Spring has arrived (at long last!)

Midway through March already but spring has finally arrived!  It's lovely coming past the park in the evenings after work and seeing all the purple and yellow crocuses with the remaining snowdrops dotted in amonst them and the shoots from the daffodils just beginning to show now too.  I bought some daffodil buds on Thursday and they have already burst out into bloom and look absolutely gorgeous.  There's just something about a bowl of daffodils that brightens up a room isn't there?

I only have one small finish to show off this time around.  One of the partners at work has been asking me for some time now to stitch something for her mother; she just couldn't make her mind up exactly what she wanted.  She eventually said she wanted something with her initial or initials and I remember a little design I had stitched for my mum way back in 1997.  I showed it to Christine and she loved it.  I finally finished her mum's sampler last weekend and here it is ... It's the mini basket sampler which was in Cross Stitcher magazine in May 1997, designed by Cathy Bussi.  I love the delicate pastel colours and it really is a lovely little design.  Christine hasn't managed to get a frame for it yet but we may have tracked one down at John Lewis's.  I said I would put it into the frame for her so hopefully I will get a chance to take a photo of the framed sampler to show you next time around.

My robin came back this week (thank you Maureen!)  I've still got my bit to finish off of course but here's how it looks so far!  I'm pleased with the result ~ all I have to do now is knuckle down and finish it lol.  This one is an Anchor Fleu de Lis kit called Honey Bees.  I am currently working on Mylene's robin, which is a summer cushion cover so will hopefully have that finished soon and let you all see that when its done!   I'm already racking my brains as to what theme to choose for my next robin.  All of the themes we've had over the last 5 or 6 years have been lovely and it's getting harder and harder to choose a new one.  No doubt I will think of something though!

I finally got my date through for surgery on my nose.  I go into hospital on 12th April, have my surgery and come home the following day and then I have two weeks off work to recover.  Hmmm wonder what I could stitch to keep me occupied?  I haven't made up my hospital bag yet but I will have to make sure that I have something with me to stitch during my overnight stay.  Something new perhaps??

Last time around I was showing off the gifts I'd had for Christmas from my stitching friends and it wasn't till after I published the post that I realised I had left one photo out!  So here it is; my new little putty cat and the lovely project bag, both beautifully made by Mouse ~ I adore them both and puss is doing a very good job of guarding my WIP basket; he's doing such a good job in fact that projects rarely make it out of there!!  The project bag has already been put to good use as I use it to take stitching to work with me; and I will use it to take my chosen project to hospital with me too.  It has long straps (handles) to go over my shoulder or to hang off of my chair.  Hopefully if I ever master the ins and outs of these monsters they call sewing machines, I will be able to make things like these too ~ I might even be able to put together my own cushions (got to stitch some first though right???)

Andy's been playing at the Masters 1000 Tournament in Indian Wells, California this week.  Unfortunately he got knocked out of the tournament at quarter final stage by Robin Soderling last night.  I only managed to stay with it for the first set as I got hit by a migraine which forced me off to bed.  Not often I say this, but it seems like I didn't miss much .... ah well.  Miami up next so we'll see how he does there.

I'm off to try and do some work on Mylene's robin now but will leave you with my TUSAL update ~ hope the daffodils brighten your day!!  Thanks for stopping by.

Love and hugs,

Ally xxx