The worlds most beautiful duck.

Todays photos are of my beautiful duck Ping she is now about eight months old and daily lays me a beautiful egg which delights me everyday, her main purpose though is keeping the armies of slugs and snails in my garden under control which she does an admirable job of.You cant tell from these pictures but she looks exactly like Jemima Puddle-duck she walks upright and is quite tall.
The other photo is a piece that I recently had framed but finished quite some time ago, it was a mystery SAL but I have lost the link for it now.I stitched a little more on CHRH but I haven't taken a photo as I will need to press it first as this linen creases a lot.I really need to give up sleeping I think or I am never going to get through my giant stash of projects in my life time lol looking at other blogs I am constantly tempted by all the lovely pieces I see everyone working on .Well I better go pop the spare ribs I'm cooking for dinner tonight in the oven or the troops may rebel.
Take care.

A Long Year

Its been such along time since I last posted here that I have almost forgotten how too, and it seems Blogger may have as well because it dose not want to add my photos.
Well a lot has happened in the time between posts ,my Grandmothers estate had to be settled with my sister and I as executors this was finally completed in October ,my eldest daughter turned 21 in March and my son and youngest daughter have both had important exams this year, we were robbed a few months ago with the intruders managing to steal almost everything that wasn't nailed down ,my FIL continues to battle cancer the amazing thing is that they didnt even think he would see this year in let alone be here to see it out , on a brighter note we look forward too welcoming a new great neice to the family early in December and we also added a duck to the family as well ,she is a very beautiful Indian Runner Duck named Ping.
On the stitching front I have completed quite a few pieces this year and will post photos over the next few days.The projects I'm working on at present are Shepherds Bush stocking Elizabeth for my youngest daughter and I have made a small start on the new Christmas at Hawks Run Hollow which I love ,I am stitching it in NPI thread on 32 # Lambswool linen .
Well I better go put another load in the washing machine ,I hope to get round too reading a few blogs soon as I have really missed keeping up with what everyone is up to.
Take care .

A productive weekend.

I thought I'd show another of the new Hibiscus that I have planted they are truly amazing this one is on the path leading down to the vegetable garden and beside it are a Satsuma and a Bay tree.While the weather has been allowing I have spent most of the weekend outside and as always I was joined by the cats and my dog however only our youngest cat Millie was around while I had the camera out Millie is about eight months old and was saved by my eldest daughter who found her trapped in a drain at
the back of our foundry, she was completely wild when she first came to live here but now she is very cute and friendly and she loves our other cats .
The last photo is ginger bread trio which I finished a wee while back I had it out tonight to lace it before taking it to the framer.I also finished my cushion but I forgot to take a photo of it,I will try to remember to take one when it comes back from being made into a cushion.
All in ll it was a very productive weekend my DH made a two tiered compost bin for me to compost the huge number of leaves we have and I spent the afternoon painting it and loading it with leaves ,while I was out doing this there was a car accident right outside my house, a driver had come across on the wrong side of the rod and hit a lady head on thankfully no one was hurt .
Well thats all for now Take Care.

Josephs' Christmas Stocking.

here is a photo of my DS christmas stocking it is Shepherds Bush Robert, I actually had finished the stitching for this the year before last ,but only sewed it together in time for the Christmas just gone.
It was another sunny day here but it was back to work for me so I had little time to enjoy it and managed no gardening time at all .Hopefully tomorrow will be equally as nice as I have a few plants that need planting, including another beautiful Hibiscus with huge bright pink flowers which I just had to have.
This evening I stitched away on my cushion and with a bit of a push I might be able to get it finished tomorrow ,I also have a few small things which need finishing ,so hopefully I will have time to get to some of those as well, ahh so little time so much to do! Take care.

A fun day Gardening

This morning DH and I went to a lovely garden shop ,we have been driving past this particular shop for years but have never stopped there before ,it was a little on the pricey side but had some interesting plants and gift items I will definitely be visiting it again soon! The lovely Hibiscus did not come from there it was bought the day before at my local garden centre which was having a sale, as you can probably guess gardening in taking up a lot of my time at the moment lol.
I also got round to making some delicious apricot conserve today which is delicious and my pantry shelves are beginning to fill with the hard earned bounty of the garden.
On the stitching front I am trying to finish off a Erhman cushion I started last year it is based on the paintings of Klimit ,but I have to say it has been hard going as half way through I decided I didn't really like it lol.Never mind this year I am determind to finish at least some of my growing piles of UFO's.
Well thats about it for now Take Care.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

First I thought I would post a couple of photos the first is my eldest daughters Christmas stocking it is Brett by Shepherds Bush .The second photo is the table runner I made ,it is appeared in the Christmas Quilting Arts magazine I love the bright colours they make me smile every time I look at it.
Today was spent making Zucchini pickle I planted one plant a few weeks ago and have had enough zucchini off it too feed a small village, apart from the usual ways one eats zucchini we have also had a chocolate cake made with it and now I have resorted to pickle, I also have an interesting slice I want to try.No doubt I will have much the same problems with tomatoes in a few weeks as there seems to be plenty on the plants.
Well thats it for now I'm off to do some stitching Take Care.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone has had a marvelous Christmas and New Year ,for us it was a little sad as it was our first Christmas without my Grandmother but all in all it was a lovely time.I was received all kinds of goodies including a new espresso machine ,some gorgeous cook books and a lovely new dressing gown.
The weather here has not been the greatest so far but it stops raining often enough for me to spend plenty of time in the garden which is wonderful as my garden has been very neglected in the last year and has resorted back to a wilderness.Lst year DH built a series of raised vegetable gardens for me and these are now producing all kinds of goodies, we have already eaten the first crop of potatoes ,more zucchini than you would dream one plant could produce, lettuce and the tomatoes which are now beginning to ripen .
I meant to find the camera before I sat down to write this but I forgot so photos will have to wait till next time.In the mean time Take Care.