Well, April arrived like a spring lamb - and has been raining pretty much ever since! The park is full of daffodils and the bulbs in my planters have come up; I had some nice hyacinths and now I have a single solitary minature tulip! The rest are still growing - I just wish they'd all grow at the same time!
I've been busy this last little while, plenty of tennis to watch (Indian Wells and Miami) and some deadlines to meet so as usual my stitching and my tennis go hand in hand. First of all I had a Stitchers Day Exchange gift to stitch for Michelle. I stitched Lizzie*Kate's "Cross Stitcher in Residence" and made it into a door hanger for her. She was absolutely delighted with it and now that she's got it I can show it all to you! I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out.
In the exchange, Kay was sending to me and here's what she sent to me - she kitted up the "Needlework Shop" by Country Cottage Needleworks and also stitched a gorgeous blackwork bookmark for me (I love bookmarks and since I usually have at least 2 books on the go at any one time - the more bookmarks I have the better!) I loved my gift - thank you Kay! Can't wait to get started on the Needlework Shop and hang it eventually in my own needlework shop!
I have also managed to finish the second square of Maureen's round robin - this one a cute little Robin. These have been such a lovely stitch - very quick to stitch up and so cute!
Maureen and Lynne were here for lunch on Sunday - we were supposed to be stitching but as predicted, not a lot of stitching actually got done, although Maureen did pretty well (I think I managed two whole stitches!) Lynne gave me a lovely Thread Winder - I think it's been made from some sort of a shell - very pretty! It would actually make a pretty ornament wound round with metallic threads to give it a sparkle. I'll have a little think about it and show you what I did with it.
Back to the tennis; Andy got to the final of Indian Wells, but lost to Rafael Nadal. Big disappointment. However, then came Miami and yesterday he played Novak Djokovic in the final - and won 6-2 7-5! That's his third Masters title and he's doing so well now, he really is blowing away the opposition! Monte Carlo starts a week today - Easter Monday in fact - and I'll get to spend the whole day stitching and watching the tennis. Can't wait! As long as I get from here till Thursday I should be doing just fine.
Gotta go stitch - Poppyfield Lane deadline is end of May and I need to get to work on it NOW! Thanks for dropping by!
~ Hugs ~
Ally xxx
