Belated Father's Day present

 This past week and a half, I have been off the internet, and guiltily hiding away at home away from my dad each time he has come up to the house to walk our dog, Evie.  I do extend a big apology to those who sent me comments on my blog which I only now got around to publishing.  The reason????    Father’s Day last Sunday!!!

A couple of years ago my dad was diagnosed with diabetes, so each Christmas and Birthday have given us a dilemma...what to get him.    At Christmas Steve and I arranged with the kids to buy an empty basket and fill it up with diabetes foods, shower gels, dvd and a small bottle of whiskey slipped in.  So, why do I get the ideas late into the day, leaving me with little time of the perfect present for him, that is sugar free, not tasteless and not the usual presents we seem to purchase because we cannot think of anything else.

My brainwave was to complete one of my work in progress, which had been tucked away for 4 years,  3 labrador puppies chewing an old boot.....on the Thursday before Father’s Day. 



What the end result was going to be

On Friday, I sat hidden away in my bedroom from 9.30 am until 10 pm with a few breaks in between.   I heard my dad come into the house to take Evie out for a walk and when he telephoned me on my mobile phone I had to switch the television off and guiltily pretend that I was out.

and how much had been stitched so far

Saturday, Steve and I usually take the kids out for dinner, its our one day a week we don't cook and I sat in the pub with my cross stitch, stitching like crazy.  I did get on well, but as we had one young person sleeping out with friends, one at his family home for contact, I had a vodka or two.  Trouble was, I then had a telephone call from my brother to say he was celebrating his divorce at our local pub that night, so the stitching went out of the window and I joined him with a few of us getting through 4 bottles of champagne to celebrate his new found freedom.
Sunday, I did eventually get on with the cross stitch, albeit towards the end of the day when I felt I would be able to concentrate.  I felt guilty when I just gave my dad a card, saying that his present would be with him later and regretted going out the previous night.
After stitching from Monday, today, I finally managed to complete all the stitching and backstitch at 4 pm, and whilst Steve cooked dinner, I cut my template out and started stitching on the machine.  9 pm tonight I was able to take the finished article down to him as my parents are going away tomorrow for the weekend and he loves it.


The end result



I am so glad with the final piece!!!


So, now I have 5 months to plan for his birthday and 6 months for Christmas.....although, what’s the betting that I yet again leave it until the last minute!!!!!!

As for my other work in progress, that has taken a back seat, although we are going away again in the motorhome on Saturday, for a week’s holiday (free holiday I won) it will be coming with me and whilst the kids are at school during the day I will be relaxing and stitching.

Back from a week away....but still managed to do some stitching!




Our neighbours on one side of the field

 

The past week we took the kids and the dog away due to the half-term school holidays in the motorhome and had a great time.  The campsite we stayed on were holding Jubilee celebrations for the Queen’s 60 year anniversary at being on the throne, however most of the time the boys were out playing football in the football court, so we didn't see much of them. 

 



and on the other side of the field

It was also really full of tents, caravans, motorhomes and the weather was not too bad until the last day when the winds got up really high and our motorhome was rocking in the wind.  Due to the high winds we ended up having to take down our awning as we were concerned that it was going to uproot and blow into the side of the motorhome. 



Our home for the week



Whilst we were there, we met up with another couple we know, and also had Steve's step-daughter come to visit for the day.  She had the best of both worlds as she had us to see and also George and Molly, with their dog Fly.   She did find the over head cab at the front a bit rock when she went to have a nap, although her and Victoria enjoyed sitting up there to get a bit of peace and quiet from the boys.



However, we had to admit we were fortunate compared to flooding and high winds in Wales over the weekend especially in this camp site where the pitched caravans and cars will be completely ruined as shown on this photo. 




Evie waiting for one of her many walks

 

Evie had a great time with all the walks, however this backfired on us at night as she did nothing but snore loudly. The kids enjoyed walking around the ruins of the old castle in the next field and there were a couple of good pubs in the vicinity.



At the roman ruins



The kids wanted a photo of how the wall had moved



I did manage to complete some more of my cross stitch and have been battling on with the confetti stitches. I am beginning to get to the end of the current page I am on.  My aim is to get the rest of Ben and Natalie into the picture as soon as possible....and then its the dreaded wallpaper to do in the background. 

Yesterday and today it was good to see the wind and rain subside and the sun come out.  On our arrival home, our rhododendron bush    my mother purchased for our first wedding anniversary has flowered.  The standing joke as been what was going to last longer, the bush or our marriage. Bearing in mind I am not green fingered and neither is Steve and whilst we have had our ups and downs, both bush and marriage are still going strong.  Next month we will be celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary.

Steve also surprised me yesterday when we went into town, after we had arrived home with a huge bunch of flowers.  It certainly made up for the five loads of washing I had which had culminated from our stay away.

And finally, at home, its exam fever for the kids.  One has AS levels exams, one has GCSE exams and another has mock GCSE exams.   Trouble is for the boys it’s also coincided with the Euros 2012 and to them (and Steve) everything stops for football, even exam revision. 

However on the plus side,  I suppose this gives me a great opportunity to let everything stop for cross stitching.





Confetti stitches, Getting ready to go away, and Writing one handed

This past week I have returned to my current work in progress of stitching the photo after taking a break from it due to the confetti stitches.  I absolutely detest this and for the thousand time over I really regret deciding to go so big on this project.  Why did I decide to go 20" x16" instead of the 10" x 6" offered I really don't know. 

I know that it will be worth it in the end....but the end seems to be so far away.  I did decide though, to leave the bottom corner until after I have completed the rest of the picture so I can put my initials and the date of completion which I like to do on all my pieces of work. 

Stitching so far



Its getting to the stage of totally random stitches of various colours




This is what I still have to do to complete the 4th page.....then get on with the remainder of the other 3 pages



On the cushion front, I have 3 more orders, 2 forthcoming babies, and a leaving cushion, one of which I will start when I return from our week away.  It gives me a break from those dreaded confetti stitches!!!   

Due to the half-term holiday and Queens Celebrations, commemorating her 60 years on the throne over here in England the motorhome is sitting outside our home at the minute, partly loaded up with clothes.  Getting the boys to ensure they have all their gear is a job in itself.   It always seems the boys here in the home don't think about wash bags, toothbrushes, toothpaste etc and then look at Steve and myself as though we should remember everything for them.  All they think about is making sure a football is in the vehicle, ready to kick around when we arrive at the camp site.  Is this just a male thing????  We also notice it on when the boys do something for us, Ben our son asked if we wanted both mine and Steve's car's washed...only trouble was he put so much soap into the water on Steve's car it was smeary and Steve had to rewash it again.....and my car was washed but in patches with dirt still on it so I had to rewash it the next day.  Ben did tell us he was going to charge us £5 per car.....needless to say whilst he was paid something....it wasn't the amount he was expecting.  Still at least he tried on both accounts.....to clean the car and make some money.

Ben working hard

Victoria has turned into Emelda Marcos ensuring that she is taking more shoes than everybody else put together, just incase they are needed.....which are never worn when we are staying at home.  The easiest person to pack for was the youngest child we have here with us, we took him out yesterday and kitted him out with a whole new wardrobe which he is looking forward to wearing when we collect him again tomorrow afternoon to come away with us.

Mine and Steve's priority, which is important, is ensuring his and Victoria's medication is packed, and then Steve ensures he only takes along the most basic of clothing needed.  As for me......I often take clothes to wear, and then end up not wearing them.  Although this time I have not gone too overboard.   Even Evie our dog has got all excited and has been trying to sneak into the motorhome at every opportunity I have gone into the motorhome to get the beds made up and take some items into there.  Her food is already in there but it will be remembering her lead, food and water bowls, etc.   She loves to lay in between the driver and passengers seats when we travel and that is where she sleeps at night.  The only downside to her being with us is that she snores loudly and often has to be told to be quiet.

However, before we go away, I still have so much to do, fix a buckle on a pair of shoes I purchased a couple of months ago, the leather covering over the metal buckle has come off and will need restitching.....and to get my nail vanish off after being treated by Steve a month ago to having my nails painted with Shellac.  If anybody else has had this done and whilst they do last well, even when being totally abused  abused with washing up, cleaning etc, getting the nail vanish off was not as easy as I thought.  So I am sitting here writing my blog one handed whilst the other hand is in a bowl of acetone polish remover as they have to soak for ten minutes before being scraped off with an orange stick.  Sometimes I think there needs to be more time in the day than the 24 hours we currently get.

Still looking not too bad after a month, except where my nails have grown

And finally after sitting with my hand in a bowl for 10 mins of remover and scraping the remains off with an orange stick

The remains of the polish

On that note, now my nails are done,  its time to get stitching on my shoes and tomorrow morning finish packing the motorhome so we can go away, and enjoy the extended bank holiday and enjoy the celebrations taking place over here for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.....and although I cannot guarantee much stitching to be done.....it will be coming with me for the odd relaxation opportunity.  To all those who will be taking advantage of celebrating and enjoying the bank holidays, have a great time too.

Stitching and cooking

I have been lazy in updating my blog, however I have been busy here (well keeping myself busy) for several reasons.  One was regarding my first order, making an 18th Birthday cushion which my friend Jo and her daughter, Charlotte loved, especially as it was in pink.

Another one was due to making a cushion for my step-daughter Natalie who needed a boost.  She loves hamsters and sometimes whilst words cannot make things better for somebody a personal gift can say it all.    As Natalie has three hamsters already, the stitching seemed apt for her, however the look on Natalie's mother’s face when Steve and I took her home after taking her out for the day and being told I had got Natalie another hamster was a picture.....there was a massive look of relief on Sharon’s face when she realised it was a stitched one.

This one was a real labour of love, stitched over the weekend and  the cushion made up on Monday, however not without mishaps.  My aim was to put a ribbon around the edge; however I think I was too stressed in trying to get it completed on Monday and I had a right battle with it and decided not to stitch it on. 

It didn’t help that I had woken up that morning with an ear infection and had to get an emergency doctor’s appointment that morning.  It did get to the stage me in the doctors ripping the stitching off the attached ribbon on the cushion and putting the threads in my handbag with the other people waiting to see the doctors wondering what on earth I was doing.

Culinary Creations

We also seem to have a culinary master (or mistress) in the family.  Victoria has discovered the art of making pancakes and surprised me with her first effort.  It was so big it hung over the dinner plate.  Victoria's one is shown below and she was a bit gutted her one didn't turn out so big.  The day before yesterday she did cookies and tonight Victoria has been making cakes (chocolate) by herself and is now awaiting them to cool down so she can experiment with icing them with red, yellow, blue and green food colouring.  Pretty soon roast dinner?????  I will have to wait and see.   Just got to wait for Victoria to let me taste one now.....will probably be a long wait.



Multi-coloured iced chocolate buns





 

One busy week with a very good ending

Storage Problems and Stitching news

I have a storage problem, my materials are now taking over the dining room and no matter how neat and tidy I pack everything away it’s taking over the room.  This has stemmed from re-decorating and de-cluttering the room, and now its hunt for storage solutions that works with the room.  Due to this not much stitching has taken place as the big cardboard box that I housed my curtain material in was sorted out and using my template for the cushions itself I cut out as many cushions as possible.  The end result was one basket containing the cushion material and another basket containing the curtain linings to use in making cushion inners.   At the moment I am currently looking for a cupboard to store all my stash or a blanket box or if anybody has any other ideas they will be gratefully received.



Funny how the contents of a large box.......




Can be reduced to this



I have though, started to make a couple of baby girl cushions and have a few more to make up along with an order from a fellow foster carer to make an 18th birthday cushion for her daughters impending birthday.

Chasing Ferrets

We did have a bit of excitement on Sunday after the heavy rain and gales, Evie our Labrador, especially.  To explain fully, our rear garden is split into two, grass one end and concrete the other.  Evie tends to stay away from the grassy end by a gate, and Steve heard her getting very excited outside and went to see what the matter was.  We discovered two of our neighbours ferrets running around our garden.  By the time our neighbour had appeared wearing protective gloves and whilst Steve was ensuring that they did not run into our house,  I had managed to grab hold of ‘Precious’ with my bare hands who was then used as bait to catch ‘Sparkles’ whilst Steve. 

Panic over, and with one jealous dog who would not leave me alone, peace reigned for 10 minutes before yet again another ferret was seen running around the garden.....this time it was ‘Timothy’ and I had to grab him as he was around my feet whilst I unlocked our back gate for Paul to take from me.  We were then hunting for another ferret in both back gardens before Paul finally found her in his shed in the open tumble dryer.   Peace did not reign after that as every 5 minutes Evie wanted to go outside to see if there were anymore out there before returning back indoors satisfied that there was no more ferrets running around.  Steve very kindly did tell me that I was safe handling the ferrets as they did not go for bad meat, which was typical of him.

Missing person Number 2

After the excitement the other week of missing person No 1, I had missing person No 2....this time it was our 17 year old foster daughter who had caught her bus after college in the next town and fell asleep.  She realised her error after waking up once she had passed her stop and was on the other side of town.  When asking her where she was she could only tell me she was near a large roundabout, and there are loads of them here.  Finally by powers of deduction and asking for other landmarks, such as a name of the road I was able to discover where she was and collect her.

And Finally.....

Today I received some good news on the job front.   I had uploaded a CV onto a major site here in England with my profile and got a telephone call today from an agency who are interested in finding me a social work position, so fingers crossed I may soon become a working woman.   I will miss my current role as a SAHM even though it can be hectic and extremely busy 90% of the time.

A week away, Leibster Award and the best laid plans of mice and men

A Week Away

Its been two weeks now since my blog was updated, and I have missed updating it and catching up with blogs from fellow bloggers. Also I had no stitching and no internet, apart from what access I had on my mobile phone and trying to catch up on emails with it was slow and laborious.  For the first week, we all went away in the motorhome which everybody enjoyed.....especially our dog Evie.   However, unlike previous weeks where we had warm sunny weather, it had turned cold and wet again.  Leaving Steve to get the heating working, whilst I got the water heater to work, we kept hitting problems.  After half an hour of Steve moaning and groaning about he wanted to take said motorhome to the nearest garage dealer and trade it in, I realised MY mistake.......I had forgotten to put the gas on!  After that it was a warm and cosy inside along with lovely hot water from the tap.  The only downside when we returned was the amount of washing I had to get through which still meant no stitching.

Leibster Award

After my last post I was so thrilled to find I had been nominated for a Leibster Blog Award by Debbie at http://lavender2debbie.blogspot.ca/ and from Linda M at http://stitchinginsurburbia.blogspot.com.  Searching the internet I discovered that the aim of the Liebster Blog is to recognise exceptional up-and-coming blogs for those with 200 or fewer followers.  However, what makes it special is the recognition a fellow blogger has given your blog.

When receiving this award there are four conditions:

1 – Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to pass on the award.

2 – Show thanks to the blogger who passed on the award by linking back to them.

3 – Post the award on your blog, list five bloggers you are giving the award to with their site links and leave a comment so they are aware.

4 – Share five random pieces about yourself that people do not know about you.

I would like to say a big thank you to Debbie and Linda for this recognition, both are fellow stitchers and their stitching is exceptional and well worth a look.

Fellow bloggers to nominate

http://lynscreations.blogspot.com  

http://midgescraftycorner.blogspot.co.uk/

http://nansneedleworknotions.blogspot.co.uk/

http://nataliebwilson.blogspot.co.uk/

http://talesfrommyneedle.blogspot.co.uk/

Five Random things about me

1 – I was a single parent to my son, until I met and married Steve.

2 – I am left handed, yet throw things with my right.

3 – I learnt French for two years in evening school before studying for my Social Work degree.

4 – I love watching who dunnit murder mysteries.

5 – I still live in the same street I was born (apart from a year living on a holiday camp with Steve and 6 months in rented accommodation......in the next road).

The best laid plans of mice and men...

Often go awry.  After a final completion of my cushion for our friend Michelle who got a promotion at work, I started on another design for a new baby with the plans to printing off the design and starting the stitching last night......until we had a missing young person, or a person who needed to be returned to us after saying he was staying at premises which had been deemed as inappropriate.  After a several hour standoff where it was constant telephone calls to and from the local authority and police, the said young person returned home (accompanied by the local police) at about 2 am this morning.  So, my plans to get the next one stitched up was scuppered due to all the telephone calls to his local authority and the police.  Unfortunately this not only resulted in a very late or early morning, and being woken early by a 6 year old staying with us, it also meant writing up a report for the social worker today, along with the inevitable telephone calls tomorrow with the new working week.   Oh well, I suppose there is always next weekend.  

The final piece



One good thing (if it could be thought of as good)  was it gave me time to have a look at a book I borrowed from our local library which shows how to stitch over 200 decorative stitches including embroidery and needlepoint.   For any body who is interested its called Stitch Step-by-Step by Maggi Gordon and Ellie Vance and I will add a book review page on my blog of it. 

Finally, with regards to my current WIP, it is continuing slowly.  After completing all of the black stitching on page 4 of the chart its now confetti time which takes the longest.

                                     

On this note I bid all my readers old and new happy stitching.

Copyright, Upcycling, Junior crafting and Easter madness

Copyright

Since my last post, things have been really busy here in the Wilson household.  It’s been a struggle to keep up with the various emails from stitching groups and from friends.  One topic that has caught my attention however, has been the debate around copyright infringement.

The original article, written by Nicole at Northern Expressions Needlework (http://northernexpressions.blogspot.co.uk/), discussed the perils designers face with regards to designs being copied and passed on to other stitchers.  Nevertheless, a debate has been sparked between Nicole and Laurylyan from Perles de Soies (http://perlesdesoies.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/what-is-right-what-is-wrong/). 

In response to both blogs, I have to agree with Nicole.  If it was not for designer’s we stitcher’s would not have the opportunity to spend our time enjoying the pursuit we do.  Yes, some stitchers can be creative and enjoy designing, then again, for stitchers like myself who do not have the time or the creativity to design our own patterns or charts this can become detrimental to our hobby.  More and more designers will stop designing due to the copyright infringement of their designs.  Nonetheless, this topic, I feel, will continue to rumble on for the time being with many mixed views.

Upcycling

My cushions, momentarily, have come to a halt whilst I await more material to stitch my designs on.  After searching online I found a good site here in the UK where I was able to purchase aida on a roll at a very competitive price.  The company, Superstitcher can be found at http://www.superstitcher.com/default.aspx and ships to the UK and rest of the world with competitive shipping rates. 

Although this part is not upcycling, whilst waiting for my delivery I have spent a happy hours trawling around the local car boot sales purchasing curtains to use for material.  By purchasing cheap but making sure the quality of the stock I have brought is good this has helped my start-up overheads.  If anybody is interested in crafting by upcycling materials one good blog to follow is CraftGossip.com (http://recycledcrafts.craftgossip.com/) which provides different crafting ideas on a daily basis



Some of my car booty curtain stash



Some of the material already cut into my templates

My best purchase however, had to be my beads which were on two hair bands which I got for 40 pence and the pink and blue lacing I got for £3.00 for the two and the voile for 50 pence each. 


It was amazing how many beads were on here and totall unique



Some of my other car booty haul

 I have managed to make one cushion with some of the material I purchased for mine and Natalie’s sewing day.  Whilst I have often cross stitched wedding samplers for other people, I never got round to doing one for Steve and me.  So I decided to spend some time making one for Steve and myself to commemorate our wedding; albeit almost 12 years ago.   Another cushion which is work in progress is for a friend of ours who recently got promoted at work. 


At last, apart from our marriage certificate, something to remind us of our small but lovely special day



Current cushion in progress


I also picked up a few more items for other cushions, especially for births.  The amount of different charms etc available now provides a wider range.

In regards to my cross stitch of the kids, that is slowly progressing. 

Unfortunately I had been experiencing bad earache, which made stitching and going online impossible.  However, after a couple of weeks of being in pain and miserable I found out that the bad news....it was not earache that was causing my misery.....but toothache!!! Thursday was spent plucking up the courage to get an emergency appointment at the dentist and having a back tooth painfully extracted. 

Whilst I can tolerate most things, when it comes to the dentist I must be the biggest wimp going and had to have Steve with me for moral support, yes even at 40 years old my husband had to come in with me.  All I can say is I am glad he supports me in whatever I do or end up having to do.

Junior Crafting

Crafting has also extended onto our youngest daughter Victoria.  Whilst my step-daughter is quite crafty, Victoria has discovered card making and spent a happy afternoon making an Easter card for her sister Natalie.  At the moment she is not sure about progressing into cross stitch, especially as she was finding sewing at school a trial, especially when it came to threading her needle......however she enjoyed a mini lesson on the sewing machine.

Victoria busy at work



Victoria with her finished piece



Easter Madness

The Easter holidays are now upon us and the first week of the kids being off school have passed.  Yesterday Steve and I went to collect the motorhome from storage to prepare for our first trip out this year this weekend.  It’s typical, recently we have experienced warm sunny weather and just as we start to prepare for our first outing.....the weather has changed big time!!!!  Hopefully the kids and our Labrador Evie will enjoy being away from home but I foresee yet another week of no internet or stitching, however I am sure I will survive it after the past couple of weeks.



Evie sunning herself whilst away in Wales



Finally, I wish everyone a Happy Easter and happy stitching.