July Theme-a-licious and 1st August WIPocalypse

First of all a big welcome to all my new followers and a big thank you to everyone who comments.  I do try to reply to comments via email but not everyone has an address provided.  So if I done't respond, hopefully it isn't just me being ignorant, it's because I can't.

Well.......I've had a bit of a finishing frenzy over the last week.  I thought I would get some of my WIP's ermm that would probably be UFO's if I'm truthful.

First up is a Country Companions design from DMC which I think is called It Never Rains...  This may well be my oldest UFO.  I started this in our old house and as we've been here for 10 years, that makes it pretty old!  Anyway IT IS DONE!

It Never Rains...   DMC
finished 23rd July 2012

Next is a Mouseloft penguin.  Now seriously, who could EVER leave a Mouseloft kit as a UFO?  It's no bigger than 2" square.  Honestly!  Anyway it is done and will probably be made into a tree ornie.

Mouseloft Penguin
finished 23rd July 2012

Another long standing UFO but not as bad as the Country Companions one.  This is a little blackwork owl from X-calibre designs.  This was the first one I bought to learn how to do blackwork.  I believe that if you do it properly the back looks like the back...a bit like hardanger I suppose.  I obviously didn't do it properly as the back looks nothing like the front.  Thankfully the front looks ok though!!

Blackwork Owl - X-calibre
finished 25th July 2012

And finally, well for finishes at least, is this little anniversary card.  The writing was red but I thought I would change it so I can use it for Colin's mum and dad's wedding anniversary, which is obviously their golden one...hehe.  Again it was one of those pieces that should NEVER have been a UFO as it just wasn't big enough.

Anniversary card
unknown designer

I then used the random generator to choose my next WIP to work on.  It landed on this one.  I spent a little bit of time working on it but it is 18ct aida which is definitely NOT my favourite fabric to work on.  I am going to leave it out and put 1 strand a day in it to keep it ticking over.

Garden Tools
Fleur de Lis

I have been working on She Sells Seashells as well and hope that will be my next finish.  Watching the Olympics at the same time is not a good idea.  I am doing nearly as much frogging as stitching.


Other news....

********I PASSED********

I got my Open University module exam result on Tuesday.  I got a Grade 2 pass.  As the OU had already admitted that one of the questions was 'unusually difficult' and were 'standardising' the results, I knew it wasn't my imagination that it was a hard exam.  Now I am trying to decide whether or not to continue my degree or not.  I worked really hard with studying and revising for my last module and felt that the exam didn't allow me to show my knowledge.  There were many students who put in a complaint about the exam so it's good that the OU listened and investigated but it left me really demoralised.

That's it for now...Happy Stitching!!

My 4 year blogoversry

Last week was my Blogoversary.  I have now been blogging for 4 years!!  As promised here is the blogoversary giveaways.  I thought I would do 4 little ones rather than just one - one for each year I suppose!

Although I would love it if more people read my blog I would like the giveaway to be for the people who actually do read, whether that is occasionally or every post.  Therefore I would like to ask you NOT to post the details on your blogs.

If you would like your name entered to win any or all of these just let me know by posting a comment on this post only.  I will pull winners at random on Easter Monday.

The 4 draws will be for:

1. two little Mouseloft kits - one of a handbag and accessories, the other of a shoe.
2. two bobbins of Stranded by the Sea floss.
3. Cross Stitch Crazy April 2012 issue - wrapped with the free gift.
4. a piece of fabric called Summer Sky from Silkweaver (9" x 13", 32ct, Belfast Linen) This looks nothing like the picture which was taken outside.  Think pale blue sky with wispy clouds!

Theme-a-licious - January round up

Well the first month of Theme-a-licious has gone by.  I have posted my progress on my Theme-a-licious page so have a look!  The plan is to stitch on Mirabilia designs from my WIP pile for Fangirl February but really need to work on some others too.  I need to finish off the RR piece and I want to work on the wedding design for Helen and Kev who will have been married for 2 years in June - yikes!!

Apart from Theme-a-licious stitching, I have also stitched a little thank you card for my boss who was really understanding of my recent childcare issues and allowed me to finish early without docking my pay.  She is giraffe mad so hopefully likes this one.

Mouseloft kit

This is a clematis flower bud

We have actually got a clematis that never really died back last year and so never got cut back.  I was just having a bit of a wander round the back yesterday and we have a bud on one of the plants.  It shows how amazingly mild our winter has been so far as it shouldn't flower until June at the earliest.

One iris in bloom

another iris in bloom

We have actually got about 6 or 7 irises in bloom at the moment.  I am pretty sure they shouldn't be flowering until March.  It's bizarre.  I'm sure sooner or later we will pay for it being so mild.  Hopefully we will be able to get up the allotment and do a few bits over the next few weeks.

I'm sure there was something else I had to blog about but can't for the life of me remember what it is.  Oh well...

continued...

Arrrgghhhhh.....what is going on with blogger???

With the last post I kept trying and trying to load another photo of my other finishes and it really is not having it!

So here is the photo of them! The middle one is off centre but not as badly as it looks in this picture! The other 2 still need making up before they can be added to my ornie total for the year. I am really behind with my original idea of one a month!

I have also been stitching for the autumn/halloween exchange but as they haven't reached their new homes yet I can't share them for the moment. One though became my first ever pinkeep which was much easier than I thought it would be.

Manchester show and stitching update.

Well I went to the Manchester Show and it was rubbish! There were only 3 or 4 stands selling cross stitch items. The rest was mainly card craft. I did spend a pleasant 10 minutes speaking to a lady about her Japenese embroidery which was amazing. Have a look here to see some of their work. In the end, I only picked up a few bits and bobs from Trudy Anne Designs. There were lots of stitched models of L*K, CCN, LHN and others in the same vein. I absolutely adored all the LHN and CCN and I can now see why they have such a huge following. I succumbed and bought one for now but have a couple on order too. I also bought some double sided tape, card for the children, 4 little plastic craft boxes and 2 ribbons. The charts are LHN - Snowflakes, The Trilogy - Gardening and L*K - Winter Crazy.

Yesterday, when Rachael was at her party, I finished this teddy design into a glitzy ornament for her. I had bought some pretty ribbon but she preferred the tinselly look.
I also received the mount for Colin's Sunday Cricket from Smartart-mounts. I was really pleased with this. They sell on ebay but didn't have what I wanted. However, the guy got back to me with a price for it being custom made which was really good. £6 including packing and postage. Well when it arrived yesterday it was in a jiffy bag with about 2 metres of bubble wrap round it and sandwiched between 2 generous sized pieced of mount to protect it. The mount was absolutely perfect and one piece of mount board packing was easily cut to the right size to lace the design to. I was so pleased with their service!

WE'VE GOT SNOW!!!

OK, ok ok, I admit it.............where you come from this may not be much.................but for us it is the most snow we have had in 13 years according to the local radio station this morning. I measured it tonight and we have 2"..........that's right...........a whole 2"!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!

I told the children to not bother with their homework tonight. Neither of mine have ever handed homework in late so I decided not to worry tonight. For how often we actually get snow, I thought a bit of snow fun was far more important!! We built a snowman and had a few snowball fights, Rachael made a snow angel and so a good time was had by all (and it was much more fun than putting spellings into sentences!)

One of our cats, Smudge, decided he rather likes snow too and came out for ages. I didn't think he would like it as he hates the wind and I thought that would put him off. Biskey was very funny though. He sat by the patio doors, on the inside, trying to catch the snowflakes but when we opened the doors so he could do it for real, he ran off upstairs. Silly animal!

Oh and on the stitching front, I started and finished a little Mouseloft kit yesterday for February's ornament. I haven't yet finished it as an ornament.

Oh dear.......I have been BAD today!

Well actually you can blame my hubby for this one. A while ago, I left my gluegun on the side in the kitchen to cool down. he didn't move it before cooking dinner and burnt the lead. As I thought it probably wasn't a very good idea to use it, it got binned. I had forgotten this and when I came to make up my ornie this morning spent half an hour searching before the penny dropped. A quick trip to Hobbycraft was called for as theirs were on special offer at the moment. To cut a long story short, I ended up buying a new gluegun, sticks, backing fabric, felt, mountboard, 5 Mouseloft kits, some new DMC perfume threads and some stitchbows. Ooooops!

Ok, I admit it...............it was my fault for leaving the gun there after it cooled and I deserve to go without. TOO LATE!!

My mum gave us a Wii and some games as a family present this year. Rachael was doing absolutely rubbish at bowling, getting really upset because she couldn't do it. After a little gentle coaching in how to change the angles etc she managed to get 8 strikes on the trot. WOW. Her final score was 267. I'm not playing HER again..........lol. This is a screen shot of her 8th strike.

Anyway, whilst she was busy annhililating her brother, I was in the kitchen finishing off the ornie I stitched last night and here it is............

(Mine's the Christmas Tree not the angel!!) That's January's ornie stitched and finished.
Well I suppose I had better think of something nice for tea to sweeten hubby up a bit.........lol.

Woohoo...........first finish of 2009

This afternoon I got a little stitching time and as I still don't have my light until I get my stitching corner back (tree comes down on Saturday, so normality will be restored). Anyway, I thought it would be easier to stitch something on white aida to ease the stress on the eyes. I started a little Mouseloft Christmas Tree kit. It was a very quick stitch, probably taking about 3 hours including backstitch. Tomorrow I will make it up into an ornament but the decision then is do I put it on the tree for a day or put it away safely for next Christmas?

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.

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!