A Little of This... A Little of That

So much for coming back soon and sharing a few things with you.... not quite sure what happened or where the time went and here we are in October already. I guess that some of the blame can go to eBay, as it's prompted me to have a sort through some of my stash and have a bit of a clearout (of those things I know I'll never stitch and those things I have stitched and won't do again), so I could take advantage of the recent free listing weekends they've been having. Of course, you can't just go on there and list your goodies and not have a good old nosey round to see if there are any amazing, gob-smackingly cheap bargains to be had, can you? Well I obviously can't. ROFL It kind of defeats the object of having the clearout in the first place..... so, thankfully, there haven't been too many, so the spaces haven't been filled.... yet! I've been lucky enough to have made enough money to be able to buy a few crystals though, ready for the future. :0)

Anyways, that's not why you're here..... you'll be wanting to know all about that stash I acquired, won't you? LOL First up is a kit I spotted ages ago on eBay and just couldn't resist... and I certainly didn't pay the price on the sticker for it, either:

He doesn't look like my Spirit Guide but there's just something about him that struck a chord when I saw him. Hopefully the stitching mojo will kick in and stay around permanently, as I really want to stitch this soon. :0)

Then there were the Wimble Bees bargains I picked up. A few finishing items:

A few charts that just had to make it into my stash:

Am thinking that the JN 12 Days would be a good one for an ornie a month stitch, through next year. Anyone fancy a SAL? That is.... if the missing mojo ever turns up for it. LOL And you just can't buy charts without buying a few fabrics as well, can you?

It's a mix of 28, 32 and 36ct fabrics and they've nicely enhanced my fabric stash. And the beauty of this little lot is... my lovely DH very kindly paid for it all. Yup, he's a keeper. LOL

What else was I going to share a pic of? Oh yes, the tiger. Now the intermittent mojo did pop in for long enough to get a bit of this stitched, making it worth showing you all a pic:

Not much more to go to finish that fancy border bit but, unfortunately, the mojo hasn't bothered putting in an appearance since, so it hasn't grown any further..... and neither has any other stitchy project. Mind, I have been catching up with a bit of blog reading lately (something else I fell waaaay behind with) and seeing all the lovelies you've all been stitching on, especially the new WIP's, is starting to make my fingers itch to pick up a needle once again. Watch this space.... ;0)

One of the main things to happen since my last post is the acquisition of our new greenhouse. Luckily I took a few pics before the weather turned. Looking across the garden at it:

The area between the slabs, inside the greenhouse, is going to have a wooden slatted floor put in (think wooden pallets), which will enable water to run off. Unfortunately the weather has stopped us from getting out there to do much of anything with it now we've got it. We did have a trip to the garden centre for a water butt (to catch the run-off from the guttering, for watering with) a couple of weekends ago and, whilst there, I spotted a few alpines and a succulent that will look nice in the little alpine garden I plan on planting around the slabs - all I need now is some nice weather (and a bit of enthusiasm!) to get out there and prepare the soil.

So what else has been happening? We still have the caravan in the front garden. We had several interested people have a look round it and make all the right noises... but none of them have been interested enough to come back with the cash, to take it off our hands. As the caravan is still there it's meant the replacing of the water pipe and brickpaving have had to be postponed for yet another year. We've left the For Sale sign in it but now the weather has turned it's unlikely anyone will be interested now. Fingers crossed for a sale next year, so the front garden and drive can finally be tackled! :0)

Development Circle is going OK. The past few weeks we've been concentrating on the clairs: clairsentience (feeling - this is my main sense and why I do OK at psychometry) and then clairaudience last week (hearing - my secondary sense) and this week it will be clairvoyance (seeing - not so hot with this). I also attended the monthly session, this time at the home of one of my fellow Circle members, where we discussed numerology and Pendulum Dowsing - a great session that has helped me to begin working with my own Pendulum, a natural amethyst crystal... it seems I have a bit of a knack for it and it's something I'm developing further. :0)

The acupuncture sessions are still ongoing, though I shall be having a reflexology session instead this week - the clinic is closed for refurbishment, so no acupuncture, and I wanted to try out this treatment. It's mainly being done as research, as I want to know what happens during a treatment and what - if any - effect it has.... and it will help me to decide if it's another form of healing I would like to study and go on to give to people. Meantime I've decided to tackle the weight gain that's happened since my operation last year - the rolls are back and I feel so uncomfortable, and it doesn't help my knees any, so those lbs have just got to go. Am hoping to lose around a stone in total.... but getting back to my pre-op weight of 11 1/2 stone would also be acceptable. :0)

The rehearsals for JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls gathered momentum the last couple of weeks. Sunday (3rd) was the Get In at the theatre and tonight is Full Dress Rehearsal - tomorrow is the first performance. DH is Stage Manager for this and DS plays the part of Gerald, the fiance, in it. I've asked DH to get me a ticket for Wednesday night - yes, I'll be going on my own again, as I really want to see it. It would be nice to have someone to go with but after doing this once already it isn't anywhere near as intimidating to do this time around. Apart from going to Circle on Tuesday evening and the theatre on Wednesday evening I'm home alone in the evenings...... and in total control of the TV remote once more. Shame there's just not that much on worth watching! LOL

And I think that's all of the main events so far - hopefully it won't be so long until my next post. :0)

Thanks for visiting.... & I'll be stopping by your blogs for a visit in the coming days. Meantime: hope you're all keeping well and happy. :0)

Christmas Revisited and the Garden.... Again

Due to the total lack of any stitching being done - not even a token few stitches in the Weekly SAL piece, to keep me from going under the naughty chair yet again - I thought I'd show you the Christmas ornies that were revealed when I moved a stack of stuff off a table earlier today. It's amazing what you find lurking, ain't it? LOL

This first piece was stitched some time ago and I finally got around to finishing it towards the back end of last year... I just didn't keep the momentum going enough to actually post a pic of it at the time.

Design: Hardanger Christmas Tree

Designer: Lynda Bodkin - LoopyLou Designs

Fabric: Polstitches 28ct evenweave, Fairy Footprints

Threads: hand dyed, as supplied in kit

Finish: pillow style ornie with beaded edge

After checking in my stitching diary I've just discovered that this was actually stitched way back in 2005.... and I only got around to finishing it in 2009. Oops! > hangs head in shame< Mind, I do have an excuse: I was finishing phobic back then and it wasn't until the Monthly Challenge began on the JA/S&S Forum that I plucked up courage to actually start trying different types of finishes... and the rest is history, as they say. It just took me a while longer to rediscover this stitched piece in the back of the cupboard and do something with it. BTW, that's a piece of Kate's Kloth hand dyed felt backing the hardanger cutwork area..... my stock of that is slowly diminishing and Kate is no longer producing her lovely goodies, so I won't be able to replace it once it's all gone. Does that count towards making these pieces Heirloom standard, me wonders? LOL

Next up is an ornie that I stitched and finished in the same year, I'm pleased to say. In fact, it was stitched and finished on the same day (12th December 2009).... but only because I used a pre-finished tuck ornie that I was lucky enough to win on eBay. LOL

Design: Peace, internet freebie

Designer: Elizabeth's Designs

Fabric: Polstitches 28ct Jobelan, Ice Ltd Ed

Threads: Weeks Dye Works; Carrie's Creations; Wisper thread

Finish: Tuck style ornie, pre-finished

This one was a delight to stitch, as I Love ED pieces... several in my stash that I must dig out and stitch at some point. 

I also discovered some more Christmas ornies that I stitched last year but they are in a little heap, waiting for me to get into a finishing mood. Unfortunately that just hasn't happened recently... guess it's packed its bags and gone off on holiday along with my stitching mojo.  

Still, whilst the stitching mojo has declined the gardening mojo seems to have gone into overdrive. Why does it have to be either or? Why can't we have our cake and eat it? LOL Anyways, earlier this week DH and DS moved the other strawberry planter and removed some of the slabs from the greenhouse base area, then DH did a bit of weeding there, which left us with this:

DH then spent another evening removing the slabs you can see in the foreground and removing the rest of the weeds, then the two Pete's came round with the rotavator on Sunday and flattened the whole area for us. This is what it looks like now: 

We've left the slabs there because we need to re-lay some of them: a path at the end of the workshop, to allow access to the greenhouse door. The door will be at that end so we have all of the growing area within facing sunlight throughout most of the day. The other path will be at the side of it, in line with the one to the workshop. DH wasn't the only one who had been busy out there, as I'd been busy tackling the last area along the new fence, the closest section to the house... the most weed intensive and full of snowdrop and bluebell bulbs. So I did the weeding and went on a bulb rescue mission, whenever it was cool enough to be out there, as the area will end up covered by a patio. Here's what it looks like now:

The soakaway is a temporary measure - when the patio is laid there'll be a water butt in the corner to collect all the run off and that will be used to water the plants. And here's a pic of one of the self-set plants (snapdragon, I think - don't know the posh names) that I left in the border... it's just starting to come into flower now:

Other news: DS has got a part in the LTC's next production, which is An Inspector Calls. Lots of lines to learn, so he's going to be busy! He's also had an interview for a new job today (29th) - it's within the same company but at a different site. It's a big step up the ladder from what he's doing now, so will mean more money to go with the extra responsibility. Fingers and everything else crossed!

DH's Dad (86 years) is currently in hospital undergoing tests. He was getting extremely breathless and that was discovered to be caused by fluid build up in his chest cavity, which has since been drained off, but that has only just been done.... and it's almost two weeks later and we're still none the wiser as to what's actually causing it. So much for merging two smaller hospital's into a much larger, all-singing and all-dancing one.... there's a severe lack of organisation and a worrying lack of communication between all levels of the staff working there (he would have been injected with Warfarin the day before he was due to go for a biopsy if he hadn't queried it!). Thankfully he's been gradually improving during the enforced bed rest and the drainage has helped his breathing.

We are due to go on our annual holiday at the weekend, going to the same cottage in the Langdale Valley, Cumbria, that we stayed in last year. We are hoping that FIL will be OK so we can actually go.... especially as we don't have Cancellation Insurance... mainly because DH doesn't think it's necessary. I sometimes find it really hard to bite my lip.... I'm sure every woman out there will know exactly what I mean. LOL

Thank you for visiting and for all your lovely comments - I really do appreciate it and they really do make my day. Hope you're all enjoying the same lovely weather we've been having. :0)

Giveaway Winner, Other Things.... and a New Me

My apologies for the late draw posting for the giveaway but things have been a little busy here.... and the call of the garden is strong, now that Spring has finally sprung..... eeerrmmm sort of. The nice weather we've been having here in my neck of the woods has just given way to rain which is why I'm finally in here and on the computer and not out in my garden. LOL

Firstly, the drawing for the Lily Maiden kit has been done: a piece of paper pulled out of the Crystal Chalice of Fortune with the lucky winner's name on..... and the name is..............

Kindly modelled by DH - thought you'd prefer to see his hairy arm, rather than the "Stop the Bloody Whaling" Greenpeace t-shirt he's wearing, as the blood spots on that look too real for comfort. Congratulations Gaynor. :0) If you could please leave a seperate comment on this post with your email on (which will NOT be posted) I will contact you to get your snail mail details, so I can have the kit winging it's way to you, courtesy of Royal Mail, in the not too distant future. :0)

Amongst the sorting out, jobs and gardening I've been doing I have found time for a little stitching. I'm afraid none of it was on Mother Earth though, so I am probably in the bad books over at the 2010 Weekly SAL Blog with a third consecutive no-show. Actually it's getting quite comfy under that naughty chair, as I've now got lots of cushions and the fleecy blanket to keep me warm, a stack of books (well, I've got to get through all those books I've bought from the Hospice Bookshop somehow!) and a couple of Carob bars. The Carob is because I'm dairy intolerant and don't do chocolate.... and because there's not much chance of anyone else who's under the chair wanting to nick any - it's definitely an acquired taste! LOL So when I've been sat in my armchair, instead of under the naughty chair, and the mojo has been around it's the tiger that's been getting the attention. Here's last week's update, which I didn't get around to posting:

And this is where he's at now:

I'm still undecided about that reddish-brown thread - at the moment it seems to stand out like a sore thumb and doesn't seem to go with the other colours. Am hoping that, as I stitch more, it will kind of blend in better.

Some of the gardening has involved trips around various local garden centres, along with rather nice meals out, to buy some plants, then putting them into the five wall pots: the Lady by the front door, Arthur and Guinevere on either side of the side door and the two pots that are either side of my Lady face plaque on the back of the house. I shall take pics of them and share when they're a bit better established. Whilst we were at one of the garden centres I just couldn't resist this beauty:

The bees and hornets were ecstatic over it and I just fell in love with the colours. I'm still pondering on the best spot for it to go in the garden... DH couldn't resist going round with his spray pot of poison (weed killer) one weekend, whilst I was out at the Healing Course (taking advantage of my absence, as he knows I wouldn't let him loose with the damned stuff, otherwise) so it's staying in its pot until I know it's going to be safe!

The move into the craft room is progressing slowly but surely. Most of my books are now up there, allowing me to rearrange the downstairs bookshelves in the process and accommodate some herbal and gardening books that my DSis gave me (they were our Dad's), and a few more of my books were added to the charity pile. I finally got the boxes needed and carried on with the sorting and organising of my cardmaking stash: the bulk of the peel-offs are done (need another box to do the rest) and the rubber stamps. We also had a clear out of another cupboard and the caravan too. So when The British Heart Foundation posted a bag through the door at the weekend it was perfect timing: I filled it, left it out the front on Thursday and it's been collected, saving me from having to heft it all down the street.

As for the Healing Course: I had a fantastic time and thoroughly enjoyed both weekends. Jan's cottage, where it was held, is beautiful and so much quieter than where I live - loved the peace and quiet. We'll all be meeting up again soon to have a get together and receive our certificates and booklets. I've since done a little healing on my DH, a willing guinea pig, and helped to ease a painful shoulder problem he had... and also did a little self-healing when I had a very arthritic session with my left knee, which alos eased that. Looking forward to receiving the booklet, as it will have some of the meditations and other things in that I can use as a memory jogger. On the Sunday of the second weekend I took my drum and Tibetan Singing Bowl and Wayne (the chap giving the course) took his drums and we all got to have a play - great fun. Now the others on the course have decided they're going to the Mind, Body and Spirit event at the Lincolnshire Showground next month with the intention of buying Tibetan Singing Bowls. LOL

The Course has set off some positive developments for me. I've been driving myself to Circle and back ever since, leaving DH to amuse himself at home, and have met my DSis at the Lemon Tree Tea Room in Epworth Garden Centre (it's half way between the two towns we live in) where we had a lovely meal, some warm drinks, a wander round and lots of chat. It was way outisde both of our comfort zones but we enjoyed it so much we plan on doing it, and similar trips, again. :0)

Another thing has been my decision to have a much-needed make-over. Due to the agoraphobia and panic attacks and the grief issues I'd been sadly neglecting myself. My weight had rocketed in that time and my hair grew long and straggly. Would you believe, it's been over 10 years since I last stepped foot in a hairdressers/salon and had my hair cut! It was a case of putting my hair into a scrunchie to keep it off my face.... and if the fringe got too long I just used to hack a bit off with the nail scissors.

Well, I tackled the weight and health problems, along with many of the grief issues, and have been feeling much better for it - now I am out and about and even back driving once again. So last week I finally decided that it was now time to tackle that last sign of the old, agoraphobic me..... time to do something about my hair...... and because I now know that I am also worth the time, effort and money that is involved.

So now you're going to finally find out what I look like - those with a nervous disposition or a weak heart be warned! LOL Here's a pic of the old me, taken at my DSis's one Christmas before Dad passed away, with much of the weight, untamed eyebrows and the straggly tied-back hair - believe me when I say I looked a whole lot worse than this the year after Dad passed (more weight and an ashen/grey complexion) but there aren't any pics of me from then.

The legs and arm belong to my DS, who didn't want his pic displayed, but it was the only half way decent pic I could find of me. Now here's me the evening after the waxing and hair styling session, courtesy of S, one of the ladies who goes to the Development Circle with me:

Can you tell that I hate having my pic taken? LOL Nicely shaped, under-control eyebrows and a layered-look hairstyle - though still a little red from the waxing. It's so easy to look after too: I just wash it or damp it a little, then scrunch it with some serum on my hands, then spray it with a spray gel to hold it. It takes five minutes to do, at most. I'll just be pulling the fringe a bit further forward in future, as I'm not so keen on all that forehead showing off the receeded hairline, otherwise I like the new look me...... though I do occasionally look in the mirror and double-check it's actually me! LOL The make-over isn't going to end there though, as I've made an optician's appointment for next week and I'm going to get some new specs..... and I'll be going for a new look with those, too. And plans are afoot for finding and joining both yoga and bellydancing classes - for Spiritual development, toning up and just plain fun! LOL :0)

Thank you to you all for your continued visits and kind comments. Hope you have had a good week and also have a great weekend. :0)

Still Alive & Kicking!

Yep, I'm still in the land of the living (although some would argue the finer points of that on observing me emerging from my bed first thing of a morning! ROFL) - have just been busy doing updates on my other blog, going out and about, doing jobs and stitching. Yes, that's right: some stitching..... but more on that a little later, just to keep the suspense going a bit longer. ;0)

So what have I been up to? Let's see if I can remember (always a bit dodgy, is that). Well I had another wander down my local High Street last week, as I had another package to post, and because I just plain felt like it (anyone who reads my other blog will know this is a major improvement, as I'm recuperating from agoraphobia and panic attacks). It was an enjoyable outing and also productive, as I scored big time at the Hospice charity shop. No, no craft related goodies but some wonderful Ltd Ed Egyptian style plates that were sat in the window shouting "Buy Me!". LOL There were four plates and I decided I couldn't really afford them all at that time, so opted for these two:

The one on the left is entitled Isis, Mother of the Sun God and the one on the right is Hathor, Goddess of Joy and Love. I thought they would look good on the wall in my new craft room. :0)

Thursday night I wasn't a happy bunny: around 10pm there was a sudden problem with getting on the internet....... as in: I couldn't - at all. Aaaaarrrrggghh!!! The modem lights were on, so it was working, but a quick Microsoft diagnostic revealed that the server couldn't be found. OK, that sounds like it's their end not ours. Not according to Virgin Media it wasn't, when DH rang up to enquire - they'd send an engineer out on Monday to have a look at the modem, claiming they couldn't "find" it or the box at their end. It was very tempting to say: well they were sat on top of the TV last time we looked, missus. ;0) They knocked a tenner off the bill as a goodwill gesture - I'd way rather they send the engineer chap out asap, thank you very much.

Ever the optimist (hah! in denial, more like!) I hoped it would be OK when I got up on Friday. It wasn't. So what do you do with yourself when you don't have internet access? That's after you get over the bit where you run around the house screaming like a banshee and tearing your hair out, thinking OMG if it ain't back by tonight I might actually have to sit and talk to the OH.............. and after you've been round the house with the Dyson for the third time in a week, getting close to wearing out the carpets and taking a layer off the laminate......... well, you go and get a good case of Stitch Ass of course. LOL

Yup, I decided it was as good a time as any, especially for the state of my mental health, to whip up the flagging stitching mojo by starting a new piece which would give me the chance to try out the new magnifier lamp. Here's the piece I chose:

Design: Ghouls Night Out

Designer: The Sampler Girl, internet freebie

Fabric: 28ct evenweave Dusk Blue, unknown make

Threads: DMC 310 - 947: stitched 1 over 1

Finish: as an ornie - not decided yet

I haven't finished it yet as I can't decide whether to leave it as is, or add another orange zigzag line at the top........ because it will probably bug me left as it is. I can't help it, I just like symmetry and it isn't looking that way right now. BTW, that magnifier lamp is the best thing ever since sliced bread - it's the bees knees - it's the dogs dangly bits..... well you get the drift: it made the 1 over 1 stitching look like it was 14ct aida, not even the smallest hint of eye strain..... and I got to watch TV too because the specs didn't have to come off so I could see the stitching. Yay!!!!! There might just be some progress on my HAED Mother Earth this side of Christmas after all. :0)

To put the icing on the cake: internet access came back just as suddenly as it had disappeared around 10pm that night, so it was all systems go for emails, checking of Forums and Blogging. Thank goodness - that was the longest 24 hours ever! LOL BTW, we've since had a morning of being unable to access emails: Hhhhmmmm, could that mean they've actually been doing maintenance/updating on the system but failed to notify us about it and wouldn't admit it, then? I reckon so. Never mind, I'm just glad to have it back again. :0)

I've been pottering around doing jobs and things the rest of the time. This weekend we were out and about for much of it. Saturday DS went to Brigg Farmers Market whilst DH and I went out shopping, with ports of call at Dunhelm, The Range and Poundstretcher for various household bits and pieces we needed, followed by a pub lunch and then a trip to the Pink Pig and Uncle Henry's for some food shopping. That night DH and I went to the local Spiritualist Church - more about that on my other blog. Sunday we went to the Harrogate Health and Healing Festival for the day (more on my other blog about that, too) and followed that up with a pub meal - it was a good day. I now miss the JA/S&S UFO Night on Tuesday evenings as that's the night of the Development Circle meetings (see other blog) so no progress on any UFO's to show - though am hoping to get into a new routine of stitching some time during either Tuesday or Wednesday daytime to make up for it.

Today was my monthly visit to the Clinic to see Jan, my Herbalist (will do a write up on my other blog about this shortly). Whilst down the street I finally managed to venture further down to have a wander around the regular Thursday market - something I haven't done for years, thanks to the agoraphobia etc. It used to be a great, thriving little market - my Mum and Dad, and my DSis when she wasn't at work, used to enjoy coming over for a visit for the day, specifically to shop there - but I found it sadly depleted today. It was the oddest thing: as I was walking round I got a really strong sense of my Dad beside me and I found myself mentally saying "Yep, you're right Dad - it certainly isn't as good as it used to be". Reckon he came for a look-see for old times sake. :0) It's such a shame the market has been allowed to deteriorate like that though.

Heading back up the High Street, on my way home, it was a different story though. As I got to the Hospice charity shop and looked in the window what did I see? Yes, the other two plates were still there. I saw it as a sign so, as I'd now got enough money, I went in and bought them.


The one on the left is Ma'at, Goddess of Wisdom and Truth and the one on the right is Nepthys, Goddess of the edge of the desert. They will look fabulous displayed together, in a diamond shape, on the wall. I also plan on stitching an Angel - probably one of the Just Nan ones, for the JA/S&S JN SAL in January - for in there as well........ if I can decide on which one, as they are all equally as pretty. LOL

Thank you for all the lovely comments about the ornies in my last post. They have safely arrived with Donna, who had a great post week as several more packages full of ornies arrived for her tree. I am so looking forward to seeing pics of the tree - it is going to look fabulous with all the different ornies decorating it. :0)

And as it's in full bloom and such a sunny colour for this end of the year I thought I'd leave you with a pic of the rogue sunflower that sprouted in my garden earlier last month:

Pretty, isn't it? I plan on collecting the seeds and having a go - deliberately, this time - at growing a couple next year. :0)

Thank you for visiting and taking the time to leave comments - they are all very much appreciated. Hope you all have a good Friday and an even better weekend, whatever your plans. :0)

Trades, a Card and the Garden

I'm getting on with the finishing on the charity ornies: got one fully completed over the weekend and the other just needs the rest of its trim attaching, then I can take pics to show you and send them off to Donna. Until then I thought I'd show you a few pics of some more acquisitions - though this time through trades - a recent card make and of a little more progress in the garden.

First up are the nice range of DMC threads I received in exchange for an Avid Lancaster Bomber chart:


They are now happily residing in my stash, until they're needed for a project. Next was the fabulous chart I received in exchange for some magazines:


Yes, it's Papillon Creations Mary Queen of Scots. This little stunner has been on my Wish List for some time - I never actually expected to receive it as a Wish and had only put it on there as a reminder that it was there..... and one day I'd get around to buying it. Was I Happy Dancing when it was offered in trade. :0)

A trade for some plastic canvas booklets saw this gorgeous Sugar Maple opalescent fabric added to my stash:



It shouts mermaid, fairy and Angel to me........ am so torn as to which would suit more. It's going to be a whole lot of fun deciding. Once again many thanks to the ladies I traded with - it was a pleasure. :0)

When DH and DS saw stash arriving in packages again they started chuntering away on that same old theme: supposed to be getting rid of things, not adding more. Well I soon pointed out that: the threads replace a chart and they probably won't be in my stash for long because I use DMC all the time; that one Papillon chart replaces six magazines, so it takes up a lot less space and, once stitched, I don't hang onto the chart and the fabric replaces four booklets - shelf space is freed up and less space is taken up by the fabric, which I fully intend stitching something pretty on it so it'll then hang on the wall. Therefore much more has gone than has come back in says I......... very carefully not reminding them about the e**Y stash bargains received the week before. ;0) LOL Just to make sure they were totally convinced my next words were: Oh, and it gave me an incentive to have another root round my stash and add a few more bits to my Trade Album too. Yup, not only did they stop chuntering but that gained me some serious Brownie points........ and was left wondering just when I became that crafty! LOL

I haven't been solely concentrating on stash acquisition though. The cardmaking goodies that Lynn very kindly sent were put to good use to make a card for Clare. Now her birthday has been and gone I can show you what I made:


It was good to finally do something creative, after what seemed like an age. I now have another two cards to make for FIL and an Uncle so I need to get my thinking cap on for those soon.

As for the garden. Well, remember how it looked at the end of the last tidying session:


The blue metal panels gone from against the privet hedge but still with those others leaning on the side of the shed and the one between us and the neighbours? We had another session out there after DH decided all the panels had to go and this is how it looks now:


No more blue metal panels. Yay! Doesn't it look bigger? By the way, those black plastic downpipes are there temporarily, to make a bit of an obstacle course should any scumbag from the local criminal fraternity fancy trying their chances - although now our neighbours have put up a good fence between them and the neighbour the other side there's much less chance of that happening. They seem happy enough with our plans for that end of the garden and may well not bother putting up a fence panel until after we've taken out the old shed and put the new summer house in its place.

The bonfire heap is still there - DH has been very restrained - so I may well suggest that we leave it until the impending Autumn Equinox and have it then. :0)

As for the garden bed along the side of the new fence.... well Mother Nature did her thing while we were on holiday and all kinds of things have sprouted....... and boy, have they flippin' well sprouted! We have no idea where most of it has come from either. This was one of the biggest surprises:



We think it must have been a stray sunflower seed from one of the bird feeders. There were a few more but DH got brutal and pulled a fair few out. That pink flowered thing in the background is so rife it's definitely at weed proportions. That'll teach DH: he's been threatening to do the weed killing session since the new fence went up and still hasn't gotten around to it, now it's twice the job it would have been. Men! On the other hand, the Pete's next door are really motoring on in their garden: in the last two weeks a new back fence has been put up, the old wooden workshop demolished and all the wood burnt, the area flattened and a new concrete base laid and the wood framework for the new one built and put up. The weekend has seen the roof area be boarded and insulated, the outer roof boards added and a start made on the waterproof covering. These guys really graft...... they have got to be on three Shredded Wheat! ROFL

Saturday we had a day at my DSis's....... we decided it was a bit to soon after her motorway detour to suggest that she came over here for the day. Sunday DH made a small start on replacing some of the damaged floorboards in the little bedroom before going to the Festival of the Plough. I didn't fancy it so had a quiet afternoon watching Stargate Atlantis re-runs and doing the ornie finishing instead. We both enjoyed ourselves in our own ways. :0)

Right I'd best be off to finish the last ornie so I'll finally have something stitchy related to show you in my next post, otherwise you'll be wondering if this really is a stitching blog! LOL

Hope you all had a good weekend. Thank you for taking the time to visit and for all your lovely comments. :0)

More Garden Progress

Our neighbour, Garden Pete, came round on Tuesday 11th to do the work on the garden that I'd booked him for - and it wasn't a moment too soon, as the garden had taken advantage of our two-week holiday absence and had a major growth spurt. Boy, can that fella graft....... I want to know what he's on, then maybe I can give DH some of it when he's less than enthusiastic about doing jobs! ROFL

First of all he dug out a bush in the front garden that was in totally the wrong place for the size of it - whilst the bees loved the flowers it produced in profusion it kept obscuring DH's view of the gatepost (not good when he's reversing out onto the road) so it had to go. When we redo the front garden we'll be putting something less boisterous in its place. Then it was the turn of the back garden and he started by giving the privet hedge a really good short back and sides, which it was in desperate need of, and then set to strimming, trimming, digging bits out and digging and weeding.

Here's a view of the neat and tidy hedge and the freshly dug border:

He dug out a couple of rotten stumps; dug out a lot of the big yellow daisy type flowers that had reached weed proportions (I don't do alot of flower names, especially Latin ones. LOL) and thoroughly weeded it. It all looks a bit bare at the moment but that isn't why all the pots are there - they are stuck there to keep them safely out of the way so we have a clear run of the path (you'll understand why later). He also unearthed the fuchsia that my Dad gave me and that's now making up for lost time by budding all over the place:


Plus there's another baby fuchsia bush behind this one and I've no idea where that one appeared from - perhaps the larger bush is its Mommy?

Lots of long grass on the bonfire heap and round the compost bins got strimmed and the end of the garden got a real fettling. Yes, folks, those triffids at the bottom of the garden have finally been tamed - no more grand ideas about world domination from them. Yay! Just look at this:

There's still plenty of cover to keep the birdies happy and plenty there for privacy to keep us happy too. Now it's under control I can keep it that way by snipping it when needed, especially any bits that grow below the level of the lowest branches - now I can dig the area below and put in some suitable plants. By the time Garden Pete had done all that lot, around 12.30pm, everything was looking a darned sight tidier - in fact, as my DS commented that night, it's the best it's ever looked. :0)

For the rest of that week I kept on popping out into the garden to potter around, snipping a bit here and weeding a bit there....... and finding odd bits of things that could go in one or other of the bins. It's been more of a pleasure than usual to be out there and my mood has improved as a result - the post-holiday funk is now officially over. :0) Seeing the improvements seemed to inspire DH and he and DS spent one night between them taking out the remaining edging strips the previous owner had put in everywhere (it looks like corrugated bonded asbestos) while I put it in bags and hefted them down the side of the house, ready to go to the special skip at the amenities site.

Saturday came around and DH seemed almost as keen as me to go do even more sorting out there. See those blue panels in two of the above pics? Well they're supposed to go together to make a huge metal shed - one of DH's projects that never got done, then we had the workshop put up and there was no longer any need for them...... they've just sat there, rusting away and being a huge eyesore for years. Well DH finally decided it was time for them to go. Yay! Double and triple Yay! Boy, do I feel like throwing a party! LMAO
To make them easier to handle, and so they'll fit in the back of The Tank, they have to be cut in half. It would be less effort just to haul them, one at a time, onto the front and let the local gypsies help themselves but DS has requested that any scrap metal we want rid of goes to where he works. Why? Well, there's a scrap skip in the yard and every year, just before Christmas, the scrap gets cashed in and the money made from it pays for their Christmas "do". Last year there was enough money to pay for everyone's meals, all their beers and a few quid each as a Christmas gift. This year, thanks to the recession, things are looking a bit sparse - it needs all the help going to fill it to give them a decent works "do".

So Saturday morning the first panel was almost cut through when the cutter died - changing the fuse didn't work, nor did jiggling the wires around a bit, or anything else...... then it started raining, so we grabbed everything electrical and took temporary refuge in the workshop, until it eased off enough to dash up to the house. One lunch later and not only had it stopped raining but DS arrived back home with some extra cutting blades to keep DH going, once he'd found another power tool for the job. DS and I headed off out to start sorting through things and DH followed a bit later, found something suitable and set to cutting the second panel in two.

See the pile of bricks and wood in front of the shed in the first pic? We started going through all of that, throwing any metal we found as we went onto a heap on the lawn, sweeping up all the accumulated privet debris we hadn't been able to get at previously, as we went. Next I attacked the big bushy thing with the loppers, taking off all the bits that were in the way, so we could stack more bricks on the pile and get at the wood stack. After that we went through the wood, throwing all the rotten and worm-eaten stuff onto the bonfire area - again adding to the metal heap and sweeping up as we went. There was a very invasive vine thing coming through from next door and, as we've already got waaaay more of that kinda thing in here already, lopped it all back. Then we neatly restacked the remaining wood back against the front of the shed, returning the metal storage bins and old bbq to their temporary resting places. This was the result of that effort:

The result: a much tidier area and enough scrap wood to satisfy DH's tendencies to arson for a while. ;0) The reason? To make getting to that blue panel a whole lot easier, so it can come down and be replaced with a fence whenever our neighbours that side give the go ahead for the job (need to have a word with them now they're back off their holiday).

The same area, slightly different angle:

The blue panel had to be put up there as the previous neighbours wouldn't put a proper fence in the gap - despite the fact that the scumbag/s who burgled our house got into our garden through that gap. Yes, it was (and is) an eyesore but what else could we do when it's their fence and they wouldn't do anything and we couldn't afford to? So looking forward to that being sorted. :0)

Whilst we were busy DH had got kitted up and had cut the second panel in half. DS helped him to get a third panel from the stack that's leaning on the side of the old shed (see bottom three pics above) and he cut that in half as well. We stacked all the halved panels further up the garden, against the privet hedge and closer to the house, so they'll be to hand when it's time to take them to the scrap skip at DS's work (the reason for all the pots staying on the garden). We also raved a pair of grotty old kitchen stools out of the shed and took them apart - the backs and seats went in a bag to go to the amenities site and the metal frames on the pile to go to the scrap skip. Then DS went through the metal heap on the lawn and divided it up into a pile of usable pieces and a pile of those bits that weren't - DH had a look and was OK with it, so the smaller bits were bagged up, the larger bits tied into bundles and the usable bits were stacked inside the back of the workshop. I walked my little legs off, I can tell you, but it was so worth it!

DS took all the bagged up metal and the stool frames to work today, so that's more cr*p gone. Some time this week DH will take the panels and bundles and a few other odd bits of metal to the scrap skip for DS and also have an amenities site run to dispose of the bags of asbestos stuff and quite a few other larger bits of unwanted bits that were too big to go in the bin. And see the rusty cupboard frame in the 4th and 5th pics? DH announced tonight that that can go as well. Woot! Woot! So it's gradually starting to look less like a scrapyard out there and more like a proper garden now!

There are still a couple of areas that need a tidy up though: the garden along the fence needs sorting, rotavating and some manure spreading on it (the weeds really took hold there while we were away) and the old air raid shelter needs a serious trim. Here's the back view of it so you can see what I mean:

Looks like something out of the Hair Bear Bunch, doesn't it? All that greenery is a mix of ivy, honeysuckle and winter flowering jasmine. The inside of the shelter is the next thing that DS fancies tackling: I have my fingers crossed that the reasonable weather holds for the rest of this week so it can get done - clearing junk out of there means that all the car and caravan cleaning things that are currently stored around the house will, at last, go in there instead. :0)

It wasn't all work over the weekend though but more of that in another post.

Thank you greatly for all the lovely comments about Night Watchman - I can't tell you how much I appreciate them. Hope you all had a great weekend and a good start to the week. :0)

Garden Fences and a Bonfire

So what did you all get up to over the weekend? Ours was spent out in the garden again.... bet you could have guessed that though. LOL

So what else did we find to do out there? Well, there was slapping some Cuprinol on the new fence for starters so, while DS shot off to Brigg Farmers Market first thing Saturday morning, DH and I were out the back with paint brushes in hand and a pot of Chestnut Cuprinol between us. It took us all flippin' morning to do just the first two sections of fence.... and one of those was a slightly shorter length! It was going to take us a month of Sunday's to complete at that rate, so we headed in for some dinner, a rethink and a nosey at the Screwfix website..... where we spotted a spray painter at a reasonable price.

Next DH headed to Alex's house, as she and our DS were back at hers after their shopping trip to the Farmers Market, and we'd arranged to pick up an old mattress to take to the amenities site for her. DH headed home, closely followed by DS: unloaded all the goodies from the Mini and put them away, then DH and DS loaded all the old conifer stumps and a tatty old suitcase into the back of The Tank (on top of the mattress) and headed off to the amenities site. On their way back they detoured via Screwfix to buy the spray painter and came home.

One drink and a read of the instructions later and DH got everything set up. He'd pulled his back a bit whilst hefting the conifer roots into the skip, so he had a rest up while I set to with the spray painter, just getting him to come out when the pot needed a refill (too tight for me to unfasten/fasten). Boy, does that little gizmo make short work of the job...... so wish we'd had that to start with, then it wouldn't have taken until 7pm to finish the job! LOL Here's what it looked like when we'd done:


Without the digicam flash it looks much darker than shown and, to be honest, I hated how it looked - nothing like the colour it seemed to be on the tin or on the website. It was too late to change our minds though, so it was fingers crossed that it would fade some as it dried out. DH came out and helped a bit later, as he felt better, so he did the top bits that I couldn't reach. When it was done we went in for a belated and well-earned take-out curry from The Gourmet.

The next day we got up a bit later than usual - yes, we had been shattered after such a long day and weren't in a hurry for a repeat! LOL I did pop out to check the colour of the fence and this is how it looks in full daylight:

Much lighter and more like the grey/brown colour on the tin. We need to give it a second coat, to make sure it's fully covered and protected, before we can start digging and planting, but as the fence weathers the colour will mellow off a bit and be more as we thought it would be. The sprayer will get more use too: the big wooden side gates need re-doing this year, as does all the woodwork on the workshop..... yes, we'll definitely be getting our moneys worth out of that new toy. :0)

During Sunday afternoon we sorted through some old kitchen cupboard pieces my Dad gave us for the workshop. These had just been stored down the side of the house with plastic sheeting over them so, being mostly chipboard middles, had soaked up the water..... I'd finally managed to persuade DH that, as they were now water damaged, they were no longer of any practical use, especially as there were plenty of other bits to choose from - and there's going be the old cupboards from our kitchen to choose from when the kitchen is re-done. So we started loading them into the back of The Tank, for another amenities site trip. It was flippin' hot work too, as it was a scorcher, but DS came back, thankfully, so he grabbed a pair of gloves and helped. We also dug out an old printer I'd found in the back room (I swear those dead electrical bits bred - or maybe DH just got better at hiding them! LOL) and there was a bag of old metal bits down the side of the house, so those went in too.... and off went the two menfolk to the amenities site. More clutter gone... YAY! Not much else got done Sunday as we were all tired and struggling with the weather.... the hay fever was being a pain, for DS especially.

More de-cluttering was thrown in too. Yes, more stuff has been re-homed courtesy of Freecycle: a glass chopping board/pan stand went Sunday morning(we really didn't need two!); a child's breakfast set and a trifle dish with matching serving bowls went Monday morning (again - we didn't need two sets!). Monday was my regular jobs day with a bit more de-cluttering thrown in to make the day more interesting (LOL) and Alex came for a visit later in the afternoon. I gave her first dibs on the Pyrex, as she does a lot of cooking and baking, and she's taken some (how on earth did I end up with three identical pudding bowls?! Oh, yes, that was it - wedding pressies) and she also fell in love with the Japanese-made photograph album (my Uncle gave me it many moons ago but I had a boy and it's a girls album, with a cute kimono clad girl on the front). It's all hand-made paper covers and picture..... she has plans to take out the sticky photo leaves and add scrapbooking pages instead. Better it be used and loved than sat here gathering dust!

Monday evening and we were back out in the garden again, this time to tackle all the dead conifer clippings.... yes, DH felt the need to indulge in a little arson... erm, I mean have a bonfire. ;0) Here's one of the heaps we'd collected:

The birdies were none too happy about having that little lot sat around their open air buffet stand, so it had to go. There was also the small matter of a rotten fence needing to be taken down, before it fell down, from the bottom of the privet hedge on the other side of the garden:

The only thing actually holding some of it up was the privet growing through it! So DS set-to on dismantling that, making sure DH had plenty of fuel to keep his bonfire going, and here's how it looks now:

He managed to take down just over half the length, which was pretty good going. The bottom of the privet hedge currently looks a bit scabby in places but we'd noticed that it was actually growing really well in some of the areas where some of the uprights had fallen off. We've got our fingers crossed that, now the sunlight can get at all of it properly, it will start to regrow properly all along its base. :0)

Here's DH and the start of his bonfire:

He's striking a real elegant pose there! LOL You can see the old shed behind him - that's going at some point, to make way for a little summer house retreat with decking around it, so we can sit out up there. Not sure when that will happen, but hopefully one day soon.... :0)

Today a Freecycler came round first thing for what was left of the Pyrex, which has gone to help her DD set up a new home after a marriage break up. That's one of the things I like about Freecycle - it's a good feeling when you have helped folks out like that. :0) It's also another scorcher today, so I'm taking full advantage of it and now have three lots of washing out on the whirlygig and took a couple of pics of the garden while I was out there, so you can see how it now looks:

The birdies are much happier and have been happily feeding away and scrabbling round on the floor for the dropped seeds. Here's the bonfire remnants:

That area will eventually be a pond and the hump behind it a rockery come waterfall area, close to the eventual summer house and decking. The slabs and rubble you can see make the place look unsightly but they will be used to extend the patio area outside the back of the house, when we get back to that job. And the triffids are still trying to take over the world. LOL

Inside the house I finally got around to tackling the rest of the bookcase in the living room, before it got too hot. Those feral dust bunnies were feisty little buggers but I carried on regardless and have now ousted the lot of them.... and there's another stack of books to go to the Hospice Bookshop at the weekend. The space generated won't be empty for long though, as it will soon be filled with some of DH's books that are currently in the little bedroom.... but at least the little bedroom is getting closer to being emptied and that craft room getting a step nearer to being a reality. Yay! I shall be putting my feet up this afternoon, cool drink nearby and good book in hand - my current read, Memoirs of a Geisha (heard a lot about it - now nosey enough to want to find out why).

And if you hadn't realised it by now, I shall just confirm it: still NO stitching whatsoever has been done here. It's now official: the mojo has been a bit previous, packed it's bags and is now away on holiday somewhere............. I hope it's having a good time without me. ROFL.

Thank you for the lovely comments and for putting up with all my waffle. Hope you're all enjoying the fine weather.... and getting a lot more stitching done than me. :0)

Lack of Stitching

There's been a distinct lack of stitchy progress this last couple of weeks and it's all down to the nice weather and the garden, so you can blame that for the total lack of stitching updates.

So what have we been up to? Well, we did the severe pruning bit on the conifer hedge last week, with a couple of trips to the amenities site thrown in to add a little variety to the proceedings. It soon became obvious that as the week wore on we wore out, getting slower and slower - it was a BIG relief to get those final bits lopped. This was the result by the Friday night:


We were surprised by the amount of dead wood there was, so it looks like we made the right choice...... quite a few of those conifers wouldn't have lasted too much longer anyway! It's also amazing just how much bigger the garden suddenly looks without them looming over us.

Saturday morning we were over in Doncaster, combining a visit with my DSis with some serious shopping. We got some bits and pieces we needed for the house and I have some clothes for my holiday that actually fit! LOL The nice surprise: I'm down from size 22-24 clothing to size 16. WhaaHooo! DH was happy too: he got some new goodies from the Black & Decker shop for his workshop (am hoping that's a sign that more DIY jobs around the house will be done! LOL), shorts, a shirt and some smart trainer shoes for our holiday. Back to DSis's after the marathon shop and DH managed to put up a new vent for her a little later in the afternoon. When we got home that night we unloaded everything from the car into the house then abandoned it and went to bed - we were shattered!

Sunday we were up early to make a start on the next stages in the garden. First up was taking down the old chain link fence and here's DH taking off the clips, ready to do this:

Garden Pete and Corus Pete (our neighbours) soon joined in and the fence removal and conifer winching started in earnest. There was also some old bricks to come out of that bit of garden (put in to try and stop the previous neighbour's dogs from digging under the fence to get into our garden) and some of those horrible asbestos looking sheets that the old owners of our house had put in everywhere as edging strips - I moved most of those out of the way, leaving the heavier stuff to the three fellas. It was a hot and sunny day and all of it was hard work but by the end of the day that fence was down and the conifers out:

As it was still in a reasonable/useable state I popped an ad for it on Freecycle: I'd had a response within 15 minutes and within the hour a chap had come and taken it away. One happy chap got a free fence to keep his kids safe - we were saved another trip to the amenities site. That's what I call a result! :0) One result I wasn't so keen on: I got a "lovely" sunburn.... thankfully copious amounts of After Sun cream helped greatly and now I'm going a lovely shade of brown and no peeling in sight. :0)

We stacked the conifer trunks across the other side of the garden:

They had to wait until Garden Pete got his chainsaw back from the repairers - he'd kindly offered to chop them up for us, to make them easier to dispose of.

During the day time last week and this I've been continuing with the house clear out and have re-homed: a deep fat fryer (my DSis's); a small Orek vacuum cleaner (not needed now I got me a Dyson LOL); a backgammon set; A Tupperware beater jug and microwave dishes set (to the same Senior who took the Popcorn Maker for his neighbour); a wooden box and small metal filing cabinet drawer (same person took both - a local nurse); a mincer (to the chap who took the dog tether for his deaf dog) and my old sewing machine (to a very nice Canadian Physics teacher who has just bought a house around the corner). Not only is it clearing space here but I've met some really nice people and had some interesting chats with them. :0)

There's also another bag of bits and pieces to take down to the Hospice charity shop this weekend and the final lot of children's books (they were hidden under a pile of other stuff, so got missed first time around) for Alex to check on Monday, to see if they are any use for her school's library - if not they'll be going down to the Hospice Bookshop next Wednesday, when I go to the Clinic for my next visit with Jan (weigh-in day!).

Tuesday turned out to be a lovely day, weather wise, so DH and I were back out in the garden after tea.... this time it was to make a start on painting the metal fence posts with dark green Hammerite paint, in preparation for the new fence going up. We managed to get six of the posts done....... four more left to do but the weather hasn't been fit enough since.

Wednesday I was back at the Clinic for another Food Sensitivity Test and had a good day - will write more about that in my other blog though.

Today (Friday) the wood for the new fencing was delivered next door and Garden Pete and his repaired chainsaw paid a visit to the conifer trunks:

Yup, that's all that's left - Pete had had a chat to a chap who lives just across the road who happily took the logs away for his log burning stove. Brilliant! That means we only have one trip to the amenities site to do tomorrow, instead of two. Plus the weather is OK tonight, so DH has made a start on painting those last four posts...... so I'd better shift my butt, get changed and go help before I hear something like "slacker" and "it's alright for some" being muttered. ;0)

Thank you for visiting and I hope you all have a lovely weekend. :0) As it's Father's Day on Sunday, I'll be thinking of those of you who also have angel Dad's (((((((((hugs))))))))).