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

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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 . . . . .