A basket of happiness

Well that is what Mother in law thought when she was presented with this  on her 87th birthday.Well folks I am so sorry it has been so long since I have been in touch. Just not felt up to doing much at all the last few weeks.Poor Martin had a very uneventful birthday on the 5th of June,we were due to go to Graemes for a birthday barbecue with Kate and her tribe too. He decided he wanted to share the bug I had and spent most of the day in the loo. Also it rained just for a change so plans were changed to a Rib of beef roast indoors. Anyway outcome being we are still not 100% so maybe a trip to Dr next week. I put it down at first to change of meds so me being me stopped the lot. Been told by number one nurse Kate that I should go back on some and go and see the Dr again. Oh my trials and tribulations.

Well despite me saying I had not done anything I do have a finish to show you,this is the Holden Shawlette a free download on Ravelry ,I knitted it in the Malbrigo wool that was called for ,and let me tell you it is just so lovely to knit with, it took one skein and I have almost lost it twice.DD liked it and a friend  I have just ordered another skein to try another pattern , think the stitching is taking a back seat at the moment.

 This is the colour of the next one although I am wavering as to doing another of these in it and ordering more for the other one. Can you see another addiction happening here. Anyway this is Stonechat.

I also was in possession of this magazine ,which I got from Scottish Fibres ,it is American though and most of the lace patterns ask you to follow a chart,which does not appeal to me at all , write it down and I can follow it . I am not a  very neat knitter but even Martin was impressed  . My friend liked it so much (she is very neat) and so she has ordered the wool to do it and her friend also. Sally has also finished it and so we are now sisters in knitting too eh Sally. Had to have this did I not, I mean anything Jane and those mitts are lovely.

Whilst I was poorly my Julie friend celebrated her grand daughters 1st birthday and sent me some pics ,on the same day I had from the same Julie friend a box of flowers which although a week old look as good as when I received them . Thanks Julie ,Martin said thanks for birthday wishes too , you are becoming so special to us. You are like an adopted family.

Well I expect you are thinking I have done no stitching , well I did finish Mrs Darcy a couple of weeks ago and here she is on the wall.Sorry about the flash spot, Martin framed her for me and She is now hanging with the others. I had a where are you,message from my Jane friend Angela ,and so this is a Jane fix for her. She did give me titles of Jane books she has been reading ,so I will be browsing Amazon at some point soon. Oh dear poor Martin will have to carry on doing his two days a week me thinks.
Excuse the bits and bobs underneath ,photo of Ella ,Julies flowers, button box and paperweight rose ,but please do not look at the dust!!

I have finished a couple of bits for birthdays,an exchange and I have stitched a little of Quaker Diamonds.

The latest diamond done is this one. Just loved the deep colours of this one.
I have also been stitching with Sally our Shepherds Bush on Mondays but it cannot be named or shown as it is an exchange piece .
Otherwise no stitching able to show, Poor Elizabeth is crying in the unloved box as she has not seen the light of day for ages now,
I keep looking at the ball of wool I have now wound , with Martin saying as he wound and I held wool, how long is this are we nearly there yet!! Oh I have not wound wool since before I was married when I used to hold the skein for Mum when she knitted. I remember saying or thinking the same thing.

Well on Thursday feeling a little better ,I cajoled Martin into taking me over to the place of my birth and see if we could see any of the Olympic sailing boats. So this is overlooking the Portland Harbour Sailing Academy.

 Sorry for the photo it was a fine but grey day.See the little white dots hmmm they are the yachts. We also saw this ,which was rather pretty , I love Honeysuckle.

.

Also saw some of my dads favourite flower "kiss me quick" , Valerian being the proper name. He used to pick a piece and hold it up and say kiss me quick. It grows wild on Portland as in many other places so not and endangered species. Not sure where it got its local name from,but perhaps you know it as something different. He also used to call a little yellow flower ,Fingers ,thumbs ,bellies and bums. Won't discuss that one though.lol.
This island  holds so many memories for me and I feel my dad is so close when we are over there.
So my dears, I think my tale is told for this time but may I just quickly thank those who mailed me to see if all was well, I really think you are the "cats whiskers" , to my friend Angela (no blog) enjoy your time with Margaret of Solstitches , I am sure you are in for a treat and I hope to hear all about it when you get back.
Martin has met up with Graeme and they are going to see the new Alien film (the prequel) in 3d for his fathers day present after they have been out for lunch. Not my cup of tea , I did see Alien but ooooohh no, I would rather stay home and watch Elizabeth Bennet etc.
So maybe Pride and Prejudice will be on the cards.
 Kate went back to work after 9 months this week. One of the nurses said well where is it?. a puzzled Kate asked what, she said well everytime you have 9 months or so off , there is a baby to cuddle. !!!You can imagine the answer.!!!

Sam has now got a camaflouge plaster on his arm and it is improving. Just remembered another pic.
Him and a grandad painting.
Take care all and from me its thanks for joining me and if you could leave me a little comment (if you were not too bored) if I do not get any I shall know you were and will have to improve !!!
I will try not to leave it too long next time, meanwhile whatever you do -enjoy!
Hugs n stuff
Barb.

I was so pleased to get .....

All those lovely comments last time -they are very special to me. I still hope (one lives in hope) to be able to answer when I learn how. I know you must think of me as a dinasour and you are not far wrong!Thankyou all anyway .They help brighten my days . Also welcome to my new followers - Today I am going to start off by thanking Marly of Samplers and Santas http://samplers-and-santas.blogspot.co.uk/, for her free design . I was reading her blog and saw this.

This I stitched for Claire who hosts Needlecraft Haven,she recently lost her dad and I thought this summed up how she must be feeling. If you have someone you would like to stitch it for anyone or just as a memento of a loved one then pop over to Marlys blog and click on the freebie chart in her sidebar. Claire has a better pic on her blog http://aimetu-clare.blogspot.co.uk/ I had a little bit of bother with the bottom of the ornament which I was annoyed about,it is stitched over one on 28 count fabric. Although it was for a sad occasion I really enjoyed stitching it. So that is all the finishing I can show you for now, although I have finished an exchange piece that cannot be shown yet. Last night I stitched a little on Quaker Diamonds but not enough to show maybe an update next week. Tonight Mrs Darcy will be in the parlour with me again writing her memoirs. I do have a few stash items to show you - I know what you are thinking -Will she ever stop ?!! Nah I need something to do in my dotage don't I. So without more ado here are my latest additions. I have received my charts from Colleens birthday voucher . my birthday was in February and I have e mailed the company a few times to ask where they were.I had given up actually. At last this week they arrived and although Colleen now seems to have gone awol thanks Colleen I shall enjoy stitching these.

Also with these two came March doorbells. Just forgot to put it in this photo. This week I just could not resist the temptation from The Primitive Hare,I ordered Endymion and some fabric from Isabella that she hand dyes called Old Salem ,because I had already paid postage and she only had to post the fabric,chart was pdf, she put the amount sending a chart would have cost into some sweet little charms. She really is a sweetie to deal with. If anyone fancies a SAL with this one let me know. It uses DMC threads. As I said chart is available from her.

Her parcels are so prettily packaged. The lily of the valley are just outside the lounge window and I seem to be picking them for all and sundry at the moment . I think this is the best year yet.More pretties to show you later. This is May doorbells and all my gast threads to stitch them ALL? with. What is the betting when I come to do it, WHEN!!!!, I will be missing one .

So now here is March doorbells.

We had a bit of a weekend last with a visit to A&E for Sam our 10 year old grandson. It started with a bee sting after he fell into a bush in the garden. That was Saturday. Sunday he got stung by a wasp . Then to top it all he fell off his bike while out playing and broke his left elbow and wrist. So a nee nah job to hospital. He has to see the consultant on Friday of this week. Poor him and Kate, she said she will need loyalty points soon. He apparently as done a good job on his elbow. Well my dears shall we take a trip round the garden (don't look too close).

Scuse the washing line. I have decided to come out of the comfort zone this year and have a mown path from the top trellis to the bottom of the garden so it looks like a meadow. Hmmm how long will that last I wonder. The top third we shall keep mown. Martin is quite pleased as it means less work for him ,but I probably will think it looks awful in a few weeks and he will be hay making lol. Oh these were just meant to share with you,dear little granny bonnets or Acquellia (spelling hmmm) .

The other beauty out in the garden is the Rhodedendrum ,it does not last long though so make the most of it.

So for this week that is all ,hope you weren't too bored. As a little thankyou would you like a piece of cake.Coffee or fruit. With a regency mug of tea.

Take care my blogging friends and to my dear friend Sally ,hope you have a very speeeeeeeeeeedy recovery sweetie. Hugs n stuff Barb x

The long and winding road-

Ashley Chase Walk

Well not really a road ,more a country lane, we used to walk here when I was more able and  one day last week I felt I needed to see ,oh you are way ahead of me aren't you - sheep yes ,but bluebells too. This "road" leads to a wood which after splashing through a stream (well that was a few years ago) you climb a ravine and find in a clearing a ruined church. There are also a couple of headstones and the whole place is a mass of daffodils. The whole walk is about 5 miles. No way I can do that, I did not even get to the wood,but it was nice what I managed. On the way here we saw some little lambs and they were oh so close ,but as soon as the camera man climbed up the bank ,they shouted for mum and off they went.

We  came upon the bluebell wood and were surprised they were not fully out,as the ones in the garden are almost over. So here you are an English bluebell wood, can you smell them. Since the last time we were here a big sign saying Private has appeared on one of the trees ,so we could not let Ollie off   his lead

to run..

We drove a little further and  came across a little group of Older Sheep ,in fact I thought one was dead as it it was laying with its eyes shut. I have never seen a sleeping sheep. By the time Martin had reversed into a  layby and gone to take the pic for me ,it had woken up.

Of course this is not all about sheep , there are some of these too lol.

Also this animal was having a whale of a time.

When Ollie has a stick or a stone thrown he has to try and bury it ,for some reason best known to himself!

A last look at the English Bluebell. Such a pretty colour.

I expect you are wondering if the stitching has taken back seat. I have not done as much as I should have.

I did finish the Shepherds Bush Poor Robin,

Next week sees a new Shepherds Bush design but I cannot show you that as it is a private exchange and so a secret until Sally /Colleen receives it. I did finish a little something that I loved when I saw it ,it now sits on the handle of the Tea cupboard.

The design is by The little Stitcher and stitched over one on Sassys fabric,the cup and Saucer is from The Pemberley Collection that my Dh ordered as a little surprise for me from The Jane Austen Centre in Bath. He also bought me a lavender quill to go in an old pewter inkwell I have. Also some paper and envelopes.

This is progress on Mrs Darcy which will be worked on in the parlour at Needlecraft Haven ,maybe I shall be finishing this in a few weeks time.

I am also working on an exchange piece for Needlecraft Haven but that will be under wraps for a while yet as opening day is not until June 30th. I have also sent another little finish off this week so when that has been opened I shall be able to share it with you. You will have to excuse if this is a little disjointed ,back on pills and my brain is a little scrambled. Please leave a comment if you would like to. I hope you are all tickety boo and thanks for coming to visit. Would you like a cup of tea?

Take care Hugs n stuff Barb x

Oh how true.

This saying is lol- however it will not put me off putting off until tomorrow things I should be doing today.

My latest finish! it is by Cherished Stitches, and is January , of course I had to put it in front of the clock!! I also have Feb,March these are the charts I ordered with the gift voucher I had from Jane for my birthday from Thread Bear. Here are the other two.

I also added a bit too and got this one as well as I liked it! Mind you when it arrived Martin liked it too ,so phew breath a sigh of relief.

So my friends I hope you are all well, I do feel better this week apart from being dopey ,(well a little more than normal) due to the painkillers kicking in. So long may it continue. Thankyou so much for the Ollie well wishes. He is recovering nicely or at least his foot is. I won't tell you how many times he needed to go out in the night and has "been"5 times this morning, just taken him round the block for his and my constitutional and he went again with blood in it. Oh not the vet again, I think I shall starve him the rest of the day and see what tonight and tomorrow brings. Cannot face another huge vet bill . Sorry just a little too much information there hmmm.He must have been desperate as he never goes out in the night and never goes in the garden for some reason. Had a visit from Kate dd this morning before collecting Jack from college to take him to the orthodontist .He has a new girlfriend and I think he was hoping his braces would be taken off his teeth today. Caitlin got an award this week at Air Cadets for outstanding sports person.Sam is away with the school for a few days, and was quite excited about going. He has to go see a consultant about his tonsils and adenoids being taken out he really needs it doing.Alfie is missing him . Ella is full of cold ,so I will not be seeing her until it has gone. So that is the family news. Now back to stitching, I stitched along with Sally last evening on Poor Robin, and this is where I have got to, I shall hope for a finish soon as it is not very big.I have not attached the nose yet but the face looked a bit odd without one.

You will have to excuse the crumpled fabric look on the wips I do not usually press them until they are finished,what do you ladies do ,press before you post a pic ? Next is tonights project the QD this is last weeks progress.

Gosh sitting here typing, this we are having the most horrendous hail storm, just minutes ago it was bright sunshine. Our poor little blackbirds will be shivering in the bushes. We were looking out at daddy blackbird feeding a baby this morning, when along came another- twins- but no triplets! he is being kept so busy, no sign of mummy perhaps she is off hatching another family.Sorry I digress !! Now Mrs Darcy is looking rather fine and tomorrow in the Parlour I shall be stitching letters for the verse. Oh I do like these Sampler Girl designs.

She has her bonnet securely tied on this week as I had forgotten to add her ribbons. Another lady who was very sick last week- she had to have her left leg amputated and her right foot. Martin came into the kitchen and said," You had better get back to Elizabeth,she is laying on her back in the lounge and she doesn't look too clever". Wondering what on earth he was talking about ,the penny dropped and I realised the last time he had seen Elizabeth she had 2 legs. So here is Elizabeth all better with two legs and feet,but still headless.

I do not know why but the fabrics show up much paler than they really are ,but it gives you some idea. I did start Rosey last week but not enough to show you yet. I also sent off a Rak to Michelle, we both like birdies and I thought of her when I saw this Shepherds Bush Kit , it is called Sweetheart and when I did it I thought it looked kind of lonely with one bird so I made it into triplets and added the buttons and houses etc.I am delighted that Michelle was both surprised and pleased so job done!

Here is the back.

I think for now that is all my news and it remains for me to say thankyou once again for coming to visit,and the comments which help brighten the day. I have left comments on blogs and then get a reply saying a new comment on whoevers blog with a little answer. How? do you do that!!! as I would love to answer sometimes.I now you can e mail on peoples blogs but how does it come up with the comment thing in the subject ,do I have to put it in each time.If that is gobbledegook on my part sorry. Brain is not functioning very well. Take care all keep well and also keep stitching . Oh one last thing if you have a kindle and want a book to read I can thoroughly recommend "The Girl who came home" a fictional account of an Irish girl who left with her aunt and 14 others from her village on the Titanic. I think it is only available on Kindle. Right off now to prepare dinner for the worker. Until next time ,hugs n stuff Barb x.

Can you believe 2 posts in a week

Just had to tell you that I have been so lucky this week having had 2 parcels delivered by the postie ,that were totally unexpected and I am so thrilled with both.First I had a Jane parcel from Jane of Tilly and Oscar fame. I have admired Janes little pillows for some time now and I am really pleased to have one of my very own. The cute little sheep with their check coats well they are so sweet. So here is my JANE cushion.

Jane also sent some more Sheep related goodies the sheep gingerbread was yummy , I still have one left. The card is of a bunny ,typical Jane , and then there was this.

Martin thought it a nice hat and said it would keep my brain warm (men)! It is now keeping my teapot cosy.Thankyou so much again Jane ,all so absolutely me and I love it all. This week has seen Ollie having his op ,a £430 op, which he is recovering from and although feeling rather sorry for himself.So are we pennywise, and more to come with lab tests.He had to go and have his bandage changed this morning and they said the biopsy results are clear ,he still has blood results and cultures that are cooking to come. Anyway he is sporting a very fetching red bandage,which is doing his street cred no good at all.

Monday evening I stitched Shepherds Bush Poor Robin Pincushion ,with Sally, I was not able to do a lot as I was playing comforter to the dog who whined all night. So cannot show you a pic this week. I did stitch on QD on Tuesday which saw the diamond to the right and the letters Q and R.

I sat in the parlour with my other Jane last night, and Mrs Darcy now has a landscaped garden to go with her residence!!

The picture is where I got to last week as I cannot take photos while Ollie is about so could not take one this morning. My new camera has a beep like the smoke alarm when the battery is running low and my neurotic dog is petrified of it. Talking of Jane I have had the most amazing birthday gift, Angela my birthday twin and a fellow Janeite,

sent this to me . She had told me it would be late, but I can quite understand why. Perfection and so tiny. Also with it was a calender with quotations from Jane and her books. Oh Angela I just cannot tell you how much this enhances my Jane shrine!!Do I recognise the well hidden tin as a Marks and Spencer Curiously hot mint tin.I have a stack of those lol.

Inside the little tin were some Regency style thread winders, A cute pair of little scissors and a darling little sheep on a fob. Also a little card with Angelas pins in. All beautifully co-ordinated and so tiny. All stitched over one. Dear Jane would be so pleased I am sure to see it.Thankyou so much my Janeite friend.

I have a little finish but as it is still sitting here and has to go in the post for a surprise,I cannot show it to you until next time. So all that I have left to say is thanks for the friendship and the comments ,they mean so much . A happy Easter to all and hope the Easter bunny calls on you. Hugs n stuff Barb x