What am I doing at the moment.....well a bit of allsorts really. I'm working on this sampler which is very personal to me. Its all about my parents who sadly are no longer with me,I realise that this sort of work really appeals to my non conformist attitude (ie: I don't have to follow instructions). Let me tell you a little bit about whats on there,the photograph at the bottom is of my dads garden, when I was growing up Its the most vivid memory I have of my childhood.
My dad was a brilliant gardener and he loved flowers,most of the garden was given over to the growing of flowers even the greenhouses were full of beautiful smelling geraniums,even now the smell of geraniums warming on the windowsill transports me back to my childhood.
I was very excited at the car boot yesterday to find these cards,especially the geranium card
which of course has to have a place on the sampler somewhere.
Apparently these are cigarette cards !! If you click on the picture you should be able to read the
blurb. What else can I tell you..... the air mail envelope was a letter that my husband and I sent to my parents when we spent some time in Australia ,the crochet was something my mother was brilliant at and I wish that I had taken the time to learn from her whilst she was here.
There are two earrings one at the top and one at the bottom, one belonged to my mum and the other to my grandmother,there was only one of each so it seemed right to put them on here.
The stamps are for my dad, he collected stamps,coins, cigarette cards ( he would have loved those flower ones). And of course I cant forget the Robin the symbol that reminds me of my parents everyday. So there we have it a work in progress,very personal to me,I must admit I did wonder if any one else would "get it" but even if they don't I'm really enjoying making this.
I'll show you again when its finally finished I'm trying to decide how best to display this...any ideas.

I think I'm in Love

Oh my goodness....I think I'm in Love look who's come to stay with me.
I've coveted one of these babies for a long time and last weekend we visited a fabulous shop called Ampthill Antiques Emporium.Oh my goodness what a place it was 3 floors of antiques and vintage goodies I didn't know where to look first. I will certainly be going back again, it was impossible to take in all the goodies.
I will ask if I can take some pictures next time. They had a great section of vintage clothes sadly all to small for me.
I think vintage clothes are more suited to this beautiful lady than to me.
Okay what should her name be ? should she even have a name?
As my daughter told me...your weird mum !!!
Weird me.........hah
So come on some suggestions please, I've had Fleur, Marilyn (cause she curvy obviously) Lacey (my Husbands suggestion !!!) and I need some more so please join me in naming this beautiful (impossibly thin waisted) lady.

Spring is Springing...

WELL...thank goodness for this beautiful sunny day...and boy did we need it I was beginning to think those grey miserable days were with us forever, but no...there are definitely lots of Springy signs about and that feels good. I spent Saturday going for a walk near to where we live, along the canal,through the tiny little tunnel that goes underneath the canal (how stupid am I not taking photographs) but I will next time I go. I did take one picture of this lovely church,isn't this tree amazing. Next time I promise to take more pictures...

Sunday saw us at a local Forest Centre...we were there to plant a tree in memory of my husbands father, it was a beautiful bright sunny day but sooooo.... cold as you can see from the picture.This is a lovely spot and was a favourite place for my in laws to walk.I'm sure we will be regular visitors. I made some promise knots to give to the family,I suggested they make a promise to their dad and then put the knot in the hole as the tree was planted. I also made some small ribbons to give so that they could keep and always be reminded of what their promise was.On the whole this seemed to go down well with most of the family participating. Sadly I have already broken my promise.......I dont mind sharing my promise with you, its not a secret.......my promise was to be more PATIENT, something I find increasingly harder as I get older. I do have my little ribbon though to remind me everyday to be a better person in memory of the people I have lost.

Thought I'd share this picture with you,wouldn't it make a good stitchery ? This is my wedding invitation from 31 years ago...yes very 1970's.I loved it then and I love it now and I think I will definitely make it into a stitchery,feel free to join me if you wish.