September Roundup

Stitching Goals
1. Finish Happy Haunting - yes and it's safely with the framer
2. Work on Tempest - yep and it's all finished!
3. Work on Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag - nope
4. Work on Coeur de Brodeuse - nope

Stitching Finishes
1. Happy Haunting
2. Tempest

Quilting Goals
1. Make three bags - one made
2. Finish last jungle quilt top - nope
3. Work on Baby Jane - nope
4. Work on Tail Feathers - nope

Other Goals
Stash Reduction - a teeny tiny bit
Take pictures of my recent WIPs and finishes to share! - I did manage a few pics but not everything was included

Books Read
The Beach House - Jane Green
Dear Teacher - Jack Sheffield
Just a Family Affair - Veronica Henry
Smart Women - Judy Blume
Making Money - Terry Pratchett

New Stash Arrivals
Baby Jane month 6
Tail Feathers month 3
Picture This Plus FOTM
Just Nan - Spooky Tin
Just Nan - Counting Bats
SamSarah Baubles - J&K
Lizzie*Kate - Christmas by the Letter - RIST & MAS
JCS - Halloween Edition
Various bits and pieces of fabric

For someone who is supposedly on the wagon that's quite a lot of stash this month but most of them are auto ship commitments - my only real indulgence was Counting Bats.

Time certainly flies!

So here we are at the end of the second week of my new working hours and all I can say is it's fab! Lia and I have a great routine worked out for the mornings that means we're ready on time with no rushing and DH just gets himself ready and out of the house - his alarm goes off an hour before mine so he's usually gone before I get up.

All in all things slotting nicely into place. Lia seems to be making friends and is definitely happy at school. She was extremely chuffed on Wednesday because she was allowed to ring the school bell in the morning. She just went up to the Head Teacher and asked if she could do it and the head said yes.

I'm getting better acquainted with my new 'Mum Group' too which is nice. Three of the other four walk past our house on the school run so we walk home with them (I drive Lia to school as I have to get to work straight from there). Tonight we're going to the park after school and we've already started chatting about play dates. The all have girls too and they do all seem to get along (for now, I'm sure it won't be long before there's mini dramas between them LOL).

I'm also pretty sure I have most of the kids names now it's just putting them to faces. And then of course also learning Mums and Dads too - I'm thinking of starting a list.

Work is okay but busy - I've been out and about at lots of meetings recently which has added nearly 400 miles on my travel in the last two weeks so most evenings I'm completely knackered and just curl up on the sofa in front of whatever is on the TV. I have done a little stitching and am itching to get back to quilting so I'm hoping my energy levels start to pick up next month.

We have a busy weekend coming up - Lia's ballet tomorrow morning and then off to see friends then a School Church Service on Sunday morning after which friends are coming to ours. The school has a family service at our local church every third Sunday of the month which is very useful because the Greek Church / School runs every Sunday except the third Sunday of the month because they hold a Ukranian service on those days.

It seems that despite my position as a non-believer (or at least a non-believer in organised religion) I will be attending Church for quite some time to come! Still, I think it's important for Lia to have religion as part of her upbringing, especially the Greek part as she is so removed from that part of her heritage.

I've started looking around for swimming lessons for her - I am vaguely embarassed she's not learned to swim yet and it's all down to me not being that keen to be seen in public in a swimming costume which is dumb. So I intend to change my mental attitude and get her in the pool pronto. Whilst looking around for swimming classes I've discovered several gymnastic classes too so I'm wondering if she'd like to do something like that as well. Now we have a couple of hours free every afternoon it's a good opportunity to get her doing more things and several of the other girls do them as well.

Have a good weekend everyone!

My 100th Post of 2009

It's a shame I don't really have anything momentous to post about LOL.

Still, one of my 2009 goals was to have more than 100 posts this year so unless I suddenly disappear I have managed just that. I'm not likely to be twice as talkative as last year though - I think another 86 posts before Christmas is unlikely!

One thing I would like to bring your attention to though is a new Designers blog called Among the Gum Trees. It's a group of nine designers who have put together a blog to advertise their designs but also to provide lots of lovely freebies for us all. It only launched this week but there is already a massive give away from them all and from 5th October there will be weekly Christmassy freebies for us to enjoy.

Other than that life is just ticking along nicely. We're now half way through our first week of school and part time work and all is still okay. Lia was much more confident in the playground this morning and chattier with the other children. I'm not sure quite why but there's a very uneven mix of boys and girls in her class - only 5 boys and 22 girls! Shame they're four, I'm sure the boys would appreciate it more in around 10 years LOL.

Also today is the birthday of one of the other girls in the class meaning she's the first to turn 5. It's strange thinking that it's another nine months till Lia will reach that milestone (and 11 and a half months till the youngest little girl in the class makes it). It's not until now that I've really considered how that age cut off for school can potentially be a negative for some children - little Billy Jo (the baby of the class) is so tiny compared to the rest of her class and her Nan was telling me how she's completely whacked out after just half days school.

Thankfully it seems Lia will be okay despite being one of the younger ones - she is so used to long days at nursery that a shorter school day is a treat! Not that she doesn't get tired mind you - it was a really long day for her yesterday and she was pretty bushed by the time we got home. In fact she asked for a cuddle half way home because she was tired - almost unheard of from her.

Our new routine

Well it's day two of our new family routine and we're doing okay. I can get Lia to school and arrive at work with around 2 mins to spare and have enough time to park at home and walk round to collect her from school in the afternoon.

It's about a 10 minute walk to school from our house - 15 if Lia is involved - so it's nice for me to be able to walk and pick her up. It'll also be nice as there's a girl in her class who lives near us so we can walk home together.

I've settled down to part time hours very quickly although it was strange being home at 3.30pm - yesterday I was wandering around counting down the time till I needed to start dinner - I'm used to it being such a rush LOL. Today Lia is attending and after school club (skipping club) so I don't need to pick her up until an hour later than normal time which means I'll have an extra hour at home to amuse myself. Which probably means I will do nothing but procrastinate about how best to spend my time...

I've started networking with the other Mums. It's weird, we've lived in our town for 11 years now but neither of us has ever actually worked there so we've not built up a network of local friends. School is now an opportunity for us to do just that - Lia makes friends and we make friends. It also means I've got other Mums who can help out by picking up / dropping off if there is an emergency which is fantastic.

Lia's social calendar has already trebled in size with all the stuff for school plus ballet lessons and Greek school and I imagine once play dates and parties start happening she'll be busier than the pair of us put together.

So it's all ticking over nicely at the moment. I'm getting plenty of stitching in, although not a lot of quilting, so my WIP killing is coming along nicely. I have stopped stitching at work though as even though I have a 30 min lunch break it seems like I'm skiving if I sit and stitch given my day is so short.

Stash and Happy Dancing

Okay, so I finally got round to taking a few pictures.

Here are a couple of recent happy dances - a bag I made for a friend who is going to teach me to ice cakes in return:

Lia's school bag (and Lia on her first day of school!

Happy Haunting from Shepherd's Bush:

And now for my recent stash purchases (clickable of bigger pictures.

SamSarah Monthly Baubles J and K, JCS Halloween Edition, Lizzie*Kate Christmas by the Letter RIST & MAS, Heart in Hand last four Christmas Markings, LHN Winter Thread Pal:

Various bits and pieces of fabric I've picked up over the last week or so plus my Tail Feathers BOM:

Just Nan Spooky Tin, Pumpkin Jack Garden Pin, Counting Bats full kit:

September Goals

Stitching Goals
1. Finish Happy Haunting (it has to be sent to the framer by 28th September)
2. Work on Tempest
3. Work on Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
4. Work on Coeur de Brodeuse

Quilting Goals
1. Make three bags
2. Finish last jungle quilt top
3. Work on Baby Jane
4. Work on Tail Feathers

Other Goals
Stash Reduction
Take pictures of my recent WIPs and finishes to share!

Current Stitching WIP List
1. Teresa Wentzler - Tempest
2. Bent Creek - Snapperbets

3. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
4. Bothy Threads - Row of Christmas Fairies
5. Margaret Sherry - Santa's Journey Afghan
6. Stitchy Kitty - Snowman Trio

7. Shepherd's Bush - Happy Haunting
8. Glendon Place - Murky Manor
9. Tournicoton - Coeur de Brodeuse
10. The Cat's Whiskers - Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag

11. Just Nan - Four Wishes
12. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
13. Bent Creek - Snapperville Series
14. Ink Circles - Cirque de Cercles
15. Michael Powell - Handmade Houses 4

16. Stoney Creek - Noah's Sub
17. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet
18. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds
19. Dracolair - Dawn Awakening

20. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven Above
21. Shepherd's Bush - Be Attitudes Afghan
22. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan
23. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill

24. Lizzie*Kate - ABC Lessons
25. Lizzie*Kate - Christmas by the Letter