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.

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!!

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.

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.

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.

Girlie shopping trip

Last week I asked Rachael if she would like a girlie trip out somewhere to buy her some trendier closthes. She was thrilled at the idea and so today we left the boys at home and headed to The Trafford Centre for some retail therapy. The first stop was Lush where we got some bath bombs and new lip salve. Rachael was completely overwhelmed at all the different aromas, textures etc of their products and would have spent a fortune if allowed. That was as far as the shopping got as Rachael decided she was starving so we got lunch. We both had pasta which was delicious and then headed back to the shops!

We ended up with a few clothes for Rachael but not a lot. She got a LBD from H&M for £10 which looks fabulous on her, makes her look really grown up. 2 cardigans from Gap which were a bargain at £31 for them both (should have been about £47). In next she found 4 pairs of trousers which she needed age 11 for the length of her legs. They will be loose round the waist but hopefully she will fill out a bit soon. We also picked up 2 pairs for Luke too so he didn't feel completely left out.

We went in the Build a Bear store but after seeing the queue snaking right round the store, decided to order online instead! In the Disney Store there was a soft toy that Rachael had wanted last time but decided it was too much to spend her money on. Today it had 33% off so we bought it and it will go away for Christmas, even though she knows.

We had a brilliant time and it was so nice to spend some quality time with Rachael on her own doing something that she really wanted to. I am going to try to think of something to do with Luke in a couple of weeks so we can have some special time together. I can't see him wanting to go shopping for the day.

I have had a couple of finishes recently but one is for an exchange so I will post it in a few days. The other is an ornament I made for my mum but the camera is low on batteries so I can't post that one either.

I have had a new start too which was in Cross Stitch Collection and is a gorgeous Christmas Sampler. There isn't enough progress to make it worth showing yet.

World Diabetes Day draw

Drum roll please..............and the winner of the draw to celebrate World Diabetes Day, as selcted by my hubby, is................................

******* Jennifer *******

Jennifer, could you email me your snail addy please and I will get your goodies in the post to you a.s.a.p. Congratulations!

Thank you to everyone who entered. It was amazing how many peoples' lives are touched by diabetes in one way or another. Thank you for sharing your storie.

A few finishes

I still have a couple of finishes that I can't show but there are some I can. This week I have finished both February Glows and September Brings. Only 3 left to do. I will probably leave them until after Christmas now.

I finished this ornament a few weeks ago but as it was for an exchange I couldn't show it. It is one of my favourite designs from the ornament issue of Just Cross Stitch and I fancy stitching it again for myself. It was the first time I had finished one in this way.

This one is one that I stitched a long time ago but only just got round to finishing.

Robin Titan can you please email with your snail mail details so I have them to hand when I am ready to send you your PIF. For some reason I can't just click on your email link!

I've been tagged by Ashley to share 6 random things about myself, according to the rules.
The rules are as follows.

• link to the person who tagged you.
• Post the rules to your blog.
• Write 6 random things about you.
• Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
• Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
• Let the tagger know the entry is up.

So here are 6 random things about me.

1. I would rather die than eat a tomato in its natural state.
2. I prefer to swim under water than on top in the pool.
3. My first ever "crush" was on Martin Shaw who played Doyle in The Professionals.
4. I laugh when I am nervous.
5. I cry at anything that involves children being hurt or even the thought of being hurt.
6. I love to study. If I don't know something I will read a book on it.

I have tagged.
Carolyn
Amy
Shari
Nicki
Carol
Sharon

Open University

I must be mad! I have signed up for another OU course. I was going to wait until I got the result of my maths course before worrying about another but this sounded interesting and was starting next week so I took the plunge!! I don't find out the result of the maths course until about 12th December which still feels ages away yet.

So far I only have one taker for my PIF. Sign up here if you want to join in. I will leave it open for a few more days to see if I get anyone else.

I am going to do a giveaway. My daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes on the 22nd November 2005. Unless you have been there, you cannot imagine the impact that diabetes can have on a family's life. Realistically there is not likely to be a cure any time soon. They may be able to do different things to control it but they won't be able to cure it. Many people think that Type 1 is pretty much the same as Type 2 but there are HUGE differences. Many (not all Type 2's) get it due to diet and lifestyle choices. Type 1's DON'T. It is because their pancreas stops working and no longer produces insulin.

On 14th November it is World Diabetes Day. This is to raise awareness of diabetes. They try to light up the world with blue lights - there may be one near you! So in honour of this, I will be giving away a little "goodie bag" of cross stitch bits which will have a blue theme! If you would like to enter the draw for this leave me a comment on this posting. I will do the draw on Friday 14th November. Good luck!!

October review and November goals

October's goals were........

• to complete TOT in time for Halloween. (well a couple of days late but done!)
• complete fancy fiber exchange (done)
• complete autumn/halloween exchange (done - lady didn't bother to let me know if it arrived or not)
• stitch unicorn card in time for Debbie's birthday (not yet)
• at least one Snapper (half done)
• some of Cut Thru Garden Shed (not touched it)

November's goals are.......

• complete 2 snappers
• complete 2 Christmas ornaments (1 for exchange and 1 for my mum)
• stitch unicorn card
• start Historical Sampler design from CS Collection
• catch up with How does your garden Grow?

Halloween update

Better late than never I suppose!!

Luke had a party at Beavers on Friday - officially known as a Monster Ball so no parents were upset at us celebrating Halloween, yes, really!

I said I would do some of the food for the party so Colin and I were cooking and preparing all morning. The picutres are of the cakes and biscuits we made between us. Below are the oranges I carved like pumpkins and filled with jelly.

Luke was a devil and Rachael was a vampiress.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my Trick or Treat Fairy. She is currently hanging on a wall until I can decide on the frame for her. I am toying with the idea of adding some spiders and bats to her but can't decide.
I have finished a couple of small projects in the last few days. Both of them were on my WIP/UFO list so I am really pleased. Firstly there was a blackwork butterfly and today I finished an ornament for an exchange.

Trick or Treat finished

Trick or Treat (Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine - September 2008)

Fabric - Picture this Plus - Monet lugana

Trick or Treat is finished!! This now becomes my first ever Nora Corbett design that is finished. Unfortunately it is 2 days late for Halloween but never mind. Now I need to find the perfect frame for her. She also becomes my 20th finish of the year.

For the rest of the year I am going to try to finish up some old WIP's/UFO's that are on the list and see if I can't start 2009 with less than 40 projects started. Yeah right!!

PIF

I signed up to a PIF that Lindsay is doing over the next 12 months so I in turn need some willing victims. In case you've not done one before the rules are really simple.

If you would like to receive something handmade by me sometime in the next 12 months then leave a comment saying so on this post and by doing so you're committing to do a similar offer on your blog. I'm offering this for 3 people and should I get more than that interested I will get Rachael and Luke to pull 3 names from a "hat".

I will leave this open until Sunday 8th November and post the winning recipients on Monday night. If you want to have a look at all my stitching go to my webshots.

PIF stands for Pay It Forward.

CSC Christmas ornament exchange

I received my ornament today from Meari for the CSC Christmas ornament exchange. It is gorgeous. Thank you so much Meari, I can't wait to get my tree up now.

A little bit of everything!!

Crikey, it is ages since I updated my blog. I have had my mum staying with us for a few days so I haven't been on the computer much. It was lovely to have her here as with one thing and another we haven't seen each other for about 3 years or so. My Auntie Angie, mum's twin sister, looked after Dudley so that mum could come up. He has Alzheimer's among other medical problems and it was too much trouble for his son or DIL to have him. The children were absolutely thrilled to bits to have her here and Luke in particular howled like a baby when we saw her onto the train on Tuesday. We didn't do a lot whilst mum was here but it was nice just to chill and catch up on news.

Rachael was taking her gold challenge in swimming this week. She had to -

• plunge dive and swim 100m using 2 strokes in 2 and a half minutes
• tread water for 3 minutes with her hands above her head
• sculling head first and feet first with a 360 tucked turn
• 10m swim, forward somersault, 10m swim
• 800m swim using 3 strokes, minimum of 200m on each, in less than 25 minutes
• exit from the deep end without assistance

SHE PASSED!!! WELL DONE RACHAEL

I received my fall/halloween exchange from Jackie a while ago but I had to wait until the 27th to open it. The package she sent me is fabulous with loads of lovely goodies and some beautiful choccies. I feel very spoiled indeed. I got my first ever scissors keep too which is gorgeous and won't just be kept for Halloween. Thank you Jackie. (There was a cute little halloween teddy too but Rachael has decided she wanted it.)

I have been emailing my partner to see if mine has arrived with her yet, but there has been no contact at all from her. I sent 2 packets as I couldn't get it all in one and I would have thought they should be there by now. Below is a photo of the ornament I made her. I was going to save it until it arrived but as I don't know if I will ever find out it arrived I thought I would post it now instead.

I also received my Fancy Fibres exchange from Lindsay. I didn't know that Kreinik made silk threads. They feel gorgeous and I have been playing with them all day. There were also 2 Threadworx threads which I have already used to cord an ornament I was finishing. The other thread is a Thread Gatherer thread which I haven't tried before either and feels gorgeous. The blue colour is wonderful too. Thank you Lindsay!!



Colin carved our halloween pumpkin today. It's just a basic one because we have 2 more to do with the children tomorrow. Mum bought the children a decorating kit for their pumpkins. It's a bit like Mr Potato Head for pumpkins so it should be fun tomorrow.

Not much to tell you

Almost all the stitching I have been doing lately is for one exchange or another. So there is nothing to show you until they all reach their new home. I have not made much progress on Trick or Treat lately but here is an update anyway.

My mum is coming up next weekend so I have been frantically turning out cupboards and tidying everywhere just in case she brings her white gloves. We are all looking forward to having her up here as she hasn't been able to come for about 3 years. I have been planning some special meals for her - all her favourite things that she doesn't make for herself.

I am going to have a little drawing in a couple of weeks time so keep an eye out for further details around the start of November.

New Toy

For the last couple of weeks I have been humming and haaing over whether or not to buy a carpet cleaner. Argos have one on offer which is reduced from £140 to £70 so I finally decided to go for it and get one. Of course as soon as it was home I just had to try it out! It's fabulous. I tried just doing a small area to compare it to an area that wasn't cleaned. All I can say is WOW! Are my carpets really that dirty? So now I have a big job on cleaning all the carpets in the house after seeing this. It says that it gets rid of pet odours too so hopefully it might remove the smell of cat as well.

Exchanges

I have gone from not being signed up to any exchanges, to now being signed up for 4. There is the fancy fiber one - on order at the moment, Halloween/Autumn ornament exchange - finished today and 2 Christmas exchanges. The Halloween/Autumn one has been a real first for me. My first hand stitched backing, first cording and first corded hanger. I just hope I have done a good enough job on it for my partner to like it. Once she has received it I will post a piccie.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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!

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.

Trick or Treat?

Well I have made a good start to this one I think and so far I am enjoying her. I made a hash of her face and had to unpick and restitch it. The fabric is lovely to stitch on. Unfortunately it's back to work on Monday after 5 weeks off for the summer holiday so stitching time will be severely limited. All the childrens activities resume too so back to running around left, right and centre.



It's not a very good photo and the fabirc looks darker than it actually is. Interestingly the fabric looks more like I wanted it to look. More like a twilight sky. I am still missing 3 Kreiniks and DMC451 so I will have a trip to Hobbycraft tomorrow and try to pick them up.

First ever biscornu finished

The threads came in my new stash and so yesterday I finished off the biscornu. I had ordered some stuffing as I can never find any when I need it. Sew and So had it in 250g bags. "Oh that won't go far" I thought so I bought 2!! Well I could use the bags as pillows now........so........if you are ever short of stuffing, you know where to come!

The biscornu design is a Polstitches design and the fabric is Countrystitch's Christmas Eve. I was quite surprised at how big it was. For some reason I expected it to be smaller once it was made up. I am planning on using it as a pin cushion to TRY and stop me putting my needles in the sofa cushion. I don't want to use it though really.

Oh yes.............ummm..........guess what I started? Trick or Treat just accidentally fell onto the scroll bars. I have no idea how it happened.......tee hee.

Great stash day!

You wait weeks for your stash orders and then 2 turn up at once! Today I got my fabric for trick or treat fairy from Picturethisplus. It's called Monet which is a purply colour. It is not as dark as I was hoping for but is still an absolutely GORGEOUS colour. It is the first time I have ordered from them and the service and communication was great.

The second stash package was from http://www.juliesxstitch.com/ which had most of the metallics and beads for trick or treat. Unfortunately I forgot to order a few so I will have to get those another time. I cannot praise Julie highly enough for the service I have received from her with this order. She has bent over backwards to help me get what I wanted that was out of stock and suggested a good substitute when she was unable to get it (discontinued). Julie kept me really well informed all the way through and even refunded some of the postage because the order was so light. If companies in the UK matched this kind of customer service and had the prices to match, I would be more likely to use them. Thank you Julie!!

Rachael arranged all the stash in the picture so you can see what was there. I'm not sure if this is how she wants her pumpkin carving this year or not but it looks scary!

Rachael had her op ok yesterday and is absolutely fine. She was really alert after the op and I was very surprised. The teeth went under the pillow last night and the tooth fairy duly left £5. We have kept up the ibuprofen and paracetamol today just to make sure she doesn't start with any pain. It's probably easier than trying to get rid of it if it does start.

Lots of you have left some lovely comments on my work etc and I just wanted to say how much I truly appreciate them. I know I don't always reply but every one is treasured. Thank you all very much!