Spring has arrived…

I’m so glad it’s March!  February has been a bad month so I’m glad to see it out of the way and hope that the weather will start to get a little better now.  I popped in to my studio last Monday and actually managed to open the window it was that warm.  I as usual went down dressed like an eskimo with millions of layers on and when I popped in to town I was absolutely roasting!

Back update – I’m still stuck at home, haven’t been able to walk again the last couple of days so have doubled the strength of all my tablets.  Still no MRI results, will just have to be patient.

So to keep myself busy I’ve been doing some embroidery.  I’m doing an embroidery workshop in June for my local WI – Seven Hills WI, it’s part of a series of workshops Craft Candy are doing this year.  I love embroidery, as much as I love to knit but my two jobs mean I dont’ get a lot of time to dedicate to ‘hobbies’ so being ill has meant I can catch up on my stitching!  At the moment I’m working on a number of samplers and example pieces to use to show the workshop participants what they can do.  It’s a bit dark to take pictures now so I’ll post some tomorrow.  I’m working on a few sampler examples from the Sublime Stiching books, I got a new one recently – Embroidered Effects, it’s the latest book in the series and I couldn’t resist as I have all the others!  I know I blogged briefly about it a couple of weeks ago but here it is again:

I prefer the patterns that you can buy separately directly from the Sublime Stitching site to those in the books usually but this one has two designs perfect to show the workshop ladies.

I’ve also been shopping for a few other things (can you tell it was pay day recently), slightly more practical things this time though – clothes.  Around this time every year I work out a clothing budget for us for the summer (I then do it all again for the Autumn)  Isn’t that sad? It may be but it’s very practical and stops me going crazy!  I’m also not a high street shopper, I get all of my clothes online now as I can’t normally buy the clothes I want in Sheffield – that is the organic and fairtrade kind.  My recent purchase features one of my favourite designers – Annie Greenabelle.  I love her clothes and have probably gone on about her clothes before but they are gorgeous, they are all organic cotton or reclaimed cotton and the designs are lovely.  I’d noticed a few items on the Topshop site I wanted so went on to buy them to today and was overjoyed to find that a jacket I thought I couldn’t buy any more was on there – I would have danced for joy (if I could have stood up!)

Here it is in all it’s gorgeous glory.

I first spotted this blazer last summer on the Adili website but it quickly went out of stock, I just didn’t act quick enough!  Now that the weather is warming up they are back online and available – you can’t even buy one on the Annie Greenabelle site any more!  Here is another favourite item I’ve found on topshop but I’m not sure I’d be brave enough to wear it!

And here is one of the dresses I bought, I’ve been after this one for months.

Now I just have to sit here patiently until it all arrives and hope that the sunshine sticks around long enough to wear them!