Not a Lot of Stitching!

Not a lot of stitching has been done this week so there's not a lot to show! Up until last night I hadn't stitched since Sunday so there's no Quaker Christmas, Sea Stars or Letter J this week but there is Blackbird Designs Rites of Spring:) So here's my update on that from Sunday. I would have got more stitched but froggy came for a visit and I had to rip some out!

I did not feel much like stitching until last night when I stitched on my small new start which is Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Roll which came as a kit so no sorting fabby and threads and an immediate start! This is where I'm up to so far.

We've had a few trips out this week. Tuesday afternoon we went to McCann's Wildlife Trust inbetween Atwick and Skipsea and took Abi's friend with us. We last went not long after it had opened about 7 years ago and what a huge difference. It's a lovely walk round; very quiet and peaceful. All the trees and fauna are well grown up and the lake and pond well established. Wednesday we went to The Deep in Hull which is a great place to visit. There were some new exhibits which is always good to see as it keeps your interest up. We got some really good pics so I'll share some another time. Yesterday we went to Junction 32 at Castleford for a bit of retail therapy. There are some great bargains to be had here and Jess and I bought some boots in Clarks, Abi bought a couple of games and some bits in Claire's Accessories and Carl bought a jacket. I bought Abi some new trainers which are just fantastic! They are Babycham ones and are so cool that I really wish I'd bought myself some but I thought I might be too old for them! Lol! Today we went to Beverley and took Abi's friend with us. I think I need a rest tomorrow!

Wednesday I went to the doctor's as my face/ jaw was swollen yet again and I was in a bit of pain with it too. I decided to see a different doctor this time and see if I could get some answers as to what is causing it. Anyway he decided to refer me to an ENT specialist as he thinks it could be a blockage in my saliva glands so we shall see what happens when I see the specialist. Thankfully I will be able to see him at the local hospital rather than at one of the hospitals in Hull.

I received the latest BBD Loose Feathers from Needlecraft Corner on Tuesday and it's gorgeous. I haven't been disappointed in one yet! I also bought Twisted Oaks Designs Merry Noel Collection of Stitching Smalls as it was half price then had a further 28% off in their 28th anniversary sale so it was a real bargain. It had the Dinky Dye silks with it as well as a pair of scissors.

I have received the I Love Your Blog award from Kyrie and Melissa:) Thank you so much to both of you. I truly cannot believe that I have now received this award 4 times and it means the world to me:) I know I am supposed to pass this award on to 7 blogs but as always this is being passed on to everyone who reads my blog:)

Well that's it from me for now. Hopefully next time I'll have a lot more stitching to show! Have a wonderful weekend everyone. The girls are back at school next Wednesday and I'm not looking forward to it at all! I hate it when they go back as the house is quiet.

Hugs

It's the Weekend!

Well it's been nearly a week since I last posted! We have been so busy this week with the decorating and we are still not finished yet! We're on the home stretch though. Only a bit of emulsioning to do now. Phew! I must admit DH and I have had enough. It would have taken a lot longer but the girls have been really good helping out with painting.

So what I have been stitching once we've settled down after tea? Well I it's pretty much the same as my last post I'm afraid! Sunday was Blackbird Designs Rites of Spring and it's going so well! I just love this piece and how quickly it stitches up. I'm hoping for a good evening on it tomorrow so that I can get it finished soon and start the next one seen as number 4 for this year is now out and on it's way to me from Needlecraft Corner:)

Monday it was time for Bygone Stitches A Quaker Christmas and another motif down several to go! Still I think I am on track for a finish in time for Christmas and I have a place all ready for it to be hung!

Tuesday was Ink Circles Sea Stars, my SAL with Karen and I made good progress on that HUGE motif! I think I shall be tired of stitching on this one by the time I'm done but I have to say I love the effect.

Finally it's my progres on HAED TT Letter J. Not a lot done this week but not to worry. I can soon get caught up to where I would like to be- I hope!

I have decided ( like KarenV a while ago) it's time to get my chart stash down and not buy anymore for a while. I have tried this before and failed most of the time BUT I need to be really strong and just get on with it. I do have a couple of charts to come and, of course, there's two more BBD Loose Feathers for this year that I will be buying but that will be it. I am quite ashamed really of the amount of charts that I have ( around 50 charts and 3 kits plus 4 HAED charts that are a must stitch) so I really have no need to buy more. So I have decided to set myself a project challenge although I have not decided on the amount of projects as yet. Either 10 or 15 to begin with I think then see how I feel after that.

I received the I Love Your Blog award from both Heather and Karan Thank you so much to both of you. I am so happy to know that you both love my blog:) At the moment I am not going to pass on this award so if you're in blog list on the right of my blog please consider yourself awarded the I Love Your Blog award:)

Unfortunately Jess hasn't been successful with her job interviews so far. She really wanted the one at the local Co-op so was really disappointed when she didn't get it.

Time I went and got out of my decorating clothes and into some clean ones ( silly devil me brushed the wall with my butt when I'd just painted it!) and settle down for a bit of stitching. I've had a small new start!

Have a great weekend everyone and thank you for reading and for all your wonderful comments:) I managed to get caught up with all your blogs yesterday. It was brilliant to see what you'd all been stitching:)

Hugs

Shedding Tears

Yesterday I received the most wonderful package from Deb and I still cannot believe what was in it. A while ago I signed up for Deb's PIF ( my second PIF) then last week she emailed me for my address. Now those of you who follow Deb's blog will know that she has barely had time to stitch for a long time so this is what she sent me. I truly did not expect all these lovelies.Now I have to admit that I shed tears at Deb's generosity and her sweet note in which she had written the kindest, sweetest things. Thank you so much Deb {{{{hugs}}}} It would be so wonderful to be able to come over to Florida and thank you in person. Maybe one day:)

Also in the post yesterday some gorgeous threads I bought off Nancy on Ebay. I saw some on Vonna's blog that she had bought from her so went to have a look for myself. I thought these threads would be ideal for the Needleprint Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler which I want to start next year so after much deliberating as to which to choose I decided on Antique Rose which is the colour you see in the middle. On the left are the Berries collection which I am thinking about using for the SALexandre that Lisa and I are going to do later on in the year and on the right are the free threads that Nancy sent. Do go have a look at her Ebay shop if you haven't done do already. You won't be disappointed and I can highly recommend her threads. She is lovely to deal with and will answer any questions you have as soon as she can.
I had a small finish last night although it has taken me ages to stitch! Lol! I actually started this piece back in June ( start date was end of May) as a SAL on the Blackbird Designs Yahoo group. The SAL was a piece from any of the BBD books so I chose My Pink House from With Needle and Thread as this in the only BBD book I have:) The deadline for finishing was 4th July so I am a little late but it's done! Not sure how I'm going to finish it yet. I may try another box or I may just do a pinkeep!

Blackbird Designs My Pink House

Sugar Maple Fabrics Gelati

DMC Threads

Started 16th June

Finished 16th August

My final piece of post from yesterday is Twisted Oaks Designs Garden Pinball. When this first came out I wasn't really interested in it so when Jayne did pre-orders for it I didn't bother. Then I saw Jayne and Carol's finishes of it and just fell in love with it so when Jayne was ordering more I put my name down for it and it has arrived. I'm not sure about the making up of it as it looks a bit complicated but I'm sure I'll muddle through when it comes to it. Also I'm a little confused ( it doesn't take much to confuse me these days) as to how much fabric I need. It says 6 x 6" square pieces but that doesn't seem enough! Anybody that reads by blog stitched this?

It has been absolutely pouring it down with rain this morning but, thankfully, it looks as though it's clearing up and the sun is trying to break through. DH is preparing the woodwork in the hallway and landing ready for painting. Not looking forward to the papering! Lol!

Thank you for your continued visits and to those of you who comment. They mean so much to me as it's so good to know that people visit and read:) {{{hugs}}} to you all.

Hugs

Redwork Exchange to Jane S

I do not know if Jane S has opened her redwork/ monochrome exchange from me as yet, as I haven't heard anything, but I think she was going to open it today so I'm going to share what I stitched for her. This is a freebie from IsaV which I stitched using DMC 115. I took the house from the scissor pocket and stitched it on it's own and made a floss tag. It's far from perfect but I am quite pleased with both the scissor pocket and the floss tag seen as they're both firsts for me and I do hope Jane likes them.




I didn't stitch at all on Wednesday, as I wasn't feeling too good, so missed my smalls SAL on the HAED forum so decided to stitch on it last night. I was determined to get another 10 rows done and I did! This is what you get for not many colour changes! Lol! If I can get 10 rows done each time I pick this piece up I should get it done quite quickly.
Typing of HAED they have an end of Summer sale on at the moment but as we've been buying wallpaper etc for the hallway and landing as well as school uniform for Abi ( plus I've bought a bit of stitchy stuff lately) I decided to wait until another sale to buy another letter as I want to stitch A for Abi and S for myself. Yesterday I received a lovely RAK from Lisa of the Letter A then today when I checked my emails I had another RAK from "A Friend" of the Letter S! I truly do not know what I have done to deserve these but thank you both from the bottom of my heart. {{{hugs}}}

Jessica got her AS level results yesterday and she did do OK. She got C's in Chemistry, Biology and Physics and a D in Maths. I think it's a bit of a shock after she did so well in her GCSE's last year but she admits that the exams were really hard. So she will be able to carry on with the three sciences in September for A level and she's thinking of dropping Maths to concentrate on the Sciences. She knows she's got a lot of hard work ahead of her to get her grades up to at least B's so she's got a better chance of going to university.

Jess had her interview at the local Co-op today and she thinks it went quite well. If she gets the job she'll be working in the bakery packing the bread etc from 7am to 1pm on a Saturday. This would be ideal for her as it's just a few hours work and it's not going to interfere with her studies plus she'll still have some "me" time. Her school don't recommend that they do more than 8 hours paid work a week. So keeping my finger's crossed she gets it. She didn't get the one in Neptune's Kingdom.

I forgot the other day when I blogged that I had been awarded the Brillante Blog Award from Gill. Thank you so much Gill! The rules are:

1. Put the logo on your blog;
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs;
4. Add links to those blogs on yours;
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

My nominees are:

Lesley at Tintock Tap

Christine at The Little World of Christine

Lisa at Lisa's Stitching Addiction

Julie at Julie's Stitching Journal

Sammy Jo at Craft Cafe

Margaret at A Sampler of Stitches

Rachel at Willing Hands

Well time for me to go stitch for a bit! Have a wonderful weekend everyone whatever you are doing.

Hugs

Redwork/ Monchrome Exchange & Other Stuff!

I can never think of rivetting titles for my blog posts!! Lol!

My redwork/ monochrome exchange arrived yesterday from Clare via Jayne. Clare chose to stitch me this gorgeous monochrome needleroll in lavender DMC Rayon and I absolutely love it. Clare stitched it so beautifully. Thank you so much Clare and thank you to Su for organising the exchange.

I can't show what I stitched for Jane S ( no blog) as yet as she has received it but not opened it yet! I am itching for her to open it and desperately hope she likes it as both finishes were firsts for me.

I have been stitching, although I did not stitch Saturday evening as I just didn't feel like it, but not as much as usual. I haven't been stitching all evening until bedtime as I normally do but I am still making progress on my WIPs. I want to try and get Ink Circles Sea Stars and Blackbird Designs Rites of Spring finished by the end of September then I plan on starting BBD Blessings and Kind Wishes. As I said before I am planning on making some changes to my rotation. Mondays will be A Quaker Christmas, Tuesdays Ink Circles Sea Stars, Wednesdays HAED TT Letter J and Sundays will be my BBD night until all the Loose Feathers for this year are stitched! As I finish something in this bit of my rotation I'll bring in WIPs that I haven't stitched on lately which are Chatelaine Spring Morning and HAED quick stitch Girly Gothic. The rest of the week I'll stitch on smalls and one week will be dedicated solely to A Quaker Christmas so that I can get that finished for Christmas this year.

So I'd better show what I've been stitching! I do hope you're not getting bored of seeing the same old pieces coming out but, hopefully, there should be some smaller bits and pieces as I get going. I am now all the way across on BBD Rites of Spring and loving how it's coming along. These BBD's are so easy to stitch and look gorgeous. I don't know why I didn't discover BBD earlier!

Monday was A Quaker Christmas night. I realised that I'd stitched an 8 as charted when I wanted to replace it with a 7 so that I could date the piece as 2008. Hope that makes sense. So I frogged the 8 and stitched a 7 in it's place then completed the year. I'm not entirely happy with how it looks but I'm going to stitch the motifs around it first then see what I think. I also stitched a motif at the bottom. I just love this Carrie's Creations red thread as the variation is so beautiful.

Last night I stitched for a couple of hours on Ink Circles Sea Stars and did more of the HUGE motif in the middle! I would say I've got a quarter of it stitched in two evenings so I might get it finished by the September and I might not!

I am so happy to report that all RR's in our Quaker Friends RR are now back home. The last round was a bit fraught as two were sent back by Royal Mail and had to be reposted. The last stitcher on Chris' did not know when or if she'd be able to stitch on it so Chris and I decided it best that it was returned unstitched and she finally got it back on Monday. I have to say that I am disappointed for Chris that two blocks haven't been stitched but also relieved that she has it back. It has been a little off-putting and I think it'll be a while before I ever organise or take part in an RR again. However I am looking forward to seeing the books made up. Mine is half done but I just need to pluck up the courage to finish it off totally!

A while ago Linda had read on my blog that I collect postcards so she offered to send me one from her country Iceland. A package arrived from her on Monday and she hadn't sent me just one but nine! I must say seeing these postcards I would dearly love to visit Iceland one day but whether I ever will is a different matter! Thank you so much Linda:)

It's now 3 weeks into the girls summer holiday and we have done very little other than have a few walks and do a bit of shopping. Of course last week I was ill and going out was out of the question but the weather hasn't been good either. We've had lots of rain and this week isn't going to be much better. Jess has got an interview on Friday at the local Co-Operative store so keeping my finger's crossed for her there. DH finishes Friday for 2 weeks and we are hoping to get out the odd day or so. We do have some decorating to do and the girls and I stripped some wallpaper off yesterday and Monday. I must admit the girls did most of it on Monday as I still wan't feeling too good but I can't sit by and watch everyone else work regardless of how I feel.

Tomorrow is results day for AS and A2 level students so Jess will be off in the morning to pick her AS level results up. Like Sammy Jo , Jess is dreading opening that envelope. One thing that is worrying her is that she won't have done well enough in her physics to carry on at A2 level so please keep your finger's crossed for her. Good luck Sammy Jo and to all students across the country:)

Leaving you with a picture of Jess and Abi on Jess' birthday ( both still in their PJs!! Lol!)

That's it from me today. Thank you to everyone for your continued good wishes. I am feeling much better than I was but still not quite 100%. I was feeling a bit off balance again yesterday and still have some pain in my ear but, hopefully, it will be OK. I finished my antibiotics on Monday so finger's crossed.

Take care everyone.

Hugs

TGIF!

First of all I want to say a huge thank you and send hugs to everyone who left get well wishes, hugs etc for me on my post from Tuesday. I am so touched by them all. Unfortunately I am still not feeling too good and I am so fed-up. I was hoping to have felt that bit better by now but I suppose I have to be patient. I am taking one antibiotic a day as per the doctor's instructions. His first choice was penicillin but as I'm allergic to that I have to have something different but this one will lower my iron absorbsion rate (I'm on iron) plus I have to avoid sun! Good job I'm not getting out although we've had quite a lot of rain so it wouldn't be a problem. I have just been round to the PO with Abi by my side keeping me safe to post my redwork exchange but ended up bringing it back home because I don't have a house number for the lady in question and, apparently, there's 40 odd houses on the road where she lives!

Thank you also to those of you who left birthday messages for Jessica. I haven't had chance to show them to her yet as she's gone out for the day with a friend. I was quite upset that I am ill and it was her birthday but we sat quietly yesterday morning and watched Spiderman 3 which she got for her birthday then one of her friends bought her Constantine so while she watched that I sat in another room ( I don't like films like that!) She went out with some friends to the cinema on Monday for her birthday and they saw Wall-E which she loved. When I am feeling better we will go out for a bar meal or something.

I have been steadily stitching as it takes my mind of how I feel. I haven't stitched on A Quaker Christmas as yet this week but I have done some on Sea Stars and Tiny Treasures Letter J so have those to show as well as my bit on Blackbird Designs Rites of Spring. As you can see I have now altered the T in rites to look like a t rather than an f. Love how this is looking and am now about halfway.

Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon I did a bit on Sea Stars. I decided to be brave and start the big motif as I've been putting it off for long enough. It stitches up quite quickly really as I got quite a good bit done.

Finally I did 11 rows on page 2 of HAED TT Letter J so I am happy with what I got done.

It was my intention last night to get Quaker Christmas out but I just did not feel like stitching on it so I am hoping to have a go tonight. I had wanted to do some smalls stitching but there might be a rethink for this week. Some changes are afoot with my rotation but I'll save that for another time!

Sorry I'm not very chatty this post but I am sure you will understand. Take care everyone and have a wonderful weekend! A warm welcome to all my new readers:)

Hugs

Happy 17th Birthday Jessica!

Happy Birthday Jessica!

My beautiful first- born child is 17 today! Wow where have those years gone? It doesn't seem like 5 minutes since I was holding this tiny baby girl in my arms. Darling Jessica, I am so proud you. You are caring, funny, hardworking, fun loving and just the most fantastic daughter any Mum could wish to have. I love you with all my heart and soul.


Have a fantastic day sweetheart!


With all my love

Mum xxx

A Bit off Balance

Yesterday morning I sat up on the edge of the bed as I always so before I get up properly and I felt like I was still moving even though I was still. To say I felt awful is an understatement and I was rather scared as to how I was going to get myself on my feet and to the bathroom without falling over. I should have had a shower but that was out of the question. Anyway I got myself up, dressed etc and made it downstairs but spent most of the day sat down and in tears. I made an appointment at the doctors as late in the day as I could and, thankfully, DH was home in time to take me as there was no way I could have made it on my own. Turns out I have an inner ear infection which I did wonder if that was what it could be as I've had pain in my ear as well as a pulsing in my ear when I've been laid down. Unfortunately I couldn't get my antibiotics as the chemists here close at 5.30 and it would have meant going 25 miles to the nearest Morrisons! I don't know why the dispensery at the surgery can't do them after 5.30 but they only deal with out of town patients which I think is really stupid. So I am sat quietly catching up on a few blogs, waiting for Jess to go get it for me. Other than a bit of ironing I need to do that will be it for today. I didn't stitch on Quaker Christmas last night as I didn't think I could concentrate enough on it so I did a bit more to the second piece for the redwork exchange.

Hopefully I will be able to stitch later on Sea Stars and will be back in a day or so with an update on that and Rites of Spring.

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside!

LOL! I stitched on Ink Circles Sea Stars again this week and am happy to report that I'm intent on stitching on this on Tuesdays until it's finished! Yep Tuesdays now not Wednesdays as I'm joining in the Small HAED SAL on Wednesdays with my Tiny Treasure Letter J. Anyway here's my progress for this week. Sammy Jo asked how much more I have to do. Well there's a HUGE motif in the middle and a smaller one plus the rest of the sea monster. I'd like to have it finished by the end of September.
I don't have anything else to show as I'm been beavering away on my piece for the Stitch and Stash redwork exchange. It's almost done, in fact it would be if the frog stayed away! I have an idea for something else to go with this piece but it's a secret until my partner has received it!


Jess applied for a job in the local Co-op this week to work on the shop floor so we are waiting to see if she gets an interview. In the meantime she has an interview next week for a leisure assistant at Neptune's Kingdom. It would suit her as it's mainly Sundays which would mean she'd be able to carry on with it when she goes back to 6th form in September.


Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! We're going uniform shopping for Abi on Sunday. Oh joy!


Hugs

Another Award!

I am truly amazed that I have been nominated for yet another Brillante Weblog Award, this time by Jennifer of Sweet Pea Stitches. I really do not know what I have done to deserve to all these awards but I am so pleased. I have "met" so many wonderful people in the blog world and feel honoured to have become part of it. Anyway I am rambling now so the rules of this award are:)

1. Put the logo on your blog;

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs;

4. Add links to those blogs on yours;

5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I know I chickened out on the last two awards I received after nominating people for the others but this time I am going to try and nominate people who haven't received an award and maybe you will find a blog you've not come across before.

Stitch and Serve

Itching to Stitch

Linen and Lagniappe

Never Run With Scissors

Stitchin' Blues

Stitching Mom in Iceland

Blissful Creations

I'll be back later with an update on Sea Stars!