Back to minis

It´s been really warm these last few days and we have been able to sit in the naya in the afternoons doing some crafting. We have decided to resurrect our miniatures, after putting everything on hold for so long it´s nice to be able to feel we are able to do this.

We had several projects on hold, including a wonderful bureau that hubby was making.  He had cut and assembled the main unit and it had stood languishing in the cabinet just begging to be finished.  He took it all apart and stained all the pieces, reassembled and polished it

 

There are still drawers to be made and then sourcing items for the ink wells, pens and paper

 

I had designed this rug and finished the main stitching using 22 count and cross stitch, so all that was needed was to finish it off

 

Thinking of the haberdashery shop, I trawled through some of my archives and started this little embroidery.  I should really have used 40 count silk gauze and tent stitch, but I didn´t have any so had to make do with 40 count evenweave, cross stitch, not ideal but it worked.

 

 

I have since finished the design and it is ready to be attached to a floor embroidery frame



I showed Chris what I wanted, he did a quick drawing and it is now just waiting to be stained and the embroidery mounted. 

 

I have started a bell pull now, but the light was not the same and I have had to use the magnifier at times which is not so comfortable and I would really like to source some silk gauze as I think it would be easier.

 

Today has been about 20C out of the wind! but we have had such terrific gusts its a wonder we have not suffered more than a few smashed pots.  It has been reported that gusts of 134km were recorded in Alicante last night, don´t think we reached that here, but we sure did have the snoring rattling doors keeping us awake.

 

Rebecca and Antoni have just reached the UK after spending a week in Venice for their anniversary.  It was bright but very cold and last night they were awoken by some strange noises coming from the streets.  They realised that the strange contraptions they had seen were portable pavements being laid down because it was a high tide and it had rained so everywhere was flooded with over a foot of water.  Obviously the powers that be had this all worked out, must be a case of been there, done that, many times.

They had a lovely time but did say that everything was very very expensive, even a 30 minute gondola ride was 80 euros, so they took the water bus to explore some of the islands and attractions and waterways, but what a lovely adventure.

 

I have placed my supermarket order for tomorrow and have included extra for Rebecca so I can go and stock her fridge up for her, for her return. Fingers crossed the snow doesn't fall at Gatwick!

Have a great weekend

take care

xcx

 



 

Lemons

I use a lot of lemons and several years ago we bought a couple of lemon trees, the one on the terrace is obviously planted in the wrong place and is very sorry for itself and the other is in the courtyard.  It flowers and starts to fruit then somehow loses the will to continue, today I spotted this.....

One lonely little lemon, it would be nice if it would hold on this time.  So it´s a good job that Antoni shinned up his mother´s tree and brought me these

It might seem a strange thing to say, but the fresh lemons taste completely different, almost sweet with full of flavour zest and of course no wax on them.

I did harvest the last of the chillies and have popped them in the freezer ready for use

A friend contacted me a couple of weeks ago asking if I was interested in any embroidery threads. It was rather a sad story as she was selling loads of crafting things for a friends family as she had sadly passed away and they didn´t have a clue as to what to do with boxes and boxes of stash.  The nice thing was the money raised was going to charity.  This is what I bought.....

There are over 350 skeins of thread, mostly DMC and Anchor and some Mayflower, she said she only wanted 10c a skein but as I was having the lot asked for 30 euros, although I did up it to 35e for the good cause.

 

We have been after some pool side loungers and whilst outing and abouting we spotted a sale on and so stopped to browse.  Unfortunately the loungers were not very comfortable and even the sale prices were extremely high, but I did find these two wonderful little planters with their friendly bugs attached. Couldn´t pass them by as I thought they were fun, so I bought one for Rebecca too, bargain price, they were only 5e each.

Took this photo mainly as a reference, a sort of before and after, the plant really needs repotting but we are afraid it might snap.  It closes up in the heat of the summer to protect itself and as the weather cools you can see it opening up until it does its thing with flowering.

I shall take another photo when it blooms

We have the first of the almond blossom just gently unfurling their petals, very soon the whole valley and surrounding areas will be beautiful candy pink

 take care

xcx

First post

Happy New year to everyone

The gig NYE was a resounding success, the music quiz went down well and the predicted excidus just after midnight didn't happen because everyone was on the dance floor having a great time.  We also had an invite to return for a future event.  Win, win!!

Daniel, Shine and Leocia took off just after Christmas to visit Madrid, it was a surprise to us and we did feel rather deflated as we were so looking forward to having a full two weeks with them. They did return on the 2nd and on the Saturday all 7 of us went to Maria's restaurant for lunch, which was absolutely heaving so this took all afternoon, but was really enjoyable and I took advantage of having cuddles with Leocia.

As part of Leocia's christmas present I knitted a pretty cardigan/jacket with matching hat

I asked for a photo and Shine decided a fashion show was in order

The hat fitted fine, but the way Leocia is growing I don't think the jacket is going to last very long.  I knitted it for age 6-9 months and she is only just 5 months now!! Big girl!

I had already started to knit another jacket and had finished the back, but decided to undo it all and start again this time for the size 1-2 years

This was Leocia's main present, lots of sounds, textures, music and quite comfortable, and they managed to get it in the suitcase!

Really sad when we had to take them to the airport on the 5th, just have to rely on skype

We have one terrace where in previous years we have turned it into a veggie patch, as long as you plant early and harvest most things before July before everything gets burnt its ok, we also have a water outlet in this area for irrigation.

Apart from keeping the weeds down, for the last 3 years we have not touched this area, with Rebecca's illness and Chris's accident, we had neither the time nor inclination, but this year we decided to clear it and give it another go. We are trying to get our mojo back and enjoy once again the things that were put on the back burner

The weeds were over 7ft high and everything is covered in bind weed, nightmare!

Chris had to go to the town hall to get a burning license and being very careful managed to get rid of the first batch of debris

about a 1/4 of the way there, I can see digging up the bind weed roots is going to be a mission, a slow process being careful we don't overdo it

It's fun thinking of what to plant, but will we get there in time? We are thinking beetroot, spinach, pumpkins etc and perhaps keeping the toms, peppers and the like in the inner courtyard.  We have about 10 types of chilli ranging in heat and colours from chocolate to yellow 

We are having a warm January with temps about 20C which at least makes it quite pleasant to work 

Well, hope you all enjoyed your weekend,

take care

xcx

catch up

I hope every one had a great Christmas, enjoying the day in which ever way you chose

We had a great day, we were all here including Daniel, Shine and baby Leocia who flew in on the 23rd, Rebecca and Antoni joined us Christmas day, it was lovely having everyone together and celebrating Leocia's first Christmas.

It has been so hectic with the run up to the festivities, not only Christmas to organise, but Chris had a big birthday so I was organising a party for about 16 on the 21st doing all the catering myself.

Not only was it Chris's birthday but also the 40th anniversary of his first ever professional gig and he wanted to entertain our guests with a few songs.

It was a great evening enjoyed by all

Boxing day lunch, a good way to use cold turkey

Daniel, Shine and Leocia went off for a few days to explore Madrid and meeting a friend and

Chris has a new year's gig at a dinner and dance, so he is busy preparing a music quiz game which should be good fun. Me? I'm just trying to chill and catch my breath before Wednesday night

So just time to wish everyone a very

Happy New Year

may 2015 be every thing you wish for and more

take care

xxx

Demo

The other day, Rebecca and I went to a vegan cookery demonstration, it sounded fun and we felt it could offer alternatives to the dairy, egg free diet.  Oh but we were disappointed, the planning and presentation was very poor and certainly not hands on and the 'lunch' we were looking forward to turned out to be just a small taster. It was also very expensive considering what we got, no recipe sheets or introduction or alternative suggestions.  Oh well at least we tried something new.

I was pleased to hear my test results had eliminated anything 'nasty' so that was a relief, but it did show that my B12 levels were seriously low, I mean 254 instead of the 800-1000 mark opps!  No wonder I have been so wiped out and low.  I had an injection there and then and will need them twice a week for about 3 weeks, plus daily supplements, so fingers crossed things will be on the up.

Also, would you believe, a low range of Vit D, now I know I don't stay in the sun for hours like some over here, but even so who would have thought it, but the 'cure' for that are just vitamin drops that don't even taste of anything.  My cholesterol  was a bit high too even though we have a low fat diet, so something somewhere is going funny! Little by little, just hope the B12 kicks in soon.

I started knitting a little cardigan for Leocia, the pattern called for one ball each of three colours, but, how annoying, it should have read 2 of the main colour, so now I have three quarters of one sleeve done with the other one still to do and have run out.  The biggest problem is that the delivery charge for here is 6.00 irrespective of the size of the parcel.  Looks like I shall just have to buy more yarn  for other projects to make it worth while, think I can live with that! lol, so I made another little hat instead :-)

Hope your weekend was all you wanted it to be 

take care

xcx

    

Lovely gift

Ooh, I have a new follower, how exciting, welcome and thank you for having a peek at my little space.

Been feeling a bit under the weather, enough to admit to myself that I should really go and see the Doctor.  Apart from Well woman clinics, I haven't been to a doctor for ermmmm can't remember, years, so the dilemma was where to go and who to see.  As I am not under the umbrella of national health care I have to have private cover, which means I can go and see which ever GP I like.  I chose one that Rebecca has been to see and recommended, very good consultation, blood tests taken today and results Friday, not bad going. Nothing too drastic, just a hic-up

To cheer me up when hubby went into town the other day he came home bearing gifts, aren't these beautiful

  So bright and cheerful

Finished a couple of things for Leocia, love this little bolero and matching hat and the varigated yarn has lovely delicate colours and is really soft 

This is the first pattern I have ever tried where you incorporate the sleeves as you go, so there are no sleeve seams, certainly made the garment quite smooth.  Couldn't resist the hat either. 

Wasn't so happy with the mitts, the pattern calls for 4 ply, but this varigated yarn seems a little prickly to me, I made a couple of pair of these whilst in the UK and they were much softer.

I have already started another cardi but will keep this one for Christmas for her.

Yesterday was an amazingly warm day, in our kitchen courtyard we reached 31C but in the Naya by the pool it reached 36C (in the shade), we had a gentle hairdryer wind and although it was warm it was also dry, certainly above average temps for this time of year.  We are also having lovely sunrise and sunsets, a bit like this one

  

take care

xcx

Special bond

Last week Rebecca came up to stay for a couple of days.  I always love her visits, we chat and catch up, exchange ideas on many subjects like aromatherapy oils, vegetarian and vegan recipes and swap ideas for new juices, as well as being able to express our feelings about current issues that area affecting us, we are best friends as well as mother and daughter and I am very proud of our special bond.

We decided to go to the beach - I'm not really a lay on the beach and burn sort of person, I also detest having 'things' floating around your feet and legs etc when in the sea, however, to go shore hunting or building sand castles were right up my street when the kids were young.. Have to wait a wee while before that will happen again  Anyway we settled on Calpe port beach, a mix of rocks and sand and settled down, we must have looked a funny pair sitting there, I kept my very thin beach cover on to protect against the still very strong sun and of course Rebecca was under the parasols as her skin burns badly since the radiotherapy.

But do you know it was lovely! we chatted for a while then just laid there listening to the waves tumbling in , to be in the now, relaxing, instead of thinking of all the to do things.

towards Calpe main town

Over to Benidorm direction

As you can see Rebecca took the plunge and went for a dip, me? well I paddled but did get a wet backside when one roller was a bigger than the rest lol

We decided to visit one of the fish restaurants there and enjoyed  a lovely fish lunch including mussels, squid, salmon and swordfish.  The only slight thing that began to get really annoying were the looky looky's who were constantly coming round trying to sell their wares 

Time to go home - but a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days.

I have managed to get a piccie of the finished cot blanket for Leocia, i do like the randomness this varigated yarn produces and I have made three new items but I will post those another day as its a bit dark and gloomy here for photos today.

My supermarket delivery has arrived and is all away now - I ordered pumpkin and sunflower seeds but obviously got it wrong as they were still in their cases - I use them in salads and stir fries so couldn't be asked to shell them, we have too many almonds to shell without these, no problem, not right? immediate refund and taken back to the shop, couldn't ask for more! 

take care

xcx