Bobbing here and there

Hi peeps :) well it has been a strange couple of weeks to say the least .... I went over to Blackpool to visit my dad (if you remember was in hospital) for the weekend and ended up staying the week ....to put it in a nut shell he isn't very well and won't improve to be honest, they have asked permission to put DNR on his records  due to the complications that have arisen since he has gone in ... 
I took some stitching with me as usual ..lol and my dad helped me pick out the colours for an exchange piece I am doing and I have almost finished it and know how I am going to finish it off ... had a discussion with dad about that too ... he does like to be involved in my stitching :) 
The nurses were interested in what I was doing as they were closet stitchers ..lol and .....I also managed to teach some one how to start a granny blanket ... go me !!
One of the evenings after visiting, Jennifer and I went for a walk around Stanley Park and I got some wonderful shots including a cute shot of a squibble .....and the ducks and the swans  ..lol
I even managed to get some photos of my dad wearing my sun shades looking like the blues brothers when we went down to the peace gardens which is wrongly named you know .... those pesky seagulls are anything but peaceful ..lol 
I have been coming home during the weeks and have been travelling back at the weekends to spend time with my dad ... after three weeks he is still in the hospital and since I started this post they have found another tumour in his bowels and we now await to see what they are going to do or not as the case may be ... this waiting game is pants !!!!
I would like to say thank you to every one who has sent their love and prayers and kind thoughts ... it means a lot to me and my dad ... I do tell him :) 
I have managed some stitching and sent of Gillies RR off to her which should be on route to her very soon via her sister ... and loved it ... Jardin Prive  and can't wait to see it finished and what she does with it ...could be waiting a while ...lol 
I have almost finished my exchange piece and should have it made up for next week so I can then show you once Christine has received it :) as well as getting there on the birth announcement after having a wee technical hiccup of leaving my thread at Christine's one stitching night and wondering where it was ..lol 
OOOO yes when I got back the first time there was some lovely goodies awaiting me from Jackie and Butterfly .. I had won on their giveaways  and it was a nice cheererupera to get them :)

bottoms up

waling into stanley park

with star filter on

and again in sepia

how cute is this squibbel

all together now awwwww

heron

whoops just had to sneak this in 

and this .... carrot cake was yummmmmm

my dad in my glasses in the peace garden

the noisy critters in the peace garden .....

goodies from butterfly

goodies from Jackie :)

Gillies RR :)

 sooo there you have it .... sorry about the ice cream and cake ....lol ...I just had to take a photo while we were at Marsh Mill having some lunch before visiting on the Sunday ..... thought you might enjoy ;0)
ok I had better scoot off and make another brew before this mouses snooze time ....hopefully I will sleep better tonight ... take care one and all and I will do my best to stop by and say hello to you all .... happy stitching :) love mouse xxxxxx

Pull up a chair its gonna be a long post ...lol

Hellooooo ... have you missed me ... I bet it has been awfully quiet ..lol ... grab a cuppa pull up a pew and don't forget your cookies ....
Well all I can say was my holiday was fabulous at the cottage in the middle of nowhere .... I got oodles stitched with three finishes to boot ... go me ..lol ... took mega loads of photos ...894 but I won't bore you with all of them hahahaha ... 
We arrived on the Monday night to rain and more rain the following day so I had chose my stitching spot and hermitted in the dining room over looking the hills .... 
Bentley loved running through the fields of buttercups and daisies and going for long walks down to the stepping stones and beyond .... we also took him to Fountains Abbey which I think he enjoyed ...but the best bit was being able to wander out into the garden any time he wanted and chase the pheasants that dared to go on his territory ... he never caught them thankfully ... not from want of trying !
When it got to Wednesday the weather picked up and was gorgeous ... we had fun in the pool (swam with whales no less heheheh) and went for some nice pootles and stitched .... 
We went self catering and DD2 and her other half made some wonderful puddings , waffles and sauces, toblerone and malteaster cheesecake as well as millionaires shortcake ...yummmmm
Thursday dawned beautiful and DD1 had never been to Fountains Abbey so DH and I along with Bentley went for the day .... the ruins never cease to amaze me ... and the gardens are fantastic not to mention the cheeky crows having afternoon tea while we were there ....
The only time we got phone signals was when we got near to civilization so I kept sending updates to FB ..lol... of views and can you guess where I am ...
It was a great place to chill and unwind and relax and stitch, well the last bit was me only hehehehe.
The long week came to an end and I managed to finish Cottage gardens Samplings July , April cottage of the month (yes still working on these) and my section on Gillies RR (Jardin Privie ) and the following week managed to finish my RR Pumpkin Row and have thought how to finish ... please note ..thought heheheh
The following week passed in a blur of getting things done and nipping over to see my dad ... He was really pleased to see us and showed us his mask ... he put it on and I said smile ...lol ... although he was quite cheery I was concerned as to how much he seemed to be affected by it all .... he was exhausted from walking a few paces and had to stop ... he commented how annoyed he was with not being able to do what he used to do ...and that he had to be helped to walk ... I said as far as any one knows you are propping me up not the other way round ... that did make him giggle but today I found out that my dad is back in hospital he collapsed last night and they have discovered that he has  numerous clots on his lungs and one significant one ... ..I had planed to go over this Friday, so will still be going to see him and staying over for a few days and check he is behaving himself and doing as he is told ... he has to have blood thinning injections.... he isn't good with needles or at least he wasn't but I suppose he won't have much choice ...
any hoooooo 
on to something a wee bit nicer .......
Next January its my ...eeeeekkk 50th birthday and I was wondering if ...Peeps would like to stitch me a design no bigger than 5 inch by 5 inch with a 2 inch margin all round on white/off white evenweave (or aida if that is what you stitch on )  add your initials as well..   so that I could make it into a memory quilt from my stitching friends  to make my birthday extra special ....
What do you think ???
okkk I think  you will need a top up and there is some cider chilling in the fridge if you would like a cool drink .. do have pop as well but the cider is calling me ..lol photos are being added in a few moments :)

view from my stitching spot

stitching away merrily

on of Master Bentley's play friends

song thrush

rest of the complex

having so much fun in the buttercup fields

magical mystery gate

wee robin on my walk

peter rabbit

this pool is heated ... bliss

told ya there were whales ...lol

fountains abbey

having soooo much fun

magical gate in sepia

view from Anne Bolyne's seat

oooooooooooo how did I get here ...

naughty but verrryy scrummy

atmospheric shot 

spent ages listening to this wee chap

whoops did get some stash  ssshhhh

after the paddle

my creation 

Gillies RR

Cottage of the Month 

he is smiling under there ..lol

Guess what we won for DD2

Belated birthday present from Jackie 

purple poppy

my RR finished 

just love that mouse :)

I received a lovely wee ornament from Jackie while I was off from work .... a belated birthday present that she hadn't been able to post due to being a wee bit sick in hospital ....I have it hanging in my craft room by my shelves keeping an eye on the proceedings which haven't got as far as I would have liked with one thing and another .....
Well I think I had better finish this essay ..lol and go and get ready for work tomorrow ... I will hopefully get round to bobbing in to see you all asap but our main computer has crashed on us and don't want to work so having to use the lap top now so  time will be shared out on it ....
Squeak to you all soon and hope you have a wonderful stitchy week ... take care one and all :) love mouse xxxxxx