Time flies.......................

It is hard to believe that we have been in our new home for a month, the time has flown by and I have not been very good at keeping my blog up to date I'm afraid. It has been an hectic time for all of us and although we are settling down, there are still so many unknowns in our lives but well life does go on......
We are getting to know the area around us, we live in Bury which is part of Ramsey and the next nearest town is Warboys. This name intrigued me and after some internet research I discovered that its main claim to fame is that it was the last place in England to hang witches. Perhaps this is why the clock tower in the town has a weather vane topped with a witch on a broomstick! The original spelling was Warbois which changed over the centuries to the very strange Warboys!
There is a definite feel of autumn in the air and the early morning and evenings decidedly cooler. Thank goodness we do not have to spend another winter in the French house, much as I loved being there it was the coldest and dampest house I have ever lived in.
The cat and dog saga continues with little change. Today Mischka gave Max a good hard slap across the nose and swore at him (cats do seem to know some really bad language!). He then rushed across the garden and sat on the fence giving the brown dog the evil eye. Of all our kitties he is the most independent and probably well able to look after himself.
Whilst in France I attended a craft show and discovered cross stitch work of a different style. All done in one colour usually burgundy and with more stylized patterns (if that is the correct way to describe these designs). So I have been busy doing cross stitch for the first time in years and here are some of my makings...........
this is a small sampler type cross stitch which I have made into a small pillow trimmed with some pretty French lace. The pattern is from a French cross stitch magazine which Megan discovered whilst visiting us in Pontivy.

These two small pillows would look so nice on a door so we took advantage of the nice brass handles in this house to take a photograph. As I had to improvise with the tassels I found some wooden beads to crochet over with matching thread and was pleased with the end result. These wonderful designs are from:

http://myauntsattic.web-log.nl/myauntsattic/2008/09/index.html

This is a blog for cross stitch lovers. A very special lady shared all the patterns that an elderly aunt had accumulated over many years of creativity and stitching. They were apparently hand written charts and several ladies spent time digitizing them so that they could be used again. A wonderful idea and very generous. There are some really beautiful designs to be found here.
On Friday morning the girls and I left home early in the morning to attend the Sewing and Knitting Show in London. Held at Alexander Palace this was the biggest show that I have attended in the UK. The variety of craft supplies on sale were amazing catering mainly to beaders, embroiderers and knitters, although there were some scrapbooking stands to tempt Bronwen. We enjoyed the show and it was an opportunity to source suppliers in England. However, it was so very crowded and the stalls so close and cramped that it was quite an exhausting experience just to move around let alone stop and look at anything. All the various guilds were represented as well as the Royal School of Needlework, Megan has a dream of attending a course there one day!
I have been very slack in my bear making and had forgotten that our store order was due to be complete and in the post by the end of September.......... so this weekend Megan and I are working our little fingers to the bone to complete our bears. I am fortunate to have only two but Megan has four and they are supposed to be in the post on Monday, perhaps we can blame the postal strike if they are late!

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow. ~Jeff Valdez