Progress on Cut Thru Garden Shed

I have been working intermittently on my Garden Shed.  Yesterday I decided to make a start on the back stitch as I hate back stitch and thought it might become a UFO once the cross stitch was complete.  Once I started the back stitch I found I couldn't put it down.  I was amazing how the design sprang to life as each little bit was outlined.  So far I have completed 2 pages of back stitch and once I have done the last page on the left I will finish stitching the middle bottom section and back stitch the middle column too.  As a leftie this means I won't have to hold what I have already completed then.

So without further ado, here's my progress...

Rachael finished school on Friday and was voted pupil of the year in her form which was a lovely way for her to end the year.

Not quite a year....but close!

Hi everyone/anyone

I was abducted by aliens and have only just managed to get back to planet Earth...er no...that's not it.  Ermmm no, I'm afraid I don't have a good excuse really. I just was too busy to stitch and because I wasn't stitching, I didn't blog either.  Quite a lot has happened over the last year.

I have completed E111 with the Open University and am just waiting for the results of my final assignment.  After that I will be having a break from studying - basically because I can't afford another £770 for the next module at this moment in time.  I'm loving my job and will be doing only special needs in September.  I won't be helping in class unless the Year 6 teacher needs me particularly.  The only downside is that I have lost 'my' room and will be working in whatever space I can find around school.

Like many people Colin (DH) is up for redundancy or redeployment at the moment.  Neither of these are a good prospect as his job would relocate to Preston instead of central Manchester.  He has to make a decision by Monday as to what he wants to do. Apart from that, he's fine.

Rachael has completed her first year at High School.  She has thoroughly enjoyed Year 7 and has made fantastic progress. She had an awards ceremony last Monday and got the RE attitude to learning award as well as a trophy for 100% attendance.  Out of approximately 500 pupils there were only 10 that got their 100% award.  The teachers and staff at school have been amazing with her diabetes and have really kept an eye on her to ensure everything is ok whilst giving her independence.  If there is anything out of the ordinary, they always ring unlike Primary school who expected her to get on with it and didn't support her in any way, shape or form.

Luke has had a great year at school too with a real turn around in his attitude and progress. He has had an amazing teacher who has only just qualified but is dedicated to making a difference.  His school report was straight A's and behaviour rated as excellent (highest possible).  This was something I never thought I would see on Luke's report!  He has been involved with loads of sports this year and made the swim team at school.  His football team have done well and made the cup final - they lost.  Luke has been an ever present on the A team this year though and won Most Improved Player of the Year award.

A couple of weeks ago, I was sorting my stash and being brutally honest with whether I would ever stitch things although probably still not as honest as I could have been!  I found a couple of charts that I had forgotten I had and decided to see if I could pull the threads for them.  I stitched up "Stressed..." in a couple of nights and then got the other one out and did that.  On Monday I decided I wanted to stitch a little something for Luke's teacher to say thanks.  As they broke up Wednesday I had to hurry but managed it.  Luke said she was delighted with it.

I really won't be leaving it so long to blog next time!  Thanks for still reading if you have!