Christmas in the sunshine

It felt odd finishing off my Forever Friends Christmas Stocking this weekend as it was soooo hot here!! In fact too hot to stitch, the really warm weather drains me and by the evening I have hardly any energy to pick up my needle! Luckily I worked on the last bits of back stitch yesterday afternoon on 2 pieces so have 2 to show!

Firstly the lovely Christmas Stocking. I love the Forever Friends teds but have never stitched one..... now that I have I have 2 others lined up to do. He is so cute! The back stitch was a bit of a pain as there were several shades of brown and grey but the effect was worth it in the end.

I have found another Christmas one to do, but have started first a baby Forever Friends ted birth sampler for my cousin and his wife. I had so much thread left from the Anchor kit of the stocking that I am using that up first for the baby ted.

Secondly I have finished another charity square, this is just for a general "boys" theme. I have now started one of a mouse in an aeroplane to match!

I can't believe that the girls only have 2 and half more days until they finish school for their exams. After all they have been through this year I am glad that they have put that behind them and are looking back on their time at school in a happy way. They have made some lovely friends and are going to miss them a lot. They took my camera in to school today and intend taking it in all week to catch some "end of school" moments! It seems very odd to me too, they will catch the bus to college from September so won't be needing my taxi service in a morning. It doesn't seem 5 minutes since I took them to Primary School for their first day, they were fine but I got home and cried my eyes out!!

Next week is also half term week so I am planning a few days holiday and we are hoping to have a day trip out to Bath. We love it there but haven't been for several years. We hope to visit the Roman Baths and the Jane Austen museum. So expect some photos next time.

Until then happy stitching.

Ginnie xx

Recent stuff !

Not very original title today....... too tired to think ! I would have posted on Friday at work as I do recently....... but I seem to have managed to break the internet at work and the lads were too busy to look at it!! I hope it gets sorted tomorrow, I do need it quite a bit for actual work not just leisure !

Last week I finished the second Art Deco lady, so now I have 2 done but would like to do at least one more before I look into getting some matching frames etc.

Also a little late but my Lizzie Kate "May" flip it is finally finished. I haven't made it up into an ornament yet as my mom has borrowed the sewing machine, so this may not get hung up during May.... never mind. I will still start June soon..... although I think I will be running late on that one too at this rate!

The last few days I have worked on the Christmas Window stitching again. There is a lot still to do but it is certainly taking shape. The dog now has legs and the man has trousers !! I am glad I am enjoying this piece now as I wondered at first if it would turn into a UFO !!

I will try to work on my Family Tree again next week, my rota has fallen apart over the past few weeks but I am back on track now! I have also been stitching on the Forever Friends Christmas kit my Aunt left but I forgot to take a photo!

The girls GCSE time table starts next week, Laura has 3 exams and Becki has 2. Becki also took 2 dance exams today..... poor things, no wonder they are stressed out ! The reality that they are leaving school has struck home and even though they have had a tough term or two they suddenly don't want to leave !

Anyway, I am off for a soak in the bath..... hope you all have a good week.

Ginnie xx

Just smalls !

Well it is Friday again already, that week went quickly. Once again I only have small bits and pieces to show you. I stitched on one of my charity squares all weekend, for a "send along" I joined. I choose a Lickle Ted one, which is very cute.

I also finished my ballet dancing hippo for Becki and put the ballet she is appearing in, the date and EYB (English Youth Ballet) on it. Tomorrow we are off to buy her some new Pointe shoes so she can practise in them (and wear them in!) all ready for the 7th July which is casting day.

My Aunt who has just died had recently got into cross stitching and my uncle has sorted some of her stuff out and passed it onto me. There is a birth sampler to finish off for a friend of theirs, which I will do and also there was a Forever Friends Christmas kit. We aren't sure who she bought it for but I intend to stitch it for her grandchildren. I haven't done much yet but this is what it will look like. It is very odd and sad stitching on it, but I know she would have wanted it to be done not just left in a bag!

On Monday we had a family reunion on Stuart's side of the family. He has an Aunt and Uncle who now live in Canada and they came over to visit. It has been 10 years since we last saw them so it was lovely to meet up again.

Then on Tuesday it was the girl's 16th birthday. Here is a photo of them before they went out for their birthday meal. They had a great time with all their real friends! And now they have lots of cash to spend!! Their has been no problems with the "silly" girls this week, thank goodness. They leave school on the 27th May (later than a lot of the other local schools) then their last exam is the 23rd June, it'll fly by !

Anyway hope you all have a good weekend.

Ginnie xx

Henry, a hippo and 2 ladies

I have an interesting combination to show you today..... hence the title. Sorry I am so late posting this week but I have hardly been on the PC. Wednesday night we met up with my Aunt Jean, Uncle Terry and 3 cousins from Dorset who were visiting for the funeral. Then Thursday was my Auntie Pat's funeral which was really sad, and emotionally draining. By the evening I was fit for nothing. We also collected Marshall's ashes that day, so a sad one through and through. We are all hoping May is a happier month.

I didn't get much done on Henry still but I didn't let him make an appearance last time so I thought I better had today. I worked on Catherine's green dress and some of the border. I see DMC have now re-released this as a kit due to popular demand! It's about time too!

I have worked on my ballet dancing hippo and as you can see she is nearly finished. This is such a fun little project I just couldn't put it down. I need to shop for some nice matching material now to make the Pointe shoe bag for Becki.

Lastly I have my Art Deco ladies, this first one is now complete.... beads and all. The second one is coming along well, hopefully I'll get her finished this weekend.

I have had a couple of comments about making my photos "clickable" to see them better. I would love to do this but don't know how!!! Can anyone help me on this?

This week I am still working on bits and bobs. The Christmas Window was supposed to be coming out of it's bag but hasn't appeared yet!! I have some stitching for my charity over the Bank Holiday weekend to do, so will probably just continue on all my little projects until next week.

Tuesday is a big day..... Becki and Laura turn 16 ! Oh my where did those 16 years go? They are going for a chinese meal with 19 of their friends!! We are not invited! So Stuart and I are off for a meal at a pub by ourselves !! School is stressful at the moment, exams are looming and the silly bully girls have reared their ugly heads again this week. We will all be glad when they break up for study leave now and can move on with their lives!

So until next time, happy stitching

Ginnie x

Enchanted Mermaid.

We finally made the agonising decision on Monday to take our lovely dog, Marshall to the vets to be put to sleep. He had a really bad weekend and we knew things were never going to get better, he had no real quality of life anymore. So as you can imagine we are all very heart broken at the moment and miss him terribly. So first I want to share this lovely photo of him, taken a few years ago when he was still fit and well and full of life. This was at our old house, Stuart had just dug a little patch to plant some vegetables in and Marshall decided this was his favourite place to sit and eat his chew!

We had him when he was 6 years old from a rescue centre in 2001, his previous family had split up and put him in a home, he would have been 16 in October, so a pretty good age for a dog. I know he had a lovely life with us. The house is so empty and quiet though without him. We are having him cremated and will bury him in the garden and put a pretty bush above him. Rest in peace dear Marshall.

I managed to get some stitching done too, to take my mind off everything! All day Sunday I worked on getting the beads attached to my Enchanted Mermaid piece so that it was finished. There were more beads than I thought and it took ages.... but it looks great now it is done.

You can't really see the beads on this photo, especially as 2 of them were clear/opal colours. Here is a closer shot of the mermaid's head, and the seahorses and castle. Still the beads aren't very clear but you get the idea! I will add this to my "to be framed" list !

I also finished a little fairy for my Stitch for Charity group. She is a birth stone fairy and represents July. I may do another of these at some point but for now I have moved on to a "chick" square.

If any of you have the UK magazine Cross Stitcher I have a letter in there this issue (226) I wrote it well before Christmas last year and forgot all about it. It is about the beach bag I made on holiday last summer. Luckily a friend who subscribes to the magazine spotted it and told me. I sent my mom to buy a copy today so haven't seen it myself yet! So looking forward to reading it later when I get in from work.

This week I am working on Henry and I have a few little ones I want to start. There is a ballet dancing hippo in my World of Cross Stitch magazine that I am going to do for Becki. I will make it into a bag for her ballet shoes for when she performs with the English Youth Ballet. I also want to stitch something to remember Marshall. I have seen Little House Needlecrafts do a chart called "Walk in the park" which looks like the sort of thing I want. Lastly I have started another small Art Deco Lady and now have the beads to finish the first one. Need to keep busy!!

Sorry my last 2 posts have been a bit doom and gloom, it has been a tough week. Hopefully back to my cheery self soon.

Happy stitching

Ginnie xx

Family Tree

Thanks everyone for your kind words about my Auntie and our dog. Sadly my Auntie Pat passed away yesterday morning. It was very quick in the end, they had diagnosed cancer last week then said it was so aggressive and spreading so quickly that there was nothing they could do. She was only 64, not very old really. She was little George's grandmother (posted about last May when he was born) he will never have any memories of her. So now we have another funeral to attend, my poor uncle is devastated. As to the dog, well he is still with us, but things are the same I have just had other things to worry about over the last few days.

It was quite appropriate then that I have been working on my Family Tree this week, as I have just lost a member of my family. As you can see I have moved the frame again to a smaller size so it is easier to work on, all the parts rolled up at the bottom are complete. I worked on the borders alot and all the green of the tree beside all the boxes. Still that big chunk of tree to tackle.... I keep putting it off!

This is my little Art Deco Lady I mentioned the other week. There are 6 in all in the latest Cross Stitch Card Shop magazine and I want to do at least 3 of them to hang up in our bedroom. I need some black beads to complete this, which I haven't got yet, and then finish the border and the back stitch. It is very pretty.

We did manage to have a day out on Saturday, we went to Worcester and looked around the beautiful Cathedral and then walked around the shops. It was a lovely summer like day. I did take a couple of photos but they weren't very brilliant!

This week I want to finish my Enchanted Mermaid, so I hope I have another "grand showing" for you next time.

Until then, happy stitching

Ginnie xx

My Easter week

Hope everyone had a good Easter. We had a very quiet Easter, we didn't do much or go anywhere. We have been having problems with the dog, he is getting very old now and struggles to get up etc. I get up nearly every night to get him up and let him out.... which makes me tired and he doesn't have a great quality of life anymore. So we think we need to make a big decision and take him to the vets... but it isn't easy. So that may happen over the Easter holidays while Stuart is off work! My one Auntie is also very ill in hospital, they are still trying to find out what is wrong.... so all in all we have had a rough week! On the positive side my one cousin and his wife, who live on the lovely island of Jersey, are expcting their first baby. They have been trying for ages and have had lots of problems, so this is great news.

As to my stitching I am pleased to say I finished my Art Deco Diva. Here is the end result and also a close up of her face and beads around her head dress.

I think I will get this framed, it is so pretty.

I also worked on my Christmas Window piece. I can finally say I am enjoying doing this one as it has started to take shape. I still don't think it'll be completed for this Christmas but I'll try my best. You can now see the ladies bag and her boots. There is just so much brown yet to do for the door etc..... that'll drive me mad, I'll have to try to do just a bit at a time.

This week I am working on my Family Tree again, I still hope to get this done by the summer. I find working on it makes my back ache though as it is on a large floor frame. So I do just short bursts at a time.

Anyway the weather seems to be improving here, which is nice. We are going to have a day out in Worcester on Saturday, go and look around the Cathedral and shops etc.

Have a good week.

Ginnie x