Dangly things

I thought I had better give an example of a dangly thing






Here are two bird ones. The green/yellow one hangs in the kitchen and the purple one up here in my work room. The first one of these I made was in Christmas colours and comes out in the festive season and hangs in the main room. That is replaced for the rest of the year by some elephants.






here is a close up


I string them on

Anchor perle

number 5 cotton floss in a suitable colour and thread beads between each one.

I am hoping my order from Sew and so will come today and then I will be already for the SAL tomorrow.

Its 29th February today and John informed me, he (and many others) are working for free as he gets paid 365 days a year and this year has an extra day.

Cross stitch SAL

Yesterday we were woken up by UK earthquake tremorIt didn't cause us any damage thank goodness

I am participating in a cross stitch SAL with members of a group I belong to. I have chosen Waiting for Santa a Bent Creek snowman.




My secret work is coming along nicely and I have almost finished a series of cats that I am going to make into a dangly thing.

I am participating in a doll challenge too. We were given the basic doll pattern and have to turn it into a Goth doll. So I have to design her some clothes myself. I don't know how I will get on with that!

Mixed weather

Its been a week of mixed weather here. At the beginning of the week it was cold with temperature of -6C degrees at night and hovering around zero during the day with a touch of snow Tuesday night and then suddenly it turned milder but the wind is blowing a gale.

The exciting part of this has been we have had unexpected birds in our garden, well back yard. We only ever used to see pigeons and magpies. When we first got the bird feeder last year we were visited by sparrows and the odd blue tit or two. But this week we have seen two thrushes a pair of blackbirds with thoughts of nesting and a lovely robin.


Can you see him? I was taking pictures from the kitchen window and only have a basic camera.

I have been busy with my secret sewing! and have also made the hands for Mother Nature 2. She is progressing slowly as I want to choose the best fabrics for her leaves.

Some years ago I participated in a swap with other cross stitchers we all stitched themed squares and th eidea was to make a friendship quilt with the squares we were sent. I had a look at all mine today but have no idea how what to do with them. They all need cutting to the same size before I do anything with them and the thought of cutting them and making a mistake ...
So I stuck them all back in the drawer for another day!

Half term

Its been a busy half term for me. I have just finished my temporary contract and will be back on supply teaching for the rest of the school year which I am not looking forward too. The last week at school brought an OFSTED inspection, (least said the better) which we all survived unscathed.
I came home on the last day with enough flowers to start a florists and some very nice wine and chocolates.




The week has rushed by and I vowed not to do anything schooly until next week. I have budgeted for another week at home.

I have done a little more of Mother Nature and started a wall hanging but this will not be mentioned too much as I hope it will turn out good enough to give as a gift.

John and I had an enjoyable Valentine's day he bought me two china cats and a book about the periodic table (some thing that has always fascinated me) we went to a lunchtime concert at the university, preceded by an exhibition at Cartwright Hall. Afterwards we had lunch at the local Thai restaurant. We finished off our cultural day at Gallery 1

I have just finished a piece of stitching. It was a gift included in a swap I did back in the summer and it fits extremely well in a tuck cushion that I was given around the same time so is that for a coincidence?



and this is the back of the cushion