Firstly, I've finished the baby sampler. Photo attached. I am very pleased with it, and will be going down to Ikea to buy a simple frame for it later this week (we're fortunate to have an Ikea in Cardiff and I enjoy shopping there for homewares). It will also need to be pressed very gently before framing too. Then it will be ready for the show and then onward dispatch as soon as the baby arrives - which should be within the next ten days -although first babies seem notorious for not arriving on schedule. The sampler was a pleasurable stitch - small enough to make progress easy and an excellent compromise on blocks of colour. Enough variety to make it interesting but not so much that progress is painfully slow and makes you feel like you are stitching an outbreak of measles.

I also attach two cards I made this evening. Since we moved back to Cardiff, I've wanted to invite my friend Penny up for lunch and to meet the hounds - she lives down in Carmarthenshire with her two lurchers on a farm. Due to Penny's work commitments (medieval re-enactment with horses and weapons) she works a lot during the summer and it's always difficult to find time in her schedule to meet up. However, by great good fortune, I've been able to find a Saturday in about a fortnight when she's free and is coming up for lunch, along with another greyhound friend, Paula who lives round the corner from us. Paula and Penny know each other and get on well, so it should be a really lovely day. I thought it would be nice to confirm the invitation by post and so made these two cards. The beautiful die-cuts are from K & Co, I bought them yesterday down at Hobbycraft when I went there to top up on clear cellophane card bags. My annual Christmas card making will begin in earnest very soon, both for the greyhound shop and for selling on the greyhound stall.