Cushions

You may have noticed I have gone blue.... got fed up of the orange shades on my blog so had a little change.

So I can finally reveal my finished cushions as they are now in their new home. I saw my friend Aly on Tuesday night and the one was for her and the other for her daughter, Alex.

Firstly this was for Alex, I did show the Groovy Chick stitching a few weeks ago. I found a lovely ready made cushion and unpicked the sides and the ribbon so that I could attach the finished piece. The colours matched perfectly and I was so pleased with it. I heard back off Alex on Wednesday that she loved it and and it was one of the nicest presents she had ever received.

Secondly, I made the Lizzie Kate "Friends are Angels" into a cushion for Aly. Again I bought a ready made cushion then just unpicked some of it to attach the stitching. These cushions were such a good price ready made it wasn't worth buying material and cushion pads to make my own. Again Aly loved it. So two happy people.

I am working on Country Idyll and it is coming along well. Tomorrow evening we are going to watch Becky perform the dances she has worked on at Summer School, then on Sunday night she is in a dance show her friend has organised (the one I have made the Good Luck card for) So I will have to try and stitch in the day time over the weekend.... housework will have to wait!!

Ginnie x

Family Tree update

Thought I'd sneak in a posting before bedtime. Becky's dance exams went well I think, this week she is at Summer School and is doing a small performance on Friday evening. She has just been showing us her dances, they look lovely.

We didn't have a very good Sunday, we woke up to find the trailer had been stolen overnight off the front garden. Ok it wasn't chained up, but it was only small and been in the same spot for 2 years. There is little chance of it being found and it wasn't covered on the house insurance (only found that bit out today!) Also the tent poles were still in it, which I didn't realise until Stuart told me. It's just a good job we aren't going camping this year! What un-nerves me the most is that the "lowlife" would have had to come right up to the kitchen window to wheel it off the garden and that we knew nothing about it!

I cheered myself up on Sunday by doing lots of sewing. This was mainly machine sewing again. I have 2 cushions that I'll have to show you later in the week as they haven't been given to their "new owners" yet. Then I made a canvas bag (fully lined) for my mom. I was really pleased with it but forgot to take a photo. I intend to make another one before my holidays so I'll show you it then.

So here's my Family tree update. I rolled down to the bottom again and made a little progress. I would love to finish this by Christmas but I think it'll probably be next year now, there is still a lot to do.

I also finished my little Christmas ornament...... finally. I think I'll give this to my mom and dad for their Christmas tree this year.

I'm working on Country Idyll again this week and would still like to finish this by September, so back to work now.........

Have a good week.
Ginnie x

Mermaid

Hope everyone is having a good week. My working week has only been 4 days long as I have booked tomorrow off. Becky took her Grade 4 Modern dance exam on Wednesday and has her Grade 4 Ballet exam tomorrow, so I have just been sewing ballet ribbon onto her shoes........ which is a pain because in a couple of weeks they'll start learning "Show" dances and it'll be "ribbons off" again! She is a little nervous but I am sure she'll be fine, her dance teacher is very pleased with her progress. Then in the afternoon we are going to the cinema to see Harry Potter.

So here is my new start from last week. Firstly the picture from the magazine to see what it should look like eventually. I was drawn to the blue/greens and can imagine having it framed with a similar coloured frame so it'll go with my bathroom colour scheme. Not sure how I will get on with having it framed though, as what do you do about condensation in your bathroom? I don't want it to spoil the stitching.

And this is the progress made during the first week. It is sewn on just plain old 14ct white aida. You can see the 3 little sea horses already complete with back stitch. I have loved working on this and am looking forward to picking it up again.

This week I have picked up my Family Tree again and wound it down to work on the bottom again for a change. I spent Monday on that then spent Tuesday on my Tigger/Piglet piece for my SAL. Last night I went out with my Crafty Hands group for a nice meal (we always have a Summer and Christmas meal out) It was very nice but I was late back and got no stitching done! So I think I'll get back to the Family Tree in a moment although I am tired and have a headache tonight.

Ginnie x

Henry from last week

I nearly forgot to post my update on Henry and his wives from last week !

I really enjoyed stitching on it again, his sixth wife has many colours in the bodice of her gown which were fun to work on. I also worked on the border again, the red rose is one of about six so I tried to get as much of this first one done as possible.

This week I have started a new piece of stitching, it is a mermaid/fantasy type piece that was in the last issue of World of Cross Stitching. The colours just grabbed me as they are lovely shades of greens and blue, I want to put it in my bathroom. I have enjoyed working on this so much I haven't touched much else. I did start another charity square but gave done very little.

Wednesday night was Presentation Night at school, the one that Laura got an award at but not Becky! Laura was presented with "Achievement in History" one of her favourite subjects and favourite teacher. Becky was ok about it and her head of year did come and chat to her to tell her how consistantly good she was.

Stuart is out tonight as it is end of term, so just me and the girls...... I have done lots of stitching and the girls are watching the TV in peace! Summer holidays are now ahead for the 3 of them, although Stuart is back at school next week for Summer School. Then the week after Becky is doing a Dance Summer School, then the week after Laura is at Brownie camp, then when she returns we all go on holiday..... so lots to keep them busy!!

Anyway hope you all have a good weekend.

Ginnie x

I'm a sewing machine wizard.

Actually the title is a bit mis leading.... yes I have been using my little sewing machine this afternoon.......... and yes I am very pleased with my final results........ but no, I am no wizard coz if I was it wouldn't have kept breaking my thread and making me swear !!!!

I finally got around to finishing my Lizzie Kate - Housework piece using the bell pull end. It is now proudly hanging in my lounge. The only thing I am not happy with is the way you can see through some of the fabric in the middle of the stitching, also one tab is slightly wonky!! But for a first attempt I am very happy!!!

I then made Becky a draw string bag for her new ballet shoes, using some pretty ballet material on the front and plain blue material on the back. I then used the blue material for a casing too...... I will take a photo of this when I get the cording and it is complete.

I have also finished the August piece, although I hand stitched this yesterday. I think it needs something around the edge.... so I think a trip to the sewing shop is called for as I haven't much in the way of trimmings !!I will start the September one in a few weeks.

Lastly here is the piece of stitching finished for the Good Luck card I am making for Becki's friend when she leaves dancing. The cat and horseshoe were supposed to be 3 stitches lower.... but somewhere my counting went terribly wrong.... oh well it still looks good !!

Henry is coming along well to, I have been working on wife number 6 some more. I will continue on that tonight and update you in the week as normal.

Just to end this post here is baby George (now 7 weeks old) we went to visit him for the first time yesterday...... this is a lovely photo of the back of my head (pleased to see no grey hairs showing!!) He was very cute and it was lovely to hold a baby again....but just as nice to pass him back to his mom !!!!

Happy stitching,

Ginnie x

Weekend break

We had a lovely weekend in Hereford, and the weather was warm but not too hot! We stayed at a lovely little hotel called Brandon Lodge just south of the city. If you ever fancy a short break do check this hotel out as it was very reasonably priced and extremely friendly.

Hotel

In the afternoon after checking in we went into Hereford to visit the Cathedral which also houses the famous "Mappa Mundi" which is the only complete wall map of the world known to have survived from the Middle Ages. It was very impressive. We stopped and had tea and cake in the Cloisters cafe and then returned to the hotel.

Hereford Cathedral

Before dinner I even sat outside in the hotel gardens and cross stitched....... bliss !!

We then had dinner at a lovely pub a few miles up the road called the "Axe and Cleaver" a good ole black and white English pub!! Then back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

On Sunday we had a large cooked breakfast and then went to Ross-on-Wye for a walk along the river (walk off the calories!!) Finally returning home in the afternoon feeling very refreshed.

Back to normal on Monday........ so here's my stitching updates -

My poppy card is now complete and ready for Becky to write in and present to her teacher next week. I'm sure she'll like it.

Then my progress on Country Idyll - some sky done, some more trees done, the horse is just about complete and then lots of confetti stitches on the wall and the man and girl. I still think I can complete this by the end of the summer!

This week Henry is back out again, I am going to stitch on him now and look forward to watching the 2nd episode of Torchwood at 9pm !!

Ginnie x

Small updates

On my last post I forgot to mention that this week is a busy week for me also, so I am sneaking in a quick posting now while I'm at work.

Both last night and tonight I am helping sell refreshments at school, and after a busy (ish) day at work and the killing heat we have here at the moment I haven't stitched as much as I would have liked. Luckily I am also having a night away this coming weekend so may get some free time to stitch. Just Stuart and I are going to Hereford for a break away (about hour and half drive from us) the girls and the dog are being looked after by my mom and dad. I am looking forward to a chance to finally get away and de-stress.... it seems ages since I had any kind of break as last year's summer holiday was a disaster.
I will tell you all about it next week.

Back to stitching, here is my Family Tree progress from last week. Not much to show I'm afraid, just another name box done and some of the line borders and tree.

I was hoping to finish my poppy card to show today but I didn't quite make it. I only have a little of the poppy and one white flower left though, so will get it done by the weekend. I love poppies and think this looks lovely.

An update on my giveaway stitching for Maggie, it is stitched I am just making it into the ornament now. With me going away at the weekend it'll probably be in the post next week.

The girl's work experience is going really well, they are both having a good time but didn't realise how tiring it was working !!! I think they are looking forward to the weekend too so they can get more sleep!! We also managed to speak to Becki's head of year last night and told her how upset she had been about not receiving an award. She was very nice and said Becki was always an excellent pupil and always very well behaved and sadly got over looked sometimes. She is going to speak to Becki when they return to school. Still doesn't give her an award but least she feels a little more appreciated.

Hope you all have a good weekend, I believe the weather here in the UK is supposed to be a little cooler.... phew !!! (never happy are we!)

Ginnie x