Soon be June argh!!!

Almost the end of May and my June wordplay has only just been started. I do not like this one as much as the others so I suppose that is why I have been procrastinating,do like that word,but not the outcome.
Hope you are all well and that those that aren't and I know a few that are not, I wish you well.
I have had various and many appointments with Drs, nurses and dentists this month ,but hopefully I shall begin to get answers very soon.
Anyway I do not want to bore you with health problems, so I shall say I think I have a few nice pics to show you and hopefully I will not have to ramble on too much.
So lets start again, the header is a picture of our apple tree it is so pretty just now, the blue sky is a bonus and we have had a few of the yellow duster moments in this past month,
I had not realised it was a month since I last posted . Oh my!!

The header is taken through the branches too looking toward the house. Do you remember me showing you the picture of the squirrel stealing the bird food. He has blotted his copybook,  we found a chewed connector wire just outside our front door. I did not realise what it was but Martin did,but could not figure out where it was from. On looking up to the roof he realised it was from the Solar panels we have . Nestled quite comfortably between the roof and the panels was the squirrel. Now I got quite amused ,whilst Martin got more and more irritated. I felt a bit like Pam Ayres when she was saying she got a big stick and knocked the parrot off his perch. Firstly a long stick with 3 canes attached were poked between the panels and the roof. no joy!. He just moved a little higher. Then came the steps and a mortified dog, he has a thing about the steps (they are used to stop the smoke alarm and Ollie associates these and gets very worried).Anyway squirrel just turned his back and I swear he was laughing. Then came the hose, no wouldn't reach, next came the power washer which eventually he took exception to and moved.  This took an hour. Martin was not impressed and said if he had a gun he would shoot it. I was not impressed with this statement. The next day he was there again not repeating what words were used,Bad Squirrel was not in it.Sorry I have gone off on a bit of a tangent.He was not there yesterday!!!!! Kate composed a poem for her brother when he had a squirrel in his loft. They had pest control in , it went like this there was lots more and if you would like to hear it I will ask her if she still has it.
Clearing of throat. My name is Cyril squirrel esquire and this is my tale of woe, for I have been  evicted left with no place to go.

On the 10th May it was Kate our daughters birthday and Caitlin asked if she could come over for dinner after school (they 2 older ones pop in a lot) and could I help her make a cake for her mum . I am not the worlds best cake maker but of course said yes . This is the finished result, and I did not get a piece.

She was so proud of herself and almost wanted to eat it there and then.

She had filled it with strawberries and cream too. Well done Caitlin, I think she can make another when she comes again tomorrow lol.
Needless to say Kate was so pleased. Her children did her proud,and she had a lovely day. We went out to lunch with Kate and her hubby Iain as the children were all at school.I forgot my camera dur! However when we went out a couple of weeks ago to the Inn on the sea wall at Portland ,I did get this of our son Graeme and his wife Sue.We took them out for their anniversary ,both my children will be celebrating their Silver Wedding anniversaries next year. Ella was at school so she missed out, it is not very often G &S have a day off on the same day of the week.

This one was the other half and the view of Chesil Cove.

For some reason this one does not want to go in the middle.So my dears that is the days out and occaisons in May.Or at least up to now. Stitching wise I have got a little to show you. My Monday stitching with Sally on the latest sheep virtue Peace is coming along and this time I have a "shorn" sheep I am enjoying stitching these so much but not sure how on earth I will finish them. I would like to stitch the new Mystery Sampler which will be released shortly. Anyone else doing it? 

Scuse the hoop marks but I needed to show Sally where I am up to. Another work in progress is the one I will be working on in the parlour with the girls over at Needlecraft Haven. This is the Tea Room and I cannot say I am happy working on this one so much . Cannot say why but maybe I shall like it more when it has its border and title.

Again it is a  little creased.

I have a few finishes to show you ,a couple I don't as I forgot to take pics . If you want  a look at those you will have to go to Shirlee's blog http://farmhouseponderings.blogspot.co.uk/ and scroll down to May 16th post. I promised Shirlee that i would stitch her Know your own happiness ,along with a few others. As you may know I ended up stitching that twice more than I needed too as I lost them to the land of lost things,they were such tiny pieces of stitching that I must have put them in the bin by mistake. I still have one to stitch for Margaret at some point. I did say not to hold their breath and how glad am I that they didn't. Anyway she was really pleased.The others I have finished are this one which is a free design by Cosmic Handmade by Caroline Hofstebe entitled Sweet Strawberry which will go with the others in my berries basket.

This was stitched over one on 28 count fabric.Then I did a bit of an experiment .I stitched this design by Atelier Soed Idee entitled The Spring Tree, I did it over 2 and then over one . I really enjoyed this design and I loved the finishing of it although it did take me a while as I did all three in one day.

over 2 on 32 count with one thread.

over one with one thread.On 28 count fabric. What do you think?

A close up of my little felt heart .

So that is all I have to show you in the way of stitching . I did get a little stash come this week.

These are designs I want to do for my berries basket. 

I also had a new book after catching up with the story of Burracombe. These are a nice gentle read and to me I can relate to the places mentioned as they are set around Dartmoor where we have been so many times. The shops mentioned by her in Tavistock are places we have mooched round and they really take me back there. 

 Snowfall is the latest book and is the seventh in the series. 

Well my dears I must think about getting dinner prepared for the other half as he is at work today .Jack popped in lunchtime his tyres looking a bit flat could he borrow some money to put some air in them ,as he had gone off to college without money today , he said thanks nan I will pay you back tomorrow. To him I said we wont go broke over a couple of pounds Jack . It is so nice to see them even if its for a little loan. Tomorrow Jack will be here for lunch and Caitlin for dinner in the evening, I wonder when Sam starts school in Sept where Caitlin goes will another be joining the dinner queue. 

So until next time for those that are poorly a Big Hug , and I hope I have not sent you all to sleep with my ramblings. thanks so much for sending me a little note or even a few words it does help brighten the day. 

Much love 

Barb x