MIA - back again!

Gosh, what a long time since I have blogged!  Well I managed 15 days of NaBloPoMo which is much better than my paltry 3 last year!

Hard to see in this pic but Luke's nose is very swollen
and bruised.  He has been a real star about it though!

The last couple of weeks have not been good health wise in our house which is why I haven't blogged or stitched much.  A quick run down is 2 bouts of tonsilitis for me with 2 different courses of antibiotics of which I am still taking the second lot.  A quick question - when you have a throat that feels like someone has shoved a couple of golf balls down it, why do doctor's insist on giving you the biggest tablets they know how to prescribe?  Colin has had some mystery bug that actually caused him to have a day off work and to admit that he shouldn't have gone in the next day either.  Rachael has had a bad cold and injured her back - not together!  Poor Luke found out today that football boot + header = broken nose.  The poor lad currently looks like he went 10 rounds with Mike Tyson!  The hospital said it is too swollen to tell if it is broken and to come back in 10 days when the swelling goes down if it looks mis-shapen.  We are keeping him dosed up with Calpol and Calprofen so it doesn't hurt too much at the moment. So all in all it's not been great although thankfully everything is minor in the grand scheme of things :)

On to stitching news...

I signed up for the Santa's Village autoship from The Patchwork Rabbit.  Karla was really pleasant to deal with and I got the first installment this morning.  It looks even cuter in real life and I will be sorting out some fabric for it later.  Once I finish Nicola's 'thing' (not giving anything away!!), I will stitch the first part.

The first installment of Santa's Village!!!

In terms of actual stitching I have worked on an exchange piece which is winging its way 'somewhere' in the world, so I can't show that.  I am working on Nicola's 'thing' so can't show that either.  I have worked a few stitches on a RR which is shown below and a little of Confetti of Hardanger which hasn't seen enough progress to make it worth a photo - 3 more eyelets, that's all.  There is a little progress on ATW but again not a lot. Cinderella got a little progress too.

RR stitching

ATW - part 5 completed

ATW - so far

The other night Biskey and Smudge were curled up on the sofa.  So cute...

Biskey and Smudge....awww
Smudge is black and white

Sew and so

Just to let you know that sewandso.co.uk is having a competition where you can win your order if it's over £20.  In other words it would be free.  Here's the link Sew and So facebook page.

Thank you for the positive comments on yesterdays post and for sharing your experiences.  It is a hard time of year for us as Rachael was diagnosed on the 22nd November so it is coming up to her 7th anniversary.  Jo was quite right yesterday. Asking if there is a family history is not necessarily a silly/stupid question.  There is a genetic link.  If you have a parent with type 1 there is between 1 in 100 to 1 in 10 chance of getting it.  This depends on who has it and apparently how old they were when it developed.  There is a higher risk if it is the father who has it than the mother.  Siblings are about 1 in 10 too.  There is also thought to be an environmental factor at work to though and 26 research studies currently point to the possibility of  it being an enterovirus as it has been found that children with diabetes are up to 10 times more likely to have had this than children without diabetes.

My comment about assuming there is a family history in our family is due to the fact that I am overweight, a lot overweight and prejudice seems to be that people assume that Rachael has diabetes because of this and that Colin and I therefore must also have diabetes.

Please accept my apologies for any offence caused by that comment.  None was intended but it is an amazingly common perception.

Stitching has been good this week.  Part 5 of ATW has been done.  I have chosen something for Nicola's giveaway win which I really hope she will love.  I'm NOT going to share it here yet though!!!!  I am working on a RR too and a Christmas ornie for an exchange.

I am having horrible problems with the camera and can't get any photos to upload to the computer.  I think it may be a dodgy connection with the USB lead.  I know there is another one in Rachael's room but I don't want to disturb her by going looking for it.

Luke had his parents evening tonight and it was wonderful.  Almost every teacher used the word fantastic about him and the 'negative' comments if you could call them that were that he needs to speak up a bit more in class and needs to believe in himself more.  We have always told him that he is bright and brainy but he doesn't believe us.  Hopefully he will believe it now lots of other people have told him.

Right...got to go...it's time for Question Time!!!

Theme-a-licious roundup for Amazon April

Crikey, I'm getting later and later with these.  I haven't been near my blog or stitched hardly at all in the last week.  I am currently writing the last assignment for my OU module and then mid June is exam time (eek).  Therefore life at the minute is dedicated to study, revise, study, revise, sleep!

Below are pics of what I have done this month.

So first up is Cotswold Village scene.  This is huge but I really enjoyed stitching on it.  Maybe it shouldn't go back in the UFO box.

This is 'Two Little love birds' which is a Love Thy Threads design that I am guinea pigging.  It is a gorgeous design and the colours are so pretty together. 

Above is my progress so far on Around The World in 80 Stitches (ATW80S) for short. It is really pretty but I haven't come across most of the stitches before so it is challenging me a little...ok a lot. It will be done though!

And this is the pathetic progress on 6 Fat Snowmen.  

I got some fantastic post today.  Jo (Serendipitous Stitching) saw this card and thought of me, can't think why...lol.  It is absolutely amazing and I have had a smile on my face all day and keep going to look at it.  Luke went and compared it to the 'real' one and found loads of differences.  He particularly liked the frog in the demi john bottle at the bottom.  Concensus seems to be that I should frame the card and hang below the cross stitch when it's framed.

The other great bit of news is that I have rediscovered an old friend.  Once upon a time, I became friends with a lovely lady in America although actually I can't remember how we met...hmmm....  Anyway as she loved the British cross stitch mags as much as I did, she had a subscription sent to my house and every now and again I would put them in a box and post them off to her.  She made my two kids the most beautiful quilts for their beds which they still use today - despite the fact their feet stick out the bottom of them.  When I wash them it has to be on a day where I can get them washed and dried and back on the bed the same day....or else!  They love those quilts more than anything they own!

Bizarrely I have been following this person for quite a while and it never ever clicked that this was my old friend.  After discovering who she was I re-read all of her blog and basically thought what an idiot I was as it should have been so blatantly obvious.  Short of putting up neon signs telling me who she was....honestly...I really am dumb!

We never fell out as friends it was just a case of relationship troubles on my part and we gradually lost touch over a period of time.  I would guess the last time we corresponded would have been possibly around 2004/2005 ish maybe.  I am so excited to have found her again.  

Oh I suppose you want to know who it is, do you?  It's...

Shirlee