Stanley

So I really have been stitching and here's the result.  He's Stanley by The Trilogy stitched using the recommended floss but on a piece of sparkly Picture this Plus (apologies, the fabric name escapes me).

I put the first few stitches in him back in November (I got the word 'singing' done) and then didn't pick him up again until a couple of weeks ago.  He was a relaticely quick stitch and very apt given the snow we had at the time.

I'm not giving myself any goals for 2013 except to enjoy crafting but I'd like to be able to have one finish a month on stitching projects.  New or WIPs I really don't mind.

Creeps in looking sheepish...

Erm so I'm still here and I'm doing ok but life turned manic shortly after my last post (yes that was August!) and it's only just starting to slow down.

A brief summary of the last four months:

1. My new job is brilliant, I absolutely love it and getting up for work is a pleasure once again.

2. My new job is knackering and I spent the first six weeks getting home, getting the kids fed and in bed and then collapsing on the sofa.

3. My new job has exposed me to the equivalent of germ warfare and I spent much if the first term (Sept to Dec) sick one way or another although I did manage to have only one day off work during that time when I had raging tonsilitis.

4. I still adore my job despite 2 and 3.

5. My kids are doing well although Connor too has gone through a lot of sickness especially over Christmas when he was extremely ill during our trip to Greece.  He has ended up with Scarlet Fever (who knew you could still get that?) but is pretty much through the worst now.  However he does weigh the same as he did seven months ago so needs some building up.

6.  Christmas was spent in Greece and was, not to put too finer point on it, dreadful.  I'm not sure when I'll have the mental strength to go back and spend time with the inlaws...

7. I have stitched and I have quilted but nowhere near as much as I like.

8. I intend to start posting here more.

9. I hope I'm not as embarassed by 8. as I am by the previous post on this blog.

10. I thank any of you out there who are still bothered about reading this!

Adjusting my priorities

So my silence has been pretty much deafening for most of this year other than my WIPocalypse posts - so much so that I'm surprised I still have readers prepared to comment on my intermittent posts.

I haven't spent too much time analysing my absence as I'm pretty sure I just needed a break from talking about me as I didn't have much going on.  Well, that's not stricly true as I've been home since February being a full time Mum so there was a lot going on, just not a lot that was really interesting LOL.

What's changed now is that I'm about to embark on a new job that is a totally different direction for me.  In my previous existence I built websites and wasn't at all happy in my work but in a weeks time I will be a Teaching Assistant in a class of 30 6 - 7 year olds!

I'll admit to being a little nervous as the last time I was in a school classroom was 23 years ago as a pupil so my learning curve is going to be extremely steep but I am so looking forward to feeling like I'm achieving something and doing something worthwhile.  I certainly didn't expect this kind of change at this time in my life but thanks to an amazing friend who has faith in my, as yet untested, abilities I have an opportunity too good to pass by.

It does mean money will be ridiculously tight over then next 12 months as my salary won't cover Connor's nursery fees so what's left of my redundancy money will have to be used for the difference.  I'll also be seriously stripping out my stash piles and selling off some stuff and we're already looking at other things we have to sell as well such as baby stuff we've just stored instead of getting rid of despite knowing there will not be another addition to the family.

That's not such a bad thing though as an adjustment in how we spend money and on what will be good for all of us.

So this is my fresh start in all things and while I can't promise I'll post daily from now on I know that I'll post more regularly.

August WIPocalypse

Late and very little to show for myself!

This summer I've been mainly being a Mum and stitching hasn't really featured in my agenda much.  We've also been here and there on trips - the Cambridge Folk Festival and visiting family and we're now off for a weeks camping.

I have done a bit of work on The Flock but that's really all there is for now...

There's only a couple of weeks to the next WIPocalypse but hopefully I'll have something to show!

July WIPocalypse

Wow, yet another month gone by!

First, I'd like to thank everyone who left a comment about my quilt top, I finished it up in time for the birthday and it was very well received.

June was the month of my annual stitching weekend away with a group of friends and yet again it was just fantastic.  So fantastic that we're now planning to have two a year!  I treated myself to a new start that weekend - Snow Fence from Raise the Roof Designs.  I didn't do too much as I started having 'white' fatigue LOL.

I worked on SamSarah's The Flock this month too, here are the first two charts done and a tiny start on the second:

And my final WIP that saw some action was my Alphabet:

The other thing I got round to doing this month was finishing up my 'What a Hoot' scissor keep. This is a Cat's Whiskers design specifially for these particular scissors. It's not my usual thing at all but I fell in love with it!

Here's the front and the scissors:

Here's the inside with the needleholder and the ribbon that you can use to attach a Clover cutter:

And here he is finished up with the scissors in place:

Rainbow Bargello quilt top

I have been getting busy with my sewing machine recently and completed this bargello quilt top at the weekend.  It's a gift for a friend of mine who has been instrumental in helping me get on track with what I want to do in life - it's her birthday next week and her favourite things are rainbows so I'm hoping she'll like it.

June WIPocalypse

My Witchy Washy finish - a terrible pic I know but I had to take it late at night before packing it up and sending it to the framer.  It's stitched on 32ct Crystal Moonlight from Picture this Plus using the recommended floss.

I've not really stitched on anything else this month as it's been a bit manic round here. That's the main reason that my blog hasn't been updated since the last full moon so if you are out there still checking in on me then thank you for sticking with me.

Life should settle down now so I'll be updating again soon for sure

May WIPocalypse

Well it's that time of the month again and I've yet again only managed a couple of posts between this and the last WIPocalypse post.

April was my birthday month and because of this I allowed myself new starts.  I also was celebrating because I finished up Cirque.  Here it is in all its glory:

And here's a close up of the colours:

It's stitched on 28ct black Murano and used 'Aurora's Flame' from The Thread Gatherers Silk 'n Colours.

I didn't have any other finishes this month so here's my new starts and other WIPs:

The Flock from SamSarah Designs. This is a 12 part chart release and we've had the first two so far. I got them as a birthday present and this is a chunk of the first chart done:

Bugz and Birds from Lizzie*Kate. A pitiful new start but it's my travelling piece and I haven't been anywhere to work on it this month LOL.

And my third new start which was a 15 sided biscornu from Sue Hawkins.  I have swapped out three of the five colours that came in the kit because they just weren't bright enough for me!

I also worked on my Alphabet:

and on Witchy Washy:

So my needle has been flying this month! I am now focusing on Witchy Washy as it's the third piece I want to finish for framing and I must get it and Cirque out to the framer before the end of this month.  Unfortunately for me I fell foul of 'overdyed thread colour change curse' and had to completely frog the tree that is on the left hand side of the design because the skein of Sable I used was much too brown and the broom got lost in the tree (I stitched the tree first).  I did try stitching the broom handle much darker but the bristles still got lost in the tree roots plus I didn't like how dark the handle looked.

Much cursing later I'd frogged the entire tree and the broom handle...

I've tried a different colour all together for the tree that looks more like the model pic but I'm thinking that's too grey so I'm currently working on the rest of the design and mulling over my options for the trees.

Cirque Finish!

Finally!  I started this back in 2007 but ignored it for a long time before pulling it out again at the beginning of this year.  It's stitched on 28ct black Murano and used 'Aurora's Flame' from The Thread Gatherers Silk 'n Colours.

I finished it up late last night - almost exactly the same time as Titanic hit the iceberg 100 years ago.

And here's a close up of the colours:

Happy Birthday Connor

Two today - how the heck did that happen!

April WIPocalypse

Well it's another full moon and I have been busy!  I finished up Santa's Flight on 16th March so just in time to take it to a framer at the Olympia show.  I won't post the pics again because it's the previous post to this one but you can click to see them.

I haven't, despite my best intentions, finished up Cirque although I'm so close!  Here it is as of today:

I also had a finish and a new start this month. Get Scared from Shepherds Bush was my traveling piece but it as also a quick stitch so it's now waiting to be finished as a box top:

My new start is 'Alphabet Fun' from Bothy Threads. I saw a finished one on a stand at Olympia and fell in love so I bought the kit although I've swapped out the aida for evenweave. I've not done much but I think you can make out that A is for Alien...

That's my lot for the last 28 days but I'm more than happy with my progress. Cirque will get some more work tonight but we're away for a few days from tomorrow and I won't take it with me because I need really good light to stitch on it. I guess I'll have to look at next weekend for a finish now but definitely watch this space. I then have to pick up Witchy Washy to get it finished up for framing - I need that done by the next WIPocalypse post or it won't get sent in time to be ready for me to pick up.

Santa's Flight finished

And only just in time - I finished it up just after 10pm last night and I'm off to the stitching show this morning LOL.  I'm not sure if my framer will take them today or if I'll wait and send all three pieces together when the others are done so I took this pictures in the gloomy light this morning just in case it's the only chance I have:

I'm hoping to get them framed in a similar way to the original model but we'll see how discussions go today.

Another WIP down!

March WIPocalypse

Well don't tell anyone but I pretty much threw my rotation out of the window this month in order to focus on Cirque.  There is a reason for this - I'm going to a craft show next Saturday and one of the stands is someone who I want to do some framing for me.  I want her to frame Cirque, Santa's Flight and Witchy Washy so I want to get them in a respectable state so I can discuss the framing with her.

She does have a bricks and mortar shop but it's about 4 hours drive from my house and I go there just once a year on the way up to my weekend away with my stitching friends so if I can organise the framing choices, finish the pieces and then post them to her I can pick up the finished items in June.

Anyway, that's the reason why I've not done much on the Be Attitudes Afghan but I have had some progress (Be Sweet and Be Nice are new progress):

I've also had progress on the first of the three pieces from Santa's Flight:

Plus I did have a new start which is 'Scissors by Any Other Name' from Cat's Whiskers:

And last but not least, here's Cirque:

So hopefully by the time the next WIPocalypse is due Cirque will be a finish as will Santa's Flight...

This month I have mostly been...

...reading!

I've found my inner bookworm again and have been curled up with a book for an awful lot of my spare time, so much so I've managed to read 12 books since the end of Jan!  Admittedly 7 of those were Aunt Dimity books and they're very quick reads, but still, it's brought my total for 2012 up to 17 and we're only just in March.

I've loved the Aunt Dimity series and have now read them all apart from the latest release which arrived here three days ago from Amazon.  I so want to read it but I also want to get other books finished up so I've decided to be good and finish all the books I have already started before I pick it up.  That's 9 books to finish before I treat myself LOL.  I'm sure that horrifies some of you out there but I've always got at least five books on the go at any one time - my reading is totally dictated by my mood.

Of the other books I read there was another Agatha Raisin - again a quick read but I find more than a couple at a time and they become very 'samey' and I don't enjoy them as much so I space them out - and then four very different novels although I think all of them would come under the banner of chick lit. 

Of all of them I think I enjoyed Me Before You the best.  I'd definitely recommend it - I even found myself welling up at the end and that's totally not me!  By the middle of the book it's quite obvious how the end is going to be but it's so well written that it still managed to surprise me.

I've read most of Freya North's previous novels but it's been quite some time since I picked up her work and I did enjoy this one - Love Rules - pretty standard relationship stuff although it does have a thought provoking relationship issue that is a little away from the norm.

Which leaves The London Train and The End of Everything.  Both were good reads, I didn't get distracted and put them down which is always a good sign, but I have to say they weren't novels I would go out of my way to recommend.

The full list with authors is at the bottom of this post.

In other book related news I now have a Kindle.  I used the money my office gave me as a leaving gift because, despite my determination never to have one (I LOVE REAL BOOKS! LOL) I was bowled over when I saw a friends and I immediately saw a use for it which is this: all those 'classics' I've never read or haven't read since school that I'd like to try.  Lots of them are free for the Kindle and others are of minimum cost and I can load them up on the Kindle and dip in when I choose.  There are so many books I have never read that I would like to and this is a way of having them available to me without filling up house space with them.

It also helped that once I got the Kindle I found DH had 2102 ebooks stored on our network that he'd got from a friend for his iPad...

So I'm slowly sorting them out and loading up the Kindle.

I've never read and Agatha Christie novel, or a John Grisham or Ernest Hemmingway.  I've not read Austen, a Bronte sister or Thomas Hardy since school and there are several Dickens novels I'd like to try.  I've never read a Sherlock Holmes novel either.  So many books I need to try but of course with the Kindle I'm in danger of spending more time organising them than actually reading LOL.

If any of you have an recommendations please shout - I picked up the first Aunt Dimity novel thanks to another blog and I'm always on the look out for good reads.

2012 Reads

4th Mar -  Love Rules - Freya North
28th Feb -  Me Before You - Jojo Moyes
23rd Feb - The End of Everything - Megan Abbott
21st Feb - Aunt Dimity Down Under- Nancy Atherton
21st Feb - Aunt Dimity Vampire Hunter- Nancy Atherton
15th Feb - Aunt Dimity Goes West - Nancy Atherton
13th Feb - The London Train - Tessa Hadley
6th Feb - Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea - Nancy Atherton
5th Feb - Agatha Raisin and the Curious Curate - M.C. Beaton
3rd Feb - Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin - Nancy Atherton
31st Jan - Aunt Dimity Snowbound - Nancy Atherton
29th Jan - Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday - Nancy Atherton

Previously recorded 2012 reads:

25th Jan - Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came - M.C. Beaton
23rd Jan - Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell - M.C. Beaton
20th Jan - Starter for Ten by David Nicholls 
7th Jan - Twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley
6th Jan - The Magic of Christmas by Trisha Ashley

Lent

I don't usually give anything up for Lent but this year it's a bit different because today I'm giving up work.

I guess you could argue that actually work is giving up me given today is my last official day at work due to redundancy but the decision to take the redundancy and not fight the gits that I worked for was my own so I am now a stay at home Mum by choice.

I can't believe this day is finally here (it was obvious last April that redundancy was on the cards) but I couldn't be happier.  Yes, the future is unknown but isn't it for everyone?  I just know that I'm happier now than I have been for the past 12 months and that must mean the right decisions have been made.

The last 12 months have been pretty horrible for me one way or another. My work environment sucked (to coin a phrase) and if it hadn't been for some of the people I shared an office with I don't know what I would have done.  I won't bore you with the details but I've been working one way or another since I was 15 and this last 12 months was officially the worst working year of the 25 I've had.

Also, the affair that 'friends' of ours had at the beginning of last year blew our social circle apart and caused me no end of stress.  Thankfully both parties have moved away now - he to make a 'new start' (yeah right, he'll be back fooling around soon enough, he can't help himself) and her leaving her husband and moving half an hour away.  I don't think the saga is fully over - both cheated on spouses still don't know but the information is out in the public domain and these things never stay secret forever.  The aftershocks are still booming away too but thankfully we don't feel the force of them that much.

Money was a constant worry last year too but, although I'm no longer bringing in a salary, we're in a better financial situation now I've stopped working thanks to the extortionate cost of childcare for Connor so I can stop worrying about the next unexpected bill for a while.

To top off the year we lost two close friends, one who took his own life and one who lost a battle with cancer.  Both our age and both totally devastating.

To quote the Queen, it's been an annus horribilis in many ways.

Don't get me wrong, me, DH and the kids have been fine and in the grand scheme of things that's what is important but the world around us has been particularly trying to say the least.  I don't think it helped that we didn't have a holiday or really spend time together as a family, we just lurched through the weeks dealing with whatever came up.

So, even though New Year is officially long gone, today is the first day of the rest of my life and giving up work (for a short while) is the first of many positive changes that will hopefully make the rest of 2012 a much better year than 2011 was.

Rotation Revision

So I've been thinking and I've decided to change my rotation plans.  Originally I'd planned to focus on one BAP a month for 12 months so that each of my 12 biggest WIPs got some attention this year but the problem with that is none of them will get finished this way and I'd REALLY like to get some of them finished.

So I'm thinking of dropping down to a six month rotation which would go like this:

Jan - Cirque des Cercles
Feb - Be Attitudes Afghan
Mar - Murky Manor
Apr - Christmas by the Letter
May - Heaven Above
Jun - Small WIPs and any of the above

And then repeat for the second six months of the year.

This means that the rest of my BAPs - Cut Thru Fairy Hill, Wild Ones Alphabet, Tradewinds, Noah's Sub, Witches Hollow, Dragon Virtues Afghan and Sleigh Ride - won't get touched this year but I might have at least three of the above completed.

I'm also thinking that Cut Thru Fairy Hill might have to be discarded.  I started it so long ago and it was supposed to be for Lia but I'm sure by the time I get it finished she'll be long out of fairies and I wasn't really enjoying stitching on it.  I have made quite a chunk of progress on it though so I can't decide what to do with it - it seems a shame to rip it out but I know I won't pick it up again so, if any of you readers would like to give it a home then please shout.  It's the full kit but I didn't stitch it on the aida included, it's on evenweave.

I thought I had a WIP pic of it but I can't find one.  If you're interested but want to see a pic first give me a shout and I can post one.  I don't want anything for it, I just can't quite bring myself to frog or throw it.

Having said all that my biggest issue is that I'm burning to get back to Cirque sooner than July and I may well pick it up for March instead of Murky Manor.  In fact I'm wondering why I'm even bothering saying I'll have a rotation at all now but guess it will at least keep me vaguely focussed on my goals.

And if I do pick Cirque up again I can just substitue Murky Manor in twice in the second half of the year...

February WIPocalypse

Wow, WIPocalypse post number two already.

I've posted my Cirque progress in a previous post but I'll repost the current WIP pic now just for continuity.  Here is where I am after it had it's month as my focus BAP:

I should have said last time I'm stitching it on 28ct black murano and the floss is 'Aurora's Flame' from The Thread Gatherers Silk 'n Colours.

It's now been put aside in honour of my February BAP which is the Shepherds Bush Be Attitudes series stitched on an afghan.  When I picked this up it looked like this:

You can see close ups of the blocks in this post.

Since then it's had a weeks worth of attention and the Be Strong block is done as is the next one, Be Sweet, and I've made a start on the fifth block, Be Nice.  Once I've done block five I'll go back and finish up Be Warm.  I'm hoping that I'll get the sixth block done as well this month so it's at least half way through when I put it down.

Here's a pic of the Be Sweet block (sorry it's a bit dark but it's a gloomy day here):

And here's how the whole thing is looking:

Snow Day!

I can't begin to describe the excitement that took hold of Lia on Saturday night when the snow started falling and continued to do so for the next six hours.  By the time she was heading for bed there was more than an inch of the white stuff and by the time I headed off there was an awful lot more.

So, of course, Sunday was for snow play although it was starting to melt by the time I got up around 10am (it was my lie in day).  It was Connor's first real snow experience and he loved it - he was out for almost an hour until the cold got too much for him.  I chose to enjoy everything from the inside so here are the pics from through the patio doors:

Firstly, the snow before it got attacked!

The three intrepid adventurers:

Making a snow throne for the fairies:

Exploring:

Futile snowballs:

Unfortunately for Lia the thaw continued through the night and this morning so now there's not much left so she's very disappointed.  This is, of course, a good thing for us adults as roads and pavements are clear.

February BAP

So my February BAP isn't one large design, it's 12 small ones that I've chosen to stitch on an afghan. It's the Be Attitudes series from Shepherd's Bush which I decided I'd stitch on a 12 panel crean afghan.

I have two minor issues, the first is that the afghan count is smaller than the required count for the designs so some of the buttons are too big (the designs came with button packs). I don't see it being too much of a problem as I'm sure I can either leave some off or get smaller versions of the same button as they're all JABCO so are bound to come in different sizes.

The second issue is the July 'Be Brave' design. No offence to any American readers of this blog but for what should be obvious reasons I don't want to add the US Flags to the design but I'm also not sure I want to replace them with UK Flags either. I'm going to have to think about my options - obviously I can just not use the buttons at all but I have to decide what to put in the middle of the stitched part of the design instead of the stitched flags.

Anyway, there's time enough for that as I've plenty to keep me busy - here's how it looked when I took the pic a couple of days ago:

Here's a close up on the blocks:

Last night I finished up Be Strong which was really just some back stitching and the yellow centres for the purple flowers on the left and made a start on Be Sweet.  Yes I know it would make more sense to finish up Be Warm first but when did I ever do anything that made sense right?  LOL

As promised...

Here's my Cirque update.

Here's how it looked when I picked it up on New Year's Day:

And here's how it looks now it's had a month of almost undivided attention:

As I said in my previous post, I'm pretty much certain to finish it up the next time it comes up in the rotation.