Tuesday 22 October 2013

Rainbows, a butterfly and Angels

We've had a lovely weekend in Wales at our caravan with our friends - you can read about it at Aimetu's. we did have sun but also rain and over the weekend saw 4 rainbows - I managed to catch this one on my phone although it was pouring down on me as I took it :(

Rainbow over Barmouth Bridge

We did have some sunny moments which not only confused us but the local wildlife - look at this beautiful butterfly that settled on the car basking in the sun.

Butterfly in the sun
I have been stitching the Spooky Exchange piece for Needlecraft Haven - It's posting time this weekend so I need to get it finished. I love doing exchanges but it does mean there is no sharing for a while. After I have stitched this I am going to start rotation stitching again; here's my plan so far:

Saturday - Strictly UFO with Julie and Mr Stick on Needlecraft Haven
 
Sunday - Strictly UFO with Julie and Mr Stick on Needlecraft Haven
 
Monday - exchange piece (whichever I am working on)
 
Tuesday - The Drawn Thread monthly (I am very behind with this)
 
Wednesday - Santa's Village with Miss Barb in The Parlour on Needlecraft Haven
 
Thursday - exchange or gift (again whichever I need to do)
 
Friday - finishing, kitting up, general sorting, anything I fancy or am behind on
 
 
That's my plan and hopefully I can start it sometime this week. I have done rotation stitching before and I think I do get more done - it certainly gives more variety and therefore interesting things to share.
 
I did not do any Strictly UFO stitching this weekend as we were with our friends but in the week I did finish the outer pink on all the border - it's growing well :)
 
Angel Blessings
Thanks you for calling by - I hope you enjoyed my short update :)
 


Friday 11 October 2013

Cathey - so sad

I'm very sadden this morning to read Cathey of Pumpkin Patch & co has passed away - I only new her from blogging but her positive attitude, thoughts for others and continuous upbeat always made me smile.

At the end of last month I was honoured and pleased to put up a Pumpkin for Cathey on Aimetu's Stitching - as did many, many more bloggers - a very small thing (organised by Daffy) to show our love.

I pray for Cathey's family and many friends - and also that soon, please soon we will discover a way to prevent the devasting threat we all face.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48389 is a petition to ask the UK Government to put more research into pancreatic cancer - if you are UK based please read, sign and spread the word - If you are overseas - is this also a forgotten side of cancer in your country?

Rest in peace Cathey - God bless.

Wednesday 9 October 2013

I've turned orange ....

... but it's only my blog, I haven't been using fake tan or been out in the late summer sun too much. We are having some lovely autumnal sun here just lately which is good because it means Hubby and I can do the front garden at Dad's. I have a second coat of paint to do on the fence but it's looking so much better.

New fence at Dad's

I posted a photo of how the garden used to look in my last post - you can see the fence was falling down. I need a good dark covering now as not all the wood is the same so looks odd at the moment.

Sunday I had a lovely morning - Mum and Keith invited me to their church as Lubeck Boys Choir was singing at their Benefice Service. They were amazing especially when singing unaccompanied. That evening they were singing in Coventry Cathedral and that would have been amazing with the massive interior and acoustics as the were just brilliant in Witherley Village Church which is tiny in comparison. We had a shared lunch for the boys and took along my chocolate Guinness cake. It didn't last long - what was interesting is the boys take on English food as the ladies took typical buffet food (egg sandwiches, sausage rolls, quiche) and of course the German boys were unsure to start with what everything was - even our crisps have different flavours to those in Germany. It was a great opportunity for us to hear them sing and a great opportunity for the boys to experience typical English food instead of restaurant food.

I did some baking this week again - two things, both cake!! I made this

Schokogugelhopf
It's an Austrian cake taken from The Hairy Bikers Big Book of Baking - they cooked on at the top of the Grossglockner in Austria - it's the highest mountain and one we've been to the top of with my Dad and the children when they were very young.


..... I'm back - but you didn't go anywhere I hear you say ... well I did, I've just spend half an hour finding old photos :) so here is Dad with the children at the bottom before we travelled up and the other photo is Michael, Philippa and me at the top of the Grossglockner in 1999.

Philippa, Dad and Michael at the start of the Grossglockner road 1999


Philippa, Me and Michael at the top of the Grossglockner 1999

I think where I'm standing with the children is where the Hairy Bikers were to cook their Schokodgugelhopf. Nick and I would love to go back to Austria - maybe 2015.

Finally a little stitching - I can't share much as my HD this week has been the Autumn Exchange piece for Needlecraft Haven The forum is quite chatty at the moment which is lovely to see - it is such a friendly place, I am so lucky to have such great members, they make it a very easy and very pleasurable forum to host.

My other piece is an UFO which was an RR with Needlecraft Haven. Julie and Mr Stick are in charge of keeping us motivated to complete our UFOs and because it's Stricty season we are stitching whilst watching on Saturday and Sunday. For anyone of my overseas friends this is the link to BBC Strictly Come Dancing.

We're on week 2 and this week I added some of the pink flowers to my border. I do have trouble as I have a pair of glasses for stitching/reading and another for the tv and driving. SO I stitch whilst the talking bits are on then swap glasses and watch the actual dance - I can see without my glasses (or by peering over the top of my reading ones) but I miss the detail on the gorgeous costumes.

Angel Blessings

Tonight Hubby and I are going to see French Can-Can at Bedworth Civic Hall - oh la la. I'll tell you all about it next time, thanks for popping by today, it's always lovely to read your comments.

Tuesday 1 October 2013

October is here !

Autumn is here - if only on the calendar because we still have some gorgeous sun, although the weatherman says the rain is coming.

On the way home from taking Philly back to University in Wales we stopped at Abergavenny  The indoor market was amazing and had veg hanging from the ceiling - all made of fabric.

 
 
 
They were absolutely amazing, so real looking. I do find the Welsh towns have great community ideas - but Nuneaton did have a successful sunflower trail this year for the local hospice so hopefully more will happen here next year.

It was Orts Day on Needlecraft Haven yesterday - here's my growing collection for this year.

September Orts
I have been decorating at Dad's and we nearly have the upstairs done :) we have some major work to do downstairs before I can decorate there but it gives me a chance to sort out the garage/shed/outhouse before the real cold starts. Over the weekend I did the front garden, we decided to gravel the rose bushes as the weeds seem to grow so quick. The roses are very old and this year had a caterpillar munching on them but hopefully they will recover next ear - we did replace two.

The garden in the early summer

And now we've gravelled it
I don't have any stitching news as I am busy stitching the coaster for the Needlecraft Haven Autumn Exchange - and then I have a spooky ornament to do for their Spooky Exchange.

I hope October starts well for you all and the weather doesn't bring us too much change. Thanks for calling by, I do love reading your comments, thank you.