So that's where it was hiding!

 I've mentioned a few times that I've not had the urge to stitch for a while, in fact I haven't picked up any stitching at all since last November when I went to the Kingfisher reteat in Someset. While I was away that November weekend I started North Pole by Kathy Barrick.

As you can see I got a fair bit of stitching done on that Somerset retreat but since then It's been sat in a bag.

This weekend I attended another two day stitching retreat, closer to home this time and of course North Pole came with me and as you can see I got the rest of the left hand motifs stitched and most of the right hand side, along with Santa's face and eyes, (I'll leave the rest of the facial stitching until the end incase the long stitches get pulled).

The retreat was held at a local to me hotel and I could easily have traveled it but Mark was going to a retirement 'do' at Newbury races and staying over so he treated me to an overnight stay at the retreat hotel.

I had a fabulous time, great company and food and lots of laughter, just what I needed and I found my stitching mojo :-)

I really enjoyed stitching again and I'm going to try and fit in at least one evening of stitching a week, you never know there may be a new Santa finish for Christmas, ha ha.

BTW, in case anyone is interested I'm stitching on 20 count cream evenweave using the DMC conversion.

-X-

An allotment update

 I've had my name down with a local Allotment Society since last year and they called me a couple weeks ago saying that there was one available and did I want to go and have a look.

It was actually a half plot, which would be enough for me, and this is what It looked like.

I'm on a couple allotment groups on fb so I know that compared to some this isn't too bad.  What you can't see from the photos is that the previous occupant had dug holes and piled up the dirt so the ground wasn't level.  It was mostly grass that would have to be cleared but the top end was really overgrown and again had been banked up, nothing grown just some tulip bulbs planted randomly around.

I seriously thought about it, weighing up the pros and cons for a week before I called back and refused it It would have been way cheaper than the Roots one I have now butthere were quite a few drawbacks.   It had no shed or storage, I would have to buy compost, manure, extra tools and some water storage, plus a shed, which is a big expense.  The Guy that showed me round said that he didn't blame me for not taking it on, (which made me realise I'd made the right decission), and that I could stay on the list and see if something more suitable came up in the future.   

 I've spent a lot of time on my Roots plot these last two weeks getting it ready for planting and thinking that I definitly made the right choice.  I think I've said before that with Roots all the tools, compost, manure and wood chips are there for you to use freely, plus seeds packs twice a year and regular plug plant parties and coffee meet ups.  They might be more expensive but you have to take into account what you get for that money as oposed to buying it all yourself.   Plus, everyone is so friendly and helpful, sharing plants and even offering to water If you are away or can't get to your plot.  I didn't get the feeling there was much community spirit at the Allotment Society one, I think you would be pretty much on you own.

Anyway, the decission has been made and I think It was the right one, for now.

This Is how my space looks at the moment.

Strawberries are growing well, but the rhubarb hasn't been too good this year though, I had to remove a flower head so perhaps that's why, I have noticed that a lot on other plots had flower heads this year too.

I'm very very happy with my cabbages.  I planted four and have already taken some of the outer leaves to eat.

I planted out my broad beans this week.  Only three plants survived the pigeons from the Autumn ones, so far the Spring ones haven't been touched.

I planned on having tomatoes in this section behind the seat but when I was clearing the weeds this week I discovered several raspberry plants, so I'll leave those and put tomatoes elsewhere.  There were also lots of poppy plants, presents from the birds or blown on the wind?   I've planted sweetpeas around the trellis since I took this photo.

I origionaly shared two plots with my daughter Joanne but she Is too busy with the children and other things at the moment so now I'm going it alone with just this one.

Mark has been down there with me today and made a bigger brassica cage for me and I've got many more things at home almost ready to go in, including some cauliflowers and more seeds to sow.

 The rest of May is going to be a busy time and hopefully there will be less bare soil next time I update.

-X-

What I've been making - April

 Thank you for all the lovely comments on the safe arrival of Freddie, he is absolutely gorgeous and has been really chilled in his first week, considering.  He was quite marked and had bruising from the forceps, he still has a little bit around one eye but it is fading a little bit every day.  I didn't realise they used forceps with a ceserean.  Steve was told it was a difficult birth with him being so low down in her pelvis, so no wonder she is so sore.

I managed to get one pair of socks finished during April.

These are knitted in Yarn Smiths sock yarn, it's lovely and soft to knit with but a bit on the splitty side, I think they came out lovely though.

Obviously there has been baby knitting going on for a few months too.  I've only knitted a few cardigans and one blanket as we will be going into the warmer weather, I will knit a few things for the Autumn/Winter in the coming months.

These two are from commecial patterns and seamed together

The white cardigan below is the Baby Aosta cardigan, (pattern on Ravelry) and is knit top down.  While I do like knitting top down I much prefer how a seamed cardigan looks and fits.   Having said that I have alomost finished another Baby Aosta cardigan in a bigger size and It does look better than in the smaller size.

My favourite make is this baby blanket.  When Stevie sent me the link to the pattern and asked me to make it I thought It would be too difficult, I'm ok at basic crochet but not fancy stitches.

But the pattern was so clearly written and there were no fancy stitches so I finished it in about a week.  Absolutely loved making it.  The pattern if anyone is interested is the One Stitch at a Time blanket by Kerry Jayne Designs.  The pattern also includes instructions for a large sofa throw in the same design too.

Yes all but one of the baby makes are cream, Stevie is the queen of cream, lol.  We knew early on that she was having a boy but she still wanted neutral colours, I must say that I prefer baby clothes to be white or neutral too, especially when they are tiny.

Can you beleive It's the end of April?  A third of the year gone already, goodness!  We are having some nice weather at last though, after what seemed like months and months of rain were seeing some lovely sunny days.  I mentioned before how I don't like the lighter nights but I'm trying to pace myself and not find things to do just because it's daylight. lol.

-X-

And then there were five

 I hinted at the begining of the year that there was something exciting happening this year and at last I can tell you that I am a Nanna again, grandchild number five is here!

If you are a regular visitor to my blog you will remeber that my youngest daughter, Stevie has been through IVF twice before, the one in 2025 ended in a bad experience for her.   

She decided to give it one more go at a different clinic and is now a very proud momma.

They have called him Freddie with Mark as his middle name, as well as Mark being hubby's name it was also Darren's dads name.

He was born on Friday 24th and weighed 8lb 12oz, so a chunky monkey, lol

Her labour was quite a journey.  They don't usually let IVF go full term and the fact that Stevie has Antiphospholipid Syndrome, (this was discovered through tests done before she started this round of IVF), meant that she was to be induced, but after two days she hadn't progressed and she ended up with a caesarean.  But he is here safe and sound and that's what matters.

Stevie is doing ok, obviously sore and it was a long few days with no sleep so she is very tired but Is back home now.  Darren has four weeks off work and I am on hand to help when they need it.

I'm so proud of her, she has been amazing, eight years of trying and three rounds of IVF and she is now the Momma she always dreamt of being. 💖

-X-

Seeds and around the garden in April

My tulips opened while I was away but they were still putting on a good show on my return, they are starting to die off now but have survived two bouts of very windy rainy weather so haven't done too bad considering.  I only put them in two planters, wish I'd done more now, the colours are so pretty together and the heads are huge, shame I can't remember what variety they are I ha ha.

The garden certain sprung into life in the two weeks I was away, everything had come on in leaps and bounds.  The shoots on my largest hosta were only about 4 inches tall when I left, and look at it now!  I'm amazed every year how quickly they grow.

I was very happy to see that the seeds I sowed and the plants I potted on before we went away had survived.

Above photo -  the promise of sprouts, cauliflower, beetroot, broad beans, tomatoes, calendula, cosmos, marigolds and sunflowers, among others.  

The marigolds and calendula are free plants, I collected seeds from the plants last year.

I've tried not to overwhelm myself with sowing this year, I've definitly got less than last year but It still feels like I have a lot.

My raspberries are spreading nicley so we should get lots more fruit this year.

Remember I said we had frogspawn?  Well unfortunatly It didn't survive.  We had a cold snap just after I noticed it and I think that must have killed it off, shame, I was looking forward to lots of little froggies.  We had two frogs in here last year, I haven't seen them yet but hopefully they will return.

Our garden generally looks it's best in Spring, so much colour going on.  It's not a neat uniformed garden by any means, in fact it's a bit overgrown in parts, but I quite like that, my sister would say chop everything down!  But I prefer that over-grown look, I think it looks more natural.  The majority of the shrubs were here when we moved in and were well established, to move any would be a lot of work, so we haven't bothered.  Anything I've put in has been planted around what was already here.

 It's might be haphazard and a bit wild looking but I like that and I've learned to live with the fact that I will never have perfectly manicured lawns and that the top grass will always need oversewing every year, (because somehow It always disapears in parts).  

 I like order and tidyness inside the house but I'm happy for the garden to look a bit overgrown.

What are you growing this year? and do you save seeds from the previous year?  It's the first time I've done it but It's something I will do again.

-X-

I went to a yarn show

 We were up early on Saturday to pack up the caravan, It had rained quite heavily on Friday afternoon and Mark wasn't looking forward to taking a wet awning down the next day, but luckily It was bright and sunny with a breeze, so by the time we had packed up our stuff the awning had dried out.

I left him to it at that point as I had decided to go to this years Sodbury Yarn Over in.  I haven't been to a yarn festival for a few years and this one is held in various buildings along the high street in a beautiful picturesque market town with the wonderful name of Chipping Sodbury.  

The event is quite small in comparison to some and as it was spread over different buildings it never felt too crowded.  I arrived just around lunchtime which was perfect in hindsight as a lot of people had either been and gone or had stopped for lunch.  In the Town Hall there were places you could have a sit down and somewhere to buy tea/coffee but all along the high street are various coffee shops, pubs and places to grab something to eat, so fighting to get a seat wasn't a problem, and of course It also meant that the towns shops and eateries benefitted from the extra visitors too.

I made a list and I think I did ok.

The shawl set was from Under the Olive Tree and wasn't on my list but when I saw the sample knitted up I fell in love with texture pattern and how the colours worked together.  I won't start it straight away, I think perhaps over the Summer as it's not a big project.  There is a yarn shop in the town, The Wool Cellar, which is owned by one of the organisers of the festival, and It's where I purchased the Stylecraft Re-create yarn.  I've been wanting to make another Salty Air Tee, I love the one I made last year and I've worn It lot.  I would have preferred cotton yarn but couldn't find anything I liked, the Re-create yarn isn't too woolly but I've gone out of my comfort zone with the green, it's not a colour I wear a lot, but I do like it ,so we'll see.

  I can recommend the festival If you don't have to travel too far.  It took me an hour to drive there and an hour and a half to get home).  If I had travelled more than that I don't really think It would have been worth it for the number of vendors that were there, but that's just my opinion, having said that, I really enjoyed my day, the town Is lovely, everything was within easy walking distance and there were some nice shops to mooch round too.

When I got home Mark had unpacked all our things and put everything away and had made a start on some of the washing, (see there was a method to my madness, as my mum used to say. ha ha)

Yesterday was spent getting up to date with the rest of the washing and getting the garden tidied and the grass cut, the weather was good again so we were able to get everything done.

-X-

Sunshine, storms and narrow roads

 I've got another day before before I head home.  Mark will come here from work tomorrow and we will pack up on Saturday morning, the caravan stays on this site so It shouldn't take too long.  I've enjoyed my break, a change of scenery and some quiet time was just what I needed.  I've gone out a couple times but mostly stayed close to the van and been for walks.

Eastnor Castle is a short drive away but unfortunately It's only open certain days and the next available date was in May, that was disappointing but I did walk through the deer park which is part of their land and popular with dog walkers.  The main pathway is hardstanding so suitable for all and the views are lovely.

Unfortunately I didn't see any deer, and as you can see it was rather overcast and rather windy up there.  You can wander of the designated pathway across the fields but the weather put me off and after an hour I headed back to the car.  There is a café at the bottom with a covered picnic area where I enjoyed a coffee and my book for a while.

I decided to drive up to Eastnor Castle on the way back and double check the opening times, the lane is narrow and on the way back down there was an old steam engine which had stopped and was having trouble starting again, after waiting ten minutes or so I decided to turn around and see where the lane took me.

I didn't encounter another vehicle on this narrow road but there were pheasants aplenty.

And a ford!  I haven't seen a ford in years

There were a few houses dotted along the way, even the side view of this one is cute,

I visited Ledbury the day before and the weather was completely different

Yesterday started off bright and sunny but a rain storm was due in the afternoon, and boy did it come down, we even had thunder and lightening right overhead for a good half hour.

 And then just like that It all cleared and the blue sky returned and I had a walk into Upton to stretch my legs.

You'd hardly believe it was the same day!

-x-