Henry has 3 complete wives.

As you can see from the title I have worked on Henry this week and am pleased to say Anne Boleyn is all stitched now too! So here he is -

I was hoping to get Catherine Howard done too, I did all the blues then realised the middle part is in the same colours as Anne's dress I'd just done and I was bored with those colours! So I did some more of Katherine's green dress. In fact all the blue has been completed..... one more step closer to completion!

I also got hooked on another new piece this last week! I have been wanting to stitch this for the past year and finally succumbed on Wednesday and took it to Stitch Club. I was going to save it for club only and work on it every Wednesday.... but I enjoyed it so much that I carried on working on it over the past couple of days. She is from Cross Stitcher magazine issue 208 and has a lovely jewel effect metallic thread in it. I think she is called Art Deco Diva... well I am calling her that!

Half term is now over so it was all back to work and school yesterday, least Becki had lots to tell! I have emailed school for them to put a notice in the school newsletter about her audition. No problems since with the bullies, they are just ignoring her still which she is happy about.

Laura made us proud on Sunday, I have mentioned before that she is a young leader with the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides. She was asked to carry the Union Flag for Thinking Day.... which is a very important role, she had to lead all the other flag holders from the district. Her leader told me the District Commisioner had requested she did it..... so she must have made an impression on her at some point.

This evening we have booked our summer holiday. We haven't been abroad for 5 years and I promised the girls a nice, warm, beach holiday this year. So we are off to Spain! As I don't like flying we are doing a mini cruise to Northern Spain and stopping at a big campsite with lots of amenities for teenagers!! So excited already... I need to review my holiday wardrobe and see what else I may need!!!!

I am working on my Christmas Shop window scene again this week and I must start another charity square soon. Next weekend is my birthday and we are going out on the same day for my Aunt and Uncle's Golden Wedding anniversary, so a busy weekend ahead.

Until next time.

Ginnie xxx

She did it !

We had a great day yesterday, Becki went for her audition with the English Youth Ballet..... and she got in! There were 101 girls aged 13 to 18 and just 50 were to be offered places... and Becki got one of them. We are so pleased and so proud, she looked amazing up on the stage. All the hard work starts in August and the beginning of September when she has several full day rehearsals and then on the 17th and 18th September she will appear in three performances of Giselle at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton. After all she has been through it was so well deserved.

I also have several pieces of stitching to show, I have been busy!!

Here is Stuart's Valentine card, it is just a small, cute Winnie the Pooh which was a free kit on the latest Card Shop magazine.

I also managed to finish the All our Yesterdays (AOY) design for my Aunt and Uncle, I am going to take this to be framed later in the week.

My main piece on my rota this week was my Enchanted Mermaid, as you can see I am not far off finishing this one also. We are thinking of decorating our bathroom next so I need to complete this to hang in there!

I didn't get any stitching done last night because of the audition but I was off work in the day so I tried to finish my latest Somebunny square. I didn't quite get there then but have finished it this evening while waiting for the girls to return from the cinema. Again I just love him..... and it'll look great on a Somebunny quilt.

As it is half term I have Thursday and Friday booked off too this week, so hopefully I will get more stitching done. Henry is back on the rota this week, so look out for an update on him next week.

Until next time.......

Ginnie xx

Last week's stitching

Not an original title, but I couldn't think of another one! I can now get on Blogger again at work so I thought I'd write a post this afternoon as I have a Parent Support Group meeting tonight and may not get chance to go on the PC.

It has been a stressful week, although Stuart has recovered from the flu he has had a reoccurance of a problem with his legs that he had last year so he is still not 100% I think the flu bought on the leg issues !! Then the bullying with Becki came to a head on Tuesday, they started making her life miserable at school as well as on Facebook etc. So much so she was in floods of tears Tuesday evening and didn't want to go back to school. So we finally went into school to talk it over with her Head of House. He has been great and saw Becki right away the next day, she really didn't want anything said to the girls still, so for now they are seeing how it goes but at least she has someone to talk to at school and they have all the evidence I printed off. Since then it has been quiet.... so I am hoping they have got bored with picking on her. She has under 50 actual school days left (not including exams!)... she is counting down.

So I have some stitching to show although I feel I could have done more on my Family Tree but just didn't seem to have as much time last week. Here is my little bit of progress.

I have worked well on my AOY piece for my Aunt and Uncle, I think I'll get this finished by the end of the week so I can frame it. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed working on AOY's.... may have to start another one I have had in the pipeline a while!!

Somebunny also got finished for my Charity group, I have just sorted out the threads for another similar one. I love the colours in this one.... lovely shades of blue.

Finally I made a little bookmark for Becki..... with a dancer on of course! I need to make Laura one now but I can't decide what theme to pick.

Next Monday Becki has a very exciting audition. She is auditioning for the English Youth Ballet. They take 100 local dancers and they appear in a big production later in the year. This time it is to appear in Giselle in September. It would be great if she got picked but we know it is strong competition so the experience will be great on it's own. So fingers crossed for next Monday night!!

Happy stitching...........

Ginnie x

Christmas Window started

Well I started my Christmas Window piece but there isn't a lot to show yet! I think it is going take me more than 12 months for this one.... so maybe 2011 it'll be done!! You may be able to make out the bottom of the man's coat, some brown window frame and a red toy bus! Several people asked where the chart was from, I think I got back to you personally but if not it is from The World of Cross Stitching magazine issue 156.

I have also been working on a Somebunny square for my Charity, he is nearly finished. I have enjoyed working on him, he is so cute.

This week I have my Family Tree on the rota again but I also started an All our Yesterdays piece at Stitch club and want to finish it for the end of the month for my Aunt and Uncle's Golden wedding.

Stuart's job interview went well and although he didn't get the Co-ordinater's job he may still move there as a standard English teacher, so good news in the long run!

Becki finally had her acceptance letter from Halesowen College, and they had another open day on Saturday.... so we went around again and had a good chat to the dance teacher etc. Sadly some of the bullying has flaired up again..... I suppose it was wishful thinking that it should just go away. It is mainly only one girl now and Becki is trying to ignore it but I know she is counting down the days now until she leaves school, especailly as she has her college place sorted.

Stuart has flu at the moment, so I have had to nurse him over the weekend! I just hope I don't get it next!

Until next time, happy stitching.

Ginnie xx

More from Henry

Morning all, I am still having problems with my PC, it needs looking at but it'll have to wait. Finally got it going again this morning so I can blog!

Last week was a good week, Laura's interview went really well. Although they can't say she definitely has a place they were pretty confident that she would, in fact her grades were only one off getting her an automatic place. She will hear off them on the 19th March.

On Friday we rang up Halesowen College as Becki had still had nothing in the post and several of her friends had. Stuart spoke to the Head of Dance who remembered Becki and said she didn't know why she hadn't been told on the day, her audition and interview had been really good and she certainly had a place! She is now chasing up the acceptance letter!

Now this week it is Stuart's turn. His school is closing the end of August and he has an interview for a job on Thursday at another local school. This job is for a Co-ordinater of English.... so a promotion.... fingers crossed again!

Now to stitching, I have been really good and put in a lot of work on Henry, although it still looks like there's a long way to go! Anne's dress is nearly done, just some of the brown at the bottom and Catherine now has hands and a book she is reading!

I have also finished the February Flip it, I will make it up into an ornament next weekend. As I already have March done I can have a month off.... although my mom wants an ornament piece of stitching to hang up in her lounge, so I may fit that in during February.

Lastly here is a picture of my new start that on my list for this week. It is a lovely Christmas Window shopping scene. Lots of work in it as you can see.... so I hope I can get it done for this Christmas. I have just sorted the blues out to start on the man's coat first. I will also be working on my next Charity square this week which is a cute Somebunny picture.

I hope to keep up with everyone else's blog.... but for some reason work have now blocked my access to Blogger too.... even though it was doing no harm. They blocked my Hotmail email too but I managed to get them to put that back on..... they reckon they can't see why I can't get on Blogger.... but it worked before and suddenly stopped on Thursday. I'll keep working on them!! So with a slow PC too I will be rarely on here :-( Luckily I bring home my work laptop at a weekend so that's when I'll have to try to catch up.

Until next time.

Ginnie xx

Mermaid progess

I finally got on my PC to post my updates..... for some reason it is on a mega "go slow" and I think it is on it's way out! Luckily I borrowed my work laptop for the weekend.... but my photos were on the PC!

Becki's interview went well at college, and she thinks she got a place there, but they hadn't received her grades from school, so we have to wait for confirmation in the post. Which is a bit frustrating as most of her friends going there were told straight away. Laura got a letter on Thursday to invite her to an interview on Monday (short notice) so we are all nervous again now for tomorrow.

I am pleased with my progress on Enchanted Mermaid, I can see her being finished soon. Lots of back stitch still to do though!

I also finished my letter B of the Fairy Tale alphabet for the Stitch for Charity group.

Then over the weekend I have done another square for the group for a special quilt for twins. This is the boy one and next I'll do a girl one! I couldn't say no to helping a set of twins!

This week Henry will be out again, and I must try to get some more of the February Flip it done.

Until next time,

Ginnie x

Fantastic Family Tree

Hope you are all ok........ I am fine but cold!! We have had a fair bit of snow here since Tuesday and they forecast more tonight! The girls school has been closed as they had a burst water pipe so they have had an extended Christmas break! The cold also killed my car battery... I had to beg a lift to work on Thursday and then use Stuart's car on Friday. Managed to get a new battery fitted now but could have done with out the expense just after Christmas.

My dad came out of hospital on Wednesday, his scan showed he has gallstones, but because of his age they don't want to operate. He has to follow a low fat diet and go back in 3 months. He is still in some pain but getting better slowly, mom and the dog were very pleased to get him home!!

So from the title you can guess I have been working on my Family Tree! I am so pleased with how much I have done. I managed to alter the frame so you can see the whole thing in all its glory!! Since my last posting on this back in Nov I have completed such a lot. The family on the right are now stitched just some back stitching to do and all of the border at the bottom is complete. I am hoping to get this finished by the summer..... I hope I can do it!!

I have also had my first finish of 2010. I am doing some Fairy Tale alphabet letters for "Stitch for Charity" and I am loving them..... they are so sweet. Here is letter A and I am working on B now. I really want to do more for the charity this year as I had a big lapse last year. I have been going on the forum more and was very pleased to see the first quilt with one of my squares in this week!

Finally today my sewing machine found its way out of the garage.... boy it was cold! And I was able to put together my January piece. The ribbon hanger want a bit off track but it seems to be hanging ok. I have started February and will show my progress on that one next time!

On Tuesday this coming week Becki has her interview/audition for Halesowen College..... so please all keep your fingers crossed for her. A couple of her friends had their interviews last week (other courses) and have got places! Laura is still waiting to hear from her chosen college!

On my rota I am going back to work on my Mermaid piece.

Until next time.

Ginnie xx