Saturday 30 December 2017

Almost the last day of December and I will go backwards from today!!!

So today has seen Effie having a hose  down from rolling in her favourite badger poo.  Revolting creature. She rolls in ecstasy all  four legs in the air,total abandonment.  She really enjoyed  her Christmas and opened  her presents herself, she was very lady like and tore off little pieces until she reached her goal. She had 2 penguins and a reindeer so she was very lucky .As  was  I. My dear husband bought me this after I fell  in love  with it whilst out with Catherine and Graeme back in November. I think my daughter had a word in her dads ear.
An ideal handbag for a book lover do you not think ,he also bought me a purse to go in it.
Now  all  I  needed was a book or two to go in it,  knowing my love of  Jane , he said he had to get this.

I shall enjoy dipping into this one .  Talking of dipping I also  had this ,so  keeping up the tradition of book buying.
My friend Miss Julie has introduced me  to the Ivy Hill  books by Julie Klassen , this is on my to read pile by the bed and is next to read,she has  a new one out next Year ,well Tuesday next  actually and that one is on order ,so will show  you next time.
While talking of Miss Julie , she has had rather a tough time this past year,I do hope 2018 will  be  kinder  to her healthwise and her dear hubby. She did find time to  knit for me  these.You will  be jealous.
I really envy Julie her knitting as it is so neat, I now have 3 handknitted socks  one by me,  never have got round to doing the other one . She  sent me  a little note attached with the instructions on  how to wash them  .
Love the colours. So warm feet when we walk Effie. She has settled in  well and  loves her daddy.


Although she does not look too happy,but better in this one.
 I think she is  making  the  point it is her chair. !!!
So now onto the  big day when the
were  open and  we  spent the day with our son and  daughter and families at hers. It was lovely to  see everyone opening  presents and  having good times  with the family. I left my stitchy gifts at home so I could open  them later. So I have a list of  Thankyous. Julie has already been thanked,  Sally my stitch along  friend sent  me this little  pouch.
Inside were 2 teabags, we  shall have   one each  on our virtual Monday stitching.Thankyou Sally ,just  the sort of thing I can put in my new  bag  in case I need refreshment.

 Every December  Sally and I do  a  christmas ornament  exchange,  I am  afraid mine  grew rather  large  but I am  pleased to say Sally loved it.  It is a design by Madame  Chantilly, the sheep are a nod to our love of sheep. The two angels are maybe us two, I found it  hard  to part with this when it came  sending it.
 Sally has it  on her hearth.  This is the back.
Still with Sally this is what she sent me  ,oh it is just so me,  we both have a bit of a problem with choosing a design as we  have  so many that are the same in our stash.
Another dear friend who lives a little  way along  the  coast did her  usual  finishing ,which is always so pretty and again a sheep, Along with some little perfect gifts all wrapped up in Mistletoe tissue paper.

A magnetic sheep book mark, again a thoughtful  gift  which  includes something  of all  my loves, books,sheep and  knitting  as the other white object at the bottom is  a needle sizer  for knitting needles,in the shape of  ,yes you guessed it a sheep.
Thankyou for your kindness June.
I  received from Clare of Needlecraft Haven a  tree ornament she had made.
Isn't he the cutest Santa ever,  I had not realised I had placed him  on  the branch above another Santa.  He looks as if he has a wooden body. He is rather special though Thanks  so much Clare.
From  another lady on NH  I  had this from Angi ,which will certainly be handy in my handbag.

Last  but not  least a really unusual present  which again I think was  made with me  in mind. Christine  sent me  this .
It is awaiting  a use  as I have to find the right thing to do with it.So that was Christmas Day ,ate and drank far too  much and now  have to get my head round the Slimming World  again,next Saturday the I will be back  on it. I have not been for the last few  weeks, had problems with my back and 
on Friday I was rather naughty and took  an emergency appointment as I was in so much pain, he was a lovely dr though and he had prescribed me Tramadol,which makes me feel grim but at least the pain has lessened. So he needs to see  me next week to review  the situation. On  the 15th  we had to go see the consultant in Salisbury again,  this time  Martin  had  to drive as Jack was busy and everyone else was working. The outcome being that for now they have discharged me,they offered me an injection into the vertabrae but it was not a promise it would work and all sorts of things that could go wrong. So I have to try a  gentle pilates ,I had a dvd come today. I will not be sharing pictures of me in awkward positions  lol.
On the 3rd of  December the day had arrived for us to go see.

This  was the concert that was a gift from Graeme and Catherine and their families for our golden  wedding. Catherine came over for a sleep over with Effie , and  we drove to Graemes  where we had  lunch and then they drove us to a  travel lodge where  we  stayed the  night.  The  concert by these two  was absolutely brilliant.I had  not realised that  Alfie Boe hails from the town I  lived in until I was 6 and where my parents moved back to when I married, so many happy memories of Fleetwood.

Such good entertainment and wonderful voices.
So that was my December , I do hope to get back again soon .Meanwhile all I can  say is  I wish you and yours a very Happy and Healthy New Year. Keep safe  in your celebrations and I thankyou so much for your friendship and any comments you leave.
Much love
Barb xx

Thursday 30 November 2017

November. Hawthorns Scavenger photo hunt

The months go by so  quickly and here we are again  with another list of words  for us to interpret into photos. This time  I have included some Christmas type  ones and as I  will be  away in Salisbury tomorrow  the 30th I am posting a day early,hope that is  ok.
So number 1. is Blue.
An all shades  of  blue Christmas tree ,very pretty in our local garden centre.

2. Me.
This one was taken on the first of  November at Portland Bill, you can just see me behind the
enormous ice  cream my son  bought me.They had  coffee!!


3.Starts with a W.
West Bay just down the road from us, where Broadchurch was filmed.

4.Rainbow.
 I  saw  these and  thought all the colours  of the rainbow where  in these.
5. Arch.
In the same  store  was this Arch flanked by 2  toy soldier figures.

6.Toy.
Could  not   let a  post go  without Effie getting in on the  act,here  she is snuggled   up with  her toys on  the sofa.
Almost  asleep, but still making sure that her toys  remain  with  her.

7.Swirl.
A display of baubles caught my eye,  good  job I had my camera  with me that day.
8.Brush.
A Hake Brush , used by artists and for using  in glass work.
9.Nail.
A  few years  ago  my grandaughter Caitlin   wanted to do a project in stained glass for  school. She did  an arched window and this is a close up with one of the nails she  used.


10.Own  choice.
The  Christmas shelf from last year, with my Christmas cubes that I stitched  on display. On that note I will  wish you a joyful festive season  and a  happy time  for  you and yours. I see there is no  December list  so I shall   see you in January.Thankyou for  your kind comments and for continuing to read my ramblings.
Hugs  Barb.

Tuesday 14 November 2017

November and a time to celebrate.

Hello  all, time for a catch up me thinks. Last week was the graduation of our eldest grandson Jack. We are extremely proud of him ,we decided that Martin would attend  as  he only had one spare ticket. He did take  some photos of Jack and  his fiancee  Katie. Here he is gaining his First with honours degree in Engineering.
So so  proud of him  ,another with his mum  and  dad.Our  daughter  Kate and  her husband  Iain.
One with his fiancee  Katie.
They all had a lovely day. We are all  going  out for a celebratory meal  for those  that could  not go ,this weekend.
So that was the big celebration.
Now  onto stitching  and  I have been trying to keep  to the projects on nights I have planned for them. I think maybe I will have  to put Jane Austen away until later ,as I have chosen  a more to it chart than  I thought for a christmas exchange. I have had one finish but not "finished"it yet. It is Jump for joy ,if anyone would like the chart leave a comment ,if more  than one I will draw a winner.
 There is a mistake  ,but I was not going to correct it. I stitched this along with  my dear friend Sally.Last Friday we both started Born  in  a manger by LHN,and this is how far  I got.
That  is a Friday night  stitch .  I had got as far as this before  picking it up again on Saturday and Sunday, whilst  Strictly was on as I  am doing  this as my stitch for Strictly with Julie on Needlecraft Haven. 
Here is last weekends  progress.
I am  really enjoying this now, Away we ride by Blackbird  Designs. Monday I stitch with Sally but I am stitching her Christmas exchange piece so cannot show that.  Tuesday ,which is tonight I shall be stitching some more of my Christmas list.  This is over one  and is a Silver Creek design.
Another one I am  really liking. Tomorrow I shall be in the parlour with Boughs of Holly ,here is where I am at the moment.
Sorry about the crumpled look .It is coming along though and I am wondering  if  to make  it into a cushion. I have a free night on Thursday so I will  get one of  them  out and stitch a bit more. I am  wanting  to knit  but not sure what so maybe next time you pop  by I will have something on  the needles. 
I asked my friend  Barbara if she could get this chart for me  ,I could not get it in  the UK so she kindly got  it for  me  and posted  it for me which was a lot  cheaper than having it sent from the store.Thankyou so much Barbara if you read this. I am  going to have a dogs  we have had  wall and thought this would be a lovely stitched piece to go in the middle.
 The only thing stitchy wise I have bought ,is fabric and threads for In a manger. So I have been good really, I can hear you saying you do not believe me , well I have bought a few bits but not for stitching.
Books .oh dear yes more books.One I can  blame Miss Julie for  enabling  me  . These are this times  books.

I just cannot read  fast enough. I am  reading  Things  we never  said  at the moment. About a week ago we had a phone call from  youngest grandson  ,he had a day off school  due to teacher training. He wanted to know if  we would like  to go  for a walk.So we went out to Kates and  walked over Lorton  Meadows.  It was a beautiful day and  we thought Effie  would not get into mischief  , about  2 minutes  in  she  found the deepest muddiest puddle she could ,and  wallowed.So  our clean  pale golden  retriever was chocolate coloured.
She certainly looks pleased with herself.We walked for  about an  hour and a half ,found a bench  and  sat and admired the view. 
She is so lovely and after the initial bark  when people come,she loves nothing more  than  a cuddle  ,here  is  Martins  Mum with her .
Back to the walk  ,I got a picture of Alfie  which I was pleased with  as we have not got  many of  him.
I love  woods and the smell  of woodsmoke. I  have always wanted a woodburner but having no chimneys it  would be a costly thing to do.   So  when  I saw  this I  just had  to have it and  it  really does smell of  woodsmoke.
Oh and  I saw this  last week and added to the pile.
Almost there , I had a nice surprise  from  my grandaughter Ella she sent these down   for  me  with her mum  and  dad.  She  is hoping  to visit this  weekend.Looking forward  to  that.
I looked out of the window  at  the side of  the house  at the neighbours  apple tree and  saw this  blackbird  enjoying an  apple on  the tree.
We went out to try and take a picture but it wasn't going  stay for that.
So that  is  all my news for  now ,I hope  you are  all   well  and if you would like to leave a  comment  I  really do love to get  them. I  shall see  you again  in a couple  of weeks for the November Scavenger Photo hunt. Thankyou for visiting.
Hugs Barb.

Friday 27 October 2017

Octobers Hawthorns Scavenger Photo Hunt.

Well here I am with my Octobers  choices. Some of these  are a  little old  but hey ho ,all in the spirit of  the list.
1.Making

The most of a sunny afternoon  walk today with the dog.In the fields  looking toward  Portland.



2.Empty.
Oh dear it is getting worse ,started small and getting  bigger, nice while it  lasted.


3.Starts with an F.
A
A photo  of the fireplace in the Drovers Inn near Loch Lomond  in Scotland. Really a fascinating  place  ,we visited  when  we went to the Outer Hebrides.

4.Paper.


A different use for old  paper  back books.

5. Neat.
A friend stitched this  for  me as part of  a Halloween  exchange  and it is pretty neat for our October  scrapchallenge.
Pretty neat stitching too.


6.Street.
The view down our street from the gutter.

7.Kettle.
We went to a pub  for lunch yesterday and it just so happens   this row of   kettles  were on   the windowsill.

8.Unexpected.
My grandaughter Ella  who is  now almost  18 ,  this was taken  during  an unexpected and  for us unusual fall  of snow.

9. Vase.

This was blown  by my other half,  he did a glass blowing course locally as  a birthday present from  our daughter.  I have not  dared  use it as a vase  yet.

10. Own choice.
A very sleepy Effie after her walk.
Thanks Kate  for the opportunity to  do this again   this month .I am  sorry I did  not get round to leaving comments last month but tomorrow  I will be  seeing everyones photos ,really looking  forward to it.  
Barbara.

Hawthorns Scavenger Photo Hunt June

Well hello everyone ,super sets of photos last  time. Mine this time  again has been last  minute so shall we begin. The  words this month ...