Followers

Tuesday 31 August 2010

Long weekend stitching

This was a long weekend in the UK... I took full advantage and booked the rest of the week off work!! We've been away for most of the weekend, and got back home a few hours ago.

On Friday night we enjoyed a fabulous curry with friends at our local restaurant.On Saturday we went to Sheffield for a BBQ at Kay's - it was fantastic to catch up with the Sheffield crowd - many of whom we've not seen since Kay's BBQ last August!!

At about 6 we left and headed south to Birmingham to see Eddy's parents. Last week Paul went into full-time care, and we wanted to see how he was settling in, and how Margaret was adapting to the change. All seemed good, and it's very obvious that Margaret has made the right decision - Paul's dementia has reached a level where he really needs 24 hour care. He seems to be settling in OK at the home - although he's already lost his slippers and acquired someone else's glasses (thankfully EVERYTHING is named)... He's there on a 1-month trial, hopefully everything will go well, and he'll be settled there permanently - it's quite nice for a home, with lots going on, and very clean.

On Monday we went to Coughton Court, just south of Birmingham - it's the family seat of the Throckmortons, who looked after Mary Queen of Scots while she was imprisoned. There was a chemise on display reputed to have been the one she wore when she was beheaded. The lace edging was wonderful, and it is embroidered with something in Latin about Mary being a martyr - sorry, can't remember what exactly, but the cross stitches were so tiny and neat. Although it's probably of the period I have my doubts that she really wore it when she was beheaded (it was too clean for one thing...), but it was fantastic to look at. I also had a naughty buy - a lovely metal two-seater garden bench, which was on sale... we'll have to put it together tomorrow!

And now for the stitching part of this post... I took 2 pieces with me - the LHN ornament I started last week, and Fantasy Triptych. We spent Sunday afternoon (which was quite cold) and all of the evenings watching movies, so I made great progress... I finished the ornament, and did loads of the background on FT:

Winter Sampler, (c) Little House Needleworks
Stitched in Weeks and GAST on Sparklies' Parchment


Fantasy Triptych, (c) Teresa Wentzler

Finally, I had a wonderful surprise when I got home and checked blogger - I won a giveaway on Heidi's blog!!!! She is giving away some amazing beaded scissor fobs... I'm so excited!!!

3 comments:

Dani - tkdchick said...

It sounds like you were able to enjoy your time off!

That ornie sure is cute and wow FT looks amazing! That will have to move up on my to do list!

Anonymous said...

Lovely ornament finish! We went to CC some time ago and found it very interesting, particularly all the Gunpowder plot stuff, plus it's a beautiful place. Glad your FIL is settling in to his new home OK.

Giovanna said...

Catching up with blogs - it's wonderful to see your progress on FT! And congrats on the previous lovely finishes too - that garter is amazing!