Rain, Rain Go Away.

After the excitement of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee ( I watched every moment of the TV coverage) life has plodded on punctuated by rare moments of sunshine. Most of the rest of the world is intrigued by the English obsession with the weather, and our obsession at the moment is when the sun will return. We are now officially fed-up with all this rain and the flooding it brings.

June half term we spent Thursday up in London and went to Leicester Square and found M & M's World it was amazing, Chocolate and Peanut heaven with lots of funny photo oportunities.

Today is our village fete and i am hoping it will be dry and sunny as I am running a coconut shy with the Guides and Rangers. Hopefully back soon Jane x

Spring time and Stitching

Spring has arrived and with it the promise of warm sunny days, Em is studying for her GCSE's or Secondary school certificates this summer. My stitching mojo wandered off for a few months having been over worked last summer, but it is slowly returning. I have picked my way through a cross stitch heart for a special friend. I have finished off a little owl cushion which I started with intentions of it being a birthday present but it wasn't finished in time. Currently I am working on a cross stitch sampler for Em which we designed together for her 16th Birthday. Not long to go to the Easter Break, I just hope that the good weather holds and yet we desperately need rain. See you soon, Jane

New Year and lots of stitching.

My New Year has been busy with stitching, as one of my friends handed in her notice at the beginning of the month and left on Friday. She brought her dog Cassie into school to listen to the students reading each week, her cake making skills will be much missed as well. The designs on the sampler are a mixture of Jo Verso people, bowl of carrots from the sampler girl and cupcakes from crossstitcher magazine. I designed the school logo, caravan, for sale sign, the sand castle and cassie listening to the child are my own design.

I also managed some stitching over Christmas as gifts - Britter Kitty and Britter Puppy for the christmas tree.

Now I am working on a beautiful heart cross stitch as a gift for another friend.

Today in my local supermarket I came across a new magazine called Mollie Makes it is lovely and has some delightful projects and beautiful things to read about and make.

Hopefully back soon

Jane x

Christmas 2011

It seems only yesterday that it was the summer holidays and yet I know it wasn't. My job in September settled in to a completely new regime with longer hours and a steep learning curve. Stitching in the evenings faltered and blogging thoughts dried up (plus blogging and Mac computers aren't compatible). Finally two weeks ago I finished the last 2 of 5 samplers I have made for friends who left in the summer term. It was a big commitment and one that I hope doesn't happen again in such demand.
We have just spent Christmas with my parents in Dorset and have now returned home as Tony has to work today and tomorrow. My main Christmas present was this beautiful Rolliecord camera - it was made in 1958 and uses 120 film (medium format) which I am looking forward to using. Back soon Jane x

Summer Holidays at last

The term sped by filled with planning for the new office and systems that will take over in September. Several friends were leaving too so I was busy stitching samplers, these are a labour of love and usually filled with either the persons achievments at school /their favourite things or a combination of both. I had five to make! and not enough time. I did succeed in making three in time for the leaving meal, I am working on the fourth sampler and I have planned out the fifth. The three samplers I have finished are: Enids, which shows her love of holidays in New York and Paris, she listens to Classic fm, loves reading books,her favourite actor is Johnny Depp (pirate Captain Jack Sparrow), she belongs to the wine club and has been a receptionist and Reprographics assistant at work.

The next was for Claire who loves the Moomins, she has a cat and dog and adores Elvis. Claire also loves shoes, so I designed a pair of killer red heels for her in stitch and finally included an outline of the roof of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton. The final sampler was for Matt, who was leaving teaching for a career change. I included his fellow teachers from the English Department, along with camera, video and drama for Media Studies which he taught, as well as a blue rabbit for the animation classes he taught, and a bag of tools for his career change.

This week has been very relaxed and lazy, lots of stitching and some house work but not too much :-)

Then on Friday Em and I decided to go and visit the ruins of a local Roman Villa in the village of Bignor tucked away in the south downs of Sussex. It was a peaceful spot, surrounded by a vineyard and beautiful coutryside. The mosaics have survived because they were covered by buildings erected to protect them in the early 1800's when they were first discovered. There is another Roman Villa over at Chichester which is called Fishbourne Roman Palace, Bignor is not as grand but it would have been quite a large complex. We were hoping to get out this weekend, but Tony has been plagued by his sciatic nerve all weekend. Back soon Jane

Half Term - and a Huge Sigh Of Relief

We have finally made it to half term, and the threat of compulsory redundancy has been lifted because three people have volunteered to take redundancy at the end of July as they are close to retirement, but with their leaving goes the experience and wisdom of the years spent in the job so it is bitter sweet.

Recently the weekends have been spent at home or in Dorset. We visited the local village fair in Dorset and listened to the brass band playing whilst having tea and cakes, browsed the book stall and bric-a-brac. I found a new pin board for Em so I could have her old one for the Rangers at camp, (we put the timetable, rotas and other info up) . Our cousin from Paris is visiting in a couple of weeks time too, so we are on a spring clean mission!. Back soon, as its half term we have some fun planned this week but it is laced with revision as Em has Science, Maths and Geography Modular exams after half term, Oh the joys of being fifteen, - its not fair! Jane x

The Royal Wedding, Camping and Work

May Day bank holiday weekend was not only the Royal Wedding, for which I was glued to the television for most of the day; it was a beautiful ceremony filled with very special moments of happiness between the Royal couple which was a joy to see.

It was also our annual joint Scout and Guide Camp at Petworth Park. The theme was the Royal Wedding. We had lots of activities, wonderful weather and great company. This is a view of the park around the lake complete with deer in the distance and geese in the foreground. A photo of our mess tent decorated with bunting. I knitted a crown teacosy for the weekend to keep my tea pot warm. I found the pattern on the website of the designer Debi Birkin. It took me approximately a week to knit up in the evenings and I added a lining by knitting another layer of purple to go inside. The cosy was very popular and raised many admiring comments over the weekend, and kept my teapot lovely and warm.

Work for the first part of this year has been an unhappy and stressful environment to be in, as we are facing cutbacks and possible redundancies. Hopefully the situation will be resolved in the next fortnight or so, but in the words of the WW2 poster we will keep calm and carry on. I hope you have a good week Jane x