Happy Summer! every one .... that's if it is still around brrrr ....lol 

I am the next person to receive a postcard in the Summer Postcard Blog Hop. that was thought up by the brilliant and witty Jo from Serendipitous stitiching where we get sent a wonderful stitched "postcard" from any where in the world and with a small wee note from them too :)

My "post card" comes from Maggee of Stitching Devotee -

http://stitchingdevotee.blogspot.co.uk/

Her message is: 

“This is one of my favorite pieces, Joyful Summer, by Country Cottage Needleworks. I did not follow the colors exactly, and I added beads instead of French knots. The FRAME is what makes it pop! When I chose it, my LNS owner agreed that it would make the piece pop! But my FRAMER actually refused it at first—she thought it was ugly! Of course, she acquiesced, and found out otherwise! I display this every Summer.

Summertime is the time of year that we really concentrate on our backyard Garden. With very limited room, due to trees shading our yard, we have learned to plant only what we like. This year my husband is more involved (he needed another hobby!) and has actually taken charge! He is so delighted and ‘Joyful’ to be growing foods he likes. He goes out most every day now, and comes back with a handful of veggies! Another ‘Joy’ of Summer is that it is when we see lots of birds! We have seen a nest built by the House Finches, only to be uprooted by Mourning Doves!  Then we saw our White-Headed Robin again—this is the 3^rd year, because it couldn’t be inherited, could it? And just this week I saw 4 Flickers!! It is a very beautiful time of the year. ”

the Summer Postcard Blog Hop has been to a few places already so here is the latest list: so please go and say hello to these and grab a cuppa on your way :)

First postcard from Marcy goes to Gracie at Needles, Pins and Dragonflies

Second postcard from Krista goes to Jocondine at Jocondine

Third postcard from Michelle goes to Sharon at Shebafudge

Fourth postcard from Mouse goes to Vickie at A Stitcher's Story

Fifth postcard from Christine goes to Marcy at Stitching Plus

Sixth postcard from Astrid goes to Krista at Just Stitching Along

Seventh postcard from Vickie goes to Michelle at Michelle's StitchCraft Place

Eighth postcard from Jocondine goes to Deborah at A Patchwork of Crafts

Ninth postcard from Gracie goes to Maggee at Stitching Devotee

Off to go and put the kettle on again ... hopefully back soon with some stitching and other news too :) take care one and all :) love mouse xxxxxx

Epic blog update :)

Hellooooooooo every one .... I am back in the land of internet and back to normality ...lol the Kettle has just boiled so I suggest you grab a large mug of something and a cookie too as I think you may need it to fortify you  for this post heheheheh....
At the beginning of August DH and I escaped from the mouse house and traveled up some scary single track roads to our new pad for the week ... the scenery was stunning simply green for miles and miles ... not to mention sheep and coo's and such like .... and luckily for us we didn't meet tooo many cars coming in the opposite direction .... We stayed at a lovely apartment called Honeypot Cottage on a site called Stonelands Cottages  the owners were lovely and couldn't do enough for us .... there were lots of other families there and some had their wee pooches with them ... unfortunately our apartment couldn't have pets :( I did meet all of them and got to take a cute photo of a Labrador called Marley :) ... we have promised Master Bentley that we will take him next year :) The views were stunning and the sunsets too ... while we were away I took 738 photos eeekkk ... I won't bore you with them all though heheheh ... We took day trips out to Fountains Abbey, Skipton , Bolton Abbey and Ripley Castle  and we were only a couple of miles from where they filmed the original Emmerdale for those that follow it ... The weather was kind to us until on the way home .....
I managed to find the material shop in Skipton which was amazing for curtains or upholstery etc ... it did have some nice patchwork in and I did get a couple of pieces as you do ...lol DH just rolled his eyes at me when I said I was nipping in ... I rolled them back when I came out heheheh .. It was market day when we went in so it was really busy but we coped by finding a lovely cafe upstairs in the indoor shopping place where we re cooped our strength before tootling around the shops again :)
We went to Fountains Abbey on the Tuesday of our break and we had the most glorious weather to walk round ....I took photos from every angle and got some lovely shots of it ... which I will show ..lol it was lovely to see how many families there were there with younger children exploring the ruins :) Bolton Abbey we did by default on the Thursday as we set off to go to Ripley Castle and did a detour into there on the way ... the stepping stones caused much merriment as we watched a few peeps fall off into the river .. that is part of the excitement there ... I didn't brave it as stepping stones and a crutch don't mix ...lol and as the weather was again glorious the few unfortunate kids/ adults didn't stay wet for long .... Ripley Castle was just closing as we got there but the tea rooms were open so we pootled round and went in there for a cuppa and then had a wee look through the gates before wandering round the village.
Each night we were back at the apartment when it was still light as I would have hated to try and drive those roads in the dark .... and we spent pleasant evenings me stitching and DH reading or watching the TV. I managed a finish there "life isn't " by Lizzie * Kate and also started the " Promise Me by her too .... I have got on with this and hopefully will finish this soon as well ....
We arrived back at the mouse house on Friday evening much to the delight of Master Bentley as apparently he sulked while we were away awwwww...
The next exciting bit was Ally , Chris and I went to the Nimble Thimble ... you know that shop in Wales ...lol and the weather was good to us again and the sun came out so that we could eat our lunch outside to the sounds of the swallows feeding their young ... managed to take a photo of the nest and you can see two pairs of eyes looking at you :) Ally and I both saw the Kingfisher but it flew past soo fast we were not able to take a photo of it .... Chris of the Nimble Thimble fame kept us supplied with tea while we all browsed to our hearts content and we bought some lovely goodies to boot :) from there we moved onto the Castle Court Quilter Shop in Whittington and was greeted by Diana with ahhh your the lady who has the blog and had someone wanting the same fabric you had bought last time ... can you make your photos bigger  as it took me ages to work out which it was and thanks for the sale hahahahahha .... she then proceeded to put the kettle on ..lol  we had a good browse round too and found some lovely sale fabrics which I just had to get ... I separated the fabrics and will let you know which is which just in case ;)  see my fame precedes me ...lol
After we had bought a wee bit more stash we all decided we had enough time to wander round the castle before having a gorgeous meal at the local pub Ye Olde Boot and puddings too ....and yes I did take photos of them ...lol 
sooo once again I will bob the kettle on while I sort the photos out for you to drool over ..... 

How far I have got with it now :) Promise me by Lizzie *Kate

Looking into the Nimble Thimble

spot the babies :)

Toby Turbo Nimble Thimble grand puppy

looking down the river at the Nimble Thimble

Castle Court Quilters 

I threatened them with the stocks if they didn't pose ...lol

Whittington Castle

these came running towards Chris and Ally 

saw these and wanted a crumble ..lol 

whooooo are these ???

Trifle for Chris

Peanut Butter Cheesecake for Ally

Raspberry tart for me :)

rainbow at the end of the day at Wales

Sale Stash from CCQ

Not sale stash ...lol

yummie charts :)

gorgeous floss and fabbie and new scissors :)

our luxury bedroom in our apartment :)

views of the Dales

green as far as the eyes can see

Marley saying boo

Fountains Abbey

some one started to sing in hear and it sounded divine :)

fabric stash from Fents of Skipton

Life by Lizzie * Kate finished :)

Bolton Abbey

Famous Stepping Stones

Ripley Castle

Skipton Castle

OK I have added a video of the road back to the apartment ... I hope it works ...
I hope that you have enjoyed your visit to the mouse house once again ... I will be bobbing over to see what you have all been up to while I have been away so hope your kettles are on too :)
Take care one and all and happy stitching to you all... until next time :) love mouse xxxxxx