Birth sampler happy dance!

Well it's all washed and pressed now:



I really enjoyed stitching this kit (I did switch from aida to linen), and I can't wait to get it framed and give it to Helene and Guy.

This weekend I've done a little more knitting of the pink and orange scarf, and have picked up A New Beginning again. I hope everyone else is having a lovely, relaxing weekend.

Happy stitching

Another week off work...

Wow, it's ages since I last posted. No proper reason, just life taking up all my time. I had last week off work, but this time I didn't go away ;) Eddy and I spent most of the time gardening, or catching up on TV that we'd recorded while on our travels. While watching the telly I've been either stitching on Peacock Firescreen, or knitting. No pic of the knitting yet as I've still to finish the back of the cardigan, but this is where I've got to with Peacock Firescreen:



Before I was on holiday I'd been focusing on the Classic Pooh Birth Sampler for Helene and Guy's new baby daughter, Holly. We went for a picnic with them yesterday (yes, in true British Bank Holiday weekend style it did rain - we ate between two heavy showers), and we finally met Holly for the first time - she's now 10 weeks old and is lovely. Anyway, I've finished the XS, just the BS to do - hopefully it'll be done and framed for her Christening:



When we bought our house four years ago we had HUGE plans for the garden. One of the first was to shape the lawn into two halves with an archway between. We sorted the narrow section last year; this week we finally shaped the far end of the lawn, and started the heavy digging (we have rock-solid clay, for the most part). All of the digging takes a long time, but the soil is so much easier to work in the areas we have dug over so far, so it is worth the effort. Once we've finished digging the area over and planted it up a bit more I'll post some photos. It feels wonderful to see the 'master plan' coming together, slowly and surely!

Sadly my plan to work on my quilt this last week totally failed. Maybe next time I get a few days free I'll take over the living room and get the borders sorted...

Jo, world explorer

It's a hectic summer for me, and both my crafting and my blogging have really suffered. I won't bore you with all the details, but will tell the story of the last few months in photos...

In June we had the most amazingly relaxing break in Spain. Check out the view from the villa...


In July we went on holiday in Belgium. First we visited Brugges and lots of WWI cemeteries:



Then we volunteered on a WWI excavation - my area was investigating a German dug out and trenches:



I had a mad turnaround at home on 30/31 July. I managed to take my TUSAL photo, and a progress photo of the Classic Pooh birth sampler - but failed to find time to post them. Not that I was doing any stitching on my travels - in fact for the first time ever (practically) I left my needles at home...



I had about 20 hours at home before I headed off again - this time for a work-related trip to Pretoria, South Africa. The work was intense and busy, but I made up for it with 2 intense days of sight seeing, one in Pretoria at the museums, but one day at the Lion and Rhino park:




Best of all they had an animal creche... this was the most amazing experience ever...



It's been a tiring but truly amazing summer :)

Now I'm trying to get back into life at home, work, housework - and some stitching!

So, where on earth will I find space for these???

I've picked up two pieces from the picture framers - Fantasy Triptych and Waiting for Ships. It took me ages to pick out the frames and mounts, but it was worth the effort. I'm really pleased with how they turned out.





There's only one problem - where on earth am I going to find room to hang them? I feel a major picture reorganisation coming on!

I spent part of last week on holiday in Spain with friends. Although I took some stitching with me I didn't do any at all. It was a lovely trip, I'll share some photos later on. Since I got back I've worked on a couple of pieces. Last night I finished stitching Bird in Hand:



And since then I've been working on Classic Pooh Birth Sampler - a gift for my friend Helene, who had a baby girl 2 weeks ago. This is how far I have got:



Hope everyone else is having a lovely relaxing weekend, with plenty of stitching time!