A month of posts!

Well I set myself a goal to post every day for January and I've made it! Obviously posting WIP pics has helped a lot but I wanted to get myself back into the habit of blogging after being so lazy about it last year.

I don't think for a minute I'll be keeping up with a post a day for the rest of the year but I do have a lot of WIPs that I haven't added yet (32 stitching WIPs plus various quilting and sewing ones are probably a couple of months of posts on their own) so I may manage it for a while longer and certainly want to keep up with two or three posts a week.

Looking back on January I've managed to keep up with my 2011 goals quite well:

1. Blog more - I couldn't have blogged less this month LOL
2. No stash purchases - yep none at all
3. Reduce my stitching WIP list - one HD so that's a yes
4. No new stitching starts in the first half of the year - check
5. Find the quilting bug again and reduce my quilting WIPs - I did get my sewing machine out so that's a good start
6. Read at least 50 books - 4 read in Jan
7. Reduce the clutter in the house - yep stuff has gone
8. Lose weight - 3lb down which isn't a lot but I only really started in the last week or so
9. Stick to the household budget and find ways to reduce expenditure - absolutely
10. Work on the garden - not this month so a fail here.

All in all a pretty good month.

In addition to the above in February I have set myself the goal of sell, sell, sell! We're trying to raise cash from what we have to put towards paying for our big party in April so I need to get my finger out and put things on eBay, in the paper, etc.  I have no idea how much I'll make from it all but anything is a step up!

Books 3 and 4 read

Well given it was the first two Harry Potter books I don't suppose I really need to review them - if you haven't read them by now I would imagine it is unlikely you will and if you have read them you certainly don't need me to tell you what I think LOL. This post is more of an aide memoire than anything else. I am back on adult books again now though.

Comment Questions

I'm never quite sure what the etiquette is for responding to comments - do you do it in the comments box?  Or message the person?  Or respond in a post?  I have no idea.

Anyway Ailsa (Not Enough Time to Craft) asked a question so I shall answer it here:

I usually get my Stash from Drema at Needlecraft Corner.  It's not the greatest website out there but I've never had bad service and things are shipped quickly.  They have most new releases and more often than not will do special packages for popular designs including custom cuts of fabric, etc, oh and they do autoships of chart series as well of which I have had plenty over the years LOL.  They also have a birthday club where you get extra discount for orders in your birthday month (you tell them the month when you make your first order). 

What they don't have is the ability to pay online but I chose to agree to them having my cc number on file so when I made an order they would just charge it and I have had absolutely no problems with that in the five or so years I've been a customer.

Whenever there is a design I want I always check with Drema first and she can usually get it if they don't have it (they have a bricks and mortar store too).

Also, Lesleyanne - if you want I can send you the code for doing the tabs, it's a nice simple one...

And whilst we're on the subject I'd like to thank all of you for your comments, it's been nice to know that, despite my abysmal blogging record last year, people are still reading!

Halloween Night HD!

So here's my first HD of 2011 - Halloween Night by Shepherds Bush.

It's stitched on the recommended 20ct Cappuccino WDW Linen using Weeks, GAST and Crescent Colors with buttons from JABC. It was quite a quick stitch (3 over 2) but all the back stitching in the top section was a big of a pain! The fabric is more yellowy IRL - it's a bit washed out thanks to the flash.

Handmade Houses 4

Another Michael Powell. I've finished one of these already but there's five in this series so still three and a half to go...

Yes another new template

I apologise, I'm playing around and will continue to do so as I like this template but there are things I want to tweak. I love the header image and the links bar (which will become more populated as I get more organised) but there's lots of styling of text and things that I want to change.

I'm also missing my swirls from the previous template so I might try and see if I can include them in here in some way. I do this kind of thing for a living so it shouldn't be hard, it's just finding the time!

Heaven Above

Another pitiful WIP (and bad photo!) - Heaven Above by Midsummer Night Designs

Pirates

Conversation with Lia this morning:

Lia: there's a pirate in my class
Me: really?
Lia: yes and she lives in Pirate Land
Me: who?
Lia: Sapphire
Me: oh, ok, did she tell you she was a pirate?
Lia: no
Me: so how do you know
Lia: well her parents are pirates and so they must live in Pirate Land and Sapphire lives with them
Me: hmmmmmmmmm, they're not really pirates you know
Lia: but they dress like pirates so they must be

So any advice please on how to explain Goths to a five year old? LOL

We're no longer pet owners!

So we've said bye bye to Toast, Crumpet, Sesame and Muffin, aka the family guinea pigs as they've gone off to a family who have more time to give them than us. I am relieved as I was beginning to feel awful about the lack of time we could give to them so I know it's the right decision.

I am also relived because Lia dealt with the whole situtation really well - she was a little upset but there were no tears or anything and I think she's pretty much forgotten we even had them now.

They were cuties though

2nd Week Survived!

Well that's the end of week two back in reality and I've just about survived LOL. Unfortunately for us Connor's teething and cold have meant some broken nights or early mornings which means I've been heading to bed early most nights. This in turn has meant very little stitching or reading has been done which is a tad disappointing but there's nothing I can do about it.

That said, I'm hoping to have my first 2011 happy dance this week as Halloween Night has proved to be a quick stitch so I'm not that far off finishing. I also had the urge to dig out my Harry Potter books for a re-read - I usually find that I turn to easy reads when I'm tired - so I'm half way through Philosopher's Stone.

Budget wise we're doing really well when it comes to sticking to the rules and I can see the difference in how wasteful we are (or rather aren't) already. I've started playing a game with myself to see how much I can shave off the budget each week so I'm finding penny pinching rather satisfying LOL.

The not so great news this week is that we have possibly found someone to adopt the guinea pigs. In reality this is good news but we'll all be sad to see them go. The lady in question is coming this afternoon and bringing her guinea to make sure they all get along and if they do then she's going to take all of ours...

Coeur de brodeuse

Yet another WIP (I will eventually post all 30) Coeur de Brodeuse by Tournicoton. Another one that is on the 'to finish in 2011' list.

Noah's Sub

This one is probably going to end up for grandchildren rather than kids!

Teeth

The tooth fairy is extremely busy in our house at the moment - Lia lost her second tooth last week and her top two are now wobbly. Connor is still on the gaining side of things - number 3 came through on Saturday and number 4 is expected any day now. He's drooling for England again but also unsettled at night which isn't great, nor is his sore little bum, the poor boy.

Lia's teeth came through with so little hassle that often we didn't realise she'd got any new ones but obviously we'll experience each and every tooth with Connor LOL. Typically they're coming through just as I'm back at work so can't catch up with any sleep during the day which means I've been yawning at my desk for the last couple of days.

DebBee's - Hot Stuff

Here's a canvas work that I've been doing - anyone who knows me will tell you this colour scheme is just perfect for me!

Ink Circles - Cirque de Cercles

This has been a WIP for quite some time despite me loving it. I think it's because it just doesn't stitch up that fast on the black but last time I picked it up I used an additional light and that helped a lot. It's stitched on 28ct Black Murano using Silk n Colors 'Aurora's Flame'

I love Sundays

Ever since Lia was born, or at least ever since I stopped breast feeding Lia, we've had a weekend lie-in rule in our house. Basically each parent gets one morning where they get to stay in bed as long as they want with absolutely no responsibility for children or any sarky remarks about length of sleep from the other parent. It even extends to the fact that if the kids are up the night before (admittedly a rare occurrance in our house) the one who has the lie in has to get up to them as opposed to normal week days when getting up is taken in turn.

So the way things work now we are four is that Sundays is my lie in day and it's great. Even if I'm awake I don't leave the bedroom until 10am as I read in bed (which is probably the world's single most underrated pastime). Lia now has Greek school on Sundays between 11am and 1pm so I leave the bedroom in time to get across to the shop to buy a newspaper before they go and then I give Connor a bottle that zonks him for around 2 - 3 hours. Yes, the same 2 - 3 hours that Lia and Leon are out of the house. Do you begin to understand why I love Sundays?

Oh yes, a super lie in followed by two and a half hours of blissful me time. Usually spent pootling about, maybe stitching, having a nice peaceful lunch whilst reading the paper and generally enjoying the total quiet of the house.

I've never understood why other parents don't do this. I know one or two families that do but generally all the parents I know the Mum is always the one that's up on weekends. More than one moan that their husbands don't do enough but follow it with the fact that they don't trust their husbands to feed the kids the correct thing or get them dressed or generally do things right. Sod that, I am more than happy to settle for breathing and quiet and if they're fed rubbish and still in their pjs I absolutely don't care because I've had enough sleep to be chilled about it.

You may ask why I've been wasting my time posting this on my 'me' day but the truth is I wrote it out yesterday morning at 7am when I was up with the kids and DH was snoring in bed - I just scheduled it to post today LOL.

My first week

Well it's been a week of ups and downs really. Going back to work wasn't the horrible experience people seem to think it would be - I adore my children but I also am comfortable with leaving them at a nursery as I know they get loads more stimulation and fun than they get at home. Thankfully Connor has been as easy as his sister was when it comes to integrating into a new routine and he's been happy and settled at nursery (although he is ridiculously happy to see me at pick up time which helps a lot!)

I've been in my current job for nine and a half years plus it's a part time role so I'm only in the office 5 hrs a day so it's a comfortable environment to slip back into and I'm not going to be overly tired as I'm not working too long hours as well as being a Mum.

On the other hand things have changed in the last 10 months, people have moved on, there are new faces and, most importantly for me, a new team has been integrated into our department and I am going to become part of them. This means a new boss (who will report to my current boss but I'm not the one being demoted, my new boss is to a more supervisor role). To be honest it's not a surprise and it will possibly end up being good for me as I am being offered the opportunity to move my role into a project / account management one whilst still keeping some techie involvment. For those that don't know I build web sites and work with SharePoint but whilst I am techie I am not a code hound so this will be perfect for me. Also, I work for the NHS which is in a constant state of flux and one never knows exactly when one might be looking for work so Project Management skills will definitely be an enhancement to my CV.

We've had to do some serious work on our budget this week as things just didn't add up. We knew money was going to be tight but our problem is the unexpected expenses - this week the TV stopped working which was money we hadn't planned for. So, trimming everywhere we can was called for and unfortunately one very hard decision we had to make was to rehome the guinea pigs. We've had them for two years so it was not an easy decision but they cost us the equivalent amount as Lia's ballet and swimming lessons so if it comes to a choice of one or the other then unfortunately for the small furry ones they come second. I've put some feelers out to various places but I imagine it'll take a while before we manage to rehome them.

I have enjoyed my week though, mainly because the routine worked as smoothly as I hoped so life shouldn't be too stressful with running around. Yesterday morning I had to fit a blood test in before work and we managed without anyone being late.

Also I've managed to do quite a bit of stitching and reading this week so that's another success. If I could only get motivated to get the sewing machine out life would be perfect!

Book 2 - Family Album

So last night I finished book 2 of 2011 - Family Album by Penelope Lively - another of my christmas book token purchases.

Again she appears to be a prolific author but I've never read any of her books before. It's about a family and their memories of events from the past. There are six children, their parents and an Au Pair who has stayed for 30 years and we get to see events of the past through the memories of the children and occasionally the adults.

The house that the family live in is actually the centre piece of the story and we are drawn to see the house as the central character of the novel rather than any of the humans.

I did enjoy the book but the 'family secret' mystery wasn't exactly difficult to guess and also at the beginning it is quite difficult to keep track of all the character names. However it was an interesting concept as the author was trying to show how events of the past are coloured by the person that remembers them not by the facts of the event. Some of the characters were really well drawn but I think we missed out because the 'adults' weren't quite so explored as people as the children and I would have liked to have had a bit more of an idea of how they viewed events, especially the father. Having said that I think the father was the most stereotypical character in the story and, as such, the one who would be most difficult to expand.

Definitely one I'd recommend though.

Blog hopping

Is a very dangerous pastime LOL.

I spent a great hour yesterday hopping from one blog to another and 'following' them all. Now I have so many blogs to read I'll probably never do anything else again and I'm not finished yet as I know there are blogs I read that I haven't found again.

Still, I'm getting there with the list and am enjoying myself by drooling over all the lovely projects there are out there and all the fun everyone has with their hobbies. Talking of which have you seen this?

It's just gorgeous but I am strictly abiding by my rules so it's gone on my wish list for now. I have to say though if I had a piece of fabric the right size I'd be tempted just to stitch the freebie border part until I could afford the whole piece LOL.

Bent Creek - Snapperbets

Another WIP pic - this is on my 'to complete in 2011' list. It's stitched on the recommended fabric with GAST and WDW

New Template

Well this is one of the three templates I like - the easiest to apply because it doesn't need any images etc tweaking by me so this is the one I'm going with for now.

As you'll see I've started repopulating my blog list but it's going to take a while now I have a lot less time on my hands because I'm back at work...

Normal Service has been resumed...

I'm writing this from my desk as I am now officially back at work!

It took two hours for me to get logged in to my PC then a further 15 minutes to get my emails (all 800 of them) and now I'm just about to have lunch and read the paper. Oh and of course I'm working really hard by updating my blog.

So after 10 months no real change LOL

Halloween Night

This is one of the WIPs I 'found' after posting my original list. I just love Shepherd's Bush Halloween designs so was drawn to pick this one up again and when I did I discovered it needed some frogging (which is probably why I put it down LOL). Anyway I have frogged and done a bit more stitching on it but only a couple of evenings. It's stitched on the recommended 20ct Cappuccino WDW Linen using GAST, WDW and Crescent Colours. It's taking me a while to get used to such a low count fabric (it's stitched using three threads) but as it uses JABC buttons if I used a higher count fabric the buttons would be too big...

Oh and one day I might just learn to take decent photos!

No freaking way!!!!

I've lost my blog list! It's totally gone! I was playing around with a new template last night so it may have been that but I didn't apply it or anything, I just previewed it.

Bugger! Typical when I've just deleted all my blog links from my favourites and haven't yet set up following.

Bugger, bugger, bugger!

Edited to add - if you have a blog or want to recommend any blogs please feel free to put links in my comments. I need to look at this as an opportunity to expand my blog reading rather than an excuse to extend my swearing capabilities...

Noah's Compass - Anne Tyler

Without fail every birthday and Christmas DH gives me a book token. This doesn't show a lack of imagination on his part though as he does it because he knows it's my all time favourite present (yes, even more so than stash) and has been since I was very young as I like nothing better than browsing for books. When we were kids my Mum used to take my bro and I to town and the local book shop was our creche as she could leave us there and nip off to do her shopping knowing there was no chance we'd leave the shop. On the rare occasions we didn't get left at the book shop it was the library LOL.

Anyway, one of the biggest book shop chains here in the UK has a constant '3 for 2' offer on books and I am a total sucker for it - I pretty much always come out with 6 books (and, in more solvent times 9 LOL). This year was no different as I used my Christmas token and a bit more to come out with 6 books (although one of them was The Wombles so I can take some Mummy credit for thinking of the kids).

I almost never read book reviews so base my purchasing on the blurb on the book cover. Also for a complete bibliophile I am terrible at remembering the names of authors, even ones I've enjoyed in the past. Other than Pratchett, Adams, Tolkein and Eddings I'm pretty clueless and I never understand why as I'm usually an extremely organised person. Oh and just because those are all fantasy type writers please don't think I only stick to that genre, that was just my early and enduring favourite one.

So, Noah's Compass. This is now my first finish of 2011. I've never ready any of Anne Tyler's books before so can't compare it to any earlier novels (subsequent reading of Amazon reviews seem to suggest earlier books are felt to be better by some readers) but it was an okay read. Nothing spectacular though as I felt it kind of lost it's way somewhere in the middle and left me a bit 'oh, okay' at the end. It sets up a mystery that ends up not being relevant to the story in the way you would expect and I found the two central characters not that likeable.

To sum up, I'd say read it if you're given a copy or get it from the library but maybe don't use your Christmas book token on it...

My boy!

Well he'll be nine months old tomorrow and our lives will be getting into a whole new routine from Monday as I'm back to work and he'll be at nursery.

In honour of this milestone I thought I'd show you a couple of recent(ish) pictures so here you are:

I've just dropped him at nursery for his first proper taster session (we went yesterday but I didn't leave him). He's there for an hour today and two hours tomorrow before starting full days on Monday. Most days I'll be dropping off and picking up on the way to and from school with Lia so his day there will start at 8am and finish at 3.30pm. He really enjoyed being around the other children yesterday so hopefully he'll settle in very quickly.

Just before we left this morning he sat himself up for the first time. He's been almost doing it for the last few days but just not pushing himself to go from leaning to upright. He's been crawling since New Year's Eve and is getting better at it every day - he has an absolute fascination with cables so my time is now spent herding him away from them and nagging DH to move them out of his reach (we have way too many electronic gadgets).

He still only has two teeth (top middles) but I can definitely feel the bottom ones in his gums and he's dribbling like crazy so I imagine they won't be long. Also we're in the middle of his first proper cold so between dribble and snot he's a very damp little boy at the moment LOL. He's pretty much okay in himself with the cold but he's had a couple of disturbed nights due to coughing which has come as a shock to all of us (well except Lia as she never wakes up).

Generally he's just a happy little soul who eats, plays and sleeps well. He still sucks his thumb when he's tired which is totally cute but I'm sure in the future I'm likely to post about how hard it is to get him to stop. All in all we've definitely been blessed as he's the best gift the three of us could have wished for.

Total WIP denial!

Well I guess it was bound to happen but I've found yet another two WIPs whilst stash diving. That brings the total to seven additional WIPs discovered this year so far LOL. I'd like to say they are definitely the last ones I have but I guess I shouldn't just in case as I thought the list I posted with 25 WIPs on was definitive...

So I'm now much more leaning towards trying for no new starts this year as I really need to get my WIPs down to a more managable number than 32. 32!!!!! To be fair I've had more than that on the go before but the very fact I had forgotten about seven of them shows I've got too many. I've reposted my WIP list below with the additions plus I've organised it a bit. The first group are the ones I hope to finish this year, the second group ones I want to make good progress on and the third group ones I think I probably won't get round to in 2010.

1. Bent Creek - Snapperbets
2. Bothy Threads - Row of Christmas Fairies
3. Dimenions - Noah's Ark Quilt
4. Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat
5. Tournicoton - Coeur de Brodeuse
6. The Cat's Whiskers - Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
7. Stitching Kitty - Snowman Trio
8. Polstitches - Beaded Heart Biscornu
9. Anchor - Baby Sampler
10. DebBee's Designs - Hot Stuff
11. Just Nan - Counting Bats
12. Wool Tapestry Butterfly Cushion
13. Lizzie*Kate - Halloween Sampler
14. Shepherd's Bush - Halloween Night

15. Margaret Sherry - Santa's Journey Afghan
16. Glendon Place - Murky Manor
17. Just Nan - Four Wishes
18. Bent Creek - Snapperville Series
19. Ink Circles - Cirque des Cercles
20. Michael Powell - Handmade Houses 4
21. Lizzie*Kate - ABC Lessons
22. Lizzie*Kate - Christmas by the Letter
23. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride

24. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
25. Stoney Creek - Noah's Sub
26. Shepherd's Bush - Be Attitudes Afghan
27. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan
28. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill
29. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet
30. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven Above
31. The Primitive Needle - Witches Hollow
32. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds

So if I stick to my guns I could almost half my WIPs this year. The ones in the first group are either smallish or I have quite a bit of progress on them already so I'm thinking I could get them all done plus I might be able to get one or two of the second group done as well. Obviously that all depends on what life throws me this year and how much the quilting bug bites. Still, it's always good to be optimistic right?

Blog Housekeeping

I've been extremely remiss with keeping up with other blogs this last 12 months and I've definitely been awful at commenting on other people's blogs so I'm going to make a much better effort this year. I've started by adding a lot of blogs to the list on the right there - I've hardly updated this list at all recently as I've just been lazy and bookmarked sites instead.

I've also never bothered to 'follow' any blogs but I just realised that I can set up my links list to list all that I follow rather than me add them myself so I think my next move should be to sort that out.

I'm also thinking to get a new look for the new year and I should definitely add a pic or two of the boy in my sidebar to even things up...

WIP Pics

So the next stage of my WIP busting plan is to post pics of all of them so I can see what progress I make over the next 12 months. I was thinking of resolving to work on all of them at least once in the year but I know that's not going to happen (not least because I found another five WIPs when tidying up yesterday!)

So first up here are some of my most embarassing WIPs - the ones with so few stitches in I have no idea why I bothered starting them. I have to say though that I love all the designs so it's not because I fell out of love with them - I'm obviously just easily distracted LOL.

Murky Manor - Glendon Place

Row of Christmas Fairies - Bothy Threads

Four Wishes - Just Nan

Snapperville - Bent Creek

I hope that I can work on all of these a little this year as I didn't put any stitches in them at all in 2010 so I think they're in need of a little TLC...

Stitching WIPs

Just so I have a proper record of now so I can hopefully tick a few off by the end of the year:

1. Bent Creek - Snapperbets
2. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
3. Bothy Threads - Row of Christmas Fairies
4. Margaret Sherry - Santa's Journey Afghan
5. Dimenions - Noah's Ark Quilt
6. Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat
7. Glendon Place - Murky Manor
8. Tournicoton - Coeur de Brodeuse
9. The Cat's Whiskers - Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
10. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
11. Just Nan - Four Wishes
12. Bent Creek - Snapperville Series
13. Ink Circles - Cirque des Cercles
14. Michael Powell - Handmade Houses 4
15. Stoney Creek - Noah's Sub
16. Shepherd's Bush - Be Attitudes Afghan
17. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan
18. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill
19. Lizzie*Kate - ABC Lessons
20. Lizzie*Kate - Christmas by the Letter
21. Stitching Kitty - Snowman Trio
22. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet
23. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven Above
24. Anchor - Baby Sampler
25. DebBee's Designs - Hot Stuff

Happy New Year!

So it's January 1st and I can start one of my 2011 resolutions which is to blog more this year LOL. My 2011 goals are:

1. Blog more (as I just mentioned)
2. No stash purchases unless they are for my birthday or christmas (the only exception would be if a limited edition is released that I absolutely can't live without!)
3. Reduce my stitching WIP list (even if it's only by 1 it's a good thing)
4. No new stitching starts in the first half of the year (I was going to say at all but I'm thinking I might not manage that)
5. Find the quilting bug again and reduce my quilting WIPs
6. Read at least 50 books
7. Reduce the clutter in the house
8. Lose weight (again, I'm not putting a figure on how much, any would be a start!)
9. Stick to the household budget and find ways to reduce expenditure
10. Work on the garden

Above all I want 2011 to be a fun, happy year with friends and family coming first and material things coming a really late second...