Heart ornament finished

I have had a nice crafting afternoon!! Firstly this morning we went to a lovely local shop called "Step a Long" it started as a shoe shop but now also sells wool, fabric, threads, beads and lots of lovely bits and bobs of haberdashery!! So I bought some lovely cream slightly patterned fabric and some blue trim. (+ some DMC threads and some felt for other projects!) Then this afternoon I went over to my mom and dads so I could use my sewing machine (they look after it!) and finished my "Vintage Heart". I stuffed it with lavender too from our garden that I have had drying in the airing cupboard since the summer.... so it smells nice too. I am really pleased with it - I think I am getting a bit better at making these sort of things!! Mom wants one now also!!

I was a lucky winner on Gaynor's Blog before Christmas, so I had a nice parcel arrive yesterday with 4 kits in it (sorry didn't take a picture) There is a lovely pink bootees card suitable for a baby girl so I have started that for Helen and Dave's baby (due the 13th Feb), I also love the little Ellie Mae kit (Margaret Sherry) as my niece is called Ellie Mae I intend to stitch that for her birthday in July she will be 7! Thank you so much Gaynor for your great giveaway - this was the first time I had won one.

Then today Sew and So sent my parcel with my fabric for "I Do", it is 32ct Murano evenweave in Ivory... it is lovely. I also received my Gentle Arts threads, therefore I have started "I Do" but as I have only done the 'd' so far I didn't bother with a photo. I just know I am going to enjoy stitching this too.

Otherwise here is Pirate's Creed, it is coming along well and I am hoping to finish it before I return to work. I want to get some "pirate" fabric to back it with and make some kind of flat ornament for Becky to hang it in her room.

Sorry no picture of Johnny D..... I am keeping him to myself!!... actually I forgot to take his photo, but he is progressing well, I thought I may use the same "pirate" fabric to make this into a flatfold when finished.... that'll be a first for me!

So this is probably my last post of 2008, I have started to think about my 2009 rota which I intend to start again on 5th Jan '09. I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and all the best for 2009.... I look forward to continuing my new friendships I have made from blogging.

Ginnie x

Santa was very kind!

Hope you all had a Happy Christmas, we certainly did. Both Stuart and my parents treated me to some new charts.... I did give Stuart a long wish list.... so he had some guidance. Here is what I received. The one LHN chart has the threads included aswell (Crescent colours). Now I have to decide which to do first!! I have also ordered some 32ct evenweave to start "I Do" and I am going to use 2 of the Gentle Arts threads it recommends as well as the usual DMC - I am keen to start to try other threads.

We had Christmas Dinner at our house and invited my mom and dad over, here they are with the girls waiting for their food!! Stuart was in the kitchen!! Hope you can spot the placecards I made on the table! Mind you we had fun moving the table - it extends to seat 6 but we have to move it out of the dining area into the middle of the lounge, so the one settee has to move too.... all worked out well but I seem to have hurt my back doing all the furniture moving!! It has been hurting ever since! Laura has also had ear ache over the last couple of days.... a continuation of the cold thing she keeps getting back... there are a lot of cold and flu bugs around in the Midlands (according to the local news!)

Today we went for a nice afternoon walk to wake us all up!!! We have a lot of nice countryside nearby so we took the dog and had a stroll over "Enville Common" it was packed everyone had the same idea.

I have been stitching but have no update photos today, I have mainly worked on Johnny Depp and Pirate's Creed. I will post pictures of that next time.

Ginnie x

Merry Christmas everyone.....

I have finally finished work for Christmas and don't return until the 5th January...yeah...

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with my wedding dilemma, I think I had decided by Monday night to do another piece to be framed, so the next question was which one? It is not a traditional wedding it is a Hog Roast at a Hotel, so I wanted something modern and simple. After browsing many shop sites I had 3 options - LHN Always and Forever - Bent Creek Wedding Row - The Trilogy Wedding Spots. Rowyn solved my problem, she is currently working on Wedding Row for her own marriage and has agreed to lend me the chart when she is finished - thank you so much. So I am doing "I Do" now for Phil and "Wedding Row" for Helen. I liked Dani's idea of making it into a wall hanging so they can move it around with them..... I may do that but haven't made one before!!

I had a good night of stitching last night, I found a small fairy one Laura had started from my Fairy Cross Stitch book so decided to do some of that as I don't suppose she'll finish it. It is very sweet and I better do an R for Rebecca next!

I also gave Johnny 2 eyes .....all the better to see me with!! I like the way he is stitching up.

And finally I have been working on Dusky Dreams, I am still enjoying this even though it went away for a short while.... some french knots to come on the left though.... errrrr. Just love the colours in this.

So I am going to sign off now for Christmas, I have been blogging 6 months now and have loved every minute of it, I have made lots of new friends and gained lots of confidence in my stitching, so I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, I hope Santa brings you lots of goodies.... and I will post again over the weekend.

Ginnie x

Wedding stitching dilemma

I am hoping for some advise from other stitchers to a new dilemma I have. In my side bar "To Do" list I have had Helen and Dave's wedding in June 09 which I had planned to do a framed picture for. I decided on Bent Creek's I Do. Now on Saturday her brother Phil came over (the one who joined the RAF in the summer) and told us him and his girlfriend Nicky have booked their wedding for March 09. At first I thought well I'll just do them a nice card as I haven't as much time and as he is in the RAF they may be posted all over the place and may not want to keep taking framed pictures etc all over with them. But what if they are offended because I will still do "I Do" for Helen!! Should I do Phil a picture too, if so which one, should I do "I Do" for both of them or should I stick with my original thought and just do a nice card that they can frame if they choose!!! Oh decisions decisions!!

Anyway onto another subject, here are the 2 decoupage cards I made for the girls this Christmas, they are actually 3D Stack Its.

And here is the card I made for Stuart, it is a Jolly Nation one, I like their stuff!

Otherwise I haven't done much stitching as we were at Tori's 18th party on Saturday then at my parents house last night as the girls had a little party for their friends at our house! Today I have been the only one in our house that had to go to work and I seem to have come down with the cold and sore throat Becky had last week, I'm not too bad just tired and have no energy....

I did make one more new start though yesterday...... here it is - Pirates Creed...... not a lot to show yet but you can see the beginnings of the sentence.

I think I am going to work on Johnny D now.... before I doze off..... I will hopefully post again on Christmas Eve to speak to everyone before the Big Day!!

Ginnie x

Finally a night at home!

It is so nice to be at home, relaxing and doing some stitching. Today the girls and Stuart broke up for Christmas, tonight the girls are at a friend's house and we have had a chinese take away and I'm on my second glass of wine.

The school production went well, we sold loads of refreshments and lots of raffle tickets. Becky was unwell again on Tues/Wed with this flu thing back again, she lost her voice! and had a really high temperature luckily she is much better now.

I managed a little bit of stitching on Wednesday and finished off Lest We Forget at 10pm last night when I got in! And here it is -

I am so pleased with this and I really enjoyed stitching it, I am going to try and frame it myself. It is a great way to commemorate a lost relative.

I have only done a tiny bit of Johhny Depp but I think you can see him starting to emerge -

If you fancy stitching him yourself it is a free pattern here - Johnny. I will try to do some more over the weekend.

Finally here is my Vintage heart stitching, not much to show yet, it'll be made into a heart shape ornament for the New Year. It is a very simple and quick stitch and I am working on this tonight.

I also intend to start my Somebunny stitching for Helen and Dave's baby, she is due in February but I better be prepared incase she is early! Over Christmas I will plan my new rota and intend to have a UFO night!!!!! each week.

Today I booked tickets to go and see the musical "Chicago" it is on at the Birmingham Hippodrome in June next year and I know the girls really love this so I have bought them for their birthday (which is in May). Something to look forward to.

I'm at work until Christmas Eve but will hoepfully get some stitching time in as I haven't got much else to sort.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Ginnie x

Gifts all finished

Firstly I want to say a big thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post, I am so glad you all liked my cottage and my pink coat. I had 25 comments and that's the most I've ever had, it was so great to read them all.

I have managed to get all 3 of my Christmas Gifts finally finished off today. Here is Mom's compact mirror - I love this rose there is no back stitch but it looks so real. I wish it was postioned a little more to the left in the mirror but never mind.

I also put the poppies and butterfly stitching into its coaster for my MIL and I backed the Lily bookmark for my Auntie with lovely bright pink felt. I am about to go and wrap up her present now, I have bought her the Julie Walters autobiography to go with the bookmark.

Thought I'd share another piece of Christmas stitching that I made a while ago. The photo isn't very clear and doesn't show the gold thread that reads "Noel" and Joy".

I have worked on Lest We Forget a lot the last few days and will take a photo of that soon as it is nearly complete. I have also started a "stitch a star" piece from Cross Stitcher magazine of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, this will be for Julie's daughter whose 18th birthday party is next week. I won't complete it for then though so she'll just get it when it's finished!!

Next week we have several nights at the girl's school helping with the refreshments for their Christmas Production so you may not see a post from me until the end of the week. I will also try to catch up on my blog reading as I seem to have not read anyone else's recently.... so sorry.

Enjoy your week.

Ginnie x

*!~# Blooming Cottage !#~*....

I have officially hung up my hard hat and refuse to do anymore construction work!!! The air was blue here on Monday night as I tried to get the blooming roof on my cottage. The instructions said to lace around the plastic canvas like the side walls.... all well and good, but then you have to bend the roof piece to fit on the cottage walls. But when you do that the lacing becomes slack and hangs down!? So I thought I'll just try to stitch it anyway..... couldn't hold it straight, couldn't work out how to stitch it, nearly threw it out the window!! So eventually I stuck some felt over the laced back then glued it to the walls, left it over night then glued the base on too. And in the end it looks ok...... You can see the felt overhanging the roof a little but never mind. I love the bugle beads I bought to put on the edges. I don't think I'll be making another.... well not yet anyway!!

I only did a bit of stitching last night, some of the rose (nearly done) and some of a new little heart ornament that was in the latest Cross stitcher magazine... pictures to follow.

Tonight was our Stitching Club's Christmas meal out. We went to a local pub for a lovely carvery, there were 13 of us all together and we had a good laugh and a very nice time. I wore my new pink coat I bought last week, Stuart took a few photos of me and here is one of the half decent ones!!

I am really tired now though so no stitching just off to bed soon. Stuart has a meal out tomorrow with his teaching friends so I will hopefully get some stitching done then.

Ginnie x

Ornaments on my tree.

I thought I would show you some of the things I have hanging on my tree that I have stitched over the years.

I think the Robin one needs something around the edge, I may put a gold bead border around it.

The next 2 are angels, one is stitched and one is with beads.

I managed to get some stitching done at the weekend. Firstly I have completed the stitching on the roof for my cottage, tonight I will lace it around the plastic canvas and attach to the walls!! This looks the trickest bit as the roof has to overhang so attaching it will be awkward. I will hopefully show the end result on my next posting.

I also worked on Mom's rose and that is almost done, just a bit more around the leaves, again I'll show this next time.

What I did finally finish stitching is the individual placecards for Christmas dinner! I just have to back them on cards now. I want to do the table runner and napkins for next year..... but not just yet! I used a red varigated thread which I think looks nice.

This week I will work on what I feel like..... I think Lest We Forget may come out again and Dusky Dreams.... who knows.

Ginnie x

Busy week..... little stitching!

I have done very little sewing so far this week as I have been very busy!!! Monday night was our Parent Support group meeting at school, when we got back I managed just a small bit of cottage stitching. Tuesday night was Christmas Tree sorting and decorating, which took a while so again just a little bit of roof was done later in the evening. Here are some tree pictures... very difficult to capture on a photo but it does look pretty. Need to hurry up with the cottage I have picked a spot for it to go near the top.... will aim to finish it this weekend!

Wednesday night I met up with my friend Stacey and we had a drink and a good gossip, so no stitching what so ever.

Thursday night I went Christmas shopping again as M&S had a 20% off day and I wanted a new coat/jacket I had seen there. It is lovely - bright pink..... will have to take a picture when I wear it! The queues were bad so it took longer than expected, when I returned I did some of mom's gift stitching. Here is the progress on this -

It is a pretty red rose to go in a compact mirror.... I must work hard on this but I am finding it slow going as it is on very small count material! Again I aim to finish over the weekend!

We were supposed to be back at the school tonight to help with the production set painting... but I am so tired of not being at home this week.... and I have been very busy at work that we have decided to give it a miss. Also Becky is unwell, she has the cold that Laura had last week. I do feel gulity about not going to help as they rely on us as so few others get involved.... but we can only do so much. So instead I want to have a nice "stitching in front of my new TV night".

I am abandoning my rota for December also and will just stitch on whatever I feel like....... I may even start Pirates Creed. Stuart has ordered me some stuff for Christmas from Sewandso...... how exciting... can't wait to see what he picked (I did give him a rough idea of what I may like!!!)

Well now I better go and feed Marshall he is hanging around wondering when his tea is coming.

Have a happy stitching weekend....

Ginnie x

Here's Henry.

Here is my update picture of Henry. I spent a lot of time on him last night, I was really enjoying working on him. I still think his head looks small but it is like that on the picture. His right shoulder and arm are complete, and his 3rd wife, Jane Seymour, is just emerging in the green and blue at the edge of his arm.

Yesterday afternoon we went TV shopping as our TV was playing up and we've had it a long time. We have had a new 32" flat screen Samsung TV and a new stand. It looks really nice.

Tonight I have a meeting at school, then I am out on Wednesday with friends and Thursday evening going shopping with the girls, so stitching will have to be slotted in between. I want to finish off my placecards (never did any of the last one this week), finish mom's gift (slow progress) and complete the roof on the cottage.

Many thanks for all your wonderful comments as usual, they make me feel very honoured that my stitching is appreciated!

Ginnie x

Building in progress

Who would have thought building a little cottage would be so time consuming!! I have spent all afternoon on my little construction.... the lacing of the sides around the plastic canvas took the longest. I have just finished stitching all the sides together and I have had enough for today! I am very pleased with the results, I don't think I have ever stitched any thing like this, but it is turning out ok. I have to finish stitching the roof next, then I can attach that. The base is just red felt (again laced around the plastic canvas) and then I have to attach the long bugle beads at the sides and a hanger on the top!

Here are the 2 side views -

I realised on Wednesday night though that I had made a big mistake on it.... and I blame the poor light at my house. The green back stitch lines were actually dark blue on the chart... which stood for the silver not the green.... so it should be more sparkly than it is... but I like it any way!

Otherwise I have been working on Henry still, he now has a complete head and half a hat!! Mind you I think his head looks tiny in comparison to his body, but it probably was - he was a big chap!!

I am working on his right shoulder now and aim to work towards stitching some of a wife for him next!!!!

No pictures until Sunday/Monday of him I'm afraid.... you'll just have to wait.

It is very cold here today, I went into town with mom this morning and we caught the bus!! I was frozen when I got home. Managed to get some wrapping paper and cards so can get some presents wrapped soon and start on my Christmas card writing next week!

Stuart brought a bread maker with some of his birthday money and he is cooking his first loaf now.... urm it smells nice, good job it is nearly dinner time as the smell is making me very hungry.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Ginnie x

Santa knitting.

No I haven't been knitting this is my mom's work.... but he is staying at my house this Christmas!! He is a lovely cute Santa that Mom has just completed from a pattern in a knitting magazine. She intended to do two, one for me and one for herself..... but she didn't enjoy the stitching together part. So I get this one and she may do another for herself next year.

Laura got on well at her orthodontist appointment on Monday. She will need a lot of "brace" work but he seemed confident that they could get her teeth sorted. She will be called back around February time where they will start on her bottom teeth, take 2 out due to over crowding and then fit a brace. Then they'll work on her top teeth. Her bottom lip at the moment sits behind her top teeth so it doesn't help the problem, they hope it will fall back into it's proper place when her top teeth move back! Long job and she is nervous but she really wants to sort her teeth. She is having a tough week, she went down with a sore throat on Monday too, she has battled on at school then today she had her Grade 3 piano exam, which she was also very nervous for. Now she thinks she messed it up and has failed!!!

Mom and I had a nice Christmas shopping trip on Monday, I think I have most presents sorted now... just the wrapping to do!!

No stitching pictures I'm afraid, Stuart has nicked my camera for school.... blooming cheek!! I have told him I want it back tomorrow..... Henry now has a bit of face to go with his beard and some more of his blue tunic is finished. I have also finished another placecard, just one more to do now.

Ginnie x

Back in the land of blogging.

I am finally back with a posting, it has been a busy week and I am very tried tonight but just had to get something on my blog! We didn't go to the cinema in the end on Thursday night as we realised we would have trouble parking as the cinema is at the shopping centre and Peter Andre was there that night switching on the Christmas lights!! so we gave it a miss!! I spent ALL DAY Friday cleaning, dusting, sorting, hoovering every little space etc...by the evening I ached all over, would have been an easier day at work!!! Saturday was lovely, it is nice to have a get together and see everyone you don't get to see that often. I was worried we would run out of space if everyone came at the same time but people came in spread out intervals!! Our last 2 friends left at 10pm and I went to bed not long after!!! Here's a picture of the birthday boy and his daughters!!!

This afternoon we finally made it to the cinema to see the Bond film. It was ok but too much fighting and shooting for me.... but of course that's what Bond is like I'm just not a big fan. Stuart enjoyed it though and it was his birthday treat... so that's ok.

As for any stitching I managed some on Friday night. I suddenly realised I needed to get a card done for my Auntie whose Birthday is this Thursday, I was going to do a Decoupage one but really wasn't in the mood. So I found a small All Our Yesterday's girl I had started and forgotten about and spent the rest of the evening finishing that. Here it is.

She has been feeling very down this week, she starts her radiotherapy on 1st Dec and has to go every day for treatment until Christmas Eve. She rang my mom to say she hadn't had chance to Christmas shop and would send us the money instead. I think we all just want her to concentrate on getting well again.

I also have 3 sides of the cottage done, here is a side wall and the other gable end..... one more side and the roof then I get to start the "putting together"!!!

Next week I will work on Henry again and carry on with my mom's gift (I have only done a tiny bit!) and try to do the last side of the cottage.

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with blog reading I'll try to catch up next week. Tomorrow I am taking Laura for her first Orthodontic appointment at the hospital then Mom and I are off Christmas shopping, I go back to work on Tuesday.

Ginnie x

Some stitching.

Stuart has had a nice birthday so far, we have had a lovely chinese take away, I have done some stitching on my 3D cottage and in a moment I hope Stuart is going to cut his birthday cake...... yum!

But before then here are my stitching updates. My Family Tree is coming along nicely, I managed to do all of the children and some of the backstitch on the mom, also the house in the middle now has a roof. I made a little error on the little girl's skirt, it looks ok but I must remember to make the skirts on the other side the same!

Here is a close up of the people.

And here is the first Gable end of my 3d cottage, it was fun to do. Now I am working on the one side, that has just the beads and back stitching to complete now. No photo yet though.

I may do some "Lest we Forget" stitching next or just relax in front of the TV watching "I'm a celebrity"..... although I am still waiting for the chocolate cake..... but it sounds like the birthday boy is having a snooze as I can hear snoring!!! It is hard work being 40.

Until next time,

Ginnie x

Happy 40th Birthday to my hubbie....

Today is Stuart's 40th Birthday, "Happy Birthday my dear"........he loved his stitched card and was pleased with how I had picked stuff that he had grown this year. Tonight we are having a chinese take away, then on Thursday we are going to the cinema to see the new James Bond film. I'm not a big Bond fan but Stuart is and wanted to see it, least Daniel Craig is quite good looking which will give me something to keep me interested!! Then on Saturday we are having a little party at home, just for a few friends and close family. So I have a busy week ahead! I have booked Friday off work so I can give the house a good tidy up, being a keen stitcher my house suffers!!! Oh well.

Here is a photo of me and Stuart, it was the best I could find of the 2 of us, I think it was taken 2 years ago. Stuart has put on lots of weight since we married and so hates having his picture taken nowadays. I will get some taken over the weekend though!!

As for any stitching...... I'll have to update that later or tomorrow as my photos of 'Family Tree' are still on my camera and I am at work at the moment!!!!! Just catching 5 mins to blog while the boss is at lunch.

Ginnie x

Lest we forget progress

I have spent my stitching time this week working on "Lest we forget", "Family Tree" and "3D Cottage".

Here is the progress on Lest we forget - the poppy is looking lovely. At first I was going to change the one colour as it is orange on the outer edge more than red. But now it is coming together I like the colour combination.

I forgot to take a photo of my Cottage, but I have finished the first gable end and will start a side wall this weekend. On my Family Tree I am still working on the children in front of the Mom. I will update you on this on my next post.

Just thought I'd show you a little extra one I stitched that I'll make into a card and possibly sell on Ebay. It is really sweet and the design would work for a new baby card too. Talking of new babies we have another one due in the family next year.... so more stitching. My cousin and his wife announced they were expecting their second child in May '09. I didn't do anything for their first child as I was going through a non stitching phase at the time, so I will only do a little card this time.

I have been to our local churches Christmas fete this morning. Me and my mom had a nice cup of coffee and a mince pie for £1..... and I bought a red fabric bag for £1.50 that I am going to put a piece of stitching on at some point in the future. This afternoon I am off to the garden centre to get some bird food and winter pansies as I have a new planter and bird feeder that is waiting to be filled up!!

Hope you all have a good weekend....

Ginnie x

Armistice Day stitching.

I wanted to do a special piece of stitching to mark the 90th Anniversary of the end of the 1st World War but only started on Sunday. But it is something I have aimed to do for a while and will continue stitching on it over the next few weeks along with all my other stuff. It was out of last months World of Cross Stitching magazine. Here is my progress so far:-

As with most families we have ancestors who died during the 1st world war, as I love "Family History" research too I have tried to find out as much as I can about one relative - Sydney George Thornton. He was on my mom's side of the family and was my grandad's eldest brother. He was born in 1899 and during the war he joined the Lancashire Fusiliers possibly before he was old enough to! He fought in the trenches in France and his final battle (I believe) was the battle for Cambrai, they advanced on and captured the small village of Awoingt just outside Cambrai on the 10th October 1918. But on the 11th the battalion suffered heavy casualties and I believe Sydney was mortally wounded then. He died on the 21st October 1918 of his wounds and is buried in the Awoingt British Cemetary. He was 19 years old and just 21 days later the war ended. We have no photos of him and my grandad was born in 1912 so had no memories of him as far as I can recall. It is all very sad and I want to stitch this and add Sydney's name to it instead of the small poppy motif on the right. I also plan to visit his grave at some point in the future as I don't think anyone in the family ever has.

On a more lighter note I have made a small start also on my 3D cottage. Here is just the first gable end showing the front door. I want to say a big thank you to Angela who after reading my blog offered to send me some plastic canvas she had spare to build the walls and roof. It arrived in the post today and it is just great, thank you.

I still intend to do my Family Tree this week but have put off the last Christmas gift for another week so I can continiue to work on "Lest we forget" too.

I have also been tagged by Becca and I know a few other stitching friends tagged me a few weeks ago and I forgot all about it! I am not going to pass on the "tagging" as I don't know who to pick but to end my post tonight I will leave you with a few quirky facts about myself.

1. I hate flying and even get nervous seeing planes in the sky. Consequently I have flown only once to and from Spain when I was 17!
2. I also have a fear of mice, again I can't even look at them on the TV. Yet I love hamsters and have had several as pets over the years.
3. When I am food shopping if I want something but there is only one of that item left on the shelf I tend to leave it, because I feel bad that there won't be one left for someone else if I have it! (yeah I know this is really odd!)
4. I have weetabix (or similar store's own brand!) for breakfast every morning....... nothing else fills me up enough!!
5. I am a fully qualified primary school teacher and specialist "Reading Recovery" teacher but left the profession 8 years ago due to ill health and stress! I now work in an office!
6. I feel the cold especially my feet and nearly always have socks on!!!!

That'll do for now......

Ginnie x

Postman delivered a new one!

I had hoped to blog yesterday as I had a finish to show.... but my internet was down until the evening so I thought I'd wait until today.

Firstly I must show you what the postman bought me on Friday!! It is called Safe Haven by Derwentwater. I have loved this set of pictures for ages and another one is on my wishlist but I saw this one on Ebay last week - brand new unopened - going for £1.99 with no bids......... so I bided and won....yeah. They normally cost around £17 and I got it for £4 with the postage. I am not intending to start it yet, but it was a bargain I just couldn't resist!

Yesterday we went to look around Dudley College, although the girls don't leave school for another year and a half the college had an open day and Becky had been encouraged to go and see their Performing Arts department. She is considering doing a BTEC in Dance and loves this college especially as they have a ballet element to the course which other local colleges don't. It seems a great place, with a lovely theatre and dance studios and she is so excited as she really wants to get a place there. They also do 3 performances a year and it's a 2 year course, so we'll get to see her perform loads!

Now to my finish...... here is Peek a Boo Sagittarius. I am really pleased as I have finished this one in a week. I hope Grace likes it too when she gets it on her birthday! I will get them both mounted over the next week or two.

I am so close to finishing Stuart's too. All I have left is the back stitch around the cabbage and part of a strawberry! I have stitched the number 40 but think I will leave that as it is and not back stitch around that. Here it is -

The only thing I haven't started this week is my last Christmas gift. I will try to start that next week along with continuing on my Family Tree.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Ginnie x

Peek a Boo - part 2

Thanks for all your well wishes I am feeling much better now. The doctor said it was an inner ear viral thing.... which there is nothing you can do about just wait for it to pass (can last about a week) and that I will probably find I am prone to these problems and will get it again... lovely! He checked my blood pressure and that was normal. Oh well when I get it again all I will be able to do is stitch - no housework or anything!!

I have been doing some stitching this week but I think my goals for the week won't go as well as last time. I haven't even looked at the next Christmas gift yet!

But I have worked on the Sagittarius Peek a Boo and here it is so far -

Ther is a number 13 on her top but you can't see that very well yet! Just some of the hat, the rest of the trousers, the star sign name plaque and lots of back stitch to do! Should be finished by the weekend! I have also worked on Stuart's card a bit - that has been hard as he has been at home a lot. He has just informed me he has to go to Birmingham University on Saturday - oh good I can finish his card!!!

My auntie went back to the hospital today for a check up, they were very pleased with her progress, they said the lump was only small and they think they managed to get rid of all of it. To be on the safe side she is still going to have a course of radiotherapy and some tablets.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Ginnie x

Henry has a beard!

My weekend wasn't as brilliant as it could have been because I felt unwell, since Friday I have been feeling very dizzy/light headed which isn't pleasant. To top it all I had really bad back ache on Saturday and a dodgy stomach on Sunday!!! I did manage to stitch still as sitting down was the best remedy but I was also very tired and fell asleep last night at 9pm on the settee. I still felt a bit rough at work today but feel a little brighter now. I am going to see the doctor tomorrow to check out the dizziness as I have had it before.

Even so I think Henry is looking good. You can just see where his brown beard is!! The chart asked for beads on his chain around his neck but I decided to use gold metallic thread instead. You can't see this much yet as I have only done 2 of the mini squares. I can't wait to move onto one of his wives! But for now he is going away again!!

I also managed a little more on Stuart's card, you can now see the spade, fork and the beginnings of a carrot!! In the top left corner there should be 2 cabbages but I am only stitching one and than adding a "40" above it.

This week I am setting myself some small goals again -

• Sagittarius - Complete at least half of this picture.
• Stuart's card - finish all of it.
• Christmas gifts - start the last one - mom's compact mirror
• Placecards - complete at least one more.

Tonight we have been at the girl's school sorting all the Christmas Raffle ticket books into groups of 5 for each child and sorting into classes. This went better than normal as we had loads of Year 11 pupils come along to help. I may stitch just a bit of the Sagittarius card now but I am very tired again. Hope I feel back to normal tomorrow.

Ginnie x

Peekaboo finished.

I have been a bad blogger this week, I haven't posted since Monday and I don't seem to have been keeping up with everyone elses blog. I'll try to get better!
I have been stitching though.... Started on Henry again on Monday evening, I decided to work up his body so I can get to his head! I stitched lots of dark brown for the edge of his jacket and then realised it was one square too far to the right!!! Several swear words later I sat and unpicked all the brown and then put him away in disgust!!!
Tuesday I managed to stitch a lot more on him, with Becky in London I needed to keep busy, and the weather was very wintery here - we had snow! So I stayed warm by the fire and stitched. Becky got back safely at 11pm and had really enjoyed herself.
Wednesday I had to go back to work and as I had been away a few days I had lots of work to catch up on, also the boss and the sales guys were back so no sneaky stitching! At stitch club I worked on Capricorn peekaboo. As this was close to be completed I worked on it Thursday night also and now it is done:-

I am pleased with how it looks, I'm sure she'll love it, although I think the goat has a "mean" expression!! I will start Sagittarius over the weekend.

Tonight I will work on Henry again, the girls are off to a Halloween party so I'll have time to myself again.

I have also decided I want to do the 3D Christmas Cottage below -

This was in a Cross Stitcher magazine last year but I was put off with buying all the plastic canvas it asked for. But looking at it again, this is only to back the walls and roof, not to stitch on. So I am going to use cardbroad instead - it'll do the same job I'm sure. I am really keen to start this but will try to hold on until I finish Stuart's birthday card - which I hope will be next week.

Anyway I had better go and get ready for work, I am sitting typing this in my PJ's and dressing gown..... Happy Halloween everyone........

Ginnie x

Progress reports.

Here were my goals for last week -

• Start the next Christmas gift - coaster for MiL yes, started and finished.
• Work on Stuart's 40th card - yes, have worked a lot of the greens, completed the strawberries and radishs.

• At least half complete Capricorn - yes I think I have done more than half, just need to complete the trousers, the goat and the title. And of course the rest of the back stitch as there is a lot of that!

• Complete at least 4 placecards - No ! Only completed 3, another 3 to go.
• Complete back stitching on a cute Christmas penguin I have been working on for ages!! - yes, is waiting to be mounted on card.

So not bad I reckon.

I am on 2 days holiday this week so have managed to get plenty of stitching done. Yesterday after our successful shopping trip I worked on Stuart's card. Today I have done some decorating in Laura's room but also finished another Christmas ornament I started a short while ago. The chart asked for 14ct red aida but I only had 18ct so it is smaller but still cute. Just need to make it into an ornament now..... the fun part!!

This week I am reverting back to my rota - because it is Henry and wives week. But I also want to continue with the Capricorn project and Stuart's 40th as I only have a few weeks to complete them.

Tomorrow Becky is off to London with 4 other friends from dancing who are 18. I am a little nervous as she is only 14 and London is a big scary place! But they are going to the Pineapple Dance Studio for some lessons and she is so excited I have to be brave and just let her go. I know she is sensible and so are the girls she is going with and they have all been before. Early start though... her train is at 8am!!!

Many thanks for all your good wishes for my Aunt, she has had her operation today and we are told she is "comfortable" will hear more tomorrow after my uncle has visited her tonight.

Right off to find Henry!!

Ginnie x