It's June

The sixth month has arrived and so did the sun for a few hot days, it's now back to being wet!

I have stitched all the Jo Verso 12 Days of Christmas complete with red beads instead of French knots. Here's Day 11 & 12 and the full set.

It's a poignant time of year in our family; 

- my mum's birthday was 31st May

- Hubby's mum would have been 90 today

- my mum passed on the 8th May

- Hubby's dad's birthday was 11th June 

That means lots of special dinners, fish and chips for my mum, Hunter's chicken for Hubby's mum and gammon for his dad (with egg custard pudding)

Our garden is also joining in as my mum gave Hubby a planter of lillies when his mum passed and they bloom every year, now for both mums.

We have the beautiful 'Golden Lady' rose in our garden planted for Hubby's mum and it's just about to bloom.

My Dad's Peace rose has bloomed again, this time with pink edging. Our peony has looked amazing but the wind and rain has destroyed the petals but I love the skeleton it's left behind. 

I also spotted the white poppy, it's called Royal Wedding and is a bit spindly but a beautiful flower. Quite apt really as June does also bring lovely memories as it's our special day on the 24th, it is our 37th wedding anniversary.

My stitching is back

I've been able to stitch much more lately, my hand's more flexible, still quite painful so it's little and often but I'm certainly stitching more. The break has mended but I think there's a bit of tissue damage still mending.

I have also had a go at crochet, it's slow but going ok. I have picked up my knitting needles again too, that's slow too but is a great exercise for my hand.

I've finished Day 10 of my Jo Verso 12 days of Christmas for the church tree. I haven't done the red beads as a bit fiddly yet. I'm hoping to have the twelve stitched by the end of June so the summer will be make up time (easier to take away than lots of floss and charts).

My lovely friend Gill has stitched three days for me, thank you Gill they are so nice.

It's a scorcha here in the UK, our hottest temperatures with yesterday reaching over 34°C. I have been staying indoors to keep cool. 

Not just my hand, I'm a bit under the weather lately. Lots of things, I seem to get over one thing then something else happens but I am trying to tackle one thing at a time. 

The blooms in the garden certainly help, our peony is finally out as is our Peace rose which was my Dad's favourite. 

Our recent cruise definitely helped lift my spirits - here's the link to my other blog - and there's exciting times ahead our first grandchild is due very soon.

12 Days of Christmas update

Well my cast is off my hand and I can now sew right handed again although a little slow. My stitching could have increased had it not been for going on a cruise holiday hee hee

I completed Day 8 left handed and Day 9 right handed.

I have started on Day 10 and hopefully I will stitch quicker as my hand improves. I will add the red beads to them all at the end, beads are too fiddly at the minute.

DJ sent me two lovely 12 Days for the tree, they are from a Sue Hillis design. DJ stitched Day 8 maids-a-milking and Day 11 ladies-dancing. Thank you DJ they are lovely and will look lovely on the tree. I will iron them when I make them up, I quite like the creases showing their journey.

We had a lovely cruise which I'll be writing about soon on my travel blog.

A left handed stitch

It's been a tricky four weeks with my right hand in plaster. I had the choice of colour and chose paw prints in honour of our son's new puppy. She's very good and learning quite quickly, she's here about once a week and is very well behaved.

It's taken me a while to stitch again. Everything is a bit awkward left handed but the difficulty has been holding the fabric in my right hand. 

I have completed Day 7 of Jo Verso's 12 Days of Christmas although I still have the red beads to add, far to fiddly at the moment. The half stitches were quite tricky and what a lot there were.

Time to start Day 8, I hope to get it done by the time my plaster comes off in two weeks.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter 🐣 how much chocolate have you had today?

I love decorating our house for themed days especially when I can display the lovely stitching from stitching friends over years. 

Today is Opening Day for Needlecraft Haven Spring Exchange. As I'm not stitching just now I couldn't finish my ornament that was for Julie but I found a few Spring themed decorations and included the required threads with a few treats.

My exchange parcel was from Mini, her first exchange with Needlecraft Haven. I feel very spoilt, thank you Mini for my gifts and ornament.

Mini also sent an ornament for my church tree, this year's theme is 12 Days of Christmas.

I haven't written much as it's hard work and slow going using my left hand. I have today managed 10 minutes stitching left handed, I can hold fabric in my right hand but not for long (I don't use a frame as I am working small pieces)

My cast is on for another 4 weeks, hopefully I can slowly build up to holding my fabric longer and maybe other things to make things easier.

Oops .... stitching on hold

Well what a to do, my stitching has taken a pause although I hope to have a go over the weekend. 

Last week whilst on holiday in Tenerife I tripped in the heavy rain and have broken my right wrist, along with a bruised right eye (my glasses), bruised left hand and two bruised knees. I was checked over in Tenerife and my wrist supported with a half cast and thankfully we flew home as planned. I'm now being looked after by our local hospital. 

As you can see from the photos my eye was quite bruised, I don't look great as it's hard to do your hair one handed but I did try to still enjoy our holiday (the weather was awful)

Before we went away I finished and posted a couple of gifts for our Great Nephew and Great Niece who live in the United States. He's just turned one and I stitched a name plaque as I did one for his sister when she was younger. The chart is Rag Doll Alphabet by Durene Jones, I had to adjust the character as the chart is just girls.

For our Great Neice I made a beaded bracelet. It's been many years since I did any beading and I really enjoyed it. I'd like to do more time permitting with my stitching projects being delayed.

I did manage to stitch Day 6 of my Jo Verso's 12 Days before my fall. I really do hope I can stitch soon, it's holding the fabric in my right hand that is difficult. I do need to add the red beads and the number 6.

My friend Mary has kindly lent me the chart for Just Nan's 12 Days, they will look great on the tree. Mary has kindly stitched Day 1, I have some ideas  how to finish them all but I'll do the once they are all stitched. Thank you Mary, it's lovely.

I'm hoping to catch up blog reading now I have spare time, happy stitching everyone.

Another two flowers

I have been working on the church altar cloth and have completed two more flowers, that's four in total now. 

I did find it quite fiddly as I had to undo some previous repairing as the colour was wrong, too red, and then I needed to darn the fabric to have something to stitch on. 

This was how it looked when I picked it up from the church in January.

This is the four flowers now I have finished them and close ups of each pair.

I'm waiting now for the church to purchase the gold thread as I would like to add the gold to these four flowers before I do any more so I have a reference to work from.

I have also finished Day 5 of Jo Verso's 12 Days, they are fun to do and don't take too long.

Thank you to everyone who has pledged a 12 days piece to add to my church tree this year, you are very kind. 

Last day of winter

Tomorrow is the start of meteorological spring, let's hope the sun knows this as it's been very wet so far this year. 

Our second amaryllis is in full flower and we have some beautiful mini daffodils out too. My camilia is looking amazing this year although quite early.

I have finished Day 4 of Jo Verso's 12 Days of Christmas, hopefully I can stitch at least the next three this month although I have other projects to do and we're away for a week. They will be my holiday stitching as easy to take in my travel project bag.

Hopefully the sun will shine in March so I can get more done on the church cloth, the days are getting longer too which certainly helps.

February Stitching

I've stitched Day 3 of Jo Verso's 12 Days of Christmas for my church tree. Thank you to everyone who has offered to stitch a day, it will be a great display. I'm 3/4 of the way in on Day 4.

Earlier this year I stitched Tom Mouse that was a very old freebie from a magazine. I didn't have the chart so stitched from the picture, only to find the chart in my stash after I had finished. I have now made him into a card using stickers to add a bit of shine.

It's birthday month for our son's girlfriend, she is only a few hours older than our daughter so two February birthdays very close together. 

I stitched an owl bookmark for son's girlfriend as she is an avid reader and loves owls.

I decided to stitch our daughter and bookmark too, I always stitch her something for her birthday. She doesn't read much but does like a book to hold rather than read on a tablet, she loved her bookmark and popped it straight into her current book.

I'm still working on the church cloth and will post an update soon. 

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day 💗 

It's 40 years ago today that Hubby proposed and I said yes 🥰

We're busy today so had our Valentine's meal last night, a lovely bottle of Prosecco (red roses from Hubby) and a great Cote du Rhone from The Wine Society (we visited them last week - blog link) pictured with my stitchy tree.

Today is opening day for the Valentine's Exchange at Needlecraft Haven. This is always a non-stitchy exchange which Mary organises, this year we sent handmade (but shop bought) soap. Gill sent me a lovely bar of Alban Eilir from Lush along with a beautiful handmade card.

I sent to Christine, my parcel gift was a handmade Sea Buckthorn and Sweet Orange soap from one of the craft shops in town and I added a bag of sweets and some threads (not a requirement of the exchange).

I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day celebrating love and friendship.