Maursie's cross stitch stuff

wipocalypse february

2012-02-07T07:25:00.000Z

Pinoy Stitch "Don't make me kill you - So this is where I started the year

And ta da - my first finish of 2012!

I love it - and even managed to frame it myself - just need to get it wrapped and hand it over to my boss .

In the last month i also worked on my Ink Circles Bramble & The Rose, started my HAED SAL Siberian Forest and did a bit more on Solar System for my wee boy, that's what I'm going to concentrate on for the next while as Joe is not convinced it is ever going to get finished - he of little faith lol!!

This is it as at 06.02.12 - Solar System by Artecy Cross Stitch

Hope everyone else has had a productive month..

my week in stitches

2012-01-28T21:14:00.000Z

Well I got me a wee start on QS Siberian Forest - it's a strange one, what you presume is white or cream turns out to be blues and greens and pinks - but it all works.. looking forward to working on this through the year

Hoping to have a finish this week with Don't Make Me Kill You - watch this space...

Off now to get my weekly fix of Danish drama courtesy of BBC4 - I am so loving Borgen, I am getting mightily obsessed with all things Danish - I need to go to Copenhagen!!

cheery bye

weekend whoop whoop

2012-01-21T09:40:00.000Z

After having a totally crappy cold last week and then being back at work I am so glad it is now the weekend.. my plans are

In town with the wee man to buy yet more lego...
Haircut - can't wait, i have such bad hair just now it is downright embarrasing
Pick up something from the post office -
Getting a serious stitch ass tonight - DD is at a sleepover, hubby is working, just me and Joe so plenty of stitching to get done,

Planning to start HAED SAL QS Siberian Forest but might split my time between that and my coffee piece for my consultant as I have just found out she is due back to work in a couple of weeks , so i need to get a move on and finish it ...

It's my birthday next week so treated myself to some fab new make up - I don't even wear make up everyday but I do love buying it, and this palette is just lush!

Have a nice weekend all!

first full moon

2012-01-09T23:19:00.000Z

WIPopaclypse first full moon: So this is what I've been doing since 1st of the month - nothing too exciting but managed to get a little bit done.

Have had a good few days off over the new year - got caught up with lots of sky+ shows and had some quality stitching time - watched the whole of the second series of Boardwalk Empire in the last week - so good!!

Before After

Been reading lots of blogs but omg people - with all those crazy january challenges starting I can hardly keep up - I am so impressed though with everyone's perseverance, and loving seeing all your new pieces. Keep up the good work for the rest of the month.

Off now to work some more on Solar System and some One Tree Hill - nice and easy on the brain..

merry christmas all

2011-12-23T21:58:00.000Z

Well my stitching has been sorely neglected the past few nights, thankfully i am now sorted for Christmas and have four days off work, back for three,then off for another four - bliss.

I have had a couple of stitchy weekends though, a couple of weekends ago I met up Eileen whom I met through the HAED BB and we had a great wee chat and some lunch up at Largs. She had brought along her various HAEDs to show me and I was drooling over her work - it's so nice to get a chance to see other's pieces in real life, I am in awe of how she manages all her different HAEDs, v impressive lol!

And just on Saturday there i headed up to Glasgow to see Ally again - a very pleasant afternoon was spent in her company and I was treated to some very delicious sweet potato and carrot soup followed by the now legendary lemon drizzle cake (and very nice it was too!) - as usual though, we chatted all afternoon and didn't produce a stitch, but i did help her decide on what to choose for her Crazy challenge - it was a tough choice but we managed it in the end.

I have managed to sort out my list for Wipocalpyse 2012 - on this page here.

Many thanks for all your comments, there always nice to see - Merry Christmas to you and yours!

my day

2011-12-15T09:37:00.002Z

Thanks to Jo for running this online advent calendar. Today is my turn, yay..

I decided to share with you a stocking I completed a couple of years ago for ma wee boy. I've also made a stocking for his sister and an advent calendar. Am trying to stay away from ornaments as let's just say that finishing and me do not go together - this year's attempt is now residing in a landfill somewhere in Scotland lol !!. (the stocking was very wonderfully made up by a dressmaker in town - I know my limits...)

As for traditions, I can't say as such that we have any as a family, but we do enjoy the traditional
celebrations of eating and.drinking too much and watching Doctor Who of course.

As a child our family attended midnight mass so we always got to open our presents after that, it was lovely with it being dark and all the christmas lights on, eating chocolate and arguing over who could play their new records first..

Now on Christmas Eve me and hubby usually share our presents as we count that as our anniversary of when we first got together and scarily this year will be our 20th together - where does the time go?

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

rapunzel

2011-12-03T14:05:00.000Z

Been working away on HAED SK Rapunzel this week - finally made it across the page now just keep going down - have signed up for the 2012 HAED sal - I chose Siberian Tiger, so will start this in January ( like I need another HAED start lol! )

Now it is December I'm going to try to make a couple of xmas ornies in the next couple of weeks - but with Christmas fayres and all that coming up, i'll see how i get on.

And in response to my dilemma last week re the mince pies - i'll admit i gave in and had both lol! Just couldn't resist ...

Tonight off to the pictures with the kids to see Hugo - mmm popcorn (and I wonder why my clothes are shrinking?..ha ha)

she's got it oh baby she's got it

2011-11-26T14:36:00.000Z

Well on my travels through the planets I have now finished with venus (wasn't very exciting, not much to see) - on my next outing I will head home for a short while before a quick jaunt to mercury and then what i imagine will be an extended tour of the sun..

Tonight i am back to Rapunzel till the end of the month - this is where I am at just now

However the burning question of the afternoon is...m&s double choc chip cookie or get into the festive spirit with a mince pie? decisions, decisions

I've been hermiting..

2011-11-20T23:22:00.001Z

Managed to get a good few hours stitching in this weekend - been working away on "don't make me kill you" from pinoy stitch. I'm.enjoying this as its a nice easy stitch and breaks up the month nicely. Tomorrow back to the solar system and the dreaded black.. hope everyone joining in with IHSW has had a fruitful weekend.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

a mini happy dance

2011-11-13T10:12:00.000Z

Part 3 of White Nights in St Petersburg is done - thank god for that, those gates were driving me insane...

longish post

2011-10-31T20:29:00.000Z

Well my week off was good but i really could do with another couple off as well. Managed to achieve some stuff, got DD Neve's room painted and bought her chest of drawers after suffering the hell that is IKEA. Is it just me or is there anyone else that cannot stand IKEA, it drives me to distraction - i just want to go in to a shop, pick what i need and get out, i don't want to get lost in their furniture maze - but fair due to them ,their furniture is nice and well priced so I grit my teeth and go for it. needless to say though Neve's chest of drawers has now taken up residence still in the box in the hall - i reckon if I have it built by Christmas i will be doing good, i really have to work myself up to it..

some piccies of our weekend away - our cottage was gorgeous, it's just outside Peterhead, about 40 mins north of Aberdeen, up on the northeast coast of Scotland. I had never driven up that way before, been to Aberdeen to visit friends before but don't really know that part of the country. We dropped the kids off at my dad's and set off on the Friday morning, it took up about five hours altogether after negotiating Aberdeen city centre on a Friday afternoon - lots of fun... Sheila who owns the cottages was there to greet us and showed up round. The two cottages are out on a little isle and to say it was a bit breezy was a bit of an understatement. Lee was more excited about the coal fire than anything else and spent most of the weekend keeping it going.

We got sorted and then headed out for something to eat - we ate in a local hotel, Buchan Braes, and i have to say it was one of the best meals we have had for a long time - baked scallop, lamb terrine and gressingham duck - just gorgeous...

Saturday we just pottered about and ate in, we had planned to go for a walk but it was just so windy we were struggling get about. We came back down the road on the Sunday , it was so nice to be away but we did miss the kids .

I did spend time doing some reading, i had my book with my for book club - not sure if i have mentioned before but i am in a book club, well we call it book club but this is in the loosest possible terms, each of us picks a book, read it and then talk about it for oh maybe five to ten minutes and then chat for the rest of the night. So this month's book was Divine Misfortune by A Lee Martinez - a fantasy comedy about gods ? - honestly when i first looked at it i was not impressed, fantasy is just not my thing in books but i got stuck in and i have to admit I quite liked it, it was amusing but not laugh out loud funny and an easy read - kind of drifted halfway through but got there in the end.

So now am finished that have started on a book i picked up in the cottage - New York by Edward Rutherford, now this is definitely more my cup of tea - a nice big meaty historical tale. I've read Sarum years ago and really enjoyed that one so am looking forward to getting stuck into this. this is definitely a reading at home book though as it is the hardback and weighs a ton lol..i'm tempted though to actually just get it for the kindle instead, as it'll be easier to handle. I just love me my kindle.

The only other reading i've been doing lately though is blogs, i miss reading them a couple of days and the next thing you know you have 200 posts to read - i am slowly catching up though and commenting, but if comments are a few days behind that is why, - my whole life is always playing catch up ha ha

Nothing too exciting to report on the stitching front, just working away on my rotation - finishing up this month with HAED QS Rapunzel, starting a new month tomorrow with Chatelaine. and at some point in the near future i am going to sort out my list for Measi's 2012 WIPocalypse .

Okay best be off, thanks for stopping by and welcome to my new followers.

ihsw

2011-10-21T00:12:00.000+01:00

Off to Aberdeenshire tomorrow so just a quick catch up from my first hermitting weekend: I worked on Ink Circles - Bramble and The Rose, 32ct white linen and Carrie's Creations Island Breezes

Before

After

That's all folks, goodnight xx

needlebook exchange

2011-10-16T08:46:00.000+01:00

My partner has received so can now show pics:

This is from me to Gillie

and this is from Gillie to me

am loving the thistle..

holiday time

2011-10-14T20:25:00.000+01:00

Off work for a week - yay! Plans are :

1. not setting the alarm for 9 whole mornings.
2. having a girly day with my dd Neve
3. painting Neve's room
4. stitching
5. getting the house into some sort of order
6. spending a romantic weekend with my dh Lee - staying at a lighthouse keepers cottage here

So, made it to Berlin and back, it was short but sweet, would really have liked to spend a couple more days there to have a good wander about - the hotel we stayed in was really nice, actually a one bedroom apt, me and Kim (my friend who came with me) were ready just to move in - no kids, no husbands, no cleaning - seemed good to us.. the Bruno Mars gig at night was surprisingly good - lots to sing and dance along to and of course we had to indulge in a few beers (we were in Germany after all).

Stitching wise, managed to get a wee bit done on my Chatelaine White Nights and the Solar System and this weekend i have signed up for International Hermit and StitchWeekend - looking forward to having a look at everyone else's progress, always good to find more blogs i haven't come across yet, you can never have enough blogs to read!

Okay pictures:

Chatelaine White Nights in St Petersburg

Solar System

Ink Circle - Bramble and The Rose

Reichstag

Brandenburg Gate

Berlin Cathedral

Right off to enjoy some more hermitting and stitching..

aarrgghhh!!!!!!

2011-10-04T11:07:00.000+01:00

that is how i am feeling at the moment - I am now into week 3 of no washing machine and going slightly demented! It is not even a year old so still under guarantee so am stuck waiting for Comet to pull their finger out and get it sorted.. they sent an engineer out after they had diagnosed what was wrong with it from me telling them "it was making a horrible screechy noise" and funnily enough it turned out to be something else, and they are now still waiting on the part to fix it - between trips to the laundrette and the goodwill of friends and family we are just about keeping the washing under control but it is seriously pissing me off!!!

Ok rant over lol!

I got my needlebook finished for the exchange over on Friendly Stitchers - actually got it finsihed last week but it is still in my car waiting to get posted, sorry Gillie - it will get to you eventually... I am normally terrified of finishing but this wasn't too scary, will post a piccie once i know it has been received.

Got a bit more done on HAED SK Rapunzel - am stitching this on 18ct aida and really loving it, my other HAED is on 25ct linen, so this makes a nice change, not quite as demanding.

this week am back to working on Chatelaine White Nights - aiming to get at least the west gates done but between fat club, book club and Neve's skating, it'll be a bit of squeeze getting much time on it.

Off to Berlin in two days - very excited now!

100

2011-09-18T20:04:00.000+01:00

Goodness i've made it to 100 posts - it's taken me a bit of time but got there in the end lol! Been working away on Bramble and The Rose for the last few days - don't know what it is about this piece but the frogs certainly love it - drives me to distraction, anyway it is now away for another month - here's hoping october is a frog free month..

am now working on a needlebook for an exchange over on Friendly Stitchers - and been printing out instructions on how to make it up - making up things is not my forte but these instructions seem pretty foolproof to me - (famous last words lol!)

right, off to watch The X Factor now - loving this series with the new judges, specially Gary - he has certainly matured well ha ha...

night night all

2011-09-07T22:17:00.000+01:00

Well it's a new month so time for a bit of an update with this and that -

Family

The kids went back to school in middle of August and along with that goes all the out of school stuff - Beavers, Guides, swimming, parent association stuff, and Neve is now a full member of the figure skating club which means she can go up to four times a week - I don't think lol, two or three at a push is enough for us! I am all for her practising and doing well at it but i still want her to enjoy it not think of it as a chore.

It's now getting very autumnal here i.e grey clouds, rain, wind - not much different from our summer actually just a bit colder - very dreich as we would say - had to actually give up and stop wearing my sandals and get into shoes - a sad day..

A wee bit of good news

Yesterday I got a letter to say i had won a trip to Berlin to see Bruno Mars in concert - am not too fussy re the Bruno Mars bit but quite excited about seeing a bit of Berlin, although it will be just a wee bit unfortunately as it is only for one night and the flight is quite early coming back, - i shall have to go and learn a wee bit of German as it is pretty non-existent at the moment..

Being a stitcher of course my first thought was - wonder if there are any good LNS in Berlin lol! Does everyone else think like this when they head somewhere new?

Stitching

A couple of WIP's progesses for you:

I joined up over at Love 4 Stitch Alongs forum as a bit of an incentive to work on a couple of pieces i have been neglecting recently so have adapted my rotation somewhat to fit them in - managed a little bit on my chatelaine

And this is where i got to for the summer exchange on Needlecraft Haven - just a wee bit more to go

okay that's me for tonight - off to watch The Soprano's before bed.

giveaway results

2011-09-07T11:36:00.000+01:00

Ok folks - i have used the tried and tested sophisticated method of sticking everyone's name in an envelope and pulling one out - works every time!

So for "Irresitible Gifts to Stitch" - we have Christina in Miami

and for "Christmas Card Ideas" - we have Teejay

i will be in touch for you snail mail address. Hope you both enjoy these.

time for a giveaway

2011-08-26T19:27:00.000+01:00

Okay folks - got a couple of chart books which i received which i thought i would be better off offering as a give away as i am not likely to use them and would rather they go to a good home!

first up is "Irresistible Gifts to Cross Stitch" -lots of lovely little gift ideas

if you are into card making next up is Papercrafts' Christmas Card Ideas

Will keep this open till 5th Sept - please just leave a comment stating which one you would like and i will draw a name at random - easy peasy!

Please feel free to spread the word around the blogging world.

wip update

2011-08-07T15:08:00.000+01:00

Right thought it was about time to actually have some stitching photo's. These are the current four pieces in

my rotation

The Solar System which i am doing for ds Joe

This is the summer exchange piece from Needlecraft Haven - just loving the green fabric which is a bit brighter than it shows here

This is for the consultant i work for who is off sick at the mo and she does love her coffee

and this is the HAED BB SK SAL - i chose Rapunzel and have made a tiny start so far on page 1.

Have felt very productive this weekend, cleaned the car and got the garden sorted as much as I could yesterday till the rain started, tackled some of the iron mountain and then got some good stitching in and then managed to actually watch a whole film last night - Sherlock Holmes, really enjoyed it as well..

Today got Neve to skating and then sorted out the credit cards - well, moved them all about to % transfers - maybe one day they will actually be paid off, - (oops watch out for that flying pig) and now going to pick up dh from work, get dinner sorted and get another couple of hours stitching in and back to work in the morning - the joys.

thanks for dropping by

2011-07-19T12:36:00.012+01:00

Just some random snaps of the hols - good time was had by all, but oh i wish i could just go back right now..

woo woo a finish

2011-07-14T11:58:00.002+01:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

This is Bent Creek's "I do" wedding sampler which i have done for my niece - this picture is not the best i have to say as the fabric is quite a bit lighter than this but being a bit lazy couldn't be bothered to look for my proper camera and just used the phone, which as the advantage of being able to upload straight away to blogger.

I think this is about the third time i have stitched this piece, i just love it though as it is very effective for not a lot of work lol! Will get it down to the framers at the weekend ready to be picked up before we head down south to Bath for the wedding.

tgif

2011-06-24T15:24:00.003+01:00

just a quick post before i disappear on my hols - Turkey here we come! Cannot wait for a bit of heat and sunshine, so far our summer here has decided to disguise itself as autumn .. only planning on taking my Bent Creek "I do" piece on hols as i find that i dont' usually end up doing too much stitching when i am away, but will try and get this finished as i will need to get it to the framers when i get back as need it done for end of July - the weeks have kind of crept up on me - thankfully it is an easy stitch and i am about halfway done already.

still no stitching pictures, will update all my WIPS on my return - been working on the solar system for ds Joe, "I do" and snuck a new start in as well - couldn't resist joining the HAED SK SAL , chose Rapunzel and have managed a couple of hundred stitches on her so far.

also been getting supplies ready for a summer exchanged over on Needlecraft Haven, finally got the right threads though after dunderheid here couldn't even read her own writing and ordered the wrong numbers - duh!

one hour left at work which of course is always the longest hour of the week.

thanks for stopping by and commenting - cheers for now.

went for a walk up a wee hill

2011-06-12T08:35:00.010+01:00

Looking south down Loch Lomond towards Glasgow

Heading up - this looking north up Loch Lomond

Up the top - unfortunately a bit misty

Well yesterday I officially bagged my first Munro - climbing up Ben Lomond. I have never done any kind of hillwalking before so this was a bit of an eye opener lol! and omg my legs are killing me today... still i have that lovely feeling of smug satisfaction at having done it but am in no rush to do it again. (maybe hillwalking is like childbirth - you forget the pain after the first time..)We were lucky in that the weather was clear right up until we got to the summit and then the rain and cloud came in but still some pretty spectacular views could be seen. Took about 6 hours up and down (including lots of breaks, which were so needed, did think that my lungs were going to explode at some points).

today i was hoping to have a bit of a relaxing day but forgot i had promised dd Neve i would take her shopping to Braehead - getting stuff ready for our hols in two weeks - yay!

have also decided to buy a kindle (credit card here we come) - been using it on my phone for the last wee while and really like it but fancy having the full size one which will be easier for bigger books.

right off to have a shower, if i can get up the stairs.

painting all done

2011-05-19T06:35:00.005+01:00

Not managed to get any stitching done this week, time is just disappearing from me. But we did have the painter in this week and the living room is now a lovely shade of sky blue, so pleased with it, now just need to get some curtains and the pictures etc back up and it'll be all done. Got the kitchen finished off as well - am so pleased with how all the renovations have turned out.

picking up my new car tonight (well new to me car) - so excited. ended up with another Renault scenic as i've been pretty happy with the one we've had. but of course that has meant i've had to sort out all the rubbish that was in my old one and make it somewhat presentable to trade it in - not an easy job!

off for the weekend tomorrow and the weather forecast is absolutely dire - will definitely take my stitching down with me as i reckon we will be stuck indoors for a bit.

right better get ready for work now. thanks all for stopping by.

may

2011-05-06T14:20:00.010+01:00

so what have i been up to for the past wee while :

stitching:

- stitched and finished Bent Creek "May Blooms" which is now hanging up at my work

- Solar System now has uranus, pluto, venus and saturn, think i am heading over to jupiter next

- HAED qs twilight shimmer has been having a wee bit of work on her, about half way through page 3

- Ink Circles bramble and rose has made it on to page 4

i've been very disciplined and sticking to my rotation days so with the bent creek finish i now have a thurs and friday free - so tonight i am going to make a start on bent creek "i do" sampler for my niece's wedding. This isn't till end of July but this gives me plenty of time to get it done and then framed.

work

same old same old. ended up with loads of time off in April between annual leave, easter public holidays and of course the good ole royal wedding (could really do with one of those every year) so it feels like april just disappeared from us. have actually had to work a full five days this week, i'm exhausted lol!

home

the plastering is now finished in the living room and got the painter coming on 1 june to paint walls and varnish doors, now just have to pick a colour - thinking of going for a pale blue grey but this could change, this and picking tiles for the kitchen have been the hardest decisions to make..
now officially ran out of money so the rest of the house will be on hold for the forseeable. Especially as my car needs a pile of work done on it and it looks like it's going to be going to the big car heaven instead and a new (well new to me) car bought instead - oh the joys!

plan for the weekend

lee working next three nights so telly and stitching is the order of the day. Am loving the new series of Doctor Who, the kids have been pretty freaked out by it - oh the hours of entertainment i can have scaring the pants off them by sneaking up with masks on, great fun ha ha!

right off to catch up on the soaps and have dinner - have a good weekend all

corrie corrie

2011-04-02T11:13:00.006+01:00

Well that's a finish for me - dd Neve's coronation st bookmark - a nice wee stitch though being a total numpty i had slightly misjudged the placement of it on the fabric and had to kind of squash it up a bit at the end but hey ho - that's the way these things go!

Starting a new small start this weekend with Bent Creek Snapper May - eventually one year i will actually have all twelve finished.

been working away on Ink Circles Bramble & Rose - will get page 3 finished this month - i only get this out every few weeks, and i forget everytime how much i like it, using Carries Creations threads is a delight.

the kids are off on holiday for the next two weeks so am taking a few days off work to be at home with them - oh i am so looking forward to just getting stuff sorted in the house and garden and just relaxing, nothing too exciting in the plan.

Planning to meet up with a couple of friends this week so we can have our inaugural stitching night - one has been stitching for a few months and one is new to it, so we will see how we get on - planning to start Miracles Happen as that is definitely how i feel at the mo -15lbs down, 35 to go!

right off to see how the tiler is getting in the kitchen - looking good so far..

hope you all have a good weekend.

a mini finish

2011-03-12T16:38:00.005Z

Well it has taken a while but finally got part II of Chatelaine White Nights in St Petersburg finished.. i am not normally a fan of speciality stitches but have loved doing all of these
plus lots of metallics used - loving ma bling!

Headed up to the creative stitches show at Glasgow last weekend as a couple of friends were looking to get started stitching so i joined them as an advisory role, we're going to get together soon to have our own little stitching night - converting the world one stitcher at a time... picked up these two charts as well, both Heritage Crafts. The shows now though are so disappointing when it comes to cross stitch now, only a couple of exhibitors and I was so surprised to actually get these as just charts. It's all just kits and aida - c'mon folks this is not 1985..

well dd is now demanding computer time so i will be off to cook dinner, before settling down for a bit of well earned stitching time and two hours of The Killing - I am so so loving this programme, cannot wait to find out who it was but on the other hand don't want it to finish..

ABC's of me

2011-03-10T15:21:00.002Z

Came across this a few weeks back and thought it quite informative. I like my information simple.

A - Age: 40
B - Bed size: Double
C - Chore you hate: Cleaning bathroom
D - Dog's name: no dog
E - Essential start of the day item: diet coke
F - Favorite color: i'm quite partial to pink
G - Gold or Silver: silver
H - Height: 5'3"
I - Instruments you play: None
J - Job: medical secretary for psychiatry
K - Kids: neve 11, joe 7
L - Living arrangements: mid terraced house with dh and aforementioned children, and Poppy the cat
M - Music you love: today - David Guetta, Adele, QOTSA, Chase&Status
N - Nicknames: none
O - Overnight hospital stay at hospital: Yes
P - Pet Peeve: eejit drivers
Q - Quote from a movie: no favourites
R - Right handed or left: Left
S - Siblings: 1 older brother and 1 older sister
T - Time you wake up: 7am
U - Underwear: definitely
V - Vegetable you dislike: haven't found one yet
W - Workout Style: the lying on the sofa, raising an arm periodically to use the remote, style
X - X-rays you've had: teeth, toe, ankle
Y - Yummy food you make: culinarly challenged, that's what supermarkets are for
Z - The best place to visit: anywhere with a pool, sunlounger, bar and kid's club will do

feel free to join in.

Spring has sprung

2011-02-27T16:26:00.004Z

Okay maybe a bit optimistic there but i do have snowdrops and my daffs are popping through as well now so that just about counts as spring.

Stitching

Solar system - finishing off Saturn this week and then i think on to Neptune as my next planet to visit.
HAED - am slowly reaching the end of page 2
Corrie bookmark - about halfway through now

Have been very good as not spending money on stash but i did come across this sampler - jenny bean halloween -and just had to have it. It is not normally my style but just love the rather macabre feel to it.. this may just get started this year but no guaranteeing that..

House

Finally got my bedroom Sky+ box fixed on the third attempt when they actually sent someone from Sky and not some contractor who i reckon didn't know one end of a sky box from another - the end result being i got a new sky box, cabling and dish and no more signal problems -

Now just have to get the leaky roof, the wardrobe door and electric meter sorted lol! After that the plasterer is coming in to plaster and skim the hall and living room and then if we have any money left it'll get decorated (but that is kind of looking like a next year thing...) - this year is proving to be a bit pricey with trips away here and there (Southerness in May, Turkey in June and a wedding in Bath in July) so the house will have to take a bit of a back seat for a wee while.

On a half day today from work so just finishing up and getting home to grab a couple of childfree hours stitching .. back soon

February

2011-02-01T18:43:00.004Z

Been working away on all three and even managed to do some of my UFO (Chatelaine's St Petersburg) - Mouse's wet noodle over on Friendly Stitchers has me quaking in fear now lol! Will get a progress picture up of that next time to prove myself..

It was my birthday last week (i have now made it into my fabulous forties !) so in order to go with the work i've had done in the living room i decided to treat us to a fab new tv and blu-ray player and then got sky to add on HD - I am loving it, i hadn't realised how small our old telly was, so now going to settle down and watch the new Sky Atlantic channel and get some serious stitching done.

bye for now

rotation,rotation,rotation

2011-01-08T21:52:00.003Z

These are my current WIPS:

Monday, Tue, Wed - Artecy Solar System worked on 28ct black jobelan- this is for my ds Joe who is currently very into space, who probably won't be by the time i finish this

Thurs, Fri - DMC Coronation Street bookmark - this is for dd Neve, we just love our Corrie lol!

Sat & Sun - HAED - for me, the oh so ironically titled Quick Stitch Twilight Shimmer

I admire all the clinically insane stitchers out there who have signed up for the 15 starts in January challenge - I have decided to hold onto my sanity and just gone with the two new starts..

merry christmas all

2010-12-24T16:49:00.007Z

Well this is the only stitching i have managed to do this month - a faberge ornamenet from CrossStitcher mag done on plastic canvas, havent used this before but i am liking it for ornies. just got it finished this afternoon and up on the tree - phew just in time! But December has been a bit full on, we got our new kitchen fitted and living room floor and doors done as well

These are the before pictures

and then these are the after. Sorry they are not the best pictures but it is just a small kitchen and hard to get any decent pictures but you can get the general gist. I am so pleased with it! I can actually move about and have so much more worktop now - it's just brilliant (didn't know i could get that excited about a kitchen lol...)

We've also bought a new stereo which is basically just a fancy hard drive and so the last few nights have been spent uploading all our rather grubby old cd's. Been having great fun with this though as rediscovering loads of tracks we had forgetten about.

So things are finally settling down now just in time for Christmas Day. Am going to get a new rotation sorted out for the new year and obviously a new start thrown in there for good measure.

I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas .. will be back in the new year.

2010-11-21T17:04:00.002Z

Well I got this back from the framers yesterday and although i was having a huff and puff about the cost of it last week, I am so happy with it this week lol! I've now got it stashed in the back of the car so that dh doesn't see it but I cannot wait to give it to him, i wonder if I can hold out till Christmas .

also got the background done for the advent calender so should have that all finished up this week as well. After that i think my stitching time will be slightly diminished as we are getting the new kitchen starting week after next and the electrics rewired so chaos will ensue for the next couple of weeks - bring it on ....

Advent

2010-11-14T19:07:00.001Z

Okay. All my little advent pillows are stitched and sewn up. Now just to get the background made and should be good to go for 1st Dec.

Took lee's present in to get framed.£80 effing quid! Nearly fell over, as i know it'll look great and it will be in the house I can just about cope with it but reckon I will have to just frame stuff myself from now on.

Only two weeks to go
till meet up with the girls from friendly stitchers in harrogate-cannae wait!

And then getting my new kitchen fitted in December , its going to be a busy few weeks coming up.f

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.4

the perils of wearing socks

2010-10-13T09:30:00.003+01:00

It would appear that wearing socks while walking down the stairs is not the most sensible thing to do. One tiny slip and off we go, one leg going one way and the other going in the completely wrong direction lol! Hobbled about on it on Sunday but decided by Monday that i should maybe get it looked at, so went up to my local accident & emergeny department (my old work - where they all had a good laugh at me) and came out wearing this ridiculous big stookie! apparentely i have a subtle fracture of the lateral mallelous but this requires a completely unsubtle plaster.

The most annoying bit was that we were due to go away for a few days over this week as it is the school holidays but me being the only driver this has had to be cancelled - we shall just rearrange for the spring instead.

The good part is though that i am getting lots of stitching time yay! Working away on my advent calender which is making up 25 little pillows - only got another 5 to do and then the fun begins of sewing them all up...

take care all and remember don't wear socks going down stairs!

yay! a finish...

2010-09-16T21:33:00.001+01:00

Finished up pressie for dh. now just to put it away and remember to get it framed before Christmas. I have so loved working on this sparklies fabric, defo getting some more in the future.

now going to do a few more squares for an advent calender, mind I'll be pushing it to have it ready for this year but I can try.

at least I'm off work tomorrow as it's a local holiday, taking the kids to xcape in Glasgow for a bit of sledging - might even have a go myself for a laugh.

right off to watch corrie. night night.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.8

next instalment

2010-08-18T15:46:00.001+01:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.1

first symbol update

2010-08-10T16:04:00.002+01:00

well this is my first update of hubby's pressie. He has a huge led zep fan and has been wanting me to do their symbols for ages. i finally got round to choosing the fabric and went for Ink from Sparklies - I am loving it, just the colour i wanted, it is a bit darker than shown here. Guess where i'll be stopping at first when we hit Harrogate this year!

2010-08-03T18:26:00.004+01:00

Some more pictures of our trip to Culzean and yes Gillie, this is where the Eisnhower Apartment is, this was given to him after the war. However as far as I am aware now you can actually stay there as it is part of the National Trust and they have various residences as holiday lets.

Am now back at work but back off again next week - here's hoping the weather actually improves, it has been so miserable here for the last few weeks, the day i took these photos has been about the only time the sun has been out lol!

neve at culzean

2010-07-23T17:17:00.001+01:00

Okay just a- little experiment to see how easy it is to upload my photos from my new phone. Just been down to Culzean County Park -this is my dd Neve posing up on the castle walls.

White Nights

2010-07-18T11:54:00.003+01:00

I finally got round to doing a bit more on my Chatelaine White Nights in St Petersburg and am making steady progress on part 2 - only 10 more to go lol! I love it though - so sparkly ..

july update - all the two's

2010-07-11T13:42:00.011+01:00

right -i have not fallen off the face of the world but with various stuff going on stitching has taken a bit of a back seat. on top of that the pesky IT people at work have banned blogs! so am struggling to keep up with everything going on in blog world - it's just not fair, what am i meant to do with lunchtime now.. so piccies now as to where i am at

first off - two bent creek snappers, April and July

- should get July finished up tonight

second page of bramble rose done as well

on to second page of Twilight Shimmer from HAED

and this week going to work on second page of Chatelaine St Petersburg .

We ended up visiting Bath twice in May as my MIL was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and died with 5 weeks of diagnosis. It was all so quick it came as quite a shock to all the family. However it was also good catching up with all the family and friends in Bath and made us realise we really must make an effort to visit more often .. Lee does get quite homesick at times and me to (even though technically not my home lol!) but alas with the cost of living there we have no chance of ever being able to live there again, so Scotland you are stuck with us.. heading back down there in October though

one more week for me at work and then two glorious weeks off, back for a week and then another week off. waiting to see what the weather does, hopefully okay and we can get the tent out but if not it's going to be a long couple of weeks at home ..

a finish a finish

2010-05-02T10:01:00.007+01:00

well two finishes to report one stitching, one book:

1. homer- will get him off to the framers next weekend and then it'll be on it's way down to Wales.

2. The Fiery Cross - finally got it finished lol! I'd had it out since january and i couldn't renew it any more so it had to be done - now on to the next one...

now doing a bit more work on Ink Circles Bramble and Rose

and this was what i received for my stint as calender girls over on Friendly Stitchers - what a great selection i got , thanks girls!

have a good week all..

sunday morning

2010-04-11T08:14:00.013+01:00

thankfully spring has finally sprung here and it promises to be a glorious day and best of all i'm on holiday from work till Thursday - yay! here's hoping it lasts till then. so now a quick summary of the last few weeks:

stitching

i have been steadily stitching away, mostly on Homer as i am desperate to get this off but only got a couple of pages to do now.. made a couple of purchases this tote bag which is really really bright, i went for green - have no idea what design to go for but I am sure inspiration will hit me one day and also miracles happen which just always makes me laugh.

holidays

we enjoyed ourselves at Disneyland paris, a good few days were had by all. I even went on a couple of reasonably scary rides - well scary enough for me lol.

Lesson of the week learned - just because kids can get on a ride does not mean it is a "kid's ride"! As i found out on Crush's coaster which took me a bit by surprise to say the least...

the kids of course went on anything they could get on - fair play to them. It was hideously expensive in the park though - £6.50 for a pint of beer! - and the food was pretty dire. But all in all we would probably go back for a couple of days as it so easy for us to get to.

as for the summer holidays we have bought a tent, we've never really been proper camping before but only planning to go for a couple of nights at a time and not too far from home. Just need to get a bit more practice getting the tent up and we'll be off. That's if me and dh can manage that without too much arguing...

plan for the week

finish another page on Homer and maybe sneek in a bit more on HAED Twilight Shimmer
get my front garden sorted
get stuck in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon - i am halfway through but it feels like the never ending story at the moment.

well that's all for now folks - thanks for stopping by and commenting, all much appreciated.

disneyland paris - day trip to paris

2010-03-29T07:58:00.007+01:00

While staying at Disneyland we took the train into Paris as the kids were desperate to go up the Eiffel Tower - we all walked up to the first floor but only Joe and Lee made it up to the second floor -I'm still too much of a scaredy cat and decided that the first floor is perfectly good enough lol! I swear it's got bigger since i was there last.

We took the open top bus around the city which was great as you get such a great perspective of all the stunning buildings - also a good laugh watching the manic traffic and suicidal bikers..they just drive wherever.

it's saturday

2010-03-06T12:48:00.006Z

Just a couple of WIPs piccies - here's homer

- going to take him with me on holiday next week. Now can you answer me this - are all stitchers like me in that when it comes to packing the first thing that gets decided is what stitching to take lol! nothing important like passports or tickets or clothes lol..

did a little bit more on my HAED but have now added this and my Ink circles back into rotation so i shall be showing them both a bit of love in the next few weeks, they have been poorly neglected..

we enjoyed ourselves immensely at my cousin's wedding - the venue was lovely, food great and best of all great catching up with my dad's family as we don't seem them that often - we stayed over in Glasgow which meant i could indulge in a couple of drinks or five and got back down the road first thing on Sunday

off now to pick up my car - just put it in for a service and it now needs a new tyre as got a nail stuck in one -aah! and a mount for the engine needs replaced - it is neverending - thank god for credit cards...

hope you are all having a good weekend

framed

2010-02-18T07:42:00.003Z

Picked up my scottish heart from the framers last week - now just have to remember to get some wrapping paper before saturd'llay.

Been running around like a headless chicken recently between working extra hours and making sure that the kids are kitted out for this wedding - finally got round to getting myself something to wear at the weekend there - i'll be glad when the weekend is over!

Still only three weeks till our disneyland paris holiday, so just hanging on for that -yaay!!

scottish heart

2010-02-04T08:18:00.003Z

This was a quick finish and is now off to the framers today so that it is back in time as i have suddenly realised the wedding is in two.

weeks - where are the days going?

Other than that been doing a bit more on Homer and now going to start on Ally's round robin.

It was my wee boy Joe's 6th birthday yesterday so much eating of cake was done and then a trip to Mcdonald's - i still feel full up this morning! So got a busy weekend coming up as he is taking some friends bowling and then has another party to go to on Sunday as well as tennis - i reckon i'll be glad to get back to work on monday for a rest..

thanks for stopping by and commenting - always appreciated.

homers getting an arm

2010-01-17T19:00:00.007Z

Stitching:

just a quick update of wips:

homer is coming along nicely though taking it slowly as all that yellow gets pretty tedious

I have started this for my cousin's wedding - it is a Scottish heart - a freebie found here

Books

On Thursday me and Ally went to see Diana Gabaldon talking about her new book at our local library - by luck i had been in town the week before and saw it advertised in Waterstone's and quickly snapped up some tickets - she was really interesting and friendly and we did learn that if it wasn't for Doctor Who Jamie Fraser might never have existed! Am now rapidly reading The Fiery Cross so i can get caught up on the series but have just found out that Twilight is going to be the next book for our book club, can't wait for that..

Life

Spent last week in a very snowy and cold Edinburgh, courtesy of a comp win - we stayed at Channings, a really lovely Victorian Hotel in the west end who very kindly upgraded us to a superior room with jaczuzzi - nice.. it was just so good to be away without the kids and just relax with a rum or few..

back to work

2010-01-05T16:32:00.002Z

Back to work today – yuck, I have so enjoyed being off and not having to listen to my alarm and then woke up at half six this morning to find the world had gone all white again, at first this seems quite pretty now it is just getting plain annoying! Still put up my Bent Creek Snapper January Snows which for the first time in a long time is true for us.. I plan to actually have all these out this year – so far have only made it to March oops..

Have now realised that body is trying to rebel against me – recently I’ve been suffering from bad indigestion and heartburn and have now concluded that the main culprit appears to be chocolate (as I found out today when I ate a Rose’s chocolate that was still in my desk from before Christmas, that’ll teach me) – it is just so unfair! Still maybe it is my subconscious just telling me to stop being such a greedy gannet or I’ll never get into the dress I need to wear to my cousin’s wedding in February lol..

Found this over on Cheryl’s blog and have shamelessly stolen it as thought it a pretty good way of summing up a year:

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Meet more of the ladies from Friendly Stitchers
2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions and will you make more for next year? No and no
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No
4. Did anyone close to you die? No
5. What countries did you visit? Turkey, Wales, England
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? A pair of size 12 jeans
7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory? It was all a bit of a sameness
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Finishing Joe’s stocking in time
9. What was your biggest failure? Not getting the size 12 jeans lol..
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? A rather irritating irritated nerve in my neck
11. What was the best thing you bought? A new bed
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration? The kids weren’t too bad ..
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? The government
14. Where did most of your money go? The house, the car, groceries – nothing exciting at all..
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Going on our free holiday
16. What song/album will always remind you of 2009? Florence and the machine - lungs
17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder? Happier
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Spending time with kids
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Work
20. How did you spend Christmas? At home with hubby and kids and then a friend came over to join us later for dinner
21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with? Husband
22. Did you fall in love in 2009? No – just stayed in love
23. How many one night stands in this last year? No real ones but do fantasy one night stands count?
24. What was your favourite TV programme(s)? Fringe, Coronation Street, reruns of Gilmore Girls
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? No
26. What was the best book(s) you read? Liked Time and Chance by Sharon Penman
27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Florence and the Machine
28. What did you want and get? New bedroom furniture
29. What did you want and not get? Nothing springs to mind
30. What were your favourite films of this year? Only seemed to have seen kid’s movies this year
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 38 but it was last January so really can’t remember
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? A little bit more cash
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? Jeans and stripy tops – I just can’t stop buying stripy tops
34. What kept you sane? Stitching, diet coke
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Will have to a wee think about that for a while .. though Bruce Springsteen was looking pretty good
36. What political issue stirred you the most? MP expenses – aaah
37. Who did you miss? Still miss my mum
38. Who was the best new person (people) you met? Meeting the Friendly Stitchers in real life
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009? You can get through most everything and I really need to get out the house more..
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year? “Money’s too tight to mention”

No stitchy pictures as i just haven't got round to it - currently working on Homer and Mylene's piece of the round robin , this should be onward bound shortly.

Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all a good 2010.

2009-12-22T14:21:00.001Z

Santa is back

2009-12-22T14:11:00.004Z

Just picked this up at lunchtime and so pleased with it. Will get it hung up tonight all ready for the real santa to come and fill it with goodies!

mean kitty

2009-12-14T23:05:00.003Z

mean kitty - saw this the other day and it just made me laugh. If you have ever had a kitten you will so understand..

santa has left the building

2009-12-14T22:06:00.006Z

Finally got Joe's stocking finished and it is now off to the dressmakers all ready to be made up and should be ready next week, just in time for Santa to fill with all his goodies....only 11 sleeps to go.

Now planning to take a break from stitching for a week or so to let my arm heal up completely as still getting a little residual pain from my irritated nerve and reckon that the stitchign has not been helping .So although no actual stitching a good chance to sort out stash and get a couple of things ready for next year - in particular a lovely new SAL we are starting over on Friendly Stitchers called Beau Bands..

Feeling quite high tech tonight - we got ourselves a nice shiny new laptop a few weeks ago and managed to get the wireless router sorted so am now sitting on t'internet on my shiny new bed with my nice shiny new bedroom furniture - i've been wanting new bedroom stuff for years -as well as actually having a carpet in here - it's all so exciting lol! .

back soon.

stocking fever

2009-12-04T16:13:00.004Z

No stitching pictures to show as i am still spending every spare minute on my ds Christmas stocking, the what feels like the never-ending stocking now!

The end is in sight though and i plan on a stitching frenzy this weekend courtesy of my recently won Battlestar Galactica dvd box set - I have never watched this before but am really enjoying it. This should hopefully result in a trip to the dressmaker during the week. Watch this space lol!

Went to Harrogate a couple of weekends ago to visit the Knitting and Stitching Show with some of the other wonderful ladies on Friendly Stitchers - a very good time was had by all and i was really very conservative with my purchases. It was nice seeing stuff in real life though - have earmarked a piece of Sparklies fabric for Lee's led zeppelin symbols which i might just be able to start next year. I did purchase a great light for my bedroom which while not the prettiest object certainly does the job - it is so nice to be actually able to see what i'm stitching now.. and treated myself to a kit from West End Embroidery "tile 2 alternate" - i have always fancied one of these pieces but never quite knew where to start so was delighted to find they had lots of their kits with them.. It was great meeting everyone for real, so to speak, and hopefully if we do it again we will be joined by some other new faces and me thinks i had better start saving now!

I will be off now and shall be back sooner rather than later - all fingers and toes crossed - with a finished stocking.

I can see a rainbow

2009-11-04T09:52:00.003Z

This was the view from my office window this morning - i'm afraid the quality of the pic isn't too good as it was taken with my not too hot mobile phone through a window - the rainbow appeared to be starting (or finishing however you wish to see it) in the car park - i was very tempted to run out and get my pot of gold... i'm lucky in that we have a pretty good view out of our office, normally you can see right over to the sea and Arran - beats a brick wall any day.

why do i think i have the time?

2009-10-28T11:49:00.003Z

Ok - there are times i think i must lead some kind of double life - one where i go to work, look after the kids, hubby and the house and the other where i can spend all day stitching ridicuously big projects, browsing websites looking for more ridicuously big projects and oh buying wool, cause i could really do with knitting a scarf - but no then i realise i only have one life and that i really do not have any more time.. it is so disappointing but doesn't stop me trying lol!

I was in Lidl at the weekend and they had some lovely wool on offer in a scarf making kit, so of course that just had to be bought, not that i have any needles or anything but i'll get them just in case ..

and then over on Friendly Stitchers we are having a Secret Santa swap and they were asking us to submit a wish list to help our partners out - oh bad idea! I have now found there are a huge amount of things i would just love to do and i have not even looked at half the site i want to - never mind

Been working away on Santa, want to get him finished by the end of november so he is made up and ready for when the decorations go up - i can't believe it is november next week though - this year has just disappeared on me.

Watched the end of Emma on Sunday - i so enjoyed this and am feeling quite smitten with Johnny Lee Miller - Sunday's are going to be a bit of a letdown now..

I've finally got caught up with blog reading however as soon as i turn my back you are all at it again - so off to read the next lot now.

mmm -donuts...

2009-10-18T15:52:00.005+01:00

Homer has officially entered the building and will hopefully exit before Christmas - with him being mostly yellow it's a very easy stitch but am stitching it over one so it's taking time to see any progress but he appears to be on schedule. I'm liking it so far..

and Santa is on the roof - i'm now just working on these two as

want to make sure they are both done on time - not much to do now

other than that not been much happening, working, working and working a bit more - getting the car through it's MOT - always a stressful experience lol! Off now to pick up Lee from work and then pick up Joe's friend and take them and Lee to the pictures - peace for a couple of hours . Time to catch up on BBC's new version of "Emma" - I'm loving this and then find out who else will die in "Harper's Island" he he! and of course see who gets kicked off on X Factor..

Bye for now ...

exchange received

2009-09-26T12:35:00.004+01:00

Here's a picture of what i received in My Stitching Place Exchange with Friendly Stitchers . This was from Mouse and it's just gorgeous - going to hang it up in my bedroom as this is my main stitching place . Consequenlty i've taken a break from my rotation as i've been concentrating on finishing off my piece to go to Mouse - all stitched up just the finishing now which as i've mentinoed before is not my forte!

However so far so good, one half is done but i need to nip to the shops to get another little piece to finish it off so will get that done this week and get it off - then back to the rotation however reckon i will give it another couple of weeks and then will have to concentrate on the stocking for my wee boy Joe as this has been promised for this Christmas and time is just flying by.

I'm back to working a couple of shifts in the restaurant at the weekend as they were short staffed and we're were skint lol. It's a bit of a pain as on top of working full time it can get quite tiring but it's so nice getting some extra cash put by for pressies etc oh and of course my weekend away to the Harrogate show with some of the girls from Friendly Stitchers where i intend to spend money like it's going out of fashion!

Well i'm off to watch last nights Strictly - between that and X factor my wee Sky + is jam packed and the new series of Fringe starts next week - all good stitching telly..yay..

HAED update

2009-09-13T10:15:00.004+01:00

Have done a little bit more on Twilight Shimmer - however every time i think i am getting near the end of page 1 it just seems to keep going lol. Still sticking to my rotation of three days per piece, this is working really well for me .

Not got much else to say today - been at work, been home, back at work - you know the same old same old - however the sun is shining today yay! so going to get the embarrassment that is my garden sorted and do some bramble picking as well with the kids and then hopefully get a walk in tonight with a friend. It'll be nice to get outside for a bit.

Bramble Rose update

2009-08-19T07:40:00.003+01:00

This is Ink Circles Bramble Rose update - nearly finished one page - thought this would be a nice easy stitch as only using the one colour but oh no - keep missing by one stitch and then having to backtrack - hopefully i've got all the gremlins out now!

back to school

2009-08-18T14:30:00.003+01:00

Well - that is it, summer is officially over and it doesn't even feel like it started. The kids are back at school today - Neve in P5 and Joe in P2 - it's grey and miserable - oh joy.

We had a good week the week before last though as i took the week off work and actually got stuff done i had planned to.

Painted my bedroom a pale yellow colour, just another quick coat and I can actually get a carpet in - it's only taken me five years to do this .

We took a day trip to Millport which is on a little isle just up the coast from us - the kids had great fun going on the ferry and then of course on the way back at Largs we had to have a fish supper sitting on esplanade polished off with an extremely nice ice-cream - if you are ever in the west coast of Scotland head to Nardini's - so nice!

Also headed down to North Wales for the weekend to catch up with some friends - a good time was had by all with much eating and of course a few beers to wash it down with..

Been stitching on Ink Circles Bramble Rose and just about finished the first page and now working a bit on my HAED. Will have to change my rotation slightly though as am planning on doing a Homer Simpson piece for our friends in Wales boy - he is a big Simpson fan - so want to make a start on this. Also doing an exchange for Friendly Stitchers - I have a plan for this which i hope will work well - again better start this soon so if it doesn't work I can go on to plan B!

stitching

2009-07-26T08:31:00.009+01:00

Okay this is my stitching update - been working on a three day rotation which seems to be suiting me fine:

1. Haed QS Twilight Shimmer- ended up going backwards on this as had used the wrong thread for a piece of it but that is now sorted so back on track

2. Chatelaine - St Pete's. This has been sorely neglected for the past few months but i enjoyed getting it back out - just finishing up part 2.

3. Dimensions Stocking - Santa's nearly on the roof..

4. Ink Circles Bramble Rose - just started this on 32ct white jobelan with Carries Creation Island Breeze

Going to add in my Mirabilia Spring Maiden as well which i will be doing as part of a Mirabilia/L&L sal on Friendly Stitchers.

Right, I'm off to finish painting DD Neve's bedroom - i did the first coat about two months ago so reckon it's about time to get on with it..

a couple of giveaways

2009-07-17T09:49:00.006+01:00

a couple of giveaways i have come across recently:

Jolene is having a giveaway with a gorgeous design from la-d-d

Marie is having a birthday giveaway

back from hols

2009-07-14T08:59:00.011+01:00

Well we made it to Turkey and back - when we got to the airport and we got given our boarding passes i was so exicted, all along i kept thinking this is not real, they are going to turn us away!

The hotel was lush - it was so relaxing, we had a two bedroomed room so plenty of space for us and the kids and the pool area was huge with plenty of gardens and slides to keep the kids occupied. Weather was hot and hot and then a bit hotter.. the only thing wrong was that it was too nice, i'll never be able to afford something like that again! Will just have to keep entering comps and try and win another one lol!

On the stitching front - i did nothing on hols, just caught up on reading.. however since i've been back i've started on Ink Circles Bramble Rose -doing this on 32ct white with Carries Creations Island Breeze - it's such a nice easy stitch which is making a change from my HAED - aah! Was looking at it last night and thought something is just not right, so checked one of the colours and sure enough it was the wrong shade so spent most of last night trying to unpick a patch - so frustrating but glad i noticed now and not after i had done the whole page.. after i have sorted that out though i should be able to get through the rest of the first page easy enough..she says with fingers crossed...

While i was away i received this from Cindy Mae:

Thank you ever so much Cindy, this is very much appreciated.. now i have to nominate 7 others so here goes:

abi

I do love reading everybody's blogs though - it's great keeping up with everyone's goings on and seeing all the fab stitching progress and i appreciate all your comments..

off on my hols

2009-06-30T08:54:00.002+01:00

Off on my hols today - will update stitchy stuff on my return

finished and framed

2009-06-21T09:07:00.004+01:00

Okay this is the wedding sampler now framed -picked up the frame in hobbycraft,was only about £6 so was really chuffed at how it came out..

This is my part of Lynda's round robin (from Ally's round robin group) - she chose to do Dickens's Mittens from Cross -eyed Cricket - think that's the name of the design - don't quote me on it lol! I have done Ghost of Christmas Past - will get this of in the post before i go on my hols.

This was me all ready for a night at the races - we had such a good time. It was the Saints and Sinners race night at Ayr Racecourse on Friday there, we had o

won tickets at one of their Christmas parties last year when i was with some of the ladies i work with - it was such good fun, i had a winner in the first race but then zilch but we all won something in each race - it was lovely seeing everyone dressed up, some of the dresses worn were absolutely goregous - it's one of the few places you could go and not be overdressed, the bigger the better.. mind my feet were absolutely killing me by the end of it - i just can't cope with heels!

Getting ready for my hols now, as we go a week on Tuesday - got my tickets the other day - I am so excited, still can't believe I actually won it... Turkey here we come! Just now to decide what stitching to take ...

thanks all for taking the time to read my warblings and commenting - always much appreciated.

yay a finish!

2009-06-16T18:02:00.008+01:00

First of all some touristy pictures from my recent trip to London - it's years since i had visited and with the sun shining i have to admit that London was looking pretty good - we were staying up at wembley and hadn't known the play-offs for the championship and premier league were on - that was fun trying to get through the crowds to get to the hotel lol!

now this here is a real life finish - yah! and on time big yay! This is Bent Creeks "I do" which is for a friends wedding next weekend - i was up at Glasgow at the weekend so went over to Hobbycraft and bought a frame for it so will now spend this weekend getting very frustrated trying to get it into the frame without making a total hash of it - the price of professional framing though is so prohibitive so it's a diy job or nothing at all..

Wasn't sure if i had shown this, i had the baby sampler for my friends wee boy made into a hanging - i added a piece of bamboo at the top and she finally received it there at the weekend. She was really pleased with it and i was chuffed that i had actually managed to get it to her before Arran's first birthday

My June goals are coming along and tonight i should finish the rr -with Lee working backshifts now I am getting plenty of quality stitching time which i am loving - so should have another finish to show off soon...

big walk

2009-05-29T10:37:00.008+01:00

Well the last two weekends have been pretty busy - this is me and my buddies (me, Janice and Lorna) before the start of our midnight walk half marathon on 16th May which we were doing for The Ayrshire Hospice and below is me at 13 miles (a wee while later lol!) and pretty puffed out by that stage... very proud of ourselves though that we managed it all. However didn't get home till about half five in the morning and Lee was working that day so only got a couple of hours sleep which was not so much fun! They have emailed to say that it going to be going ahead next year as it was such a success - not sure if i want to do it again though - wouldn't mind during the day, the whole through the night thing was a bit of a killer..

Was hoping for a quieter weekend just gone but as mentioned in my last post did i not go and win tickets to Britain's Got Talent for the Sunday show! Got all our stuff through on the Friday and got a morning flight down to London on the sunday morning - dropped our stuff off at the hotel and then headed back into London to meet up with my brother as he lives near by - it was absolutely roasting in the centre so had a nice wee wander around all the touristy bits - big ben and what not and then headed back up to Wembley for the show.

We met up with the rep from Domino's Pizza about 7 and then headed down to the studio which was just round the corner. Had our free drinks and pizza (of course!) and got seated for just after eight.. the studio is much smaller than you would imagine - kind of like a fancy school hall! It went really quickly but was really entertaining - glad Susan Boyle got through, we had our Saltire out for her... but by the end of the night was getting fed up standing up, sitting down and lots and lots of clapping ... just headed back to the hotel afterwards and seen a few of the contestants who were going to be on Monday's show and then the next morning got our flight back up to Scotland - all in all a fab time was had..

Stitching wise - not a lot been happening - these are my goals for June:

finish and frame wedding sampler
start and finish lynda's part of round robin
start and hopefully finish serenity piece for Friendly Stitchers

Just got to get one thread for the wedding sampler and of course when i am purchasing this will so have to accidentally add a few things - I have seen that the letter N is out for Nora Corbertts alphabet which i have been waiting for - been dying to get this for Neve as they are just so gorgeous ...

hope you all have a good weekend - here's to the sunshine!

may time

2009-05-20T07:43:00.006+01:00

okay first up here are my adorable squares received from Anna VS (aka Stitch Bitch) which i received a wee while ago but only just got a chance to take some pictures.. haven't decided what to do with them yet

My gosh - it is the middle of May already and my dd Neve's 9th birthday tomorrow - been stitching away quite nicely. Working on a wedding sampler for my friends wedding in June. This is Bent Creek's "I do" - i stitched it once before and it came out so well that i decided to use it again - it stitches up pretty quick as well which is a bonus..

done a little on my HAED QS Twilight Shimmer - i'm about half way through the first page - will aim to get the page finished by summer - there is no rush with this one though,it is purely for me

Am now waiting on the next round robin to appear any day now so will work on it and do some more on Joe's stocking - that should keep me occupied through June - and also planning on stitching the Serenity piece for Friendly Stitchers comp - got a couple of ideas going around my head for that..

Was planning on doing a bit of stitching this weekend but this may now be put on the backburner as i am off to London on Sunday to see Britain's Got Talent - i won two tickets, travel and accommodation for the night - how cool is that! So me and my pal Lorna are flying down on Sunday morning ... i have to admit i've only seen a couple of clips of the show so far but it should be a good laugh.. will try to get some photos and update next week

2009-05-17T18:24:00.001+01:00

square received

2009-04-24T07:24:00.005+01:00

Good to hear that my f&s square arrived safely at it's home, now i can show it off lol!

Also got my part of Karen's rr finished :

Got my sampler back - will get a picture up once i have the hanger sorted which i must actually remember to do this weekend and then i can actually deliver it to my friend, by which time it will be an early 1st birthday present, oops...

Right, better get ready for work, thank god it's friday..

easter hols

2009-04-15T07:42:00.004+01:00

Well i had a lovely week off - did pretty much nothing, it was great - just not having to always be somewhere at a certain time and just going with the flow - so relaxing... Did a couple of walks - these two pictures are of the Heads of Ayr and Greenan Castle which are just to the south of Ayr - a friend had told me of a lovely walk from Burns Cottage right down to Greenan Beach and it really was - it's amazing what you discover on your own doorstep.

This was one of two finishes for the week - April Glooms part of the Bent Creek snappers - i have plans to make this into a pinkeep but as it is unlikely to be done for the end of this April i will put it away just now for next year lol! The other finish was for a fair and square round which i will show when it has been received. Worked on other stuff as well , so quite a productive week - now just finishing off Karen's piece for our round robin- should only take another couple of nights.

I also took in the baby sampler to the dressmaker for it to be made into a hanging - should get this back this weekend, can't wait to see what it will look like.. just need to get my dad to me a little hanger for it and it will be good to go - decided on having it made this way instead of framing for a couple of reasons, 1. thought it would look pretty nice and 2. it's a hell of a lot cheaper lol! It cost me £2.37 for the fabric and wadding and £7 to have it made , as opposed to probably nearer £50 to get it framed...will pop up a picture on it's return.

2009-04-14T20:40:00.001+01:00

2009-04-14T20:39:00.001+01:00

2009-03-27T07:49:00.010Z

Well, what did i do in March:-

Baby sampler still finished, still not framed
Twilight Shimmer -
Christmas Stocking -
Started on Bent Creek April Flows -
Started on Karen's round robin - she has asked us to stitch up either welcome or home sweet home etc. Found a chart from an old Crosstitcher which I am adapting a bit - think it will work pretty nicely - picture up when done.

To do in April:-

carry on with rotation
finish April Flows
stitch and send Fair and Square round 12
finish and send Karen's rr

All this seems quite doable and i have just over a week off work for the easter holidays - yay! Lot's of nice stitching done -well that is the plan. Whether or not i will succeed is another thing.

I have also entered a half marathon midnight walk in May which is in aid of The Ayrshire Hospice so have been out training with my friends for that - so far so good, we got a bit carried away at the weekend and ended up being out for about three hours which we weren't really prepared for - we were just about crawling back up the road - however the weather was nice and it was a lovely country walk - i have to admit i was so surprised as it is only a couple of miles from town and you felt you were in the middle of nowhere - we ended up just outside Oswald Hall, one of the pictures on here - http://www.ayrshirepaths.org.uk/gallery.htm. We're planning to walk out to Troon on Sunday along the coast and up by the golf courses - here's hoping the weather holds out.

Right, need to send off my sister's birthday present, get some ironing done and then enjoy the rest of my day off.

Baby sampler finished

2009-03-04T18:49:00.003Z

It's finally finished - thought i was never going to get there - there wasn't too much to it, just felt like it was dragging - anyway now just need to get it framed...

Now on to some new stuff, well i'll carry on with the Christmas stocking and little bits and bobs and we are about to start a new round robin on Ally's round robin - I have chosen an advent calender which is made up of 25 little pillows , so i'll get a few stitched up for me and then finish it all of at some point..it's from Crossstitcher magazine from last year. Looking forward to seeing everyone's choices.

finally framed

2009-02-03T11:23:00.005Z

Okay - a little update. First off here's baby sampler's progress -

i made a start (just a small one but it's a start) on twilight shimmer ...

and last but not least here is my TW Celtic Knots which i have had back for quite a while but only just got framed - this was done as part of a round robin from Ally's Round Robin - big huge thanks to Karen, Ally, Mylene and Lynda for their contribution to this - I am so pleased with it!

having a lucky month

2009-01-24T08:43:00.004Z

Still entering competitions like mad - I think it is turning into an addiction but so far January has been pretty good. Won two tickets to my local cinema - took Neve to see Bride Wars, good fun... then I had a phone call from Kerrang Radio to say i had won £500 in their recycling comp - (got my cheque through yesterday) and then Lee phoned me while i was at work to say the postie had just delivered a nice shiny new Nintendo DS and game !

I reckon that's my quota of luck for 2009 lol! but i'll still keep trying ... now if i could just win a nice stitching lamp, that would be the business!!

woefully neglected blog

2009-01-24T08:30:00.012Z

Oops - it's been a while since i updated this blog but it's because i've been trying to stitch with every spare minute i've got which ain't a lot- nearly finished my friend's baby sampler - fingers crossed will get that done in the next couple of weeks and get it framed.

Decided that as it is my birthday on Tuesday i would give myself a new start - so got my HAED Twilight Shimmer QS out and got it kitted up (well as much as i could - goodness, for a smaller design it still uses heaps of colours!) Am on a self imposed stash ban ( hubbie lost his job last year so finances are a bit tight) so will work with what i have at the moment starting on my birthday... might also through caution to the wind and start my Mirabilia Maiden of the Spring - i feel the need for lots of new starts ....

I did manage to stitch up and finish in time for Christmas a little Thomas for my wee boy Joe as he had been asking for it for months - he was very pleased with it and it now sits by his bed, along with a lot of other Thomas the Tank stuff, he's quite a fan!

Normal work as usual has been busy and then the restaurant as well has been busy at the weekends - considering it's January when everyone is supposedly poor, what happended to the recession - still can't complain, helps keep the finances ticking over.

proud mummy

2008-12-15T14:44:00.008Z

well first off I am going to show off my dd Neve's first trophy for her skating - she only skates at the weekend doing her Skate UK badges but really enjoys it and this was for first place in the bagdes 8,9 and 10 classes, she was so happy, it was really lovely to see..

I also received two lovely packages this week - one from Nicky for my F&S Christmas round - a lovely Lizzie Kate design which fingers crossed i will get made up into an ornie in time for this Christmas and secondly a lovely christmas tree filled with lots of sparkles from Janice from Friendly Stitchers for our Christmas ornament exchange - and this is already up on my tree. This is also my squares for Nicky for F&S

i've been managing to do a little more stitching on a couple of other pieces but between working two jobs and overtime, getting sorted for Christmas and trying not to go insane , stitching time has been missing somewhat - still got a few days off over the Christmas period so will catch up then hopefully.

thanks for all your comments, always much appreciated

one has arrived

2008-12-06T08:20:00.004Z

Sent off a couple of exchanges what seems like ages ago, thankfully one of them has finally arrived - this was an exchange with Janice from Friendly Stitchers - i used a Sweetheart Tree design of a holiday fob, it turned out quite pretty..

Thanks for all the comments re finishing, so glad to know i'm not the only one out there who has a problem with it lol!

fingers crossed my F&S square will turn up soon. Now working back on my friend's baby sampler and a little Thomas the Tank engine which my wee boy has been asking me to do for ages - he was so impressed with his ornie that he now wants loads done! i will add WIP pictures soon..

hope everyone has a good weekend and aren't bankrupting themselves too much with christmas shopping.. bye for now

i don't like finishing

2008-11-20T20:28:00.005Z

Oh i really don't like finishing things off, I am just no good at it and i get into a right kerfuffle - anyway managed to get a couple of Christmas ornies done for the kids - from M designs - i actually started these last year but ran out of time so quite pleased that i am actually organised this year

Also got my F&S square sent off for the Christmas round and my ornament exchange for Friendly Stitchers - so will show pictures once they arrive with their respective owners.

Also got my friend's picture framed and took it up to her the other week - she was really pleased with it and it is now on display in her living room.. looks pretty nice i think..

Right now back to my rotation stuff...

over-excited!

2008-10-31T10:55:00.002Z

Well a few weeks ago i started entering lots of competitions, reckoned somebody's got to win them - anyway, it has come up trumps! I got an email a couple of weeks ago to say that we had won a family holiday to either Greece, Turkey or Morocco - i was a bit sceptical at first as you would be but then i realised i had actually entered this comp (it was through Lidl in associatio with Walkers crisps) and all the details matched up.

We decided on Turkey as we haven't been there before and everyone i spoke to said it was lovely - i've had a couple of emails since and we are just awaiting the booking confirmation to stay here - Arum Hotel -. We chose to go next summer in the school hols, so we are flying out 30th June from Glasgow for a week - I am so excited!!!!!

The kids had been asking if we were going anywhere but i had had to explain to them that we couldn't afford it for next summer, so this has just come at the right time - we've had a pretty crap year this year what with one thing and another so this couldn't have come at a better time - now i just need to win some spending money lol!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No stitchy pics to show at the moment - working on a couple of Christmas exchanges so they will have to wait till they have been received.. as it is the start of the month tomorrow i'll set some goals -

1. finish F&S christmas square and post
2. finish Friendly Stitchers exchange and post
3. start back on rotation - birth sampler, joe's stocking, Chatelaine St. Pete's

sunday stitching

2008-10-05T18:21:00.006+01:00

okay i have been sorely neglecting my blog for a while but with good reason, as i have actually been stitching and here is the final result

and here it is framed - it's for one of the doctors at my work who got married recenlty, she was supposed to be getting married in the Cayman Islands but a bit of a hurricane put that idea out and she ended up getting married in Mexico - thought i would do this for her though as she is really sweet and always get's us pressies at xmas...with my stitching time being a bit on the short side just now, i've just concentrated on this. I've a couple of updates on the others i'm working on - baby sampler for my pal (whose baby i have still not met, i must get up to Glasgow soon..) and christmas stocking for ds Joe which is so not going to be done for this christmas lol!

I can't believe september has been and gone, i definitely feel like i slept walked through that month - it's suddenly autumn and the leaves are falling - yesterday it was blowing a gale, chucking it down with rain and freezing cold and today lovely and sunny and blue skies, out picking out leaves for the kid's school projects - a lovely day has been had by all ( and now off to watch Strictly Come Dancing )

time to embrace my inner geekiness

2008-08-28T16:55:00.003+01:00

Okay it is time to make it official - i really am a geek! I have tried to deny it over the years but it just catches up with you eventually.. this has been revealed by the pleasure i have received by getting some new a-z index cards at work, and am happily sitting here updating all my files -i think it is time to go home and lie down in a darkened room. Now when it comes to be a neat freak with stitching stash, i feel that is a perfectly acceptable state of mind to be in but when it is work related i know i have turned a corner..

picked up this book last night at ASDA and started reading it last night - so far so good, it has hooked me enough that i will keep on with it tonight and completely ignore the family (as i see it though i am encouraging my children to read by showing them a good example lol). However i am itching to do some stitching and watch the last of Britain From Above that i sky+'d the other night so it may have to be squeezed in somewhere..

my baby sampler is coming on nicely - will post a progress piccie at the weekend..

I need chocolate

2008-08-21T10:21:00.002+01:00

Well - the kids have been back at school for less than a week and them getting up and ready in the morning is already driving me to distraction, then i get to work and it's not much better - why can people not follow simple instructions aaah! I think I need some chocolate just to calm me down lol.. and to add to it all I've had to be out every night either at meetings or work and so have hardly had a chance to get any stitching done, all I need is a half hour with my stitching and i am a totally relaxed person..

i hope you are all having a better week than me!

2008-08-17T10:04:00.007+01:00

Okay some photos to add - my lovely squares from Nicola which i am planning to make into my first pinkeep, they are so nice - thanks very much. This was my first exchange with Fair and Square and I am really pleased i joined - I think i'll sign up for Christmas as well.

I have a couple of other finishes to make up as well so i headed off to my LNS yesterday and picked up some batting and i think i will tackle this either next weekend or the following - now up until now my finishing always turns into a bit of a nightmare but having studied some tutorials I am feeling more confident! I just have to remember to have a little bit of patience ... not one of my virtues ..

next is a WIP update of my wee boy's Christmas stocking - all that stitching round the star drove me crazy..

and last is my completed round robin that arrived back a couple of weeks ago - this was stitched by the girls in Allys Round Robin - Lynda, Marguerite, Ally, Kaye and Karen - it's quite big and i haven't decided yet what to do with it - a pillow is looking like a good idea though..

so that's my stitching up to date - also nearly finished a little christmas ornament which just needs some beads added and started on the baby sampler and a bookmark - watching all the olympics is a great excuse for lots of stitching - these olympics have been great so far, go Team GB

It's my wee boys first day at school tomorrow so need to go sort out his uniform - Oh i can feel me getting emotional already lol!!

Thanks to all for stopping by and for commenting, always much appreciated.

a mini hd

2008-08-04T11:11:00.005+01:00

Well at last I have finished part 1 of Chatelaine St Petersburg, it's taken a while but has now enthused me to get on with the rest, however i'm working on Joe's Christmas Stocking at the moment, and waiting for the fabric and some more threads for my friends baby sampler..

I have also heard from my F&S partner Nicola that she received her squares so can now show them:

i adapted a pattern out of World of Cross Stitch, a mediterranean theme using yellows and blue and as i started it whilst on holiday in Menorca i thought it was very appropriate!

I would also like to thank Lynda for her Kreativ Blogger award - I will opt out of forwarding this on as I feel that I am pretty new to blogging but would direct you all to the blogs in my reader - as I read them all, I like them all lol!

I'm enjoying my few days off work - took the kids up to Glasgow last week to the Kelvingrove art musuem and museum of transport, they enjoyed themselves and then we headed back into Glasgow and stuffed ourselves at DiMaggio's (which kind of blew the whole cheap day out thing but was worth it lol!) , yesterday we headed down the beach for a walk and then dropped into Culzean which is a large country park just down the road from us as Joe loves the big park to play in. Today I think we are heading back down the beach as Neve wants to practice her bike riding while the sun is actually shining and might actually squeeze in a bit more stitching as well, I love being off work...

it is actually summer

2008-07-25T16:43:00.002+01:00

Well we have actually got a bit of summer around here - I've even had to get the fan on in the office as opposed to the heating - after work i plan to take a trip down the beach and see if the crazy golf is open, haven't played it for years and saw that it was back open a few weeks ago. After that i think a trip to Renaldo's for some totally yummy ice cream is in order... Hopefully this will last for a few more days as I'm off next week for a couple of days - my plan is to take the kids up to Glasgow and visit Kelvingrove Art Gallery and the Musuem of Transport - making the most of all the free places! i also have ideas of visiting Edinburgh or if it is nice maybe take the ferry over to Arran or Millport.. then i have to actually remember to get some school shoes before they all sell out - this summer is flying by and Joe will be in Primary 1 before i know it..

I was up in Glasgow on Sunday as I wanted to visit my friend Pauline before she had her baby - well i texted her to let her know i was on my way only for me to arrive to find her with bags packed and the annoucement that her waters had just broke! (she was only 36wks) So about turn we went and I somehow managed to find my way to the Royal Infirmary - omg it's a complete maze and i dropped her and bf off and then had to try and park and then find them again - finally caught up with them and then hung about for about an hour before she was seen - baby decided not to make an appearance then but did appear on Tuesday morning - so I will try and get back up and see her and baby Arran very soon... my sampler appeared yesterday so will have to start it sooner than i had planned!

On the stitching front i have finished my exchange and will get it off in the post this weekend hopefully, and actually did some work on Chatelaine St Petes - i am nearly finished part 1 now (only another 12 to go lol!) - I've also got a couple more of Neve's skating badges to put on before she starts back and then her brownie badges - considering i love cross stitch, i hate actual sewing so it always gets left behind.

Okay nearly time to finish work - yeah!!

Beach babes and baby sampler

2008-07-16T16:25:00.004+01:00

Thats the kids overlooking the beach at Cala en Porter and this is the baby sampler I've just ordered from The Historical Sampler Company - my friend is due a wee boy in August, so thought it was about time I actually started getting this together - I only just came across The Historical Sampler Company, there's some really nice stuff on there - I better put my cc away now....

Joe's graduation

2008-07-16T16:24:00.002+01:00

Just before we went on hols my wee boy had his graduation from nursery, it was really good, they had learned some poems and songs to sing - it was quite emotional though as that was my last time at the nursery, i've been going there for the last seven years between the two of them though have to say will not miss those fees! That's him now on his summer holidays and off to school in August - it all goes so quick...

post holiday blues

2008-07-16T15:48:00.002+01:00

Oh no - i've gone into post-holiday blues....it's that rubbish time when you're back at work and thinking "this time last week I was sitting by the pool, at the beach blah blah blah..." not sitting at my work with a very rubbish summer outside.. it feels like maybe I was actually on holiday for six months and came back in November not July. Oh well, will just have to live off rations for the next few months and save up for next time.

Still the holiday was good, we were in a wee town called Cala en Porter on the island of Menorca - it's up on a cliff top with a big long set of steps down to the beach, needless to say we didn't go down too often, the climb back up was a killer! We stayed in the Siestamar Apts which were pretty spacious and on the ground floor, with a playpark for the kids right across the way - good pools as well as we're not swimmers so we could enjoy them without drowning - always a bonus I feel.. good kid's clubs as well so the children were well entertained, actually managed to read quite a bit, got the paper every morning and actually read it and finished "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hoosein, and started on "When Christ and his Saints Slept" by Sharon Penman.. the only downside to the holiday was the actual cost out and about, with the euro being so bad at the moment and prices rising it turned out pretty expensive, mostly for drinks (3-4 euros for a beer and 5 for a spirit and mixer) - okay if you don't drink but i do like the odd shandy or whatnot occasionally - okay change that to a few bacardis to start with!

Don't think i would rush back to Menorca though as most of the resorts are quite small and though lively enough, i prefer to stay somewhere with a bit of character and real life about it, I do occasionally like to get out and about for a walk but this was lacking ...

I actually did manage to do some stitching though, started on my square for my Fair and Square partner, I've nearly finished the first square and will hopefully get started on the second next week - will get a picture up once i have sent and it has been received.

will also get some piccies of the holiday up, that's a job for the weekend though...

thanks for commenting as well folks - always appreciated..

that friday feeling

2008-06-13T13:58:00.005+01:00

Well I have made it to Friday again - oh the joy of a lie in tomorrow (well if 8am is classified as a lie in..) and not getting up for work and kids out the door - still busy as need to get the car cleaned, my wee boy's hair cut, house cleaned and maybe buy some food - it didn't look very exciting in my fridge this morning. need to get myself a bit more organised this week as the extra money I'm earning on my second job is getting spent on buying in food cause I'm too busy working to go shopping - kind of defeats the purpose of it all lol!

The cats are my part of Ally's round robin - they are Diane Graebner's cats and quilts - i chose them as well but my cats are still out there somewhere - I think they have one more visit before they return home to me - I'm now working on a couple of squares for Karen's rr which should hopefully be done in a couple of weeks and then that's me all done.. This is my second year with this rr and it's been great fun, a couple of hiccups along the way but everyone has had their robin returned - fortunatley we have a great bunch of gals involved..

However next year I think I will be selfish and opt out as I am finding I am out of time to work on my own stuff.

I have signed up for a Fair and Square exchange starting at the end of the month - have been looking out suitable patterns for that - mental note, must check i actually have the right fabric before i start - i plan to start it on my hols , I'm off to Menorca for a couple of weeks sun and relaxation in July - and looking forward to finding out my exchange partner..

finally answering some stuff...

2008-05-23T11:10:00.003+01:00

Okay a quick post to keep up to date. Stitching time has not been so good this week - am now working two jobs as mega skint and fighting with the local council over the withdrawl of our school bus and trying to keep the house together but last week I did make a start on my wee boy's Christmas stocking - will add photo when something decent to see lol.

Managed a couple of stitches in my Chatelaine but have decided to abandon my HAED Queen of Hearts - i still love it but at the rate ot stitching it that I am at (only managed a page and a hal half so far out of 49) it'll take me literally years to do and i feel that there are too many other gorgeous designs out there that i could spend my precious little time on... anyone else felt this way about a project?

so i will now concentrate on Joe's stocking, Chatelaine St Petes and the rr I am in. I have also signed up for Fair and Square round 8 which i plan to start on my holidays in July...

Couple of answers to Stitching Bloggers topics:

1. where did i get my blog name from - from a lack of imagination! But it does describe it, "does what it says on the tin"...

2. hoops frames etc. - I am definitely a hoop girl, have had the same lovely little wooden hoop for years (about 8" diameter), and find this pretty much suits everything. I have toyed with q-snaps but still go back to the hoop. I stitch on the sofa, or the chair or my bed so like to be pretty mobile...

As for my childhood years -born and bred in Scotland - really can't complain, had one mum, one dad, one brother, one sister and a couple of cats along the way..best friend lived over the wall and had a park across the street - perfect!!

a finish and a guilty pleasure

2008-04-22T12:53:00.005+01:00

Well another finish for 2008 - my DMC Japanese Anemones - really chuffed i finally got this done, now i just need to get it off to the framers at some point... am now working on a round robin (Ally's part - Cats & Quilts from Diane Graebner) which should be finished up this week and then I can get back on to my rotation...have finally got round to getting the fabric for Joe's christmas stocking and ended up with the recommended 18ct aida as I just couldn't afford to get 36ct evenweave at the mo (the only place i had seen a navy 36ct was silkweavers, gorgeous but pricey!!) - I haven't used aida for so long, will have to remember just to go across one!..

as per the topic off the week, i will have to admit to my guilty pleasure probably being watching "Neighbours", I've watched this for years and just love my 25mins of mindless tv... after a day at work and the kids nipping you, you can just switch on and tune out - bliss!! Oh and eating biscuits for breakfast - rubbish for the diet but fun all the same...

I hate cleaning my bathroom!

2008-04-09T11:14:00.001+01:00

This is my small but pefectly formed bathroom - which i hate cleaning! However i have to admit i had to give in this morning and get the cleaner out - it is now nice and shiny - how long that will last who knows lol! Other than that I don't mind housework too much - the only other chore i hate more is removing any little presents that my cat leaves in the garden (mice etc...) that is definitely a dh job!!

2008-03-30T09:23:00.004+01:00

Bath - As mentioned I was going away to Bath for a few days holiday last weekend - I should have learned by now that us travelling to Bath by car is always a disaster and par for the course the car broke down on the way there - thankfully we had only been going about an hour and a half but not one to do things by half the timing belt went - now for anyone who knows anything about cars, they will appreciate that this is not something you want to happen! thankfully I'm with the AA and they got us back to Ayr and as it wasn't too late in the day we thought sod it - we'll just rent a car and start again - so we eventully got to Bath about half past midnight with no more mishaps.

We had a great time when we there as we caught up with all the family and managed to get back to Scotland in one piece - needless to say I am now without a car for the next wee while and with a huge dent in my bank balance lol! Thankfully my friend is a mechanic and is fixing it for me at mate's rates or it would have down the scrappy for the car as a garage would just have been unaffordable..

Stitching stuff - On the stitching front though I've been working away on my DMC Japanese Anemones (see WIP above) for my friend (wife of my mechanic mate) as i really want to get it done - it's been kicking around for ages and to be honest I just want to see the back of it now.. so my rotation is off at the mo. And when i got back home I had a lovely little design I had picked up from The French Needle called Ribboned Pillow - www.thefrenchneedle.com/ribboned_pillow.htm waiting for me. That cheered me up a bit - nothing like a new bit of stash to perk you up..

Weight loss -I have just realised though that i stuck a weight loss ticker up a while back and omg it still hasn't moved - I think I better get my backside in to gear and do something about this - okay time to go and put diet head on i think!!

clowing around

2008-03-12T07:47:00.003Z

Well i got my little clown finished for Kaye's RR - will get it off in the post today. Going to carry on with my DMC Anemones now - it's driving me crazy as it is virtually all fractionals but I love the finished design and I am doing it for a friend so will persevere!

Off work today - yeah, of course it's chucking it down and blowing a gale - what did i expect though! Off over the easter weekend as well and driving down to Bath to visit the in-laws, hopefully the weather will have picked up by then, i could do without a long wet drive...as the last time i had to do that i wrote my car off by running into a tanker - oops!