Tuesday 30 September 2008

September review and October goals

September review first, she says hanging her head in shame.
  • complete and make up the biscornu if the threads turn up. DONE!
  • work on Madonna of the Garden as much as possible until the end of September. No
  • Stitch part 9 of How does your Garden Grow? when it is released middle of September. Started but miscounted and all needs to be unpicked and restitched.
  • Complete another Snapper month. No
Umm not very successful. In my defence though all the supplies turned up for trick or treat fairy and it just has to be stitched before Halloween.
October's goals are........
  • to complete TOT in time for Halloween.
  • complete fancy fiber exchange
  • complete autumn/halloween exchange
  • stitch unicorn card in time for Debbie's birthday
  • at least one Snapper
  • some of Cut Thru Garden Shed
As it is a month long SAT with crossstitchcrazy, I hope to get loads of stitching done.

Saturday 27 September 2008

Like Father like Son

If this is my last ever post, you will know my hubby wasn't to pleased with me posting this pic and has throttled me......lol. We were watching X Factor tonight and in their defence they were both up late night because Luke was a little off colour. Or maybe Simon Cowell lulled them off to sleep.

Rachael didn't want to be left out so here is one of her and Biskey snuggled on the sofa.

With the sun we have had the last week, the gazanias have finally blossomed. I couldn't resist a couple of piccies of them too.

And finally.........here is a progress pic of Trick or Treat. She has kept her promise to behave herself and I am flying through her now. I should have her stitched for Halloween and will hopefully get her framed in time too.

Friday 26 September 2008

These don't count!

A couple of days ago I received my 3 magazines from Amy at Downsunshinelane.com . I ordered the Christmas ornament preview, the Halloween issue and the 2008 Christmas ornament issue. I was really pleased with all 3 magazines. The halloween one has 6 or 7 designs that I want to stitch and the 2 Christmas ones have *loads* of things I want to do. Although I said that mags didn't count for my stash challenge, they double don't count as they were ordered before it started............so there!

We have this gorgeous plant that we bought earlier in the year. I can't remember what it is called but have a sneaking suspicion it might be Boston Ivy. Anyway it is green through the summer but turns red in autumn and wow is it gorgeous. I can't wait to see it next year when it is more established. It should spread to about 10m eventually apparently.

This is a slightly blurry photo of our little wanderer - Biskey. I am wondering just why he thinks he is joining us at the dinner table tonight for his tea. Rachael was not impressed when she came to the table!!
And finally............
A while back I joined a site called Postcrossing.com The idea is you can exchange postcards with people. You send to a random person and when they receive their card, your address gets given to someone else to send to you. I took a photo of all the cards people have sent me so far. I may put an album on Webshots with them all.

Sunday 21 September 2008

10, 25 or 50 project challenge

I have seen this on a couple of blogs that I have "discovered" recently and thought it *might* be a good way to reduce my stash a bit. I am going to try a 10 project challenge first and base it on my WIP's and up to 5 new starts.

The rules (as posted at www.hasturtorres.blogspot.com) are:

1. Have fun reducing your stash.

2. There is no time limit- people have different size projects they would like to work on.

3. Thou shall not purchase any new patterns until 10, 25, or 50+ projects have been stitched. Pattern size does not matter. (10 initially)

4. This challenge can also apply to knitting, beading, sewing and crocheting patterns.

5. You can make some exemptions - I am not placing limitations on this due to commitments that people might already have. Remember, though, the goal of this challenge is to reduce stash so too many exemptions will sabotage these efforts. (magazines don't count, neither do items bought to finish a design off.)

6. Gifts, gift cards, trades, RAKs and patterns bought with gift money are not a violation of this challenge. This also applies to purchasing patterns for gifts to give other people.

7. Freebies count as part of your total and you can acquire them at any point.

8. The offical start date of this challenge was Sept 1, 2006 but I’m starting today, 21st September 2008.

My projects to start with are any 10 from the following listof my WIP's (brackets indicate how much or little has been done)...............
  1. Angel of Cross Stitch (0.5%)
  2. Belle (15%)
  3. Blackwork Butterfly (40%)
  4. Bunny Birth Sampler (5%)
  5. Cat tapestry (0.5%)
  6. Cotswold design (0.25%)
  7. Cottage Garden Fairy (15%)
  8. Cut Thru Garden Shed (30%)
  9. Disney Princess RR (5%)
  10. Edward (5%)
  11. Felicity Wishes (20%)
  12. Fish RR (98%)
  13. Flip It's February (3%)
  14. Friends are like Angels (15%)
  15. Garden Bugs sampler
  16. Garden Tools (3%)
  17. Gordon (30%)
  18. HAED Spring (0.5%)
  19. Henry (30%)
  20. How does your garden grow (part 8)
  21. I love Cross Stitch bookmark (10%)
  22. In the Rain (2%)
  23. Just Good Friends (60%)
  24. Love you to the Moon (0.5%)
  25. Madonna of the Garden (20%)
  26. Maggie the Messmaker (1%)
  27. Mouseloft Robin (2%)
  28. My Child (15%)
  29. Petal Fairy (10%)
  30. Roots to Grow (5%)
  31. Santa ornament (85%)
  32. Snappers - February
  33. Snappers - January
  34. Snappers - June
  35. Snappers - March
  36. Snappers - September
  37. Snow Days (10%)
  38. Sweet Pea Coaster (5%)
  39. Trick or Treat Fairy (30%)
  40. What's up Doc? (30%)
  41. Winnie the Pooh (20%)
  42. Winnie the Pooh card (20%)
Any 5 new starts, one of which will be Summer in Sussex but the other 4 are optional depending on what I fancy. So 47 to choose from.....I must be able to finish 10 from that, surely?

Sunday 14 September 2008

A much happier post!

First I would like to thank all of you who have sent me messages of support both here and via my email. They really helped to cheer me and make me feel better. Thank you!!!

Now my first bit of good news................Biskey has returned home! Saturday morning and the children were downstairs first. Colin and I were woken up by Rachael squealing at the top of her voice "He's back........he's back.......Biskey's back." Hilariously we leapt out of bed but Colin must have been sound asleep as he was going "uuuhhh..........whasss up........whass wrong.......whassgoinon." Apparently he was goggle eyed too the children tell me! It was so funny. Naturally we all charged downstairs and scared the life out of the poor cat as we were all so excited and thrilled. I would imagine he has been locked up/in somewhere as he looked very clean and not at all as though he had been roughing it for the last week. He has lost some weight but nothing substantial.
The next bit of good news is that Trick or Treat and I have sorted out our differences and she has sworn to behave herself from now on!! I think I have done more frogging on her than on all the other pieces I have stitched together. However stitching is progressing nicely and here are a few pics.
This is all I have stitched so far. I wouldn't normally stitch the metallic and bead it until all the cross stitch is finished but there is so much of it I thought I would make an exception this time. I am toying with changing the colour of the Trick or Treat writing to the same as in her dress (the diamond bit) as it is the most gorgeous metallic red ever and I think it would really brighten the design a bit too. What do you think?

This next one is of the moon that for some reason has caused me SO much trouble.

And finally we have a close up of a section of beading simply because I have finally worked out what the macro button does on my camera!!

And finally..................it was Denton Carnival today which is getting bigger and better every year. Both Rachael and Luke were walking in the procession today. Rachael's dance group were dancing to Singing in the Rain and others. We spent ages decorating an umbrella for it. All the girls were dressed in black and danced with their brollies. They were fabulous. Luke's Beavers group dressed as characters from Monster's Inc and were about 3 groups behind us. I haven't any pictures of Luke as I walked with Rachael but Colin took some with the old 35mm camera. Hopefull I can post some of Luke once we get the pics developed. Strangely, although Rachael looks as though she is posing for this photo, I was just lucky to catch her like it.

Oh................by the way....................I have added a gadget that lets me know who follows my blog. Please feel free to add yourself it you would like to.

Friday 12 September 2008

The most miserable post in the entire history of blogging I should think!

This is going to be a miserable post so if you are already feeling down, come back for the next post!

So far in the last week or so we have had.........

Sheba, our 11 year old cat diagnosed with diabetes. She is having twice daily injections and needs to have a glucose curve which is a blood test every 2 hours to check her blood sugars. The needles and insulin are going to cost about £100 per month which is money we can ill afford. However, we can't have her put down for what is in effect a very treatable condition and if we did what sort of message would we be sending to our daughter who has diabetes. We also have to collect a urine sample which is proving very good fun.........not!

Biskey, Rachael's 1 year old kitten/cat has vanished. He went missing last Saturday night and we can find no trace of him. Colin spent most of Sunday out looking and thankfully found no evidence of RTA's etc. We have put up posters and rang all the vets, rescue centres etc that we can find but nothing at all has turned up. I thought we might at least get a couple of crank callers but nothing.

At work I have been "promoted" to assistant resource manager. This means that I am allowed to tidy out the cupboards under supervision!! Not quite what I had in mind. I also work in the mornings with a teacher who doesn't actually know what to do with a teaching assistant and has me mostly glueing and sticking.............ok for year 1 but not so good for year 5's who should be capable of doing it themselves!! I am feeling very under utilised at the moment and quite bored which I have never been before in school!

And finally on a cross stitching note, TOT is turning into a nightmare. So far, the bottom half of the moon has been stitched 3 times as I made a real hash of it. The swirls have been stitched twice as have various other bits. It is a mark of how much I like this design because anything else would have been consigned to the bin by now! If this was my first ever Nora Corbett design, it would put me off for life!!

That is all my current woes. If you now feel miserable, I apologise. It is quite unusual for me to be feeling this fed up!

Saturday 6 September 2008

Where has the time gone?

Crikey it's ages since I wrote anything. Back to work this week which has severely cut into any stitching, blogging and everything else time.

I have worked on Trick or Treat this week. I have focused on the moon. A few days ago I managed to stitch half the moon and then frog half the moon. Today I finished the Kreinik on the moon and found from the backstitch that I am out...............grrrrrrr! I think I am going to have to frog the entire moon and restitch it because I can't for the life of me see where I have gone wrong. I suspect that the reason for this is because I have been stitching when I am tired which is never a good idea.

My September goals have kind of gone by the board as I really want to complete Trick or Treat in time to hang her for Halloween. The next part of "How does Your Garden Grow?" is released soon and might have to hang on until this is done.

I have been asked about the fabric for TOT a couple of times. She is being stitched on Monet from Picture this Plus. (28 count Lugana.) It is a really beautiful could and a joy to stitch on.

The children started back at school this week which has seen them being tired and grumpy. A nice moment yesterday happened though. Luke's teacher from last year asked him how he was enjoying Year 3 and he said "It's well good" with real enthusiasm in his voice. As he said it though his teacher for this year came past and overheard. Year 3 is when they are put in houses and he is really pleased with getting house points for good work and behaviour. I didn't think he would be interested in house points as it would be too abstract an idea for him but he is really up for them. Rachael is enjoying being in Year 5 but I think she would rather not have me in her classroom.

My timetable got changed yesterday. I am going to be in charge of managing science and maths resources. Woo hoo! Oh wait that just means I get to tidy the cupboards out! Still at least it will give me a little break from the classroom. Supporting Year 5 is VERY different from Year 1 and I feel a bit of a spare part at times. For instance in Year 1, when the teacher is giving the input (that's teaching to my generation) I would be ensuring children are paying attention on the carpet and not distracting others or messing. In Year 5 I just sit there like a lemon. I am so used to being hands on with the little ones that it feels very odd to be in a calm, orderly class.