Super days

I just had to show you all this lovely picture of our cousin Peter - this is the first day out with this little boat this year - for a long time we didn't think he would be doing this ever again - he has been so poorly.



Now! this man should know better than going up the childrens climbing wall! but 007 will not be beaten by anyone or anything! He even asked our son-in-law Gary if the beam across the top of the swings would hold his weight if he crawled across it (as he has seen Joshua do!) to the little house at the other end! he was told very firmly that he should come down NOW!



We went to see the grandchildren at the weekend and Emily and her daddy Gary are showing us the carrot seeds that Joshua is growing - they are just coming through the ground. Gary made the raised bed for Joshua and now has to make another for Emily!

Joshua decided (even after all the over night rain we had) that his carrot seedlings needed watering!

Painful hands

I hope to have the 'Bears' quilt top finished by the end of this afternoon. The applique pieces are all prepared and 007 is out this afternoon so I can just sew.........I have some housework to do but that can wait till tomorrow - the laundry is upto date and downstairs is clean.......to h**l with upstairs!!

I had hoped to finish hand quilting the other quilt that has been on the go for such a long time now, but my fingers have been really painful this weekend, and I have been feeling poorly too - headachy.....not a full blown migrain but that sort of headache, with nausea and flashing lights! I may have started it off myself by doing some weeding, bending over and pulling up dandelions etc - I know it always makes me feel giddy and makes the top of my head feel sore and throbby, I know I should kneel to weed.......but ......... I don't always do what I should!
Ah well - I will finish the tea I have just had brought to me and I will start sewing this morning - too wet to go into the garden today.

Photos will follow - promise!

10:45pm

Promise kept with the photo but I didn't quite finish the top - the borders are now cut but not attached yet. The last bear block was done by 2:30 pm and I managed to get all the blocks together before 007 came home for his supper. The last Teddy does still need eyes and nose and the bees in his block have no faces yet either! I couldn't wait to see how they all looked together. Not a good photo, as the sky was overcast and it was raining heavily so the light in the room was poor. But I think you can see what it will look like eventually.

Plants and the bears again!

Now don't laugh! but I found this plant growing in a hedgerow in America a couple of years ago and I didn't recognise it.....I took some seeds from it and brought them home in a screw of tissue hankie! Last Autumn I planted them - only three germinated , 007 knoked over the original pot and broke it, so they had to be re-potted. I have guarded them with my life since then, even stopping GGS James from smelling it last weekend in case he broke it! now the flower is out.....one guess only to name it ...........!!! Rape!! Why didn't I know what it was while in America? is it because it was where I didn't expect to see it? I don't know!

As you can see two of the trays of Saga seeds have germinated - this time I do know what I have sown! VBG ! the Cosmos and the Asters are growing well, but so far the Echinaceous has still to show.......

I have at last given these teddies their faces, now they have a character.......that is eight done and two to do - then I can put the top together!

I am looking forward to quilting this quilt - I think it will be a lot of fun.

Not a lot will be done this weekend though, first we have Emily's birthday party to go to and then we are going to the New Forest, where we took the caravan last Wednesday, we are going to stay a couple of days then bring it home. No. 2 son and his daughter Charlotte have been down there having a few days holiday. So far they have been crabbing on Avon Beach, Charlotte says she caught 14 quite big crabs......at least 5 inches across.......but of course they all went back into the water at the end of the day! Yesterday they went to Poole Pottery where she painted a pot - and then they were going to Highcliffe Castle, I hope she has enjoyed herself.

Happy Easter

I thought I would show you some of the blocks I have finished for the quilt I am making for Emily.
So far I have made 9 of the ten blocks. but I have only given eyes and noses to these four. I had thought that I would have finished the whole quilt by now but the hassles we have been having with the telephone company really put me off my stride!

Emily has a birthday on the 18th of this month but I don't think I will be anywhere near finished so I will have to go and buy her a girlie pressie - she will be four, so something pretty to wear or something girlie to play with .

To day we are all (the whole family) are going to dinner at our Sarah's (Emily and Joshua's Mummy) - she is cooking lamb..mmmmmm. I am looking forward to seeing everyone together again - there are so many of us that it only happens on big occasions now. Must remeber to take the camera with me.

My daughter in law Sarah had a fright on Thursday evening - she was up in London at Kings Cross with a lot of her medical friends when she was attacked from behind and her handbag was snatched while the guy held a knife to her throat. As you can guess she was very distressed and the thing is that it happened so quickly that none of the others realised! the bag was thrown to another guy who was waiting and then to another - the police say that there had been similar muggings in the area that evening . She lost a very expensive Mulberry handbag, two phones (one is her NHS one) her wallet (yes - all her credit/debit cards), her keys, a memory stick with a lot of private info on it and her filofax! She is terrified that they will have so much info on her that they could clone her identitiy! The police say that the muggers were only after money.........time will tell! but she has changed her bank account and stopped all her cards. She has also had different locks put on the front door and has bought a Crooklock for her lovely little Mazda convertable! Through all of this Kevin was in Switzerland skiing! he has been worried sick about her, the phones must have been redhot with all the calls they have made to each other of the weekend! At least he is home now to give her the kind of support she needs.

April comes with flowers

April already? I don't believe it!

Lots of daffodils in the garden and other things are blooming (weeds!) too, the garden is showing promise of things to come.

I went to the garden center yesterday and bought some 'little' things in modules and then spent the afternoon planing them in to flower pots. White Geraniums and red and white Petunias for my pots and hanging baskets.

The three tomato plants that I bought last week are still in their pots and are going to go into hte prepared bed in the greenhouse later today. An Alicante, an Ailsa Craig and another I cna't remember the name of at the moment. Three plants will give enough toms for just the two of us and as I can pick them as I want them they won't rot in the fridge! as the shop bought ones do......

I have also planted some of the seeds that SAGA magazine sent as a thank you for renewing our subscription. they are under the little closhes in the green house. Echinacea, aster and Cosmos so far and there are three more packets that need to go directly in to the ground later in May.

I have been doing some sewing too this last week, still hand quilting on the Houses and Heart strings quilt. I have made more of the panels on the Teddy bears day out quilt too. Just have two more of those to make then I can put the top together - then I will show you what I have done.

We have had to accept that Virgin cannot find our old telephone number - it has got lost between Sky, BT and Virgin - after nearly three months we have a new phone number.....the family are not happy. As our Son-in-law said 'how am I supposed to get the old number out of my head!' If he is having trouble just imagin the trouble we are having! We had the old number over forty years! and we have lost it just because someone in this house wanted to have Sky TV! ......he is not flavour of the month and is doing all sorts of things to try and make it up to me......flowers, choccies, meals out.......