MY HOOBY (god.. I hope this shuts him up)

Hi all, I thought as it has been 3.5months (so I am told REGULARY by dad) I thought i would bore you with some pictures of my passion/hobby CROSSSTITCH.
I have done lots of them over the years and have given them too as wedding presents and bithday samplers. It is such a theraputic hobby and so much fun to see a design appear before your eyes.

Crosstitch is done on AIDA an evenweave canvas of varing sizes, sticthed using a pattern usually with symbols to show you which colour to stitch where. There is NO image on the canvas you have to put it there with stitches.

It really is great to do and limbs and eyes willing i will keep crossstictching for many years to come. I would recommend this hobby to everyone it is really rewarding!!!!
Anyway here are a few of the ones i have done since 1998 (sorry the last few are a bit blurred)
The next one measures 8 x 10 inches and took about 10 months to complete.


If you click on the image it will apear alot bigger so you can see the detailing involved..

This the very first one i did in 1993 it measures 14inches by 10 and was a real test but hey i gave up smoking whilst doing it (they kept burning out) and was biten by the bug. (above)

It is far from the quickest hobby in the world but worth every last stitch.
This one has fond memories for me as i finished it while my second eldest boy was in hospital (very rare skin disorder, thats another blog) and i literally finished as he came round from the aneasetic. (above)

So there you have it some of the many pictures i have done over the years
I anyone would like any advice or has a question about Crossticth then dont hesitate to leave me a comment and i will return your message. Thnaks for looking .
(Now off my back father) xxxxx love you xxxx

My garden... In 10 months ( not 3 years)

Well then, as my Dad (the life and times of this old git) has shamed me into showing you my garden, I feel that i must bore you with it.....

We moved into the lovely town of Malmesbury wiltshire in June 2006 and my little garden looked like this............

As you can see a bit of a nightmare. the poor dog (only had tara then) got lost and needed a map to go to the loo....

so................. we began.................

We also got the puppy i told you about Poppy the Rottie who is quite tiny there i must say

As you can see we started with a fence all the way round to hide the mass of weeds etc out of the back. we then put in a Dorset cobble bed for the plant pots to sit on.. Added a terracotta shingle coloured path, separated by rigid log edging(the ones that are 3ft long with 2 spikes either end, not the roll).........................

This next pic is approximately late February this year and the plants are on the way, a lavender , salix and a couple of miniature rhododendron's.....

Gosh was that really the same time of the year.. scary

Oh and i must say that "Spikey" a cordyline mum and dad bought me (the one the puppy chewed) is still safely wrapped up to protect him.

THEN.. Dad gave me some fuchsia's (well actually he gave me them the year before and i had to look after them!! What... they only died once)

Anyway most of these are destined to becoming standards... not big ones but standards all the same

And now the finished (well almost never enough in the garden and always changing)item...We love it and are very proud of what we have achieved in such a short time this was taken only a few Weeks ago. my husband worked really hard with me and we are happy with it......

I must add the pup likes it too she is eight months old now, time flys..

the puppy up-date

well Poppy is now 7 months old as a s promised i will tell you how she is doing!!!!

Apart from the umpteen pair of shoes she has distroyed she is good.. a real "big bear" so cuddly and loving.

We had a problem with the garden to start with.... she dug up the plants as fast as i could put them in. i remember one day i had gone next door to have a coffee and leave poppy and tara for a while on their own! when i came back in i was greeted with big licks and wagging tales but when i went into the lounge. well. there was a eupalypus tree in the middle of the carpet and mud and dirt every where, you can imagine, she had played with it like a stick, shaking it all over the house.. i was horrified, she did the same with my mock orange amd has had a go at "spikey" an corydaline my mum and dad bought me for my birthday (dont tell them) god they will go mad!!!!!!!

A habit she has got into now too is to correer in to the bathroom door (obviously opening it) to get a fussing in the morning while i am on the loo..... she will put her head on my chest for a cuddle and i am afraid she still does it to this day she getts "her time" with me in the morning..

She is really funny in water! she jumps like a gaszelle, it is so funny, had us all in stiches, leaping a bout like a baby fawn. but she loves the water.

Comes to the bath with me and waits till i get out.....

she is spoilt isnt she? oh well she worth it. i have put on a few pics with different ages so we can keep a record of how she is growing. hope you enjoy!

"Stratford upon Avon" Born and Bred "Part 1"

1965 was a pretty good year! well my mum and dad thought so,

as it was the year I was born.

My mum called Sue worked for Josephs of Stratford, spraying statues with gold lacquer (which is a smell that reminds me of my childhood) and my dad was a mechanic at the local Renault garage. We lived with my Grandpy in a lovely semi in a little town called Shottery.

The first memories i have are of my grampy playing bingo with me (he was the local town hall caller) and finding a puppy in the dog bed under the stairs with our beautiful "sheba" (long haired collie). Being only a small tot i did not know how it happened but there was "Duke" a little version of his mum. Also my Dad's favourite passtime.... Sunday bath and hairwash... I had very long alburn hair and we used to BEG mum to wash our hair on a sunday night before we had sardines or pilchards on toast and watched "doctor on the go" on the tv. But no, dad did it quite often, while mum would let us use a flannel to put on our face and put our heads back, dad just used to tip the jug of water straight on us... god i hated it..... Dad also taught me to tell the time whilst he had his baths, i would sit on the side of the bath and we would tell lots of times on a toy clock, i could read a watch at the age of 6.... by the way my mum cut my hair into a page boy so i would not scream at every hair wash and brush time... If only i knew then.....

We lived a stoned throw (literally) away from our primary school for which Mrs Fortesque was the headmistress, she had taught my dad as a child at the same school so i managed to get to school about a term before i should have... I remember there was a huge dolls house which i played with for hours, we used to have green custard and the cheese flan was to die for (bet you remember too). The pic is of the school now but i can tell you it has not changed at all...

We lived in Hathaway Lane and as you can probably guess that too was a stones throw from the world famous "Anne Hathaway Cottage", pictured opposite. Many a summer was spent

there showing tourists around and helping the attendant pick up litter, we used to get in for free too!!

We is referring to my brother "Roy"who was born a year later than me and in those early years we were the best of friends.

I remember our "Uncle Mick" who spoilt us rotten buying myself a whole "sindy" house, all the bedroom and sitting room and everything it was great and Roy got a whole load of "Action men" in his tent and combat stuff. I think the two dolls used to sit on top of each other quite a bit !!!!! good job we were only kids eh!

I had a friend "Nina" and she lived down at the "Avery" and she had a huge trampoline and her parents owned greenhouses full of tomatoes for sale, needless to say i love eating fresh tomatoes like sweets to this day..

Our days in the holidays were spent "up the butts" lots of woods, leading to an old firing range ,where we dug for old shell cases etc, i can recall woods full of violets which we would pick (it was allowed then) and take then to mum. There was a brook in which we caught "sticklebacks" and "Minnow" put them in jam jars and try to keep them as pets..

Bonfire night with the Story's was a brilliant event, we used to burn tyres (also allowed) down the Fields and put jacket potatoes into the fire and see who could fish them out first... Eric , Jackie, Uncle Roy, (my godfather) Judy, Peter, Jean and Chris were all there sadly Peter is no longer with us but they were good nights..

Christmas was also a brilliant time too with parties and fancy dress, mum and dad sure did host a good party.. Roy and me would stay downstairs till mum got fed up of us and put us to bed.... we did not go to bed of course and by the time midnight came round we had persuaded about 6 or 7 of mums friends to read us a story...... and have a few sips of the drinks they had too...

there's a new one....

well then my freinds, i've done it now,

wayne bought me a present, but i dont know how.

A secret he kept and money he saved,

all those tickets he wrote, how he has slaved.

He bought me a pup a rottie no less,

for ages i have wanted one i must confess.

8 weeks old and such a joy,

really glad she a girl not a boy,

Tara our staff has been a real star,

playing and neurturing poppy so far

Thats the pups name, shes as sweet as can be

I have added a picture so you too can see.

I will keep you informed and up to date

at the things that she does and her growing rate

at the mo we are training her to go to the loo

perhaps even manage to go outside for a pooh....

so for now i will leave you and go clean a puddle

my life my life ,is a really big muddle.........................

The Animals

Creatures great and creatures small,

in our house you'll find them all.

Our dog called Tara is a Staff

She's very strange, loves a bath,

8 years old and black as night,

never known to growl or bite.

She's very placid but licks alot,

and even a pedigree name has got,

Buckstaff duchess Royal i had to call,

she is so loved by one and all..

My cockateil, JJ is not very old,

Cheeks so orange, bright and bold.

Boy or girl we wont know yet,

but we don't mind he still a great pet.

"Ruby Do" my baby rabbit,

keeping pets, a bit of a habbit.

She's white as snow with eyes so red,

a dwarf Netherland so they said.

Very soft and very tame,

wish the others had been the same,

one grey rabbit forget her name,

very vicious could not tame.

But Ruby is so very sweet.

having her is really a treat.

The snake, well, that's a placid corn,

back in the summer she was born.

Tom handles her all the time,

that to me is crossing the line.

Don't mind to look but cannot touch,

really don't like snakes that much.

The hamster is in Zoe's room,

probably in the hallway soon.

Very noisy at night, you see,

in his wheel running round he'll be.

Mink his colour and a male we think,

got to keep him clean or he will stink.

In his ball, he has a run

Zoe and him have good fun.

Just the fish tank left to tell,

moving that was just sheer hell.

Many fish come and go,

buy some more when we get low

Therapeutic and calming

JJ finds them very charming.

Watches them for hours on end

trys to peck them he does tend,

but to no avail, he just hits glass,

you'd think he'd learn the silly "ass"

Well would not be fair not to add the 60th birthday pic of my mum too now would it. The handsome young chap next to her is my eldest son Gavin. we all had a wonderful day and all got drunk. Although not as drunk as one of the visits from mum and dad to The Suffolk Arms in 2000, when mum...... well thats another blog!