Vintage stitchery, a bit of Cath and a helping of kindness!

Hello you lovelies!

How is life treating you all... very well I hope!

I love this time of the year, don't you? All changes.... buds bursting forth and gardens and widlife springing to life. You just can't help but to feel brighter on a spring day pregnant with hope and promise! That is the spring day being pregnant... not me! Now that would be a blooming miracle!!!!

This is one of my cross stitch designs ... my take on spring, and my own verse too I may add. Yes I know, I will never make it as a poet! Ha ha ha!

Even the country is standing at the starting line of new beginnings, changes are afoot, and no matter what our individual views on it all are, it is a very interesting time to come. A little scary perhaps, and unsure, but this last week has been a historical one in politics! I am finding all a little scary I must say! I wait with baited breath to see the future unfold..... People have been getting bees in their bonnets about it all, and we will wait and see now what is to come!

One of my stitchery designs... Think I may have put this one on before, so sorry if I have! Losing track!

I seem to have been drifting away from stitching lately and filling my blog with my drawing. There is good reason for this of course, and that is that all my stitcheries originate from my drawings and paintings, so they are close cousins!  So here are some charity shop finds for all you lovers of vintage stitching! These are not my designs, I found them in my local CS s.

Lovely spring inspiring beauties.....

I love this one, it is a table cloth, but it is badly marked in places, so it may be a job for the scissors maybe!I quite fancy using the pieces in a patchwork quilt for the bed , maybe!

I was rooting about upstairs trying to find something, when I heard some giggling coming from a box in the cupboard. Guess what? It was these two impish little girls and their cat who have been stuffed in a box in a very undignified way since we moved. I had forgotten all about my attempts at making ragdolls!

 

 

 

The top girlie has been embellished with some of my stitchery and my handmade buttons!

While I am still in the sewing theme... I am thinking of making a throw for a very tatty embarassing chair out of these fabrics and some embroidery... what do you think hey?

Ok! I can hear you! "Where is the Cath Kidston bit?".....  Oh ok! Here it is. I spotted this tote on the front of a magazine a week or two ago. My eyes nearly stood out on stalks! I actually let out a little squeal of delight right there in the middle of a crowded supermarket, much to poor George's despair! A free, yes FREE Cath Kidston tote bag! Straight to the till with that!

So cheerful, it brightens up my hallway! Off to the shops I will go! 

Before I go again, I must tell you all about a parcel that landed on my porch floor on wednesday. My lovely friend Jen at Themadhouse sent me these lovely gifts. I sometimes just can not get over the kindness of you wonderful peeps! Jen thank you soooooo much! I really must get my finger out to repay these kindnesses, as I have had a few so far, and I am going to see to it that I give some kindness back! You know who you are! So! Thank you so much Jen, you are a very kind and special person! 

A beautiful pin cushion, such a lovely fabric and a little label which says sewing! A very interesting book, which I just know I will love! Also a lovely thoughtful note, which I have partly covered to hide the address, of course!

Right then folks! Cheery bye for another week. I am off to water my seedlings and veggies now!  

Suzie xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx :)

Kitchen makeover..............On a shoestring. Watch this space!

Gosh!! Is it really Friday again! Hello all.. happy Friday! Thank you for your kind wishes for George's poor back, It is much better now thank you!  Sorry to all of ny  bloggy friends  who I may have neglected a bit this week, but I have been so busy drawing and painting for my secret project, and when I get going hours can simply fly by, I get a headache from all the close work (must get new glasses!) and the housework and all else goes out of the window!  Here is another little glimpse of what I am up to! Maybe I should rename this blog Itch2draw!

Anyone for cake? Not quite finished yet!And not good reproduction as I took a photo instead of scanning!

Yes! As a matter of fact I forget to do housework, the dinner, to get dressed.... I become like some hermit creature busily engrossed in my little make believe world!  Then I remember all the other things that need doing and I have to whirl about like a whirling dervish trying to catch up! 

Archibald Peabody-Smythe, being the attention seeker of the Sroka household is not at all impressed with being ignored!

No! I am not talking to you!

It is no use hiding behind those flowers you know. We can see you! HELLO-O!

Now, on to something else! What is your dream kitchen? Country, modern and sleek, traditional.....? 

I love this kitchen... this is my dream kitchen.....

Come to think of it,....... that is my kitchen, or rather it WAS my kitchen in my last house. This picture does not do it justice, it was not orangey  at all. Made from reclaimed pine, with a belfast sink and granite tops and a chinese slate floor.....

This picture shows the colour of the cupboards much better! The top pic was the one taken by the Estate agent, and don't they take awful pics?!  If we had stayed, I was going to paint the cupboards cream.

Is it at all decent to miss a kitchen so much???  Well I do! I even left my range cooker behind... boo hoo! 

Anyway, We are soon to do a kitchen makeover. This is my kitchen here......

A single oven , with the grill in it! A fridge that literally fills up with water and a white cushion floor! I mean... white, and me with 3 dogs! Mopping doesn't work, you literally have to scrub, and life is toooooo short! 

So stay tuned, as I am about to shake this baby by the neck! On a very, very tight budget, I intend to make it look as good as I can. This is my challenge. A vert strict budget as all of our money was all spent up in the last house! We have the 'new' cupboards in the garage. My friend has just had her kitchen done, so we have bought her old cupboards, which look as good as new. How much? £200. That includes the sink too (and taps)  Yes, cheap! Not bad I think. You will have to wait to see them in to decide whether I have pulled off my hoped for transformation!  

In fact we have the whole house to do on a tight budget... as we want to move back to Poulton soon, we have found that we really miss our old town! SO! If you would like to share our journey, I will keep you up to date!  The challenge in our home is to make the house look as beautiful as possible, as cheaply as possible!

A thank you now before I go for another week. Thank you Angel for these lovely awards!

You are such a kind lady, and I am really so happy that you picked me!  I award these awards to all the lovely talented bloggers that I follow... thats why I follow you.... because you are all sooooo darn good! 

Now, at the risk of boring you, here are 7 things about me that you may not know.  I have decided to tell you funny things!

1:  I went through a spell of falling over.  Hey! I had a lot on my mind at the time!  Once, I fell at the feet of a very, very old lady. She bent down to pick me up and said " shouldn't this be the other way round?" Another time I slipped and fell into a very large puddle, which resembled a small pond! This would have been fine if I was the only one in the car park, but a man was stood watching me, and didn't have the decency to look the other way, or to stop smiling to himself! To make it worse, one of my shoes had flown off, and I was flailing about in the water trying to find it! He stayed for the whole show by the way!

2:  I hated sewing at school...I  loathed it!

Now anything involving a sewing needle is just heaven to me..This is one of my drawings which I made into a cross stitch! 

3:  At school I got in detention.. a lot... usually for laughing. One term I got in detention 22 times and some of the detentions were given to me while standing in detention,  for giggling!  The boys in physics used to knock me off those very high stools That they always have in those classrooms, and the teacher would stop writing on the blackboard, not even look around, and would say " Get off the floor Calderbank"... he just knew it would be me! Mum was not impressed... being a teacher!

4:   I was once a hoffman presser at a dry cleaners. Very hot and steamy! And very smelly too! Yuk! The dry cleaning does not remove BO, pee or other smells. the steam released them... straight into my face!
I once forgot to take my thumb out before closing the lid, and then actually pressed the steam jet... OUCH!

 5:  When I was 12/13/14 ish I used to make my Dad howl laughing by shouting at the top of my voice in a very silly accent.."WELL SLAP MY ASS"  and by shouting "CHARGE" as I ran down the stairs very fast, (inspired by the film with Cary Grant, Arsenic and Old Lace!)

6:   About the same age, I discovered a Rugby song book in my brother's bedroom... I had heard him singing them quietly in his room, but Mum didn't know he had them. So I snook into his room when he was out and swiped the offending item. Being aqauinted with the tunes.. I quickly put together a fine collection and memorised the songs. Then I hid the book. At first I sang them quietly, and then began to get a bit louder! When at last the melodic notes of Dinah, dinah show us your leg, (and others which are way too rude to be repeated here) finally reached my big brother's lugholes, he came flying in to try and retrieve the book. Ha ha what fun I had watching him trying to stop me!  I had to get him back somehow for constantly dead legging me, stuffing his dirty socks in my mouth and hanging me over the stairs! You would never believe it of him, he is a respectable member of society now.. a solicitor! He he!

7: Years ago I was walking my first Old English Sheepdog Dylan, when he decided that he wanted to go one way, while I wished to go another. Hey! He was bigger than me!  He had seen something so interesting that he actually knocked me over and proceeded to drag me along the ground and then to my dismay.. through a bush! At that point I let go of the lead, stood up and frustrated and rather sore shouted to him " you can go to hell and back". Then I noticed a woman and her very well behaved Chow dog stood across the road, both looking at me with disdain!

I often used to come home after taking him onto the fields with cowpats and dyke slime on me and him, after trying to.. a) stop him eating the pats, and b) having to jump in the dyke to get him out!  I have had 4 of these comical, loving, soft creatures!

Oooops I did it again! I meant to write only a short post today, and still have managed to waffle on and on! I hope I haven't bored you too much... can I hear someone snoring?!!!

Have a rather jolly weekend all! Lots of love  Suzie.xxxx

The monster under the bed! I am losing my zzzzzzzzzzz s!

Hello!

What have you all been doing since last week? Anything exciting?  Mr. Owl tree,  here at owl tree cottage is beginning to spring forth with leaf!

Mine has been a mixed week... poor George has gone all bent on me again, he is not straight at all!  He got in the car on Monday, stretched his leg on the clutch and did his back in again. Yes, he suffers from back trouble occasionally, and the strangest things can set it off! Once he was reaching for his toothbrush and it went on him big time! Poor George (big ahhhhhh here!), he has been in pain, and I have been in fits of laughter. I know, I know, thats awful, but he understands me after all these years, and my very strange sense of humour by now, and he deliberately trys to make me laugh by making comments!

I, very sadly have always been afflicted with inappropiate giggling!  I think it is nerves or something! For instance, when he came in from the car he told me that there were some children waiting for the bus across the road watching him struggle to get out of the car and then hobble to the house looking like he had had an accident in his pants! Then later on when he was coming down the stairs, very slowly and all hunched over, and I was trying so hard to contain myself,  he just had to say to me that I can laugh if I want, to which I reply... of course I won't laugh! Followed of course by the giggles and many apologies! Talking about apologies... what about Gordon Brown this week? Oh dear!

I on the other hand have had quite a good week on the back of it (sorry for the pun!). For one thing I have had his company for a few days, which is lovely!  And on wednesday night, he felt a lot better and ready to go back to work the next day ( he is so rarely off work sick, infact I always tease him and say that he schedules his flus, colds, etc., for weekends and holidays!) and we had a steak and wine, which we don't usually do mid-week! So I have enjoyed him being home and eating earlier in the evenings, having more time together...the weekends are so short and flash by so quickly... heavy sigh!  Last weekend we enjoyed yet another BBQ! The fresh sardine fillets were wonderful!

These veggie kebabs with the fresh prawns were delish!

Anyway, on the Monday night he could not get in the bed at all, and he slept on the armchair downstairs. He can sleep absolutely anywhere at all! (more George stories there! ), where as I on the other hand, can not! I have trouble with my sleep quite often. I am losing my zzzzzzzzzzzz s! In more ways than one! .... the z on my computer is on it's way out and I have to press really hard to get one, so soon I may be called Suie!  Bertie jumped on the keyboard and sent my little z  a flying!  I was reading THIS post (by a very lovely lady!) and it struck a cord with me. Also a lovely , lovely sweet friend on Facebook (if you are reading this, you know who you are! KAY!)  has trouble with the night time too.  During the day, mostly, I am a very positve and optimistic person... but when I go to bed there is a monster under my bed! I toss and turn, worrying myself to bits. Every single niggle or worry comes crashing in at night time, and my mind will not be still at all! Does this happen to any of you lovely readers? It is awful, and of course.. very very tiring!

 I love Dali!

I have always had the night terrors though, and when I do sleep.. I have very vivid and peculiar dreams.  Recently, the lack of sleep is becoming more prominent. Of course once you get it in your head, it is very hard to stop the cycle! But by gawd, isn't that bedroom ceiling so interesting! NOT!

During the day though I have been busy though! I have been making a start on the garden and have got some veggies ready for planting ( I have only raised a few seeds this year and the rest have had to be ready to plant plants, due to work being done in the house).  Room makeovers coming soon!  I must remember to take before pictures! I shall be doing a complete kitchen makeover on a very, very tight budget!

Been painting again.............

Also I have been finishing off this cross stitch that I started sewing several years ago, and haven't touched since. It is not one of mine.. I wish it was...tis beautiful indeed and really is wasted stuck in a draw all scrumpled up! It really does not need much work to finish it, so I really should do!  So I have been sewing this along side a few other sewing projects too.

Before I go I would like to give a mention to another Kay, who I know from facebook too!  She is a lovely person and I really like her a lot, so please go and visit her on her blog HERE. On her recent post she has said the most lovely things about me, I was truly touched by her words! She has done some lovely creations and said that one of her pieces featured in her post were inspired by me! Gosh Kay you are so kind and wonderful, I wish you lived near by! I would give you a big hug! Thank you.
Anyway Enough! Enough for this week folks, Let me know what you all have been up to, I am so awfully nosey you know!

Happy days to you all! Suzie xxxxxxxxxxx

When you wish upon a star.......

Happy Friday All!

Many thanks to those whose wished me and the lovely George a happy Anniversary... it was great! Also thank you to all my new friends (followers? Readers and friends,  I like those descriptions way more!) I appreciate each and every one of you, and do send you my bestest thanks! Yes, I did just say bestest! I am regressing and have decided to cooperate!

One of my Angel Angst stitcheries!

We spent our anniversary weekend relaxing and lolling about mainly. On Friday we had an Indian takeaway, which was one of the best I have tasted for a long time indeed! And... cover your ears all of you of a delicate disposition!......I ate the left overs for breakfast on Saturday morning, it was divine, it just tastes so much better the next morning! You will be pleased to hear that I did not have a beer with it though... not this time anyway ..ha ha!

In the evening on Saturday we ate in with candles and cava, music and smiles, and on the Sunday we ate out at a local Italian restaurant, which was reasonably good. I say reasonably, because being married to a undiscovered Michelin chef (No, he is not really, he is a computer manager!) we are quite fussy about our food! I haven't come across anyone who cooks as well as Chef George as of yet!

So, we had a lovely weekend, and you know it is good, when you really feel sad it is over and can't wait for the next time to celebrate. Mind you I don't need much excuse to celebrate, I would celebrate an ant walking across the floor if I got the chance! Hey, don't knock it.. that ant has a life too you know! Sometimes I just celebrate waking up in the morning!

Now it is St. George's Day sooo.......................!...................

Now, how did I meet George? Hmmmm... well, I was in a very unhappy state at the time, lost and pitiful... married, but the marriage had broken down and could not get back up, no matter how hard I had tryed. My husband then, without going into details, had caused me a lot of grief and heartache, and had a couple of times hit me. Anyway, lets just say, without any ill feeling, that the twenty year old me that married him, was ever so slightly disillusioned, and had found out the hard way that my marriage was not the Doris Day film I had hoped for!

It started with a kiss. NO it started with a slap across the chops (him to me I may add!)  on our wedding night, on the honeymoon ( when we got to our honeymoon destination, he hadn't booked anywhere to stay... it was 10pm ! And I cryed, then got slapped for crying!) and quite frankly it was a journey all the way down the slippery hill after that! I stuck it out for 6yrs, even though my Mum and Dad wanted me to leave him from the beginning, in fact they begged me not to marry him in the first place. It must have hurt like hell..... paying for a white wedding with top hats and tails, when you can't stand the groom of your daughter!  But you know how it is.. I thought  that nobody knew him the way I did! He was nearly 10 years older than me, and I hung on his every word!

Anyway, it was a Friday night, and in a moment of true despair, I wished upon a star... Please help me to know what to do I asked, please help me to be strong, please send someone or something to help me!

I adore Walt Disney's Pinocchio!

Well, on the Tuesday night my good friend Susan (of many, many years!) rang me up and asked me to go out with her for a drink. I didn't want to, I was too depressed, but she insisted, and off we went. It was February, a couple of days after my birthday, and it was snowing, and we rolled down some hills, being silly and giddy, laughing and throwing snowballs at each other. Suddenly my spirits lifted! I was young and full of boundless energy.

After we had had a couple of drinks, Susan decided to buy some chips, but that would mean using all the taxi fare, but being hungry, we went to get some. We started to walk back to my house, when she spotted some people getting into a car in the car park, and to my alarm she shouted out to them "Are you going to Carleton?". I looked at her amazed. " No, but he is" they shouted back pointing at some poor unsuspecting man fumbling with his keys. Next thing I knew Susan had run over to him, and before I knew it she was clambering into the car! So naturally ( he-hum, have you never been told not to get into a strangers car? Yoohoo! What are you doing?) I got in too.

This was me then, in THOSE dungarees with my first Old English Sheepdog Dylan, gosh I loved that dog!

The strange man drove us to Carleton and stopped by an avenue telling us that he lived down here, in other words, you can both get out now! Susan, who must have lost her sanity completely that evening asked if he would like to come to MY! house (Hello!) for a coffee. Anyway he did, and after our coffees, Susan went upstairs to go to bed, and I sat with the strange man talking, and talking and talking, telling him all, and he me, and at 8 in the morning, we were still talking. At 8 at night we were still talking, and into the night we were still talking, and talking! we talked for two whole days!  Then I thought perhaps I had better ask him to leave. For the records, there was nothing other than talking taking place here! Nothing but talking!  No eating either, except for a bit of marmite on some scraggy crusty bread I had. I had no money in those days! Come to think about it....

I was as thin as a stick (no food!), dressed in second hand (Susan's) scruffy old dungarees, with walking socks and a DIY haircut, psoriasis ridden, and stressed out. What a pitiful state I was and he still wanted to talk some more!

Yes, the strange man was George, and my wishing upon that star must have worked as we have been together ever since, and luckily he didn't turn out to be an axe man! That is how I met George! I didn't need a husband, or a traditional relationship. I needed a soul mate,and that is exactly what I got on the 7th February 1984!

Infact the day after I met George, one of our daughters who we were to adopt a few years later was born! Fate! All fate Sometimes, no all times,  I really believe we have help from real angels/forces! Of course, I don't make a habit out of getting into strangers cars, not usually anyway!, and certainly don't recommend it, but gosh, am I glad I did do that night!

So, thats all for another week, Go and wish upon a star... you never know!

Lots of love and good wishes   Suzie xxx

A sneak preview of my secret project!

Gosh is it time to say hello to you all again! Yes, it is!  Thank you for your comments since last friday, I have enjoyed reading them so much. It seems that generally we women are all singing from the same page! What was very interesting was how  many of you agreed with me that these days women can certainly have it all..... ...... children, careers...........Oh yes they can! ....And they can also have all the housework too, all the shopping, all the responsibility of sorting out everybodys birthdays, christmasses, organising holidays, school holidays, ironing and luandry chores, clothes shopping, lunchboxes,...... do I need to go on?  because they generally do so much more than this list...and  mostly alone.  Yes, they certainly do have it all these days!  Hmmmm! Equality!  What a laaarf!

Here is my drawing/painting from last week, a bit more finished off, gosh she looks relaxed and peaceful!

 She has had more layers of paint now and looks a bit clearer. Here is a preview of something to do with my secret project too! This one has only just been very lightly started, so it is only as yet in the first stages!

Click on the pic to see it better, if you like. Next week it will look so much clearer! The little girl really does have a body to go with that head... honest!  It looks a bit squashed too, and is not at all in real life!

Well, I dont' know about you, but I have been out in the garden this week, making the most of this glorious weather.

Even though I am at home all day, I find it hard to keep up with all I have to do, and while I am outside, I am thinking of all the chores and pressing matters (like my secret project!) that I should be getting on with in the house, but while I am in the house I am thinking.. gosh that garden needs doing... and that garden is 150ft long! However I spend time busying myself  I am always thinking that I should be doing something else!


We had a lovely BBQ on Sunday, it was wonderful getting to eat al fresco again after that long and cold winter!

It was seriously yummy folks!

This week I was very lucky, TheGirl sent me this lovely award! Tis pretty I think! Thank you so much! xxx Please go and visit her.. she is just so wonderful and interesting, and has a brilliant slant on things... I love her humour!

This award is for looking on the bright side.  Crikey!  I really do try to do just that as often as I can! Now I really hate choosing people, so I won't (well I will!) , because last time I did I  just spent ages worrying about all the lovely bloggy friends that I didn't choose!  But two people in particular do pop to mind when thinking of someone who despite life throwing manure at them, keeps smiling regardless! I admire this lady  greatly, so I will award this award to Tracey . Not only does she keep herself going, she cheers us often with her wonderful and funny nature! She is one of lifes fighters! Go and see for yourself! I appreciate her humour, as I too use humour to help me get through lifes trials..

Heres to all the mushrooms amongst us... you know who you are!.... Kept in the dark , and every now and then someone comes and throws s**t  at you!

One of my cross stitch designs, note ... she is sat on a mushroom! Ha ha!

The other Mushroom, ooops I mean bloggy friend is Mummymad, she certainly has had her fair share of mushroom food being thrown at her! But she carries on regardless, and where, a lot of people would crumble to the ground in despair, she picks her self up and may I say too, that she is a jolly good Mum too!  Go and pay this fabulus lady a visit!

To all the other mushrooms out there, carry on, stay focused, don't drown in your own tears!
The rules of this award are to list 10 things which make me happy, but I would just be repeating myself! Also to list 5 trivia facts about me so!.....

1:   I have to wear this darn sleeve every day for ever!  But the funny part is that occasionally while trying to get the damned thing on (it is elasticated, but stiff!) I punch myself in the face! It hurts. OUCH! What did you do that for.. I ask myself!

 I was going to show my other arm for comparison purposes, but figured out I needed it to hold the camera! DUH!  It is now 30% bigger than my right arm, an improvement of 10%, but If I don't wear it, it will expand to giganticous proportions! I do sometimes wonder what would happen if all the lymph fluid suddenly left my arm, would I suddenly have a huge head, or foot or something?!!!

2:  Once when I was little, My Dad took me to work with him on a trawler (he was an engineer and it was in Canada). He left me in the room with all the controls (first mistake!) and told me not to touch anything (second mistake!). Hmmmm I wonder what this button does???? It was the fog horn! Oh dear, he was not pleased!

3:  I apologise to lamp posts when I bump into them, and I apologise to people when they bump into me!

4:  I love buddhism, and have been on a retreat, and got many books on this philoshophy. I try to live in this simple, but difficult way of this thinking, and constantly question my thinking and way of looking at life. I truly believe I can alter the way I view events in life and therefore learn to accept all with grace. But at the moment I think I need to read those books again and do some serious meditating, as I am starting to have murderous thoughts towards Aunty chaos! Maybe this is my latest test in life!  :o)

5: I get goosebumps watching the red arrows, fireworks and thunder and lightening. They all make me quite tearful and emotional!

Also I really must thank Jaqueline  , she send me a gorgeous token of friendship through the post this week! Isn't she such a kind lady! Thank you my friend! xxx

Look at the Owl!  Thank you!

What will you all be doing this weekend I wonder? It is mine and George's 24th (say it quick!) anniversary on Sunday, so we shall be doing something lovely I should think, whether it is a meal out, or in, there will definitely be food and some vino involved! Heres to the man I met in a car park 26 years ago! ( A funny tale, too long for now, and maybe a tad inexplicable!)   Raise your glasses ladies to my lovely husband George! To a man who actually does help out round the house and cooks like a michelin star chef! Oh yes! He does!

 The poor, long suffering George! Thank you blorb for putting up with me all these years!

Have a happy weekend all you sweetpeas!

Suzie xxx :)