Day out with the kids - no stitching

During the summer holidays we have a box that we pull ideas out of for things to do.  They might be big trips or it might be a game of cricket over the hard court area depending on what people put in during the course of the year.  Today was a 'biggy'.  We went to The Crocky Trail and had a fabulous day.

It is great for kids of all ages.  Apparently the funniest moment of the day was me failing miserably to do the barrel run.  Think massive overgrown barrel that spins rapidly and you have to run through...hahahaha.  Well I fell over and Luke came to help but he fell over so we were just banging into each other.  I was laughing my socks off and just gave up trying to stand up or crawl out and just laid on my back howling with laughter. Then came the ultimate embarrassment - the man operating it stopped it so that I could get off!!!!!!! Hilarious!

There are lots of wobbly bridges going over little stream, some with handrails some without.  I didn't manage to fall in, much to Luke's disgust and probably went over about half of them.  Some I just looked at and thought ' no way!'  Luke is very agile and was able to run across most of them.  I did however set a new record for going over the 'fallen log' - about 5 minutes!  There was something of a queue behind me but I was not going to be beaten and wasn't going to jump down.

We had a great time doing all the activities together and it was a brilliant day out.

This is a huge bridge in the middle of a field that you had to pull yourself up one side and run down the other. Yikes!

Big slide...yikes!

This next slide was called Surf the Waves and moved up and down.  I'm sure surfing is supposed to be done on your feet though!

Luke made it through...

...Rachael made it through...

...mum made it through...

...ermmm...no, she didn't :)

Luke on a bridge.

What happened to the hand rails?  I'm sure that wouldn't pass 'elf and safety.

HELP!!!!!!!

Mum can't watch.  Under the mat is a stream and the mat isn't as wide as it looks!

This should be at the top with the first photo.  Luke running down 'the other side'.

See the chain by Luke's left hand?  Well each corner of the bridge had one so it was VERY wobbly!

The tunnel.  It is only the flash lighting this, in reality it was pitch black.

Stepping stone bridge.  You can't tell but the stream is about 6ft underneath the bridge.

Rachael telling me to come on the log.

Arrrrgggggghhhhhhh...LET ME OFF!

You shuffled along these barrels to ring the bell at the end.  Unless you are like me in which case you fall off on the first barrel to the great mirth of your children. 

Final bridge!

No it's not!

Another go on the wibbly wobbly one!

Don't faint...it's a finish!

I am taking part in a very relaxed RR with a facebook group.  This is what I stitched for Linzie for her theme of snowmen.  I used Six Stranded Sweets to stitch it and think the colours turned out well.  I got the buttons this morning so I could finish it.  You can tell but they have a wavy stripe through them and look lovely as the snowballs from close up.

The Trilogy - Bucky the Snowman

I had to redesign the border slightly as the square turned out to be 70 x 66 and the original design was 69 stitches tall. It was a quick stitch even though it was on and off stitching :)

Blue, Smudge, Bradford

No not me!  I've had some stitching time so I'm not blue!  But look at this ↓

Cinderella - Joan Elliott

All I have done in the last 3 days is stitch one of three shades of blue.  It's not even made for half the skirt being done...arrrggggghhhh.

I also decided to pull out Maggie the Messmaker who hasn't seen the light in years.  After about 10 minutes I remembered why - don't like the fabric and don't like the Dimensions threads either.  I think this may have to become a 2 strands a day project if it is ever going to be finished!

Maggie the Messmaker - Dimensions

I also stitched the snow on Santa's House too.  Well technically I stitched, unstitched, re-stitched, re-unstitched and finally re-re-stitched the snow on Santa's House.  I cannot believe what a hash of it I made. So if anyone wants a frog, you can have mine with pleasure.

Santa's House - CCN

The weird cat - aka Smudge - makes a reappearance.  Seriously, this is the position he was in yesterday.  No duct tape or superglue was used.  His rear end was right up the back of the sofa.  He is such a strange one!!

Colin took Rachael and Luke to Bradford a couple of weeks ago.  The went to the National Media Museum which we hadn't heard of before but he found it on Trip Advisor.  It spans 8 floors and they had a brilliant time.  There was a dalek - luckily no one got EX-TER-MIN-ATE'd.

There was one of the sets for The Wombles. (I loved this programme as a child!)

A set from Wallace and Grommit.

Morph!!!!

An Andy Pandy set - who remembers Andy Pandy?

And they both got to read the news in the 'studio' with the autocue.  If you fancy going it is well worth a full day there.  Admission is free but you do have to pay for some of the films they show if you want to see them. There is enough for a full day without the films though!

Flags

Sadly, the website that I used for 'tracking' where visitors to my blog were from stopped giving free widgets and went 'Pro' (in other words you have to pay for them).  To me personally, there are better things to spend my money on than a flag counter so I removed it from my blog and didn't have one.  I have missed not knowing what countries people are visiting from though and so I have found a different freebie to add. Unfortunately it does mean starting from 1 again but hey ho, there you go, not much I can do about it.  I was up to 86 different countries, I wonder how long it will take me to get there again?

Stitching and garden

I decided to have a few days off from studying so the children both helped clean the house from top to bottom over the course of a couple of days.  Their reward for that was an extra hour on the laptop or Wii Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with an ice cream off the van when it came round. I obviously just did it for fun!! Well actually, I rewarded myself with 3 hours of stitching time.  As my next new start will be Spring Fling Faerie, I thought I should show Sweet Pea a little love.  So this is where she is with an extra 3 hours work on her.  Now I love this design, but to me she doesn't look like a sweet pea.  She actually reminds me of a Cancan Pansy.  Can you see what I mean? All those ruffles just look like a pansy.

Nora Corbett - Sweet Pea

Cancan Pansy from TMseeds.com

I have to admit to having been pleasantly surprised at how different the colours were in the actual stitched piece to the photo on the front of the chart.

I have also been out and got a few shots of the garden which is looking brilliant at the moment.

Wow! 2 updates in the same week - bet you are really shocked.

And finally...is this REALLY what a suave, sophisticated feline should be doing?

That tummy was just begging to be tickled...and it was!  In case you can't work it out.  He is laying on the right hand side of a 3 seater sofa with his head resting on the arm like it's a pillow.

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.