Hectic week, a happy customer and back on my big cross stitch

This week has been tough, everything has seemed to go wrong with kids coming down ill, misbehaving, totally taking no notice of anything Steve and I have said.  Whoever said about working children and animals was totally right and this week I have felt that I should have taken notice.  However, by Friday evening, just in time for the weekend the household descended into peace and tranquility.  I suppose looking back, now it is peaceful, I would not change a thing - well sometimes I might.

On top of my Christmas orders for cushions, I also had an order for a birthday cushion via Facebook on a local crafts page.  Combining a busy family life with my hard working husband, illness and meetings regarding some of our looked after children, the end result for Heidi's birthday cushion came out on time and provided me with another happy customer, a happy recipient and more likes on my Facebook page.

This week, I finally got out my large cross stitch and have restarted it.  Although it had been put away in a safe place, it was beginning to look a bit grubby, so with fingers well and truly crossed, I put it into a pillow case and into the washing machine on a hand wash on a 30 degree temperature.  I have to admit, I was really worried on how it would turn out, but the end result was brilliant.  Victoria's christening dress and the shirts Stephen and (half of) Ben's shirt came out white again.  

Came out of the machine so fresh and clean, more than I expected!!!

Still plugging away at those dreaded confetti stitches.

Whilst I do find cross stitching my way of relaxation, stopping me from raiding the cupboards etc, even though I wash my hands before stitching and put the stitching back in a protective cover.   Its amazing how much you, well I try to keep it clean, it can get dirty from time to time, especially with how long this is taking me to complete.  Part of me wants to finish this little piece, but its driving me crazy.  I am wondering whether of not to leave this piece until later on and to start concentrating on getting the rest of Benjamin on there and most importantly, Natalie.

Back to Blogging Again

It’s been ages since I last wrote on my blog, and such a lot has happened.  The first half of this year was a rollercoaster of emotions where life will never be the same again following last December.   Even cross stitch took a back seat and now I have begun to pick up my needle with my business, I am getting into the frame of mind to continue with my photo cross stitch.

During the summer holiday, whilst the kids were off school, we undertook a big road trip in the motorhome. Travelling from Suffolk to Cumbria, then we headed onto Somerset for a long weekend and catch up with two of my brother-in-laws.  From Somerset we travelled up to Derbyshire before heading to the North Norfolk Coast to round off the summer.  

There are a lot of photos showing where and what we have been up too since my last update and the stitching I have been getting back into.  Hopefully soon I will be able to show more updates of the big cross stitch I am still  sorry going to continue on shown in previous blogs.

Picturesque scenery up in Cumbia

I couldn't believe this, it was like they were used to photographs being taken and were ready for the posing

A day at the Beatrix Potter Attraction, Peter Rabbit

Mrs Tiggywinkle, I sometimes think I am like her with all the washing that needs doing in our busy household

Bakewell, Derbyshire, home of the famouse Bakewell Tarts......

.......and puddings

Trip to 'Seal Island' off Hunstanton

the seals were so tame, however.......

...all I could think about was the penguins in Madagascar......'Smile and wave boys, smile and wave'

I cannot say that the trip went without hitch, instead of me doing some stitching whilst I was away, I was the one who ended up being stitched on after cutting my leg open whilst on a walk and having to be taken by ambulance to Lancaster Royal Infirmary to be operated on.  10 stitches later and a joke from the surgeon that he had stitched my leg in the shape of Lake Windermere as a memento I was able to return to the motor-home the next day after being admitted only to return to a flooded out campsite and awning.  

Following our road trip, it was back to school for the kids for 2 weeks before we had another holiday away, this time we flew out to Rhodes to see my step-son and his fiancée get married.  The wedding was held in Kalithea Springs and was a beautiful ceremony.   Even the bride was creative making a brooch bouquet. 

View of Rhodes from our resort

Kalithea Spa, a beautiful setting that the photos do not do it justice

One of the entrances to Rhodes Old Town

Me and Victoria nicknamed him Spike

Steve and me after a total week of relaxation

Ben at the wedding

Victoria at the wedding

The brides bouquet, which was gorgeous, heavy and made by herself

Stitching wise, I have been busy, stitching a cushion for one of our young people who have lived with us for 6 years and is now off to university, a 2nd wedding anniversary cushion, a wedding cushion and starting to get stock done for a craft fair for Christmas on top of Christmas orders for presents.  I am currently working on another cushion which will be revealed after the recipient has received it.  All this is happening on top of trying to de-clutter the house ready for a major redecoration. 

Our young person who lives with us, for all her hard work who has now gone to Leicester University

An order for Angelina's Christening.  This cushion was a medium sized one at 102 x 10"

Cushion order for a birthday

I thought this was so apt, , even though I am married myself all I know of anniversaries is another year.  I actually learnt that a 2nd wedding anniversary is actually cotton.

Another christening cushion, this time for a little boy

The lady who ordered this cushion liked the end result so much.....

......she ordered another

For my step-son and lovely daughter-in-law, ordered by my husband who was told, yes even he has to pay for cushion orders too.

Small Godmother Cushions

Small cushions made up ready for a craft fair

My mother ordered this cushion for another Christening

Thanks for looking at my blog, and any comments are really appreciated and will be replied to.

Lisa xxx

More Progress

After the last few weeks I am in the groove with stitching again.  I did wonder whether or not to move area and make a start on the remainder of Ben's face and get Natalie into the picture but in the end decided to continue where I was and try to get that part out of the way.    However, the dreaded confetti stitches, especially in light colours has not helped my eyes even with my daylight bulb.  



The Gap is getting Smaller

What also did not help me this week, on getting more stitching completed was firstly spending a day or two with my DH, Steve pulling up the hall carpet.  Our house was built in the late 1800's and still has the original cast iron fireplaces in most of the rooms.  We decided that the hall carpet needed to go and were thinking about tiling the hallway.  However, when we pulled the carpet and the underlay we did notice that the floorboards were in really good condition so we have started to sand them down to varnish instead.  A dusty and long job but after the first lot of sanding they are coming up pretty well.  Another problem was contracting conjunctivitis in both eyes and having to rely on eyedrops and bathing them each day.

Nabucco

With regards to my cushions, I have received another 3 orders, a birth, a wedding and a verse one so I am also going to be busy completing them.  Last month I also had a letter published in one of the UK magazines.  Since it started I have been purchasing Craftseller which promotes handmade crafts here in the UK for those who already do so and for those who want to learn new crafts.

No snow as yet? I talked that up!!!

Many of my friends both here in the UK and in America have been experiencing extreme snow conditions.   Until last night, here in Lowestoft on the east coast we only had an 'icing sugar' sprinkling of snow.  Whilst we have had heavy frost (which always intensifies when I am on the school run), we usually seem to be the forgotten area.  This morning I woke up to find 2 inches of snow outside, with 6 kids in 4 different schools and college (in 3 different towns) slowly news trickled in on the local radio.  Checking both Norfolk and Suffolk county websites for school closures it turned out that all of them ended up having a 'snow'day which saved me driving.  Whilst I have driven in the French Alps many times in the winter, I hate driving around Lowestoft in snow.   We also look like having a very white weekend here as more snow is expected especially on Sunday.

Until my next post, I hope everybody stays safe and warm in these wintery conditions xxx

Lisa xxx

Goodbye 2012 ~ Hello 2013

Its now week 2 of 2013 and I haven't written on my blog for a good couple of months now.  Whilst I could say that I have been so busy, that would be a total lie.  For the past year and a half, my beautiful step-daughter has been battling cancer with great courage, however towards the end of 2012 her health started to deteriorate.  Unfortunately, during December Natalie passed away just 6 days short of her 27th birthday.  Although we, as a family had accepted that this was going to happen, it's still been a shock, however we feel blessed everyday that she was in our lives and that her memory will live on in her artwork that is hung around the house.  Natalie did have one quote from Mark Twain that summed her up perfectly:

“Sing like no one's listening,
love like you've never been hurt,
dance like nobody's watching,
and live like its heaven on earth.”

Natalie Barbara Wilson 20/12/1985 - 14/12/2012

For Natalie it inspired her to take each day one step at a time, not to worry about the past or future, to remind her that each day was precious, limited and unique.  When talking in conversation on the telephone to a social worker we work with through our fostering she said she found when people passed away she looked at their qualities in life and has tried to incorporate one into her life.  At the minute, I am still thinking what special quality I will incorporate into my life.

 

Stitching News

 

At the minute I am still plodding on with my big cross stitch, obviously this is going to be more poignant, especially as I still have Natalie's face and body to do.  I have worked out I still have roughly 42,000 stitches to completion and I am going to crack on to complete it. 

 

 

 

In the meantime though, I did complete 2 more cushions, one for an ex looked after child for her new foster carers as a Christmas present and one for my DH as I wanted something special for him and from the heart.  I did have an order from a local brewery, and whilst the majority of it is stitched I have to work out how to make material hops inplace of the usual flowers for them. 

 

 

To my DH,

Almost complete...just need to figure out how to do the hops

 

Belated Resolutions

 

Towards the end of the year, following Natalie's passing, I did post on my online groups some New Year's resolutions.  However, yet again I haven't been able to keep any of them, at the moment, but I am now as I feel more comfortable with them.

 

1 Make time to correspond more to my online groups.
~~~~~~~~~~
 2 Get my big cross stitch on the way to completion of all the kids and
especially get the remainder of Ben and Natalie on material.
~~~~~~~~~~
 3 Continue with making my cushions and start an online shop and, as my
 family keep telling me, to believe in myself and my achievements. 

~~~~~~~~~~
 4 Contact the Louise Hamilton Palliative Care centre which is going to open
 in 2013 at our local hospital and volunteer 2 days a week, putting my social
 work skills into good use. Whats the point of getting my degree if I cannot
 use it, besides I haven't got the time to work full time with 8 of us in the
house.
~~~~~~~~~~
 5 Start posting again on my blog. Especially with regards to resolution No
 2 as it can be my online journal of getting this cross stitch completed. I
 did a rough estimate and worked out I have about 42,000 stitches to do.
~~~~~~~~~~

 

So for now, I have loads to get started on, but will leave with something different from the usual.  Take some time out to listen to the lyrics and have a healthy and happy 2013 xxx

 

Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole