Some things I like to buy!

We love pasta meals so when I saw these in our local kitchen ware shop last summer I just had to buy them,

Not only are the dishes beautiful, but so are the boxes they come in too. Yesterday we bought another four bowls so we'd have enough for all the family and also....

The eight plates.

I think I will have to go back and buy the little individual oil and balsamic vinegar dishes!
It is so nice to have such beautiful china to eat from. They are a design from Rosanna Bowles.She has been awarded the prestigious 'Gift of The Year' award by the British Giftware Association; and her products have been celebrated in top fashion and home design magazines.
And so they deserve to be...They are too nice to put behind a cupboard door but as we are at last getting straight in our kitchen away they will have to go! We did have a pasta meal last evening, penne, bacon,onions and  mushrooms in  a cheese sauce so we could use them. Have you too been out and bought something you really like recently? I seem to be attracted to kitchen shops, it must be because I am following a weight reducing food plan!! LOL
Happy days!

Put on your dancing shoes and dance with me!!!

I have kept stitching this over the last week and it is fini!! Don't you just love the tiny little butterflies and hearts? So pretty...

It looks lovely and I am well pleased with the finished piece. I love the colours

I still have part 3 but will leave that till another time.

So what to do next along side my two wips.....I can't decide whether to do The Tree of Stitches which is a design by Abi in The Specialist Stitches group... or do some crocheting.

I bought some books that are all crocheting flowers and I can see in my mind a border of flowers inset in  a stripy bag.

Such decisions to make! LOL

On a wet Sunday afternoon.

It poured all Sunday afternoon, no tennis so I listen to the audio tape of ‘Bridges of Madison County.’  I bought it years ago but had never listened to it. A lot of its charm for me, was that it is read by the Author Robert  James Waller so the American accent helped to make this a very enjoyable three hours!(The hero's name was Robert too!!)

I had read the book and seen the film, several times and have loved it, but this audio version was a new thing for me and it was wonderful.

I stitched and listen with the rain beating on the conservatory roof. I had to stop a several  times as I couldn’t see the stitches through my tears.  Such a love story and such a sadness when she decides to do her duty to her husband and family. How sad that she tried to find Robert when her husband died but failed.

I loved the fact that she followed his life through the Geographic Magazine in which his photographs were published.

I hoped that Francesca will turn the handle on the car door this time (you have to have read it or seen the film to understand) I understood so much of Francesca life, her daily routines, housework, children and details, and know how you can lose yourself in the midst of it all and you forget the dream filled, passionate, sensual person you once were and hoped to be. When Robert Kinkaid arrived, Francesca became once more the woman she used to be. Five days in an Iowa Summer..... heartbreaking.  This has to be one of the most touching and romantic tales ever told. A story of two middle aged people who found each other one warm summer night, who spent the rest of their lives remembering and regretting not taking their chance. This is certainly not a fairytale but a heartbreaking story of once in a lifetime love.

A wonderful way to spend a wet Sunday afternoon.


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A stitching progress report at last!!!

I have finished knitting my little cardi but haven't sewn it up yet. I thought I 'd leave that till monday so I won't rush it and press and block it out properly first. So I have picked up my stitching, I do love this Sampler Aux Bouquets and have had to buy some more threads to finish it.

If you do buy threads from Katscrossstitch.co.uk please remember her in your prayers as she is battling with cancer. Her website is closed but is taking orders if you just email her. (katsxstitch@hotmail.co.uk)

And I have stitched a little of my Rosewood Manor Spring Quaker..Just the very small motif under the word Crocus and then stitched the word Fern and Poppy and I am now stitching the largest motif of the design,

I shall continue to stitch this over the next few days so hope to do a lot more.

Today my grand son is 15 years old, where did the years go? Has anyone else noticed that as you get older the years seem to go quicker?

And it's my DS's birthday tomorrow so we are off to have dinner with him and his wife this evening. They live in Surrey so not too far to drive. Yesterday evening we all met up for a surprise party for my DIL's step dad's 70th Birthday. A lovely evening with friends and family, 15 altogether and the food was excellent.

I think my diet might have done slightly off course! But it is only one meal!!

June is a very busy birthday month for us.

Looks like we are going to have some proper rain tonight, which is long needed. The grass is yellowing and we have had to water each evening if we were to keep our new plants alive.

But it is so wonderful being back here I don't care what the weather is like, it can't dampen my 'Pollyanna' mood!

Happy days all and enjoy your stitching.

My wool has arrived.....

Yes they are all bright colours but that's what I wanted to knit ....

.......this a multi coloured stripy cardi for the winter.

The fawn is for the welts and the border. 

As soon as I saw this in the 'Lets Knit' magazine last year, I knew I just had to knit it..
But I had so much on the go I forgot about it and then when I was looking at wool sites last week, I saw these 25gram balls at a very reasonable price so that was it. I changed my mind about the colours several times but am happy now with my choice. I think I will have to try the balls next to each other before I actually start knitting but I am quite confident that I will like what I do.

I won't start this till September as  I want to finish my Sampler Aux Bouquet and the two RAKS that I have to stitch... but it is a pattern that I am really going to enjoy.

I don't think I will be wearing a mini skirt with it, my mini skirt days are long past, but  I am game to wear the bright pink stockings!!  LOL
Hope every one is happy and stitching, knitting or gardening in this beautiful sunny and hot weather in UK.
We are still not straight in the house but the garden has been dug over and we have alloted part to grow veggies. We found our allotment diary today when I unpacked a box of books and the entries were so funny ......
......September 4th 2007 read.. 'Had a happy day at our 'lottie' the sun shone, we got another area cleared, ate our sandwiches and drank our coffee before the heavens opened and we arrived home wet through. So wet that we had to undress in the shower. But we really enjoyed ourselves.' They were happy days for us, hard work, very hard work, but happy! LOL

Hugs and happy stitching everyone.

Frustration!!

Thank goodness blogger seems to be back to normal. It was very frustrating not to be able to leave comments on blogs..The trouble seemed to be with comments that needed the extra  word confirmation and you ended up in a loop of signing in and then signing in and then signing in .... LOL
Thank you to all those of you that did manage to leave comments for me.

No stitching to show I am ashamed to say because I have that knitting bug and have to finish this little cardi. Its coming along nicely and although the pattern is a very simple one it has caused me some bother, maily because I was knitting watching TV and forgot the pattern rows.  I have also been very naughty and ordered a whole lot of wool to make a multi striped cardi for the Autumn. I 'll show it all as soon as it arrives. It was all reduced at www.deramores.com But I have vowed not to start knitting it till August as I must get on with my stitchy things.
I will be watching the postie tomorrow.


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Something different.... for a while

All this unpacking has been very stressful. I worried about packing up our belongings, I worried  about the moving day but it never occured to me that unpacking would cause stress!
Why stress????Bbecause we still have too much stuff. although we have sorted and given loads of china, books and furniture away we are still trying to find room for more!
Although I have been happy stitching my Sampler Aux Bouquets I needed some thing easy and different so..... when I was reading some blogs the other evening I came accross Hazel's who had just ordered and received some beautiful yarn. Lovely colours to crochet a granny square blanket.  I don't really need a blanket expecially as I have not long made a quilt.
So after an hour or two (or maybe three or four!! LOL ) I found what I wanted.

A knitted little cardi or bolero

 I decided on this colour of dusky pink and to knit the little short sleeved cardi because I have just bought a bolero.

I find knitting very relaxing and also with the French Open Tennis championships on TV at the moment, it's just perfect to knit and watch the tennis.  This little cardi will be perfect for our week away in Saundersfoot at the end of June.
Hope everyone is happy doing what ever it is you enjoy.

I am still stitching!!

When you're moving house, packing up your belongings just takes over your life!

Or so I thought.. it is a week and one day since we moved and now unpacking our belongings is all we're doing. Trying to find a place for everything is getting very stressful. We have given a lot of glasses, china and books away. We just have too much stuff. Everyday we have tried to get straight but as we unpack more and more boxes, the more mess we seem to be creating!

Some evenings I have fallen alseep as soon as we have had dinner I have been so tired.. but those evenings when I have stayed awake I have worked on this..

Sampler Aux Bouquet. It didn't need a massive change of colours so seemed simple to stitch.

 

However saying that, I had frogs all over part 1 and spent a lot of time unpicking and re-stitching.
But here is it is I have now completed all of part 1 and am half way through part 2. Unfortunately I didn't allow enough fabric for part 3, so I will stitch that one separately.

And as we are here in Billericay I intend to join in the quilters class I did, when we stayed here in April and I have already picked out what I want to make. As you can see the little flower heads are suffolk puffs!

This is in this book that was recommended to me by a member of the Sampler Guild, that I met when I went to the Canvey Stitchers get together.. it is a lovely book with lots of other projects in it too.

I can't wait to get started,  but I have to unpack a few more boxes first!!!
Thank you to all that wished us well for our move, I am sorry that I haven't been visiting blogs of late, I am just too tired some evenings to log on... now that is admitting to something to be too tired to log on!!

We've moved!!

You might be thinking I have given up on my blog but these boxes and bags are the reason why I haven't been able to post. I have been extremely busy!

These were in Coventry last thursday 12th May... our moving day!! It all went very smoothly but then we had been packing boxes for two weeks prior to the day and now??
This is the kitchen in Billericay to where we have moved... and these are just a few. We had about a hundred boxes and two days here we have unpacked about thirty!

And here is a picture of dh at the end of the day..

I am sure we will be straight eventually and it is worth the temporary mess and hard work.

When we went shopping yesterday we met my teaching assistant and  I had a lovely chat with her, while we were chatting along came another from my old school,  so it was hugs all round. It seems the school is to have a two day OFSTED next week, Joy of joy I am no longer teaching.. I shall pop into the school thursday after its all over. I had planned to go to the school  to give the Headteacher my acceptant note for  her leaving do, so just as well I met June who told me the Inspection was Tuesday and Wednesday!!

It is so wonderful to be back here..in fact it's bliss!!

The Royal Wedding

The crowds

The ABBEY

That dress... wow!

Happily married

The Kiss!

I loved it all! Spent all morning watching the whole event and wow can't the Royals put on a show!
It was wonderful..