Tuesday 14 April 2009

Day out and stitching update

We have had a lovely day out today, we went to Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire. Although a lot of it is in ruin (thanks to the "Slighting" process after the Civil war) you can see how beautiful it must have been. The weather was ok too, a little rain at first but then it brightened up. The original part of it dates back to Norman times, the part in the picture below was built by Robert Dudley for Queen Elizabeth I's visit in the 1500s. It is great that the girl's love history (well especially Laura) and they enjoyed their visit as much as me!!

This picture is of Becky and Laura in an original Norman window... hard to believe this part was built nearly 1000 years ago!!

We then had a lovely pub lunch out, it was great just to spend time together as a family!
Otherwise over the Easter weekend we managed to get the garden turfed over and I have started painting in the bathroom ready to spruce it up a bit!
Here is my stitching update, Country Idyll is really taking shape. The car is almost complete as is the roof of the cottage. You can also now see the lady getting out of the car. Once again I have loved working on this last week!




You'll be pleased to hear that it is Henry week again, and so far so good..... no mistakes! I have just completed Ann of Cleves face and headwear. I will continue on this tonight but I am very tired now after our busy day!

Tomorrow Laura has her annual hospital checkup. The girls were born 8 weeks early and had regular health checks from birth. Becky was discharged at the age of 2 but Laura has continued to be seen as she has a slight heart problem. We have had to go to the Birmingham Children's Hospital every year to be seen by the cardiologist there. Luckily her heart problem doesn't effect her health in anyway, they have labelled it an "innocent heart murmer" but want to monitor her until she is 16. Not sure what will happen then. The actual scans of her heart show a slight "thickening" on one of her heart valves which means it doesn't close completely so a little bit of blood flows back! Although she is fit and well and it has never got any worse I still worry before each appointment in case things have changed! I hope for peace of mind they still check on her after 16. So it is an earlish start as it is easier to get to Birmingham on the train and her appointment is 10.10am. I will be glad when it is over and so will Laura!!

So until next time.

Ginnie x

20 comments:

glamlawlib said...

Looks like you had a great day out :)

Lovely stitching!

All the best for Laura's appt too.

Jane said...

What a coincidence, I'm off to Birmingham tomorrow to pick up DS1.
Country Idlyll is perfectly named, looks great

Daffycat said...

What a wonderful day that must have been! That's one of my favorite things about England, the history. How incredible to see things from nearly 1000 years past.

CI is so far along! It looks beautiful, Ginnie! I can't wait for Henry, as you already know!

Hugs for Laura and best wishes for a positive checkup!

TammyK said...

Cool pics of the castle. Great pic of your girls there at it too :-) Country Idlyll is coming along quite nicely. I, like Laura have a drs. appt. tomorrow as well so I definitely know how you gals feel about wanting it over & ending in a good report. Hope all is well.

The Button Witch said...

Great stitching as ever.
Good luck for laura's apointment
My DD was prem so I know how you feeling although she was discharged a 5 years ago and is growing like a bean pole now LOL
Looking forward to seeing Henry again
Hugs and Happy Stitching
Shellie

Wendy said...

Love the pics of Kenilworth and your stitching is looking fantastic!!!
Hope Laura gets on Ok at her appointment
Wend..x..

Srinity said...

Great place to visit for history lovers! :)
I hope all is well with Laura and she'll get good results from the check up.

Kathy said...

Stitching looks great hun, as always.

Hope Laura's check up goes well hun.

Hugs xxxxx

stitchersanon said...

What a lovely day out you seem to have had and the stitching looks great.
Good luck at teh hospital.

Anonymous said...

Wow your progress on Country Idyll is fantastic!!

Hope all goes well for Laura

Julie said...

Hope all went well for Laura at the hospital.

A super WIP, so english LOL

Lisa said...

What a wonderful outing you and your girls had. The ruins of the time period you all walked through, my older son is studying about in his history class - so it is fun to see the photos of a castle. My easter break sounds very similar to yours - yesterday ours was a dentist appointment followed by lunch with my sons. Nice time to spend with our kids. I will send positive thoughts over seas to you & your daughter for tomorrow's appointment!
Take care!
Lisa in CA
www.cadurst.blogspot.com

miss said...

Good luck with Laura appointment. That castle looks awesome. We don't have anything that old down in Oz.

Cindy F. said...

That's a great day and beautiful pics of the castle and your girls.
Love your wip!
Hugs to Laura:)

Unknown said...

Ginnie, what a most wonderful day you and the girls must of had. Thank you so much for sharing some of that with us.

Ohhh, do I ever love your CI piece, that car is an awesome shade of color. But the whole piece is breath-taking. Can't wait to see more of this piece as you progress with it.

Praying that everything went extremely well with Laura and her checkup!!! I do not blame you for the worry at all. Not at all. Bless you all.

Happy stitching!

Hazel said...

Beautiful old castle. Great wip too. xx

Ingrid said...

I hope Laura's appointment went well. It must be very stressful.

At least you have something peaceful in Country Idyll. It looks beautiful :)

Lula said...

Looks like a gorgeous place.

Loving your blog Ginnie.

Lula x

Barb said...

Looks like you had a nice day. Can't imagine a 1,000 year old building. I'd love to see the inside of one. Your stitching piece is beautiful. Great job on it.

Tammy said...

What a great outing--the pics prove it! Your stitching is looking lovely too!