Sewing Sunday!

Jack's teacher asked me to make some story sacks for his class, as she'd seen the ones I did for his previous teacher. I said I would but would she provide the fabric, as I'd used all my spare material on the first bags. She sent home an enormous amount of canvas, some cording and some sewing cotton, with the request that I do as many as the fabric would allow with some small bags for maths work.

This was the result. Fourteen bags of varying sizes, 3 with out cording as I ran out, and don't have any in my sewing box. The canvas is quite stiff and very messy when cutting etc. I would have preferred to use plain old cotton or poly/cotton, but it's what Katherine provided so I did the best I could.

When I was clearing the table ready to do the sewing, I put the place mats and table cloth in the wash. When I took them out of the machine I realised I'd put in one of the stitched coasters I had and it got a thorough washing!!!! Thank goodness for good old DMC! The colours didn't run or shrink and after drying on the washing line, I put it back together again and it's as good as new apart from a chip on the rim of the plastic.

I was quite relieved as it was one of the 50 small gifts my friend Daph gave me for my 50th birthday and I didn't want to lose it:)

Well it's been a busy day, with the sewing and washing and taking Janine to Shrewsbury to go bowling with her friends, so I'm going for a nice shower and then for an early night I think!

Night Night, God Bless, Sweet Dreams xxx (as I say to my girls every night, even if they ARE 20 and 22 lol)

Online again:)

Richard has lent me his old tower so I can get back on line again, while I'm waiting for my comp to be fixed. He's sick of me borrowing his lap top lol I've rang them again today and they say it could be another two weeks, as they haven't received it back from the manufacturer yet!
It's so frustrating how much we rely on these computers these days, I'm at a complete loss with out mine. I do my stash buying online, my grocery shopping online (quite often anyway), music buying online, keeping in touch with my friends online .... it's a wonder we could manage before computers were invented?!!!!

I'll do a quick catch up on my garden pics while I've got the chance as I haven't done any stitching for the last couple of weeks.

this is the blossom from the weeping cherry tree, it was gorgeous this year! I've changed my header picture to another pic of the blossom as I love it so much

this is the new Camelia that I got a couple of weeks ago. It's got a lovely flower that looks like a peony. It only had 3 flowers on it, and they've now fallen off, so I'll have to wait until next spring to see them again lol. I wish they lasted longer! The one below is my 'old' camelia. It took a couple of years to settle and decide to flower, now it's just bursting with them, and lots more buds to open yet :) It's not in the ideal spot, as it's on a north facing wall, but it doesn't seem to mind too much. Just goes to show, you can't always believe what the books tell you ;)

This one is one of the pieris in the same north facing border (sorry the pic is dark, I took it after tea and the light was going) I don't know if it's because of the warm sunny spring we've had so far, but they are really fabulous this year.

I had a lovely suprise in the post last week! Jo sent me a small gift as a thank you for the loan of a needleroll chart and the 'Stitching is Cheaper than Therapy' chart I gave her. It's a lovely pin keep with my initial on it and some lovely pins on the reverse. Isn't it lovely?

Thank you so much Jo :)

Janine isn't having Harry the horse after all! The bloods they took as part of the vetting showed him to have strangles, which is a contageous decease of the glands. He'll be a carrier now and as there is a mare in foal at the stables where Janine was going to home him, she can't have him there. The up shot is, we've been driving around the west of England again looking for another horse! We have found a worthy replacement called Sam in Coventry. He's a 17hh bay gelding and is a really darling. Subject to the vetting ... again... Janine should have him in two weeks time, after we get back from Centre Parcs.

I'm off to read your blogs now and see what you've been up to while I've been computerless :)

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Still no computer!

I'm still with out my computer! I'm hoping it won't be too much longer, as borrowing the ex's lap top is not ideal, and as a touch typist, I hate typing on these piddly things!

No stitching has been done for the last 10 days, I've been spending the time in the garden enjoying this lovely weather...... I do hope this isn't going to turn out to be our 'summer' like last year! The girls and I are off to Centre Parcs the week after next, so I'm hoping that the comp will be back next week, and I can get some photo's up of the garden etc, it's really coming to life and some of the shrubs are absolutely 'blooming' :)

I have been reading. I bought myself a book called The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. It's supernatural fiction, and is about the 'others', possessors of supernatual powers and capable of entering the Twilight, a shadowy world that exists in the parallel to our own, each Other owes allegiance to either the Dark or the Light. It's been a good read and I think I'll go and get the next in the trilogy.
If any one wants to read it, just let me know and I'll pass it on :)

I paid a visit to the herbolist this morning. She's going to be away next week and I am the week after, so we've had the follow up today. I'm quite pleased the way things are going at the moment. I'm not so tired in the mornings, and haven't had a nap for a week now! I'm still not sleeping great at night, but that's probably due to the cold and cough that Jack and I have caught! We're hacking away like two life time smokers, and neither one of us has ever had a cigarette! My restless legs aren't so restless and my hot flushes are much less, so I'm pleased about that too. I'm still not what you'd call 'enthusiastic' about getting things done, but it's early days still. She said it would probably take 3-4 months to feel 100% better and more energetic. I came away with another bottle of 'witch's brew' and some 'tea' she made up for my sinus's and cough.
I go back in 6 weeks and I'm hoping to feel much better and more like my up beat self by then :)

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A flying visit!

My computer is at the repair shop at the moment, so I've managed to get the ex to take pity on me and he has lent me his laptop for the afternoon. :)
My computer took great delight in telling me it's hard drive was about to breakdown and I should back up my files, photo's etc. I thought that was very civilized of it, to let me know before hand so I didn't lose every thing as I usually do when these things go wrong! The young lad in Staples, was very good, but couldn't fix it in the shop so it's been sent back and will take up to 4 weeks (hopefully a lot less!). It's still under guarantee so won't cost any thing this time, thankfully.

The two children went home happy bunny's. We went shopping, the day after Monkey Forest. They were really well behaved. Their carer says they usually run off and they spend all the time looking for them, but I must be more strict, as they were as good as gold! lol ......... or ... it could've been because I said they could choose an Easter egg each at the end if they behaved rofl! We chose some clothes for Jack's 12th birthday, and after dropping the comp off, went and had a McDonald's for lunch, oh how I love having kids to take to McDonald's rofl

As I just mentioned, it was Jack's 12th birthday on Saturday 11th. He went home for the day and got LOADS of clothes and money! I nearly always end up having to sort out his wardrobe and drawers after a birthday or Christmas, as his family always buy him a lot of t/shirts, trousers, jumpers etc.

The Easter week end has been gorgeous weather wise. We've spent most of it in the garden enjoying the lovely warm sunshine. Instead of chocolate the girls bought me a beautiful Camellia bush, it's got a lovely deep pink flower that looks like a peony flower. I've put in a request for a large pot for my birthday next month, so I can plant it in there instead of the garden, so it can sit on the patio and I can see it better :) I'll put up a picture of it when I'm back on my own computer, I don't want to mess about with Richards lap top!

Health wise, I'm still not feeling 100% and am sick to death of it, so I've taken a leaf out of Karan's book and taken myself to see the local herbalist.
She thinks that all the things I've been going through for the last 6 yrs have taken their toll on my adrenal glands, liver and kidneys and they need a good boosting up. The last bloods the GP took did show that my liver count was down, but he didn't do any thing about it. She's given me some disgusting brown liquid to take 3 times a day, which has strange things in it like, artichoke, liquorice, milk vetch, skull cup, schsandra, and mug wort ... sounds like something out of Harry Potter rofl .... luckily I love liquorice so the taste isn't as bad as it could be. She also gave me some complete multivitamin tablets to take twice a day. They're like horse tablets! I started taking these on Saturday, and I must admit to feeling less tired. I haven't fallen asleep during the day but I'm still not sleeping properly at night. She also said that I eat too much wheat, and should change to oats instead .... abix .... rofl couldn't help that bit !! I also don't take in enough calcium. I'm not a cheese/yogurt eater and if I don't have cereal, the only milk I have is in my tea, which isn't quite what I should be having!
We'll see how it goes after the 4 weeks when I go back for a check up.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get back on line very soon, but in the mean time, look after yourselves and make the most of the lovely weather we're having :)

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Which monkey is which?

Yesterday the two children arrived for their respite stay. They usually stay for a week or a fortnight, but this time it's only 4 days as their carer wants them back for Good Friday.

So, today we went to visit the monkey's at Monkey Forest in Trentham, Staffs. The weather forecast was for rain showers, but it's been a gorgeous day, bright sunshine and lovely and warm. The rain did half heartedly have an attempt, but it was minimal and very short lived and it was while we were still in the car.
The monkeys are Barbary macaques and wander around free, while the visitors are restricted to a pathway, which makes a lovely change from the animals being behind fences!

It was lovely to see the family groups interacting and grooming each other and the younger ones had a lively time swinging up in the trees and chasing each other around the bushes. They had a feeding session with a talk just as we arrived, so it was nice to see them close up and personnel when they came down for some cabbage.

We took a picnic and then the children had a great time playing on the climbing frames, slides, seesaw's etc making the most of the lovely weather. They bought some monkey masks from the gift shop, ... and I might add, the quality is very good, not those horrible thin plastic ones ... and 'monkey'd around' in the car all the way home lol

I don't know what we're doing tomorrow, it depends on the weather, they give it heavy rain, but we'll see what actually turns up lol

I apologise about the quality of the photo's, I forgot to take my camera and had to use my mobile phone instead!

a Thank You for Barb

I stitched this on Thursday and finished it off on Friday. I wanted to send some thing to Barb as a 'thank you' for the lovely things she sent me last week, see post below. She received it this morning, so I can show it now :)

The chart was a freebie, but I can't for the life of me remember where I got it from. The fabric is 'Cinderella' 28 cnt jobelan from polstitches and the silk is 'Nanna' by Dinky Dyes. I got both of these in the Christmas Panto pack from Jaynes Attic and I love the way they came together. I'm hoping that amitie actualy does mean 'friendship', or I might find that I've sent some thing inapropriate rofl

Any way I'm pleased to say that Barb liked it :)

I'm going to get busy mowing the lawn this afternoon, while the weather is nice. I've got Adam and Stacey coming for a few days next week so I won't have time to do it then and I want to make the most of the dry weather. Also, we're hoping to have a BBQ tomorrow and it's much nicer if the garden is looking good lol

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The kindness and generosity of stitchers !

This is what I received in the post today from Barb Blundell a lady on the Stitch and Stashers forum. She is a very kind, generous and talented lady who has been sending gifts like these to several of the other ladies on the board, for no other reason than she wants to. All those who have received these gifts have felt blessed and honoured, and I know I'll think of Barb every time I use my gifts, so THANK YOU Barb xxxx

Barb was a little concered about this package as it has taken over a week to arrive! She has been sending messages, 'has it arrived yet' and I've been replying 'not not yet' for a few days now rofl I am so pleased it has finally got here!
The scissor fob, Barb made herself, and is gorgeous, least of all because it's in my all time favourite colour ... green! I think I'll be putting it on my hand bag, so every one can see and admire it :).

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Still spring cleaning!

Yesterday I cleared out the 'black hole' otherwise known as my understairs cupboard!

Cindy's b/f Matt painted it out with some spare magnolia emulsion I had found at the back of the cupboard, and layed some vinyl that I had left over from the hall. Meanwhile, I went to Homebase and got 2 large plastic boxes with lids and wheels and one smaller one and transfered all the stuff I'm keeping, into them. The rest went either into the garden shed, or is ready to go to the recycling centre.
My cupboard is now looking very smart. The boxes can be wheeled out, rather than lifted or dragged, because they're on wheels, and I can then get what I want and wheel it back into the cupboard with the minimum of effort and hassle. No more scrabbling around in the clutter looking for what I want! AND I now have enough room on the shelves to properly stack my cookery books, and can even walk in far enough to be able to read them too .....rofl.

Matt said he's going to be very careful about when he stay's over next time, lol

I think I'll have to make a start on the big cupboard in Jack's room next, it full of things that I can't even remember .... so do I need them? Watch out for the next instalment lol

Here is Janine and her precious 'baby' lol I promise not to bore you with any more photo's of Harry for a while , but I couldn't resist this one, he looks so interested in having his photo taken, which is more than can be said for Janine lol



No stitching or knitting photo's to show, my thumb is playing up quite badly and I can't do either at the moment. One doc said it was arthrytis but another said it wasn't, but what ever it is, it's flaming painful at times, and stops me doing my hobbies ........ but unfortunately, not the house work!

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