Been a while ....

Been a while since my last update but have been having probs with my shoulder and neck etc .... so not been doing too much stitching but have finally managed to get a start on Victoria Sampler Spring Box ...



Not a very good photo cos it looks like I am stitching on blue !!
I am doing this one for myself and it will be used as a jewellery box ...

Also had the sampler for my friend finally framed ready for her birthday at the weekend .... this was stitched on white evenweave using purples and the mountboard was pale lavender with a silver frame - again not a good photo as I found it difficult to find a place with no shine on the glass lol

Managed to get some more jewellery made .... I bought some lovely jasper gemstones from Jewellery Maker and have made three sets and still have beads left !!   :)

These can be found with lots of others on my online shop:

http://www.folksy.com/shops/LadybugJewellery

If anyone is interested in anything please get in touch with me direct and I will offer a discount and I will post to other countries for stitching friends  :)

Just a few of the pieces I have made - all are made using genuine gemstones and 925 sterling silver

The garden is looking a bit dismal now after so much wind and rain ....  it is looking more like a jungle every day .... I will start to cut back on some of the borders etc, but I always like to leave some in over winter so that any small creatures can hide there out of the cold ... I still have my little garden toad living with us as I see him/her from time to time ....

Not long now till our Friendly Stitchers stitching group have our yearly meet up at the Harrogate stitching show in November .... really looking forward to this  .... we stay for the weekend in a lovely hotel just over the road from the show - very handy ;)  ... and we have a grreat time after dinner chatting and showing off our aquired stash  :)

Well I guess that is all from me for now so will say bye ....

Can you see the Green Man in my garden ???

Well ?? can you see im ???    When I sit on my back step I can see him in the top right corner, arms outstretched across the fencing, with flowers in his hair 

Been doing some more jewellery and had a try at some double strand necklace and bracelets ... the necklace is yellow and green agates and the bracelet is amethyst and rose quartz ...

I am open to any orders in most colour gemstones - just ask !



A belated update ...

Been a while since I updated this blog - so lets see what has been happening ....
On the gardening front I have had success with the tomatoes this year again but had to chuck the cucumbers out   :(    ...  they were the spikey variety and I was waiting for the spikes to slowly disappear before harvesting them - started to grow really big - some at least 18" long, but going yellow .... asked advice from my brother John who said they were no good now and to chuck them out ... next year I will know better ...
Got quite a few apples on the little tree this year but think some have been attacked by wasps - however they are still delicious  :)
The garden itself is more like a jungle - flowers growing lovely and dense but gave up on the lawn as we were getting fed up with cats using it - the woman two doors down feeds all the strays and of course leave her garden alone and use ours !! They don't seem to like our overgrown lawn so it is staying like this until we find something to scare the cats away .... failing that I am going to phone the health inspector at the local council as now the strays have kittens with them .... far too many roaming the streets here and we have seen up to 12 in her back garden !
Schoolholidays are under way and Joseph is  now into the fourth week and getting bored as they do !
He went fishing on Sunday with his dad and grandad and with their help he managed to catch a lovely plaice !! Of course he is still not big enough to handle a proper rod so they held it with him - but he was so excited and when I cooked it he ate it all up !
Hope to take him to Eden Camp in Yorkshire soon as he loves anything to do with soldiers and armies  :) ...
http://www.edencamp.co.uk/

I am still busy making jewellery of course and now have plenty for either sale or for friends and family birthdays etc ... I buy most of my gemstones from Jewellery Maker (TV shopping channel) and every week they have a random draw - anyone who wants to can send in a picture of their design and all entries get a number, and on Wednesdays they draw two out of the hat - first prize is £100 to spend and runner up gets £50 to spend on gems - I was lucky this week and won the runner up .... so bought some lovely gems at the weekend and they will arrive tomorrow  :)
Jewellery for sale is here:   http://www.folksy.com/shops/LadybugJewellery

Also been busy stitching .... my friend has a birthday in September and I have made her some nice jewellery - so also made her a cross stitched jewellery box to put it in ....  this chart is by Loopyloudesigns from Lynda Bodkin .... chart can be found here :
http://www.loopyloudesigns.co.uk/beginners.shtml

I have also adapted part of Lynda's design to make some smaller jewellery boxes for family and non stitchy friends - here is the first one ;

This little box is only 3" square ....   and all will be used to put some jewellery in

Well that is about it from me for now - hope everyone reading this is well and happy ....

Stitching update

I have a friend's birthday coming up in September and have been making her some nice jewellery .... so decided to also stitch and make her a nice box to put it in ... got this chart from loopyloudesigns ... it is stitched on 28 count evenweave and I have used Carons waterlilies silks in  'Antique Rose'  which is not quite the colour I thought it would be  :(
A bit too dark and with greys in .... never mind it will be OK when fin ished, but it does mean I will now have to go out and buy some different cotton fabric to make the actual box up in as the pieces I had are not going to go well with this shadde of thread ..... but here it is so far ....

I have also been keeping an eye on my little garden .... I had three bags of potatoes growing nicely, but came downstairs one morning to find that big fat black slugs had stripped the leaves off all of them and were still munching away !!  Took care of them with the secateurs !!  But thought that with no leaves left the potatoes would be no good and stop growing.... luckily it was almost time to dig them up anyway, so tipped out one bag to see if I had any and found loads !!  same with other bags ...

Lovely beads

I had some of the moonstone beads left over from DD's bracelet, and also some of the abalone - so decided to use them all up ....  made a necklace for myself, plus an abalone bracelet , bracelet for DD and three pairs of ear-rings - all from two strands of beads !!  Don't think I will sell any of these - perhaps keep them for myself as they are really lovely gems ....