Grab your sunglasses...

And no, it's not just for the fabulous weather we've been having, it's because I reverted to my favourite colour scheme for my latest quilt top...

I love this style of quilting - it's so much simpler than it looks and I did most of this one the day of the class, I just had to finish putting the strips together at home. I'm going to double the width of the quilt so the dimensions balance better, typically me I had to do it 20 colours deep when the rest of the class did 10 - 12 colours but I'm not really into quilts as wall hangings so I want this as a snuggle quilt for the house (to add to the ever growing pile!)

I've only got one more quilting class booked - the Mariner's compass block at the beginning of September. I've tentatively said I'd like to do another in Feb but that will have to wait until we see what the money situation is. I'm going to miss the classes, mostly because it's a whole day quilting with no distractions, but I am confident in my skills now and have so many projects to be getting on with that I'm sure having a break from learning anything new will be good for me.

I'm planning on taking some pics of my stitching at the weekend along with my monthly review so I'll do a proper catch up then. What I do have are some progress pics of the garden.

We've been working to clear things and it's going to take a long, long time to get it done, especially when you are working in the prime growing time - it seems as quickly as we cut things back they grow again at the moment. Still, we're starting to see a difference which keeps us positive.

This is the fence that runs down the left hand side of the garden. It's kinda knackered and not that pleasant to look at but at the moment it's holding back a lot of the overgrowth from next door (we have an elderly lady next door whose garden is just completely wild) so what we decided to do is take off the top half and use the better boards from that to replace the worst boards from the lower half. We figure if we give it a coat of paint it'll look better and we can think about what we'll replace it with later.

You can see from the pic that we've got about half way down removing the boards but you can also see the overgrowth we have to cut back. Yes, I know it's next door but she can't do it so if we don't it will just engulf our garden. At least she doesn't mind what we do so I'm getting on with serious pruning...

Here's the most horrible bit of the fence which is just next to the house (so just before the bit of the fence in the above pic.)

It's totally overgrown with ivy that is stuck to the fence so well that it's difficult to tell where one stops and the other starts. We're battling with it slowly but I think we might give in and remove the whole lot.

We have, however, managed to clear all the junk from the patio and surrounding areas so we at least have a pleasant place to sit and yes, those are tomato plants on the left, we even have four mini tomatoes (although they will be lucky to survive Lia's obsession with them).

We've also done a lot of clearing out of the beds at the end of the patio and started painting the garage which has made it look a lot nicer (it's blue because that's the colour of paint we had LOL)

That last bit of garage (the hideous wooden bit) is a badly built extension and we're going to pull it down as the first part of our garage conversion programme. Probably not till next spring though so we'll have to live with looking at it for a while longer.

So you have an idea of exactly how much things have changed here's the pics of what we inherited last august...

Looking at those I'm a lot less depressed by how long it's taking LOL.

And finally, as usual, Lia was happy to pose for a picture given the camera was out

Too Many Pretty Things!

Surfing blogs is officially bad for the wallet!

I haven't had a chance to read lots of blogs lately but life has calmed down a bit so I've been playing catch up and it was a bad mistake. It seems like everywhere I go people have links to pretty things, great shops, fantastic finishes and so on and it's becoming very dangerous for me to click my mouse!

Karen's blog had a link for a wonderful site selling ribbons and I admit that this is the only site where I caved in and bought some (the July Ribbon Kit). In my defense I don't have any ribbon stash and my new-found finishing skills mean that I'm sure to need some. Then I was reading a blog whose author had finished an amazing quilt and I had to click on the link there to see more designs by the same person (Judy Niemeyer) and I'm totally in love with 4th of July and Tropical Sundance.

I'm being good though, the two designs are now on my wish list and maybe Santa will be good to me at the end of the year.

Life is bimbling along here. We took Lia to the cinema for the first time this weekend and it went much better than we hoped. We saw Wall-E (great film and the short, Presto, before it was fantastic) and she sat in her seat for the whole two hours only getting a bit upset when it got too loud for her. We're going to do Kung-Fu Panda next.

We've been doing some work in the garden too as the weather here has finally cheered up a bit. It's such a huge job that we sometimes feel we're not getting anywhere but little by little it's getting cleared up and eventually we'll have a garden that we can just sit back and enjoy. DH has been much more motivated than I expected which is great - Lia and I went to a birthday party on Saturday afternoon and got back to find he'd ripped down half the fence and cleared loads of overgrown ivy.

I will get some pics soon both of the garden and my stitching and quilting.

I've had a small HD this month as I stitched up a Secret Needle Night project from The Silver Needle - Ho Ho Santa. I'm now working on Lavender Hearts and making good progress. I've never done drawn thread before but managed the first row without too much difficulty, I've also done my first ever Lazy Daisies too. I have been a bit of a coward though as I'm leaving the hardanger heart till last, again I've never done it before, so I'll practice on some scrap fabric first.

Quilting wise I've finished up the quilt I needed to do for a birthday gift and I've also finally gotten round to finishing up the cushion tops I did in my curves course. I have another course this friday to learn the Bargello technique so am looking forward to that. I have picked out all of my red, orange, yellow and purple fabrics to take so this one is going to be bright!

In other news it looks like my work situation is going to change soon as I've been warned that my job could be at risk of redundancy. It's not really a shock (a lot of organisational changes have happened in the last couple of years) and we have redundancy insurance so we'll manage for money if we need to. The truth is that DH and I have been talking for a while about me moving on and getting something closer to where we live for when Lia goes to school (I work in the next town over, about 30-40 mins drive from home).

This is just a kick up the bum for us to get moving with things really. I won't know anything for sure till the 20th August so at the moment I'm just looking at the job market, working on my CV and biding my time till I know the facts. I don't want to jump now because I'll lose any redundancy payment I'm due and after seven years in the job it should be a decent sum.

I am sad, it's not how I'd like to move on and I do like the people in the team I'm part of but my job has changed a lot in the last two years and it's not one that I'm really enjoying any more. So all in all, I can look at the positive side of it and not really get stressed or upset, it's most likely that we'll be better off as a family once we get through all the changes.

A Meme!!!!

I never do these but this one was fun!

The Concept:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

The Answers:

1. What is your first name? Joy
2. What is your favorite food? Bread
3. What high school did you go to? Wincheap
4. What is your favorite color? Red
5. Who is your celebrity crush? David Tennant
6. Favorite drink? Diet Pepsi
7. Dream vacation? Australia
8. Favorite dessert? Chocolate Icecream
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Vet
10. What do you love most in life? Lia
11. One word to describe you. Loud
12. Your flickr name. Joyus

Why is it?

That whenever you decide to go on the Wagon almost instantly someone releases something you absolutely have to have - it's like the minute you decide to give something up or go on a diet you get cravings and are starving hungry.

For the non-crafters out there, going on 'The Wagon' is basically the same principle as when it's used for giving up alcohol, you stop buying stash of any kind for a pre-determined amount of time. I've been on the wagon on and off over the last few years but now my limited budget is having to stretch to two main hobbies and I've spent quite a lot on material recently *embarassed cough* I decided that I was back on the Wagon until the end of this year with only the Quilting Show at the NEC as an exception (with a pre-determined limited budget).

Anyway, that decision was made as I came home from Devon and then I saw this (I don't want to copy the pic here in case I'm breaking copyright but it's the first item on the page). I'm sunk. It's on order.

In my defence it is a limited edition so if I don't get it now I'll miss out and it is absolutely gorgeous so I'd be kicking myself if I didn't get it.

However my budget for the Quilt Show next month has been halved and I'm not going to be attending the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally in October to avoid further temptation.

I'm not even a huge fan of Halloween designs in general, it's always been winter and christmas designs that have called to me but for some reason I'm liking them more and more. Maybe it's because now I have a child I can see more reason to celebrate Halloween (although in an English way with apple bobbing etc, not Trick or Treating) or maybe it's because tastes change over time.

Whatever it is, I'm now dusting myself off from the fall and climbing back on the wagon again with some rope to tie myself on for the next six months. Any future temptations will have to be added to my Christmas wish list (unless of course they too are limited editions that can't be ignored LOL)

Garden Plans

Grrrrrr to the English weather as I'm so keen to get out and work on the garden and it's been tipping it down for days.

We have been looking into the possibility of a garage conversion. Our house is nice and big but only has three bedrooms so if we have another child we'll lose the spare room. We could do a loft conversion but we'd lose the smallest room to provide access to the room upstairs so all we'd gain would be a bigger third room and less storage space.

We could also consider extending out to the side but given this work would take around 100k we could spend the same money building a huge house in Greece and moving over there (not to mention we don't have 100k to spare).

So DH has been looking into garage conversions as, if it's a room for your own use, you don't need planning permission and it's a much cheaper, less hassle option as all the work would carry on outside our living space.

I probably mentioned back when we were buying the house that our Garage is 51 feet long (that's 15.5 metres for the non-Imperial readers). The back end of it is a not-very-well-built extention to the original structure and the whole thing is freestanding (so not connected to the house at al).

We had a man out yesterday evening to give us some idea of what we can do and how much it will cost and we're still looking at a large sum of money (around 25k) to do it right. Basically the back extention to the garage is not stable (the walls are cracked in a way that indicates the foundations are not good enough) and to convert the whole thing would mean pulling that part down and rebuilding it so we made the decision that we'd pull it down and not rebuild, just restore the garage to it's original length which is around 35 feet so plenty big enough.

I'm so pleased - since we moved in I've wanted to get rid of the end part - it's wooden rather than the concrete of the rest, it's manky, badly built and frankly, an eyesore. Plus it's far too much garage for us - I'm going to gain around 15 feet of extra garden space when it goes which is fantastic.

We're getting a quote from the guy for the conversion of the front part of the garage into two rooms and an ensuite toilet/shower room. There would be one small 'workshop' room for DH to have his tools etc in and then the rest of the space would be our hobby room come guest room. With the extra space outside we'd get a nice garden shed to take all of the garden tools etc and we'd have more veggie patch room too.

The conversion company do a finance option where you don't pay for a year and then you pay off over four years but I'm a little reluctant to consider that option in the current financial environment. I want to talk the plans over with my BIL who is extremely experienced in building/converting/extending current houses and who will have a lot of good advice for us.

It's at times like this that I regret not living much closer to my family as, if we were with them, my BIL could be our Project Manager and Foreman and DH could learn from him and we'd get it done much, much cheaper. Unfortunately DH doesn't have the skills to go this one on his own so I need to see if my BIL would consider living with us for a few weeks to get the project done.

All in all it's very exciting. We'd move the 'office' out there and DH's guitars etc as well as my books and stash to make a real cosy space for us to use. We'd gain a nicer living space too as currently part of our lounge has the desk and computer, my stash and DH's guitars so if all of that was outside the lounge would be much less cluttered.

We'd also be able to give guests a bit of privacy as well as having a room Lia could use later for sleepovers, etc.

It's easy to get caught up in the enthusiasm for all of this but we will sit back and make proper plans. We've talked on and off for years about moving to Greece at some point and it may be that our funds could be better diverted into property over there. TBH, if we go through the 'professionals building it for us route' I will want to save for a while before going ahead (we won't be able to afford it outright) and if we go through the 'build it ourselves with assistance from friends and family' route it'll take time because it will have to be done in stages as we can afford it and have the time so neither option will be an instant one (unless we win the lottery in which case we'll be moving anyway so it won't matter LOL)

A Great Weekend

Despite the weather LOL.

L, a fellow stitching and quilting addict joined us for the weekend (I won't link to her blog because she hasn't updated it in MONTHS - hint hint) and on Saturday we went to Swindon to meet up with another friend for lunch.

We visited a local craft centre on the way which wasn't that fantastic as a lot of the shops have closed down but we did get a few bits and pieces including a fab Charlie and Lola bag for Lia and also a cute toy watch for her as she's obsessed with telling the time at the moment. We also went round the Designer Outlet Centre after lunch and I splashed out on a new pair of shoes (well they were 50% off and very comfy).

Sunday we had planned to go to Legoland if the weather was okay so when we woke up to a wet and windy day we were very disappointed. However, it didn't take long for excitement to take over from common sense and we talked ourselves in to going anyway... We had some vouchers for bogof tickets which is the only way I'd contemplate going as one adult ticket costs £35!!!!

Great fun was had by all, DH and L went on more rides than me because Lia was 4cm too short for some of them - I'm not complaining as I have a tendency to get sick on rides anyway. We did go on the really slow boats as a family though and here's a pic of us in our attractive rain gear - yes DH and Lia were having a bit more fun than me!

Lia then had a go on the mini cars driving area - she was really getting into the whole thing but she was terrible at steering - she had to be rescued about five times as much as any of the other kids.

She took it all very seriously but she was also a lot more interested in what was going on around her than where she was going. Still she had an absolute blast and she got her driving license at the end of it.

We did have a period of around an hour and a half where the sun came out and we dried off and warmed up enough to sit down and have an icecream. Unfortunately I chose to add some jelly tots to Lia's icecream and we had our first experience of her high on E numbers. Around 15 mins or so after she finished it she turned into a total brat who was ignoring us, yelling and crying and then, when we got home she was totally hyperactive. Initially I put it down to her being tired but back home in our normal environment it was like she'd taken drugs, she was hyper, absolutely deaf to our attempts to calm her or tell her off and basically just bouncing off the walls.

She very rarely has sweets of any kind but she will definitely not be having anything like that again.

Here's one final pic of her (thanks for all the pics to L, our official photographer for the weekend). Lia and Neh No

The weekend ended with us glued to the TV watching the Wimbledon Final. I'm a big tennis fan and I love Roger Federer so was disappointed that Rafa won, but what a match! I don't remember ever being so on the edge of my seat for every single point. Fair play to Nadal, he has worked so hard to raise his game over the last three years to get to the point where he can beat Federer on grass and he does play sublime tennis but as John McEnroe said this week Federer is the 'most beautiful tennis player God has created'.

Stitching wise I've been working on my Cirque des Cercles again as it finally got round to shouting at me louder than my other WIPs. No pics as yet but I'll get something before the end of the week. I'm going to keep on with it this week and then devote the next couple of weeks to getting the Victoria Sampler design finished so I can get it framed for my Sis and BIL's anniversary at the beginning of September.

I am going to spend some time quilting this week too - I hope to get some projects finished off so I can start some new ones with less guilt!

June Progress and July Goals

June Roundup

June Stitching Goals
1. Work on Lavender Hearts - Yes but I had to frog what I did :(
2. Finish Secret Sampler - Yes
3. Stitch what I feel like but focus on reducing my WIP pile - Yes

Stitching New Starts:
Lavender Hearts

Stitching Finishes:
Secret GTG Sampler
Bent Creek's The Red Thread

Books Read
The Penultimate Peril - Lemony Snicket
The Grim Grotto - Lemony Snicket
The Slippery Slope - Lemony Snicket
The End - Lemony Snicket

June Quilting Goals
1. Work on a quilt top - yes
2. Make a bag - nope
3. Make a Melly and Me animal - nope

July Goals

July Stitching Goals
1. Make good progress on Lavender Hearts
2. Stitch on Happy Haunting
3. Stitch on Sleigh Ride
4. Stitch on Cirque des Cercles
5. Stitch on a smaller WIP - hopefully have a HD

July Quilting Goals
1. Make a bag
2. Make a Melly and Me animal
3. Finish a Heart to Heart 2 quilt to be gifted in July
4. Work on the Jungle quilts that are for the babies due this month

Current Stitching WIP List
1. Stitchy Kitty - Snowman Trio
2. Stitchin'Spirations - Getting Lost in a Blackwork Maze
3. Bothy Threads - Row of Christmas Fairies
4. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
5. Ink Circles - Cirque de Cercles
6. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
7. Shepherd's Bush - Be Attitudes Afghan
8. Margaret Sherry - Santa's Journey Afghan
9. The Cat's Whiskers - Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
10. The Cat's Whiskers - Grandma's Thread Minder
11. Bent Creek - The Big Zipper
12. Shepherd's Bush - Happy Haunting
13. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven's Above
14. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds
15. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan
16. Brightneedle - Garden Party
17. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet
18. Michael Powell - Handmade Houses 4
19. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill
20. Millhouse Designs - Charlie is Born
21. Dracolair - Dawn Awakening
22. Bent Creek - Snapperville Series
23. Long Dog - St Germain
24. Stoney Creek - Noah's Sub
25. Just Nan - Four Wishes
26. Coeur de Brodeuse
27. Spring Lineup - The Trilogy
28. Shepherd's Bush - Red Santa
29. Victoria Sampler - Lavender Hearts

June wasn't a bad month at all - I think relaxing my goals got me focused again and now I intend to work hard at reducing my stitching WIP list between now and the end of the year. If I can reduce it by between 5 and 10 projects by 31st December I'll be happy. Quilting wise I want to get five more tops done over the next six months and some smaller projects that I have in my stash.

A lovely time was had by all...

After the hectic madness of our Greek trip a week in Devon was just the relaxing break we all needed. We stayed at Villavin Farm Cottages and I highly recommend them (even more so if you're a quilter as Jo has a quilt shop just next door to the cottages LOL).

It's not a huge farm - their main business is the cottages and the quilting shop - but they have a couple of Shetland Ponies and 12 sheep that Lia fed twice a day. She also got to help feed the chickens while I was choosing fabrics in the shop.

The farm is in Holsworthy and is close to lots of lovely places to visit - the closest town to it is Bude, a 15 min drive, which has fantastic sandy beaches and we also went to Clovelly, Appledore, Boascastle, Tintagel, Bideford and Torquay. Oh and a fantastic place called The Big Sheep which has bottle feeding lambs, sheep racing, sheep sheering, horse whispering, sheepdog trials and a great indoor play area - it's probably a bit boring for older kids but for Lia's age it was great.

Here's a few pics

Lia having just put back the sword in the stone ;)

Lia breaking the sound barrier to get to the sheep and feed them

The sheep being fed

Lia sitting in a wall in Boscastle

DH up a rock at Clovelly

Lia looking at DH up a rock at Clovelly

Daddy's girl

As well as getting out and about we spent a good amount of time at the cottages as there is a play barn and an outside play area so Lia had plenty to do. DH took his kite and spent several hours perfecting his skills and I had my stitching and Wimbledon on the TV!

I managed a finish while we were away - Bent Creek's The Red Thread. I stitched their original snapper series when it came out (the one that has 'January Snows', 'February Glows' etc) but haven't done anything with it because it's such an odd shape. Now my fininshing skills are better I'm thinking to do the both of them as cushions.

Here's some pics - it's 33 inches long by 4.5 inches high (hence the problem of how to finish it).

Finally, some pictures!

DH has been hiding his camera's memory card for the last few days but I finally managed to get some pics of my WIPs and finishes.

Here's a couple of reindeer that I made from a kit DH got me for Christmas (with some prompting from me of course LOL). They are called Simply Pooped Out and Jingle Your Own Darn Bells

It's kind of a tradition for those of us who have the weekend GTG to have something to stitch as a reminder - this year it was a sampler with the poem composed by me and the design by Kate from Sparklies:

Here's one of the Heart to Heart 2 quilt tops I was talking about in my previous post - I finished putting it together today

And here's a couple of WIPs - The Big Zipper from Bent Creek

And Happy Haunting from Shepherds Bush

We're off to Devon tomorrow so hopefully I'll get a bit of time to stitch while we're away.

Fabric mountain

I have been priding myself that even though quilting has become a big part of my crafting time I haven't gone overboard with my fabric purchases but now I'm going to have to admit I'm kidding myself. I now officially have more fabric than storage space.

Don't get me wrong, it's still not piles and piles of the stuff, but it's spread from one large box to include a whole shelf in the wardrobe too which is not good. I should say that around 85% of it is for identified projects which is some comfort at least but I have been washing and ironing the purchases I made during my weekend away and it definitely didn't look as much folded neatly in carrier bags LOL.

What I have discovered though is that I have a large amount of gorgeous red, orange and yellow fabrics (no surprise there to anyone that knows me) and I need to find a quilt design to do them justice. I'm thinking double bed size (gulp!) and nothing too formal because I have differing quantities of the fabrics and my mission is to not buy any more fabric until I've completed all the projects I have fabric for.

I love the Stargazey quilt style so I might go for something like that but I also saw a sunburst quilt a few years ago that was totally amazing (it as at a small village show and I wasn't quilting so didn't ask any questions about the design) so I might keep looking around for options. I am going to the NEC quilt show in August so maybe I'll find inspiration there. In the meantime I shall keep going with the other projects I have planned.

I did all the cutting and a large chunk of the sewing for three quilts this weekend. I intend to get at least one top put together before the weekend but would like to get all three done. They're little girl quilts this time using Cheri Strole's Heart to Heart II fabrics for Moda. I bought a fat quater bundle and there was just enough to get the three quilt tops from it - one for Lia, one for my godson's sister and one for the sister of a Jungle Quilt recipient whose birthday is next month. The fabric is gorgeous - even nicer than the pictures you can find online and it's girlie without being too pink and fluffy.

I will take pics this week of my current WIPs both quilting and stitching. June is kind of a lost month for us as we've been so busy and this weekend we're off to Devon for a weeks holiday just the three of us. This will be the first time we've had a proper holiday as a family (if you don't count three days in Brussels last May) and I'm hoping the Great British Weather is good to us!

Oh the irony...

My DH isn't that bothered by sport and generally, if there is anything he wants to see, it's not shown on TV because it's Greek events. This means I'm not a football, cricket, rugby, motor racing, fly fishing or anything else widow and I don't have to put up with missing out on what I want to watch because he 'needs' his sport fix.

However right now, when 99.9% of English guys are not watching the football because England aren't involved my husband is glued to every bloody match because Greece are the defending champions.

When's this silly competition going to be over?

Aching ribs

Well I don't know about the rest of you but I had a terrific weekend - my ribs have only just stopped aching from the laughing and we're already planning next years!

The place we stay is fantastic for us because as well as being clean, comfy and cosy, it has places indoors and outdoors that we can all fit together - a lovely enclosed courtyard and a conference room - which means that if the weather is not great (like on Saturday) we can all be inside and when it is great (like on Sunday) we can all be outside and we're not split up into smaller groups.

I was going to say that I can't remember the last time I laughed as much but I can, it was the same place and time last year. At one point I seriously thought I might die and someone had to rescue the large bowl of strawberries I was carrying as I was in danger of falling onto the floor.

I also spent far too much money on fabrics as my road-trip-mate and I managed to visit three quilting shops, one of them twice. In my defence she spent more money than me but really that doesn't take away from the fact that I spent more than I should have.

So now I'm officially on the Stash Wagon for both quilting and stitching until I've made a significant dent in the stash I have. At the moment this will be a year long trip on the wagon with a review and probable extension next June. The exceptions are:

1. The last Bent Creek Big Zipper kits whenever they are released
2. Any cotton required for quilting projects
3. The one or two more fabrics I need to locate for the baby quilt to be gifted to my impending niece/nephew
4. Budgeted amounts for the NEC and Ally Pally shows
5. Limited amounts of floss for Stitching projects (if I need too much I'll stitch something else)

I also have some things to sell on ebay and any money I get for those will be channeled into buying wadding and backing for my current quilt projects.

Yes this is to do with the guilt that I feel but also I have so many fantastic projects in my stash that I should be getting on with I don't need to add any more. I have two more quilting classes booked and that will be the end of them until June next year too as I need some time to practice what I've already learnt.

So quilting wise I'll be focusing on making quilt tops only and saving up for backing and wadding to do the actual quilting in the winter (exceptions being the last two Jungle quilts that have to be gifted).

Stitching wise I want to focus on Sleigh Ride, Cirque de Cercles, Happy Haunting and Red Thread with the idea that I'd like to get them all finished before the end of this year. I can fit small projects around those as and when I need a break.

In other news we never did get hold of the gardener so we're slowly but surely getting on with the work ourselves. We now have a spanking new petrol lawn mower (so lovely and shiny that it's a shame to use it LOL) which means we can keep the savannah to a minimum and we're starting to clear the junk out of the garden to. Painting the fence and the side of the garage will brighten up the whole garden so is hopefully one of the next jobs that will get done.

DH ripped out the manky old water feature on the patio - when I say water feature, it was a plastic bucket covered with a wheelbarrow full of shingle - and has replaced it with the one we had at our old house which fits perfectly and can be powered from the garage without the wiring being intrusive.

I got a voucher for 1000 tesco clubcard points if I spent £50 or more at Tesco Direct this month (stay with me, this is relevant) so I had a nosey around their site to see if there was anything we could use. Basically 1000 points equates to £10 in vouchers to use in store but if you swap that £10 of store vouchers for clubcard vouchers they are worth four times the value so we can get £40 of things such as restaurant vouchers and day out vouchers.

Not a bad deal really as long as one doesn't spend money to save money. Anyway, we bought a 240 litre water butt and some solar lights for the garden for a total of £59. The lights were 50% off so we actually got £70 of lighting for half price plus £40 of vouchers so I feel happy we got a good deal. We do have a water butt that was already in the garden but it is really old, clogged full of ick and has no lid to it. Oh and is about half the size of the new one. The best feature of the new one is that it comes with a lockable lid so is child safe.

Fingers crossed the weather is okay this weekend so we can get a bit more done out there. Now we've cleared some Lia can run around and play while we're working which helps. After this weekend we're on holiday for the next two so it'd be nice to get a bit more done before we go away. At least DH is a bit more motivated than I thought he'd be - he did quite a bit last weekend when I was away so I don't feel like I'm cracking the whip all the time.

The secret that's not a secret...

Okay now I'm sure all those who should have been told personally have been I can post my exciting news.

I'm going to be an Auntie again! This time it's my Bro and his wife who are expecting and the baby is due at the beginning of November.

It's a big shock for the family as the two of them always said no kids but somewhere along the line they changed their mind and decided to let nature make the decision for them. I'm so pleased as it means Lia will have another cousin and also because I think the pair of them will make terrific parents.

Obviously it'll be a big change for them, for a start my brother is the grumpiest person alive when sleep deprived and my SIL keeps the house spotless so the addition of someone who will keep them awake and make a mess everywhere for the next 18-30 years will be interesting but as I told them, the total amazing terrificness of being a parent does make up for that minor inconvenience LOL.

Anyway apologies to those who already knew and have been thinking my secret was something more exciting but that's the news from this end.

I'm off for a long weekend away without DH and Lia tomorrow. It's being called a 'Stitching Retreat' and 'Stitchy-con' by some but it really should be called 'an excuse for 16 mad crafters to ditch family and responsibilities and spend the weekend laughing so hard it hurts to breathe'. We went last year and it was fantastic so here's hoping this year is just as good.

Whatever you're doing this weekend I hope you have as much fun as I do.

Googlewhack

For those of you who don't know a Googlewhack is a google search query consisting of two words, that returns a single result.

This isn't a new thing, a British comedian did a book and TV show on the concept about five years ago but today, whilst being bored at work, I was playing around on google looking for results for friends and family names and I discovered that Lia is a googlewhack!!! Not only that if you use google.co.uk there's no returns at all (the .com one is a link to her Auntie's facebook account)

Okay we have a Greek surname, and a very uncommon one at that, and Lia is a shortened version of her first name but I'm still surprised there's nothing else out there.

I'm sorry as most of you now won't be able to check as I'm not going to post her full name on my blog so you'll have to trust me on this one...

Happy Birthday Lia!

When did my baby get to be three?

Yesterday was the big day and we arranged a BBQ for friends and family - how wonderful it is to have a nice big patio and garden as we comfortably fitted 15 adults and 7 children.

The weather was okay in as much as it was warm enough to sit out and it didn't rain but it did look like it was going to most of the day. The sun peeped out enough for Lia to get very pale strap marks (I did put suncream on but I obviously should have topped her up more often).

As I've mentioned before we're going to get her a wooden playhouse for the garden but because the clearing of the garden is going to take a lot longer than we thought the playhouse won't be bought until next year. She did get lots of little pressies too - books, games, a cuddly monkey, a hobby horse and a space hopper from Mummy and Daddy.

Here's some pics of the birthday girl.

The last day of being 2:

A birthday pose pre the day in the garden

Her new frog pool/ball pit:

Being silly in the frog:

The Space Hopper:

Checking out the birthday jelly

A birthday pose (slightly grubby as it was the end of a long days playing in the garden)

As you can see from the pics she's inherited her mother's habit of bare feet. Daddy isn't so keen but I've delegated him the job of keeping her shoes on (if it's warm and safe I see no point in getting stressed about it) and he obviously couldn't be bothered yesterday.

May Stitching and June Goals

May Roundup

May Stitching Goals
1. Work on Cirque des Cercles - no
2. Work on Grandma's Thread Minder - no
3. Work on Red Thread - no
4. Start Lavender Hearts (5 finishes start) - no
5. Start and Finish my Monthly small start (probably Bent Creek's Snowman) - Done
6. Work on Sleigh Ride - no

I guess one out of six is not too bad right?

Stitching New Starts:
Secret Sampler Project
Happy Haunting

Stitching Finishes:
Bent Creek - Tiny Snowman
Finish finished Eliza Jane's Needlekeep

Books Read
Still Summer - Jacquelyn Mitchard
The Game - Diana Wynne Jones
The Reluctant Dragon - Kenneth Grahame
The Hostile Hospital - Lemony Snicket
The Carniverous Carnival - Lemony Snicket

May Quilting Goals
1. Finish a Christmas panel - no
2. Start a new quilt top - no
3. Work on Monkey Button's Quilt - no

Other Crafts
Simply Pooped Out and Jingle Your Own Darn Bells made

June Goals

June Stitching Goals
1. Work on Lavender Hearts
2. Finish Secret Sampler
3. Stitch what I feel like but focus on reducing my WIP pile

June Quilting Goals
1. Work on a quilt top
2. Make a bag
3. Make a Melly and Me animal

Current Stitching WIP List
1. Stitchy Kitty - Snowman Trio
2. Stitchin'Spirations - Getting Lost in a Blackwork Maze
3. Bothy Threads - Row of Christmas Fairies
4. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
5. Ink Circles - Cirque de Cercles
6. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
7. Be Attitudes Afghan
8. Santa's Journey Afghan
9. The Cat's Whiskers - Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
10. The Cat's Whiskers - Grandma's Thread Minder
11. Bent Creek - The Big Zipper
12. Bent Creek - Red Threads
13. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven's Above
14. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds
15. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan*
16. Brightneedle - Garden Party
17. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet
18. Michael Powell - Handmade Houses 4
19. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill
20. Millhouse Designs - Charlie is Born
21. Dracolair - Dawn Awakening
22. Bent Creek - Snapperville Series
23. Long Dog - St Germain
24. Noah's Sub
25. Just Nan - Four Wishes
26. Coeur de Brodeuse
27. Spring Lineup - The Trilogy
28. Shepherd's Bush - Red Santa
29. Victoria Sampler - Lavender Hearts
30. Shepherd's Bush - Happy Haunting
31. Secret Sampler

A Cute Pic

DH just emailed this - he took a lot of pics of Lia and Neh-No on his mobile while we were away and this one is the pair of them enjoying the in-flight entertainment.

Don't you just hate it

When you have some news that's not actually your news but isn't a secret either yet you can't say just in case people who should be told by the ones whose news it actually is before you announce it on a public blog read it here first?

I sure do...

Back to Reality

So we're back to the normality of work and nursery. Lia had a bit of an issue adjusting back to nursery after the spoiling she received whilst in Greece but after a week back she's much better. She's also in the process of moving rooms which is unsettling even when you've not been out for three weeks.

I can't believe that she'll be three in a couple of weeks! I'll have to get some birthday pics as it's been a while since I posted any. She's getting very grown up now and is a right little scallywag. LOL.

I'm currently trying desperately to get the Gardener to confirm when he's going to come. He's proving impossible to get hold of on the phone and we've left message after message for him to contact us, the last one saying that if we don't hear from him this week we'll go elsewhere. Not that there's anywhere else to go as we had a hard enough time getting anyone to come and quote for the job. We've decided at that if he doesn't contact us we'll do the work ourselves - it'll take a lot longer but we'll save around half the cost. I'm not sure DH is that confident about doing the work but he's been reading up on what needs to be done and I'm sure we'll be fine.

The main problem is that one of us has to be with Lia which means the other is working alone. We're stupidly busy for the whole of June so the work will have to be done in July - I'm hoping that for at least one weekend my parents will come and babysit so we can both get on with the clearing up and tree stump removal. I guess when it's all done we'll have the satisfaction of knowing we did it all but I'd much rather pay someone else!

Crafting wise I don't think I'm going to manage any of my goals this month. Between being in Greece for the first week of the month, a couple of weekends away and a secret project that has to be done for a couple of weeks time I don't have any spare time to get on with anything.

This weekend is a Bank Holiday here and we have to work hard to get the garden in a fit state for visitors as the following weekend we're having a BBQ to celebrate Lia's third birthday (the first time we'll celebrate it at home). Much weed removal, painting and lawnmowing is required just to get it in some kind of order.

I hope to get some crafting done as well but I'm not in despair as it's only two and a half weeks till I have a whole four days away with friends where I can stitch without interruptions. We're off on our annual trip to Derbyshire where no husbands and no children are allowed. We get to knit, stitch, quilt, whatever takes our fancy and Kate from Sparklies will be holding a dyeing class again too (BTW Sparklies has a fabric naming competition on right now - go have a look!)

I'll admit that I didn't get much stitching done last year (mainly due to laughing way too much) but this year I intend to do little else but sit and stitch.

I'll be sure and get some pics this weekend to make my next post a bit more interesting...

April Roundup and May Goals

April Roundup

April Stitching Goals
1. Have at least one finish (probably Coeur de Brodeuse) - Yes but it was Fa La La from Shepherd's Bush
2. 'Finish' an item from the list below - Yes two, the pinkeep and bourse are done
3. Work on Grandma's Thread Minder - A little
4. Work on The Big Zipper - lots of progress made - pretty much all done and ready for the next part
5. Work on Sleigh Ride - no due to leaving the chart in the UK

Projects Requiring Finishing
Redwork Bourse
Redwork Pinkeep
Eliza Jane's Needlekeep
Bird's of a Feather Accessories - Needlebook, Scissor Pocket and Fob

Stitching New Starts:
Fa La La
Red Santa

Stitching Finishes:
Fa La La

Books Read
Miracle at Speedy Motors - Alexander McCall Smith
Time Witches - Michael Molloy
Wild West Witches - Michael Molloy
Anne of Green Gables - L M Montgomery
Acting Up - Melissa Nathan

April Quilting Goals
1. Finish the first three Jungle quilts as they all need to be gifted this month - yes
2. Finish some of my other WIPs so I can start something new in May - yes, two finished

May Goals

May Stitching Goals
1. Work on Cirque des Cercles
2. Work on Grandma's Thread Minder
3. Work on Red Thread
4. Start Lavender Hearts (5 finishes start)
5. Start and Finish my Monthly small start (probably Bent Creek's Snowman)
6. Work on Sleigh Ride

May Quilting Goals
1. Finish a Christmas panel
2. Start a new quilt top
3. Work on Monkey Button's Quilt

May 17th Freehand quilting course

Current Stitching WIP List
1. Stitchy Kitty - Snowman Trio
2. Stitchin'Spirations - Getting Lost in a Blackwork Maze
3. Bothy Threads - Row of Christmas Fairies
4. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
5. Ink Circles - Cirque de Cercles
6. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
7. Be Attitudes Afghan
8. Santa's Journey Afghan
9. The Cat's Whiskers - Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
10. The Cat's Whiskers - Grandma's Thread Minder
11. Bent Creek - The Big Zipper
12. Bent Creek - Red Threads
13. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven's Above
14. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds*
15. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan*
16. Brightneedle - Garden Party
17. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet*
18. Michael Powell - Handmade Houses 4
19. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill
20. Millhouse Designs - Charlie is Born
21. Dracolair - Dawn Awakening*
22. Bent Creek - Snapperville Series
23. Long Dog - St Germain
24. Noah's Sub*
25. Just Nan - Four Wishes
26. Stitchin'Spirations - Lost in a Blackwork Maze
27. Coeur de Brodeuse
28. Spring Lineup - The Trilogy
29. Red Santa

Some Finishes

So here's a bit of an early monthly roundup of pics as we're off to Greece on Wednesday morning. We should have internet access whilst there but it's probably going to be dial up so I certainly won't be uploading pictures!

So, one stitching goal was to properly finish at least one item, well I managed two my first pinkeep and my first bourse! Both from redwork stitching finishes:

Quilting wise I wanted to finish at least one project from my WIP pile and again, I managed two:

My Sew and Slash Course quilt (I finished it against advice with straight lines rather than zig-zagging with the flow of the top but it's just a play quilt for Lia)

My Moda Mini Quilt in a tin

I almost had a third finish but I've still got two sides of binding to do so that'll have to be done next month.

I have also completely finished the two Jungle quilts that will be coming to Greece (just as well really) and only have the binding to do on the third which I have two nights to do when we get back before heading off to a Christening where it will be gifted.

So here's some pics:

The full monty

The backing fabric

A closer look

The two quilts together

It occurred to me the other day that I always refer to these as the jungle quilts but the fabric is actually a range called Silly Safari. I think it's that some of the designs are called vines and I associate vines with jungle rather than safari. Either way it's animals right?

I haven't taken a pic of my Big Zipper WIP but I've made good progress on it and I'm taking that and Sleigh Ride to Greece (despite my need to start Happy Haunting!

Right on Target

We're now on countdown to our Greece trip as we leave a week on Wednesday.

I always try and clear down the fridge and freezer before we go away so I did an inventory yesterday and discovered we have exactly the right number of meals required. I'm not sure how it happens but it means I'm on target for cleaning the fridge freezer and oven on Sunday.

For some reason I'm always happier leaving for a holiday if I know that the house is clean and tidy before we go - I try to strip the beds, get all the washing done and hoover round at least - there's nothing spoils my post-holiday mood more than walking back into a mess.

I've also started the great gathering of items to pack. I was thinking we wouldn't be taking too much but not counting clothes we've already got:

• 3 large bags of Kettle Chips (you can't get them in Greece and SIL loves them)
• 3 boxes of biscuits for the in-laws
• 1 toy 'bath drum' for Lefty
• 1 Build a Bear outfit for the bear we sent Lefty when he was born
• 2 Quilts
• Michael Jackson CD for MIL
• 3 bags of Cadburys mini eggs
• 6 Crystal Whiskey glasses (wedding present)
• A breadmaker (also a wedding present)
• Car booster seat for Lia
• Wedding favours for SIL's party that she's ordered from Confetti for us to take over
  

And then there's a small case worth of toys!

Oh and I shouldn't forget my stitching. I have been wavering about taking Sleigh Ride because I know that next weekend I'll be getting Happy Haunting for my birthday and I really want to start it but I've decided that I will be good and take Sleigh Ride and The Big Zipper only. That way when I get back I can start Happy Haunting with less guilt LOL.

I'd really like to get Sleigh Ride finished this year but given I haven't stitched on it once yet I'm not sure how I'll manage it! It's quite a quick stitch (lots of half stitches) so I should really get my finger out - I think the problem is all the blues! Still, if I don't really have a choice of things to stitch in Greece then I'm bound to get on with some of it right?

I'm pretty much on target with my Quilting goals for this month too. I'm closer to getting all the jungle quilts finished (one's done, one needs binding and one needs quilting) and I've finished one of my other projects and just have two sides worth of binding to do to finish two other projects. The problem I have today is that my index finger is very sore from sewing bindings - I do have a leather thimble but I sew a lot slower when I'm wearing it. Still, a couple of nights of machining to get the third quilt done and I should be healed enough to be able to stitch the bindings without too much pain.

On a completely different subject, I don't normally comment on news but I'm rather sad to hear of the death of Mark Speight. I'm sure we all knew he was dead when he went missing last Monday but it's still terrible to get confirmation. Mark was one of the presenters of Smarteenies, a CBeebies programme that Lia adores, which is why I've spent quite a lot of time in the last couple of years watching him on TV and he was always good entertainment. It's a shocking waste of two lives and I applaud his family for emphasising that drugs killed him as surely as they killed his fiance.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

It was inevitable really. DH has wanted a Wii since they came out but I always found excuses. Not that I didn't want one you understand but I wasn't sure how much it would be used and it's a lot of money to spend on something that sits in a cupboard. We've had games consoles in the past where the novelty has worn off very quickly and I wanted to be sure that we would make good use of it.

Anyway a friend came to stay for the weekend and she brought her Wii and DH was totally smitten. Not only can he play games, he can surf the net and watch Greek TV channels on the TV rather than a laptop. Oh and one of the big selling points for me was that our old nintendo console games can also be played on it which means that some of the guilt mentioned in the last paragraph may ease LOL.

So this afternoon I went and got him his Wii and he's the happiest husband on the planet right now. Yes I spent almost the same amount as our weekend away in June will cost but it's back to that quality of life I was talking about in a previous post, the weather is still cold and wet so why wait till the summer to buy one when I'll be wanting him to help in the garden or we'll be going out and about. He'll get much more from it than just playing a few games so really how can I object.

Oh and, of course, I'll have some fun too ;)

Bad Mummy Day

Lia didn't want to go to nursery today. This meant the day started with whining which quickly moved up to tears and then finally screams. All before 8am.

The result being a snotty, tearful child being left at nursery and me sitting at work with a blinding headache and feeling like a bad Mum.

This isn't a play for sympathy, I know that by now she'll have totally forgotten her angst and she'll be enjoying herself and I've just taken some painkillers so the headache will go soon. The lingering 'bad mummy' feeling will probably stay for a lot of the day but when I pick up my happy child this evening that will go too.

It's just that some days start badly you know?

And no, I don't have any regrets about her attending nursery, I'd be a much worse Mummy if I was at home with her 24/7. I know that nursery is a subject that people have strong views about but it works for me and it works for Lia. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she's created like she did this morning about going, generally she loves it and she gets much more activities and company than she would if we were at home.

The time I have at home with her is more precious too which means we both benefit.

Anyway, the up side of today is that I've just posted two cheques, one for the balance due for our holiday in Devon at the end of June and one for the balance for the Stitchers Weekend GTG at the beginning of June, both of which I am looking forward to immensely.

I've also sent confirmation to the gardener that we'll accept his quote for clearing our mess, removing three tree stumps, levelling the lot and laying a lawn. All of which he says can be done next month so we'll have a proper garden for Lia to enjoy for the summer.

Okay, all of the above involves significant cost to us (as does the two week holiday in Greece this month and the boiler replacement) but I think the boost to our quality of life that the garden will provide plus the well needed breaks will do us all good. DH hasn't been home to Greece for a year and Lia and I haven't been since Christmas 2006 so it's a long overdue trip (mainly because of the house move last year and my SIL's ever moving wedding date).

We've not had a proper family holiday since Lia was born either (Greece doesn't count) so the Devon trip will be great fun for us all as we're staying on a farm that's about 20 mins from the sea so Lia will have a blast with the animals and the beach.

I have to say that I'm more excited about the garden than anything else though. I can't wait for it to be cleared and looking nice. If it all works out we should be able to order the wooden playhouse for Lia in time for her birthday too. We got the Grandparents to give money for christmas last year and they'll do the same for her birthday so we can buy her one of these.

I figure that it'll provide years of fun and a nice hidey hole for her to escape to. Oh and of course I can have fun furnishing it with curtains, quilted cushions etc.

Snow!

We woke up to this today:

I love snow - we don't get more than a few flakes that often and it rarely settles so I was more excited than Lia!

You can also see from the above pic how much clearing we've done from the end of the back garden

It didn't take long to start melting though so we had to get out quickly and make this guy

And then we came in and Dr Lia administered some drugs to stop us catching cold

And because I had the camera out I finally got round to taking some pics of my latest finishes and WIPs

Here's The Big Zipper (post frogging and partial restitching of the window in the house section)

And I treated myself to a small project just because I felt like somethig simple - Fa La La from Shepherd's Bush - and it stitched up very quickly in just two evenings

And here's The Cat's Whiskers' Alyssum Scissor Pocket made up

And finally for the stitching here's the small Daydreams Wedding Design for my SIL (I forgot to take a pic of it framed but I will). Be impressed I stitched in Greek! LOL

One last pic which is the quilt that I finished last month by finally getting the binding done

A New Song...

Lia's repertoire of songs has grown by one thanks to my Mother. It's an old Scottish song that she taught us when we were small and now Lia's started singing it (to the tune of 'She'll be coming round the mountain)

Oh ye cannae shove your Grannie aff a bus
No ye cannae shove your Grannie aff a bus
No ye cannae shove your Grannie
Cos she's your Mammie's Mammie
No ye cannae shove your Grannie aff a bus

Ye can shove your other Grannie aff a bus
Ye can shove your other Grannie aff a bus
Ye can shove your other Grannie
For she's your Daddy's Mammie
Ye can shove your other Grannie aff a bus

It's at time like this I'm glad my In-Laws don't speak English...