Happy Valentine's Day

First, I'd like to thank everyone for their kind comments re: birth band - I really enjoyed stitching this piece, especially all the speciality stitches - it's me second Drawn Thread finish, I did First Snow just before Christmas, and I am really enjoying their designs. Which is why I was so pleased to find 'J'taime', their Valentine's freebie, at the beginning of last week - just in time for me to stitch it for Eddy:


J'Taime, by The Drawn Thread. Stitched in DMC on Antique White Edinburgh

We had a very simple Valentine's Day - lazy morning, simple lunch. This afternoon Eddy was watching the rugby, and as part of a deal brokered during a Rugby friendly this Autumn, I went into Leeds for a little retail therapy. Not especially successful - nothing in Monsoon (my favourite shop) was quite right, I tried to get some make up with my Boots points, but my card was unreadable (so I left them at the till), and my new watch strap just wasn't going well, so I left it with the repair guy, who's going to have a second attempt... But I did get us a new mattress, some pillow cases and kitchen scales. Just nothing nice for me. I wasn't even inspired by the magazine collection in Borders!! When I got back, not long after the start of Rugby match #2, we had a quiet cup of tea, and then I cooked us dinner - asparagus and cheese 'pasties' with potatoes boulangerie - two of our favourites from Delia's veggie book. Amazingly, for the first time in years, I managed to cook both dishes without losing track of one of the two (and burning or otherwise ruining it) - Eddy was very impressed!

Stitching-wise, this weekend I'm focusing on Fantasy Triptych, as part of my attempt to finish the centre panel in February. This is where I'd got to last night:



Tonight I filled in quite a bit of the bottom left corner - I'm aiming to hit the tree trunk just left of centre by bedtime tomorrow!

Finally, I have a new project idea to share. My good friend Jamie (she's actually a Susannah, but I call her Jamie - it's a hangover from our Uni days) - had a baby boy at Christmas. We generally communicate by letter, which is really rather fun in this digital age, and she'd not mentioned her pregnancy before my birthday letter in early December - so it came as a bit of a shock to me!! Anyway, in my last letter I offered to stitch a birth sampler for baby Tom (warning her I have a long waiting list) and asked her what sort of thing she fancied - and she replied 'a smaller version a dragon like the one on that sampler in your living room' (Fantasy sampler) - so now I'm planning a TW dragon birth sampler. I was so pleased she picked that theme - I'm going to really enjoy this one!!! Anyway, I'm thinking about utilising one of the miniature dragons (Rampant? Stretch? Futurecast) and probably the lettering and border from Needle Guardian.... any ideas gratefully received!!!