Some stitching to report!

Hello everyone. It's nice to finally be here and be able to do a blog post. My, how the Summer keeps us busy! I have been keeping the children busy too as much as I can. We have spent most of the time having long, lazy lie ins and going out to see a museum or two once or twice a week. DD has been busy with her craft group once a week and also some workshops.

She made a sock puppet:

and some pots and Hama coasters:

I have felt much better this summer than any other I think and I believe it is because I have stopped putting pressure on myself to do so much and to not compare myself with other people. It has been nice to just chill and wander down to the local park and playground when the weather has been kind. I'll miss them when term starts... and I'll miss the lie ins too!

So here's a few snaps of what we've been up to.

We recently went to the Hatworks Museum in Stockport. A little gem of a place and it's free too. Nice little cafe that is reasonably priced as well.

I loved this felted den that was there. Fantastic!

So, onto some stitching news. It seems a while since I did a decent stitchy post so here's what I have been up to stitch wise.

Here's a little project that I have recently started. It is A Bird in Hand by Blackbird Designs. My online friend Karan gifted me this chart last Christmas and I love it! It took a while to get the thread ordered from Sewandso but finally the arrived. The thread is WDW Baked Apple. Doesn't that sound lovely?? Mmmmm Baked Apple. I could just picture the colour before it came.

See I have nearly finished it and then I will probably turn it into a cushion.

I received my ornament from the HOE Lizzie Kate ornie exchange through from Kathy and Rory the dog! I really love this and love how Kathy has stitched two designs back to back. Looks fantastic and really well finished too. Thanks Kathy!

I, also, have finished some more ornies to go on my stitching tree this year. These are both taken from the 2007 Just Cross Stitch ornament magazine.

This is also from the same magazine but it has gone to Cath as a piece of angel stitching as the chart went missing in our last round of Stitch and Pass it on. I added a few extras for her too:

So that's all the stitching news. I managed to get a picture of my brother with his crochet blanket on his birthday. I think he likes it although it is very hard to tell as he is severely disabled and doesn't show much emotion. The picture is not of great quality as I took it with my ipod whilst at my mum's.

So there you go peeps. That's me for now. Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer!

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HOE ornie

Just a quickie as Becky received my ornie in the HOE exchange and I have pinched her pic to show you all. Hope you don't mind Becky!!! I completely forgot to take a picture before I sent it off. Anyway, here is Becky's lovely pic showing the front and back.

Lizzie Kate Juingle ornie from Tidy Tidings chartpack.

A little update

Well hello peeps! It has been a while and I am okayish. Thank you for all your kind words of support. Things have not been great around here and the problems have been of the marital type. Stress and anxiety takes its toll on people and can make them behave in less desirable ways - not me by the way. So times are a little rough at the moment but it is good to keep positive and blogs are always a breath of fresh air to read and ponder.

I have been away. We took a little holiday to try and spend some time as a family during the first week of the UK summer hols. We went to one of our favourite places - a town called Abersoch in North Wales. It has some lovely beaches - a sort of mixture between sandy and pebbly.

We stayed in this beautiful place which was a converted stable and it was pure luxury. Just a five minute walk to the beach. Perfect.

The views were magnificent and Abersoch is famous for its sailboats.

We managed to get away on a few daytrips. One was to the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway.

Little lad appeared not to like all the noise coming from the noisy engines and whistle and had his fingers in his ears the whole way through.

He did manage to get one hand free though to do the signal change. Very important job that.

and doing this... both hands free by then!

So onto some finishes. I have finally a big Ta Daaa on my brother's blanket. Goodness it seemed to take forever to go round this rectangle. Fortunately, my mum had said she didn't want it as big as a bed size so I did it a bit smaller. I think the size is just right.

Ta Daaaa!!!

Jacqui's lovely double V edging:

It is his birthday soon in just a couple of weeks so I will be taking it up to my parents to give to him. Hope he likes it and doesn't throw it off his knee when I give it to him!!

Onto a little stitchy news now if you can bear with me...

Recently, Tina (no blog) and I have decided to do one stitchy Christmas ornie a month from last month till Christmas so that she and I can get some finishing practice in. One month I pick a design and the next month she does etc. I chose a really easy peasy one from Just Cross Stitch 2007 ornie ed. It's the Lizzie Kate one. I wanted it to be a quick one so that Tina could spend more time on the finishing. Here's mine:

I also have finished one for the HOE and sent it off and only just realised that I haven't taken pics grrrrrr!!!!!

But the ornie bug kind of got to me and I finished the stitching on this one from the same magazine:

Just need to finish this one.

Also I have been working on Dandelion Dreams which has been a pleasure to work on. Very simple design. I should be finished with this soon. I apologise for the usual unironed state of my wips!!

So that about all from me for now. Hubby is away for a couple of weeks now so should get lots of stitching done. Thanks for staying with me during my bad times.

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Hello peeps

Just a quick note to say I have been away and also been having a few personal problems at home which has kept me away from blogging. Hoping to get back to you with a goodish post soon. I haven't forgot you all!

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Last weekend...

I was pretty gobsmacked by all your lovely comments on my last post and it has taken me this long to write a new post! I was amazed at how many of us suffer from the same paranoia and low self esteem feelings. When I reread the post back, I think I came across as pretty negative so on the next post I'll try and be more positive!

Last weekend, hubby was away and so I decided to have a stay home weekend. We didn't do a lot so I decided to go round and take a few snaps of the little things. I didn't use my usual camera so I apologise now for the poor quality of the pics. I just thought it would be nice to have some snippets and snaps of ordinary life to look back on and remember. Here's some of what we did:

Lie ins were had on both days:

Brews were made and many of them. I love this Easter mug:

Crochet dens were made and played in and picnicked in too:

Cakes were baked - all by the kids themselves:

And Mummy had to try one of course:

I gazed over at my mess and thought I really need to tidy it up - still haven't :(

We watched telly:

We watched the rain:

We lounged on the couch whilst snuggling new but yet unfinished blanket:

We painted magic pictures:

Lunch was had - in my case was Tuna salad:

I got some lovely things through over the last few weeks. This came from Ann from Beadlework blog who had seen it on my wishlist and wondered if I would like to give it a new home. Are you kidding??? I love it. Thanks so much Ann.

Tina gave me these lovely charts and ribbons as a belated birthday gift! Love them.

Patti also sent me the first edition of Molly Makes magazine which I am thrilled with as I couldn't get hold of the of the first copy so thank you so much Patti!

I also started a rainbow rectangle granny blanket for my brother and this is where I am up to with it:

The problem is that I have ran out of a colour nearly at the end of a row but I carried on with other colours just stopping at the same point but I don't want to get into a huge tangle with it so I had better stop till I can get more wool. That'll be next month now. You may think it is rather bright for a boy and might be wondering why I haven't chosen blues or browns. The reason in that my brother is mentally and physically disabled and so I think bright colours will be a bit of therapy for him. I will post some pics when I get round to finishing it. It is his birthday next month and I am hoping to get some pics of him with it - hopefully smiling!

Well, that's all from me for now. I have finished a couple of Christmas ornies - I am starting early this year but one is for an exchange and one I just haven't got round to taking pictures yet. More will be revealed next time. Getting ready for the start of the Summer holidays.. yippeeeee!!!!!

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The "All About Me" Award Post

I was recently awarded with some bloggy awards. Thank you so much! It is truly an honour to receive them as you get to thinking that perhaps folks don't really like you or your blog so getting an award or in this case two is even better. I don't really spill the beans much on who I really am - I tend to focus just on the crafty side of things. I am way too afraid of rejection and tend to show more pictures than actual writing. Have you noticed that? Anyway, if you are at all interested in a few silly facts about me then read on.

Way back in May Heather gave me this award:

and more recently, Cuckoo gave me this one:

It takes me forever to respond to awards as I never quite know things to say about myself or really stuff I think I could say but shouldn't. So... with much thought and a brave face, here are a few facts about me.

1. After my incident with Heather last weekend, it really got me thinking that no-one would really recognise me if I walked down the street. Every picture I take of myself is different and weight gains and losses over the years, what with the unavoidable ageing process, shows me in a different light each time I snap. Most pictures of me are pants and not very nice so I tried my best to get a half decent one of me. Here you go:

oh go on then.. a full frontal:

Sheesh I really do look like I am getting old! So now if you do see me walking down the street you have no excuse not to say hello!

2. I have put a serious amount of weight on recently. A few years ago I lost a lot of weight and have put it all back on with more besides so it is a case of getting back on that old waggon again. And staying on! The Old Waggon in this case would be Slimming World - tried and trusted.

3. It seriously annoys me when people hide their loo roll in their house and you can't find it.

4. Although my dh and I are christians, we no longer go to organised churches. We have been too badly hurt and seen too many bad things going on. I do get "fellowship" in other ways though.

5. I'm very forgetful and can never think of the right word to use. The other week I had to ask my DD the word for "sunset". I had completely forgotten it. I am putting this down to tiredness.

6. Linked in with the tiredness is that I seem to suffer from .... thinking of the darn word..... INSOMNIA quite a lot. I have been put on tabs but they don't do much really and I can't take them when DH is away which is a lot. Not stressed about anything too badly - just can't switch off.

7. I have two older sisters and an older brother. My brother is mentally and physically handicapped and I am making him a blanket for his birthday. Pics soon.

8. I am a totally paranoid fruitcake and think that everyone hates me! Like I said, paranoid fruitcake. I am trying to get over this low self esteem thing by chanting, "I am unique, I am special, there's no one like me!". Not sure if it's working yet or not.

9. I have never been on an abroad beachy holiday. I have been to beachy places in this country but never abroad. I have been to Germany and Paris. I am not so great with heat and so laying in the heat for hours on end does NOT appeal to me. Geeps, this last few days in the UK have been bad enough for me. I am sure I should have been born in Finland.

10. I intensely dislike bloggers who never EVER comment on your blog even though you have probably written a hundred comments on their blogs. Yeah I know, we are all Blogging Without Obligation but just one comment! Come on.

Okay well, that's ten and that's enough. I will prob find half my followers gone by the morning now. I pass this on to all the blogs I follow cos you're all brilliant - you can see them in my profile. I think there are about 300 of them. So feel free to take the awards and use them.

Think I need a drink now. My nerves are shot.

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