H..h...h...happy dance

Did you count the h's in the title?
Well, you should have done, because that is how many finishes I have had recently.

In no particular order, we have:

Merry Christmas to You by My Big Toe Designs from Just Cross Stitch ornie issue 2016.

And then, Prairie Schooler's Santa Waving Good Night from the same issue.

Next, Lizzie Kate's Flip-Its from 2001 - January

Finally, David Tennant which was from an Etsy seller ( I can't remember who!)

David Tennant was for Rachael's birthday - her 18th birthday!  How on earth did that happen?  How can I be the mother of an adult. Don't worry, we have already had the 'you may be an adult but it's my house, my rules' chat!  

I did underestimate the time it would take me to stitch it and ended up stitching on it until 3.30 am on her birthday.  Thankfully, Rachael slept in until 9.30 so I did get enough sleep for her big day!!! She had a wonderful time and the restaurant we went to, gave her a really good night with complementary drinks and a special dessert.

Santa Sleighs, iStitch Advent SAL, Christmas

***** Merry Christmas *****

Back in 2008, I made Santa Sleigh's with Rachael and Luke.  We have always had fond memories of them and every year since, we have said we should make them again.  So this year we did!  Here is a link to the original versions...Santa Sleigh's...and below are what we created today.  Hopefully you can see some improvement in technique :)  First time round, Rachael would have been 9 and Luke 7.

Rachael's

  Luke's  

Rachael's

Rachael's

Luke's    

Luke's   

Rachael's

Luke's    

A photo taken from a strange angle which makes the kids look about 7ft tall!  Our tree is actually 8ft high with a 12" angel on top!  (The first ever (we think) of one of the cats being in the kids, tree and presents photo.)

Rachael cuddling David...bless.  One of her presents actually reduced her to happy tears.  One of the lads from school, no they're not going out, they're 'just friends', bought her a mug with one of the selfie's of Rachael when she met David Tennant.  Bless...

Luke opening one of his Xbox games, not one I would have chosen!  Sadly, it was an 18 so he will have very limited time on it daily.

This is the tree this year.  You can't actually see many of my cross stitch ornies or the ones that have been gifted to me.  I sit at the far end of the sofa you can see in the photo and tend to hang them to the side so that I can view them when I'm sat on the sofa.

And finally, I have been stitching the iStitch Advent SAL this year and finished it ON TIME!  Can you believe that?  I was about 6 days behind until Sunday but caught up and was ready and waiting for the final part to be released on Christmas Eve.  Now how to finish it???

A stitchy update

As promised, although a day later than anticipated, a stitchy update.

But first...thank you to everyone who responded to Rachael's worries.  She read all of the comments and I have told her they will be printed off for her to read when she feels down.  I thought of putting them over her bed but will draw the line at that.  I took her to the hairdresser and we had a chat about how she felt about her hair.  The hairdresser cut it into a style that should be easier for her to manage and took loads of the weight out of it.  Even wavy/curly it is easy to see that it is a lot lighter.  Rachael is pleased with it and that is the main thing.

In the few minutes I have had in between writing my research proposal for my penultimate OU course, I have managed a little stitching.

So...there has been a bit of progress on Drac in the Box with most of of the head being stitched, all of the tombstone and some of the bat and moon.  Sorry for the really blurry photo but I am sure you get the idea!

My wired bat arrived which was a special order from Sewandso.co.uk so I will be ready to go when the stitching is finished.

There has been a little bit more progress on Cinderella and I am now down to the bottom of her dress.

 I ordered a couple of pieces of fabric from The Crafty Kitten which arrived a couple of weeks ago.  They look really pretty in real life with lovely delicate mottling to them.

As a weightloss incentive Colin is treating me to 'something' each time I go down into the next stone bracket. This time I chose Nora's Summer Faerie and some fabric.  I have to say that the fabric looks much nicer in reality and not nearly as 'blobby' as it looks here.

My final new purchase is some stick on thimbles to try.  Sometimes when stitching in hand I end up feeling like my pin cushion so thought it might be worth giving these a go.

And that is it for now.  In a couple of days my assignment will be completely finished and I will have 2 weeks of nothing but stitching before the next one begins!

Sneaking in the back door...

Well the study is still going full steam ahead with 5 assignments written and 1 more to go.  Then all I have is the final project which is due on 19th September.  My next course will start on 28th September so there won't be much of a break.

I have done a little stitching, but not much  :(

I have added a blob of 3371 to the bottom left corner and a bit to the lower middle area.  Just telling you in case you can't tell!

Sweet Pea - Nora Corbett

Cinderella has a little bit done to the tops of the steps.

Cinderella - Joan Elliott

A small amount has been stitched on the Stable.

Cut Thru Stable - Bothy Threads

Can you spot the difference here?  Don't worry it's only 4 stitches!

Santa's Village - CCN

 I did finish part 7 of Around the World AND make a start on part 8, woohoo!

ATW - Papillon Creations

Part 7 - upside down!

 Rachael has been bitten by the cross stitch bug too and decided to make a leaving present for her form tutor who is off to London.  He has been an amazing form tutor and looked after her so well, especially with diabetes issues so he will be missed by us both.  She rooted through my magazines and came up with this design.  I haven't a clue which magazine she chose in the end but she personalized it by putting the 'E' on his chest which is his surname.

With a little help from me, she turned it into a cube finish and I made the bow for her which she was happy with.  What do you think of her first attempt?  I didn't help her at all with the stitching after explaining how to read the chart and to start the thread off.  I think she did brilliantly.

Mr E was pleased with it apparently.

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!!!