Outings and a birthday

Hello all, I  have had a super  week, having  a birthday last Wednesday and just going out locally, I do not have a lot of stitching news so that will come next time. On Tuesday it was theValentine sock exchange at NeedlecraftHaven,here are the socks I had  from Tina. We had to send 2 threads which picked up the colour of the socks.

I loved these as the week before I found a jumper I liked and guess what was on  it.

Yes, what a coincidence that was
On Wednesday last I celebrated a birthday ,now I am going backwards as the next one will be  a  O one and I shall be up to my three score and ten. How did that happen  I ask myself,. I  would like to thank all  of you who sent good wishes, parcels and  so  many goodies.Here is a pic of all those lovely things I had.

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Lots sheepie things. Miss Julie knitted me the fingerless mitts they are so warm and beautifully knitted with lots little items added to the parcel,thankyou so much my friend.  . From June came the lovely hanging.This is  the front.

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Here is the back,such an  original and lovely idea.

Being  June she included sheepie things  too. Loved the peg bag. I am just so lucky.

My friend Clare who runs Needlecraft Haven sent me this book to enjoy. I wondered when the postman knocked what it could be as I knew I had not ordered anything. I am sure I will be reading this one soon.

Tina sent me this , you may remember we do a Halloween exchange and my witchy friend from  the midlands sent me this , which I have been drooling over  for  some time.

 

I cannot wait to start this one. She sent me some Bohin needles to try , also the special threads to stitch it with.

Angela my birthday twin sent me lots of sheepie goodies including some rather nice sheep notepaper which she had found. Christine was her usual crafty self and made me a bag,which will  be so useful.

 

More sheep. Last but not least  my friend Sally sent me this gorgeous stitchery . It is so pretty, All sides are different and I am  thrilled with it.Thanks Sally. 

The grandchildren Sam and Alfie came over with daughter Kate in  the morning  with more gifts ,one of which was this.

 

We met our Son Graeme and his wife Sue here.

This is just outside Dorchester , the food was absolutely gorgeous, and the scales told it this week!!

Then Catherine came over with Caitlin in the evening so a busy day. Here is my other "child".

A shadow of her former self  having lost 5 stone!!!! So proud of her.
The next day we decided to go for a  walk , we went over to Chesil Cove armed with a flask of homemade soup. We sat on the beach and watched the waves.

It was so nice to sit and just be. The view from where we were.

So that was Thursday. On Friday we  decided to visit the County town of Dorset which is Dorchester. We started off by the Roman Wall that is still standing.

 

 We crossed the road and here is a statue of Thomas Hardy ,who wrote and lived here in Dorset. 

We then walked to the Roman town house, This floor was incredible ,to have survived for all those years.

 All those little mosiac  tiles. Just so incredible. We walked round here, and then we walked to the river . Here is Hangmans cottage.

 

It really was the Hangmans Cottage ,it was quite large and it said his ropes were kept under the  eaves. In the garden was this shepherds hut that was home  to chickens.

 

There is so much history in this town. The infamous Judge Jeffries who kept the Hangman  busy. In

 1685 he was made Lord Chancellor,in the same year he was sent  to deal with the Kings rebellious subjects in the West Country. He took up  Residence in the building shown  below.

 

 This is now  a restaurant. The uprising known  as the Monmouth Rebellion, was defeated  by the Kings troops, the trials known as the bloody assizes were held in the Oak rooms  of the nearby Antelope Hotel. He handed down  death sentences for 251 rebels. Only 74 of these sentences  were carried out ,but the brutality the executions will live long in the memory of Dorchester. As was  traditional  for  those convicted of treason the  condemed men were  hung drawn and quartered and  their heads were displayed on spikes in Dorchester. The remaining rebels  were transported to the West Indies.The county museum is reported to be  haunted by his ghost.

On  the way home we passed this garden of snowdrops.

I love seeing these sweet flowers at this time of year. We have some pretty violets out in  the garden , speaking of  which guess what appeared in the garden over the weekend. 

 I got  home  on Saturday to this addition to the family. She is  metal and is great. Martin  apparently ordered it  for  Christmas but they were out of stock . A lovely post birthday gift from himself.

I had a knitting pattern arrive this week with a note from Graeme he  wants a hat.. So I ordered the wool , which was packaged nicely and started knitting his hat. It is American wool sold by The Wool Warehouse and it seems strange having long balls of wool.

He will be having a scarf too. I have done a little stitching but not  enough to show this time , apart from this little one I started in the parlour.

This is Welcome  Inn by LHN. Now for books  here are the ones I have this week , I did pick up a couple for  50p each  but that photo will be next time as I have not taken pics yet.

So my friends hope my ramblings  weren't too much of a history lesson for  you . I  needed to write it all down before I forgot. I may have  a little  more to share with you next week ,depending on weather etc. Take care all and if you have a  minute leave me a little comment.  Thanks bigtime for all of those who have left a note these last few times.Hugs.
Barb

The 8th of February and a special significance.

Hello all  , this must be a record of sorts - I seem to have bombarded you with Ollie  the last 2 posts so I  have now  picked  myself up  and although he is missed soooo much, it is getting better. I expect  you will be wondering what significance the 8th is, a date  which I found a few years ago and thought I would share it with you.
If you have already heard about it then ignore the article I am  about to share with you. I have done a few of "my" news  to share too. 
In Japan on the 8th of February is held the Festival of Broken needles.
This is the day when Japanese needleworkers will lay their broken pins and needles to rest.Woman take a day off from their sewing chores and take their old or broken needles to the shrines or temples.
Hari Kuyo is a 400 year old festival  held in Buddist temples and Shinto shrines, Broken pins and needles are thanked for their work and laid to rest in a bed of soft jelly or tofu cakes. Stitchers pray for the repose of their needles ,improvement of their sewing skills and safety from injury when sewing.

Some people believe the tools have souls and they are treated with care and respect.We rely on countless helpful tools which are the result of ingenuity and craftsmanship.Perhaps celebrating pins and needles and  the service they provide reminds us of the many small  things we should be thankful for.

Another aspect of Hari Kuyo is the letting go of personal burdens.Concerns and complaints are shared with their needles passing the burdens onto them so that when the needles are put to rest they take the cares,worries and sadness with them /Who amongst us has not found solace and respite in our stitching.
I just had to share that on here.

So now onto other things,  stitching of my own . I have started the New Year by taking part in the monthly challenge on Needlecraft Haven  ,we are given a free pattern by Christine to download  and stitch however we like last month was a penguin with Happy New year 2016 on ,  as you know 2016 started pretty grim family wise and has gone best forgotten ,I  did not want to put this years date on either so I opted for something different on mine.

I made mine into a little bag with a penguin bar inside. I stitched it over one on 28 which I love doing. That is my first finish of the year. If you want to know how to join us in our Monthly Challenge ,put Needlecraft Haven in your search engine (technical speak here lol).I have had intermittent days stitching lately due to events but I am loving Winter the sal I am  doing with Sally.  Here is how far I have got ,finished R last evening.

Not a very good pic I am afraid.
The sheep one I am doing again with Sally although I am not sure which sheep one she is doing , is Spring Makeover and I have added another sheep to the queue for the bath and some grass and flowers.

I shall start the next row on Friday. I also have  to choose a new  start for tonight and something to stitch in the parlour again at NH . Not sure what to choose. 

Just had a phone call from  the vet ,so I am in  bits again ,Ollies ashes are ready for collection. Oh dear its  hard.

The day after he went we decided to go for a walk  and chose the Radipole  lake  bird reserve. It was a place we had never taken him too and water and birds  to chase would have been too  much temptation for him. The header was the  queue forming  for  lunch.

Some  pics of where we went.

It was a trifle muddy in places but it was nice to get out and see the occaisonal birds.

Lots  of ducks  and  feeding time was in progress,with wellie booted children  clamouring for  food to throw. I remember  doing it  with mine when  they were small.

 We have been trying to get out most days , today I popped into town on  the bus as Martin  is working . I have more than enough ironing to get done  tomorrow .
I  am hoping to get to see some  snowdrops  next week on  my birthday,  another year older. I had to go to Poole hospital  last Thursday to have a MRI scan on my back. I saw the consultant on  Monday last and  he wanted me to have a scan . So we caught the train and  the deed was done . I couldnt believe how quick it was between  seeing him and getting  a phone call to say they could do it  the next day if I liked. Anyway those are the days Martin works  so we went on  Thursday. I  have to see consultant to get results and see where we go from here.
I have been reading and I am well into my 3rd  book of the year. I have of course bought some more and  they are sitting on the ever increasing pile  to read. I find I can  lose myself in a book . These are 3 I have bought last week.

So my dear readers once more I have come to the end  of my post.  Take great care of yourselves and I will be back ,not sure when as it  all depends on  the mood I am in  , hope this has not  been too depressing  a read.
hugs to all .
Barb,

A tribute to a much loved dog Oliver on what would have been his 14th birthday

Today a week ago we had our boy  put to sleep, although he did not seem in pain, he was  unable to walk on  his back legs. It all happeened within 24 hours ,from one vet saying he could have physio and swimming pool treatment to us having to take him back as although he was willing he was beginning to drag himself  on his front legs ,which was pitiful to see and we  and one of the other vets in  the practise made the descision to let him go. He was still wagging and  wanting biscuits right to the last few minutes. We are in bits and I am not going to say anymore as  I  shall  be in tears which happens most days. I do not think I have  ever  had so many comments on my last post and  for that I thankyou all , I read each and everyone and they helped so much ,So here a few of the photos we took  during his  lifetime.

Choosing  Ollie.  He only has one surviving sibling .

 

Feeding time  with his mum.

 How snuggly he was then, a few weeks  later  ,

 

We never will.

 He was a horror with flowerpots.

 

for some  reason I have  a  cut off  point  here  if  you want to see more  ,press read more.