Happy Easter, an exchange and a challenge

It is reveal day for the Monthly Challenge. This month we used a set of small Easter designs from Les Chroniques de Frimousse.  I combined two of the designs to make this ornament. The funky stripey ribbon was from a toiletry gift one of the girls got for Christmas! The album of finishes is here.

It is also reveal day for the Spring bookmark exchange on Needlecraft Haven. I recieved this stunning hardanger bookmark from Dusty. I can't show a picture of the one I sent out yet as I've not heard that it has been recieved. I'm getting a bit worried about it to be honest as it should've been there by now.

Anyway Happy Easter to you all!

I must down to the seas again

to the lonely sea and the sky

Cake!

This is the cake Naomi made me for Mother's Day. Diet? What diet?
Of course she also managed to dye my chopping board pink and blue, but you can't have everything.
The girls got me some Lush shower gel (Happy Hippy, do you think they are trying to tell me something?) wrapped in a scarf made from recycled Lush bottles too.
No stitchy updates this week, everything I'm working on is secret for now for one reason or another.
I have managed to crochet six whole squares for my blanket, but I'm not sure thats enough for a progress photo.
DH is in disgrace. He needed a needle or pin to unblock a jet on the boiler when I was at work and "Couldn't find any others"
Not, for example, in the large stuffed pincushion or magnetic hedgehog needle minder on my desk either side of the scissor frog.
No, he took the needle from my W.I.P.
He didn't just unthread it either. He got a pair of scissors from the scissor frog (do we remember where that was?) and snipped the thread off to get the needle!

Collections

I like to hoard junk  collect things.

Its incurable. 

Earlier this week I decided to arrange my collection of sea glass, sea pottery, driftwood and other beachy bits and pieces into a kind of coastal vignette. I thought it was very chic and proudly showed it to "himself".
Do you know what he said?

"What am I supposed to be looking at?"

Men!

Here is another of my collections; my three pairs of premax scissors in their new home, a glass frog, which I found in a charity shop.

His quote on the day I brought it home "What on earth are you going to do with that horrible thing?" 
Men!
Again!
I'm not convinced about the bowl its sitting in, but it will do until I find a better one.

Spring, Stash and a winner

Spring appears to have sprung!
My miniature azalea has made itself all pretty,

and the beach is getting busy again (but we found a quiet corner yesterday).

The postman brought me my order from Karen at Wasatch Needlework. Raise the Roof's "Official Crazy Cat Lady"
Have they met me?
I love this design, it has come straight in at number one on the must-stitch list! The only thing I'm not totally sure about is it lists some threads on the back as CCT. I'm thinking that must be Crescent Colours?

And finally the Dandy Dreams chart. There was quite a lot of interest so I drew a name and the winner is Sally! If you could just let me have your address Sally, I'll pop it in the post to you.

A finish!

You might recall Karan very kindly sending me Dandy Dreams by Silver Creek Samplers as a gift. Well here it is finished.

It is stitched on Cashel in Confederate Grey, using the Anchor conversions of the recommended colours (except for the pink, which I brightened up a bit  because I thought the original was too browny).

I love the way the brown colour for the letters has come out the same colour that dandelions stain your hands!

The girls were very quick to point out the irony of me loving this design when I used to threaten them with  dire  and obscure punishments if they even thought about blowing dandelion clocks in the same postcode as the garden...
Anyway I thought I'd pay Karan's generosity forward, so if any of you fancy stitching this beauty just add a comment to this post (if there is more than one taker I'll pull a name out of a hat next weekend)

Hooking and snapping

I did it! I mastered the two colour thing :-

I know the colour combination is revolting, but I was using up oddments to practice. It is, however, official. There is now no stopping me. Blanket here I come.

I've bought this wool for the purpose. It's Stylecraft and the colours are, clockwise from the left :-Cream, Camel, Copper, Mocha, Khaki, and Sunshine.
I'm not 100% sure if the Sunshine isn't a little too strident. What do you think?


At the weekend I decided to practice my photography and try and get used to David's fancy-schmancy camera using the girls as victims models.

These were my favourite shots of each of them :-

Eloise, whose tights are meant to look like that apparently.

Naomi looking pensive (Damn! I was going for thoughtful)

And these are a couple of  more arty type ones :-Glitter!                                                                          

Lollipop!