As May closes

I have not blogged much this month, or had time to read many blogs for which I apologise. Since DH retired we've been busier than ever, holidaying but also working hard in our garden.

My stitching has been only for gifts which I shared in my last post for Gifted Gorgeousness. My latest two pieces are also gifts but I cannot share these just yet ..... so here's what's been happening in our garden.

Tree gone, old deck gone
New slabs down and new deck laid

A few weeks on with our hard work putting up the gazebo
and moving stones/slate around

New bird feeder and my pots which have grown
since this was taken

New slate and more pots that have also grown 

Newly painted birdtable
The chairs, pergola and these plants are the
next to be done

Well deserved coffee in my new Turkish cup at our new
table and chairs, on our new deck, under our new gazebo

There is just the top right corner to do, taking down the pergola and having a new shed but this needs a skip so will be done in a few weeks when we return from our holiday in France.

DH has worked so hard,  thankfully we had lovely weather. It has been raining since last weekend with thunderstorms, great for my pots and we were pleased the gazebo was waterproof.

As I said we're off to France for a week, self catering as I am missing 'being French' and am looking forward to shopping at the markets and cooking for ourselves.

I'll be sharing those gifts when we return and of course showing my holiday stitching which is packed already .... off now to pack some clothes too!

Gifted Gorgeousness - a little late

I'm late, I'm late ... but with two good reasons; we've been away and the last of these three gifts will be given today 😄

My first gift was a 40th birthday coaster for a good friend at scouts. I have known Sarah since she was born and she was one of our bridesmaids when she was 11.

The chart was a freebie card chart from a very old magazine, I added the 40. The coaster was a gift to me from my Needlecraft Haven friend Gill.

My second gift was for Deb, another Needlecraft Haven friend who lives overseas. It was her birthday whilst we were away but I managed to get it in the post before we left - however she received it after her birthday as she was away celebrating her daughter's Masters Graduation 👩‍🎓

I used Weeks Dye Works for this, I love the way the variegation works; the thread was Hunter.

My final gift will be given tonight, one of my scouting friends is 60. I have looked at this Quaker chart many times and finally found a reason to stitch it. Most of this has been stitched on our holiday in Turkey sitting on our balcony looking at this view - wouldn't it be lovely if that was my permanent stitchy seat 😍

I adapted the centre and added 60 - the thread was  Six Stranded Sweets Sugared Violets, another variegated but very subtle. I'm very pleased how it turned out, again I used one of the coasters Gill gave me. I hope Bev likes it 😉

Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by the lovely Jo at Serendipitous Stitching - every month on the 15th our blog posts are about gifts we have sent or received - it's a lovely way to say thank you to our fellow stitchers, my thanks this month go to Gill for the two lovely coasters 😍

May Day

Happy May Day everyone - it's a french tradition to give Lily of the Valley flowers today but mine are only just sprouting so I will not have a bunch in the house this May Day. All our garden seems to be a few weeks late, this is my Lily of the Valley in 2014.

The garden is the reason I have not been stitching so much, plus the fact I am working on a couple of gifts so cannot share. We've had our deck replaced and new slabs on the patio. Over the last few weeks DH and I have been cleaning the slate in our borders, repotting some of our larger plants, painting fences and generally tidying up. We still have quite a bit to do but it's looking good so far.

Our old deck being taken out

Our new deck, new slabs and
cleaned slate

Our potted plants and new bird feeder

Today he put up my new bird feeder, we used to have a tree here from which we hung feeders. Since it's been down we hung the feeders the other side of the garden - the birds were very confused again today when they moved back on the new hanger.

Last week DH and I joined some friends for a week in Burnham-on-Sea - you can read about our holiday on my travel blog Aimetu's. One of our days out was to Wells Cathedral and Glastonbury Tor, the tapestry coat of arms panels and cushions in the Cathedral were stunning. My ankle is improving; I have a strong support when walking and wore my hiking boots for walking any distance which really helped. So much so I made it to the top of the Tor on a very very windy day. There's photos in my other blog, but I thought I'd show the beautiful needlework here too.

Stunning work 

I hope the sun stays with us and we can finally see some flowers appearing - I hope your gardens are coming to life too.