Saturday 30 May 2015

Archery again!

Well over the last few weeks, I have been all over the country at various archery competitions.  Some have gone better than others but the one thing they have in common is that I have thoroughly enjoyed them all.

I have even had a bit of success with them.  At one competition I was 9th but the highest scoring non West Midlands archer.  This meant I won the Open 1st place medal.  It felt a bit like a thanks for turning up prize though!  However, last week in Doncaster, I got 3rd place at the shoot I was attending.  It was a lovely club and there were only about 20 archers there, one of whom was an Olympian.  It was interesting watching him shoot and unsurprisingly he won the gents competition.

I don't have a competition for the next couple of weeks but after that I think I have at least one competition every weekend until the middle of October.


Friday 29 May 2015

Passifloral and fantastic framers

Last month was Colin's parents 50th Wedding Anniversary and as you are probably aware, I decided to stitch them something.  The design I chose was Patricia Ann Designs 'Honeysuckle Courtyard'.  I did change some of the colours to make it more golden.


As you can see from the photo above, it turned out beautifully with a few tweaks to it.

I then sent it off to Israel to Rachel (Passifloral) (with my heart in my mouth, it has to be said) to have it laced and a handpainted mount added.  I gave Rachel a free rein with it, other than telling her it was a 50th wedding anniversary gift and what the design was called.  She painted it in record time for me and had it back within 2 weeks.  Rachel had asked if I wanted a sneak peek but I decided to wait until it arrived back home to see it in all its glory.  Oh my word!!! It was worth the wait!!!  LOOK!




So then, it was a case of finding somewhere that could make me a frame to fit and in a fairly quick time too!  I found Picture Frames Express.  They are utterly amazing!  I ordered what I thought I wanted but did mention that I wasn't entirely sure about the measurements and if I had got it right. This lovely man (Mark), spent most of the morning emailing me - in all honesty he muct have been tearing his hair out at my dithering!  He was brilliant!!  Once that was all sorted and confirmed, the order was here within 2 days.  The frame was absolutely perfect, good quality and just what I wanted. It was so well packaged that even Royal Mail couldn't have broken it.  I honestly cannot recommend them highly enough and will definitely be using them next time I need a frame.  



So once framed, it was sent off to its new home and I am happy to report was immediately (literally) put on the wall in pride of place where absolutely no-one is EVER going to be able to miss seeing it!

Wednesday 27 May 2015

Giveaway winner - very belatedly!!!

The winner of the 'A Place we call home' as chosen by Rachael (who actually lifted her head out of her revision long enough to choose!) is....

KIM M

So Kim, if you could send me your address and I will pop it in the post to you ASAP.

I'm sorry for the delay, but I have been so busy with archery competitions, work, kids and sorting things out round here that I haven't been stitching, blogging or doing much more than checking facebook.