Merry Christmas!

I have no new stitchy finishes to show, i just wanted to wish all my blogging buddies a merry Christmas! I finished work this afternoon and can now look forward to 12 lie-ins, lol, no alarm going off at 7am, nothing to rush for in the mornings, bliss :-)

It seems ages since i had any stitching to show but I'm hoping to get plenty of stitching time in and maybe finish off a couple of ornaments over the holiday so i will be able to prove that i do still stitch, lol.

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Here in my part of the UK we are still experiencing quite a cold spell, we had a dusting of snow last weekend which amazingly is still with us, which just goes to show that the temperature has not been above freezing the whole week, i know that in some part of the world that's not unusual, after all it is December, but for us in the UK it is rare! I must say that i much prefer this cold, crisp weather, give me this over rain any day! We may, fingers crossed be in for a white Christmas after all, it's been snowing a little again this afternoon so lets hope so.

That's it from me this side of Christmas, i will be another year older the next time we speak :-0

Till then, have a very Merry Christmas

And may Santa be very kind to you all. xxx

Beatrix Part 2 & a Stinking Cold!

I didn't mean to leave it so long before posting the rest of the photos of our weekend break. Much to the amusement and relief may i add of my DH, i woke up on Sunday morning to find i had lost my voice in the night, the rest of this week i have been battling a stinking cold and coming in from work at lunch time just to go straight off to bed for a couple of hours. Finally tonight i think the worst is over, thank goodness.

Anyway, here are the promised pics - first up are some i took of Windermere, very pretty village and it was nice enough on the Saturday for us to go on a boat trip on Windermere itself, although by the end of the trip we were both chilled to the bone lol.
Love these houses right on the edge, but apparently this area was quite badly flooded the week before, you can still see that the water is quite high

This is looking towards the town
Taken while we were on the boat trip, the little orange boat caught my eye and you can just make out the snow on the hills in the background
I love the next 2 photos, it looks so peaceful, don't you think?
This is the entrance to the garden of Beatrix Potter's house, Hill Top. The garden is still set out as a very cute veggie garden
And this is Hill Top, looking every bit the English cottage

This was taken from the garden

Some bits & bobs in the garden

The path leading up to Hill Top, you reach this via the shop, which was open but unfortunately the house closes to the public from November 1st - a good excuse for another visit another time!

I remember reading somewhere that when Beatrix P died there was a stipulation in her will that no one should live in Hill Top after her death so i assume that her furnishings are still there, pity we went so late in the year i would have like to have seen inside.

A few weeks ago you will remember that in the UK we were having lots of rain and there was major flooding in many parts (including the Lake District), below is the sort of weather we had to drive home in.

Good job DH was driving, the motorway was like this until we almost reached home and I'm sorry to say that we have still had much of the same horrible damp weather since!

Because of my stinking cold and fear of stabbing myself with the needle every time i sneeze and the fact that i could not see through my streaming eyes, there hasn't been much stitching time this week. Before the bugs attacked me i did finish off another Santa and picked Zippity up from the framers, but i show you those next time.

Thanks for stopping by and all your lovely comments, i really do appreciate them:-)

See ya next time x

Beatrix Potter

I've been MIA yet again, busy stitching away on Santa's but not this weekend. This weekend i was 'Living the Dream as Seen on Screen' For those who do not know, this is a UK TV programme dedicated to showing us how the other half live in houses that have been used in film or TV.

The house we stayed in now belongs to the National Trust but was once owned by Beatrix Potter and was the very house that was used in the Miss Potter film!!

If you re familiar with the film you will recognise this porch. Can you see just on the floor they have still left the slate Hill Top name plaque?

Hill Top house in the Lake District was the first house that Beatrix Potter bought with earnings from her books and she did live there. When it came to making the film Hill Top was totally impractical for filming and a search was made to find somewhere suitable. Yew Tree Farm was chosen for the job and it was here that we stayed this weekend.

Yew Tree Farm in Coniston was owned by Beatrix Potter, she bought it when the National Trust could not afford too as she did with many, many properties in the lake District, she eventually sold them back to the National Trust when they could afford to buy. She helped set up tea rooms at Yew Tree Farm and she picked out the furnishing and bought them with her own money.

Isn't it the most idyllic looking place you could imagine?

On Saturday morning when we got up there was snow on the hills, making it even more picturesque, if that's possible!

This is the view from the dining room, taken on Sunday morning when it was teaming down with rain and impossible to take more photos outside.

A view of the dining room through the mirror. This is where the furnishing that she chose now live. It's very cosy, there are just 3 tables as there are just 3 room to let here, the log fire was lit for us in the morning. Can you see the lovely dresser with the plates and the corner cabinet? So lovely!
There was a gorgeous sitting room, again the log fire was lit for us and a bottle of port sitting on the window to help yourselves to (yes i did partake in a glass!!)
Lovely panelled wall and leather Chesterfield

Cosy corner with local magazines to browse and a collection of old books, there was gentle music playing in the background too, not a TV in sight...bliss!
Warm fire, just what you need on a chilly night

another view of the sitting room, how cute is that little window!

The next few photos are not the best but i had trouble with the light.

Now i now where the saying 'Up The Wooden Hills' comes from, the house had lovely wooden stairs and panelled walls leading up to the bedrooms.

Our bedroom was call the Tarn Hows room and was just lovely, there were 2 windows like this, one on each side of the room.

And a fabulous four poster bed

The door way you can see on the other side of the room leads to the bathroom, the doorway was very low and there was a sign above saying 'please mind your head' but guess who banged his head at least 3 times? yes DH has a sore head to go back to work with!!

I have just too many photos to show in one post so I'll show more next time of Hill Top and our boat trip on Windermere. If you want to click here to visit Yew Tree Farm website and have a browse, there is a bit on there about the filming of Miss Potter and how Yew Tree Farm came to be chosen to portray Hill Top.
In the meantime, i have one more day holiday from work tomorrow so will be having a lie-in tomorrow and plan on some sitting and stitching..Until next time x

Pere Noel x 2

I love Friday evening, the house work is done, i can sit down and relax and there is no getting up early for work tomorrow! Saturday is a day for 'me'! Mark will do the grocery shopping in the morning and i will spend a lovely couple of hours at my photography class in the afternoon, the weather forecast is not good for tomorrow so i think any photos will be taken in the hot houses.

My evenings this week have been taken up with stitching some Christmas ornaments, the Santa's from Gazette94 blog are so cute! hopefully i will get them all done and ready to hang on my tree this year

Can you see the fabric frayed on the one above? I made a bit of a boo boo and trimmed it too close, i might just get away with making into a hanging ornament if I'm very careful.
Next week I'm going back to working on Zippity to try and get that finished.

Thanks for stopping by and i hope you all have a great weekend whatever you are up to!

Gouls Night Out

Just when us mear mortals are thinking of getting some sleep my DD#2 and friends are going to a Halloween Party - this is them in their costumes

Jo is the one in the black & red. They will probably be coming in as i get up in the morning...Oh to be young, lol. My big night out (well in!) will be a cup of coco and bed in a while!

Happy Halloween! Have a great week x

Zippity do da

It's getting late so i will keep it short and sweet tonight, Friday is my 'downstairs' cleaning day (Thursday is 'upstairs', yes i have set cleaning days!!) and yes, people think i am quite strange because i quite like housework! I even, (dare i say this) like ironing (shock horror!!) i can hear a chorus of "OMG the woman is MAD" echoing around the world, lol. Anyway the point is I'm shattered and will be off to the land of nod soon, but before i go here is my progress on

La~ D~Da Zippity do da

Remember the excellent The Time Travelers Wife? This is Audrey Niffenegger's new novel, Her Fearful Symmetry. It's been my bedtime reading this last week. It's set around Highgate Cemetery in London and without giving anything of the story away it's essentially a ghost story and although i enjoyed it it's nothing like TTTW, but that is a hard act to follow!

Right, i promised it would be short so I'm gone...till next time, have a great weekend! x

I'm All Behind!!

No ladies, I'm not referring to my posterior, although some might be inclined to say otherwise :O The behind i am am referring to is the blogging & blog reading, where on earth does the time go?? I've been full of good intentions but something always gets in the way. Last week i tried my hand at scrap booking, a completely new thing for me but my friend who is into scrap booking in a BIG way asked me to go to her crop as they were having a 'taster' session, all i was to bring along was a 6x4 photo and £1 for materials. I thoroughly enjoyed the night and my friend gifted me with a scrapbook to put my first page in:-) We got the chance to try our hand at stamping, (the bird & the flower thingies) and the little frilled edge under the photo was done with a cool little tool that did the frilly bit for you!. I dread to think how much could be spent on this hobby and I'm a little reluctant to go down that road, but it did make a really pleasant change. Stitching has been a bit hit and miss, most nights i really haven't felt like getting anything out. This is my pathetic progress on my ABC

I think the roses motif is the only section I've finished since i last showed it

I think perhaps i am getting a bit fed-up with the same old, same old, so to try and get back a little enthusiasm i made a new start yesterday - on this

I've had this ready to do for a while now and it seems to be stitching up quickly (famous last words, lol) no photos today though, I'll show next time.

My photo class is going well, really enjoying it so far, i was a bit worried i was going to be stuck with a load of men, but only 2 men in the class the rest are a mixed age range of women, all it seems with more or less the same objective, to become a brilliant photographer and earn loads of money, lol. I will try and get around to posting my photos somewhere so you can all have a good laugh for next time, but i took this today in my garden, trying to bring together what we have covered up to now

Thanks for stopping by & have a great week whatever you may be up too x

Wanna Join Me in a Happy Dance?

Because today i picked up my AT from the framers! I really love the way it's turned out and so glad i went for the red frame

Alla Turca Available from Stitchers Heaven Yahoo group

Designed by Pelin Tezer

stitched on 28 count with threadworx 1089 (Bleeding Hearts)

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Next up is something i haven't shown in a while, my ABC. Since i came back from holiday i haven't spent quite as much time stitching, but the times i have stitched has been on this.

I'm quite close to finishing, but way, way behind most that started this SAL, i keep thinking that i will get it finished by the end of next month, but at the snail pace that I'm going lately that's probably a bit ambitious!

This is also on 28 count, with Anchor threads 1013 & 1014. Please excuse the slightly washed out photos! And, speaking of photos, I've enrolled on a photography course this week, I've been looking around for a course for a while and came upon this one happening at the Botanical Gardens near Birmingham. I'm quite excited about it! The course starts next Saturday afternoon, so it also gets me out of the grocery shopping, lol. I shall bore you all with how it went next time, lol. For now, i hope you all have a lovely weekend whatever you are up to :-)

Catching up & I Have a Finish!

It's been a while, but there hasn't been much stitching going on here to show, except i finished AT up when i came back from holiday It's still waiting to be framed though. It has a small mark on the fabric at the bottom, not too noticeable but i know it's there therefore will always notice it! As the threads are not colourfast i cannot wash it, i have some carpet & upholstery wipes I'm going to try later and hope that works. and then i can take it to the framers in the week.

This past week I've spent my afternoons after work in the garden because the weather here has been absolutely beautiful every day, I've chopped & trimmed everything in sight, lol and it now looks so much better, most of the bushes we planted had somehow taken on a life of their own, it was like The Day of The Triffids in parts!

The right hand side on the corner there was a huge bush which although lovely when it was in flower had gotten just too big, all that's left now is the trunk of it and i have filled that area with daffodil bulbs and covered it in bark, so hopefully i shall have a lovely display next spring :-)

I've planted up my hanging baskets and window boxes with winter pansies too.

Now I've got the garden in order i shall hopefully be able to get some stitching in next week although i have to finish off my Power Point for the I.T NVQ I'm doing at work because the assessor is visiting the week after and i really want to get it out of the way (the assessor has been a bit of a nightmare from the beginning). Talking of work, we have had a series of shock redundancies. Back in April when we had the end of year review we were told that although things were tight (like most companies i suppose) they were going to save money through things like cutting back on spending, tighter reigns on expenses and there would be no spending on company fun days, but they were not going to make redundancies. Well that was then! so far, one of the girls has gone from Sales and one of the service engineers, then a week ago 8 of the design and CAD lads had letters and they made the decision this week to make two of them redundant, one of them was past retirement age anyway but the other one was a young lad, he and his wife have a young baby, it was him i felt most sorry for, he got upset when he was saying his good byes, i hate it when people get upset and could have cried with him!! We don't know if there will be any more, they never even announced these last ones! It's all made worse because all the lads are a really great bunch and everyone gets along, but i suppose with the economy being they way it is it can't be helped.

Thank you all for visiting and all your lovely comments, it makes my day to read them and visit all your lovely blogs :-) Have a lovely week whatever your getting up to. x

Home again Home again!

Back safe and sound last night from holiday, I've had a lovely relaxing time doing nothing much but reading, a bit of stitching and dipping into the pool to cool off every now and then:-) Just the kind of rest i needed to re-charge my batteries. I'm back to work in the morning, although I'm not really looking forward to it, but as my lottery numbers still haven't been drawn i suppose i will be up at 7am, (sigh).

Here's a little look at the in laws house in Cyprus - i spent my days sitting in the peace and quiet reading my book here

This is the side looking towards the pool
and again looking towards the front

This is where i sat to do a little stitching, it's part shaded so was perfect, believe it or not I've never stitched outdoors before ........

...............but i could get used to it with this setting!
Here's a little glimpse through those trees
Towards the hills...there is actually a proper tarmac road over there now, years ago it was just a dirt road and of course Mark just had to drive over there! it doesn't look much but believe me it is high up and there were boulders everywhere at one point which we had to keep stopping to move out of the road! Below is looking right and towards the sea, although i think it is just about out of view from here.
Although i didn't stitch as often as i would have done at home i did make some progress on MW

The majority of part 2 is complete, although that little critter caused me some trouble! i think i stitched him 3 times before i got him right! the little mystery motif above the squirrel kept us guessing, lol, to my mind now it's stitched it looks like a turtle with something in it's mouth, Stevie thinks it looks like a (tiny) camel, lol. From this photos it just looks like a splodge! I'll take a better one next time and you can see.

I'll save some photos for my next post and just leave you with a couple of Stevie-Leigh for now.

These two were taken at the harbour in Paphos

and eating out one night.
I have been reading your blogs while I've been away but didn't get around to commenting, I'll catch up with you all this week, have a wonderful week and thank you for all your lovely comments, they are truly appreciated :-)