First glimpse

Here's my first glimpse of the Morecambe and Wise statue which is located in the entrance to the Winter Gardens. Actually it's the second glimpse as I had to wait until all the 'hugging' poses by visitors were finished. It's a lovely statue and just captures the two 'boys' perfectly.

I just need someone to hug and someone to take the picture!

xx

Success and Failure

Success: Using up my given stash is going great guns. The cotton is being turned into dishcloths and there's still some more left. These are just rows of UK trebles and I put a loop at the end so the cloth can be hung on the radiator to dry. Simple, quick and easy to do.

Failure: The cat's not too impressed with the prototype cat nest.

It's having a hard job standing up by itself!

Such is life.

xx

I had to rescue this beautiful stitching from the CS today.

It measures 21 inches square and is only partially done. The stitching is extremely neat and a lot of work has gone into it already.

With it came this piece of stitching which measures 32 inches by 24 inches and, again, is partially complete.

There is a variety of stitches - herring bone, chain ...

and a wonderful whip stitch has been started around the edge.

Unfortunately there are no silks with the pieces apart from the ones that were last in use.

Even though I can embroider, I am not as competent at the art as this lady was. I very much doubt that I will finish these - they need someone who is skilled who has a bank of silks that would match the ones already on the cloths. I am willing to post these to anyone who will be kind enough to complete these and give them a new home. (UK only)

If you are the person I'm seeking please leave a comment below. If more than one person wants these I'll put names into a hat. I really hope someone can complete these as so much work has gone into them already.

xx

The cat ...

… muscled in again today while I was making cards.

"What you doing, Mum?"

xx

Colour in the back garden

The flowers in the back garden are only in a couple of strips as the majority of the garden is given over to growing vegetables. Walking along the path to the garage quite a lot is going on in the 'flower department' and this riot of colour greets me every day. A bloomin' good sight to see!

I had a shock to see the strawberry plants flowering in October.

I don't think I'll be getting any strawberries though!

xx

It's a ...

Willy One!

xx

Helping hands

My help with the greenhouse refurb today was to clean the gutter brackets. Not everyone has the opportunity or the honour of this job as it involves quite a lot of skill and dexterity. :)

A vital tool is an old toothbrush which is invaluable in cleaning out crevices and spiders. (No spider perished in this procedure and the two found were rescued and returned to the wild. Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!)

The vital components were then subjected to rigorous cleaning with washing up liquid and hot water using the aforementioned cleaning tool.

Sink was then cleaned - the clothes will be put in the wash later as this process involves quite a lot of spatter!

At least I was in the warm as DH is outside on the roof where the glass roof connects to the garage. It's a long job. He built the greenhouse over 30 years ago with reclaimed materials. The wooden roof struts are teak which was originally shelves. The ends have rotted but the majority is salvageable and in this second reincarnation of the greenhouse as many old pieces are put back into play as possible. New wood is bought only if absolutely necessary. The dentil mouldings have had to be remade with each little piece of wood cut and glued into place. (My job here was the gluing.)

The original gutters have been cleaned ready to be repainted.

We're getting there slowly.

xx