April is in the Tin

I have now completed my April ornament in my year long stitch-along with my friend Sandra. This one is now safely added to my tin with January, February and March.
It is another Little by Little Design called My Little Christmas Gift and is from the JCS Christmas Ornament book 1999. I chose to finish mine as a little pocket and used two old buttons from my mother's very old button jar to hold the handle on. I couldn't find two of the same colour so I have used two different ones which match the colours perfectly and rather like this look. After all, why does everything have to match perfectly!! I can picture it hanging with some red berries in it at Christmas.

Sandra chose to finished hers in the pillow style and added a handle to duplicate the handle of the basket.

It has been a wet and quite cool weekend so we never got out for a walk. However, Ben did a great job as the 'clerk of works' watching over to make sure I was doing everything right while I was sewing. Doesn't he look a picture of innocence in this photo I took of him tonight. Awwww, beautiful boy :)


At least our rainwater tank has quite a bit more water in it now.

< ~ The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Happy Birthday Ben:)

Today my big beautiful boy turns three. He came into our lives when he was just nine weeks old and has grown from this gorgeous little puppy ......


into this handsome noble man......

with a lot of 'in-between'

Thank you my beautiful faithful friend for the joy you have brought into our lives.

" He is your friend, your partner,
your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat
of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of
such devotion."
.....Unknown

Another Little Bird

Here is what flew into a tree in my garden today. It is The Goode Huswife 'Primitive Bird'. I just loved this design right from when I first saw it and I knew I had to stitch it which is what I did as soon as I got the chart. I stitched him on 32ct linen (chart calls for 36ct) so he is a little bigger but not too big. He measures around 9 inches. I coloured the cord for the hanger with Parisienne Essence to try and keep with the primitive look and it seemed to work well. I really love this piece of linen but unfortunately, I never wrote on it what it was so have made a mental note to myself to make certain I label my linens from now on so I know what they are and can order them again in the future. I really, really love this colour with it's mottled aged appearance and it was just perfect for the look I was trying to achieve.

The Postie brought me some lovely mail today too.


And this is what was inside this nicely wrapped package......



Three beautiful linens ~ Lakeside Linen Vintage Examplar, Birds of a Feather Sparrow and Birds of a Feather Meadowlark.

Now I must make a start on my April ornament. I think Sandra has hers all stitched and probably assembled as well by now.

'Don't the little birds set their tongues in motion as soon as the day has dawned. They never stop their thanks'...