Every cloud has a silver lining!

This week's cloud was the unpleasant stomach bug that I went down with shortly after my last post.  It could have been worse in that it only lasted about 48 hours but you will appreciate that not a lot happened on the stitching front until the cloud had lifted.  The silver lining was the 4lb weight loss that the scales revealed when I went to Slimming World later in the week!  I probably won't be able to maintain this loss, particularly as I was at a street party on Saturday, but it made up for spending two days mainly in bed.

On the stitching front, some pieces did better than others under the circumstances.

Bouquet 5 only got about half an hour's attention, but you can now see the basic shape of the basket.  I really must stop surfing the Net at lunchtime and get on with this, as there is still one more piece to do and I also need to start thinking about Christmas ornaments for my nieces.

Over the weekend I managed another three blocks on Train of Dreams.  The yellowy browny bit in the bottom right hand corner is part of a moon ornament.  I do enjoy working on this piece - I sit on my bed in the morning sunshine with everything laid out beside me and work steadily down the page, one line at a time, watching the picture come to life.

Carnation creeps closer and closer to a page finish.  Another three blocks done this week and then the coming week should see the end of row 8 and the beginning of row 9.

I want to tell you a bit about the street party that I went to on Saturday.  The street that I grew up on celebrates its 100th birthday this year.  The first five houses were built in 1913 and the last house was completed 43 years and two World Wars later.  A final addition was made when I was at school when a property with a double plot (tennis court on the side) was split and a brand new house built on the tennis court part in the 1980s.  The party was held outside the oldest houses with the road closed to traffic.   We had live music from residents, a special birthday cake baked by a teenage resident, the street archive (a work in progress), children's games, a massive faith buffet, visits from previous residents and so on.  The local paper came and have done a full page spread on it today.  The party was opened by the longest residing resident, a gentleman who has lived on the road all his life and who will be 80 in the New Year.  His father had the house built and the family has lived there ever since.  A great time was had by all and it was especially satisfying to see all the children playing in the street, something which the increase in traffic has prevented for quite a long time now.

Anyway my tummy is rumbling and I ought to do something about tea, so all the best to you and yours and may the frog steer well clear of your stitching!