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.

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!

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.