There's still time to join iStitch Designs Blue Band Sampler SAL.  Email me if you are interested  (my email address can be found on my profile).

Go on you know you want to!

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Take care

Carol

Since having leg surgery I have spent a lot of time with my leg elevated and needle in hand! This is Carol's Band stitched 1*1 with HDF Magpie Tears 2349 on a white 30ct linen banding with a lacy edging. 

Click on picture for a closeup view

This is band 25 from Randje per week SAL *here*. This is a free, Dutch, year long SAL and I think there are now over 2000 members! As I do not like band 26 I have decided to omit it although I may yet substitute it - who knows? It's nearly time to add my late mother's name on the downwards sidebar. 

Click on picture for a closeup view

Léontine Chatelard 1898 by Meriem Chavet of Couleur Tourterel gifted me this lovely chart which I decided to stitch 1*1 on 40ct silk gauze with Soie Surfine. The scissors by M Roulot of Nogent which are showing through the gauze are 3½" so you can see how tiny this sampler is. 

I have been wondering whether or not to host an iStitch Design exchange. A few people have shown a little interest but, at the moment, not enough. You will need to stitch and finish any iStitch Design and send it to your partner. It does not have to be a purchased chart (but feel free to buy one ;-)) as there are some free charts available *here*.  Look for the freebies link on the sidebar. It will be up to the individual whether or no to send extras so please remember if you send extras you may not receive any back! Please leave a comment or email me (my email address is on my profile) if you are interested.

The weather is slowly improving here on the south east coast of the UK - a little sunshine but with a cool sea breeze - the downside of living near the sea. 

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Take care 

I stitched the two new Randjes yesterday. I am so pleased with how this is turning out.

Last Friday I worked on my own version of Randjes - Carol's Band. I am loving this one too!

Short post. I had surgery on my leg on Friday and I'm supposed to be resting with my leg elevated!

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Take care

Week 10 of the Randje per week SAL brought Bands 21 and 22. I downloaded the chart on Saturday morning but only managed to stitch only half of band 21 that afternoon before I fell asleep. What was strange about this band was that I had already added it to my own blue Carol's Band on the Friday morning - what a strange coincidence! 

And here is as much as I have stitched on Carol's Band. I have a lot more charted so it's nice to work on this one in between the Randje per week SAL.

Still no finishes of other stitched pieces but I hope to get around to it soon. I am due to have surgery on my leg this Friday and it will be plenty of rest so I have plenty of stitching lined up and my Kindle is fully loaded! Wish me luck.

And for those of you who remember Tommy you will be pleased to know that he has once again awoken from his Winter hibernation. Look at his lovely little smilie face - I think he's happy to see me!

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Take care

Week 9 - Bands 19 & 20 of the Randje per week SAL *here*. Although I had looked at the new bands late on Friday evening, I downloaded and printed off the chart on Saturday morning  and planned to stitch it in the afternoon but 'the best laid plans ...' I got a call from my son to say he and his wife were coming over to collect his classic mini which has been wintering in our garage. It was nice to see them and they didn't stay too long so I was able to make a start on the new bands. I first put a few leaves in of band 19 but it didn't feel right stitching backward facing leaves so I skipped down to band 20 and stitched that first and then turned the whole thing upside down so the leaves were facing forward and so much easier to stitch! I am looking forward to adding my late mother's name on the sideways band once I am level with the end of my grand-mother's name. 

And, as I was enjoying stitching the Randje per week so much I decided to do my own thing - Carol's Band! I purchased some white lacy edged banding and chose one my favourite blues (HDF Magpie Tears 2349) and got to work putting together some bands, alphabets, numbers and motifs and managed to get a few stitches put into this too.

I have some other projects stitched, mainly Christmas ornaments, together with the latest iStitch Design, so I really need a marathon finishing session - maybe one day this week? I thought that when I retired I would have plenty of time but it appears not.

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One afternoon last week we took a walk along the cliffs at St Margaret's Bay and I remembered to take my camera and yes these are the famous 'white cliffs of Dover'.

We started at the Memorial where we parked the car and walked along the cliff top. I tried to get pictures of how high up we were but I didn't want to get too close to the edge! The building in the first picture is the old coastguard station which is now the Blue Bird Tea Rooms. The bottom right hand picture shows the view towards the Kingsdown, Deal, Sandwich and the Isle of Thanet.

This pictures shows St Margaret's Bay itself. The middle picture shows how close the houses in the other pictures are to the edge of the cliff! Not sure I would care to live there - how about you?

The main picture here is Mermaid Cottage the house where Noel Coward lived around 1945 *here*. It is also linked to Ian Flemming the author of the James Bond books. The larger building at the bottom is the old Granville Hotel which ceased trading in 1994 and is now exclusive apartments. Can you imagine the views from the apartments' windows? 

I hope you enjoyed seeing part of the beautiful area in which I live.

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Take care

As Simone (Soed Idee) released Part 2 of her Mystery SAL on Saturday I set to and got it stitched up in the evening. I am really enjoying this SAL - I wonder why? No prizes for guessing!

As promised here is my finish of Gigi R's Sweet Adeline. I have yet to decide on a final finish. It is stitched on 55ct antique white Gander linen with Soie Surfine 611. The scissors are by M Roulot of Nogent.

And for those of you who asked what the back of my work looks like - here is the back of Sweet Adeline! 

I am now stitching Sew Fine - one of the new iStitch Designs. I enjoyed stitching Sweet Adeline so much I decided to stitch Sew Fine on 55ct with Soie Surfine 613 which is a gorgeous mauve. Of course, you would not have to stitch Sew Fine on such a high count (unless  you really want to) as it will be just as pretty on a lower count fabric! 

Despite the awful weather we are having in our little corner of the UK the honeysuckle in our garden is blooming and smells heavenly.

And meet Eddie the Seagull .. I don't usually like seagulls - they are noisy and messy but no so Eddie. He visits on a daily basis and balances very precariously on the trellis fence. He makes no noise (or mess) and just waits patiently until I throw something over the fence for him. 

All the above pictures are clickable to enlarge except for the first Sweet Adeline to protect copyright.

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Take care

Click on the picture for a closeup view of these teeny stitches

I have been seeing Gigi R's 'Sweet Adeline' on blogs and I was just about to order this chart when I received one as a gift! Thank you dear friend - you know who you are. I cut and overlocked (serged) a piece of 48ct Nacre Gander linen and pulled out one of my favourite reds - HDF's OMG Red 1149 but wait - I see tiny tiny and blue so back to my stash from where I pulled out a piece of 55ct (this is not a typo, I did say 55ct) Antique White Gander linen which I promptly overlocked in readiness to start.  I then delved into into my Au Ver a Soie Surfine box and espied this gorgeous shade of blue (number 611). I couldn't wait to start and here is my progress after a couple of evenings. I'm sorry for the poor picture - I will try to get a better one next time.

The scissors for the enthusiasts are Dovo's Victorian Treasures which are those I use most of the time.

It's a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK. We were promised sunshine but, once again, it's cloudy and overcast. I am beginning to think that we are not having a summer this year so yes I am feeling blue!

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Take care

I finished stitching page 4 of my Sajou booklet and am about to start another page. For the scissor enthusiast the scissors are white Kelmscott Little Gems which come in a variety colours and are available *here*

Yesterday we went on a 'Mini Adventure'. My son Justin and his lovely wife AnnMarie run the Mini Cooper Registration - Kent Region and they arranged a Rally to take place in North West France. We met at McDonalds in Whitfield, Dover and as you can see from the pictures there were a variety of minis taking part. Can you pick out my mini?  

We travelled the short distance from Whitfield to the Docks at Dover in convoy where we lined up ready to board the P&O cross channel ferry. I spotted a number '37' and took a quick picture for my 37 board on Pinterest.

Once on board I decided to go out on deck to take some pictures of the famous 'White Cliffs of Dover' as we left the harbour. 

Once we arrived in Calais we drove to Oye-Plage, Nord-Par-de Calais where the morning rally was to start. Luckily there was a Carrefour opposite so Ken could stock up on Lays crisps (chips). We cannot get them here in the UK so he always buys some wherever and whenever he can! 

The cars left Oye-Plage in four minute intervals following well-written instructions through country roads to the finish at St Omer. We soon caught up and overtook the car ahead of us and eventually arrived in St Omer Centre where, once all the cars arrived, we headed to a local restaurant for lunch. 

The afternoon rally left St Omer and finished at St Josephs Village *here*.  Leaving here we drove back to Calais for the return ferry. Unfortunately, the cars were split up here at check in and although the majority of people were able to catch one ferry three cars (including us) had to wait for the next ferry and we missed the on board celebrations as to who won. Justin texted me to say we had come in second. If only Ken would have trusted my navigation (we were on the right road but he wasn't so sure) we might have won! 

It was a really good day and we thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Click on the pictures for closeup views. So did you spot which mini is mine?

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Take care

 

First an update of page 4 of my Sajou booklet. As you can see it's coming along nicely and it won't be too long until it's done. The scissors were purchased on eBay and I have shown these before but I can't find the post at present. They are tiny, measuring 2½" and are engraved ER and dated 1953 so I assume they were released for the Queen's Coronation in that year.

During the week we took a trip to a garden centre near Canterbury and instead of coming home via the main road we drove through the countryside.We passed some wonderful old houses. This house 'The Old Rectory' is in Elmstone - a very tiny hamlet between Canterbury and Deal. 

It has a small pond and the gardens were beautiful.

It reminds me of a Jane Austen type house - what do you think?

And literally just around the corner stands 'The Old Vicarage'. I wonder why there are two such houses - an old rectory and an old vicarage - so close to each other?

I wonder which house I would choose if I were lucky enough to be able to afford to buy one? Which one would you choose and why?

All the above pictures are clickable for closeup views.

Thanks for visiting

Take care

My stitching and, hopefully, my blogging mojo has returned somewhat. I managed to make a start on page 4 of my Sajou booklet; if you remember I stitched this page sometime last year *here* but it came out much too small for the pre-cut finishing cards I had purchased for it so I continued on a different page on a different count linen. It is stitched 1*2 on antique white 48ct Gander linen with Needlepoint Inc silk thread 749. The scissors are tiny storklets by Kelmscott Designs *here*. These come in a variety of colours are are oh so cute!

Yesterday was May Day Bank Holiday here in the UK and for once the weather decided to co-operate and it was a beautiful sunny day. I live close to the Walmer Green where there was a Brocante Fair so we decided to take a look. It was well attended both by stall holders and the public in general plus their dogs. 

One stall had this selection of ancient scissors. Too big for my collection but interesting just the same.

On another stall was this very pretty parasol. It wasn't a full size parasol but quite tiny. If only I had somewhere to display it. I wonder whether it sold?

I did however fall for this very pretty dish. It's made by Villeroy & Bosch 1948 - German company which is still in existence today *here*. This dish was priced at £2 so it just had to come home with me!

Now you may wonder why I have posted a picture of the backs of these people? Well the lady with the backpack is Miriam Margolyes and is quite famous here in the UK see *here*. She has a very distinctive voice and I heard her speak and recognised her voice before taking a second look. I didn't like to go around the other side and invade her privacy so I only have this picture. 

We returned home to have lunch in the garden and, indeed, spend the afternoon out there too and, of course, my Kindle came too. 

All the above pictures are clickable for closeup views.

Thanks for visiting

Take care

Please click on the picture for a closeup view

Here's the promised picture of Marquoir de Jeanne from François Prax book Miniatures au point de croix. It is stitched 1*2 with Needlepoint Inc silk thread number 505 on 48ct Gander linen which has been dyed with walnut ink. This little sampler measures 5" x 4¾". I actually had some difficulty in stitching this as my mind kept wanting to correct the mistakes so ... some errors are Jeanne's and some are mine! The scissors are again from my Nogent collection and are called, I think, Fleurs; I have a second pair of these in a silver finish. 

My flower

Kirby's flower

You can also click on these pictures for closeup views

Yesterday was Stitch-n-Bitch night and Lynn had agreed to teach Kirby to crochet so I decided to take along a hook and a ball of crochet cotton to see if I could remember how to do it. I used to crochet many years ago but have my own way of doing it so I thought it prudent not to teach Kirby my bad habits. I managed to do the above triple flower. Not the neatest effort but I enjoyed doing it and will continue to practise. Kirby was a little wiser than me and used a larger hook and wool and. as you can see, her flower is a lot neater than mine! Thank you Lynn for your patience.

I am back to stitching the second part of miniature blue - part 1 *here* - but not enough to show a picture! 

After the bad weather the sun is shining today and although it's still extremely cold we have decided to take a change and take Hector for a walk.

Thanks for visiting

Take care