Tuesday 15 April 2014

Happy Easter one and all

Easter greeting from me to you. Thanks come to all of you who read this little blog of mine and to those who comment. As you can see from the header April is hanging on the chimney breast and thanks to Miss Julie and Mr Stick I have a new finish ,I told you last time that I was attempting to chart a British version of November ,and whoo hoo I have done it. What do you think?

Right hand side.

Left hand side.

This week I am stitching December started last year and hopefully finished this, I know it is here somewhere I saw it the other day ,since when my old head has forgotten where, it happens quite a lot these days. What a lovely few days we have had, it is such a delight to see the sunshine and everything growing rapidly. We are having Dale come back soon ,he is having a think of what he can do. We have a border out back which I wanted as a cottage come flowering garden ,but it never seems to look anything ,the rest of the garden is manageable but this patch isnt. So I will  be showing pics at a later stage. He is also going to remove a couple of trees damaged by the storms and finding something to replace them . You may remember our garden eighteen months ago when Dale revamped it.
The almost same spot, it is growing well .No flowers though just green .


Just love seeing the shadows of the restio on the grass. We have been out there tidying this last weekend. The weekend before I think I told you , I did a workshop on Silk Ribbon embroidery,very intensive although enjoyable. The tutor certainly kept us all in order , no lunch until we had got to a certain point , no talking unless you could work and talk. Several times I heard "Barbara , take that needle out of your mouth".I think Martin had had words with her to not let me come home with something else not finished. Saying that I did not finish it quite but I did on the Monday morning. Here is my rose sampler ,not perfect by any means but for a first attempt not a bad effort.

I also had to buy a couple of her books ,one which is out of print but she had one there. 


I also got the one behind . Oh such beautiful work she does, she had a basket of flowers that she had done in a frame , all spring flowers ,just lovely and I did not get a pic. The next day Sunday , my friend Jan and I went off to the Quilt show at Exeter. Lots of lovely quilts to look at and stalls too. Well I had to take a pic of  one that I loved  didn't I.I cannot  show it to you until I fathom out, or ask a man that can, how to get it  is off my camera. A clue though is a little gift that came from Miss Julies hols.

Yes it was a sheep quilt featuring 30 sheep and a sheep dog fast asleep counting them . Thanks for the stickers Julie , you really are a sweetie. 
Whilst I was at the quilt show, of course there were things to buy, I did not go with the intention of buying anything but you know how it is at these things. Some of my purchaseds for you to see.
Just loved this pattern and I will be stitching that one soon I hope. I also bought some fabric, ribbon and buttons but won't bore you with those. I did see this on a stall and just had to have it. Malbrigo wool and patterns that just take 1 hank. I won't tell you how much a hank is though!!!!!

The lady selling it was lovely , I said my husband will bless me having to hold a hank of wool for me, to which she said come back in a little while and I will have it wound into a ball for you. How is that for service. One of the patterns in the book was this ,so I may have to get some this colour too.

So I came home with a few goodies. My friend June has said there is another show in Somerset the weekend after this ,but not sure about that one as it is the weekend of the Grand Affair and I am not sure if we will be up to a longish drive. 
I usually have the tribe for Dinner on Tuesday but I have this week off, SIL is having the children for 3 days while Kate is at work. 
That is why this is getting written on a Tuesday. Yesterday I had a lovely suprise from Clare at Needlecraft Haven where I open the Parlour every Wednesday for those who want to stitch along on LHN, CCN,or the Sampler Girl designs. I sent her a few patterns I had no need for and she sent me this . Here it is hanging in situ.
I love it Clare , thankyou once again. She also sent some Easter crackers for the grandchildren. Also this week came my April Calendar girl one of the Sals I am doing with Sally.
I am afraid March had frogs visiting last evening, so her arm had to come off. Will try and catch up a bit in the week. I do have another finish again a SAL with Sally this time on Fridays and the 6th day was put together this morning.
I think her skirt maybe the wrong colour as I am sure Sallys is red, I have had to order more pins as I cannot find the other wheel I thought I had. Told you my memory is shot.
Well all I am off now with the man of the house to walk the dog of the house ,I expect said dog will be on the beach and in the sea before we get there.
Some bluebells in the garden for you, Love the colour.

 Take care and I will speak to you again soon.Hair cut tomorrow -scary ,new hairdresser too. 
Love Barb.x




22 comments:

stitchersanon said...

The embroider looks stunning! Well done"

Clare-Aimetu said...

Lovely Easter banner Barb and as always a great blog to read full of news and photos. I'm glad you liked 'The Parlour' :)

Michelle said...

I love The Parlour it looks wonderful. Thank you for sharing your photos Barb I always look forward to your blog posts xx

Vickie said...

Wonderful sunshine and green in that garden of yours. Your roses look lovely. The Parlour is sweet.

cucki said...

The parlour is so sweet❤️
Your roses are looking so sweet and your garden too
Hugs x

Carol said...

Your British rendition of November's Word Play looks so great, Barb!! Good for you for figuring out the designs and lettering so well... And I love the ribbon roses--just lovely :)

Enjoy your garden time--we had snow here again today :(

butterfly said...

Lovely ribbon roses what talent you have Barb.
Love all your stitching everything looks lovely.
I love bluebells my ones are out two and would you believe my roses are in bud !
Hope you enjoyed your walk hugs.

xstitchatoz said...

Love the little fireworks on your November and those silk ribbon roses are stunning! Gosh, what a gorgeous yarn - and great service too! It always fills one with a warm fuzzy feeling, doesn`t it? Happy stitching/knitting! xx

Christine said...

What a lovely post Barb. You've got some great stitching there and your garden is looking gorgeous.
I love what you did with the November wordplay, I get so frustrated with the cultural inapplicability of the November and July pieces in monthly series that it puts me right off stitching the whole lot.
How wonderful of the lady to ball the wool up for you. My girls threaten to leave home if I walk into the room with a hank of wool. They have to be bribed to hold it!

Shirlee said...

What a fun post! Beautiful stitching projects. I love the knitting projects as well! Malbrigo wool is lovely : )

Julie said...

The gardens looking wonderful, hasn't it developed well.
OH WOW... the ribbon embroidery is spectacular ... will have to show the craftshare ladies, I want to learn this lol.
Well done on the Wordplay, you did a fab job charting that.
Lovely new wool, how nice the lady wound it for you, that is good service, nice patterns for it too.
Super little notice for the parlour evening, cute!
Love and {Hugs} xxx

Kay said...

Happy Easter to you. I love the bells on your monthly hanger, but more especially I adore your November word play. It really is just perfect for us Brits!!

Chocolates4Breakfast (Terri Malinovich) said...

Your British version came out great. Good job! I adore the Parlour finish, too - so cute!
Your gardens are really starting to pop!

Anne said...

Beautiful post Barb! Love the November Word play twist you added. The silk ribbon stitching is gorgeous! Lovely flowers popping out of your garden. Hugs!

angelasweby said...

What a lovely post. So full of exciting news and gorgeous things to look at. i love your adaptation of November wordplay. it really makes it much more relevant.

Your ribbon embroidery is gorgeous. What a pretty reward for working so hard at the workshop.

Oooh, I adore your lovely gift from Clare. That is such a pretty pillow and your finish on the Sixth Day piece is beautiful. The white ribbon trim really lifts it.

I adore that lovely green shawl and look forward to seeing you modelling it :-)
xx

angelasweby said...

What a lovely post. So full of exciting news and gorgeous things to look at. i love your adaptation of November wordplay. it really makes it much more relevant.

Your ribbon embroidery is gorgeous. What a pretty reward for working so hard at the workshop.

Oooh, I adore your lovely gift from Clare. That is such a pretty pillow and your finish on the Sixth Day piece is beautiful. The white ribbon trim really lifts it.

I adore that lovely green shawl and look forward to seeing you modelling it :-)
xx

Sally said...

The Parlour is gorgoeus Barb. A perfect sign for Wednesday evenings!

Love your adapted wordplay and your Day 6 looks lovely. I think I changed the colour of the skirt but don't quote me on that!

Lovely purchases from the show. Love that wool but yes it is expensive. I like the pattern you bought to knit.

Your rose sampler is beautiful. Well done. Xxx

Andrea said...

Your November Word Play is great, wonderfully adapted. All of your knitting looks beautiful too, you're going to be snug for next winter. Absolutely gorgeous ribbon embroidery.

Charlene ♥ NC said...

Your silk ribbon work is really lovely! Nice stash, too. A 'keeper' hairdresser is so hard these days. I have a new one who still listens and acts like I'm a person instead of a checkbook so far. Hope yours went well.

Dani - tkdchick said...

Beautiful family and beautiful stitching!!!

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Unknown said...




Thank you for this post. Keep it up. Hope to read more post from you guys.

Vicky
www.gofastek.com

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