The Arte y Pico Award.

What is that you ask well, it originated here at Arte Y Pico blog, And Julz of Julz Dezign awarded a copy to me yesterday!

The Rules are as follows....

1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.

4.The award winner and one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte Y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.

So now I have to pick 5 of you who fit the criteria, not an easy task.

1. Linda at All Stitched Up.

2. Andrea at Welsh Quilter.

3. Jane at Sew Create It.

4. Sue at Quilting Chatter.

5. Lisa Jo at Black Bear Cabin.

As I suspected that wasn't easy. Oh! it's easy to choose all the people who inspire me, and show a good variety of topics on their blogs. It's just very dificult to get it down to five, you each inspire me in your own way.

Speaking of the variety of topics, thank you to everyone who joined me on my walk yesterday, it was lovely to have so many replies. The Isle of Man is a beautiful place and I love to share. Maybe I'll do that again sometime.

I'm enjoying having the new blogroll in my sidebar, it's great to be able to see at a glance who has updated, much better than my old method of visiting absolutlely everybody! I think also it has helped me to comment more often, again, much better than bloglines. I see a few others have added it to their blogs a great idea as far as I'm concerned most of my list was born from reading your lists or clicking on your links when you comment.

Time for me to go now, take care all.

Darn it!!Blogger is messing with my post!!

Come for a walk with me.

I wish I had taken my camera yesterday, the sun was peeping in and out of the clouds and it was a beautiful day. Today it is overcast, but that doesn't spoil a beautiful walk in the country side. I live in the centre of town, but was gone from home for only 35 mins! And I was stopping to take pictures. Ramsey is a harbour town and the tidal Sulby River spills into Ramsey bay via the harbour. My walk started on a foot path which runs alongside the river.
There were swallows swooping and diving catching insects all along this shore, but my camera skills are no match for them. This is one of many entrances to Poyll Dooey Nature Reserve. (Poyll means pool, I can find no translation of the word Dooey, I suspect it is a miss pronunciation of someones name, Dooeys Pool? A lot of the area was mashy and much of it remains that way as it is low lying, there are many tiny streams and seeps as well as a pool.)

Farther along the path you walk under the trees, here I was surrounded by birds singing. Then the path opens up a little

and you are greeted by a sign

As I continued along the path my way is scented by beautiful Honey Suckle,

And roses in the hedgerows.

And there are reminders that some of this area was once upon a time a council owned allotment and that were houses here with private gardens.

A low lying area has been allowed to become a pond, this area is fenced and often there are ducks and other water fowl to be seen. (Even at it's higest the tidal river never floods this pool).

Today I saw only flowers, though in the past I have seen some very magical creatures here.

This is not my picture, but it was taken at Poyll Dooey. Isn't he magnificent?

The footpath opens out into a large area of about 2 acres, some areas are mowed to make green paths amid the wilder areas. There are signs dotted about telling the visitor what wildlife to look out for.
There are beautiful views to the south.

And this little guy seemed at ease and not at all concerned about my presence, in fact he posed for the camera.

Everywhere there are paths and trails leading this way and that, some lead into secret sheltered places.
There are larger open areas for children to play, with tables for picnics.

Nature is left to deal with things in her own time, with fallen trees left to do their own thing.

The gardens of old are reclaimed and slowly disappearing. Though not totally gone, I didn't get pictures but there are apple and plum trees, I saw countless cherry trees and I happen to know there are raspberries in there too.

There are many native and non native species of trees. Here an Elder is surrounded by a sea of wild flowers and nettles, I gathered my Elder flowers from a more accessible tree right beside the path.
As I said, today is overcast and a little cool, but I saw bees a plenty, black birds, ring necked doves and a plethora of tiny birds, probably finches. I saw only one butterfly, but on other days I've seen many. There are frogs in the pond, bunnies on the lawns, rowan trees, cherry trees, wild forget me nots, ragged Robin flowers and Scarlett Pimpernels. Everywhere was green and beautiful.

When I was a child all of this looked very different, I mentioned that there used to be a couple of houses and some allotments, but the majority of it was a landfill site. It had been closed for sometime, and nature had already started to do her work when about 15 years ago, the council decided to help her along, they brought in tons of topsoil and got work. My few pictures simply do not do the area the justice it deserves. There are now footpaths along the river bank, amid the trees and through grasses. There are benches and tables and a memorial stone placed by the British Legion. Swallows swoop overhead and smaller birds chatter in the trees and shrubs. I could hear ducks on the river and have often seen Herons. An eyesore hidden away on the outskirts of town has become a beautiful place, a green oasis and a sanctuary not only for the wildlife but also for those of us who seek to leave the hustle and bustle of town behind and wish to enjoy a little peace and quiet.

Cross stitching.

I forgot to mention that I am off work this week, nothing wrong, just taking a few days off to rest and relax. For those who remember I was applying for other jobs, but after some frank talks with my nice boss I've agreed to stay put and we are going to re arrange my schedule a little to make life easier for me. Oh yes! And I've taken on additional responsibilities.

Right, back to the nice things in life, yesterday afternoon I did very little to be honest, I sat watching a movie while I stitched this little beauty. I just adore dragonflies, there is something very magical about them.

I wish I'd thought to add some sparkly thread to this one but never mind, he's done now. I'm not sure what I'll do with him, I think he may fly onto a little bag.

Do you remember some time ago one of my service users was leaving and having a big sort out before she left? Well this almost complete cross stitch is one I inherited from her. It was filthy, goodness only knows how it got into the mess it was in. Yesterday I left it soaking in a little soapy water and managed to get most of the dirt off, there is just one tiny stain left, right in the middle at the bottom. (You can see it on this pic.) I'm hoping that my framer will be able to hide it for me.

This one is so close to finished I just have to do it. Problem is the chart is in tatters! Though I did manage to photocopy the relevant area, there are one or two spots I'll have to guess at, hopefully when I get to them it will be clear what thread I need to use. Speaking of threads, yep, you guessed it, no threads either, but there is a list of the Anchor numbers so I'm off out to purchase those this morning.

Now I'm spoiled for choice, to stitch my Endangered Babies, or the Dressing Table Bear?

Have a happy day.

It's quilted.

After going around in circles for a while yesterday, moving blocks here and there, I did eventually remove a row, then had another thought and removed a column too! I put in the blue border.....

Then added a second border around three sides, before settling down and quilting the inner portion. I tidied those threads before going to bed last night.

This morning I have completed the quilting around the outside. Next up I'll be putting a skirt onto three sides and the binding. I'm not going to do that until tomorrow though, my neck and my shoulders are complaining! It was hard work getting this lot though my little sewing machine.

I'm off to cross stitch for a couple of hours now, maybe there is a movie on.

Have a good day.

Todays results.

I've been having a play about with my Strawberry Lemonade blocks. I have discovered as Lynda suggested that most of my choices won't work as I need an odd number of blocks!! Great planning Loulee! DOH.

Many of you suggested the totally scrappy look and just randomly placing the blocks and John suggested of a sort of zigzag effect which I tried out, and I quite like that, but the longer I look at it, the more changes I make. I warned you, my mind just can't cope with random.

Here and there I see too many blues, or too many strawberries together or two sets of the same HST in a row or column, you get the picture?

I've reshuffled it twice already! Now I'm toying with a new idea for the lay out. This morning while having a root through the fabric and bedding rails in the Hospice shop next door I came accross these two sheets. The perfect shade of blue to use as a back for Strawberry Lemonade.

At this price for two brand new King size flat bed sheets I wasn't going to say no! They are not 100% cotton, but thats ok with me as it was just for the back. This second photo is a truer colour than the first one.

Now however I have other ideas, what if I were to remove a whole row and put in a border between the HSTs and the Bento Boxes, then another around the outside of the whole thing. The reason I suggest removing a row is because my batting is wide enough to accept borders, but sadly not long enough and as it is also from next door it's an odd weight which I can't garuntee to match in order to extend it. I'm off to play some more, I have enough of the blue stuff to make a skirt if I can get the top to just the right size.