Secret Stitching and WIPs!

Not much stitching this week although I did manage almost 10 rows of page 1 of HAED TT letter J on Tuesday night. Monday night by the time DH and I had got back from the meeting/ talk at school I did not feel like stitching as I felt so ill. The talk was pretty dull I must say but there were some points brought up that we did not know about but it was pretty scary too thinking that at the end of uni Jess could be about £24,000 in debt!

Anyway back to my stitching! Here's my progress on HAED TT letter J. I do like the way this is stitching up. It's so easy to stitch with there being so little confetti and so few colours. I can see me actually wanting to keep stitching this and finishing it! Lol!

Last night I was a bit late sitting down to stitch by the time Abi and I had got back from her review evening, had tea, washed up etc so I only got the seahorse finished on Sea Stars and another one started. I was in bed at just gone 10pm which is not like me at all. I love this seahorse! He looks so cute! Karen how are you getting on with yours?

Now that I know everyone has received their little gifts I can show the secrets I finished! I wanted to stitch a little something for Chris, Lisa, Jane and Tracy for stitching on my RR and found the ideal thing when Jayne was doing pre-orders a while ago. So here is what I stitched! The picture does not do them justice though.

Twisted Oaks Designs M'Lady's Needle Nanny

Carrie's Creations Lumiere De Cheryl

Gifts for Chris, Lisa, Jane and Tracy.

Thank you for all your good wishes for the dentist. Unfortunately I am still none the wiser as to what is causing my jaw to swell but it's up more and I have felt terrible these past few days. The dentist was very thorough and was totally stumped! So I managed to get an appointment for the doctors the same morning and saw the same one I saw at half term. He decided he wanted to do blood tests to see if those will shed some light on what is going on so I went for those yesterday although I have to go back in 2 weeks to have one of them repeated. He said that if there is anything he will be in touch and the results should be back tomorrow. So I'm keeping my finger's crossed that I am simply fighting an infection of some sort and it's nothing more serious than that.

Jess enjoyed herself at university on Monday so much so she didn't want to go back to school on Monday! Lol! Let's see if she feels that way when she's there full time!

Abi's review evening went well. I did not feel like going but it's only once a year and as DH was working late and could not go I decided I needed to make the effort and I was so pleased I did. All the teachers Abi and I saw had nothing but praise for her and I came out feeling so proud:) Apparently the group she is in has quite a lot of children who really don't want to work and one teacher said that Abi and the group of girls she sits with have kept her going which I thought was lovely. I really would not like to be a teacher these days.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my Just Nan finish:) Your visits and comments mean so much {{{{hugs}}}}.

I'm going to hang some more washing out while it is fine. It keeps looking like rain!

Hugs

The Song Has Been Sung!

Last night I finished Just Nan Morning Song! Yahoooo!!! Lol! This has been an absolute pleasure to stitch and thank you so much Nic for stitching along with me:) Not sure if I'll start something else for a Sunday or just carry on with my rotation as it is for now. I'm tempted by the BBD Loose Feathers Rites of Spring but I may wait a while and try and finish something else first!

Just Nan Morning Song

SAL with Nic

Stitched on 28 count Jayne's Attic Count on Me Jonquil

DMC

Started 13th April 2008

Finished 22nd June 2008

I am going to the dentist tomorrow. As I said last week my jaw is swollen again. It was only half term the last time it happened and I went to the doctors and he said I could be fighting an infection but leave it and see what happens. This time I decided dentist first then doctors if they don't find anything. It's the 4th time it's swollen up but this time it's happened again quite quickly. I can feel it coming on when it happens and I must admit I don't really feel well. I keep getting all hot and bothered but that could be hot sweats due to my hormones but I haven't had those for ages! Oh well time will tell. Will see what my dentist says tomorrow.

Jess has gone off to Hull University this morning for masterclasses in Biology and chemistry so I'm hoping she enjoys it:) We've got a meeting at school tonight about applying for university etc then it's Abi's parents evening on Wednesday so we're going to be busy! Not sure I want to sit through this meeting tonight but it should only be an hour and we have no idea of the why's and wherefores of university so it'll be a big help; hopefully!

Thank God the high winds have dropped today. It was awful here yesterday and rather scary. I noticed lots of leaves and branches blown off trees when I was out earlier this morning.

Have a good week everyone:)

Hugs

Lisa's RR Take 2!

I have just put the final stitches into my second block on Lisa's RR and this one went so much better! I think I was just scared when I did the first one that I'd mess up with it being one over one on 28 count and I relaxed a bit more stitching this block. This is stitched over one on 28 count using DMC 99, which I have taken a liking to! So here you go Lisa:) I hope you like it:) This will be in the post to you this week:)




As promised here's my progress on Ink Circles Sea Stars. I am much happier with what I got stitched this time. It seemed to have been so slow of late but two motifs and a bit of a seahorse have made me happy!


That's all for today. I'm going to do some more stitching, cook tea, then get Just Nan Morning Song out:) It's a stitching day today as it's so windy out there!

Hugs

Lisa's RR:)

I have been stitching on my first block of Lisa's RR this week and for all it's a lovely piece it has been a bit of a long haul stitching this! Lol! I'm afraid I did have to frog one motif but it's restitched and all correct now so, as promised, here's a piccie for you Lisa:) I hope you like it. I've been restitching the motif and doing the backstitch whilst listening to Russell Watson this afternoon so I am happy and relaxed {{{{sigh}}}} He's got such a gorgeous voice.

No progress picture of Sea Stars yet as I forgot to take a picture yesterday and DH has gone to Donnington with his Dad and brother today to watch the Moto GP practice and qualifying so has taken his camera with him. I am happy to report, though, that I did make better progress this week and stitched two small motifs and started a sea horse!

Abi went back to school yesterday feeling much better than she did on Wednesday so that was a relief. She had a huge nosebleed last night just before she went to bed so I hope she doesn't have another one today. She is prone to them especially during hayfever season.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend:)

Hugs

An RAK From Michele:)

I was rather puzzled when postie brought me an envelope from Monique today. When I opened it up you can imagine my surprise when I found this inside:) It is one on Monique's gorgeous new threadholders which I was admiring on her blog. It is an RAK from the lovely Michele. Michele this was a wonderful surprise and an equally wonderful gift:) Thank you so much ( an email is on it's way to you) you have truly made my day and as I said in my email I wish you could have seen the smile on my face:) {{{{{hugs}}}}} I wish I could be as lucky as Edgar and meet you in person.

Just a quick post today. Abi is off school ill. She felt really sick early this morning. We're not sure if it's a bug or if it's the anti-inflammatories the doctor prescribed for her knee. I have a swollen face yet again so we make a good pair today. Plus my not-so-monthly monthlies are here yet again and I'm heavy again:( ( Now you see why Michele made my day). I'm off for a lazy afternoon of stitching, sitting with Abi:)

Hugs

WIPs and New Stash ( Naughty!)

Sunday night was SAL night with Nic on Just Nan Morning Song. I have really been enjoying stitching this piece as I love Just Nan band samplers and I am hoping to have this finished by the end of the month. I did actually cheat a little this week as I did not get much stitched on Sunday evening due to helping Jess to get her Sims 2 game working on her laptop so I did a little yesterday afternoon too:)
Last night was Bygone Stitches A Quaker Christmas and I managed to get a lot of another motif done but didn't quite get it all done as I was looking at the UCAS website with Jess and I ordered a parents guide and she ordered a prospectus for Hull University. Anyway here's my progress. I think if I keep this up I should have it on the wall in time for Christmas this year:) Teri asked what the red thread is I'm using. It's Carrie's Creations Old World Red and it is gorgeous:)

I had some new stash delivered today. OK I know I'm supposed to be being frugal BUT I fell in love with Chris' Judy O'Dell's Sampler Garden Casket that she has been stitching and have been umming and ahhing over whether to get it or not. I was originally going to sign up for the private group on the Just a Thought forum but then Chris emailed me to say Needlecraft Corner had the chart on sale. It was half price so I ordered that and the finishing instructions:) I don't know when I'll start it but it won't be for a while yet. I had a quick scan through the finishing instructions and all I can say at the moment is HELP!!! Lol!

I have one more place left on my PIF. Any takers?????

We spent Father's Day being very lazy:) DH has had some early mornings and some long days of late so he deserved a lazy day watching the motorbike racing on TV:) The girls brought him breakfast in bed:) Jess bought him the latest Neil Diamond CD and Abi bought him a Simpsons World's Greatest Dad mug with socks:) He and I don't exchange gifts; just send cards; but this year I decided to get him a little something. He loves the song Candyman by Christina Aguelira but I couldn't find it in the UK and found it was never released here as a single CD so I downloaded it from MSN and burned it onto a CD. Jess made a cover for it and he was delighted:)

Thank you for your kind comments and hugs on my last post. For all it's 23 years ago I still find it hard at times without my Mum here.

Hugs

23 Years Ago

23 years ago today my beloved Mum passed away. I miss her so much. There is so much I wish I'd told her; so many things I wish I'd done. All she wanted was to see me married and to have grandchildren. Well, Mum, I am sure you were with me the day I got married ( the sun shone after an awful rainy week) and I know you will be so proud of your two grandaughters. God bless you and keep you safe:)

Tomorrow would have been my Mum-in-law's 69th birthday. Have a happy birthday up in heaven, Pat, with your parents and brothers. Don't drink all the gin:) She was my "surrogate" Mum and such a wonderful person. The photo shows her on the right with her older sisters and brother.

Both of them taken too soon. Hug your Mums and remember to tell them how much you love them and appreciate them.

Saturday Stitchy Updates

At last here I am with the promised updates of my stitching this week:) I had planned to do an update yesterday but it ended up a busy day so I didn't get much time on the PC.

As always Monday evening is Bygone Stitches A Quaker Christmas which I absolutely love stitching on:) I always seem to make good progress on this obviously because I love it so much! I am hoping to have it on the wall for Christmas so I need to stitch on! Lol! I do love this red thread and would definitely use it again.

Tuesday night I decided to join in the Tiny Treasures SAL on the HAED forum so that I can make weekly progress on my letter J for Jess. Which reminds me I must post my progress on there too although I rarely post or go on the forum these days. I am happy with the progress I made just for one night:)

Wednesday night was SAL night with Karen on Ink Circles Sea Stars but not a lot of progress was made due to having visitors so just one small motif done for me this week!

Yuko and Ruth have signed up for my PIF so I am really pleased:) Can you both please email me ( email is in my profile) your addresses. I still have one place left so please do sign up:) I love making stitchy pieces for people.

Thursday evening I made a start on Lisa's RR. It is a lovely piece and the colour Lisa has chosen is gorgeous.

Yesterday I received the latest Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers chart with fabric. This one is called Blessings and Kind Wishes and it is gorgeous; my favourite one so far. It also has the first two parts of the mystery sampler. These are stitched on seperate pieces of fabric then stitched together. Anyone know what the idea of that is??? I know they can all be stitched on one piece of fabric so I may well do them that way. I haven't even started the LF 30 yet and I had planned to have each one stitched before the next one arrived! Lol!

That's all from me today. Thank you for all your lovely comments on my pinkeep with pocket for Andrea:)

Hugs

PIF For Andrea and New PIF Sign- Ups:)

Well I am not really supposed to reveal this until 23rd June as this is what I stitched for the S&S SAL challenge this time BUT I am so proud of how I finished it off I am just bursting to show you! Lol! I hope Karen won't whip me with wet floss for revealing early! LOL!

As you may remember this round of PIFs I chose to send out randomly as there didn't seem to be many people signing up for them in blogland. Sammy Jo received the first one and this time I decided I wanted to send Andrea something. If you are a reader of her blog you will know she has the most amazing stitching and finishes and I have been so lucky to have been sent one of her beautiful Christmas gifts as well as some SB needleroll charts. Anyway this is what I stitched and finished for her. It is a pinkeep ( minus the pins as I liked it without!) with a pocket in the back and it's the first time I've done the pocket in the back. I have Staci to thank for this finishing technique as I saw it on her blog:) Andrea received it yesterday and I had a lovely email thanking me for it. I am so pleased you like it Andrea:)

Blue Ribbon Designs Acorns and Owls ( free design found at http://www.blueribbondesigns.com/)

Stitched with DMC

I have one more PIF to do SO I noticed that Monique was taking PIF sign up victims on her blog so I signed up! So this is how it works. If you would like to receive something made by me within the next 365 days please comment on this post to say that you are interested. The first three will receive something:) In return you post the same offer on your blog. Simple and a lovely way of spreading joy in the stitchy world:) This is the third one I've signed up for and it's great fun.

I received Lisa's RR from Chris yesterday and it is just so pretty. This is the last one to stitch on and I can't believe how fast it's gone! It hardly seems like 5 minutes since we made a start back in January.

No other stitchy updates today as I want to stitch on Sea Stars tonight before I show you my WIPs pics. Monday evening I stitched on AQC and last night I decided to join in the Tiny Treasures SAL on the HAED forum and stitched on the letter J.

Thank you for your continued visits:) I appreciate them so much:)

Hugs

Stitching and A Bit of Stash

At last here I am with an update! I don't know where the latter end of the week went but never mind!!

Karen and I changed our night on Sea Stars so I stitched on it Wednesday last week and although I doesn't look like I got much done I did finally finish the motif I was stitching on so will be able to move onto another one this week:) I think we'll be stitching on this all year but it will have been an enjoyable stitch:) Of course it's always nice when you have someone to stitch along with.

Last night was my SAL night with Nic on Just Nan Morning Song. I was more successful this week than I was last week and am onto the sheep band. My sheep are going to be black-ish because white is not going to show up too well on my fabric and I think they look OK so far. This is such a fun one to stitch.

I have been stitching other bits but I can't show you those yet. One is a PIF which I posted today and the others will get shown eventually! I now have one more PIF to do and plenty of time to do it in:) I have also made a start on the biscornu for the secret exchange on S&S. I have plenty of time as post out isn't until July.

Saturday I had a wee bit of stash through the post:) A while ago I won a contest for Brightneedle Tall Trees on Nic's blog and she also sent me SB School House needleroll chart so that's another one to my little collection:) Thank you Nic:)

Jess finished her exams last Wednesday so is now off until next Monday. Wednesday afternoon she got a phone call from the head of 6th form to tell her she'd been nominated for masterclasses in biology and physics at Hull University:) We were all so pleased for her. Anyway she had to go into school the next day to read the leaflets and decide what she wanted to do. The biology and physics were at the same time in the morning but because she'd been nominated she could pick any masterclass so she decided on biology in the morning and chemistry in the afternoon. It'll give her a taste of what university will be like and will look good on her UCAS forms when it comes to applying for uni:)

It's hot, hot , hot here and I'm afraid I don't like it this hot! I'd be happy with the sun shining but a little cooler than it is!

I am way behind on blogs yet again so am going to spend a bit of time catching up then I might be very lazy this afternoon and sit and stitch.

Have a great week everyone!

Hugs

A Surprise and Finally Some Stitching!

I received an envelope from the USA this morning and couldn't for the life of me work out what it was! I looked at the return address and it was from Ranae When I opened it I found this treasure wrapped inside:) Isn't it gorgeous? She says she sent me this because my blog is special to her and I keep her inspired which made me feel on top of the world and happy:) Thank you so much Ranae. I will be hanging this piece somewhere I can see it all the time:)

I did finally manage some stitching last night although it was not much as I didn't actually sit down to stitch until about 9.30 last night. So Just Nan Morning Song came out and here is my little bit of progress.

Tonight I hope to be back to stitching properly! Karen and I have changed our night on Ink Circles Sea Stars so we're now stitching on it either Wednesdays or Thursdays. So it'll be SS for me tonight all being well:)

We've been three evenings messing about with PC's but we have ( finger's crossed) got it all sorted now. The router is up and running, we've run the network wizard and got that sorted although Zone Alarm firewall caused us headaches but we got there in the end. So now we can access shared files on either PC and Jess' laptop and share the printer. Phew! It took some getting there so we're now hoping that it'll al work next time her laptop and the other PC are turned on!

Thank you to all of you who continue to visit and to those of you who leave such lovely comments. I treasure each and every one of them:) I am slowly catching up reading and commenting on blogs and hope to get caught up completely today:)

Hugs

Secret Needleroll Exchange Take 2!

Now that partners have been revealed for the S&S secret needleroll exchange I can now reveal the needleroll I stitched and sent to Dusty ( Helena).

Little House Needleworks Faith Hope Love

For victims of Hurricane Katrina

Stitched with DMC

Dusty was very happy with it and the more I look at the picture the more pleased I am with it so I think it's a thumbs-up all round! Lol! I also included a couple of Carrie's threads.

And I can reveal that the needleroll that I received was stitched by Nels ( Jayne N). Thank you so much Jayne:) I absolutely love it and it's on the mantlepiece in my living room where I can see it:)

No Just Nan Morning Song update today as I didn't stitch at all last night. I may stitch on it tonight instead. The reason for no stitching??? Hmmmm! DH and I went to PC World yesterday to have a look at wireless routers and ask lots of advice etc. So we ended up buying one with the hope it would be nice and simple to set up. Well it probably would have been had the set-up instructions on the CD been more comprehensive but we fell at trying to get the router to talk to the PC! After much reading and trying to work out what we were doing wrong we settled on ringing the support number ( guess whose phone bill will be ever so slightly higher this time!). We eventually got sorted and said router is now working and we have Jessica's laptop and the girls' desktop PC working off it too. Then I hit a snag when I tried to open Outlook Express and retrieve emails as it kept trying to log into the old modem which we'd disconnected! We tried for ages to work out what we needed to do, rang support again, nice helpful bloke ( not!) decided he couldn't help us and we'd need to ring our ISP! To cut a very long short we eventually looked on our ISP's website and found the answer and now it's working! Phew! In the meantime I'm downloading and setting up virus protection and a firewall for Jess' laptop then a huge 64 MB of updates for Windows!! The only thing we can't sort yet is getting her access to the printer via our PC so I don't know what we're going to do there. I think I shall maybe email someone who is good with computers!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Hugs