Quick photo

I managed to leave work earlier tonight - before 7!!! So once I'd got my things straight for the early start tomorrow, I settled down in front of Enigma (the movie) to stitch before heading to bed. I love stitching to Enigma, as it has a great soundtrack, and is a film you can follow easily without watching!!

Anyway, I just wanted to share this photo of you were hatched before I go to Edinburgh:



They're coming along for the journey, hopefully I'll be able to fill in the gaps, if my planned shopping trip works out!

It's nearly August? Seriously?

Hmmm, maybe August will offer us better weather...

I'm also astonished to realise I never set goals at the beginning of the month, so I'll do that for August now. First, did I manage my June goals over the last 2 months?

1) finish Elliot and Buttons Wedding Day yes!
2) do the finishing on my Top Secret Project Finished this on Monday
3) work on FT yes, knight panel coming on nicely
4) work on at least one more WIP yes, WFS has had a lot of attention
5) work on at least one of my lace projects a little bit, but not much in 2 months!
6) maybe a new start? yes, you were hatched

Maybe I should set monthly goals and review them after 2 months more often!!

As you can see, I finally did the finishing on my top secret project. I finished it as a pin keep, and it was the first time I tried it. I am blown away by the results... I'll share a picture as soon as I've shown Eddy, posted it, and got notice that it's been received... by someone who reads this blog! I was so pleased with the results I really wanted to keep it, it's a good job they are really special friends!

I'm off to Edinburgh for 2 days tomorrow. Sadly for work, not pleasure, but I've just been told that the Museum store I'll be working in closes at 4pm. Soooo, what does a girl do on a late Thursday afternoon???? Yup, after a quick google search I found a needlework shop in central Edinburgh, and best of all it's just down the road from my hotel. This will allow me to pick up the missing DMC I need for YWH (he looks odd with gaps in), and have a good browse. I really hope they don't have half-day closing on a Thursday...

I come back Friday evening, then it's off to Birmingham to see some friends and Eddy's family for the weekend... it'll be a whirlwind!

Anyway, I need to set goals for August. Given work is AWFUL this summer (I left at 8pm last night, and worryingly this is gettign to be an all too frequent occurence), I'll keep it short and sweet:

1) finish you were hatched
2) work on waiting for ships
3) work on fantasy triptych

How does your garden grow???

Well, with all the rain we've had recently, very well indeed!! Here are some photos of our veggie garden. If you remember we only built the raised beds at Easter:


The raised beds...


Front to back: potatoes, carrots, parsnips, fennel and purple sprouting broccoli


Artichokes.. I counted 30 heads today, but some are smaller than my finger nail!

We are eating our favourite artichoke dish - artichokes and peas (it sounds better in Greek) for tea tonight, the first of the artichoke harvest. Sadly we've not grown enough peas!

Life has been very busy over the last few weeks, especially at work. Last weekend my old school friend, Leanne, came to stay. Given we first met when we were five, it's amazing we still have stuff to talk about! We went shopping, had a lovely dinner cooked by Eddy, then the next day went to Harrogate - and had afternoon tea at Betty's. Yum!

This week I was in Norwhich for 2 days, then worked late Thursday, and last night I went out for Pizza and to see Harry Potter to celebrate Nivien's birthday... so I've not done much stitching. But last Sunday I did start You Were Hatched:



I'm missing a couple of colours (HOW????), but will buy them when my next credit card bill is issued!

Here's a photo of Waiting for Ships, which I was working on the week before:



Last time I posted a photo of her it was May!! I've made quite a bit of progress since then.

Happy stitching x

A Lovely Suprise!

Unusually, I was working from home today. I was very surprised when the postman rang the doorbell - I wasn't expecting anything. It was a large envelope from Lindsay of Caring Stitcher.

A while ago I was asking for ideas for a birth sampler with a TW dragon theme. Lindsay offered to lend me her copy of 'you were hatched'. I opened the envelope, and there it was, complete with a little note (lovely card - very pretty!) and the required dinky dyes 'Fantasy Blue'. The real surprise came when I read the notelet - Lindsay was GIVING, not lending, me the chart. I actually had to text her to make sure I'd got that bit right!!! Thank you Lindsay, for a very generous gift - you really made my week!



I was very tempted to start kitting up the project immediately, but like a good girl I finished the work I needed to do. Just before going over to Louise's I popped over to Patterns online to buy Needle Guardian (I need an appropriate alphabet, right). What do you know, the dragon scissor fob wandered into my basket too....

My school friend Leanne is staying this weekend, so tomorrow after work I need to clean. A LOT (it's been neglected)... maybe I'll be able to get started on Sunday!

Holiday stash

I promised to share my recent stash purchases in my last post, here they are:



I bought the 4 kits at home handicrafts in Tenby. When I lived in Carmarthen, home handicrafts was my favourite LNS (even though there was one just round the corner from my flat, and Tenby took a while to get to by train, home handicrafts was my favourite). It used to be run by an old man (Eric?), was huge, very muddly, held an amazing variety if stuff and was brilliant for browsing. Plus they had their own range of blackwork charts of Welsh sights - I did Carew Cross years ago when we went to Tenby in my mid-late teens! When Eric retired, one of his assistants took over the shop (but moved it to smaller premises). It's not as good now, but they still have the amazing blackworks which I love - and they aren't available anywhere else. I don't know her name or how old she is, but she's certainly no spring chicken. As Eddy said, the shop may not be there much longer - he was encouraging me to buy more! But I'm feeling poor at the moment, so I was very restrained - but did pop back to get a card and to ask about mail order! We also admitted that we'd driven for 1.5 hours across Wales just to go to this shop (well we love Tenby, but the shop was a major factor in the decision).

So I picked out two of the Home Handicrafts Blackworks - Manorbier and Laugharne Castles - both were local to us in Carmarthen. I resisted Tenby 5 arches, Tenby Tudor merchants house, St Govan's chapel... and a smattering of other Castles and crosses... but they are on my mental wish list!

The willow pattern plate (Heritage Collection by Susan Ryder) jumped out at me - I thought it was a fun design, an interesting mix of xs and blackwork, and it really suited the pattern. This is going to be a present for Margaret (who collects plates).. Christmas or Birthday? Depends how quickly I stitch it!

I picked up the Poppy fairy because I love the flower fairy designs, and I may as well support a LNS!!




I found the books in 2 different shops. The Ehrman tapestry book was picked up in a second hand book shop in Aberaeron. I met one of the Ehrman designers at Harrogate K&S show, but sadly his work isn't included. I'm not sure if I will stray into needlepoint, and if I do if I'll stitch any of these, but it's a lovely book to look at!

The other 2 books came from a very cool 2nd hand, bargain and new book shop in Cardigan. We remember spending a fortune there last time we went to Wales. I'd not seen the Myth and Magic book before, and was amazed to find TWs the Princess and the dragon in it! Bargain! The Chinese book has some fabulous designs in, including a rather lovely Phoenix, which I'm itching to start.

Holiday orts!

We've just got back from a week on holiday in Wales, which is why I haven't posted in a while. I took FT with me, as it's been neglected for most of June, despite being my main goal, and I made great progress with the Knight Panel.

While I was there, I was inspired by the Totally Useless SAL, to keep my orts and take a photo at the end of the week - although this was also to stop the orts blowing away when I was stitching on the roof terrace! I'm not really one for keeping orts, so I won't be joining the SAL, but it does look fun and I'll be keeping track of some members of the SAL in their ort-collecting progress!



Orts for the holiday (less the first few which blew away)



The knight panel (which I started at the beginning of the holiday - not bad for a week of stitching!)



Fantasy Triptych

I'll post later with my July goals, stash shopping updates and some photos of the holiday!