TWO HAPPY DANCES & A TOUR . . . .

Two Happy Dances to report . . . .

Firstly 'Stitcher in Residence' by Lizzie*Kate now hanging on the Study door as I do my best to convince my DH that this room will soon be my domain only and completely out of bounds to him (I'll be ruling the world next!!!)

'Stitcher in Residence' by Lizzie*Kate

stitched on 28ct white Monaco with my choice of Gentle Art threads

Sitting in my pile of fabric odds and ends was a piece of Moda fabric with a design called 'Bird in the Bowers' by Kathy Schmitz, I love the colours in this so used it as the backing and added a small silk ribbon at the top.

Secondly is 'Happy Bunny Bunny Day' by The Trilogy.  I changed everything colourwise with this design as the bunny had to be the same colours as Buttons, after much debate this was agreed to be GAST Cidermill Brown with GAST Walnut for his patches and tail.  I'm not sure what to do with the finished piece, I do not have any fabric that matches the colours and it is not a standard size for framing so it may have to hop to the 'I'm Waiting To Be Finished' pile and wait patiently!

'Happy Bunny Bunny Day' by the Trilogy

stitched on 28ct cream Monaco with Gentle Art threads and pink heart embellishments

******

Despite a little rain on Saturday the weather has been so good that the Barbecue made its first appearance of the year on Sunday and along with some gardening 'al~fresco' was the deal of the weekend.  Our garden is just coming to life again and always looks so good in Spring so here's a quick Tour . . . .

Our house is raised up from the garden so we step out onto a verandah the full width of the house which has two sets of steps going down to the first level of garden which then slopes to a second level. These are views from the verandah . . .

This centre piece of the garden has an archway with more steps from the first level down to the second. These flower beds will be a mass of colour over the next few months and very hard work to keep on top of the dreaded weeds . . . .

Looking from the bottom of the garden to the top this is an excellent slope for keep-fit running and has a shaded tunnel at the top created by the holly tree and the buddleja bush joining forces. On the right hand side we have a fire basket which is lovely in the Autumn and ideal for toasting marshmallows and sausages . . .

This is our 'woodland' area of the garden where we have apple trees, bluebells, ferns, bamboos and the gate leading to the compost heap and the stream beyond.  The squirrels love this area and chase each other up the trees and along the fence panels (great fun to watch) . . . .

We have so many visitors to the garden including wood pigeons, woodpeckers, robins, a very noisy owl, squirrels, frogs from the stream and one unwanted visitor ~ a fox (not a close friend of Buttons).  The robin follows us around when we are digging and grabs anything that wiggles and our friendly blackbird is called Beaky and comes right up to the back door for his daily bread.  I have just planted up my verandah boxes with viola which the squirrels will do their best to upturn and bury they winter supplies underneath - ha ha! I have a cunning plan ~ pebbles between each plant means they cannot dig up the earth without getting sore paws/claws!!!

Well, you know who my last picture will be of and here he is doing what he loves best . . . . snoozing and sunbathing!

HAPPY STITCHING . . . . .

HAPPY DAYS . . . .

After a full recovery by all of us the last week has been just perfect!  A big Thank You to those of you that left get well messages on my last post - really, really appreciated.

My gang of three all went back to school today and I've really missed their company.  Last week was lovely ~ the days have been sunny and warm and that always makes 'Happy Days'.  My twin boys belong to a local church youth group and they have an Easter Holiday Club for the young children and this year Twins I and II were both chosen as group leaders and enjoyed making cakes, candle holders, performing drama and music and having wet sponges thrown at them by the little 'uns.  They celebrated their hard work at the end of the week with all the other leaders with a get-together in the evening with a fish and chip supper.  The normal treat on school breaks is to delay bedtime by one hour but they were both so exhausted from the leaderships that they were more than happy to retire at the normal time!!! (now they may realise just how exhausting it is looking after demanding children)!

DD's bedroom was successfully decorated and is really pretty in pink.  Her big treat for the Easter Hols was to get see her idols ~ Diversity (street dancers and winners of Britain's Got Talent 2009) last Thursday evening down in Brighton.  She has had her tickets since last December and has literally been counting down the days until the big event.  She left midday with her friend and was determined to see them arrive in their tour coach ~ 3 hours later she did and after the show waited for them yet again and was lucky enough to meet several of them and get autographs.  She was on a high all day Friday and when she read on Twitter that they were still in Brighton at a well-known hotel and not leaving until Saturday morning she set her alarm clock early and set off again to hunt them out (what a dedicated fan!!!!)   I was dreading she would get there too late and that they would have made an early get-away so I can't tell you how relieved I was when she rang me midday to say she had met all of them this time and they had each posed with her for photographs!!

And now for me .... with the children all occupied and happy I was able to settle down to a good dose of sewing.  Cluck, Cluck is complete and I'm really happy with it ...

'Cluck, Cluck!!' by The Stitching Shed

stitched on 28count Sand Minster Linen with Anchor threads provided

I was going to frame it and hang it in the kitchen but DH says it will make another nice pillow for the sofa in the Study so I shall find a nice colourful backing fabric and add some heart embellishments.

My fabric for my recently finished Noah's Ark arrived and I have finished that into a pillow, I only added the one embellishment to the front, I was going to add three different ones but it looked too busy ...

'Noah's Ark' by HeartStrings

stitched on 14count Rustico Aida with chosen DMC threads backed with Debbie Mumm Noah fabric and Debbie Mumm white dove embellishment on front

And finally a completion from the bottom of the 'finished' pile from sometime ago ~ Harry Potter!  I knew I wouldn't be able to find the right size frame for this piece so I turned it into a stand up with a star themed fabric and it now stands in the bookcase along with the complete set of Harry Potter books.  I stitched this design from a DMC Harry Potter publication which was only produced in French but was easy to follow, the book has lots and lots of the characters and logos and I would love to add Ron and Hermione to make the infamous trio!  I often think how lucky my children and I have been to actually live the Harry Potter story as it has been told, everytime a new book or film was released we were always there on the day to buy or watch it and with only 2 films left to see now it will be horrible when it's all finished!!!

'Harry Potter' from DMC's Harry Potter Collection

stitched on 14count white Aida with suggested DMC threads

So, what to stitch next?  I can't make up my mind so am stitching a small Lizzie*Kate as a fill-in . . . The Prairie Schooler's 'When Witches Go Riding' is very tempting as is my recent purchase of BBD's 'Midnight Watch' ~ is it too early for Halloween now the Sunshine is finally here ????

And lastly my little sunbathing friend Buttons who's insisting the next stitch should be 'Briar Rabbit' by La~d~Da - it is a gorgeous chart but I've yet to find a fabric I would like to stitch it on . . . .

HAPPY STITCHING . . . .

THE EASTER BUNNY DID NOT COME ALONE . . .

So much to look forward to : sunshine, a chilled and relaxing 4-day break, easter eggs and a visit from the Easter Bunny - only he did not come alone - an Easter Bug came too!!!

5am Good Friday Twin 2, having gone to bed the night before perfectly happy and well, was violently sick for a 6 hour duration, followed by myself at 9pm that evening and Twin 1 starting at 2am Saturday morning.  I've never known a bug hit so quickly as this one and it really was a rotten time leaving us exhausted and no appetite for choccie eggs or anything else whatsoever.  DH was an absolute angel and looked after the three of us so well and until Wednesday evening was feeling very lucky that he had escaped it  . . . oh no! no such luck, at midnight the bug paid him a visit too.  DD was away at a Birthday sleepover so thankfully she escaped it but Easter ended up being a non-event and this weekend we shall make up for it!

I've not really been in the mood for sewing after the past week's events but as it was Easter and I'm not a chocolate lover, DH bought me this month's The World of Cross Stitching magazine instead which had a small free kit of Lickle Ted so decided to stitch this.

I didn't like the plain white Aida that came with the kit so substituted it with 28count Cashel Raw Linen and used the DMC threads provided.  As it was only a little design I decided to make it into a pillow and used Mary Engelbreit's Bee fabric for the reverse, added a bee embellishment on the twine at the top and added a plant pot button for the the final touch.

Now I can crack on with 'Cluck, Cluck' ~ this design is such fun to stitch and the blocks of colour are fast and easy to do :

This weekend we have the Decorators in!  After postponing them twice now, last month when my Dad was poorly and last week due to the dreaded Bug, tomorrow they start on DD's bedroom ~ she's waited so long for a revamp and has just chosen some gorgeous Laura Ashley wallpaper and matching paint ~ pink, of course!  Carpets and new furniture will follow in a couple of weeks time so whether she'll ever come out of there again , who knows?  GCSE's are fast approaching and the studying/revision hours are long but she's a good girl and knuckles down and gives 100% so a new bedroom is well deserved!  Her friend's birthday sleepover last weekend was Disney themed and they each dressed up as a character ~ as Stitch is her favourite alien she chose Lilo and here she is complete with flower garlands :

A big thank you to all who have viewed and commented on my last few posts, it's so lovely that you take the time to do so and I really enjoy reading them all.

HAPPY STITCHING . . . .