Long post- you might just need a cuppa and try not to fall asleep!

Well here I am again on a very wet and miserable day here in the west of Scotland. Thank you so much to everyone for the Birthday wishes and gifts. Being away from home it didn;t really feel like my Birthday on Friday even though I had my cards and presents to open and a cute little tatty teddy cake. Hubby bought me a gorgeous purple bag, scarf and gave me some stash cash. Family and friends gave me a lovely silver necklace, ear-rings, a watch, chocolates and cash. I've been thinking about buying a kindle. If anyone has one I would love to hear how they like it.

Pirjo sent me this wonderful package of Birthday goodies. The little pillow and fob are beautiful and the hand-dyed fabric is gorgeous. Thanks Pirjo you have really spoiled me.

I also got a lovely surprise when I came home and discovered this Birthday gift from Maggie (Blackcountrywench). I was so touched as I haven;t known Maggie very long and she was so kind to send me such wonderful gifts. All my favourite things fabric, buttons and off course purply threads and a purple birthday card. Thanks Maggie, you are a dear friend.

As well as it being my Birthday on Friday DH and I had a wonderful long week-end break. We travelled up to Dundee on the east coast and spent Thursday night in a lovely hotel. Friday morning we drove further up the coast to our holiday apartment in a little fishing village about an hour from the city of Aberdeen. This is only about the third time in 23years we have stayed in a hotel so it was a real treat. After settling in to our holiday apartment on Friday afternoon we went for a drive to the coastal town of Stonehaven. It was cold, dry and windy and we really enjoyed just relaxing in the car on the shore front watching the waves crashing on the shore. The waves were amazing and we decided to walk along the harbour wall so Ian could get some good photographs. Now this was Ians highlight of the whole week-end and he is still laughing about it yet. I;m not great with heights but we climbed up the very high harbour wall and walked along to the end. I was walking a bit behind Ian and I saw these huge waves coming in, concerned wife that I am I shouted to him to be careful that he was going to get soaked. He saw the wave coming turned around and put his hood up on his jacket. Off course I didn;t have a hood on mine and I am so busy making sure he is okay this wave came up and completely drowned me. I got soaked all the way down one side of my body right through to my under-wear. DH was in hysterics and has laughed about it for days. He says he just still keeps seeing the look on my face when the water hit me. Our afternoon was then cut short as I had to get straight back to the apartment to dry out. I expected my Birthday to be showered with presents not water...LOL!

Tay Bridges - Dundee

Characters from the Beano comic (famous childrens comic)

Caird Hall - Dundee

The waves at Stonehaven and on the harbour wall before my drowning!

This is our lovely apartment with the views from our living-room window. It was really cosy at night with the coal fire.

On Saturday we visited a few National Trust castles. This one is called Castle Fraser and dates back to the 15th Century. Sadly I didn;t get any photos of the front of the castle as there was a Wedding on and we were restricted where we could go in the castle. It;s very difficult to see but the lone figure is a piper in full national dress. We were able to see a number of guests and most of the men were wearing kilts. As we were going around the castle we were watching for the Brides arrival but because we were so high up it was hard to see. We came across a room with a peep hole it was so funny an English lady was on the floor looking through to the Great Hall to try and see the Wedding party. She was so excited. We gave up waiting on the bride and as we exited the Castle I walked out in front of Ian turned round to see where he was and a minute later he appeared laughing. He said if I hadn;t been in such a hurry I would have seen the bride as he had to stand aside on the stairway to allow the bride and bridesmaids go past. I couldn;'t believe it after all that time I missed it...lol.

Our next visit was too Drum Castle the home of the Irvine family for more than 600 years. The Castle has major architectural features from the medieval, Jacobean and Victorian periods. The earliest part is the Tower built in the 13th century and the small chapel dates from the 16th century. I was quite disappointed as neither of these castles had many tapestries on display.

On Sunday DH went off for a few hours with his camera and I put my feet up to read my book and do a little stitching. I had planned to do lots of stitching over the week-end but I got so engrossed in my book I didn;t do much at all. In the afternoon we went to Montrose and walked out too the Scurdie Ness Lighthouse. The views were amazing. I had such a great relaxing week-end I didn;t want to come home on Monday. We left mid-morning and just took our time driving down the east coast. We stopped in St Andrews, did some shopping, had lunch and then we spent a few hours in Anstruther, another lovely fishing village. We arrived home in time for dinner and were delighted to find the house still in one piece. This is only the second time we have left the kids themselves and thankfully they managed not to kill each other..lol.

Before I go away anywhere I always get onto google and check for any needlecraft stores that I can visit. As you know they are a dieing art here in Scotland but I did manage to find one near to Aberdeen. It was a wonderful Aladdins cave of patchwork/cross-stitch. My Birthday cash was burning a hole in my pocket so I just had to buy something.

I also found a few Scottish bits and pieces and chocolates in some of the local shops, perfect for exchange and gift packages.

Are you still with me, have you fallen asleep..lol. I've also been lucky enough to have the Stitching fairy wave her magic wand over me recently. I did a wonderful trade with Pirjo and she very kindly exchanged a gift certificate for 21 of my charts. Wasatch Needlecraft were having another wonderful sale so I was able too spoil myself.

A friend also mentioned to me about checking out Etsy and I was delighted to find these three charts. I think I might just have got a bargain here as I only paid $17 which included the p&p here to the UK.

I also won one of Angleas beautiful finishes (Hooked on Stitches) on a give-away she was having. I;ve admired all the gorgeous stitching on her blog for many, many months now so I was over the moon to win. Being a fully paid member of the Big pantie girl band it was just perfect for me.

Finally I have a finish to show. I made this little piece for Cath at The Stitchin Chicken to celebrate her Birthday on Sunday. As usual I was challenged with how to finish it and I did intend attempting to make one of those lovely tall pillows that I have seen recently on many blogs. But off course I didn;t have a big piece of fabric to work with and I realised in the process I had cut it wrong. Thankfully I managed to rescue it into this little wall hanging and Cath emailed me to say she loves it , so thats what matters.

Well for anyone who is still with me I hope you enjoyed my chatter today. I promise I won;t go on as much the next time. I probably won't have anything to post about for weeks now..lol. Oh no I forgot about my give-away. I will announce the winner in my next post. Thanks to anyone who took part. I;m looking forward to catching up on everyones blog and stitching pieces. Until the next time. Happy Stitching. Hugs!