Quite a Satisfying Weekend

Well, this was a good weekend. Not only did the weather behave remarkably well (and far better than advertised), but I managed to finish Busy Bee (hurrah!) AND frame Mum's Heart II (double hurrah!) and also spend a good deal of time in the garden, which I find quite rewarding. Also, FIL was over from Ireland and we all went to watch the Heineken Cup Final at Twickenham on Sunday which was a lovely day out.




So, first to Busy Bee. The photo unfortunately hasn't come out all that well, but this design, by The Sweetheart Tree, was done on 32ct cream fabric with DMC threads, Mill Hill beads and a bee charm (not the bespoke ST one, but one I found that was the right size as was finding it difficult to track down the one that was called for) and some crystal paillettes (again, not the 'proper' ones but some Gutermann substitutes which are just fine). I love the twirly delicate backstitched vines on this one, I think they turned out beautifully (if I do say so myself!). I have a couple more Sweetheart Tree designs in my stash, so will definitely dig those out - they are so quick to finish (this design is about 2.5 inches across and 8 inches high).




Also, I framed MIL's A Mother's Heart. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to come over this weekend as originally planned as they are off to Australia tomorrow, and thus she had a million and one things to sort out before they left, and there wasn't time for everything. So FIL is going to take it back to MIL and I guess we might get a call tonight when FIL gets home. Hopefully she will like it!




I spent a good deal of Saturday in the garden - we only have a small L-shaped raised bed in an otherwise paved garden, but there was enough to keep me busy for most of the day. I was happily weeding, forking over, adding topsoil, pulling out some of the horrible plants left by previous owners, pruning, planting a new clematis (it's a gorgeous mostly-white-but-faintly-pink colour with striking purple stamens, and I of course forgot to take a photo of it), and planting a dozen or more different types of seeds - since it is our first growing season at the new house, I'm mainly planting loads of annuals until I decide what I want to do with it more permanently. Meanwhile, H and FIL watched the *yawn* FA Cup Final. So everyone was happy! Below are some photos of the (old) clematis already in the garden. I can't remember exactly what it's called.

Tendrils and a Frame-up

Wow, what a weekend! We went over to Dublin for H's surprise 30th party, and we had a fantastic time. He had no clue (men don't, do they) and thought that we were just going out for a nice quiet dinner with the family. We did do that, but then we got him to the local pub, which we'd spent the day decorating with balloons, streamers, banners and a photo montage of H's first 30 years. All sorts of family and friends turned up, and it was a great night! I was especially glad to get my hands on a few of the more embarrassing photos from his younger years :)



I didn't do any stitching at the weekend as I was revelling in my role as bossy party coordinator, but picked up my needle once again on our return home. I've been working away at Busy Bee fairly steadily recently, as one of my April goals was to finish it, and it seems a shame to not make a concerted effort to achieve my goals in the very first month I have ever set any. You can see from the photo that I've got on really well, finishing the pulled thread band all the way down through the tendrils and to the pair of eyelets, which are technically a row of their own, although they will be surrounded with yet more tendrils and a diamond with one last bee. Then I've just to attach the paillettes, which will be a new one for me, and the small bee charm at the top.

The frames I ordered for my two Mum's Heart projects also arrived yesterday, so I spent some time framing up the first (and completed) Mum's Heart for my mum - it's to be a mother's day gift for her. Although Mother's Day is in March here in the UK, I generally wait until May to give Mum gifts and cards as she's back in Canada. It took an hour or so, with lots of tugging and un-sticking my fingers from tape, but the result is beautiful and I'm really pleased with it! As usual, I won't post the photos yet until I've actually given it to Mum, but we've only 3 sleeps until our trip to Vancouver Island, so it won't be long before I'll finally upload all those, including progress on Mum's Heart II, which is for H's Mum's birthday, only a couple of days after Mothers' Day back home. I know that my mum-in-law only logs on to her email once every six months, so the chances of her stumbling across photos of her gift are pretty minimal!

Buzzing along

Another glorious weekend in ol' Blighty - spring is really here and the weather has been amazingly bright and warm. It's actually a bit uncomfortable sleeping at night, which is unknown in April in these parts.

We spent Friday night madly cleaning the house from top to bottom - we were having a small dinner party on Saturday night so of course all the little jobs that had been stacking up over the week suddenly became priority urgent. It doesn't matter how mouth watering your chicken wrapped in parma ham is if your bathroom sink has the remnants of last night's toothpaste stuck to the rim; your scrummy pots au chocolat are forgotten in light of the large tear-shaped red wine stain on the hall carpet. So it was off to work scrubbing high and dusting low, spray bottle of Flash in my hip holster. Next time, I vow to keep on top of these jobs so that there isn't a mad panic next time we have people over for dinner. (Really.)

After the success of Saturday's dinner, our happily stuffed guests headed off bright and early on Sunday morning, leaving us to tidy up the mountains of dishes/crystal/silver/trays/pots/every single useable piece of crockery, and then I spent a happy few hours on Busy Bee - progress to your left - while H sat and watched several hours of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. He finds it compelling viewing, dare I say addictive. I, however, cringe and try to block my ears every time Ty starts talking/bellowing, and poke fun at the poor people who get their homes re-built. It's not very nice of me, I know, but I find it so hokey and sickeningly Hallmark-sentimental. Anyway, luckily I can concentrate on my stitching and can ignore the programme for hours on end, which is a key skill when they run an 'Extreme Sunday' and it's on for endless hours.

Only 11 days until we head off for Vancouver Island - I absolutely cannot wait! First, there is the small matter of H's 30th this weekend, so a short trip to Dublin is booked and family ready for a small knees-up.