more fish lady bird

I can now show the most recent piece of work its was made as a birthday gift for my sister. The background is my backing fabric but the right way around


I stitched around the fish on the backing fabric so they show on the front



The backing fabric I spotted by chance in our local Boyes store.
The cross stitch is coming along slowly too many quarter stitches for my liking. I think you can now see what it is now.

Grace almost has her new cardi!
Last year I did not see one lady bird in our garden. yesterday I saw two and they were different types, here is one of them

Not a very good photo as the breeze was blowing and I do not have a very good zoom. The other one had disappeared before I came back with the camera.

That's it I think

bits and pieces

Another week of mixed weather. On Sunday Biddle and I took a walk to the allotment to see how it was all progressing. You can see the part the council had cleared has all grown up again. The only consolation is that the bees are benefiting.


Biddle still has his eye on rhubarb pie or jelly despite it being the first year. Maybe i could pinch him a tidy bit!


The greedy starlings had been eating most of the fat balls put out for the little birds. They are such messy eaters and drop bits on the ground which means the pigeons are attracted to our front. Tia spends most of the morning peering at them through the window. They have the temerity to sit on the outside sill and peer back. Eventually she tries a token pounce. They ornaments have been replaced with a couple of bears that will not break the window. Could not resist this little fella sitting sunning himself



The fish is finished I think. It is going to hang on the outside of the bathroom door as our bathroom has a sea theme.

I have attempted to add a stitched border. Not the best attempt but I am learning.


The backing is actually inside out which started as a mistake and then I decided I liked the muted shades


My stitching is coming along the second picture may give more of a clue



The most boring knitting has got to be button bands. Seven stitches of k1p1 back and forth. It is not progressing all that fast either. When I started knitting all those years ago the patter gave instructions for the placement of button holes. Now they expect you to do the button band first and work it out. Just a little niggle!

I wonder if you can help I am still using the old blogger when I tried to switch to the new one I found that the tool bar does not have the icons for uploading photographs does anyone know why that should be. Perhaps its another mac thing.

Thanks for popping by and especially if you leave a comment.

sport sport sport!

Unlike most women this will not upset me in the slightest. I have always loved watching sport. My dilemma will be which to watch, although I will not be watching cricket because we no longer have Skye sport. Today I shall be switching between tennis and football. One on the radio the other on tv. I think perhaps the sound of the vuvuzela will drive me mad before the final! Biddle has his munchies ready for all events.


I found this growing among some plants have not a clue how it got there

but there are several others dotted about the garden. I think the birds have something to do with it.


The owl is finished and would have been posted today but I did not realised the post office is shut on Friday afternoons. I am pleased with the result. If the chart had not been so difficult to see I would have enjoyed stitching it.

So what am I stitching now? I thought I better look through the things in the stash that have been neglected for longer than I care to think about. Here is a little clue.

If you can guess you will deserve a small prize!

I have almost finished the fish but ran out of cotton for the border. Grace almost has a cardigan more pictures next week.

You ay notice a comment where you comment. I had to delete a comment because someone had used the comments to post a link to their business and nothing else. Cheek!

I have no problem if you link to your blog or site as part of a genuine comment

in the sunshine

A lovely sunny morning and Biddle and Grace have taken advantage of it and sat on the garden bench. I joined them, coffee and reading and then a bit of knitting before it got too warm


you can just see my bit of shade.

We had an enjoyable weekend. Libby came on Sunday bearing more gifts


there was also a very tasty coffee and walnut cake but somehow it was eaten before I
could photograph it. The little purse with the cord is for my mobile phone. I love note books and can never have too many although I am never sure what to write in them.
On Monday we went to Headingly to the Roses match. Lancashire had a huge score, Yorkshire too many wickets but an altogether enjoyable day. The following day was rained off so the match ended as a draw.

There has been great excitement on the bedroom feeders. A young starling was being fed by a parent bird who then flew off. The baby stayed and I managed to get some photographs






All of my projects are coming along nicely. Grace just needs sleeves for her new cardigan, the fish hanging needs a new reel of cotton, and the owl just needs outlining.

Everything in the garden is growing madly and I planted some bedding plants yesterday. Not sure what is happening at the allotment since the weekend.


but is how it looked on Sunday.


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