I asked Rachel, her mum, to come over in her lunch hour to check her over. I'm so glad that I'm past child bearing age !
And just one more, here's baby Joshua just before he left hospital.
hugs,