Still here !

I bet some of you wondered if I had disappeared off the face of the earth..... as it has been a whole week since I posted. But I am still here and well, just had a busy and at times stressful week.

Firstly I had to take Laura to the dentist on Wednesday morning to have 2 teeth out. (All part of the Brace fitting etc) Laura has a very bad track record with the dentist as she is very nervous about going and once refused to have a filling when she saw the needle!! So I was just as nervous as her not knowing how it would go. Luckily she was really brave in the end, although I had to stay with her and hold her hand, she got through it relativley easily. She just has another 2 to go in a few weeks.

Then on Thursday Stuart was unwell with flu like symptoms...... I had to check up the facts on Swine Flu, just in case as we have lots of cases in the midlands..... but I think it was only a bit of normal flu. Even so I had to wait on him hand and foot !!!!! At the same time we were trying to confirm the DJ for the school Prom on Friday night (some of you may remember we are part of the parent support group and organise it every year) We kept leaving messages on his phone but had no reply, we thought we would have to find someone else at short notice but finally on Thursday evening we tracked down a new number for him..... and sorted it.

Then on Friday - Prom Night - the weather turned, we had heavy rain in the afternoon and we had visions of not being able to get the group photo they always have. Luckily in the end the rain held off and we had a fantastic night once again. Although Stuart was still unwell and didn't attend. On top of that Becki was upset on Friday as she found out for the 2nd year running she hadn't been picked for an award at Presentation Night..... and Laura had. We were sad too because she works very hard, has predicted A/B grades on all her GCSEs but just doesn't get noticed! Yet the child who got excluded for a few days last year for drinking alcohol in school got an award etc etc... it seems very unfair.

As you can imagine my stitching has suffered from all this...... but I did have 2 finishes earlier in the week that made up for it.

Here is my Lilliput Lane that I have been doing as a SAL. Never thought I would finish this, the back stitch was a nightmare...... but here it is -

I also finished Friends are like Angels, which I just love -

And then this is my Poppy card for Becky's teacher..... a bit to go still yet but I'll aim to get it completed by next week.

I have done some of my Family Tree this week, but not much, so I am going back to work on that now.

I have 2 weeks of not having to take the girls to school now as they have works experience. Laura is at the primary school just minutes from our door working in the Foundation years.... so will walk and Becky is going to Stuart's school to teach dance, so Stuart will take her. Bliss !!

Until next time......

Ginnie x

The winner announced.....

Thank you everyone who entered my giveaway. I had 33 people request to be put in the draw. I wrote everyone's name on a piece of paper.... put them in Laura's lunch box and got her to pick out a name......

And the name she picked out is - Maggie - well done !!!!!

Amazing, of all the names all over the world in my draw, the winner lives just around the corner !! (This wasn't a fix to save postage.... honest)

So Maggie if you want to email me your address (my email's on my profile) I'll get the stitching complete this coming week and post probably the week after that!!

Back to my other stitching - I have had a very productive few days with 3 finishes !!

Firstly I finished my Bang on the Door design, I really shouldn't show it as it's a surprise for someone.... but they don't know yet.... so I may be safe!!

Secondly I finished my Lizzie Kate August stamp, such a lovely summer time feel... if summer ever returns to the Midlands! I'll start September in a few weeks I think.

Then lastly this is one I started last year to make into an ornament for Christmas..... except I never quite finished it. So I dug it out today and all it needed was the last bit of wording at the bottom, which I soon sorted! My first Christmas finish of the year.

For those of you that love following my Henry stitching please check out LesleyAnne's blog, she has a photo of her finished Henry and wives piece, it is fantastic.

Next week it's back to Family Tree and I want to do some more of the Poppy card for Becki's teacher.

Have a good week.

Ginnie x

BLOG-OVERSARY GIVEAWAY !!!

Well I couldn't wait until later tonight to post or to celebrate....... so come join the party, pull a party popper, raise a glass and help yourself to cake.......today the 18th June is my 1 year Blogoversay...... Hooray........

A year ago in May I started my Family Tree stitching and wanted a way to record my progress. In June I thought about a blog.... then after reading a few I took the plunge and started blogging!

It was a great decision. This time last year I hadn't heard of Bent Creek, HAED, Biscornus etc..... Oh boy have I learnt a lot. It has also encouraged me to stitch more than ever before and produce lots of pieces over the last 12 months.

But mostly I have made some great friends, who have encouraged me, helped me find charts, chatted to me on MSN, got me involved in charity stitching and even played games with me on Facebook!!

So to celebrate I am having a giveaway. I am going to stitch something nice, sadly at the moment it is no where near complete..... so the winner will have to wait a little. As a clue it is a Lizzie Kate - a similar size to the Stamp Flip-its - and I'll make it into some kind of hanging ornament.

To be entered into the giveaway simply leave a comment on this post saying you would like to take part. I will then draw a name at random on Sunday night (21st) at around 8pm (GMT).

Thank you everyone for being interested in my stitching and commenting on my many posts.

Here's to the next 12 months..... who knows Henry may be finished by then !

Happy stitching
Ginnie x

Wife number six !!

Just a very quick posting to show my progress on Henry. I have worked on wife number 6 - Catherine Parr. She is going to be fun... there is just one symbol in the whole design that is purple and black thread blended together.... and lots of her dress is made of this symbol !!

I also started some of the side border.

Not huge progress... but some !!

Don't forget to tune in tomorrow for my blogoversary post..... it may be later in the evening as I have my friend Aly visiting tomorrow too.

Until then.

Ginnie x

"And all that Jazz......"

Chicago was brilliant, Jimmy was lovely I cheered loudly when he came on stage (much to my daughter's embarrassment!) and the 2 girls who played Velma and Roxie were fantastic (one of them was from Eastenders!) I was surprised though that the theatre wasn't that full.... suppose that's the recession for you. Had an eventful moment on the car park.... my ticket got stuck in the machine and the barrier got stuck... we held up lots of cars and had to get an attendant !!!

I don't have a lot of stitching to show...... I have worked on Henry but will update you on that later in the week.

Here is my progress on August, just a bit more to do on the 2nd flower and around the word. I am enjoying working on these and will continue in the correct month order with September next.

Here is my small progress on Friends are like Angels..... or "nds like gels" as it reads at the moment !!! Most of this is over 2 squares but some is over 1 ..... so tricky on the eyes.

Becky has asked me to stitch a "Good Luck" card for her dancing friend Chrissie who has gained a place at "The Hammond Dance School" in Chester in September. I also need to do the poppy card for Becky's favourite teacher who leaves at the end of term.....so as ever I'm going to be busy!

Thursday is a special day.... it'll be my first blogoversary..... so tune in then, I will be having a giveaway !!!!

Until then, happy stitching.

Ginnie x

A cute puppy square

Many thanks for all your kind comments about the Wedding Row picture. The wedding went well despite the awful weather, it rained really heavy all day here and was pretty cold for June. The bad weather caused a lot of traffic on the way to the church and made Helen 20 mins late arriving !! Dave was beginning to panic !! But they had a great time still. Here are a couple of photos, the one of Helen and Dave dancing shows a little of how lovely her dress and hair was.

And here is their baby, Grace with her grandma. She looked really sweet in her pretty dress, although she looks grumpy on this photo.... probably fed up with having her picture taken!!

Now to my stitching progress from last week, I finished my Margaret Sherry puppy square for the Stitch for Charity group. Isn't he so cute?

I also did really well on my Country Idyll stitching and although I didn't quite get all the path etc done at the bottom I did get all the back stitch on the car and house finished. I love how realistic it looks, that car door that is opening looks almost 3D.

This week Henry is back out, yeah I hear you say! I have also made another little, small start...... Lizzie Kates - Friends are Angels. I have been wanting to do this for ages and thought "oh well another WIP won't matter" !!!!

On Thursday night we are off to see Chicago in Birmingham, I bought these tickets as extras for the girl's birthday, so we are all really looking forward to it. Jimmy Osmond is playing the role of Billy Flynn, I loved Jimmy as a child so am excited that he is in it.

Happy stitching.

Ginnie x

Wedding Row framed

Just a quick post with a photo on ! Yesterday I collected my Wedding Row stitching from the Framers.... it cost a little more than I first antcipated but it does look lovely. It is hard to tell from the photo but the white/cream frame has brown grain lines in that match the brown swirls around the writing.

The wedding is tomorrow and I am hoping to wrap it up and take it over to our friend's house tonight, saves us having to take it to the reception and it'll be safer that way.

I really love it and would like to do one for myself..... one day !!

Have a good weekend.

Ginnie x

Family Tree and August

Here's my updates from last week.

Firstly my Family Tree, this is moving along well. I have worked some more on the large box in the middle which will hold our surname. Also the green of the tree above the large box and more of the border.

Secondly I have made a lot of progess on August Flip - it. It was quiet at work last week so I managed to do some at my desk. I love the little cute bumble bee!! I may finish this in plenty of time for August !!

Lastly here's a photo of the new member of the family. This is baby George, I haven't seen him yet this was emailed to us. I probably won't see much of him anyway as I don't really see my cousin Steven very often. My mom and dad are visiting today though.

This week I am back working on Country Idyll, I want to complete as much of the bottom half as possible this week....... I'm hoping to do some tonight at home but I have a bad headache at the moment so I hope it clears up later so I can stitch.

The girl's took paper 1 of their GCSE English today, they have been entered a year early as they are very good at English (Helps when your dad teaches the subject) I hope they got on ok as they were very worried this morning. Paper 2 is on Thursday so keep your fingers crossed for them.

That's all for now.... happy stitching.

Ginnie x