As I write this it's a grey and dismal day here - we're in June for ****s sake! Where is that summer weather we were promised? I was watching a tv program this morning, where they were interviewing an amateur weather forecaster. He was saying that the weather at Christmas determines the weather for the following summer. Therefore this year we would have about 2 or 3 weeks of summer weather in July/August! The rest would be wet and dismal. Just as well I've got plenty of stitching to keep me going then I suppose. Still he did forecast that Christmas this year should be frosty, but not deep snow, which should then herald a summer 2017 that we could be happy with. Long while to wait though!
Hopefully on Wednesday, we should be getting out garden patio sorted. Not sure if I elaborated before but we bought some artificial grass earlier this year, which we were going to lay on top of our existing patio outside the back door. Anyway - long story short - the original gardener we hired to do the job eventually didn't want to do it, and we had to find another. This time, the job is on to be done this week. My peony has just begun to come into flower and provides a bright splash of colour in the drabness.
Meanwhile, in the few summery days we have had, I have been out weeding our front garden, I'm leaving it almost bare this year, in an attempt to try and find/kill all the weeds which have been springing up there. One side seems to be a dandelion heaven and the other is a bindweed hotspot! I know that weeds are only flowers in the wrong place, but I really don't want them, so each time one springs up I try to dig it out and hopefully by next year I might have less to contend with.
DH is busy watching these Euro 2016 matches. I don't think he's missed one live yet! Still he did tape the second half of one match last night so that I could watch the season finale episode of Hawaii 5-0! And I do have my stitching to keep me company while he sits in front of the tv.
Better do a stitchy report now I suppose. While we were on our cruise, I managed to catch up with the Brooke's Books Advent Animals. (Although Brooke has just released number 24 in the series which I do have to stitch).
I decided that I'm stitching the name above each animal as I think they are a part of their charm. I've stitched them on long strips of Aida, and the first 2 strips (1-8 and 9-16) have already been part finished ready for assembly. I am going to make them into small pockets on a backcloth, which will hang from a kind of dowel rod. I've got Grumpy Kitty (again Brooke's pattern) to head up the hanging, so my plan is kind of coming together in my mind.
I also managed to do a quick finish of a cover kit from a magazine (I think it was Cross Stitch Collection or possibly Cross Stitcher). This one will be a small hanging for the Christmas tree this year.
Finally on to my Fairy Grandmother. I can finally say that I have restitched all that I had done before I had to frog everything, and have started to make more progress on it. This was how it looked a week or so ago -
This was not quite duplicating all I had done before.
This was the start of some progress last week.
And this is where I've got to earlier today! 
I've decided to do her face 1 over 1 (it's 32 count), so I did the same for her hands as a test. I discovered that I can see the threads clearer if I peer over the top of my glasses! So I think that once we have had the garden settled, I must get round to making an opticians' appointment! I'm really not sure about the size of the beads against the rest, but it was what the pattern required, so I soldiered on with them. Also I couldn't make out the gold area just above the stripes on the bodice. It wasn't clear from the pattern. So after asking on Facebook and not getting a definitive answer from anyone who had already stitched this, I contacted Told In A Garden by email, explaining my plight. I had a reply from them in under 2 hours! They explained exactly what I should be stitching, and I was so happy with their prompt reply. It's always worth going back to the pattern maker if you have a query I've found.
Last of all I've acquired 2 new patterns (via 123.com) from swapping a couple of my completed patterns.
Hawaii Life!
Christmas Friends.
This will go with the other Vickery Collection pattern I got a couple of years ago -
I also managed to reframe a picture which I gave to my daughter some years ago. When we visited them last time, she have me a collection of broken frame pieces - it had dropped from it's hook and smashed. So I managed to reglue it back together, washed and restretched the picture and gave it back to her when we visited them last week.
Meet Valentino Rossi (Lyndisfarne Needlework kit) - freshly washed and reframed.
Well it's half time in the latest match, so I can get an answer if I ask DH what he wants for dinner! So I'd better go and turn on the oven!
Until next time - take care - and if you see the sun please remind it to come and shine over my way please?
Sandie
