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!!

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.

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.

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.

Great stash week

Firstly I need to say a big THANK YOU to Kell for getting me and sending the Cross Stitch magazine I wanted for the Nora Corbett Trick or Treat design. It was a very kind thing to do and I will definitely be paying it forward to someone in the near future!! Now all I need to decide on is what fabric to stitch it on. I was thinking something like a night sky and have the following as a starting point. Country Stitch fabrics - Autumn Thyme, Cloud Burst, Cosmos, Southern Star or Twilight. If you have any ideas for something better.......let me know!

The second stash parcel was for the Crossstitchcrazy group "Rainbow Exchange". The idea is that you send a package of goodies in the colours of the rainbow to your exchange partner. I received the following gorgeous things........

• 28 ct monaco in celadon from Enchanted fabrics
• 28 ct monaco in sunshine from Enchanted fabrics
• 28 ct opalescent lugana in banana splash fron Silkweaver with GAST pumpkin patch thread.
• 28 ct cashel linen in cascade from Silkweaver with Stranded by the sea thread.
• Kreinik Balger cord - just what I need to finish my biscornu!
• GAST -purple iris
• WDW - White lightening
• DMC no5 perle (814)

I feel quite spoilt so a big, big THANK YOU to Chris for the lovely package!