Ocean Wonders of the Sea

 I've been busy making a summer dress at a dressmaking class but doing that has played havoc with my neck and shoulder but I have put in some stitches over the last two weeks on my Ocean wonders of the sea SAL.  The Polar bear is nearly completed and I have made a good start on the shoal of herring! 

I will link up with Kathy tomorrow for some slow Sunday stitching

Little Sheep Virtues

 I thought life was supposed to slow down when you retired?  But no, it just seems to get busier!  Some of it is nice busier and other bits not so.  But I don't want to dwell on the rough bits just the good bits.  I've started doing a dressmaking class.  It's three days over three weeks.  Which is good because there is so much to remember, it's good to take a breather and try to remember everything!!  I have made some clothes before but it was good to go back to basics and learn how to do it the right way.  I will of course show the fruits of my labours when I finish!  I also went out for an afternoon tea with my oldest friends to celebrate my birthday.  That was lovely although I fear I might have whinged slightly too much about what is going on at the moment.  They didn't mind but then isn't that what besties are for!!

On to the sewing.... I finished the little sheep virtues cross stitch and it is super cute.  I only bought the pattern so didn't get the little button that should go above the word Love.  I'm not sure if I have a suitable button but when I get time I will look in my lovely button box.

I will link up with Kathy tomorrow for some slow Sunday stitching.  I hope I get a chance to add some stitches on to my Ocean Wonders of the Sea SAL (part 3 is released tomorrow morning - yay)

That's all for now have a lovely Mothers Day and Happy Stitching!

Cross stitch and Chirp

 We have just returned from a lovely week spent in East Sussex.  We were blessed with beautiful weather most of the time so got out and about visiting a number of very dog friendly National Trust estates.  From London this area is about 70 miles away so when we lived there we would often spend time exploring.  We haven't visited for about twenty plus years (quite a bit further for us now we live in the south west of England).  In the evenings, despite some lovely spring days, we could fire up the wood burner and I got to work on some projects!

This is the eight bird from Sue Spargo's book Chirp.  Stitches include couching, French knots, chain stitch, open buttonhole filler stitch, bullion knots, double cast on stitches and rosette chain stitch.  On to bird number nine!

I also started another little project that I can add to between Ocean Wonders of the sea (next part out next Sunday)

The pattern is by Little House Needleworks and is called Little Sheep Virtues.  This one is Love.

We are off for Sunday lunch with Faye and the family.  Her husband is doing the cooking to celebrate Mothers Day (it's next Sunday but we can't make it then).  We haven't seen the children for what seems like ages so looking forward to that.  It means I probably won't get much stitching in today for

 slow Sunday stitching

Ocean Wonders of the Sea

 I managed to get part two of the SAL completed, which gives me a chance to either start something else (I really can't help myself) or continue on with either my Tilda hexies or maybe some more work on Chirp - it's a while since I put any stitches in either projects!  That's my plan for slow Sunday stitching! But in the meantime here are some more lovely creatures from the deep, including 

Sailfish

Green sea turtle

Yellow tang

 Kole tang (x2)

Lanternfish (x2) 

Pharaoh cuttlefish.

and a close up

I thought while I was on the subject of the sea I would show a photo taken on a dog walk along a local beach last week.  One of the rare occasions we have had a bit of sunshine!

With all the storms we have had recently the beach was littered with trees and hefty logs and this part of the beach is normally sand but the shingle has been pushed really high up.  Following this walk we came back along the cliff top and stopped at Highcliffe Castle for a cup of coffee and even sat outside before heading home!

The castle is a Grade 1 listed building and although it's had some important people who have owned it over the years the most notable being Harry Selfridge (he opened a department store in London in 1906, Selfridges, which is still there today).  He did however only lease it for a number of years and despite this put in a lot of mod cons, including bathrooms.  He is buried along side his wife and mother in Highcliffe cemetery.  But from my point of view it has a dog friendly cafe attached, which we use a lot, especially in winter!