I Joined a New Yahoo Group!

And i couldn't resist joining the SAL they have going on, the group is Stitchers Heaven, the SAL, Alla Turca. There have been 3 parts released so far with another due out on 1st April, i managed to finish part 1 last weekend, I'll start part 2 tomorrow and try to get caught up by the end of April.

I'm using 28 count evenweave and Needle Necessities floss, number 153.This is the first time I've used NN and i'm loving the effect.

I'm not going to show my progress on Yesteryear this time, it really is too pathetic to show!! i did get settled down with it a few times but i was struggling, it started off in a hoop then i put it in a frame, then back to a hoop, I'll persevere with it in a hoop now. It seems i couldn't count either! but I'll put that down to the fact that i was without my reading glasses for most of the week as they were having new lenses fitted, now they are back with me so i wont have that excuse next week :-) I have the weekend to myself this week as Mark is away working, all my chores around the house and the weeks laundry are done so apart from the usual Sunday morning ironing i can please myself and sit and stitch all day if i want too !, can't be bad :-) So until next time, I hope you all have a great weekend whatever you are up to....Tara-a-bit xx

Hobby Craft Show & Sunshine

What a lovely weekend we've had here in the UK, the sun was shining and at last it really feels as though Spring is on the way! There is a rumour that it's to continue for the rest of the week too, how good is that! My weekend was just as good, i visited the Hobby Craft & Sewing for Pleasure show at the NEC in Birmingham, what a great day! it was just lovely to have the day to myself and browse around the many stalls. The Hobby Craft show was filled with lovely goodies for scrapbooking & card making, although i love the idea of scrapbooking i am really not that imaginative, nor could i be surrounded by all that equipment, as lovely as it is :-) The Sewing for Pleasure show was filled with the stitchy type goodies i was in search of and i came away with just a few essentials ;)I treated myself to a new magnifier (i just cannot stitch without one of these now!) this one is a little larger than the one i already have and with a longer bendy bit (see I'm so technical, lol). Two charts, LHN 'The Bookshelf' which i've been looking at for ages, & 'Simply Live' which i thought was simply wonderful after seeing it on someones blog:-)
I bought two more storage boxes, you can never have enough of these, right? There was a really cute cat needle minder that begged to come home with me.... and who can resist a cute kitty :-) Lastly i bought a sheath for the scissors my daughter bought me last year and I've just started using.
I did meet with a couple of non stitchy things, the little wooden box & peg board are to be painted and decorated with decoupage, never tried this but it looked fun to do, and the wool is for a cute knitted bag, these little bags looked great and the instructions say they are a weekend project (I'll let you know if that's true lol), the kit came with pattern, wool, lining material and button, so there you go, that was my day's haul!

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Progress on Yesteryear has been almost non existent this week, so no photos to show, i couldn't seem to get back into any sort of routine for anything last week, I've now caught up with the washing ironing & cleaning so this week i shall be able to get back to my normal nights stitching starting right after tea tonight.

On that note, DD#3 has just come in from school which is my cue to start tea.

Thanks to all who take the time to leave a comment, i love to read them and they are much appreciated, hope everyone has a good week....Till next time, Tara-a-bit

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Four Days in Prague

What a wonderful place! if you have never been to Prague let me urge you to book a trip as soon as possible, you won't be disappointed :-) Here's a taster of what we saw starting with our hotel. We could not have chosen a better place, it was a great place and we were very well looked after. It was central to everything being just around the
corner from the Old Town Square.

This is the reception area, it's like a conservatory the lift is to left, you could only gain access to your room with a card which operated the lift and the door to the stairs so it was very secure.

The hotel has a great history and dates from the 13th century, the story of the building, which at one time used to be an ironmongers is told in the walk way from the entrance to the reception. The front is decorated by the 19th century artist Mikulas Ales and looks fantastic.

Our hotel room & the view from the window to the Square

As we rounded the corner from our hotel to Old Town Square on our first night this is what met us

The Church of Our Lady before Tyn What a sight all lit up at night, it look magical
One of the other great sights in the Old Town Square is the famous Astronomical Clock

Crowds gather to watch the clock strike on the hour. First the skeleton (figure of death) pulls on the rope he holds in his right hand and then raises and inverts the hourglass he holds in his left hand. Two windows at the top then open and the Apostles move slowly around, at the end of this display a cock crows and the clock strikes the hour. The other animated figures are Tuck who shakes his head from side to side, Vanity who looks at himself in a mirror and Greed adapted from a stereotypical Jewish moneylender.

The Astronomical Clock was not supposed to tell the exact time but to imitate the orbits of the Sun & Moon about the Earth. Legend has it that when a master clockmaker rebuilt the clock in 1490 the town did not want him to recreate another one anywhere else so they blinded him! poor man, what a thank you!

You can go to the top of the clock tower, the views are great, and i did brave it to get some photos, although i am not very good with heights, the last time i climbed a ladder OH had to come up and fetch me back down again

Wenceslas Square - New Town

Looking down Wenceslas Square, which as you can see is not a square! The monument is St Wenceslas and the large building is the National Gallery in which we spent a lovely couple of hours browsing around.
Charles Bridge

As bridges go this is one of the lovely ones :-) it is pedestrianised so is pleasant to walk across, although at the time of our visit there was a restoration programme going on and some of the one side is being worked on, still, it doesn't spoil this view which i took when we climbed to the top of the Observation Tower (another scary climb!). The Observation Tower is on Petrin Park which we reached via the Funicular Railway, which is well worth a visit even if it's just for the view at the top. For those of you still with me at this point, (thanks, you all deserve a medal, lol,) you will have got the general idea that i loved this City, it has such history and the most amazing buildings. We visited many more places, and i would be here forever showing you and i have the dinner to get ready!! so, i have many more photos in my webshots album to share if you want to take a look the link is in the sidebar. I will leave you with one more photo of a really funky building.
"Ginger & Fred" building, or "The Dancing Building" Whichever one you choose to call it it's a cool looking building! We didn't go in there but apparently there is a restaurant in there somewhere! Thanks for taking time out to visit me see you soon, Tara-a-bit x