a mini hd

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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!!