A finish and a new start

"BOOKS ARE A UNIQUELY PORTABLE MAGIC" Stephen King

Not stitching but reading material.  Yesterday I managed to finish the second book in The Plague trilogy by Louise Welsh which I found a better read than the first novel.  It will be interesting to see how the story pans out in the final novel.  Not sure if it is available yet so need to do some hunting for it.

My next read is a book that my friend Wynneth has lent to me.  It's called Christmas Fairytales by Nora Roberts another new author to me.  It looks like another easy read so looking forward to starting it this evening.

Not sure how well this post will come out as it's the first time I have tried using my tablet - so fingers crossed this has worked.

I'm all ears

Yesterday I managed to add just a few more stitches to April's Joyful World SAL.  I didn't have the recommended colour to finish off the carrot so made a start on the rabbit.  I managed to get his face and ears stitched.  I am hoping I will get more time to work on it today.

Thank you to everyone who sent me good wishes - I am feeling much better now.  Hopefully I can be a bit more productive this week.

Another 100 plus means

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
a cloud come over the sunlit arch,
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March."
-  Robert Frost, Two Tramps in Mud Time, 1926 

that I can now make a start on April for the Joyful World SAL.  I managed to get just over 100 stitches put into landscape before going into work yesterday so I was free to make a start on April.  Only nine stitches but it's a start.  I should get time to work on it over the weekend though so fingers crossed will have far more to show you after the weekend.

I have the pleasure of looking after Harlee-Jay today and I am also hoping to pop round and see Colette and baby Lincoln too. 

Back to my childhood

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again. ~Elizabeth Lawrence

I was looking for books to buy our soon to be 9 year old grandson Connor for his birthday which is on Friday.  The shop had an offer on buy three for the price of two.  As I was looking at the books I found a compilation of books by Enid Blyton that I loved reading as a child and so decided to get that as my free one - a treat to myself.

I loved reading Enid Blyton books including similar books to the above as well as all the Famous Five and Secret Seven books.  I will be able to read this to the grandchildren when they stay over, although I am sure I will be reading it to myself very soon.

What were your favourite books as a child?

Spot the difference

Spot the difference is a type of puzzle where players must find a set number of differences between two otherwise similar images, whether they are illustrations or photographs that have been altered with photo manipulation.

Can you see the difference 114 stitches make?  In the big scheme of things it doesn't look much but it still took me about an hour and a half to add these stitches.  I'm concentrating on the top centre panel of the window section which is all that is left on the top half of the page.  Fingers crossed I might get that complete by the end of the month!

Still got a bit of a cold but thankfully not feeling as rough as I did at the weekend - hoping this is now on it's way out.

Fingers crossed.....

....that I have counted correctly and put the starting point of the Cross Stitcher SAL in the correct place.  I managed to add a few stitches to this one before going into work on Monday.  The external border was completed for the whole design.

I've also managed to make a start on the border of one of the smaller designs that will fill this space.  It shouldn't take too long to complete this one but before I add anymore stitches to it I HAVE to finish the gift stitch and add another 100 stitches to Landscape.

Under the weather

I had hoped to have done quite a bit more on the Cornwall Cottage Sampler this week but unfortunately I have come down with a cold so didn't have quite the same enthusiasm as normal.  I have however managed to complete one of the large motifs but not without making a mistake.  I'd gone to far to be bothered to unpick it so will make adjustments accordingly.

Fingers crossed my cold won't hang around too long and next week I can complete another page on this one.