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Last Thursday was an amazing day. We walked Hector along the seafront and the sea was as still and as calm as it possibly could be. The water and sky merged into one - so beautiful! I had forgotten to take my camera so this was a quick snap on my iPhone.

Because of the beautiful weather we've been having my stitching got neglected and I only managed to stitch a tiny part of Band 47 of my Randje per week SAL. Now I have 3½ bands to catch up as two new bands have just been released. I did however catch up on some reading and I have just downloaded a few more books onto my Kindle. 

I am already fed up with the football and there are, I think, 3 more weeks to go.

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Hurry hurry time is fast running out to enter into iStitch Designs giveaway of Sew Angelina chart complete with a kit for stitching as per the model. You have 5 days in which to enter. All you have to do is purchase one iStitch Design *here* and you have a chance to win. Purchase two charts and you will get two entries and so on. The kit contains a cut of gorgeous burgundy French linen with a spool of HDF white silk thread. 

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Here is an update of Camille Jullien SAL. Not too much progress - just the A-F of the larger alphabet.  I have no idea why the fabric looks so grey when it's actually an off-white. The scissors are Kelmscott's miniature gold storklets - aren't they just the cutest of scissors? These come in a variety of colours and are available *here*. Why not have a pair to co-ordinate with each of your projects you are stitching? After all you can never have too many pairs of scissors!

Our mini heatwave is almost over but I certainly enjoyed it while I could. I took a walk to the seafront at 4.30am one morning last week to see if I could get some sunrise pictures but alas there was too much cloud cover but the top left hand picture certainly shows how it might have been. It was so quiet at that time of the morning - no traffic and the only person I saw was a guy also waiting for some sunrise pictures! I returned later in the day for more pictures. 

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I made a start on Camille Jullien (Ouvrages des Dames) last night. The fabric (despite looking grey in the picture) is an off white 64ct  unevenweave linen; the thread is Glorianna's Tudor Silk in Bellagio Red #240 and the needle, placed to show exactly how tiny this stitching is, is a Bohin 28. This was extremely difficult to see even using a magnifier and under my ancient Ottlite so I may have to re-think this one before I go much further. I do like it but perhaps a smaller project might be better for this linen. I am going to try again in natural daylight and hopefully I will not find it as difficult to stitch. 

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It was a beautiful day yesterday so we took a walk along the seafront with Hector. I remembered to take my camera and took a few snaps to share. I also took a few pictures of Hector ... here's one of them.

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As you can see Hector is disabled and has been for the past 18-20 months. He is the loveliest little dog that you can imagine and is quite happy to go for a walk on his custom-made set of wheels. He is well known and many people stop to say hello to him and he is quite happy to pose for pictures! He does not have to be on a lead and is very obedient when told to wait to cross the road and waits quite patiently to be helped up the kerbs if they are too high for him to manage. He can go down steps but has to be carried up them. Isn't he the sweetest little dog?

Today is also a gorgeous day and my lounger and Kindle are ready and waiting so ...

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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.

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I was hoping to post an update of my SAL JHA 1905 piece today but didn't get round to stitching Part 5 last night. The reason being I was busy stitching the model of Sew Irish - the latest in the iStitch Designs range of tiny 'Sew' samplers. Above shows a 'sneak peek' and just wait til you see the 'surprise' in the bottom right hand corner! It's stitched 1*2 on 40ct Antique White Newcastle linen with a variegated green thread with a few colours thrown in the mix. I must admit (being Welsh) I am not a great St Patty's fan but I did enjoy both designing and stitching this one. It's due for release to US retailers at the Nashville show but will be available on the iStitch Designs blog shortly for those of you who prefer pdf files. I need to decide on a final finish and have in mind either a pinkeep or a cute little pillow. Sew Valentine will also be released once the model is stitched and finished. 

We had snow last weekend - I took a few pictures while the sun was out but then it turned really dark and snowed all day until the area turned into a winter wonderland. Can you see the beautiful castle in the background of picture 3? Surprisingly now the snow has completely disappeared. I can see that my Spring bulbs are already pushing their way up through the earth and have worked out that in approximately  6 or 7 weeks dear sweet Tommy will be awaking from his hibernation.  I will be pleased to see him!

Thank you to all those who supported my stash sale. Keep coming back as there will be more goodies listed shortly. If there is anything you are particularly looking for, please ask now as I just might have it in my stash and I may even be willing to part with it! I have discovered over the years that my taste has changed somewhat and things that I just 'had to have' at the time are not so important now and they are just cluttering up my limited space. I will be adding a Stash Sale button on the sidebar for easy access to the sale blog shortly. 

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Simone released Part 4 of the SAL JHA 1905 on yesterday and I could not wait to get it stitched up. I am so enjoying stitching this tiny little sampler on my favourite Gander linen with my favourite red silk floss! The scissors - Bohin Petites are a tiny 2¼" and can be purchased from Anita's Little Stitches *here* at a sale price of $16.90 so hurry hurry if you want to take advantage of this offer. 

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New Year's Day was a most beautiful day with plenty of sunshine even though it was rather cold. We decided to take a walk along the coast path to Kingsdown and I remembered to take my camera with me to take a few pictures. There was a charity fun run going on so we had to make sure not to get in their way!

Please click on the picture for a closeup view

The fishermen took the day off and their nets were piled up on the beach.

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I have posted a few pictures of Deal Castle *here* which is the castle we can see from our bedroom windows in the past but this is Walmer Castle and yes we are lucky enough to have two castles very close to our home. Walmer Castle was built by Henry VIII in 1539-1540 and is now the residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother visited here many times during her lifetime. If you want more information on Walmer Castle go *here*

And back to stitching - here is Mylene's version of iStitch Designs New Year freebie which she sent to me just recently. It is stitched on 28ct linen with DMC 115. What a pretty stitch and finish and thank you Mylene for allowing me to post this here. 

This freebie chart is still available *here* 

A quick update on my Aran knitting. The back, both sleeves, pockets are completed and one front side is nearly done. I have also knitted up the ribbing on the second side which I started at Stitch-n-Bitch as I didn't think I would concentrate on the pattern with so much chatter at our first meeting this year. I will post a picture shortly.

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On November 14 I posted a picture that I found on Pinterest asking if anyone knew anything about the chart (I thought it was an old Sajou chart). At the same time I emailed Chizue at Country Village who very kindly replied to tell me that this was from the SAL Pochette de brodeuse ABCD'Air *here*. I quickly went to the link and found the chart I wanted and here it is stitched up 1*1 on 15 fils (38ct) antique white Gander linen with Soie Surfine 2652. You can see how fine this silk thread is! For the scissors enthusiast I purchased these on eBay.fr last year or was it earlier this year - I cannot remember! I have not decided what to do with this teeny stitching - maybe a needlecase or a small pillow?

Click on the collage for a closeup view

We live close to the beach so yesterday we took a walk along the promenade and, this time,  I actually remembered to take my camera along. I had no idea why the bicycle was on the beach but discovered that in the summer months there is a 'bike hire' place there. The last picture shows Deal Castle and The Queens, an upmarket apartment block that stands on the site of the old Queens Hotel, a beautiful Victorian hotel see *here* which was still standing when I was a child. It burned down sometime in April, 1981. I rather like this picture showing old and new side by side.

Click on the collage for a closeup view

Also on our walk we passed by the Deal Memorial Bandstand which commemorates the 11 Royal Marines that died in the IRA bombing at the Marine Barracks on September 22, 1989. The names of the marines are listed around the sides. During the summer there is a weekly concert held here and is a very popular way to spend a Sunday afternoon. 

And back to stitching ... Marsha of Everybody Love Clark recently sent me her stitched version of iStitch Designs 2010 Christmas freebie. It is stitched on a miscellaneous 40ct linen with Belle Soie silk threads. A very pretty finish - thank you Marshal for allowing me to share this here.

This free chart is available *here*

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Elisabetta from Punto E Virgola sent me a picture of the pinkeep she stitched using the Sew Easy free chart. She chose to use Andrea's colour scheme of black and red on 28ct white linen. Very pretty Elisabetta and thank you for allowing me to show this on my blog.

Sew Easy is still available for free *here* or by clicking on the CHARTS button on the sidebar and while you are visiting please check out my other designs. Sew Red, Sew Blue and Sew Autumn are all available free with any purchase.

When Valie was visiting we took a walk along Deal seafront and the pier so my pictures here are 'fishing' related. The statue is one that stands at the front of the pier - I think it's rather strange - we have a nickname for it which I cannot divulge here as it's named after Ken's old boss and his wife! Check out that pink fishing rod - it was unattended but I assume it belongs to a female rather than a male fisherman!

Yesterday it rained all day so I took the opportunity of having a 'stitching day'. Sew Sew is almost stitched and if the black Soie Surfine arrives from France today, I will be able to put in the final stitches but ... this afternoon I have an appointment with the dentist and I think I will be having a tooth pulled. I am not looking forward to this :'(

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No stitching pictures to show you so here's a picture of a storm over Deal pier. I love storms and would love to go storm chasing!

I'm in a stitching slump and I can't get into anything. I'm a quarter way through Sew Seasons (a combination of the iStitch seasons charts). I have a few finishes to do but I'm waiting on skirtex to come from the US and I have no idea when it will arrive. Hopefully it won't be too long now as the planes have started to fly again after the Icelandic volcano. I started a gift and I really don't like it so it's been thrown to one side. I am tempted to start a little red sampler as I find these soothing to stitch on but ... 

Stitching aside, I am a little excited that a dear friend is coming to visit for a couple of days but at the same time I am sad that Kirby is leaving to go back to Uni at the beginning of next week. I really miss her when she's away and even though we catch up on Facebook, emails and texting, it's not the same. 

My computer is still temperamental - somedays it works just fine and other days it drives me mad with the applications taking ages to open and I'm left looking at a spinning beachball. 

Ok my moan is over - it's gone mid-night and I'm going to bed but I have made a decision - tomorrow I will start Sew Sew and stitch it in red, or maybe black, or maybe red and black - see how decisive I am?

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