The agenda for May

Here in the UK, yesterday was very hot at 29 Celsius and broke the previous record for the temperature on May 1st. I wasn't that interested in the record being broken as I was more concerned in making sure the plants in the pots rather than the ground stayed hydrated. I also didn't want to take the dogs out until it was cooler, pavements can be very hot for dog paws. Over the day Missy and Twiglet spent a lot of time asleep, with short bursts of activity every so often. As the day cooled we headed to the park for some serious running around. 

Since it was the 1st May I needed to check the number for the Chookshed Challenge. The number drawn was 8 and for me this is a cross stitch project, the USS Enterprise schematics. My son bought the pattern from Etsy a while back and I promised I would stitch it and made a start a while back. It isn't as difficult as I thought it would be to stitch on black fabric and the embroidery threads used are nice and bright. The photo shows how far I had got before. Last night I did some stitching whilst watching TV and so I've already started to move this stitching along. I have new prescription lenses in both my every day glasses and my close work glasses. These have made it much easier to stitch and I began to enjoy the project. I'll take a photo in a few days to show you what I've managed to get done so far. The good news is that my son knows this is a long term project, and is not expecting it to be finished this year.

This morning John and I headed to the garden centre as we wanted some plants for the hanging baskets. The garden centre has a very nice cafe that serves delicious food so we treated ourselves to lunch. I'd meant to take some photos but I completely forgot. Later this afternoon or tomorrow morning we'll get the plants we bought into the ground or hanging baskets.

Tomorrow I want to spend time quilting the dinosaur quilt. I've completed a few of the blocks but this quilt is very large and heavy so I found it quite tiring to work on. Having left it for a few days I think I'm ready for another workout with it.  I started at the middle of the quilt and decided to do the dinosaurs in a meander but put some grass and plants on the background. I gave the one dinosaur claws on his feet. 

When I stopped the quilting I must admit that I wasn't careful about folding the quilt. It's now got lots of creases and kinks in it, that I'll need to sort out before I can start quilting again. On a positive note the new foot peddle has made it much easier to control the speed when quilting and so my stitches are more even. I still needs lots of practice , which I will get as this is a large quilt.

I've very nearly finished the first sleeve of my cardigan and when I'm next knitting in the next few days, the 2nd sleeve will definitely be started. That's probably a good thing as I ordered some more of my favourite yarn since it was on sale at less than half price. I'm must remember, I don't need any more projects!

I'm not sure who is cooking dinner tonight, but I hope it isn't me as right now I need a nap as today has been quite busy. Before I do that I need to find my embroidery hoop that I can use for the Star Trek cross stitch. It's much easier to see the holes when the fabric is held in a hoop. OK let's get the hoop found and then take a nap. no one is going to want dinner for a while so I'm going to grab the time while I can.

Take care

Lyndsey