New Charts On The Way!!

I haven't got much stitching done this week, all of my 3 kids have been ill, one after the other, when i tried to pick up the stitching all i got was 'MUM!!!, so i gave up in the end. The bathroom is taking shape though.







I also won the Gypsy Wagon chart from bothy threads on ebay there was no aida with it so i bought some hand dyed from Polstitches, i got aida, but now i am wishing i bought it on evenweave, but never mind, next time i will buy some evenweave next time and they have the opalescent back in stock, ( I love sparkly everything would be stitched on this if i could)

And Finally!!!



Wendy at Enchanted Needle has designed me a wedding sampler for me. I told her everything i liked and wanted on it and she has come up with it excatly as i wanted!! If i could have designed it myself that is how i would have done it!! So I am so excited about it coming that i cant wait to start it, also Wendy asked me if i wouldn't mind if she put it on her website, so my wedding sampler will be on there soon!!







Bang goes my new years resolutions, about not starting another project until the one i am one is finished, so I will now be on a rota, one week on each project, thats if i cant stop stitching my sampler, now wheres my opalescent evenweave, perfect lol!

Update of cut thru cottage

Just a quickie post to show update of the progress that i made this weekend while watching Most Haunted Live, going to start on the bathroom next.

New start for 2009

My house is bare, there are no pictures on the wall and it needs brightening up so I have decided to start in the kitchen. I like all types of cross stitch and last year i was in the process of stitching this - It is Bothy Threads design, Cut-Thru Garden Shed. I had nearly finished it just had the back stitch to complete.

This is what our shed used to look like, hubby had everything in it, ( which to be honest when he was doing my head in was the best bloody place for him!!)

I Really enjoyed stitching with the bright colours and i want to stitch it again, just not yet.

Anyway I had some vouchers and i spent them at hobby craft and bought this design from Bothy Threads

It will take me ages to do this but i started it last Friday and by this week i had done this........

i am hoping to get more done this weekend and finish this room off.

I Have Been Tagged! ( just a while ago)

I was laid in bed last night and for some time i have had a nagging feeling that i had something to do and could i think what it was , could i hell as like. last night it dawned on me. BW tagged me. I was like oh deary me ( well not exactly but you get the drift lol)So I am so sorry i forget everything since the fire, as nic says DOH!



The rules:Find the 6th folder in your photos folder and then the 6th photo in it.

Post it on your blog Tag 5 others, leave a comment to let them know they’ve been tagged.



My Photo is nothing stitchy cause everything was lost in the fire, as you can see i lived in a building site for months, thankfully it doesn't look like that now, but its a tip a the moment, piles of clothes away as I'm washing ready to get ready for work on Monday.

so the 5 people that i have tagged are:

Karen

Kelly

Selina

Sally

Susan (aka Daffycat)

I have just realised that i must have deleted some blogs that i read when i tried to change my theme for Xmas but got fed up of all the error codes, bloody hell going to go and have a hunt on the web for them now grrrr, bleeding computers

Hello 2009, Sod off 2008!!

Happy new year to everyone, yes I'm a bit late but had no laptop for 3 weeks!! nearly killed me off lol. Not manage to do a lot of stitching over Christmas but i did do Sharon's design of a reindeer.

I was going to make them into little ornaments but to be honest my sewing as absolutely crap and i haven't got hold of a sewing machine yet so i have put them in a envelope ready for next Christmas. Not the best picture that i have done as i didn't have any beads and i had just pinched these from Nic's art box, and they are all now neatly put away so this one will have to do, Sharon's is much better.

I also did a bit of Santa and Fairy by Anchor but as you can see i didn't get it finished and now Christmas is over I'm not really in the mood to stitch it, so that it getting out away till November.

Well that was a good start to my New Year's resolutions, I wasn't going to start another project till i had finished the one i was working one, but sod it why change a habit of a lifetime. so now i am on the hunt for something to stitch i quite like to do the Crabby all Year sampler that is also on Sharon's blog, never seen that one before, need something to stitch this weekend though so I'm off on the web hunting for a freebie, while watching Robin Hood ( again!!)

Is This The Strangest Thing You Have Seen Stitched?

ok as I was looking for a picture on the tinternet for the newston's law pic I am doing I come across this on google I put in newton, cross stitch and lets celebrate and this is what I come up with.

I have seen some things that has been cross stitched before but the female reproductive system is I think the strangest that I have seen.

So I was wondering what's the strangest thing you have seen that has been stitched?

when can i stitch?

i have been so busy with work, kids and trying to get house done for Xmas that i have not got much stitching done, but i did manage to finish my Santa what Karen sent me, but did i get a photo of it before my youngest gave it to her teacher, nope i was running around late again in the morning that i completely forgot.

i have started newtons law lets celebrate cross stitch, but theres nothing much

i have also set up another blog for me to rant and moan about everyday life( which is all i seem to do these days lol) and keep this one for my stitching.

RAK!!!!

You know when your having a pretty bad day, you are really bad at your job, everything is a total mess and your dreading going home - all the kids had a friend over each for the first time since the fire and six kids in one house, well say no more lol

to say i was fed up was understatement, well my neighbour came around and gave me a box and i couldn't believe what was inside!! A box full of goodies from Karen, so thank you very much it was like Christmas for me, i couldn't believe it, i now have a stash of stitching goodies again!

i couldn't wait for all the kids to go to bed so i could start stitching, so since i was in the Christmas mood i started on the father Christmas ornament, didn't get very far but i didn't want to put it down, cant wait to finish work today, so i can get stuck into it again!!

Change Of Name

I have changed the name of my blog, also the theme which I love, I was browsing the web and came across this blog extra icing on the cake ( i need inspiration as i have to make my step dads 50th birthday cake), and i loved her theme, and got the freebies that were available.

anyway my daughter said i should change the name too, as even though it was personnel to me it was a funny name - ok sometimes they know best so this is her suggestion.

on the stitchy front i fingers are itching to get another project done. i was given a pattern which Sue designed, on the yahoo group i am in, so i going to start that next. i also got my bedroom finally finished, its plain at the moment but i like it ( apart from the gorgeous bedding, which has gold metallic thread in twined through it- it creases just with sitting on it)

My First Happy Dance Of The Year

I have been so busy all week, what with decorating, varnishing and been a taxi for the kids ( you know your old when your children have better social lives than you do), that i havent been able to show the progress that I have made with my birthday present that the children bought me, I finally finished it tonight and now i cant wait to stitch anything to do with Christmas

I love Christmas, buy Hubby hates it says it just an excuse to get into debt, i keep telling him you dont have to be rich to enjoy it, and we have told the kids that it wont be a lot they get and they understand that having trainers costing £100, ( which i will never buy them as think what a waste of money) and the latest gadget isnt going to be the death if them, but i still cant wait to go out and buy a tree and decorate it. last year I had just under 300 baubles, luckily they were not in the house when we had the fire so we still have them, we did however lose the artifical tree that the mum-in-law gave us, so at least something good did come from the fire lol

Another year older,nearly!

Its My birthday tomorrow so tonight we are going to see the James Bond film, which i am not complaining as i get t drool over Daniel Craig.

yes I am one of the sad people that is only go to see James Bond as i can ogle at Daniel Craig and hubby wont notice, haha.

Its Nothing fancy but we havent been out since May so I am not too bothered where we go. My mum and sister gave me some B&Q vouchers for my birthday so i can go and buy a gas fire for the room, so the stitching goodies will have to wait a but longer.

I have bought the new crossstitcher magazine so I can at least do the little freebie that i got with It, got to make Nicoles Little Red Riding costume too so another busy day, roll on when i have nothing to do but stitch!!

Started Stitching Again

Came home today,and was i glad it was Friday the kids at school have been acting up all week, whether its because its the first week back or there hyped up with bonfire events going on all week i don't know but I so glad i have two days off. Got to finish decorating my bedroom this week, so hopefully will have a photo to put up soon, its nothing special just plain but its not covered in smoke and soot which is a bonus.

Came home today to find that they had started to board up my old house, got upset over it, even though i see it everyday when i go out of the house, then my little darling Nicole told me that she had to go to school on Monday dressed up as a character out of a book for National Book Week, bloody great been on the net and she been picking costumes costing £20, sorry but no way I'm paying that t wear once, hubby is putting up new staircase and i know for a fact that i will have t go and get 'a few bits' as he calls it and spend a fortune, anyway i am going to make something up for her, will have t be something easy though as my sewing machine wasn't recognisable it was just melted so it was only the metal that was left. you don't realise what has gone until you need it.

on the stitching front, i was given a magazine so i am now stitching a forever friends Xmas design, done a lot more than i expected today, but camera batteries have died will try and get a picture up of it soon

Fresh Start On Here

Still can't find anything free on the net that i want to stitch, mind you I am fighting to get on the net, what with the kids wanting to do there homework, yes Nicole disney Games is homework, isnt it lol, and with DH wanting to buy more fishing tackle, or getting excited over some tool or other lol, so I have been given this months cross stitcher magazine will stitch something out of that.

On the blog front, it takes too long to load up using dial up, and what is the point of me keeping piccies of my WIP or completed pictures when I lost them all in the fire, well at least i have a fresh start , and this time i am not going to have loads of unfinished projects, (keep telling yourself that bev lol)

So I am going to tinker about and need to register for everything again, and not look at any stitchy sites, and catch up on watching Most Haunted Live, ohh i love spooky things

Catching Up

After 3 hours i have finally managed to get onto the net at home, ok its dial up and OMG is it slow but hey i am back online, and you dont know how much you use it till its gone. I just have to keep remembering to not keep opening up new tabs to look at different sites while i wait for the pages to load as it takes far too long.

i have so much to catch up on, there is no way i would be able to read everybodys blogs for a year but will have to get a phone extension line at the moment i am sat at the bottom of the stairs ans it aint very comfy lol.

It took me ages to remember my sign in to get onto here and can i remember anything else, nope its ok having a new laptop but all my favourites have gone, argh lol

also wanting to find something to stitch so going to look on the net for some freebies for xmas, my house is coming together slowly but the walls are bare, you know what it like when you take down the christmas decorations you house feels empty, well its like that. so now im on here the ironing can wait, so can the varnishing( i hate varnishing and having to do 6 doors is a real pain), i am itching to stitch, of yes i have got the bug back!!!

i am back, well sort of

yes its been a year since i last blogged, but a lot has happened. i was ill and it took a lot out of me, i felt really down but after a while i started to feel like my normal self again, that was until the fire, every room was either burnt or up stairs everything melted and the smoke damage was awful everything went in a skip that we owned, the only thingwe had left was the things we were wearing.

Luckily it was during the day, and there was only me at home, people who came to my house used to laugh at meas i had 7 smoke alarms, well i had the bedroom door shut and i wouldnt have known that there was a fire if it wasnt for the alamrs going off. The fire brigade said it was a good job it happened at two in the afternoon and not two at night or else it would have been a very different story. i still wake up two or three times a week thinking i can smell burning, waking hubby up. its been 4 months now since the fire but i am hoping it will stop in a bit.

My room was full of 15 years worth of stash now its empty, i know i said it would be nice to have a fresh start and a good sort out but i didnt mean like this, i can see the funny side now but 3 months ago all i did was cry all the bleeding time

there was nothing left, not even a bloody needle, so now we are in another house, as the landlord wouldnt do the house up,

it is still standing but just nothing inside except bricks, but they kept the insurnce money, we was not insured, arghhh i thought it was july not june in run out, and six days later the house burns down, yep aint life grand, so now we have moved ten doors down, still on same road just at different end of the avenue, the house was a shit tip, and all spare money is going on the house, but were getting there, but to top it off we cant get broadbad, since it seems that we are now too far away from the exchange, so i am now at my mums using there broadband, hopefully by the end of november i will be online again, and stitching as its my birthday next week and i have been hinting to get some stash heres hoping lol

I GOT THE JOB!!!

I cant believe it!!

I just got a phone call telling me that i got the job and i start tomorrow!!
I am really happy that i got it in one way as i dont have to worry about Christamas now as it has doubled my wage and think of all the stash I can buy then, i want the Chocolate cake sampler for my kitchen which i am going to start and decorate this week, and the colours would go perfect ( just need to find some where that will let you download it as with all the postal strikes going on it will take weeks to get here)

But there is also the fact that i am leaving a place where i love to work, I am sure i will be crying when i go, I love the kids there and i know in a couple of weeks i will be ok in my new kitchen but i am not looking forward to leaving today, hopefully it will all fall into place.

You know when you have a day when everything goes wrong, well I am having one of those days to today.
just come back after the interview for a school cook and i have got a right headache now, i was told 10 minutes before i finished work today that they wanted to interview me, so I had no time to get into interview mood and prepare for it, nothing like being thrown into the deep end .

it was a really bad interview too i just kept on talking a load of tripe, and i was thinking at the time, what the hell am i saying, and they made me too some nurmeracy tests, whihc i know i can do ,but because i was put on the spot i ended up double checking every answer so i didnt finish in time.

I find out on monday wheher i have go the job or not, but to be honest i have no chance, i think i will need a large drink tonight to forget about it all happening today.

On the stitching front i have done a few more christmas cards including this fat snowman and some other santas. At the moment i am stitchign for a couple of exchanges, and i am using DMC's Glow in the Dark thread for the first time, i have no idea if it works or not so i am going to test it tonight., Im stitching on 2 inch Aida band, but i might unpick it and see if i can get any wider ones, as the pattern I am using, isnt going to fit everything on.

I have still got so much to stitch, loads of chrsitmas cards left to do and i was given a chart called Gathering Holly ( see pic) by Kay in the Yahoo group and i want to start that but i havent had the chance yet, maybe this weekend hopefully.

hope everyone has a good weekend

Happy Dance, Finally Finished Christmas Chickadee

Well i have finally finished my Christmas Chickadee, after two attempts lol.

I started it Thursday night and by Sunday Morning this is how much I had done.


I was determined to finish it, so i didn't really move from the chair last night just sat and watched TV that I recorded on Sky+, and finished it, apart from the back stitching, last night.

I didn't want to go to work today and not finish it, so this morning I did the back stitching. It wasn't as bad as the Chorus line, as there was hardly any to do, which I was glad about as its not my favourite part.

The finished result looks so much better than it does in the picture, as the silver fleck doesn't come off that well when i scanned it in, and the metallic red that i used for the berries, looks really dark too, but in real life it catches the light and looks really good. Thats the trouble with metallic it looks rubbish when on here

The trouble is now, do I send it on a Christmas card, or keep it for myself. I really love this design and about 95% of what i have stitched this year has been for other people, the trouble is I chose designs that I like to stitch and I would keep for myself most of the time, so where do you draw the line lol

I have just found out today that I have also got an interview for a job that I applied for, running my own school kitchen. I would still be working for the local council, but it would be a promotion .I would be doing it on my own but there are only 45 kids, and the pay is nearly double to what I am on now, so even though I love the job I do now, as it is really easy and I don't have to think about it. The money would come in so handy, especially with Christmas mas coming up.

Decisions, decisions, takes me all my time to decide whihc pattern to stitch next, never mind do i change my job or not!! lol

I Have Finally Done One!!!

I have actually made a start on my Xmas cards and finished one ( cant count the Christmas chickadee that i started as i have lost i- well Hubby did!! Grrrrr MEN!! lol). I have been ringing around the local shops for some opalescent Aida, even though i know prefer to stitch on even weave, as i prefer the finished look, but so far have had no look. i don't really want to buy off the net as i have been having real problems with the post and it always take ages to arrive and i want to start as soon as possible.

I have decieded just to stitch them all up and then make them into cards all at once,so hopefully by mid december I will have done enough for everyone( the neighbour next door who i dont like- she is really nasty to my kids as they dont like to play with her grandson, who swears constantly, bites and is just a bully( hes 6) she must be so proud- will make do with a crappy bauble card lol)

Anyway finished Santa last night so i am going to make a start on a snowman now, not going to stitch anything else( apart from any exchanges in the yahoo group) except Christmas cards. I love Christmas, the preparation, the shopping, wrapping, everything, it just always seems a let down when its over. The rest of the family (apart from the kids) aren't bothered about Christmas they all same they hate it, BA HUMBUG!! lol

I also got my Lizzie Kate exchange through today, again I have no idea who has sent it, but I know that i got my keyring from Clare, also posted a piccie of the one i sent her. I love the keyring I got from Clare as I am always losing my keys ( which since i have only got 1 key for my car isn't that good) so i have put it on the only car key i have that way I hopefully shouldn't lose it quite as much!!

Heart In Hand Exchange

This is the design I chose for a Lizzie Kate style exchange. I chose this one from Heart in hand, called 'heart sampler'.

I changed the colours so it would match the occasions book I was putting it on, and used variegated threads for the larger hearts at the bottom of the design.

I have another exchange to do for a winter/xmas themed mousemat, which i signed up for on the cross-stitching forum. But I think after that I will just keep tot he exchanges on the yahoo group I am on, It seems that all I have stitched this year is for exchanges.

I went to hobbycraft to see if i could find anything nice to stitch, but I wasn't impressed with the selection they had. No coloured evenweave or aida, no aida bands that I wanted, nothing at all to do with Christmas.

I did get my CrossStitcher and World of Cross Stitching magazines today through the post so hopefully there will be something there to inspire me for xmas.

Been Gone So Long

I cant believe where the time has gone, its been over a month since my last post and so much has happened, but I have hardly done any stitching.

What I have done i cant post yet as they are for exchanges but hopefully i can put them up by Saturday.

I did manage to finish off my bit of the RR that I was doing. there wasn't much room left so I put my design across blending two threads.

The other bookmark in the RR, I used variegated threads, for the outside of the design and ht inner part i blended pale blue and orange and it was really different. looks a lot better in real life, than it does in the picture.

The holiday was a disaster, it rained all the time I had my purse stolen, and since I had just come out of the building society with £700, the nice person who decided to take it, must have thought it was there holiday/Christmas rolled into one, anyway we made the best of what money we had but it doesn't go far, so we came home early, very fed up. ( especially since I left my sewing at home, and couldn't afford to buy a kit - in the end i started to read Lauren's Princess Diaries book, which I am now on the second one. How old am I ? lol)

On the way home our car broke down on the motorway so we were stood on the grass verge for 3 hours waiting to for AA to turn up, he had a fit when he saw us. He was told that a=it was man and a car, not car, caravan 3 kids and us, I mean I rang them 4 times to see where they were as they kept saying that they would be there in 30 minutes and each time i told them how many of us there was. we were just lucky that it wasn't raining.

When we got home, I had to take my car for its MOT to find out it failed, so old faithful ( which wasn't so bloody faithful after all since it failed on practically everything) was sent to the scrapyard, and i was without a car for a week, which to be honest felt like a longer than that ( we live in the middle of nowhere, 5 miles to the nearest shop and buses every two hours if were lucky and it cost me just short of £5 to get home on the bus, which took 40 minutes where i can get home in 7, when i am in the car. Can you tell I don't like public transport?)

Anyway I treated myself, well my Dad did gave me a little bit too, he said since I take him shopping every week and to the hospital and doctors all the time, he would help me out and I am now the owner of my very first newish car ( its 4 years old but the newest one i have ever had since they have always been old wrecks).

I love it, and we went away to Skegness at the weekend in it to see what it was like on a run, so we bought a tent( I am now so skint you wouldn't believe it ), packed the boot full and went off camping, the kids loved it better than their main holidays and can't believe how much room there was in the tent, although I don't think I will be going to Skegness for a while, its not the same place that I remember.

So now I have a months worth of blogs to catch up on, so no sewing tonight again, although it might helpme as i am desperate for insipration as i have to get my stitching bug back!

Goodbye For Now

Well I have now got two teeth less, the dentist said that if i didtn tkae these teeth out the infection i have got in my gums( cant remember what she called it) will spread and i would need them all out, nice eh?

So I am now very sore, very fed up and Im not getting no sympathy here at all!!

on the bright side i knew that i would have false teeth at an early age as my teeth are very weak, so its two less to take out further down along the lines, not very nice thing to think about though at my age.

I hope everyone has a nice two weeks as Im off on my hols, we were going to the South Of France but with hubby having a £3,000 car bill, that went out of the window, as well did us going to Scotland.

The relatives found out we were coming up , so we cancelled that, dont get me wrong i love them all, but when you spend all the time visiting everyone, its no holiday for me.

So we are going to the Lake district for our hols, we have only been for a weekend once before, and it rained so hard the entire time we were there we didnt venture out of the caravan( we forgot our coats how daft was that lol), hopefully it wont be like that this time. I am looking forward to visiting all those craft shops up there, so hopefully I will get some much needed stash! lol

Picture Of My First Scarf

Well I found the batteries for the camera, and yes Callum did have them, he's terrible if you need a battery you know where to look, doesn't matter if i buy him a multipack he says you can never have enough batteries, grrrr kids lol

Anyway!! heres the pictures of the scarfs that I knitted. The first one, doesnt look very neat but its the wool , honest!! lol

It was not the best of wool to learnt to knit with as one minute its really thick, the next its thin. But after pulling it all out and starting again, loads of times( I lost count how many- so you can tell it was a lot) I got the hang of it, I just knitted this one, as when I was purling with it , it looked awful, as my plan was to knot a garter knit scraf, but with this wool , nope my best laid plan went astray yet again!!

This is what I am currently stitching, which at first it was really hard to get the hang of it, as i kept putting my needles inbetween the hole in the wool( if you can call it that), but now its coming along really quick ( well not so much now since i am getting ready for the hols)

I haven't got much wool left , so I have bought some plae pink and lilac wool and I am going to knit a cushion cover for Nicole's bed, and have a go at actually following a pattern!!

I have less than an hour to go before Ihave to set off for the dentict and I am now feeling ILL!!!

Roll on tonight when its all over!!

I Wish It Was Tomorrow!

What a day I have had, I have had really bad toothache for weeks, but with me having a severe phobia about dentists( I had 4 teeth took out without anaesthetic, by a dentist who later got struck off for being drunk on the job, he made a mess and cut my gums and jaw, they were a real mess and when I was crying out in pain I was told to be quiet and it was all in my head- I was 11 at the time),

since then I never ever go unless I have to, I have weak enamel on my teeth and they can break apart from just eating a mars bar, so I will have to have false teeth before I am 40, I have been told theres nothing that they can do. My teeth are just too weak, That's what you get with not drinking milk.

Anyway I got the nerve up to go and get it done and I was going out of the house when I saw the caravan keys on the side. I went to put them away and saw the other pair had gone, they were no where to be found, I looked for 4 hours searching everywhere, unpacking everything that I had put in the caravan yesterday even going through the bins, not a nice job.

You see a year ago this week I had my caravan stolen by them nice people known as travellers, we had only had it 2 weeks and everything in it was brand new, even down to the cutlery, we were insured but it didn't cover everything and in two weeks we lost over 4 thousand pounds!!

Well they are back they didn't know I was in and was very surprised to see me, and they made an excuse about doing work for me, or I could buy a knock off leather sofa, I told them not very nicely to get lost and sod off back to Ireland, I rang the police and was told they knew they were in the area and even though I gave them the vans registration number there was nothing they could do unless they caught them in the act, typical!!

So there was no way I would go out without finding the keys, well Fours hours and one cancelled dentist appointment later, they have turned up on the kitchen table, hours after I looked for them there in the first place, since that is where I left them last.

I have no idea where they have been, but I know that they wasn't there before as I took everything off the table.

Now I have rung the Dentist up again and they are letting me in at 9am tomorrow so I will have another sleepless night worrying about the dentist, I'm just having one of those days!!!

How Busy Can I Be????

I cant believe that I have been at home nearly 3 weeks and I have got nothing done!!

No painting the sunhouse and sewing some muslim to cover the windows, no decorating the kitchen and hall, nope nothing... all i have done is run around after the kids taking to them to their friends, having their friends here, it has been a complete nightmare.

I am now in the process of getting ready for our hols, which we are supposed to be off for 2 weeks bit its looking more likely that we will be off for just one, due to the fact that there is never enough bloody money!!

So i spent all yesterday ironing, sorting out all the clothes that the kids have but don't ft them ( you wouldn't believe the amount of clothes they have had a few months that don't fit them now and they are still brand new- that was another trip to the charity shop, i know i could sell them but I take them to Help the Aged, let them get some money for them) and packing.

I have cleaned the cooker( 3 hours i was so fed up) and the freezer, cupboards etc - why I do it I don't know but I do, know I am so knackered I haven't even looked at any stitching I'm just crawling into bed and I'm straight to sleep.

I have though finished the Oriental lady kit that you get free with the cross stitcher magazine, and I did finish my first scarf and I am now knitting another for when I go out at night( Lauren as said she is going to pinch it and use it as a belt to go with her jeans, hmmmm that's what she thinks lol) I will put a picture up of them when I can find the batteries to the camera, looks like Callum has took them for his Xbox remote control ( that will teach me for buying him a wireless one)

I started doing another scissor fob that I am making for an exchange but I haven't picked it up since I lost( Lauren borrowed it, and now she cant find it ARGHHH!!!) my thread heaven and I hate using metallic's without using it, as you know its not the best of thread to use.

I have now got to decide what to take with me to stitch on my hols ( you can bet it will be raining so I will get plenty of time to stitch, might take my knitting with me too, and have a go at decreasing and increasing, and try and make sense of a pattern- he will have a fit when he ses what I am planning on taking lol)

Hope everyone is having a lovely summer

Secret Animal Exchange Reveal

Well I can finally put my first attempt at a scissor fob that I sent for the Secret Animal Exchange.

My sewing machine has finally died on me and it will cost more to get it fixed than it did to buy the thing in the first place so its off to the tip

I ended up sewing the thing by hand, and really my hand sewing is terrible, as it takes me ages to sew small neat lines, my family cant believe that i can cross stitch but cant sew.

To be honest, I can its just that I don't like doing it so I just don't bother unless I have to.

It took me ages to chose a design for the exchange and I stitched it on 25ct so it doesn't look much but if I had done in 2 over 2 on 28ct it would have been far too big, and I didn't want to send it framed in the post as it would have arrived broke no matter how much I had packed it.

I have to do another scissor fob for the yahoo group , I chose the design and went and got all of the stuff that I needed for it. my local shop doesn't sell Mill Hill Beads so I went and bought some other seed beads that they had in, I just had to change one of the colours, but I like the new colour I picked.

Hopefully this time it shouldn't take me as long to stitch and put together since I have a better idea of what to do. I want to get it done by next week as I am going off on my hols hopefully, so want to get everything done and posted before then.

Oh and yes I finally succumbed and I went and bought the Harry Potter book, now do I read it now, or leave it for my hols, and can I actually leave it alone and not read the back pages, hmmm what do you want to bet that someone will tell me what happens before I get the chance to read it lol

Handbag And Gladrags Reveal

I have finally changed from AOL onto BT and god you can tell the difference, no more waiting 15 minutes before AOL would start to work, no i switch PC on and its there waiting to me to sit down and surf the web. now i must resist the temptation to buy stash off the net, no Bev... Bad Bev lol

On the stitching from I received my handbag and Glad rags exchange from Brenda and Lauren has been trying to pinch the notebook all morning since its 'cooolll' lol.

I have not managed to get much stitching in so far just did a bit more of my Xmas chickadee, but nothing that you can really see that I have done.

I did though drop everything to stitch the free gift that came in this months Crossstitcher magazine. will post a picture when there's something more interesting to see.

Magent exchange reveal

Nothing much to report, Bieke, got her magnet that i did from an exchange in the yahoo group, and i was really struggling to find somehting to stitch for the size of the magnet.

everything that i looked at stitching was too big for it, even on 32ct.

In the end i chose this ice cream sundae, that i stitch in variegated threads that i bought,I have never had the chance to use them so i thought I would try them and and see what they looked like.

Next time I have to stitch on a magnet i am going to have to stitch on either plastic canvas and stick some magnet backing onto it or find a bigger magnet!!

2 Down. 2 more to go!!

I can finally reveal the handbag's and glad rags exchange that I sent to Brenda in Australia, I had no idea how to finish off my work , since my sewing machine is bust I did want to hand sew as basically its crap!! lol

Anyway was shopping and saw the memory folder, and I thought it would be perfect for her new job. I only posted it on Saturday morning and she got it Tuesday so I was really impressed on how fast Brenda got it.


The right hand side of the design took far longer than the left as i had to duplicate the woman but he other way around, I spent so much time frogging I didn't think I was never going to finish. I was so happy when i finished all the border and put the beads on it, as it seemed to take an age to stitch!





I have only got three more days left to work so I now officially going into holiday mode, you know the one when everything seems to take so much longer, the minutes seem to stop and all you want to do is wish your life away because you cant wait for Friday to come!! Well that is me at the moment, work which is normally so easy is now such a drag, oh well I shouldnt moan( but I am lol) I have never had such a long time off work so six weeks is going to be bliss ( just a shame i have the kids at home lol)


I have finally finished the RR for Margaret's Bookmark and sent that off, only thing is, I think I have done it a bit long, I didn't realise how much i had stitched, I just got carried away, so now I am going to get going with the Christmas chickadee card and try yet again with my knitting.

Cheered me up!!

Well this has definitely cheered me up today!!
lately been getting nothing but bills and more bills ,but I got a knock on the door and I got this from my Mystery Stitcher ( I find out who it is next week)from the realistic animal exchange that I did on the cross-stitching forum.

I love it and it has pride and place in my conservatory so its the first thing people will see, I love the card too, so I'm off for a frame for that to go next to it too.

So thank you very much, to who ever stitched this I love it

One Down 3 More To Go!!!

I have finally finished my RR piece for my bookmark. Though It looks better in real life as the scanner has not picked up the bright colours, as they look dull on the picture.It has took an age to do and i haven't even started on Margaret's yet. Been having some problems on the home front, with MIL (who lives next door) stirring up some problems with me and hubby, so I am feeling a bit low lately. I am sure she would be happy if she split us up. I have resisted the temptation to tell her exactly what I think But it will only cause more trouble, and i will never be good enough for her son, as I am not rich, get drunk with them on a weekend,drink and drive like they do, and wont roll over and do as im told.

I always so though what goes around comes around so i will just have to wait. Really want to say thanks to my sister though, as we have never seen eye to eye on many things but has been a great help this pastweek!!

Oh and the knitting HA!!! i have spent more time pulling the bloody wool off the needle that it has stayed on, i have though finally cracked the purl stitch , as i was having real problems with it but i have just to master how to get it neat because as the moment it looks a tiny bit untidy !! lol

How hard can it be?( yeah right lol)

When I went into my local craft shop I saw a knitted top that I loved, so obviously I thought I know I will learn how to knit!!!
Yes nothing like seeing something and jumping in with both feet, so here I am with my book to learn, since no one i know knows how to knit.

I was really good last night I sat down and read some of my book, but i didn't start any,I thought it would be better when i have more time to my self as the kids last night were a relay pain every two minutes they were playing up, I sent them to bed early and they were still arguing with each other( imagine The Waltons, at the end of the program, but shouting at each other, that was my house last night if you could have steam coming out of your ears then last night that would have been me)

Hopefully tonight I will make start on my first ever knitting, someone said knit some socks !!! not a chance 2 needles will be bad enough never mind 4, so I am going to attempt to make a scarf. There wasn't much choice in the wool shop i went to , as it said in the book to use pure wool for a start, and there was very little in, as it was all fancy stuff which is no good for starting, I wouldn't be able to see what i was doing.

Hopefully It will look like a scarf and not something that a dog has ripped to pieces lol.

On the stitching front, I got all my exchange pieces in the post, so hopefully I will be able to post the pictures of them next week.

I am now doing my RR, I received Margaret's piece yesterday , so after I have finished mine ( which is so fiddly I don't think I will do small Celtic knot again, unless its on evenweave) I will chose a design that fits, (the one i had in mind wouldn't look right on it)
I also made a start on my first christmas card, i normally leave it till the week before, realise its too late and dont bother with it, and every year I say I will start it earlier, and every year I don't. Its Valerie Pfeiffer Chistmas Chickadee, I loved stitching the chicks I thought I would do another!

As you can see theres not much to see really but its a start. I can't wait till next Friday I get 6 weeks off work so hopefully I will get more to time to stitch ( and knit) oh the joys of working in a school!!!

I dont Like frogs ( apart from Kermit!)

When I came home from work yesterday I decided to do some gardening ( I hadn't cut the grass yet and it was beginning to get a it long) the weather looked like it might actually stay fine for a hour so, I'm busy cutting the grass singing away to my ipod( well in a fashion), and a couple of hours later i had a garden fit for the Chelsea Flower Show, Ok maybe not but it was the best it had been in ages.
I shifted all the rubbish that had been kicking about and put it all in my boot and set off for the tip. I think everyone had the same idea as me, the place was packed!! I had to wait for 15 minutes before it was my turn to get anywhere near the containers.

It was when I was busy minding my own business , emptying all the junk from my boot when I saw it. The Biggest Frog I have ever seen. it was sat in the car just staring at me. I had no idea what to do, I screamed so loud when I saw it that people had stopped what they where doing and all staring at me. I just smiled and tried to get the rest of the rubbish out of the car with the toad on top. but it wasn't having any of it. Every time I moved something It would sort of hop( if you can call it that, it had a job to move it was that big) and then i couldn't find it.

I carefully took everything out of the car hoping it had gone in a bag that I had chucked out, but no it was still there, still starting at me with its big eyes.

There was no way I was driving home with that in the car, I was worried it might jump on me, and I would crash the car, sod driving I would be wailing my arms everywhere!! lol

There was no way I was going anywhere near it, so I asked the man who worked there if he could get it out for me, where I was told by him that ' its not in my job description!!'
I muttered a few words about him to myself, I mean what happened to a man coming to a womans aide, bugger all thats what happened.

I did manged to get another man to get it out for me, which he said he would but only because he had big gardening gloves on( I thought men were fearless lol)

it took him ages to catch this Frog, as it suddenly sprung into life, and the man was getting slightly impatient with it, his words that he was using was starting to attract more peoples attention.

when he finally did managed to catch it, he looked quite pleased with himself, and then with the frog in his hands he put it up to my face and asked me if I wanted to Kiss Prince Charming.

I think he thought he was funny, as he was laughing, but I wasn't when it jumped off his hands and into my face. I screamed( even louder this time) and I had slime on my face from it( well it was wet anyway ) it was everywhere in my mouth as well.

By this time the man was rolling about saying the frog was trying to kiss me- well he got something in my mouth anyway but i don't want to even think about, what it was!

The last I saw off the stupid thing was it hopping off down the road with everyone looking out of their car windows at it, with a few of them laughing.
I wanted the ground to open up, I just said thank you to the man and drove off so fast.

oh the humiliation. lol