Wednesday 12 September 2007

Stuff; Stitching and Otherwise!

Nice, rivetting title I know but I couldn't think of anything else! Lol! Things seem to be settling down OK here. Both Jess and Abi are now back at school. Jess went back on Monday and seems to be enjoying 6th Form so far although she's not too chuffed with the homework! Once she gets into the swing of things she can use her free periods to do her homework so won't have to bring quite as much home. Today is the first chance she'll get as she has one free one today so she said she was going to do her Maths. Thankfully she has teachers she knows and likes and doesn't have the same one for Maths that she's had the last three years ( Yippeeeeeeee!). DH behaved himself and took a couple of days off work and has rested his ankle! Yes I'm surprised he behaved himself although he was thinking of going to back to work yesterday but I put my foot down. It's OK thinking his ankle feels fine but once he starts being on it all day again I think things might be different. The swelling has gone down a lot more this time so finger's crossed it'll be fine. He is supposed to be in the office today and tomorrow so that may give it a bit more time to heal.

On the stitching front I have finished Just Nan Royal Blossoms. I thoroughly enjoyed stitching this and it made a lovely change to stitching on HAEDs and a change to be stitching something small! When I finish another piece in my rotation ( not the HAEDs but one of the others) I think I shall replace it with a smalls week so that I get more pieces finished. I really miss stitching on small stuff. Unfortunately I've just realised how much off centre the bee charm is so I think I'll have to take that off and redo it!! This piece was stitched on 28 count flax linen using DMC. I replaced the beads with metallic thread and also had to use #12 perle thread instead of #8 as I didn't have it in my stash! I will be making this up into a card for DH's auntie as it's her birthday next month.

As you know last week I was stitching HAED Guardian and I showed a mid-week progress picture. Well I carried on through the week and am now onto filling in all the metallic on the page. I have tried my Thread Heaven and absolutely love it! It really does make a difference and the thread seems to sit much better and tying the thread onto the needle stops it fraying so I'm happy with it now. This is my end of week progress pic although the sparklies don't show up very well. Although if you click on the picture you may be able to see them better. I love the way this is looking so far and can't wait for the next time it comes up in my rotation.
I feel like I'm wavering a bit on the chart stash wagon but I'm not going to crack as I'll just feel a failure and feel like I've let myself down. I think some of the stuff off my wish list will be going on my Christmas list and hope that DH buys me a few bits:) My first buy come 1st December will definitely be Ink Circles Sea Stars as Karen and I are doing a SAL starting 1st January 2008! I want to start collecting threads for it soon though as I'm thinking of stitching it with DMC Variations. I fancy different colours rather than lots of greens so have picked out what I want to use. Now I just need to find somewhere that sells them at a cheaper than retail price and that has the colours as there are some new ones that Sew and So don't have. Another SAL I'm doing starting around the end of November is Just Nan Queen of the Needle with Helen but I have the chart and embellishments so only need to get some fabric. Not sure yet whether to go for the correct one or something different.

We finally got our phone and broadband problems sorted on Monday after having no decent phone line at all for the whole of Sunday and, thankfully, it was still acting up when the engineer came so he could hear what it was like. DH also explained to him about the broadband. So he started at the main phone socket in the house and there was nothing wrong with that so went out to check the wiring. The wire that goes from the socket to the connection box on the outside up the top of the house wall was very brittle and one of the wires had broken which was the cause of all our problems. Had to laugh as OneTel said there was no fault with the line! Makes you wonder if they're just reading everything off a piece of a paper and say the same things to everybody! What makes me mad is that all this could have been sorted mid week last week if an engineer had been sent out then. God only knows what they had actually done then! Anyway it's all sorted now and the phone and broadband is back to how it was before but we are not really happy with OneTel's customer service at all and we're going to go back to BT.

I received a surprise in the post today:) Julie sent me an Altoids tin ( full of lovely, strong smelling mints) so that I could try a tin finish:) Thank you so much Julie. It cheered me up no end as I'm feeling a little low and lonely today. I shall be having a go with it in the very near future:)

I have been feeling a little off it since late yesterday afternoon. I get this every now and then. I feel full of energy, go hell for leather having a clean up; tidy up etc then suffer for it. At least I think that's what it is! I just feel as though I could flop at any moment. My body doesn't feel as though it wants to go, I ache and I just want to cry:( So I'm being very selfish this afternoon and treating myself to an afternoon's stitching as I haven't had one in a while.

Right time to go and get on for a bit before lunch I think. Hope eveyone is having a good week:)

22 comments:

Karen said...

the JN finish is lovely, I cant wait to see the JN Queen of the Needle progress it will keep you occupied untill we start ours ;o)
Hope you feel a bit brighter soon

BeckySC said...

Congratulations, Sally on your JN finish :) It looks great! The HAED piece...WOW!!
Hope you are feeling better soon.
((hugs))

Anonymous said...

I hope your dh will feel better soon, mine is still recovering from a knee surgery in June and is on light duty at his job. Your jn piece is very pretty and queen of the needle is such a joy to stitch, you'll love it and like I said before I just can't believe how those of you who tackle the HAEDs do it, I am giving up on mine because as I stitch it, I am not enjoying myself at all, it's too bad because the fabric I started it on is so lovely and now it can not be salvaged, I hope to sell or give it away even though it is over 2 on 32 count. I'm sorry to hear you feel so sluggish and lonely, maybe a little trip or something for a change of scenery will help.

Mo said...

Hi Sally, you don't get SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) do you? As this is exactly how I feel at this time of year. I got my light box out this week and am hoping the effects will kick in soon. It works wonders for me over winter.

Anonymous said...

Your haed is coming on a treat! The just nan piece is lovely too :)

Hope you feel better soon

Hugs x

Stitcher said...

Nice JN finish, bet you just knew I'd say that.

Samantha said...

Your JN is beautiful Sally! Sorry, haven't read anyone's blog in a while, so I've just been catching up with yours. You have finished some lovely pieces & been working on some gorgeous WIPs!! :o) Hope you're feeling better after your afternoon's stiching. {{{Hugs}}}

Michelle said...

Your Royal Blossoms is beautiful, and I love how Guardian is coming along. Wow!! Hope you get to feeling better soon.

Michele said...

love your JN finish! Glad to hear the girls are enjoying school :) How'd you get your DH to be good! lol

Hope you get to feeling better sweetie ((((((((sally))))))))))

Anonymous said...

I hope you are feeling better. Those internet/ phone problems can be a pain. Our main phone is not working. I called the company and the guy said : maybe it's your internet. I said no: the internet phone is working great. So he said, I'll send someone on monday! in 5 days :-(( And if the technician come to my apartment, they will charge me 55 Euros ...

Julie said...

Glad the tin arrived safely

Royal Blossom looks lovely, auntie will be thrilled with it. Guardian is growing nicely as well, can't wait to see more of him LOL

Anonymous said...

Awww, I'm sorry you're feeling low...{{hugs}} I get like that sometimes too so I know just how you feel.

That JN piece is so pretty - grats on the finish! And your HAED is just stunning.

We had the same kind of thing with our phone provider when we moved here. The phone line was awful, you could hardly hear anything, and the Broadband was just crap. We complained repeatedly and kept getting call centres in India who couldn't understand what we were trying to tell them. It took weeks to get an actual, living breathing engineer to have a look, and then it was fixed within minutes....dontcha just love em?

Paula said...

Hi Sally, hope you're having an "up" day today.
Love your JN finish it's lovely and will make a gorgeous card for DH's aunt.
Guardian Angel? What can I say PHWOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR lol He's gorgeous.
Glad dh is resting his foot, and fingers crossed the Jess will get used to all the homework....lol
hugs and happy stitching....

Kathy said...

JN is gorgeous, well done Sally.

I also love your HAED designs too, looking forward to seeing more.

Hugs xxxxx

Susimac said...

JN finish is so lovely. Hope that you start feeling better soon I often feel like that too I put it down to hormones (tho' I know that doesn't help you)

Andrea said...

Your Just Nan finish is lovely. Glad you are sorted with your phone/internet. It's such an inconvenience.

Hazel said...

Very pretty Just Nan finish and fantastic progress on your HAED! xx

Stitchingranny said...

Just you sit tight on that wagon girl lol. I was really tempted with a couple of kits when we went to Harrogate last week but I bit the bullet and walked away, and though I was upset afterwards cause i couldnt even find them online I did track down the stall holders and they will be on their site in plenty of time for christmas (so are you listening Santa).

Glad your phone - and more importantly your computer are working again now.

Have a nice weekend Sally.

Tracy Dixon said...

Pretty finish I love the colours and the bee charm is very cute, your HAED is coming along lovely

Mylene said...

JN looks lovely, i am sure it will be great into a card.
Hope you are feeling much better now and having a good weekend.

Kajsa said...

Your stitching is beautiful as always! What a pain with your phone line, that happened to us to once.

I'm so glad that you are feeling better!

Anonymous said...

your just nan embroidery is wonderful, very nice work !