Witchie Cross Stitch progress...

I spent a lot of this week making progress on Witchie Renabest. I have posted over on my Spooky Stitchers Sal too, but just in case you missed me there I am posting here also. I am loving working with the colours in this cross stitch, maybe because they are such bright halloweeny colours!

I finished working on the back stitch and have started on the French knots, which I have not done many of before and finding quite fun to do!

French Knots are on Witchie's eyes, shoes and bubbling over the cauldron...... I have just started the brewing bubbles

I love stitching Autumn/Halloween pieces...What are your favourite themes to stitch?

Hope you are all having a lovely week,

see you soon

Priscilla x

Books and Halloween Stitching...

Hi Everyone, The weather has been quite hot here in the uk for the last couple of weeks, and I have been out in the garden and doing a lot of reading and working on some long ago started cross stitch. You may remember the pile of books I had planned to read? well I took my time and have just finished the last on the list Hubble Bubble -Christina Jones

A very light, feel good book, with magical recipes (but do not get this book expecting to re-create the recipes, some of the ingredients are poisonous!) great characters and romance. I must admit I am not always a huge fan of romance themed books, but with the magical twist it was more enjoyable. This author creates a wonderful cozy village and a set of unusual kooky characters! I do think her second book Seeing Stars is a better read though and a much better story, but I say give them a try if you see them......
Hubble Bubble
Seeing Stars

Like I say I have also been doing some stitching on a project I started a while ago, Witchie Renabest by twisted threads.I am currently working on the back stitching, and hope to make it into a pillow for halloween. To share my love of Halloween and stitching Autumn themed pieces I joined a Halloween SAL, its great to see others work, and meet other people with a love for Halloween stitching, take a look here at Spooky Stitchers Sal

What I am reading now....

I have just started reading The Heretic's daughter - Kathleen kent. I have always been interested in the history of the Salem Witch trials, and this book is fiction set around that time. Kathleen Kent is a tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier, a character within the book. So I hope it will be a good read!

Check out more info and video clip at Barnes and Noble...The Heretic's Daughter

Well I will leave you all for now, in a couple of hour I am off to our church hall to help my drama company in the first night of their play. I am not in this one, but will be taking part in a one night 'Murder Mystery Evening' Next Saturday!

Talk again soon

Priscilla x

Back from Luxor Egypt!!

Hi Everyone, I hope you are all well! I missed you all!! We had a wonderful two week away, in the first week the weather reached 38 c, which is hotter than Ive ever known it!!!

This is the front of our Hotel , luxor street have lights everywhere! Enlarge any images for a closer look, below is the view from our balcony to the Nile and the Valley of the Kings.....

Balloon rides....4.30 am the balloons take off, we were up early most mornings to beat he heat, the temp reached 30 C by 9.00am !! This is the hottest year we have known....

Here are a few more photos , we have been to the same hotel for 6 year and in that time made quite a few Egyptian friends, our horse and carriage driver is called Salah, he always invites us for a meal and to meet his family, hope you enjoy the photos! Below is a photo of Bartta, Mum, me and their son Shazlaey.

Here is the meal Bartta made, Chicken, mint salad, home made bread, rice, true Egyptian food....

Salah and his sons and my Dad....

Dendera Temple Ceiling - We took a trip to the temple, the engravings were amazing, a lot of the blue paint still remains..... I love this photo my mum took!

Luxor street....... this is the scene around most of luxor, old buildings, people, donkeys and daily life, it is a relaxing place to visit and hasn't changed over time, we love it there, I hope you have enjoyed viewing a snapshot of our holiday, there is so much to show and tell I could make this post very long!!! ha,ha I may add some more photos in another post,

See you all again soon

Priscilla x

Knitting !!! learning a new craft...

Hi everyone, I have been such a bad blogger of late. Its so long since my last post.....I just wanted to drop in and let you know I am still around before I go away for two weeks on the 15th April to Luxor Egypt!!! I cant wait.... we have been before but it never gets old!

Does anyone remember me saying I wanted to learn to knit? Last year I got a few books and tried to learn myself but it didn't happen, this year I am doing a lot better! lol

I have a friend who loves to knit and she offered to teach me and another lady, so we have met up for tea, nibbles lots of chatter and some knitting! Joan gave me some needles as she has many spare and a small ball of wool and we began with the knit stitch. I have done basic knitting as a child with my grandma, but its a long time ago.

Another thing which I didn't have last year was YOU TUBE. It has many beginner videos of knitting, how to cast on, knit, purl, and many more http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=knitting&aq=f go check out the links if you fancy learning too!

So armed with my new found skill and a want to create anything! lol I went to my local wool shop and came home with these gorgeous wools........ oh and some more needles!

Enjoy the knitting basics video...

If you already knit or want some amazing FREE PATTERNS visit this web site!http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory.php

I am going to begin with this dishcloth pattern to practice the stitches, Knit and Purl. I have noticed dish cloths seem to be the simpler projects! Although I think

I am going to practice the stitches some more before I start the cloth.

Here is the patternhttp://www.blackrayne.com/pages/batty.html

and a link to many, many more dish cloths! http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/dishcloths.php

And here is my knitting! With my fav teddy 'Toffee'. All knit stitches, I said it would have to be a coaster, but I may try make it into a mobile phone pouch.

Hope you all have a wonderful week, see you again soon!

Priscilla x

Spring from my Window...

Spring in my Kitchen... I am just loving the scent from these hyacinths, I am amazed how scented they are, the scent fills the kitchen and drifts into my living room! Please do not think for a moment that I am crazy for keeping the pumpkin out, it is my little nod towards fairy tales and love for Theatre........ the little frog and pumpkin remind me of ..........Cinderella.

And of course my long time blogging friends might remember I did play the 'frog prince' last year!!! ha,ha and the frog was a sweet gift from my mum.

Crocus - 'a touch of colour among the grey' I love to see these little flowers pop up in spring, the signs of things to come, these are just outside my front door.

'Chicken Run' - well almost! this is the view from my kitchen window,my neighbours to the right own horses, chickens, goats, a cat, and a cockerel ! and they are forever escaping their fences over the garden into my garden..... and so I grabbed the camera and took a photo!

Last week I looked out of the window to see the horse that should of been down on the bottom field right behind my fence! shame I didn't have time to get the camera, I didn't want it to get onto the road and dashed out to call the owner, no one was home but fortunately a neighbour to the left who visits the horse and family led it back to the field! Still I do think a photo would of been good, It was just looking at me through the window! h,ha

The Cat......
I hope you are all having a good start to the week, I am spending more time cross stitching. I hope to make my 'Spring Fairy' into a pillow soon, and my mum has almost finished the Thomas Kinkade stitch, I will share some photos soon.....

Bye for now

Priscilla x

Books...Reading pile

I don't know about you but I always have a book to read, usually I pick up two or three from the library and finish them before I get more. last week the library had books that I have wanted to read for a while and the order for titles that I placed around a month ago all came in at the library at once! So now I have this rather large pile of books to enjoy! I usually read cozy murder mysteries, but recently have started to read a few more chic lit type books, and I always enjoy a book with a bit of a magical theme . I am looking forward to reading this collection as they all fit that description....

I am currently reading The Witching Time - Jean Stubbs. Its good so far.......cozy village, a mix of characters, Crafting ladies who own their own hat and stitching shops, town gossips. And a group who are putting on a pantomime for a local festival! Obviously there is a lot more to the story than that but these are just some of the themes...
I think I may read Hubble Bubble- Christina Jones next, a few year ago I read Seeing Stars by the same author and loved it, again a small village, an amusing cast of characters, and a bit of magic, here is a synopsis from amazon...

'Mitzi is determined not to dwindle quietly into serene old age and sets about organising and revitalising Hazy Hassocks, the small rural community she has lived in all her life. However, with the discovery of her grandmother's cookery book in the attic,life for Mitzi and her friends and family starts to get very interesting. Full of old-fashioned recipes with enchanting names like Wishes Come True Pie, Mischief Night Cake, and Powers of Persuasion Pudding - Granny's dishes provide a nourishing meal, but they also seem to have some very surprising side effects indeed. '

My to read pile consists of ;

The Witching time -Jean Stubbs

Hubble Bubble - Christina Jones

The Chocolate Lovers Club - Carole Matthews

Death of a Witch - M.C Beaton

The Merrybegot - Julie Hearn (a young adult book)

Under my spell - Deborah Wright

What types of books do you all enjoy reading, I'd love to hear about them....... Thank you all for the best wishes with the Panto, it went well and lots of fun was had by all, we had two full houses one night! We all took lots of photos which I will share in a future post.....

Have a wonderful relaxing weekend, Bye for now

Priscilla x

Faux Cake, Panto and Thinking thin!!!

Panto Time again... I am in Panto from the 18th to the 21st Feb playing Princess Alice in Puss In Boots! We have been rehearsing for months and now the show is starting to come together, everyone is trying on costumes, having photos taken and finding props.

There is a scene in the Panto that calls for a 'Pie in the face' moment ! Or more precise a gateau..... They were going to use paper plate, with foam, but I thought hopefully I could put my cake skills to good use and create a fun looking Faux cake.........although I have to admit I have never made a faux cake before!!

So this last week I dug out some tile adhesive from my garage.....and got to work. It was quite an experience, it drys fast and I only had one spare piping nozzle, one piping bag and a whole lot of mess!!! ha,ha

I had a lot of fun! and I am quite pleased with the final outcome...so now at least we have a cake! I would love to do it again, here's hoping they need more cake theme props ha,ha
The shaving foam will be added to the top so the 'evil Sir Rodger' can squish his face good and proper!

Hopefully I can capture some photos of the cake in action! and share them soon.......

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Now on to Think Thin Thursday

I am starting to feel as though I am making progress, I know this post is late, but I still want to check in and let you know how I am doing.

Exercise is feeling more natural to me now. I walk more and if I can spare 15 or 20 Min's, or while I wait for the kettle to boil I dance or stretch or just shake my body!! lol I am noticing I am not getting out of breath as quickly, and need to do more to feel the heart beat faster,

At the start I weighed roughly 11 st which was around 158 lbs. Which for my height at just over 5'1 was not what I wanted......... I can now happily say I am slowly weighing less........ at 152.6

I know its not major weight loss, but its coming down and I am really, really happy!

Our task for this week is to list a low calorie dessert, I found some biscuits called 'Nice' from Morrison's, they are plain fingers with coconut. and are so much less in sugar and fat than some others, so I have been snacking on those this week.

1. My goals for this week is to keep doing what I am doing regarding exercise

2. Try the new chicken recipe

3. Stick to eating healthy evening meal options such as fish or chicken, no quick packaged meals!

****I also want to say such a warm thank you for your comments on the cake, It is lovely to hear all your comments and I am pleased you enjoy viewing them as much as I do making them!*****

See you again soon Have a great week xxx

Priscilla x