I visited Laura's blog 52 Flea and was reading her wonderful post on the Royal Wedding *here* and it reminded me of a poem about violets that I found written in the back of my mother's recipe book and thought I would share it. My mother passed away in 1976 and to see this written in her handwriting brings back memories of a very happy childhood. I hope you enjoy this sweet little poem as much as I do.

A little shy blue violet

Who never cared to roam

Between a nettle and a dock

She made her tiny home

She thought I'm safely hidden

By curtain green and cool

The children will not see me

When going by to school

But the wind who keeps no secret

Waft her scent about

And one child cried I smell violets

And so they found her out

Thanks for visiting

Take care

I have been wanting to stitch Douceur de vivre by Jardin Privé since it was gifted to me a while ago. I have now ordered, and received, the HDF conversion threads and cut my fabric - 48ct nacre Gander linen - to size so I am ready to make a start. I love the colours against the nacre linen.

I must tell you about the scissors shown in the picture. I found these on ebay and paid the princely sum of 99p (approx. $1.63) for them. The seller said that they had belonged to her grand-mother. Can you imagine selling embroidery scissors that belonged to your grand-mother?!! Her loss is my gain and they are now proudly on display in one of my glass frogs.

Geneva (no blog) sent me a picture of her version of Sew a Brown Bunny. It is beautifully stitched on Zweigart Newcastle 40ct flax linen with DMC 469 and 838 and charmingly finished as a little pillow stuffed with crushed walnut shells. Thank you Geneva for allowing me to post your picture. I so wish I could get crushed walnut shells here in the UK. I did go to a pet store in Sarasota last year but they only had enormous sacks which were far too large to bring back with me!

Sew a Brown Bunny is still available *here* or by clicking on the CHARTS button on the sidebar.

The lovely weather we had over Easter has now gone and, although we still have a little sunshine, there is a very cold breeze coming off the sea. I suppose this is the downside of living near the ocean.

Thanks for visiting

Take care

Sew Golden, Love and Sew a Brown Bunny are all still available *here* or by clicking on the CHARTS button on the sidebar.

I have been stitching but nothing I can show as it's a gift. We are having wonderful weather for the Easter weekend so I have been spending plenty of time in the garden. My bug is almost gone although I do still have a tickle cough which is nothing like the cough I've had for the last two weeks.

Thanks for visiting - enjoy the Easter holiday with lots of stitching and lots of chocolate too!

Take care

A big thank you to both Becky and Karen for letting me showcase their beautiful versions of Sew a Brown Bunny. The chart is still available *here* or by clicking on the CHARTS button on the sidebar.

If you have any iStitch Design that you have stitched and finished, I would love to see them and showcase them here. My email address can be found on my profile so just send me a picture, details of fabrics and threads and a link to your blog.

Stitchnmomma failed to collect her prize in my recent giveway so I drew another number - 3 - which is Bertie of Samplers & Buttons. Congratulations to Bertie!

You may wonder what I've been up to lately. I have finished stitching the model for my new design but it needs to be 'finished'. As I do not have any suitable backing fabric, this means a trip to the fabric store in Canterbury. A small hint - scissors. So those of you who are, like me, a scissor addict, you might just like this one!

My 'bug' is at long last on it's way out although I still have a nagging cough and I am extremely tired but I'm feeling a lot better today. The sun is shining so no guesses as to where I will be spending the remainder of the day! The question is 'shall I stitch or read'?

Thanks for visiting - have a wonderful Easter

Take care

And last, but certainly not least, Amy of Cross Stitch and Cupcakes is having a most generous 3rd blogoversary giveaways. Yes I said 'giveaways' as there are five of them! First up is for a selection of Aida fabrics in various sized and some Charles Craft huck towels. The second giveaway is for a selection of linen fabrics. The third giveaway is a limited edition box and Santa kit from Mosey n Me along with three limited edition thread packs from The Gentle Art. Number 4 is a selection of pillow kits from Pine Mountain, most with their pillow forms and the final giveaway is a selection of charts from Amy's stash - some are even kitted with floss, fabric and embellishments. You can enter multiple giveaways by leaving a comment stating which numbers you are interested in. If you post a link of your blog you will also receive a second entry. You have until April 19 to enter.

Thanks for visiting

Take care