Very happy....

Hello again lovely friends!!

I know, get me!! Another post!! Ha ha 

Thought I would make use of my JUNE stitched design seeing as its June!! I stitched this recently, it is a Heart in Hand design from the Joyful Journal series of months.

Bet your all wondering why I am so happy?! 

Because I have finished past itching Octopus's Garden!! I absolutely love how it turned out.  The colours are so so bright and it's lovely...yes I love it.

A quick reminder, I stitched this on grey 36 count raw linen and used the listed DMC threads.... Here is my journey...

I think the colour difference is quite visible... I think the chart cover must of been stitched with the Gentle Arts threads listed, I had the DMC threads listed and think they came out so much brighter.

Oooh what to stitch next?? Well it's almost July so I best get stitching with that if I am to have a header!! Ha ha 

Ooooh yes.... Thank you all so much for your kind words of support and concern over my health.  It's true I am rather fed up, but have decided to try not to let it get me down.  Please do not worry about me being bed bound again and getting more blood clots....see the last time I was in hospital they gave me the Fragmin anti clotting injections to take home.  So now I inject myself every evening, to stop clots forming.  I am so pleased about this as I was worried too!! 

Ok.... Going now, to do some more stitching!! Hope your all busy stitching!!

Big smiles to you all :)

Xx

Hello.... Is it me your looking for?....

Ha ha sorry I have song lyrics stuck in my head!!

Hello...

Hello...

Is it me your looking for?!... Ha ha 

I believe it's from a song sung by Lionel Ritchie? 

Well hello!!! Nice to be here!! 

Sorry did you all think I had deserted you again?  Oh I am sorry :(

I have had the worst week ever....so far.... Well ok not including the week where I recently died!  But oh it's been an awful week.

I had to call the doctor out, I could not move and I was in some serious pain.  Shooting pains all up and down my left arm and leg, my left knee yes the injured one was almost making me scream with the pain too.  I could barely sit or stand, sleep!! Hmmm that was out of the question!  So this is why I called the doctor out...

I am FED UP seriously now of being ill, I just want my life back and to get on with not being ill!!

Ok, the doctor says I have an inflamed coccyx ... And a trapped nerve or two!  I have not injured myself in any way so I did wonder ?? The doctor says these things just happen sometimes!! The question I have....WHY ME!!! So since her visit I have been on bed rest!  No joke, I have tried so hard to get out of my bed, I mean come on I was bed bound for 4 months I don't want to go back there again.  So to be told I am on bed rest I almost lost the plot.  Yes it's true I became very depressed... I am not out of the woods yet, still lying here in my bed now... It's like I am taking one step forward and five back.   Seriously nothing else can happen to me??

I have been fighting feeling low, trying to keep myself busy... Yes stitching!  But only picked it up again after a few days of not wanting to do anything.  So only have a little update for you.

As you remember I was stitching Octopus's Garden designed by Blackbird designs.... Stitching it on 36 count grey raw linen using DMC threads.

Here is where I left off.. And where I am now...

It's coming along, and I did enjoy stitching today.  I don't actually have a lot to do on it now, so soon it will be finished :)

Something did make me smile....lots .... I recieved a card in the post, from the lovely kind Frances...thank you for cheering me up :)

How cool!!

Frances is so very sweet, she enclosed a cute little Prairie Schooler mini chart .... I love them, Thank You :) xx

Oh yes birthday card... My birthday was on 21 St June... 

Oooh goodness, for those who won my recent giveaway, I have not forgotten about you...no no far from it.  Things are in place for them to be posted next week... Han will be off to the post office!!  

Right I am going now... I think I may do some blog hopping to cheer myself up :)

Smiles until I next pop in!!

Xx

Enjoying stitching....

Hello again happy friends...

Thought I would share with you all my journey so far with my Blackbird design called The Octopus's Garden.  I am stitching is with DMC threads on grey 36 count raw linen, 2 over 2.

It's such a lovely design to stitch.... I love how it appears on my fabric....

I love how all the colours look.... I am thinking that the colours on the chart maybe the Gentle Art threads? I am stitching with all the listed DMC threads, just love the look of them.

This is where I am now... Was going to stitch more today but unfortunately today is not a good day... Feeling rather poorly today :(. I play it by ear on a daily basis... Maybe tomorrow will be a better day?

Happy smiles to you all, thank you so much for all your birthday wishes... My birthday was awesome.  And Oooh yes.... For those who won my giveaway, (congratulations) your goodies will be posted out very soon :). For those that entered and did not win this time, fingers crossed you win next time! 

Smiles :) xx

Tesco Orchard sampling....

Hello friends.... I hope your all well and happy?

I have been wanting to share something quite amazing with you all for some time now... now seems to be the best time, so here goes!!

I belong to an amazing program with one of the top supermarkets here in England.  Those who live in England know it well.... It's Tesco!!! It's known as The Orchard at Tesco, I basically get to try and experience Tesco's services and products, for free or with big savings.  The products I get to sample can be literally anything sold within their stores.  All I have to do, is give my honest opinion about Tesco products.

All this is possible due to me being one of their club card holders.  This sounds amazing right??!! And the best part.... It did not cost me anything to join!!

So far with Tesco I have sampled some amazing products but today I wanted to show you all what I tried with the latest vouchers that were sent to me.

Getting ready for summer there are lots of different fresh fruits, vegetable and salads available now in Tesco.  For me being a vegetarian it was exciting looking at all the products.  I wanted to at least try something I would not ordinarily buy or try....

I opted for.....

Fresh carrots

Spicy sweet fire baby beetroot (Finest food range)

Creamy Ceaser Salad

Vine Tomatoes

It was all packaged really clearly, and looked tasty too!!

I love to experiment and try different foods, but I am also health concious so this was a perfect combination!!

What do I do with it all??

I made the most amazing healthy platter!!

Along with my fresh foods I also bought in Tesco...

Broccoli and tomatoe quiche

Low fat Houmous

All of the fresh products ie, the tomatoes, carrots and salad was amazing, the freshness, taste and look of it, it just wanted me to eat it!!  I seriously enjoyed the Finest range of spicy sweet fire baby beetroot... WOW!! It's delicious and added that extra zing to my healthy platter.

I found everything I bought was reasonably priced and of exceptionally good quality......to be honest value for money too as I can get more than one meal out of it all.  

Positive reflection....Prepackaged salad is not something I go out of my way to buy, but after tasting this Creamy Ceaser Salad I will defiantly buy it again.  The vine tomatoes were delicious and had the most amazing aroma. The carrots were crunchy and had surprisingly a really nice flavor too.  The spicy baby beetroot was the star for me, packed full of flavor and tasted amazing.  All in all yes I would buy these products in Tesco..... 

Negative reflection.... To be honest nothing!! Well ok.... Nothing directly relating to any of the products, I just wish I could of made a review online at Tesco's about the Finest Spicy Sweetfire Baby Beetroot.  It tasted so good,  I wanted to be able to tell more people about it!!

Thank you for reading my review, I hope this encourages you to maybe try new and exciting products in Tesco.

Giveaway winners....

  

Ok... So jon and I both decided that due to 23 people entering we wanted to make it fair and give away gifts to as many people as we could.  So this is who jon picked out of the basket of destiny...

1 st prize...... Crotchet book and Little House Needleworks Rabbit Hill chart and threads 

           

The winner is..... MOUSE

Yipppeeee congratulations!!!

2 nd  prize...... Little House Needleworks Welcome Spring chart and threads

The winner is.... CHOOKYBLUE

Yipppeeee congratulations!!!

3 rd prize..... Heart in Hand Joyful Journal JUNE chart

The winner is.... LINDA

Yipppeeee congratulations!!!

Please could the winners email me ( dorafrance@live.com) with your addresses so that I can post your goodies to you!!! Congratulations!!!

Thank you all so much for joining in the fun of my giveaway, so sorry if you did not win this time.  Don't worry as I am sure soon I will have another giveaway as its a lot of fun!!

This giveaway was my way of saying thank you for sticking with me through my illness... I really appreciate you all and I want you all to know I am on the mend slowly... Yipppeeee :)

I will be back soon with a stitching update....  

Oooh yes ...

                      

And .....

                       

Lol!! 

Had a lovely time at the bingo with dad..... No we were not lucky enough to win, but we had fun!!

Until my next post...

Big smiles :) 

Xxx

 

Just had to share this....

Hello wonderful friends.  Today is a really special day for many reasons.... 

It's.... Father's Day here in England..

                      

And it's also my birthday!!

                       

Yipppeeee!! 

Seeing how it's an extra special day, I wanted to do something different for my dad.  As you all know we are going to bingo today, something we like to do, and do it when we can so we spend time together.  Oh but that is not the special thing....

My dad has always loved my finished cross stitch designs, he has watched me stitch over the years and I have made lots of stitching gifts for him too.  

I was thinking long and hard about doing something different and when a few days ago he mentioned he wanted a new hobby.... Ha ha all the time being retired he wants something to keep him busy!  

So I put a few bits together .... Yes stitching bits!! And thought hmmmm maybe he will be up to learning to stitch?  Well it's something different!! 

I was going to wait until Father's Day, but I was just too excited about sharing this with him I introduced it to him the day before!!  I did want to take all the bits around their home, but they ended up coming to my home, it was easier!! ... Gave it to my dad and and well!! My mum just looked at me, and my dad.....  Loved the idea!! Phew!!

So I got him started.... Told him the basics.... 

Showed him one of my magazines, Cross Stitch Collection.....to see the stitches...

I threaded the needle... Ha ha 

                                 

     

  And off he started to stitch, after naturally I put the first few stitches in!!

    I thought by stitching it on blue it would be easier for him...

The only problem was that he kept forgetting which way the stitches went!! I frogged a few stitches for him but all in all the few hours he stitched for he did pretty well.  And he actually enjoyed it...said it was quite calming!! 

He was really proud of what he managed to stitch, yes I admit I helped with the back stitching, he did not quite get the hang of that!! But it's early days, I think he's amazing!!

    

He was laughing here, as I said he was not having acess to my stash!! 

Here is a close up of what he stitched!! I wish, oh how I wish when o started my stitches were as neat as that!! I tell you all he is a natural!!

Note the little red half cross in the left corner.... This was to remind him which way the stitches went!!

       

He enjoyed it, and said he will finish this for Christmas, doing a little here and a little there!! For me I think k it's totally awesome and really nice to have another family member that can stitch!

I still cannot believe he actually stitched and did a great job of it!!

Have a lovely day everyone....

I will be back later with my giveaway winner/s.....

Smiles :)

Spoilt rotten....

    

                       

Hello wonderful friends!!!

Gosh well .... It's not actually my birthday until tomorrow... Ha ha if you know me you know my crazy family too!! See we never seem to do things properly. Ha ha 

My mum started this off, see she phoned just a moment ago and said she would be round... She brought a cake!! Oh not a normal cake, see I cannot eat cake right now due to what's going on with my stomach.... Cake is just too heavy.  But my being my mum thought outside the box this year and brought around the most amazing birthday cake for me.  And why today your thinking?? Well seeing as tomorrow is Sunday dad and I are off to bingo!!

So mum brought the cake today!!

                                 

How AMAZING is that!! Yes it's a massive prawn cocktail!! I love love love prawns and well it was perfect and light on my stomach too.  Han was ha ha not impressed and asked my mum to make her one on her birthday! Ha ha. But I did say I would share it with her!!

So then we moved into birthday mode and Oooh I got more goodies!! 

My parents bought me a new jacket.... Ha ha I needed one as nothing fits me anymore! Yes due to the weight loss!! It will be delivered next week to my home, I know what it looks like, ha ha I chose it!! So when it comes I will show you all a photo :)

Here are the cards...

        

Inside...

         

 

 

Han is so cheeky!...

         

And look what Han got me.... I have been after one of these for ages!!

Lovely paper...

        

To have my yummy cold summer drinks in.... And I cannot spill it!

        

And jon, well he's been a darling and got me some AMAZING things too...

He remembers things I have said ooooh that's pretty or Oooh I like that then squirrels money away to get them for me!! 

       

Yes it's true I stitched JUNE already, he gave it me early as I wanted something different to stitch... But I had no idea he bought the others!! AWESOME!!

       

I had my eye on these charts ever since they came out last year!!  And how lovely he bought the threads too for both designs, he said he did that as he knew I did not have them in my stash and just knew I would want to stitch them.  

And yes it's true he already gave me the Octopus's Garden design as he was too excited and knew I wanted to stitch it as I saw it published somewhere! But I did not realise he bought the other one too!! 

       

Jon also bought me a new storage box to put the threads in....

        

These 3 amazing designs... See for hmmm a long time now I have been collecting the sheep designs, so I can stitch them all together.  I only needed these 3 to complete the set, so I am over the moon now.

      

Here is my complete set now.... 

                                   

I cannot believe I have them all now!! Eeeeeeeeek!!!! Gosh I am going to be doing a LOT of stitching!! Just as well I am back and loving it again! Thank you jon, your AMAZING!!!!

There you have it!!! Early (well it is tomorrow!) birthday celebrations in this house!! Ha ha told you we never did anything right!  

Oooh don't forget about my giveaway.... When I come back from bingo with my dad I will get jon to draw the winner.  Wish us luck for bingo as its Father's Day and my birthday too.... Would be nice to have a little win!

Happy happy big smiles to all of you :)

Xx

Oooooooh it's Friday night... That means....

                           

It's been such a long time.... It feels wonderful to be able to join in again.  Oh I am still quite poorly, but stitching is helping me so much.  When I signed up to this FNSI I was pretty shocked..... Yes shocked!! Ha ha at myself for randomly being selected for the number 21 slot.  Ah ha but this is cool.... Why your wondering?? Well the 21 St just happens to be my birthday! Ha ha and Oooh farthers day here in UK.... as well as the summer solstice/longest day of the year!  WOW!! I know!! Lucky me!! So I thought it rather funny I should choose 21 when signing up!

It's Friday night now and well what with all the various time zones I thought I would post a photo or two of what I am doing, then maybe post an update a little later over the weekend.

Don't forget to join in the fun on my GIVEAWAY... If your not in it ... You cannot win it! Good luck to you all :) 

I have been rather naughty actually... See jon bought me some WONDERFUL things for my birthday and well I insisted on having one of them to stitch now!! Ha ha and he gave it to me!!

For ages I have had my eye on the new Blackbird designs series about the Beatles.  Oh no I like the Beatles but not wanting them for that reason!! Just because I loved the designs!!

This is one of the wonderful things he bought me ...ha ha for my birthday on the 21st!! And yes he is such a sweetie he bought the threads too, he said he had to as he knew I did not have the colours and I would instantly want to stitch it!!

I am stitching it on grey 36 count raw linen, 2 over 2 with DMC threads.

That is where I am now!! I love the wonderful colors....

Happy stitching/creating to you all :)

Have a wonderful weekend :)

Smiles :)