Soccer mum

Im trying to find some time to stitch on my nephews birth sampler. I started this over a year ago. He turns 1 on the 26th January and i really want it to be his 1st birthday present. It was supposed to be his birth present! I am so nearly finished, look!

Tomorrow Caleb starts Football lessons. Signing him up for this was my first experience of the dog eat dog world of motherhood lol You had to go to the sports centre when it re-opened on the 28th December and queue to sign your kid up. There were 20 places. I arrived at 10am only to find the damn sports centre didn't open 'til 1pm and i had plans that afternoon. So, my mum went for me! She arrived at 1.05pm to find 6 mothers in the queue already. Caleb got a place and has 12 weeks of classes ahead and then we shall queue again to try and get a place on the next block (if he enjoys it). Crazy eh? He's excited, he has boundless energy and is obsessed with "fast running" at the moment. "Fast running" with a ball is his dream come true so this will suit him perfectly!

As we enter the world of Statutory Maternity Pay i am trying to be more organised with food buying. I am actually planning meals. I might publish to my blog each week, not for interesting reading but simply for my own motivation and to keep track of what we've had. This week i planned for us and for Caleb:

Monday- Chicken Casserole and rice / chicken nuggets and rice
Tuesday - Fish cakes, potatoes and vegetables / fish fingers, potatoes and vegetables
Wednesday - my mum shall provide
Thursday - Tomato and Cheese Pasta Bake
Friday - Beef Casserole and rice

I am not planning the weekends!

Tomorrow is also Caleb's 3rd Birthday party; a joint party with his friend Eve. We have a sports centre booked for a bouncy castle and soft play party. 20 kids. That should be great for the tinnitus!

Stitching for the kids

Lo and behold i've been stitching again! I try to make a Christmas ornament every year with a nice personalised message on the back. I stitched this for Caleb last year and this the year before. This year, with time being scarce and two kids to stitch for now, im keeping the ornaments simple. Ive just picked out some motifs from a JBW Christmas stocking. Here's Aaron's (stitched in my favourite DMC 115):

Advent catch up:

Day 17 - Aaron went to his first ever birthday party, his wee friend Athan. Caleb stayed at home with Daddy. Daddy and Caleb had to come and rescue Mummy and Aaron when they got stuck on icy roads. Daddy also had to rescue Mummys friend Becky who also got stuck. The Salt dough never got made. Whoops.

Day 18 - Christmas service at church. Boy did Caleb have a blast and he even stood on the stage to sing! The kids were so cute holding hands, i think my favourite moment was when Isla started singing Jingle Bells in the middle of Away in a Manger. Too too cute! Nice memories.

Day 19 (today) - Caleb is at his playgroup Christmas party and ive to go back at 11.15am to watch him get his present from Santa. We are supposed to be painting our salt dough ornaments today but seeing as we never made them in the first place thats not happening! We will perhaps try and get them made this afternoon!

Monday morning bliss

Considering i managed to blog every day in December i've done pretty poorly ever since!

Monday morning, my precious time! Caleb is over in the community centre at playgroup, its snowing/raining and super windy so im not going running; what a great excuse to chill out in peace and quiet :-)

The inlaws have gone back to Canada. They were a great help with the wee one but boy, i did breath a sigh of relief when they left. It was all just a bit too intense....too many people not enough room. We will hopefully get over to Canada in September.

Ive been working away on the birth sampler for my nephew. Here's an update

Im putting it aside for a few days to work on a Spring themed exchange for Jo over at Friendly Stitchers

I am in the last week of my 20's!!! A week tomorrow i will be 30! Ergh, i have a thing about 30, it just sounds a lot older than 29. Im having a big party to celebrate though. Since i was a teenager ive always wanted a big bash for my 30th. I've invited lots of people, im having a disco, ive got a gorgeous party dress and i can't wait! It's not til the 12th so i'll need to plan something to do on my actual birthday.

Off to get another cuppa....i love Monday mornings :-)

Climbing

The climbing arena was great. The kids i work with had a blast. I was slightly worried when we got there and i had to sign something that said the centre wouldn't be responsible for death and then when the first activity seen my young people suspended from the ceiling, a long way off the groundand then seeing them climb this far but it was all fine! They're a great group who were rewarded with this trip for their volunteering in the community over the last two years. Im very proud of them.

I think all the worry wore me out because i was in bed at 9pm last night and sound asleep by 10pm. My new stitching start sums up my feelings

So true!! :-)

Gifts from friends

Ive got Friday and Monday off work which is great! Not much planned....was at my Gran's birthday dinner last night and am going out with friends for dinner tonight. It is rainy outside and starting to get dark as i write this at 3.30pm. Im not a fan of winter.

Anyway here's some WIPS from this week. The first, my JBW French Country Stocking

The second is this weeks progress on Cirque for the Snowbirds SAL. If it wasn't for this SAL i don't think i would be working on this one so thanks to those that started it! Not much progress, just the top right circle.

I have also been gifted by the secret santa from Belgium! I got this gorgeous floss this morning called Yuletide Green. I love greens. Has secret santa made known her identity yet?! I think i know who it's from as ive had a gift from someone before with very similar writing but im not totally sure. Anyway, a BIG thanks to whoever you are! It was so kind of you to think of me and it made my morning!Today really was a GREAT mail day because as well as this floss, look what i got in the post from Mercy - 3 LHN charts!! They are A Stitchers Prayer, Willow Tree Inn and A Rose in the Morning. Mercy was clearing out some stash and asked me if i would like them. Isn't that just so generous?! Thank-you so much Mercy. I can't get over the kindness and generosity of all these folks ive never met but definitely consider them to be friends!! Thanks so much :)

First SBEBB exchange

I received word from Edgar that he had received my SBEBB Specific Designer Exchange piece. I stitched a LHN freebie called Miniature Garden Gameboard and finished it as a pinkeep/hanging ornament.I sent him some other goodies too and i was pleased to hear he liked them! This was my first exchange on the SBEBB and im glad i got Edgar's name!

I worked on CdC this week again for the Snowbirds SAL. We work on this one day a week but obviously as i work full-time, i normally only get a couple of hours in but im pleased with my progress. For those that have asked, im using Vikki Clayton silks called "marque des cercles."

I also have a new start to show. I started my JBW French Country Stocking. Im not sure if it'll be done in time for this Christmas though. Im using DMC115.

Ive enjoyed reading your blogs this week and finding out how you all celebrated Thanksgiving. Obviously we dont have thanksgiving over here. How on earth you all cope with all the preparation for Thanksgiving and then Christmas i dont know....the 2 holidays are so close to each other. The Christmas build up seems crazy over here, months and months of build up. I love Christmas but dont enjoy the 4 month build up in the shops and on TV!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

100th post

This is my 100th post! I love blogging!

Work is crazy at the moment and life is generally busy so ive not been stitching as much. I only had 1 free night last week and it's going to be the same again this week. So here is an update on what i have been working on. First of all, Edgar's RR (sorry about the lighting of the photos, it's getting dark so early here now!) Im making this RR up as i go along! Edgar's only preference was to have trees in each square. Im not working from any particular LHN pattern, im just adding things as i go along...which is making for slow progress.

Yesterday i was suffering with my startitis problem that you'll know i have by now. I started this one from the 2006 JCS ornament issue. I think i'll keep this for me when's it's done; for my Christmas tree. I think it's by Cherished Stitches.

Finally here's a quilting update. Im finding quilting class hard going....im generally really tired on a Thursday evening and the lighting in the room isn't great. Progress is slow. I find quilting takes up a lot of time - particularly measuring and cutting. Don't get me wrong....i do enjoy it....but i would prefer to use my machine than sewing by hand. After this class is done my next quilting attempt will definitely be machine stitched! Sorry about the bad light in these photos.

Have a good week!

Full of the cold

I woke up yesterday totally fine. We had an appointment at the bank, then i went to work. By lunchtime however, i was fully loaded with the cold. I felt terrible at work...sneezing/stuffed up nose etc and by last night it was even worse...sore throat/earache. I hardly slept last night. So needless to say i had to phone in sick today. I am so gutted to have a cold already...i had one in July as well.

The inlaws arrived on Monday (to a sparkling clean house after a weekend of intense cleaning/tidying time LOL) and everything's been fine. Thankfully they had already arranged to go out today to meet some friends so i am able to just be ill without the thought of entertaining guests!

I made this fob for Lizzy recently and i received an email the other day to say she received it. It's a "With my Needle" design from the 2006 JCS christmas ornament magazine. I finished it in a hurry so i wasn't entirely happy with it but Lizzy seems to like it so i am glad :)


This is what ive been working on recently whilst waiting for the next RR to arrive. It's "baby sampler" from Lizzie Kate and is for my friend who recently had a wee baby girl. The baby was premature so they are both still in hospital. I hope to have this finished for when they get out. I will either finish it as a flatfold or some kind of ornament you can hang. I haven't decided yet. It's such a cute design.So that's about it from me. I'm off to resume my position under the duvet on the sofa with a hot drink. Can you tell im feeling sorry for myself ; )

Im gonna be a quilter!

Im going to quilting classes! I've been wanting to learn to quilt for ages but just haven't had the opportunity to try it yet. My mum has started getting interested in it too after visiting one of her quilting friends. Anyway, last week we found out that there is going to be a quilting class in the wee community centre in my village which is right opposite my house. The lady that runs the class (which is for beginners) is only taking on 6 class members so mum and i make up 2 of those. We start at the end of september and it runs one night a week for 10 weeks and is a good price too. Im a bit worried about it as i'm hoping i will be able to do it as im not experienced at sewing at all. Least my mum will be there and can help me out though.

When i told my sister about this she couldn't stop laughing and said "What are you going to do when you're old? You're going to have no hobbies left, you're using them all up now." The cheek of it! It did make me laugh though.

Here are some stitching updates. This is where im up to on your RR Donna. LHN's "The counting house." Im using the recommended WDW, Crescent Colours and DMC threads. This one is an enjoyable stitch as it's nice and simple. A good tv stitch (a piece you don't have to concentrate too hard on).I haven't done much on Amitie recently but i got home from work earlier yesterday and sat in the sun for a while (yes, you read right - we've had sun...and heat!) and worked on it for a little while.As usual, im glad it's the weekend. No plans tonight which is fine by me as we were out last night and im tired today. Tomorrow night i'm dragging DH and 2 of our friends along to a work event. Im taking some of the young people i work with to a concert organised and performed by other young people in the area. Not sure what it'll be like, just doing my bit and showing face at it!

Have a good weekend everyone!

The kindness of stitching bloggers

I have had the worst luck with post recently. Firstly i thought some stash i ordered was lost in the mail (fortunately it wasn't), then i posted my squares for the Fair and Square exchange and then got told her address had changed (so who knows if they'll ever arrive) and finally and worst of all, Donna's RR is stuck with customs with a £50 charge attached to it. Can you believe that? I can't dispute the charges until i have the parcel in my possession and i can't have the parcel until i pay the charges. So i had to pay and hope to goodness that they will accept my dispute of the charge. There's only a bloomin' piece of linen in it for goodness sake!! That should arrive on Friday but it surely must be classed as the most expensive RR ever!

So today, i was so happy to come home and received a parcel that had no problems (or charges!) attached to it. Ive only been blogging since January but since then i cannot believe just how kind stitching bloggers are! The kindness and generosity of people i have never even met never ceases to amaze me. Mercy was one of the first stitching bloggers i came into contact with through the stitching bloggers yahoo group. Today i received the following RAK from her.

LHN's herb garden with all the floss as well! Mercy, thank-you so much. I love this piece. If you haven't checked out Mercy's blog before you should. In particular you have to see the flatfold she made recently from this design. It is beautiful.

Now some stitching updates. I haven't worked on Dollhouse since the beginning of June but i pulled it out of the WIP box recently and got another room done. Click here to see my last update picture.

Not one of my favourite rooms. I don't really get the watering can?? Here's how it looks overall. 5 rooms down, 7 to goIve been working a bit on Amitie when i have time at work. Here's my latest progress

Away for a week

Im off work now for a week and supposedly "on holiday" however, im off to kids camp, that our church runs, for a week. I must be mad LOL. I do it every summer and i do love it once im there but ive had so much preparation to do for it and it is hard work! It's worth it though.

Before i go i just want to say a BIG thank-you for all the blog name suggestions. I have narrowed it down to 3 and i can't decide what to choose! I'll keep the winner in suspense until i get back and by then i might have decided.

In stitching news i received my Fair and Square exchange from Louise.

Lovely eh? I can't decide what to do with all the squares i will receive. I like the idea of some kind of wall hanging or maybe a friendship book.

I also have a new start to show. The picture is a bit blurry.

This is Lizzie Kate's "gift from heaven" from the "make it personal" chart. It's for my friend who had a beautiful baby girl called Mya on Tuesday. I am so happy for her!

Have a good week everyone and i'll catch up with all your blogs when i get back.

Competition

Im looking for a new blog name. I haven't been able to come up with anything. Can you help? There's a stitching prize in it for you!

When i started this blog i wasnt sure what shape it was going to take. Originally it thought it'd just be for friends and family. I have a group of best friends that ive known for years. We all live in different parts of the country now but continue to meet often. These are the "bezzas" i.e. best friends. I get called bezza chezza sometimes so i called my blog that. However, my blog took on a stitching theme and i decided not to promote it to my friends because none are even remotely interested in stitching and i'll be even more ridiculed LOL. So...i want something related to me and stitching? Any ideas? I'll make a stitchy gift for the winning suggestion. You can post in comments or email me cherylthomas3000 at yahoo dot com.

Here's where im up to on Mirabilia's Feather Fairy. Im enjoying this piece.

I was off this morning so i babysat for my doggy nephew Barney. I haven't showed a picture of him in ages. He's 6mths old now and is the loveliest little dog.

Are you a slave to the stitch??

Ive seen this poster a couple of times at the train station but today it was in my magazine. It always makes me laugh! I thought all you stitching bloggers might appreciate it LOL Today my startitis kicked in again. I really wanted to start something new whilst watching the Wimbledon final. So i did. Here's what i decided to start and here's my start (not the most exciting picture but i just wanted my new start recorded!)My RR is sidelined for now. I figure once the RR gets going it'll be all i spend my time stitching on, so i want to do some other pieces in the meantime. I might finish my sqaure at the end, we'll see. Here's where im up to with it anyway

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. We were at our friends house for dinner last night and tonight im going to a house warming party!

Home with lots to show

We arrived home at 5am this morning. It's great to be home but sad to leave behind friends and family, especially our gorgeous little nephew! I'll probably blog more about our trip later in the week but i thought i'd make this a stitchy update...

First things first. Look at this gorgeous pillow that i received in the mail from Anna It has my initial stitched on it. She made this for me as a gift for visiting her blog (5000th visitor draw)

Anna, i absolutely love it!! Thank you so so much! It was so kind of you to make me such a beautiful gift! It is proudly on display in my bookshelf at the moment.

Now here's some things that i have been stitching recently. I have been enjoying working on some small projects. They're all freebies by the way. The first is "Hearts Desire" by Debbie Draper Designs stitched on 32 ct cream belfast linen with Vikki Clayton Silk called "Russian Sage."The second is "The Three Emblems" by Papillon Creations. I am stitching this on 32 ct cream belfast linen with DMC115The third is "MY Treasure" from Dragon Dreams

Im enjoying all these projects so much. I'm keeping it a surprise for now as to what i'll be doing with them!

Here's a picture of some stash i got in Canada. I can't wait to start the Feather Fairy! I have a few big projects on the go at the moment so i'm trying to resist for now but i have all the threads (also bought in Canada) so it's very tempting!

It's going to take me forever to catch up on everyone's blogs - I have about 200 feeds in my google reader! Looking forward to finding out what you've all been up to though!

Back from Exmouth

I had a great time away. The weather wasn't great but it didn't matter, we had so much fun! I have come back so tired that i had to take another day off work! Three nights out in a row just finished me off, i must be getting older ;) We slept in late every morning, stayed out late every night, drank too much, ate too much....the usual girly weekend. On sunday we had a relaxing 3 hours at the spa and then walked to the beach later on. Here's a photo of me (on the left) and my friend at the beach Here's another photo of us out one night


The only bad thing about being away...i came back to way over 100 feeds in my google reader. It's going to take a long time to catch up that's for sure!

Now for a stitching update. Here's the latest on Dollhouse. I finished another room last week.
I bought a little bit of stash the other day. The Kreiniks were reduced from £3 to 99p which was great seeing as i needed them anyway for the next PIF gift i'm about to start working on. I also bought some metallic DMC, i've never used this before. It doesn't feel very nice. I love DMC115, i bought it for a freebie i wanted to start and now i can't remember what it was LOL
On a final note, I was tagged by Rowyn, Noreen and Christine whilst i was away. I have to tell you eight things about myself that you might not already know. Here’s how to play:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So here goes:
1. I love drinking tea. Maybe im addicted, i don't know ( or care ;) )
2. I love doing laundry!
3. My favourite TV shows at the moment are: the apprentice, ugly betty and desperate housewives
4. I go into bookshops, type the books i want into my mobile phone and then order them at my local library (for just 20p) which is right opposite where i live.
5. I am very impatient
6. I have been married 4 years in September
7. I was born in Scotland and live in Scotland but i have an English accent.
8. I love sleeping and love a good 10 hours a night (if only time would allow though!)

Now i tag: Mercy, Donna, Michelle, Itching to Stitch, Karen, Carla, Juls and Paula