Dec IHSW, A Birthday and An Anniversary!

Hello there!

Well what a busy time again!

We made it! One year in our house! I managed to complete the decorating so every room has now had a coat of paint. House looking splendid. Going to start work in the garden next year.

The following day it was my eldest daughter's 11th birthday. She had an awesome time and was of course spoiled rotten. Presents, cake, a take out of her choice for her tea... what a day it was.

It fell on Saturday - the first day of IHSW. Naturally as my attention was focused on Hannah the stitching was put aside on that day, but on Sunday I did put in some stitches:

Before:

I had my nails done too LOL

Not a huge heap of progress, about 1000 stitches in all.

Next year I plan to finish Avarice and start Sistine Chapel. I also want to finish my Flower Bride storykeep and put in work on both Twilight Magic and Firefly.

Next time, a year end round up as I am now breaking from blogging for Christmas. Prob between Christmas and New Year I will post.

Til the next report

Merry Christmas one and all

xxxxx

Avarice page 15 completed

I am more than halfway across this row now, 3 pages, 2 full and one 12 stitches wide left.

I am getting through roughly a page a fortnight but that will slow now the festive season is almost upon us. I have one more room to decorate too.

Wanna see the pic?

Ok...

Until the next update xx

November IHSW report

IHSW was all of a sudden upon me and guess what? Yep. I worked on Avarice. I just cannot put her down!!

There has been a fair bit pf progress since my last post. 2 pages and a bit in fact....

The last left side page of heavy confetti gems has been completed, and on page 14 her beautiful hand appeared. Here is a pic at the start of the weekend:

There were around 1200 stitches to finish this page.

And here is an overall after IHSW pic with the first row of page 15 in place. I am LOVING the block stitching on her skirt. At the end of this row there are some more gems but hey, its the payoff for a few easy pages.

I love stitching her. I can't get into rotation with Firefly because she keeps calling me.

So. Life? you ask?

I am trying to increase my fitness levels and I have started running again. I did it years ago, restarted earlier this year but injury forced me to stop until I lost a little weight so I did. I restarted though and I am really pleased with how its going so far.

I want to be a lean, mean stitching machine!

I have a long way to go and I am realistic, but I want to change ME within the next 6 months. I am focused on it and I WILL do it. First goal, 7lbs/3kg before Christmas season starts.

Children are all fantastic, house is great. New car coming soon.. hubs happy about that LOL.

Can you believe next month it will be a year since we moved?!?!?! Time flies.

Til the next update!

xx

It's been A While...

But I have been very busy - honest!!

On the home front - Lauren has settled into her nursery well and is doing fantastic. Coming home with paintings daily, she is a true little star.

My eldest, who has special needs, had a review at her school too. She is moving up to secondary school next year so we have also been to see that and meet the staff.

My middle one, my little superstar, has lived up to her name. There was a Harvest Festival at her school and she played a leading role and was amazing. She has joined the Glee Club too and is singing her little heart out at every turn.

My husband is still working away, but that's ok, because while he is not here I am busy decorating the house. My girls chose what they wanted in their rooms so after a coat on the bathroom which really, really did need doing, I started their bedrooms.

Here are their bed spaces after a coat of paint and some girly accoutrements...

The top two belong to Victoria and Hannah respectively, They share a room. Hannah is the eldest, Victoria the middle one. The bottom pic is Lauren's room - she is just 3.

They all love their new spaces. So much better than the uninspiring greyish blue colour they had on their walls before. Bedtime is a pleasure for them now.

So after doing their spaces I have organised what I will do with the master bedroom and plan to start that soon, then its on to the downstairs.

After a major declutter too this week I started the downstairs by painting my pantry. Its now just a plain white room and looks much brighter and cleaner. The living room and dining kitchen still need doing but I can't do everything at once!!

So what stitchy news??

I lost my bug. For the longest time. I hated being without stitching in my hands but when I had it it just wasn't doing anything hence me putting it away completely and getting cracked on with the house.

I did pick Avarice up again though...... and completed row 2 - pages 11 and 12.

Its a horrid, horrid pic, I am so sorry. Dreadful light and a camera phone. But you get the gist. She is looking fabby. I love her. Since my bug is back I have managed in the last few days to average 700 stitches a day on her.

Anyway, that's my news. Sorry to all my followers (and welcome to the new ones!) about how long its been since I blogged but I am sure you all understand how life can creep up on you.

Until the next update

xx

Avarice Page 10 Finish, Late WIPocalypse.. And Life Update!

Whoo! I am so pleased to get this one done! I really wanted to finish this in time for the WIPocalypse at the end of August but I am almost 2 weeks late! A page and a column and the second row is complete. That's the next task!

This page saw her other arm completed and the next one is confetti hell. More gems. The next row sees the last of the gems on either end then its just lovely block stitching for a good while.

Pics:

My next pic is one of me and the family that I wanted to share from our recent holiday in North Wales. We are on a boat on the middle of Llyn Padarn, a lake in the town of Llanberis. The town is at the foot of Mount Snowdon and the day we were there it was so clear we could see the summit.

From L - R,. Me, Hannah, my husband Jon, Victoria (sticking her tongue out as usual LOL) and Lauren peeking out.

We had such a good time and the sun shone down on us that day :-))

Next, Lauren started pre school this week My baby is 3 1/2 already. She has truly come a long way this year being unwell with one thing and another. Anyway, here she is in her school uniform:

That's all for now, Don't forget IHSW this weekend - hop over to Joysze's Blog and sign up!!

xx

Celtic Rose Giveaway from Thea!

Thea over here at Gizzimomo's Stitchy Place is having a giveaway in conjunction with Celtic Rose Needlecraft!

Get yourselves over there to be in with the chance to win a chart from them.

Full stitchy update soon

xx

Heaven and Earth Designs

Sad to bring my stitchy friends the news that due to continued copyright infringements and the knock on effect of a downturn in sales the Heaven and Earth Designs site is considering closing.

I am a massive fan of HAED and I have a whole heap of their beautifully produced charts on my to do pile and in my wishlist!

Here's what a lady on Facebook has to say to her friends:

"You've all seen my beautiful Nautilus Princess i just finished cross stitching. It was charted by a company called Heaven and Earth Designs which are in danger of having to close down due to loss of sales from copyright infringement :( If you have an intrest in cross stitch please join and support HAED Appreciation Week starting Sept 10. Even if you don't like cross stitch but know someone who does you can send them a Random Act of Kindness (RAK - a chart purchased throught the website and emailed to the person) throught the HAED website. Every sale helps and charts are not expensive starting at around $9usd (and not all are as big as Nautilus Princess either!)"

Great idea. Even if you would not tackle a HAED design there is a way you can help. Buying direct from them is the first one and, as this lady says, participating in RAK is another.


On Facebook there is an event concerning this to offer Michele and Bob our support.

https://www.facebook.com/events/426887544025679/

If you can't see this then please feel free to add me as a friend and I will point you in the right direction.

https://www.facebook.com/SpookyMadMummy?ref=tn_tnmn

Don't allow copyright infringement to ruin your hobby! Don't accept it!

Thanks for reading

xx