Train journey stitching and reading

Yesterday we caught the train up to Barnstaple for the model railway exhibition being held there and to have a wander around the shops.  I always like to keep myself occupied on the journey so took along the Cross Stitcher magazine and the kit that came free this month to stitch.  I should have really made a start on a Christmas decoration but was not organised enough and so grabbed the kit which was close to hand. 

I worked on this one on the train from Plymouth to Exeter and again on the return from Exeter and Plymouth and managed to complete almost half of the design.  On the train from Exeter to Barnstaple and the return journey I made a start on the next book in The Little Village series.

I made good progress with my reading and I am almost a third of the way through, this is such a lovely series.

I did take some photos at the exhibition.

We explored some of the streets we didnt go round when we were on holiday in May and came across this cobbled street and at the end of the street was this sweet coffee shop which was previously a school.

Alice Horwood was the wife of Thomas Horwood who was the mayor of Barnstaple on two occasions.  

We also came across one of the old stations at Barnsaple which is now used as a school.  

Apparently my reliable source tells me Barnstaple used to have three stations, this one, now a school, Barnstaple Junction which is the one still in use and Barnstaple Victoria which is now used as a church.  

Two finishes

Yippee I've finally finished Julys Joyful World SAL.   Another of Julys objectives completed, not sure if I will get the Christmas ornament done in time but I will give it a go.

My second finish is the second in the Little Village School series.  Another fabulous easy read where the story continued.  I posted the first one over to Kay to read, I'm not sure if it has arrived in Australia yet but I  hope when it does Kay enjoys it as much as I did.  I'm already looking forward to starting the next one in the series.

Under my nose

Remember the green thread that seemed to have gone astray?  Well it turns out it was in my thread project box after all.  The confusion lies in the fact that I was looking at the chart and seeing a pale green symbol but it turns out the thread was more of a yellow green.  If I'd  taken more notice of the thread number rather than the colour on the chart I wouldn't have wasted so much time trying to find it LOL.  At least I  can now finish it today.

Naughty new stash acquisition arrived on Wednesday.   I ordered myslef some Paper Artsy Infusions to have a play with.  They are similar to Brushos and I think I will have fun trying them out.

Wednesday craft group

Today is Chocolate Day - mmm maybe I  could force myself to join in with the celebrations today. 

Yesterday evening Hazel joined our Wednesday craft group which is generally held at Moyas each week.  It was lovely to introduce Hazel to our craft group and also nice to see her wonderful colouring.  I hope you'll join us again Hazel.

I worked on the Joyful World SAL and have almost finished the month of June.   I have just a small section of the border to do and some green on the flowers but the green thread is alluding me. 

I am hoping the thread will make an appearance before the end of the month which is fast approaching!

Amazing Agapanthus

In our front garden at the moment we have the most amazing display of white Agapanthus.  They never fail to deliver gorgeous blooms every year no matter how many times they are divided and relocated.

Thankfully they are not troubled by the slugs and snail's that visit from time to time.

The hydrangea in the background is courtesy of our next door neighbours and adds a lovely splash of colour to our bland drive wall!

MAMBI 365 Happy Planner v Plum Paper Planner

Last year some of you might remember I  purchased my first planner from Plum Paper and was eager to embrace the planner society.  I was really pleased with the quality of the planner but at the end of June I decided to try out another brand of planner - the Mambi 365 planner.  I am a month into using this new planner and feel this one is much better for me.  What are the differences?

1.  Design - Happy Planner comes in a variety of designs.  Plum Paper also have a variety of designs to choose from which can also be personalised with your name, initials, etc.

2.  Page layout - Happy Planner pages are vertical days which are sub divided into morning, afternoon,evening segments.  Plum Paper you can choose from four different page layouts to suit.

3.  Pages - Happy Planner pages all have some decoration or quote on the bottom of the pages and the monthly dividers are also decorated or have quotes.  Plum Paper have minimal divider decoration.

4.  Binding - Happy Planner they are spiral rings decorated with a heart and the pages can be removed as you work on them.  Plum Paper is spriral bound but the 

pages can not be removed sometimes making decorating them a little more difficult.

5.  Add ons - Happy Planner has a variety of co-ordinating stickers, washi tape, covers, extension pages, etc.  Plum Paper has blank stickers and additional extension pages.

Which planner do I prefer?  I am loving the Happy Planner and think this is far more me. I'm using a combination of papers and embellishments from my stash and some stickers from shops dedicated to planner stickers on Etsy.  My Happy Planner is very aptly named as it is making me very happy decorating it and planning my weeks out every Sunday. 

Sundays progress

Yesterday morning I met up with my friend Moya and we paid a quick visit to The Range where I had wanted to pick up another die folder case but they didn't have any so I will have to try the other one while I  am out with mum on Wednesday.  

In the afternoon I was able to spend a considerable amount of time working on Landscape and managed to add another 639 stitches to it this week so I  am glad to be well on track for this months target.

Still a long way to go, I think I worked it out to be approximately 15,000 stitches left!

I've been in contact with Hazel  (who I met on Thursday ) today and we are going to meet up on Wednesday - she will be joining us at our craft night at Moyas - it will be a fun night which I hope she will enjoy very much.  Thanks to Darnell for another friend made.

A leisurely day

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

It was another glorious summer day yesterday and before I had my nails done we enjoyed a walk up to Plymouth Hoe and sat and enjoyed the sun.  it was lovely to see lots of families out enjoying the sunshine too and of course there seemed to be a lot of people looking for Pokemon.

From The Hoe we walked down to The Barbican and 

enjoyed a delicious ice cream from Langage Farm and sat by the Marina to soak up some vitamin D.

Our week off work is almost over but its been a very relaxing week with lots of nice memories.  Must confess I'm not entirely looking forward to going back to work as within a couple of days it will feel as though we've never been on leave!

Moving on at last

After unpicking the flower on July's Joyful World SAL on the train on Thursday I managed to correct the error just before we arrived in Taunton.  We then met up with Darnell at Wildwood for an early evening meal.  We also met Hazel of My Card Attic and her husband Graham (apologies if I've spelt his name wrong) and Pat of Colourful Card Creations and her husband Tony.  It turns out that Hazel also lives in our fair city and only a couple of miles from where we actually live - such a small world.

It was a wonderful evening and it was fabulous finally meeting Darnell and finding out more about her and her planned visit to the UK.  Thank you to everyone for a great time.

Yesterday after dropping his mummy off to work I took Harlee-Jay to Central Park.  He had fallen asleep by the time we had arrived so rather than disturbing him I left him to sleep and I did some more stitching on Joyful World and this is where I  finally move forward with this piece.  Fingers crossed there will be no more mistakes with this months.

Today is pamper day, I'm having my nails done.  I will be sad to see the ladybugs I had painted on them last time removed.  

Craft Sweet Craft

You may remember a while back I stitched this.

Well I finally got round to finishing it and I gave it to Darnell as part of a small 

package of gifts yesterday.

I used some green spotty fabric from my stash for the back covering.  I used this to finish it which was a simple but effective way of assembling it together.

I also wanted to share a cream tea with her but couldn't exactly have taken up the real thing so I  gave her this so she can enjoy one over and over again.

Sunshine stitching

On Tuesday afternoon I thought I'd make the most of the sunshine and sit out in our garden and add some stitches to my Landscape WIP.

I managed to add just under 50 stitches before I had to go indoors (because even though I hate to complain) it was way too hot!  

I did manage to add another 159 stitches once I got inside, there was a lot of confetti stitching in the last bit left on the left hand panel but thankfully it is now complete.   I did manage to add a few stitches to the central panel which I am hoping will stitch up much quicker as there isn't quite so much confetti.

I had great fun at the workshop at Scrapbook Magic yesterday.  All of the suitcases were made but I only managed to decorate one of them.  I will try and get them completed as soon as possible and hopefully have them ready to share with you soon.  For now though I will share Margarets photo of her suitcases.  I will be using completely different papers. 

They all stack nicely inside each other but I think it would be a shame to keep them like that.   They could be used to store a variety of items or mini albums could be made and put inside, a record of all your holiday travels maybe.

Today I am travelling up to Taunton to meet up with Darnell of djkardcreations along with some of her other friends and bloggers.  I am so excited at the prospect of finally meeting this kind and so amusing lady who has travelled over to our country to attend a crafting retreat in my home town of Swindon.  What is also so amazing about the retreat (which I'm not attending) is that it is a company from Australia who are doing the retreat.  The Happy Little Stampers are running their first UK retreat and I am sure they will have a great time and I hope to hear all about it from  Darnell on her blog.

A couple of makes to share

I thought I'd show you the stitched butterfly in it's  finished state and ready to be given to it's recipient.  I framed the stitched piece first making the frame from some recycled cardboard from a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates.  I used some of my scrap papers to decorate the frame and then made some tiny roses to add to the frame and some foliage.  I then added this to a cute little box frame which I picked up from The Range. This is how it turned out.

I also made this card, again using up some of my scraps - love the fresh colour of this one.  Once again I used two of my favourite SU flower stamp sets and coordinating punches.

It looks like we have picked a great week to have off from work, brilliant sunshine once again yesterday, boy was it hot!

Today I am travelling down to Mullion for what I know will be a fun workshop at Scrapbook Magic.  We are going to be making a set of suitcases.

Christmas in Padstow

We decided to pop down to Padstow yesterday so that I  could buy another decoration from Tidings the Christmas shop.

We also enjoyed a a short walk along the Camel Trail only going as far as this lovely iron bridge.

We sat and enjoyed the lovely views down the estuary and made the most of the sunshine enjoying the occasional breeze - it was an extremely hot day.

We also enjoyed a nice cold ice cream, Cornish Cream Tea flavour, very tasty.

We'd  left Max with my parents as we felt it was far too hot to take him, especially as he is a little devil for not drinking when he's out walking.  It felt strange out walking without him but I think we made the right decision.