Stitching mojo may have returned

Well I finally picked up a needle and thread on Monday night. After contemplating a new start and then deciding I had quite enough WIP's as it was, I decided to do the last part of How Does Your Garden Grow? This was really quick to do. I stitched it all in one evening and then beaded it Tuesday morning. Now I have a problem - it needed washing and off course needs ironing. The trouble is I used invisible thread to attach the beads and if I iron it I suspect the beads will all drop off! Any ideas what I can do??

After finishing that, I decided to finish off June Zooms as there wasn't a lot to do on it. That got finished Tuesday too.

On Wednesday I finished January Snows and started March Blows, which I finished today. Finally, more than 5 years after it was started, the whole series is finally stitched!!

I contemplated a new start and even picked out a chart and found the fabric for it. Unfortuantely I can't find where on earth I put the threads for it!

Lost my mojo!

Well...I have officially lost my stitching mojo. I haven't picked up a needle in months and nothing is working. I treated myself to a couple of new charts from Down Sunshine Lane in the hope that would help...but no...nothing.

There has been so much happening lately that I have no desire or energy to stitch I suppose. If anyone has any suffestions on how to find the stitchy bug again please let me know!

The big news is that as of yesterday I am officially jobless. There was no funding for my post, or 4 others, this year and so we were all out of jobs. Although we were told about 2 months ago, there haven't been a huge amount of school jobs around. 2 of the ladies were lucky enough to find a job this week but the rest of us are still looking. With Rachael having diabetes, I don't want to be too far away in case of any problems which limits where I can go for work really.

Unfortunately with having no job comes the fact that I cannot take up my place at uni in September. Part of this is due to the fact that I need a placement in a school that will also provide someone to act as a mentor and partly because I can't afford the fees (nearly £1000) without a job. Colin apparently earns too much for me to receive any financial help with course fees.

On a happier note, I passed my Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis course with Open University which I must confess I was really surprised to do. I have completed 2 of the assignments for my Personal Finance course. The first one I got 73% on and was quite pleased with this, the other I am still waiting for the result.

My stepdad is having a bad time of it. He has recently been diagnosed with asbestosis (if that's how you spell it!) and near heart failure. He is waiting to see a cardiologist to see whether it is worth him having an operation with all his other health problems as well. My mum is considering the possiblity of moving up here a bit now. There is a house 10 doors up the walk from us that is up for sale and I think this has concentrated her mind a little now. That and the fact that she is getting no help whatsoever from her son in law and his wife.

We are having a few problems with school at the moment with Rachael's diabetes. Obviously with me not working there any more they are going to have to take a little more responsibility for her. Unfortunately no-one seems to want to do this and we are going to have a bit of a fight on our hands I think. She has a residential trip to Robinwood this September and the school are describing her as "high risk". We had a meeting with the Head Teacher and the School Nurse last week which was dreadful. The school nurse didn't know the first thing about diabetes and even less about insulin pumps which considering she was supposed to be advising the school was a bit of a joke really. Honestly if they just took a bit of interest and used common sense there is no reason to be so worried about her. Thankfully when we phoned Robinwood they were much more helpful and have sent us meal plans and activity itineries etc.

Rachael swam in the Tameside schools swimming gala a couple of weeks ago. Her team won the Denton Schools Gala and so went forward to the Tameside competition. There were supposed to be 5 teams but 2 didn't show. St Mary's got 3rd so it is lucky that the others weren't there. The girls team is quite strong but the boys are not as good. She enjoyed herself though and that is the main thing.

Luke has been playing in some friendly tournaments for Denton Youth the last couple of weeks and he too is really enjoying himself. His football is really coming on and he is turning into a cracking defender. He isn't afraid to get in and tackle anyone and isn't bothered in the least as to how big they are. He has been promised a pair of Ronaldo boots when he gets into the team proper!!

Well anyway that is some of what's been happening lately. Let me know what to do about my stitchy slump. I'm off to read some of the blogs I have been neglecting to see if that can give me some inspiration!

Hey....Remember me??

Wow........it's been so long since I last posted that when I went to sign in an error message came up with "who the h*** are you?"................lol.

I'm not sure why I haven't blogged other than life getting in the way. I had to finish my Volcanoes assignment for my OU course and that took up more time than I anticipated. We have been clearing up the garden, getting it nice for the summer. We had Rachael's birthday on Easter Sunday which was great and she was thrilled to bits to get a laptop. It seems to have been a hard year for choosing presents as she is kind of coming to the end of toys but not quite into gadgets and other teenie things. Oh and I started another OU course too, must be a glutton for punishment! This time it is called You and Your money: Personal finance in context. It looks more interesting than it sounds.

My really big news though is that I have got a place at Manchester Metropolitan University in September for my Foundation Degree. It will be a lot of money and a lot of hard work but hopefully it will be worth it in the long run!

I haven't been stitching much lately either for the same reasons I haven't been blogging. I need to get cracking on a design I am doing for someone who is leaving work this July. I seem to have lost my mojo though.........if you find it let me know!!

AND THE WINNER IS..........

......or really that should be and the winners are........

Giveaway 1 - Kristin
Giveaway 2 - Bev
Giveaway 3 - Cindy Mae

Ladies if you could email me your address details I can get your prizes in the post! sharonjstevens @ msn .com
If you have any huge dislikes, let me know. I would rather send you something you can use!!

Thanks go to Rachael and Colin for selecting the winners!! (Luke was on a sleepover so I couldn't ask him!)

My apologies for being late in posting this.

In celebration of my first year of blogging, I am giving my blog a little makeover. Thanks to the cutest blog on the block this is a lot easier than I thought it would be. They have a great section of "how to" which meant I could change to a 3 column layout in about 5 minutes flat. There are plenty of other bits for me to change too so watch this space and let me know what you think!

OOOOOOOOH and I just realised that this is my 100th post too!

1 Year Blogaversary

I am amazed that I will have been blogging for 1 year on Thursday. I never kept a diary when i was younger and even now my diary has far less in it than it should have!

As is customary with these significant blog dates, I am going to do a giveaway to celebrate - well actually I'm going to do 3.

1 - I am going to do a drawing JUST for the people who follow my blog CURRENTLY. If you don't and your reading this it is already to late to qualify. The reason for this one is that YOU are the people who encourage me with my blogging because I know that you are interested in what I write.
2 - for all the people who have visited my blog and commented. You guys encourage me, empathise and sometimes keep me going on the right track with both life and stitching. You keep me smiling at times and share YOUR life and stories with me too. Thank you!
3 - this one is for everyone else. Whether it be your first visit after just discovering me, you have just typed in "giveaways" for a search and will never return and for anyone who just wants to enter.

Of course, you may fit into one, two or all three of the above giveaways so you get extra chances.
With giveaway 1 and 2 there is no need to respond, I will do these automatically. Of course if you think my tasted in cross stitch is awful and you really don't want to enter the drawing, let me know and I will take your name out!!

If you want to enter givaway 3 then leave a comment ON THIS POST ONLY!!

I will do the draw for all 3 on Friday night after swimming. Each person will get a piece of fabbie, thread and a chart.

Good luck to you all and thank you for all your support over the last year.

Long time, no see

Hello to anyone still out there and still visiting!! I honestly can't give a reason for not blogging for 2 weeks - the time seems to have flown by. Lots has been happening here so I'll try and remember it all to fill you in.

I received my ABCstitch order and got hammered for customs. £15!!!! The annoying bit is that £8 of that was a Royal Mail handling fee. I used up the last of my Christmas gift certificate for this order so I haven't really been spending! I treated myself to several charts and the threads to complete one of them.

I have to admit to being naughty and getting the 4 charts below but they were in the sale and were something like £2.50 each. They did get put in the "Oh look what you just bought me for my birthday" pile. (That's where I see something I like and buy it to put away for whatever the next event Colin needs to get a pressie for!)

I can now use my laptop to use the internet. This is huge news as it means that I have successfully set up our home network!! Virgin media supplied us with a new wireless router for free, upgraded our broadband speed and managed to save us £20 a month in one phonecall - not bad service for a company these days. The wireless router was dead easy to set up too.

The 8th was my birthday - my BIG 40. The children and Colin spoilt me rotten and really went out of their way to ensure that it was the best birthday I have ever had. They made me a fabulous chocolate cake with marshmallows on top and decorated everywhere downstairs with banners and balloons. They took me to Frankie and Benny's for lunch which was delicious and the staff there made it a special meal too. Some of the presents I received were a Build a Bear called Daisy (pink with flowers on), Wii balance board, DVD's, Gift certificate for DSL and more stamps for my collection.

I received my stash ambush package in the week and was thrilled to bits with it. There was a chart (Crabby all year) which I have had my eye on for a while and hummed and haaed over and 3 pieces of Silkweaver solos with a co-ordinating thread for each. Thank you Chris it was a fab package and I felt very spoilt!

In work we have now had the results of the pay and grading review which has been rumbling on for about 5 years. I can't believe this originally started in 2004! I am one of the lucky ones. As I haven't been in my current role for very long I am at the bottom of the pay scale and so have recieved a pay rise. Unfortunately people who have been there for years are finding that their pay has been cut. This has varied from about £60 a year to £2500 a year. It is really hard when everyone is discussing it at work. I am one of about 3 or 4 people that have had the rise. People are quite obviously upset about it all even though their pay is protected until 2011. Frankly, I think the council are treating everyone dispicably and it won't be a huge surprise when the best staff leave for neighbouring councils who all pay more than ours does! If this was happening to teachers there would be uproar, as TA's no one is bothered!

I think that will have to be enough of an update for now, otherwise anyone who isn't asleep soon will be!! I need to catch up with 2 weeks worth of blog reading!!

I will be doing a giveaway for my 1 year blogging birthday in the next few days - so watch this space!!

Daylight Lamp

Yesterday, I turned on my stitching lamp and all it did was flicker a few times and die on me. Arrggggghhhh, I thought. Is it the bulb or is it the actual light? Thankfully on closer inspection, the bulb was black near the bottom end. Just a new bulb needed then! A quick search online reveals that the bulbs are £14.99 each!!! I can buy a new lamp for £30, how can a bulb so much?? Still never mind, I NEED my lamp so a quick trip to Hobbycraft this morning and I am back stitching. Just as well really because the Cross Stitch Crazy month long SAT starts today.

Crikey......busy week!

There has been a lot happening in our world lately. Nothing major or earth shattering but just busy, busy, busy.

The SAT for CSC finished last Sunday so here is the progress I have made for the week on my Cotswold design. Obviously the top one is the starting point and the bottom one shows how much I got done. I think I stitched around 3000 stitches for the week this time.

As you may have noticed it was Ash Wednesday this week. The children attend a Catholic school and I work there too so we received the ashes from the priest in a special assembly. Rachael has decided that for Lent she will give up chewing her nails - so far so good. Luke is challenging himself and going for giving up bars of chocolate, fizzy drinks, helping around the house more and behaving better in class. He is brilliant with the chocolate and fizzy drinks so far and refused to have chocolate when it was offered round! Unfortunately, I don't have his willpower. I decided that I would clear my purse out at the end of each day and put all my change in a for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). Hopefully by Easter there should be a fair bit in it!

One of the jobs that has kept me busy and stopped me stitching this week is an application form. I have decided to apply to Manchester Metropolitan University for the Foundation Degree in Supporting Teaching and Learning. I have already applied to Tameside College for their version of this which is done through Staffordshire College and I'm waiting to hear if I get an interview. The application forms are long winded though. The one for MMU is 9 pages!! It's more thorough than most of the job applications I have filled in!

Rachael got her level 11 in her swimming this week too. Now she only has one more level to complete and she will be done with swimming lessons. Hurray!! She is thoroughly enjoying the swimming club she joined recently though and is making huge progress. Luke is loving it too and is in a small group of about 4 or 5 for teaching. He is really doing himself proud too as most of the others spend more time messing than swimming (you wonder why the parents pay!!) and he is working hard and not allowing himself to be drawn into their silliness. Maybe there is hope for him yet!!

Rachael and Luke went to their grandma and grandad's last Friday so I have had the house to myself for a few days, well so long as you don't count 3 cats!! I spent Saturday and Sunday scrubbing the house and getting all the jobs done that are MUCH easier to do without 2 little helpers! I love it when the house looks all sparkly with all the paintwork washed and fresh curtains up etc. But enough of housework........what a waste of 2 days stitching time!!!

On the stitching front, it is the Crossstitchcrazy SAT this week. I am keeping the Cotswold design as my focus piece for the SAT's this year. On Monday I was REALLY lazy. I sat on the sofa all day and stitched my way through several episodes of Little House on the Prairie and the first two Lord of the Rings film (extended editions.) Unfortunately though I spent as much time watching as I did stitching so my total for yesterday won't be that great. It was lovely to just have a day doing what I wanted to for once and not be worrying about what the children are up to, what Rachael's blood sugars are like, who needs feeding, watering etc. That said, I can't wait to see them both tommorrow!!

I was lucky enough to win a chart in a drawing on Lindsay's blog recently. It is a really lovely crocus chart which I think I will kit up and take into work for my lunchbreak. Thank you Lindsay!

I can't post pics of anything at the moment though as Colin has the camera.

Small finish

Rachael is poorly today and so I had to stay at home with her. Whilst she was curled up on the sofa watching TV, I sneaked a bit of stitching time and managed to polish off this little card for my mum. Only the flowers are stitched. This was a freebie from Cross Stitch Crazy magazine a while ago.