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.