Farewell March

Here we are the final day of March, a quarter of the year has gone and we are now into spring.

March 20th the beginning of spring - which side are you on, does Spring start March 1st or are you in favour of the equinox as being the start of Spring?  This year we had another celebration March 20th as we had a partial eclipse to celebrate too.

DH was at home and we were out in the garden with our eyes covered.  We had glorious sunshine unlike many who had cloud cover.  DH took some nice shots with his various lens, but I like this one, very dramatic, you could be forgiven for thinking it was just a moon shot on a dark night!

DS celebrated his 30th birthday on Sunday 22nd March.  We had family celebrations at home in the morning with cake and candles - you are never to big to be sung 'Happy Birthday' to.  He then went off to do stuff with his friends.  He's a keen pool/snooker player so i made him a snooker playing 30th birthday bunny.

As if we hadn't had enough excitement this weekend, we decided to head off into the city and try and see the Richard III procession.  We were extremely lucky and found a parking space just a couple of streets away - serendipity maybe?   We walked around the corner, stood for just half an hour and then the procession passed by right in front of us.

 

As it continued along the streets to the cathedral, we walked through the town to just behind the cathedral.  The bells were ringing and Richards coffin was being carried in.  The compline service was being shown on a big screen for all to see and we were handed a service sheet as a memento of the occasion. 

It was lovely to see and know that it was all being held just 100 yards behind you, a wonderful atmosphere and so many foreign visitors with all different languages being spoken as you stood there.

As people dispersed we walked back to the car past the front of the cathedral and DH took a pic of me.

We were saying that perhaps my granddaughter will study Richard a bit more at school as she grows and we will be able to tell her that we were there as part of the occasion, a little bit of history and show her the pics.

Monday 23rd was a day we had been looking forward to.  All the weekend excitement and now we were heading off for a few days along the Essex coast, somewhere we had never been for some much needed rest and relaxation time.

Miles of sandy beaches to walk along, hundreds of beach huts awaiting visitors in the warmer months ...

A little tai chi on the beach anyone ....

Plenty of spring colour in the flower gardens along the promenade....

 

Enjoying a cuppa and cake whilst looking out to see...

 

Thursday we woke to heavy rain so we stayed in during the morning and watched a bit more of the Richard III celebrations, the live re-burial service that was shown on the TV.

 

A little knitting whilst away and I made a pair of socks...

 

 

Arriving home after a lovely few days away, I filled a little glass jar with the sea glass we had collected on our beach walks, its a nice reminder of the lovely time we had and makes me smile when I look at it on my kitchen windowsill.

 

Snow Bunnies was finished before I was away so a new start for the LHN SAL this Wednesday with the parlour ladies.

The perfect buttons found for the pink cardigan, they cost nearly as much as the wool to knit it!

A little more charity knitting.  This months tally is 14 little hats, a little jacket and a 6" square.

So that's how my March has ended, busy, eventful and fun and finally the Spring wall hanging is up at the community centre to welcome the new season.

Wow that was a mammoth post full of pics, well done if you've got to the bottom it.   Many thanks for stopping by, I really do appreciate your visits here and the comments you leave.

Love and blessings to you all

 

Mothers Day wishes

Here in the UK we celebrated Mothering Sunday yesterday, I hope all the UK mums had a wonderful day celebrating with those you hold dear. My thoughts were with those of you with angel mums and like me, angel children.

I had 2 beautiful cards...

and charms for my Pandora bracelet.   The outer covering on these chocolates made me smile :-)

The usual SAL's got some attention last week...

Irish Garden now has all the outer borders filled in with symrna stitches. Back to the concentration of the filling in and all the quarter and half stitches next time.

Parlour stitching is still LHN Snow Bunnies, the border added this week so just the little bunnies to arrived to complete it.

A knitting finish - Isabelle's cardigan is made up. A trip into town to source some buttons the correct colour is needed.

More prem baby hats for the charity knitting. Pink ones this time and these make my total 18 so far.

This week will see the equinox and spring will be upon us. The Craftshare will be changing the winter hanging at the community centre for a bright and colourful spring one. I've knitted up a couple of little sheep to add to it.

I have also finished off the Spring stitching SAL over at Needlecraft Haven, but no showing of that till the end of the month.

A quiet moment was spent last week inside the cathedral in our city. I felt the need for some quiet contemplation time.

In the past I have often sat inside the cathedral and been the only person there. Not so recently, there are people from all over the world interested in it.

The statue of Richard III has been re-sited just outside ....

and the visitors centre is often bustling with visitors...

I'm sure you all know the reason why as next Sunday, March 22nd (also my sons 30th birthday) will see the bones of Richard III arrive back into the City ready for his re-interment.   On Thursday 26th March a service will be held and the new tomb inside the cathedral will be revealed and the eyes of the world and the worlds media will be on our little St Martins church that has stood for so many years. DH's mum used to worship there as a child before it got cathedral status. I wonder if the atmosphere inside will be changed after Richard is placed there?

The book I've been reading this past couple of weeks was about a changed place.  Granada in Spain and during 1936 how the army coup led by General Franco shatters the countrys peaceful world with the Spanish Civil war and the devastation to familes at that time and for many years later.  A girl who lives through her dancing and what becomes of her.  Another good read by Victoria Hislop.

Wishing you all a lovely week ahead with plenty of crafting time.

Love and blessings to you all

Welcome March

Good morning blog readers... the sunshine is beaming in through my window this morning.  The month of March has certainly brought some nice weather with it.

Sunday was also a lovely sunny morning so DH and I decided to take a ride out and spend some time in the fresh air.

A lovely first sight as you pull into the car park.  Clear blue skies set off the scene of the boats on the water and children having fun in the secure play area. 

As you start your walk into the woodlands you come across a wooden pillar telling you about "The Little Grey Men"

...... it asks you to "follow the path to join the last gnomes of England on their exciting adventure" (obviously aimed at families with children but we decided we would have some fun and follow the path)

Baldmoney was the first gnome we encountered showing us the way ...

and on to read a little more about the gnomes story.....

past the gnarled trees...

and on through the woods reading the information boards about the various animals that live in the woodland and following the story of the gnomes.

After a lovely walk we arrived back close to the car park at the childrens play area where the carved wooden golden eagle stood regal and majestic.

Back to the car, and just in time, as it started to rain...

We sat for a while supping hot chocolate and reading our books whilst the showers passed over.   A lovely way to spend a Sunday morning.

Time out in the fresh air had been perfect after my busy Saturday indoors.  It was the 'Have a go at crafting' day at the local community centre. 

We had a lovely display on show of work that the craftshare ladies had made...

 

and goodby bags for sale so people could try crafting at home for themselves and put into practice what they had learnt.

Lots of people came along to try the different crafts on show.  Two young university students sat with the knitting lady for 5 hours! They had never knitted before and were desperate to learn.  It was wonderful to see them beavering away and only taking a short break for a quick drink and bite to eat.  They left so excited with what they had achieved and will be coming along to join the Friday morning knitting group to learn more as they don't have any lessons that day.   Exactly what the day was about

Many more people enjoyed the day, a huge success, perhaps the organisers will arrange more in the future. I had great fun.

My usual SAL projects were out last week....

Irish Garden (UFO) had some attention, oh look another Smyrna inner border added to the top right!

A new start for Wednesday with Barb and her parlour maids.  I chose LHN Snow Bunnies this time.  I decided to stitch this over 1 on 28ct to make it a little smaller for my ornament this time.  The fabric is a piece from a Polstitches grab bag that I was gifted quite some time ago.

 

A new stitching start and its finished - Lizzie Kate Inspirational Boxer that I completed earlier this year had a free chart in with it.  A little stitch project called 'Love' with very pretty threads.  Not sure how to finish this one, so its sitting on the table awaiting inspiration.

I've been learning this past week myself.  Isabelle's pink cardigan was giving me some problems.  The knitted cable pattern up the front had some abbreviations I hadn't come across before  - it was the splitting of the vines up the pattern before for the bobbles.

Good old youtube showed me a video of 'how to' and in fact it showed me a couple of different ways to do it so i could choose which suited me and very soon I got the hang of it.   One front completed and I have to say I am very pleased with how its turned out.  

Reading is still happening at the beginning and end of each day and my list of books read this year is growing. I read on the Good Reads website about a book challenge for 2015 a while ago and the regular people who come along to the Book Borrowers on Tuesday afternoons have taken this challenge to heart so we are trying to complete the 50 books read this year.  You might see some strange and weird books appear on my list as I try and complete my challenge this year. 

I've just finished reading Callanish by William Horwood, that's about the sacred stones of Callanish on the Isle of Lewis and the golden eagle that is captured and eventually returns there.  Callanish is a place I would like to visit someday, so I can tick off another of the challenge questions "A book set somewhere you have wanted to visit".


I hope you are enjoying some wonderful times.  It's staying lighter just that little bit longer each day as we approach the spring equinox later this month, and we also change the clocks the last weekend of the month and our days will certainly seem longer then.  It's time to wave goodbye slowly to the dark short winter days and welcome the spring and new growth into our lives.

Love and blessings