All is revealed and a happy dance

Hello to you all on another beautiful day. The sun is shining and guess what?
No I am not repeating last times post- have you noticed the difference yes Lucky has found her hat, she is wearing it at a jaunty angle and is so pleased that I found the safe place I was hiding it in. Not in the bin after all.
Oh I have so much to tell and show you this time are you sitting comfortably ,then we will begin.
You remember Colleen was my exchange partner for Laineys spring/easter exchange, and I could not show it you until I was given permission. Well Sgt Lainey said this afternoon that we could show it anytime now. Now !! so here is what was in the parcel.

Lambs Egg by Shepherds Bush.Lovely little sheepies, I love the ribbon on the top , it is beautifully stitched and just so me. Are you jealous ,hee hee. Along with the dear egg were these goodies.


A notepad, 2 cards of silk which I shall stitch sheep with i think (well what else).
Then a sachet of Lavender, and a pillow top for me to stitch which I already have ideas for. Thankyou so much Colleen ,I am delighted with it all and I love my Lambs Egg. Wonder if it will hatch me a lamb, I digress.

I will show you later the goodies I sent to Colleen. I was thrilled when she was chosen as my partner. Talking of Colleen and SB last night her and Sally travelled here to Sal with me. I have progress on Sophie and her roses but not as much as I would have liked , just a bit weary ,but more of that later.


I am loving this one and I think I may have to get Peter in his patch to go with her.
Not just yet though , sigh , trying to be good. It is a trial though. I did have to send for Rosies threads and whilst there I saw Julia Flynns diary and had to get that (you know why don't you).Also threads for In the meadow and Cobwebs and Crows by Prairie Schooler.



Maybe something to do with the white creatures in the foreground.lol.
Serious sheep addiction here. Has anyone in the UK watched the Dales programme that is currently being shown,I am in heaven oh sheep and the one that looks as if it has dreadlocks. Last night a lady started by rescuing 4 sheep from slaughter and now has 600 rescued sheep. she spins their wool and makes it into clothing. Martin sitting in his comfy chair without lifting his head said,Don't go getting any ideas!!
Awww spoilsport. Ollie would like to become a sheep dog I am sure.

Sorry off on a tangent again here. Ohh I see a link there , at the weekend we had all the family over -want to see- well its my blog and I want to see so here is the tribe , but first of all the link with Ollie.


Sam grandson with said Ollie. Sam absolutley adores Ollie , now is the feeling mutual or is he just being nice to Sam.
We had a shock as Caitlin arrived in a "dress"


Having 3 brothers we usually see her in trousers. We think she is a lovely girl,but then we are a tiny bit biased. I did not realise grandads knees were in the way.
Alfie was playing hard to get and did not want his photo taken.

I snook this one when he was not looking, but Kate will not be amused if she saw this.
Then there is the Son in law and Mil ,not saying too much here.

But for almost 86 she is not doing badly.
Then the rest of the family arrived and here are Graeme Sue and Kate.

Graeme was sitting behind the chair so no one could stand on his foot, he has joined Jack in the ingrowing toenail brigade. Speaking of whom no picture of Jack , he was off somewhere in the garden, did get the last one ,phew I can hear you all saying,
of the two girlies Ella and Caitlin.

So that is the tribe minus one. We had 12 for dinner and in our dining room it is a bit of a squeeze,but we managed and as well as the roast I did 4 (yes you read that right 4)puddings and all went. That was our Easter dinner get together as G & K are working next weekend.Phew!! So now you know why I was so weary yesterday.
Lovely to see them but oh the peace when they had gone.
Are you still with me, well done gold stars all round.

As you know I have been working in the kitchen in more ways than one, the JA or TSG design Sal is still having people coming along on a Wednesday night, it is over on Needlecraft Haven if you want to join us ,you would be more than welcome. Anyway without more ado drum roll please ...........

Tomorrow will see another new start of one of Tanyas designs.I was hoping to get this framed before showing you, but as I cannot get a pic for the girls at NH for last weeks progress to post on the forum I thought I had better put it here for them to see I have not been asleep in the comfy chair.
So we are back to happy dancing ,wonder if anyone has their shoes on. Here comes another one.

This was a Drawn Thread design a scissor fob as a RAK for Jacqui ,I also sent her a notebook organiser and some backing fabby .
Not finished yet . I finished this ,this morning another Drawn Thread design "A spot of spring " this chart was gifted to me by dear Sally, I did not do the hemstitching called for ,I had mislaid the instructions ,which by the way I have since found dur.
I withdrew some threads and put some ribbons through.

I expect by now you will all gone off yawning and saying too long ,too long. I do hope not as I love to get your comments .
I only have My gifties to Colleen to show you and then I am done .
I hope you all approve of the things I sent her as I have not done that many exchanges so never too sure if I am doing it right.Anyway this was it,it is now in sunny Florida and Colleen is delighted.


This was a kit from Shepherds Bush called Softly Spring ,I really enjoyed stitching this one just so sweet and delicate.
So my little fruitbats, time has come to say goodbye for this time, you may breath a sigh of relief now . I will try to make it shorter next time , once I start I do not know when to stop .
So take care all
Hugs n stuff
Barb.

The long and winding road

Or at least it seemed like it on the way back. It has been so beautiful weatherwise here in the South of the UK, and Ollie persuaded me to do the long walk (well for me anyway) so off we set.

Half way down the road there is a farm track,through the fields but unfortunately no footpath.So onward.

Ah a signpost ,but I do not think I could even attempt the coastal path ,so after looking at the signpost

I came to a field so Ollie and I spoke to the horses,before walking ,oh so slowly home.

There were 2 other horses but as Ollie was getting impatient we just waved at them and left lol.
On my way home I took this ,my mum used to say the cold weather has not finished until the hawthorn has finished blooming. Oh dear will I have to get the thermal vest out again.

Just so pretty though,we arrived home an hour or so later , oh dear did I know it and Ollie just slept ready to go out again in the evening along the Fleet.
However you have come for stitchy news haven't you and boy do I have some - Last Friday I heard the post come through the letterbox, would there be anything for me, a pink envelope caught my eye and some well known writing.
Bless you Julie, my dear friend Julie had sent me a little something(it may be little but oh I know how much work goes into these tiny littles and it is so perfect) she knew I would love ,and here it is.Sorry about the photography .http://juliesstitchingjournal.blogspot.com/
Julie has a better pic on her blog.


I sent Julie a kit I knew I would find a struggle to finish being a biggie, so she kindly sent me a thankyou ,no need ,but a lovely thing to do. Over one on 28 count Lugana and a Prairie Schooler design , Oh Julie I love it and already it has been used so much.Also were a bundle of Vicki Clayton threads oooohh nice. Thankyou Julie..
I also received from another friendly person-aren't stitchers the best, a couple of charts from Sally who kindly sent me the Autumn Spot and Winter Spot from The Drawn Thread. These were to go with the Spring and Summer spots that she passed on to me after stitching them ,last weekend I started Spring -thankyou so much Sally its so delicate. Will keep you updated on progress.
Below that is another new start, does anyone know what design it is? I will add a little each week .HEE HEE!



I also finished a little Rak for Jane who has a blog here
http://buttonsstitches.blogspot.com/
This is the one I forgot to take a pic of.There is one on Janes blog though ,and you will also meet Tilly and Oscar . It is an i-stitch design on 40 count fabby ,which was a first for me.
I don't know if the links to the blogs work but they are in my side bar so you can get to them that way.
I hope you are still with me, I tend to be rambling on a bit this time. I have some progress on In the Kitchen with Jane thought I had better show you this before the girls meet tomorrow night, look at those rosy red apples, I admit to changing the apple word to green instead of red as I thought cooking apples are usually green.

Talking of apples,here is some that will be in a pie later in the year

Some apple blossom on our Bramley apple tree.
Oh the weather has been so kind to our tree peonies ,this one looks like tissue paper and is the first time it has flowered ,the other one is not so far advanced as it does not get the sun so much.

Do you need some more flowers?

This is blooming in the wild part of the garden.These narcissus are almost over ,but they still smell divine,

On Sunday when Mil came over for lunch she took a bunch home as she loves the scent. She arrived clutching these sweet little tulips-15years ago her and dad went to the tulip fields in Holland and brought these bulbs back . I think they were bigger than this originally but aren't they sweet.

Someone else has a little posy, last night was SB salwith Sally and Colleen and we now have a dressed Sophie with a posy, next week I shall start the border ,wasn't sure about the yellow hat but I think it will probably come good.
Here she is just saying hello.

Talking of Colleen , this morning I had this from her in Florida,oooohhh now I wonder what is in here.

I was Colleens exchange partner on Laineys Easter Springtime exchange , I am not sure if I have to wait until Easter to open it, have asked Lainey and Colleen. Just so tempting and now you are wondering too aren't you ,well why not share the suspense. I will let you see when I can.
So now you are all wondering when ever this is going to finish I had better end with a thankful note for all your lovely comments 16 this time ,I also see I have just gone over the 100 followers so maybe a little giveaway may be in order in a few weeks time after Easter maybe.
So I shall ask for you to forget me not -with these little friendly faces
the garden is full of them -shades of blue!

Thanks for visiting and coming on my ramble with me. Take care and keep stitching.
Hugs n stuff
Barb x

It is a Spring Wednesday and the sun has his hat on.

Unlike Lucky who cannot find her hat anywhere. I think she must have dropped it in the bit bin I keep by the stitchy chair and it got put out with the rubbish. I have almost lost my Sajou scissors in there . I had to empty the outside bin to find them before that got emptied. So Lucky is hatless.
What a beautiful spring day it is, I have been into Weymouth and took advantage of pre season quietness. Soon it will be bustling again and not a square inch of sand to be had. Not that I am one for the beach ,in days past maybe ,but not now. Sand sandwiches etc oooohhh no. However I have a finish to share with you , I did this from the Blackbird Designs Stitchers Journey ,over 1 on Sassys fabric . I did alter the lighthouse to red stripes, but was pleased with the result. Then what to do with it , oh well I found this hessian bag that I got for £1 and thought I would do a seasidey themed bag. I did not realise how hard this was to stitch on to and thought I had it straight. I should not think !I am not good at it. It is not straight , I do not do straight! when will I ever learn, I am going to do crooked sea designs on it , so it looks as if it was on purpose !!lol. I really ought to unpick it and do it again but........



I also had another couple of finishes which I cannot show you, as I bought some jiffy envelopes today and wrapped said finishes and put them in envelopes ,before I had taken pics, DUR!!! I think the senior moments have become a little on the longer side , I am hoping the recipients will post pics for me.

Last weekend was Mothering Sunday,my mum always called it this, not Mothers Day and I stick to the tradition. My dear Son Graeme was in Jersey with his in -laws who were celebrating their golden wedding and his mil 70th birthday. If you remember she had a massive stroke last year , so it was another hurdle for her. She is progressing well.Anyway Graeme came down and left me a parcel as he would not be here.He did phone when he was in the shop and asked if i would rather have something for the garden or a sheep, Just no contest,was there?!!!! He did phone me on the day as well which was nice . You are all waiting to see what was in the parcel aren't you . Well here she is ,this is "Dorothy".

Dorothy is the 'mummy' sheep with the sheep jumper on. I was thrilled of course. This little window is right by my stitchy chair in the lounge, please excuse view from window it is the neighbours garden.
I did not see Kate either as she was working and did not finish in time to get over. I did see her the day before instead though and this is my pressie from her.

A little something for me to admire on the step by the back door.
I cannot visit my mum as she is an angel mum, or her grave as she is too far away. So on Saturday I planted up (her girl ) as I call her with some pansies for thoughts.

Martin was busy mowing and pruning at the weekend, when he wasn't getting in a two and eight with the portable greenhouse that he bought. It was a bit too portable when the wind blew. He has now fixed it!!
On Monday I did my SB night with Sally and Colleen , and I started Sophies Roses, again it is in the very delicate shades that SB are so famous for. I am not sure how well it shows up on the fabric for you but here is a glimpse of the dressing of Sophie.Hope Colleen gets her memory fixed soon she is being missed.

I finished my 11th book of the year yesterday, I seemed to have slowed down with my reading.
Before I post my last pic , I must just thankyou for the comments you continue to leave in my little post box, I do appreciate them all and you are so kind about my ramblings.
Well last pic coming up,the ladys that join me over at NH on a Wednesday night (that IS tonight girls, here is my progress In the Kitchen with Jane.

Take care you all, and watch those stitchy fingers if you are in the garden playing with mud it plays havoc.
Hugs n stuff
Barb x