Make yourself comfy

and don't laugh at my birthday pic, Sam needed Nanny to put her badge on and have a picture taken -oh dear, so I gracefully! gave in and thanks Julie -all her fault as she sent the badge I have just typed loads of this in (will I ever learn) and then pressed something and deleted it arghhhhh!! Well I shall have to try and make it shorter and get it done and posted before the fingers get clicky happy. So first and foremost thankyou for the lovely comments for my birthday ,I was thoroughly spoilt and every day this week the postman has called. On Wednesday he offered to sing Happy Birthday to me but thought he might spoil the day. This morning he said "It's me again!". People will talk. Had a lovely day but try as I might I cannot walk very far and yes I did too much and suffered (still) for it. Martin was wondering if I would ever get back to the car as the going was slow to snail pace. I told him he could carry me but he passed on that one.!! We had walked so far as he needed me to go with him to buy me a new camera, the one I was using was his old one when digital cameras first came into being ,so it was in need of replacement. That got, we drove home and then I was treated to lunch at a pub opposite. I then thought pills and a sit down were the order of the day,not to be ,the grandchildren and Kate said they wanted to come over. So of course having young ones about we had to buy me a cake,so Mr Marks and Spencer provided us with an extremely chocolatey birthday cake. It was rather nice and the children had seconds.

I managed to get a couple of pics of Jack ,he is very aware of his braces so does not smile properly. I thought I had taken one of Sam but that finger must have been at work again and i deleted it.

  Kate wanted to know how I managed to get them all smiling at the camera.

Anyway it was lovely to see them but bliss when they had gone. Unfortunately did not see son Graeme as he had to work, he is having a really heavy workload time ,Ella went off to Guide camp on Sunday night,but Monday morning they had a phone call to pick her up as she had been sick all night. Sue went down with the cough and splutter lurgy on Monday which has turned into a severe chest infection with severe asthma. Then on Wed she had the sick bug Ella had had ,so all in all not a happy household. Just hope they are better next week as the girls are having a weekend and going up to Manchester to see the X factor tour. So that was my day apart from showing you my stitch related pressies. Martin got me a voucher for sew and so's(DONT SAY IT). the camera, and a Jane Austen leather journal. Also a Crime Scene DS game. First in the pile of all to show you are the contents of the large parcel from Miss Julie who sent me this wonderful cushion the colours are deep plum, mustard and green , the flowers are gorgeous and it is not sitting anywhere where anyone can lean on it . It sat on the sofa for the pic ,then it sits behind my needleroll basket .Also in the package was a card and a picture of Izzy Twinkle- She is a real star and twinkles out of the photo -that was from Julies daughter and I love it. Julie had put in a friendship magnet, the words of which are so lovely. Also the badge aforementioned! also a book of cute postcards Guess how much I love you. Overwhelmed feelings were not in it..

Well done Julie it is super duper! The magnet, badge and postcard book .

These are in no particular order ladies so please do not think I favour any of them above the others the are all simply fab-u-lous. Sally my sal partner on Mondays stitched me a beautiful needlecase in such pretty colours,it is always a delight to get a stitching from Sally.

Oh sheepies too ,thankyou Sally my needles will feel very honoured to sit in there. Again someone who knows my love of Sheep is my Irish friend Anne, who sent me this.

So beautifully stitched and inside was :-

Sorry folks had to stop mid flow as Graeme and Ella turned up(I think he wanted a piece of the cake it is still scrummy), he needed to give me pennies for my birthday(in case I needed stash) and a Boots gift card from Ella. Sue is still poorly so they left her home alone resting. Now to carry on and show you more.Are you envious I bet you are especially if you like sheep. My friend Christine made me this and I wore it all day (unlike the badge lol)

So clever Christine. Can you face another sheep -of course you can, this was sent by Lainey a complete suprise and no address or postmark to give it away.

I had to smile at the fabric that accompanied it.

In a little packet came this and some Thread Bear vouchers from Jane . OOOHH MORE STASH.

I am just awestruck with my stitchy bloggy friends generosity. From Karan I had this

I shall enjoy stitching this later in the year. From Tina I had

With some lovely pink stork scissors -have to make a fob for those I think Tina. I am looking forward to having October done for Hallowe'en.Well one can hope cannot one. Golly gosh will it never end. I had 30 cards, vouchers from some other stitchy friends Colleen and Barbara. I will be visiting some stitchy sites and share with you the things I bought . I have done a little stitching myself ,my friend and fellow Jane Austen fan Angela has a birthday the same day as me so I sent her a little something to say I was thinking of her I filled it with Lavender and fixed a Kelmscott needleminder to it.

Well have you stuck with me , and are you suitably a delicate shade of green? I hope when you have a birthday you will be as lucky as me and for all of you a big Thankyou very much from this very happy and grateful person. I have finished my snood ,although I now have to tackle another as Kate snaffled it and was wearing it today she said.Here it is earlier almost finished.

I added the 2 new balls of wool for MY snood for you to see it is called Spruce. I do not feel so inclined to knit today though, so perhaps I shall leave it a week or so before starting it. The little stitching I have done is on Merry Be. Shepherds Bush a finish looming this week I hope.

Talking of Shepherds Bush I had an order from The Nimble Thimble today ,2 of which I cannot tell you about, but the other one is Poor Robin pincushion kit. Sally and Colleen we shall be stitching SB on a monday night when we are in our dotage- no comments on that please I know I am almost there hee hee. The other thing I stitched on I can show you is Q.D. it does not grow very quickly and this is a big diamond to fill.

Something else I have stitched on is for the Spring Exchange on Needlecraft Haven so cannot tell you about that one for quite a while. So for this time that is me - enough you are saying ,thought you would never stop whittering on.I hope I have not forgotten to mention anything, if I have blame it on my age ,I shall never be this old again!!! Just even older! Take care all, thanks for commenting I just love to hear a word or two from you ,nice ones of course. The ladies that won the giveaway ,it should be with you very soon Cath, Ellen yours by the end of next week as you are a little further away. I am now off to grow another pair of arms so I can stitch all this stash I have. Hugs n stuff Barb x P.S.Sorry fooled you into thinking this would be shorter , going to get a job writing fairy stories lol.

A Happy Valentines Day to you and are you a winner

Congratulations ladies. Ellen for the mixed one and Cath for the sheepie one. As soon as I receive your addresses ladies they will be on their way to you. Thanks for taking part and I am sorry everyone couldn't have had a little something. This will be a stitch free post I think as I just wanted to let the winners know . I do have a couple of things to show you though as Martin and I decided to make some farmhouse pickle (from the Hairy Bikers Perfect Pies) book and here it is before it went into the back of the dark cupboard (will it ever be seen again) , it tasted ok before we put it in there, we have to do as we are told though and it says leave for a month. Note on calender so we do Not forget!

The daffodils are beginning to look a bit bedraggled oops should have checked before taking pic. However I did receive these this morning from the love of my life, my rock and soulmate .

Years of dethorning roses on Valentines in the florist we were heard to comment if he dares to send me any of these I will not be responsible for my actions- but you can imagine the awwww isn't he the best when they arrived today. Well tomorrow is the time for the beatles song to be sung, Will you still be sending me a Valentine ,birthday greetings ,bottle of wine -not mentioning the losing my hair bit ,as I have not got that problem.However I will be the age they sing about argh how did that happen.Do you think it will stop going round in my head too. Well I shall be back later in the week as I have some packages here to open and I shall have to share with you. I hope I can sleep tonight just so excited. Hugs n stuff Barb

A little bit of sunshine

I suddenly lost all I was doing so hope I have not published by mistake. Anyway these few daffodils add a touch of brightness to a winters day and although we have not had snow ,unlike many here in the UK it has been mighty cold. Due to the cold pain kicked in toward the end of last week so stitching had to be put on one side and the warm snuggly knitting was brought out to play. I now have this sitting on the sofa.

I think Graeme is impressed that it got finished, he knows what I am like with knitting. Anyway still on the subject of knitting , I was browsing (as you do) and saw that Rowan and Deramores have teamed up and are doing a Lazy Snood on Ravelry. So I ordered the 2 balls of Rowan wool on Friday last and downloaded the pattern. On Saturday I started it and here I am with it now.

The colour is called Fog and is a grey blue lilac colour very pretty. Still have a way to go with it yet. I am thinking this blog entry will not be very long as I have not much to show you this time.I did stitch last Tuesday on Quaker Diamonds and shall be out with the needle and thread tonight. This is how it is looking at the moment. I do not know why I put it away last year in the basket of unfulfilment.

When it is time for bed I do not want to put it down as I know it will be a week before it is picked up again. Last evening being Monday , I ventured up to Sallys (she has snow) and started the pincushion Merry Be by Shepherds Bush Here is the point I stopped.

So there you have it folks, but before I go I would like to thank those who took the time to enter the giveaway and leave a comment. I shall be choosing Winners on Tuesday next as it is Valentines Day. Hope you all keep well and if you want to enter and haven't leave a comment on the previous post. If I remember rightly and gosh my brain (what little I have ) is so fuddled these days, someone asked me who the designer of Simple Joys was - it is Shepherds Bush. Now off to put rice pudding in the oven (Ollies favourite) who may I add is STILL suffering with his feet, vet said last night he is stumped and would we consider sending him to a skin specialist in Hampshire> DEEP JOY. Take care hugs n stuff Barb