Wednesday 31 December 2008

WIP and new start pics for 2009 - part 2

This is the second part of my WIP's and starts for 2009.


This flower and bear card has really naff floss with it. In fact I think it would be nicer stitching with tooth floss than this so I plan to frog it and start over with some DMC.
These are some of my new starts for 2009. The 2 mouseloft kits would make cute ornies and the unicorn card is for my good friend's birthday in November. Summer in Sussex will be my first 3D kit and looks fun.

This unicorn design will also be for Debbie's birthday but I need to change the colours as she wants it in blue and not pink.

WIP and new start pics for 2009 - part 1

These are more for my own reference than any other reason. I thought I would post pics of where I am with my WIP's as of the start of 2009. It might be interesting to see what progress actually gets made on some of them by the end of 2009!!



Snowy Days Sampler from Cross Stitcher magazine.

Bothy Threads Cut Thru Garden Shed. I REALLY want to finish this one this year.

Maggie the Messmaker. I want to make real progress on this one this year.

Last 3 Snappers need doing. Started January then March and June to do.

Cotswold Design from Cross Stitch Collection magazine. Again I would really like to make a lot of progress on this one this year.


Part 9 of How does your Garden Grow is started and I really want this finished by my birthday in March.

Monday 29 December 2008

2009 goals

I have been thinking about my goals for 2009 and getting my blog cleaned up and tidied in preparation for the new year.

I have sorted my goals into 3 different categories and have tried to keep them simple as I have to finish my Open University course and I hope to start a Foundation Degree in September. I imagine there will be a lot of home study for this so I don't want to commit to too many goals and end up disappointed with myself. These are not in any particular order.

projects that I want to complete which are already started at the moment are:
  • How Does your Garden Grow? - Papillon Creations
  • January Snapper - Bent Creek
  • March Snapper - Bent Creek
  • June Snapper - Bent Creek
  • Bear and Flower card - free kit from a cross stitch mag
  • Cut Thru Garden Shed - Bothy Threads
  • Christmas Tree Sampler - Cross Stitch Collection magazine
projects I want to make substantial progress on but realistically won't finish are:
  • Maggie the Messmaker - Dimensions?
  • What's up Doc? - ???
  • Cotswold design - Cross Stitch Collection
New starts that I want to finish in 2009 are:
  • Unicorn design for Debbie - Cross Stitcher magazine? (by November 30th)
  • Unicorn card - Mouseloft (by November 30th)
  • Summer in Sussex - The Nutmeg Company
  • PIF for Robin Titan (before October)
  • One Christmas ornament each month including finishing off.
I think I will put a gadget in the sidebar with a list of these to help to keep me focused on what I need to be doing when I am not studying!!
Whatever your plans for 2009, I hope it brings you everything you need for the year ahead and that you and yours stay safe and well. Thank you all for reading my blog over 2008 and I hope to get to know you all better during 2009. One of my New Year resolutions is to leave more comments on blogs that I read as I know how much I love to receive comments on mine. I am also going to make sure that I reply more often to the comments I receive so that people know I am reading them!!

Monday 22 December 2008

Santa Sleighs

I bought a book last year full of Christmas activities. A few weeks ago we were looking through it and the children wanted to have a go at making Santa sleighs. Well this morning we decided to do them. The children did a fab job, ok there was a bit too much icing on them but it is all their own work, following the instructions whilst I just unwrapped various biscuits etc. They even mixed the icing themselves to make the 'glue'. They are not so impressed with having to wait until Colin gets home tonight before they can start on them!! Rachael wants me to tell you that the red things on the floor of her sleigh are presents that Santa needs to deliver. Luke has put some sour snakes to make bigger armrests and a footrest for Santa. Luke's are the top 2 pics and Rachael's are the bottom 2.




Sunday 21 December 2008

What a couple of weeks! (no stitching)

First the good news, which has been pretty thin on the ground lately. I got an achieved for my OU maths course. As the result is only either achieved or not achieved, I am pleased! I am also on target at the moment with my Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis course.

Luke has been pretty poorly the last few days. He woke up on Thursday morning about 6.00am with a dreadful cough that sounded just like croup although according to the doctor he grew out of that when he was 3! He was also holding his throat and slightly gasping for breath so I rang NHS Direct. The man on the other end of the line could hear Luke and after a brief conversation with him, he decided we needed an ambulance........pronto! The fast response car (which is probably the wrong name) was here within about 4 minutes. The ambulance was here no more than 2 minutes later. By 6.35am we were at the hospital which is usually a good 20 minutes drive. I cannot praise the ambulance staff enough, they were great and really put Luke at ease. The hospital however were completely different. We were greeted by someone who I assumed was a nurse. He asked the ambulance crew what was wrong with Luke not because he was triaging patients but because "he is a nosey sod" (his words not mine!) He then said to Luke "I give you a 50/50 chance of making it to Christmas" followed by "Have you have a sense of humour transplant?" Once we were in the cubicle Luke said he didn't want that man treating him. Can't say I blame him really.
Following from that, Luke needed the toilet which was heavily spattered with blood. Later on Luke said "There is blood marks on the floor" When I looked down I saw he was right and there was also a blood soaked dressing on the floor under my chair too. It was disgusting. The stupid thing is that I was so worried about Luke at the time, it never even occurred to me to complain to anyone. One of the nurses/auxillaries commented that she wasn't going to deal with another patient because he stinks. If we EVER need to go to hospital by ambulance again, I will be asking if we can go to St Mary's instead. If they say no we will get there under our own steam or not bother!
Luke was discharged about lunchtime with one dose of steroids and calpol to take but he has been poorly for a couple more days. His temperature has remained about 39-40 degrees despite best efforts to reduce it. He has been a lot more like his normal self today thankfully.

Colin's works recently announced that they would be making approximately half the workforce at his office redundant. The remaining staff are being relocated to another office that will be a little further away from the city centre, still he is just grateful to have survived the 2nd round of redundancies this year. Fingers crossed that is the last of the job cuts for him.

I am suffering from cross stitch withdrawal symptoms. Unfortunately our Christmas tree goes in my stitching corner and I have nowhere to put my lamp. This means that I am reduced to stitching on 14 count aida with my eyesight. Also I can't manage very long without my eyes hurting so there is nothing to show at the moment. I have however been thinking about my goals for next year. I will post them at the start of 2009 though!!

As this is likely to be my last post before Christmas, I would like to wish everyone that celebrates it a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS. If you do not celebrate this one, I hope you have a safe and restful holiday period.

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Still not much stitching news

I can show 2 things I have stitched recently. One is an exchange for Lori through Cross Stitch Floss Swap. Her info said she liked red and dragons so I combined the 2 to make an ornament for her.




The second one is of a Mill Hill Tiny Treasured Diamonds which I made for my mum. She sent me a text today to say it arrived and she was absolutely thrilled.

On Monday I was part of a group of teachers and teaching assistants who took about 60 children to MEN arena for the Young Voices choir which is where around 8000 children and young people come together for a concert. We have been practising all the songs since September. It was long night in the end. We left school around 1 ish and arrived back at just gone 10pm. It was really fabulous though and the children were all brilliant.