Philip and Clare's wedding

It's been a while so I thought I'd drop by with an update on the wedding sampler and a few pictures from the day itself.

Well Phil and Clare are back from honeymoon today and the present still isn't finished. I've had a busy few weeks and haven't found much time for stitching but it's getting there and I'm confident that it won't be long until I'm crossing the finishing line on this one. Here is the progress so far.
I have just a couple more bands to go and it will be ready to go to the framer.

Here is a picture of the happy couple. It was a lovely ceremony and a beautiful day.
I don't often show pictures of me as I'm not very photogenic but what the hell here is one of me and my lovely Nan.And of course in the interests of keeping up the recent foot theme, here are the shoes that kept me bopping all night on the dance floor.

Sampler Progress

Well the wedding is Friday and sadly I'm only just over half way through the sampler. Here is my progress so far.I might just get one or two more bands added in the next couple of days, but the present giving will have to wait until the happy couple return from their honeymoon.

Cotswold Countryside

As promised in my Hailes Abbey post it's time to share some pictures from a 6 mile walk that I took through the countryside around the Abbey. I was blessed with a beautiful day and the walk took me through beautiful fields and charming Cotswold villages.

The starting point for my walk was this lovely little Church at Hailes, from this point I struck out along some quiet country lanes where this ivy covered letter box caught my eye.

The notice says that there are regular collections from this box, but the ivy seems to indicate otherwise, lol.

It wasn't long before I left the lanes and was striding through the beautiful cotswold countryside, where I met a wonderful local man out walking his dog. He asked me all about where my walk was taking me and told me about his recent walking holiday with his daughter, its nice that you can still find places where people will stop and share the time of day with you.

Leaving the fields I walked through the lovely little village of Didbrook, I just loved this gate which formed the entrance to St George's church.

And this wonderful door within a door with it's beautiful faded patina and metal lock.

Through the village it was back to the fields to join part of the Cotswold way footpath, climbing up the hill was hard work but worth it for the views over the countryside.

Look at this wonderful scene is there anything which says English countryside more?

Walking in the countryside can be pretty hazardous though, I had to battle my way past this beast, the guardian of the gate, in order to finish my journey. :)

And of course I can't tell you about a walk without sharing a now obligatory picture of my feet. :)

Oyster Catcher

Did I ever tell you that my favourite bird is the Oyster Catcher? I fell in love with them a couple of years ago when holidaying in Scotland, they were every where!

Well check this out, I found him in a local craft shop and he just had to come right home with me. Isn't he charming?

Sampler

My sleeping habits aren't getting any better so here I am blogging at silly o'clock again :) I am working on something new. My cousin is getting married next week, at the very last minute I decided to try and stitch a gift.

Here is my progress so far on a little sampler pattern that I found in a magazine.
I've been working on this for a week and am less than half way through. As the wedding is next Friday I don't think it is going to get done on time! Nevermind hopefully it won't be too far behind the actual day.
I'm really enjoying the mix of stitching, and its the first time I've worked on evenweave which is proving to be hard on my ageing eyes, lol. Still I like the way it's turning out so hopefully it will be worth it. (Sorry for the blurry photos I'll try and get some better ones when it's finished.)

Hailes Abbey

A few weeks ago I managed to sell my old car for scrap, I didn't get much for it but it was enough to be able to treat myself to a day out. So off I went to the beautiful Cotswold countryside for the day.

I decided to visit the beautiful ruins of Hailes Abbey, a Cistercian Abbey built in the 1240's.
As you can see from these couple of pictures it was a beautiful blue sky and sunshine day and there was hardly anyone else there, so I got to wander round in peaceful enjoyment.
I didn't actually take many pictures in the end, but from the museum I loved the medieval floor tiles.
And the beautiful vaulting bosses. Here is one which portrays Christ as a spiritual Samson rending the lion's jaw. After visiting the Abbey I went for a wonderful walk through the surrounding countryside but I'll tell you about that another day. Today the sun is shining again so I'm not going to waste another minute at the computer.....

Poppies

I couldn't sleep so figured rather than lying in bed waiting for the alarm to go off I'd just get up and do some blogging instead.
Fanfare please ... yep your eyes are not deceiving you I actually finished a stitching project!!!

It's taken me ages as I still am struggling to find the enthusiasm for stitching that I had before but I'm sure it will come back eventually. Anyway I got there in the end. The stitching on the petals is not as free as I would have liked but I guess embroidery is like anything else, practise makes perfect and I haven't done much lately so have gotten a bit rusty.
I couldn't do a post about poppies without including a couple of snaps that I took of some of the wild road side poppies which have been glorious this year, and, are what inspired me to pick up the needle and start stitching on this kit in the first place.

Time Flies

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly time seems to slip by at the moment. They say that time flies when you are having fun, sadly I'm not having too much of that but it's flying anyway...

Thankfully there are some good days mixed in with the bad and my garden escape was definitely up there among the good. It's been a few weeks since then so I'm a bit behind the times but whose keeping tabs? ..
The weather was kind to me, plenty of sun so I really did get to spend my days outdoors getting away from it all in my little garden paradise....
.....eating good food and generally enjoying being lazy.......

....while I may not have had anyone to share my days with I was never really alone...... And as I have been showing you my feet quite a lot recently (don't ask me why as anyone who knows me knows I hate feet, lol) I couldn't leave you wondering what I was wearing when skipping round my garden retreat...

The Simple Things

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted and I have plenty to share, I've been trying to take time to enjoy the simple things. So coming soon will be some pictures from my garden getaway, a couple of walks that I've taken and an update on the poppies that I have been working on, but, for the moment a bad back is keeping me from sitting at the computer for too long.

Now it's just a quick hello and a couple of pictures of some beautiful flowers that I was given by a new friend, a thoughtful and unexpected gift.

If you have been reading for a while you know that orange is my colour. These beautiful blooms make me smile to my very soul.

Getting away from it all

For the last few weeks I have really been feeling the need to get away from it all, to venture to places new, to see things I've never seen before. Unfortunately finances are such that at the moment it is not destined to happen. Still undeterred I have decided to take the rest of the week off and will be getting away from it all in my own back garden.

I plan to spend the next few days sitting by the lighthouse, watching ships sail across the pond....frolicking with fairies under the toadstools..........

sharing ancient secrets with the green man .......

and when the dark of night comes I'll be dancing with the moths by candlelight.

Whatever you happen to be doing for the next few days I hope it brings you joy..............

Birds, Flowers and Zombies

At last something creative, it's been a while.....

I'm still struggling to get myself out of the doldrums but have been trying to get back to some of the things that I have always enjoyed, some of the things that have distracted my from difficult times in the past.

So for the last few weeks I have been working on a cross stitch post card that I owed for a swap which ended back in January. Thankfully my swap partner has been very patient with me.I picked a pattern from a magazine that I bought a while back. I didn't have the colours required to follow the chart exactly so I just used some left overs from a couple of my Mum's projects that I finished up last year. I don't know why but the colours and the background reminded me of twilight so I finished the card off with a piece of blue dotty ribbon which I thought could be representative of a starry sky.

I have enjoyed getting back to stitching but I don't have the same passion for it as I had before, but that can be said for pretty much everything in my life at the moment. I'm hoping it will come back in time and meanwhile I am determined to keep using needle and thread. So I have started on a small kit I bought on Ebay a while back.I do a lot of driving round for my work and at the moment there are lots of wonderful wild poppies all over the place growing magnificent red by the roadsides. I'm so out of practise with my stitching I don't think I will be quite able to do justice to their wild beauty but I will carry on regardless and hopefully my enjoyment of the process will shine through enough to redeem the finished picture.

I couldn't leave today without changing the subject wildly. I just had to tell you about this fabulous, funny book I am reading at the moment. Well worth buying for the cover alone, never mind the imagery of the Bennet sisters being commanded to form a 'pentagram of death' by Mr Bennet in the pursuit of a bit of zombie slaying, love it!

Brean

I know two posts in as many weeks, nothing short of a miracle at the rate I have been posting recently!!

We had a beautiful day today with lots of sunshine, the perfect excuse to seek out some sea air. So I took myself to the downs and the sand at Brean today. I started nice and early and had a lovely walk over the downs with barely another soul in sight.
The steps which take you to the downs are certainly a good way to get the heart going at the start of the walk, but once at the top it's reasonably level with just a couple of small summits which are easily conquered. Bluebells and buttercups cover the down at this time of year. There are plenty of other wildflowers, butterflies and birds to be seen too. You might remember the picture of my snow covered boots from a few posts ago. Well I couldn't resist snapping another when I saw these buttercups glowing at my feet. Look at my poor worn out walking boots, I think it will be time for a new pair soon. There is a view out to the little isle of Steep Holm from the top of one of those summits I was telling you about. This is the highest point of the downs, only 97m which is pretty tiny in the scheme of things.

At the very tip of the downs are the remains of a fort which was first built in the 1870s, the defences were re-armed during the two world wars. I love how nature is reasserting itself here now.

The Officers Mess now appears to have found some new residents.

After my tramp over the downs I ambled along the beach for a few hours enjoying the blue skies and sunshine.... ...no boots required.

Whatever you are up to this weekend, I hope you have a good one!

Talking Trash

Well another few weeks have passed by and I still haven't managed to get back to anything creative. I'm sure it will come, I'm starting to get a few ideas but just not the confidence or motivation to get started on anything yet.

Instead, for the sake of having something to post, I thought I'd share a couple of things that I did at the very beginning of the year but in all the upheaval never got round to posting.

2008 was a difficult year in my personal life for a reason that I won't share here, but suffice to say I was left very shook up by one event, for most of the year I wandered round in a daze but didn't realise it until I finally 'woke up' in the weeks before Christmas. I had begun to feel like the old me again, full of dreams and plans for adventure, I was so convinced that 2009 was going to be one of the best that I planned to commemorate it in the best way I know how, stitch.

This was going to be the centre-piece.

I also made this from a mini kit which I thought would be perfect to symbolise the dawn of the new year and the start of my journey to really find myself and happiness again.

I planned to make more patches like the cockerel to add to this to commemorate all of the good things that happened this year. It seemed like a good idea at the time, already I had a trip to Cornwall to celebrate, a surprise trip to Rome that I'd booked, plans for Marrakesh and of course summer camping trips to look forward to. As well as the prospect of every day joys to record, maybe a beautiful sunset or the blooming of beautiful spring flowers.......

In just a few short days that all came crashing down around me, part of me feels like an idiot even sharing this with you now, I feel foolish for having dreamed so high and now to have been bought so low.

I'm sure the cockerel will be recycled in to a different project sometime in the future, as for 2009, well it's certainly not a year to be celebrated so that piece will be shredded and added to the trash.