Progress

Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.

 Khalil Gibran

It was another beautiful sunny day yesterday.  In the morning we pop up to the local garden centre taking MIL with us - we wanted some bags of compost and MIL wanted some Primulas for her garden.  I was also looking to see if I could find a suitable plant for mum and dad's Diamond wedding anniversary - I had hoped there would be a rose for this occasion but sadly not at that garden centre.  We also enjoyed the obligatory hot drink and cake LOL.

Once we were back home we did some tidying up in the garden and then it was time to settle down with the Cornwall Cottage Sampler.

I think I made up for not stitching last week and managed to complete page 9 and also make plenty of progress on page 10 too.  I managed to complete the small motif on the far left, lots of the alphabet and another motif just below the alphabet.

I am so pleased with how this is coming along and I am hopeful of another page completion this month if I am able to get plenty of stitching time over the next two Sundays.  When you think of it like that it makes the time seem to rush by.  I'm not sure if Barbi and Kati are still working on theirs but I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this and am thankful for them introducing me to this lovely piece.

I hope all my followers have also enjoyed a wonderful weekend.

Gentle Spring's around the corner,
      Waiting just to show her face
      And to bring us flowers and sunshine;
      Winter's almost run his race!
Be not, then, my friends, discouraged
      That there's cold and ice and sleet;
      For Springtime soon will be with us,
      And the flowers we will greet:
Daffodils, so bright and yellow,
      Hyacinths of varied hues,
      As they nod their heads, in gladness,
      Telling us they bring good news...
~Gertrude Tooley Buckingham, "Springtime" (1940s)

What a wonderful weekend it has been so far, blue skies and sunshine.  We made the most of it yesterday and took a trip to Devonport Park.  It was wonderful seeing lots of lovely flowers, wildlife and children playing happily in the park.

Even this little chap was happy enough for me to get close enough to let me take his photo while he snacked on his winter stash.

It was so lovely we were even able to sit outside the park cafe and enjoyed a cup of coffee while taking in the wonderful Spring sunshine.

When we got back home DH cut the grass and I was able to sit and enjoy some time working on March's Joyful World.  I am just over halfway to completion and I hope to get it finished within the next couple of days.

In the evening we went for a meal at Quay 33 with MIL, BIL and his fiancee which MIL treated us to as a belated Christmas treat.  A wonderful evening and a great way to finish off a fantastic day.

Vegetable growing.

It's been quite a few years since I have grown any vegetables but while shopping with mum the other day I picked up this magazine which had some seeds with it and I thought I would give it another go this year.  It's always so much nicer eating home grown produce.

I made a cake once using courgettes as one of the main ingredients and it was delicious so I already now what I will be able to do with one of the vegetables and I know they are easy enough to grow.  I'm not sure how successful I will be with the other vegetables but it will be fun trying to grow them.

Gorgeous stitching stash

Some gorgeous fabrics and thread were delivered by my postie today.  I bought them from The Crafty Kitten, one of them is the mystery box with February's colour selection.  You can choose your fabric and the fabric count but I asked to be surprised and left the decision with Dawn.  I got a lovely piece of 28 count Jazlyn in a beautiful Amethyst colour - it's so pretty.  Also in the mystery box is a skein of Classic Colorworks in Pixie Dust, a skein of Dinky Dies, some Kreinik metallic thread and some beautiful Mill Hill glass pebble beads.  Everything is beautifully colour co-ordinated.

I had also ordered a couple of smaller pieces of fabric for a couple of future projects, one of them being an engagement present which I will start on once the baby sampler is complete.  One is a piece of 28 count Jobelan in Icicle and the other is 28 count Lugana in Champagne Bubbles.  I also ordered some of Crafty Kittens own hand dyed thread to try out in Raspberry Crush and Lavender Skies.

Having worked with Dawn's fabrics before I know I will enjoy working with these and it will be nice to try out some different threads too.

Some bunnies making an appearance

A cold and windy day yesterday, Max and I got blown along on our morning walk.  As I didn't go down to Scrapbook Magic it meant I had some time to sit in the warmth of my house and work on the baby sampler.  I have almost completed one of the corner motifs where two cute little bunnies are resting - perhaps they are taking shelter from the winter wind.

I received the Winter copy of Punch Needle & Primitive Stitcher throught the post today which I browsed through while enjoying a break from stitching and warming my hands with a nice cup of coffee.  There are a couple of lovely designs in there from some of my favourite primitive designers - The Snowflower Diaries and Nikyscreations.  More designs to add to my stitching list LOL.

Reading Material

I was reading a book... 'the history of glue' - I couldn't put it down. Tim Vine

 

I finished the Valentine's Card last month so I chose this one to read from my collection of purchases last month.  Again it's by an author I had not heard of before and I am just a few chapters in and so far it's been keeping me interested.  I'm hoping I will like it as it came as part of a two book pack and so I have the next book lined up in the series to read.

I have almost completed Lamentation at work, I think that will be finished in the next couple of weeks so my reading is going well this year.

Short and sweet from me today as I am feeling a little under the weather, so much so I didn't feel up to making the journey down to Scrapbook Magic :(

One man's trash.....

My friend has been having a bit of a sort out and was going to get rid of two decorative storage holders - I was more than happy to take them off her hands and use them to store my collection of jars in.

 All I have to do now is decide which wall to ask DH to put them on in the craft room.

I managed to do a little bit of stitching before going into work this morning - the heron from Joyful World is now wading in some water.

It's going to be a busy week so I'm not sure how much time I will actually have for stitching this week but any spare time must be devoted to the baby sampler.