Little ballerinas

I have very nearly finished the little ballerinas picture for Becki's dance teacher. In fact since I took this photo at the weekend I now have just the last bit of the curtain left to do. We are going to finish it on a nice ornate hanging, just need to buy that. I think Becki will wait until July when she leaves dancing to give it to Rachel. I have enjoyed doing this and fancy doing the Nutcracker one in the same series.

Here is the card I made for my dad's 75th birthday last week. We didn't do much for the occasion just a take away and a bottle of wine. It was very nice.

Since my last post it has been the girl's 18th birthday too. (see new photo at side) we had a lovely big party and all had a great time. Laura has now finished college and just has to go in for exams and Becki has just 2 more days to go. She is now looking for a part time job for the summer.... not easy though when you have no experience!

I have also taken up a new hobby. Well actually gone back to a hobby I loved before - dress making.

I have dusted the sewing machine out and bought a fancy dress costume pattern. When the girls go to university they tend to have a lot of fancy dress parties, especially in the first week - Fresher's week. So I thought I would get back into machine sewing with costumes first then move onto other stuff for me and the girls. I am doing the cavegirl outfit for Becki first, then the toga one for Laura. So far so good !!!

Lastly I have started a new piece of stitching (yes I know I have many others to finish... but oh well!) This is for Laura. It is from an old World of Cross Stitching magazine that I have fancied stitching for ages. Well now is the time as hopefully when Laura is at Nottingham University she will get the chance to go to Rome in November. So I want to get this done for then. I will just write the year 2012 smaller below the word Rome.

Happy Stitching

Ginnie xxxx



A few smalls

Finally back with a few small finishes, otherwise I haven't got much to show!

Firstly I made yet another Forever Friends card for a friend of Becki's. I seem to have stitched loads of these teds recently.... I think I have had enough now! He is pretty cute though !

I have also been working on the pieces for the girl's 18th Birthday cards. Having just had some time off for Easter I got Becki's done in just a couple of days.

This one is for Laura, for her love of history. I am going to back it on some Egyptian symbols paper on the card and put a Happy Birthday in hieroglyphics. Mind you the darker orange colour of the skin was supposed to be more gold but I mis read the symbol..... by the time I noticed it was too late. Oh well I think it looks good still.

Then here is Becki's - dance related of course. The original chart had a pink ballerina and roses but Becki prefers purple, so I had to do some changing around. I like the way it has turned out.

Since my last post Becki had her audition at Bedford University and it was successful. She loved the place and the course and is now happy to be going here and feels it is the right place for her. It won't be as intensive as a dance school but you get the same degree at the end of it. I also think it will be better for Becki as she has struggled with keeping weight on since dancing at college and has lost over 1 stone since she was 16 and I would have worried more if she was dancing 9 - 6 at a dance school. Now at the uni she will do more theory as well which will open up other options. I am glad she is happy and sorted.

Laura has now been offered her accommodation at Nottingham for the first year and will be living in Willoughby Hall... sounds good and seems ok although we didn't look at this Hall when we visited, so aiming to go again after exams.

I have no idea what I will do with out them..... more stitching I suppose !!!

Happy Stitching

Ginnie xx

Little Ballerinas

Oh I let 2 weeks pass by.... whoops. Problem is I load photos onto our old PC..... and it is very old and slow. So I avoid going on it unless I have time to hang around and wait for it to load etc. Instead I borrow Stuart's work laptop on week evenings to catch up on my Facebooking !

Since my last posting I have had another birthday... didn't do much, booked the afternoon off work and did some stitching.

Then on Wednesday Laura and I went to visit Nottingham University again, she loves it here and has now firmly accepted the place and booked her accomodation. Just needs to get ABB grades in her A levels.

Becki has her audition at Bedford University on the 14th, so if that goes well they will both be sorted.

So here is my update of the Christmas Window, the man in the window is coming along well now.

I have put this away again now for a while.... others to work on.....

I also started Little Ballerinas, this is the one I am doing for Becki's dance teacher for when she leaves in July. Not a lot to show yet.... lots of whites and pinks...

I am still working on this so will update again next time.

I need to start a few small pieces for cards again, another forever friends teddy for one of Becki's friends and then something for the girls for their 18th. I have also spotted a new one in the latest Cross Stitch magazine which is of a Roman Goddess.This is stitched on black fabric but I am keen to give it a go!

Happy stitching

Ginnie xx

Good enough to eat

I finished my Liquorice Allsorts jar for Becki, don't they look lovely? It makes me feel like eating some when I see it. Becki has a tin in her room that we have to keep topping up with allsorts ! I now need to stitch it onto her blanket.

I also dug out one of my WIPs this week - the Christmas Window one. I have been working on this 2 years now and think I ought to try to get it finished for this Christmas. Once I picked it up again I enjoyed stitching on it and aim to work on it all week. I have done more though as I have had 2 days off work, but now I go back tomorrow and therefore will have less stitching time. This is how it looked last week -

Lastly here is my Valentine's card for Stuart. I normally stitch one but didn't have time this year with all the 18th birthday cards I had to make. So I made a decoupage one instead. I was pleased with the end result.

Laura had her interview at Reading University last week and has been offered a place there too. She thinks though that Nottingham is still her favourite but will pick Reading as her "insurance" place as they require lower grades. We visit Nottingham again in a couple of weeks. Becki too has now heard from one of her Universities and has an audition at Bedford in March. This is her favourite one so let's hope the end result of this audition is more positive than the Dance School ones.

Today we have had a family portrait photo session. We will get one free family print and then will buy one of just the girls. So looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

Happy stitching

Ginnie xxx

This famous blog

While flicking through the latest issue of World of Cross Stitching I was surprised to see an article on "websites we love" that mentioned my blog. What an honour, especially as I have only just got back into blogging! I feel famous !!!

Since my last post I have just a couple of small pieces to show you. Firstly this Buzz Lightyear square is for a charity quilt. We are trying to do a Toy Story/Super heroes one for a very sick little boy. I am working on Woody now.

I am also stitching a liquorice allsorts jar for Becki who is just mad about them!! For Christmas I bought both the girls a fleece blanket and they want me to sew small cross stitch pictures on them so they can take it to University. I will show a photo of the whole blankets at some point but they barely part with them!! I should have this finished by next post. The chart is from WOCS magazine.

Lastly here is the card I have now completed that the girls gave to their friend for her 18th birthday. I believe she really liked it.

Becki has now applied for University Dance courses after getting a "no" from the Dance Schools she auditioned at. It has been a very stressful time as she has been very upset about it all but is now coming to terms with it and moving on. Least she can still pursue her love of dancing just not at such a high standard.

Laura has an interview at Reading University next week, although Nottingham is still her favourite.

Happy stitching
Ginnie xxx

An old UFO

I have dug out one of my oldest, oldest, oldest UFOs! I think I started it before the girl's were born, so 18 years ago but it could have been just after.... my memory doesn't quite recall.

It is a Dimensions kit of Noah's Ark and just before Christmas I started to take it to Stitch Club to work on as one of the other ladies was doing a Noah's Ark too.

Here is my progress:

Some of the reasons it became a UFO are it just was so big, it is on 18 count aida and it grew very slowly. So my new aim is to take it to club when I go and try to get it done by the end of 2012. As you can see I have just over 50% complete.

My small finish this week is the piece for another 18th birthday card. The girls thought the saying was apt for this friend. I will make it into a card over the weekend.

Becki is waiting to hear back from her audition on Saturday. She liked it there and thought it went well but you can never tell. One place she sent an application and payment to have just sent a letter back saying they can't offer her an audition. That's nice, they take the money still though. This Saturday she has an audition in Leeds, so fingers crossed for that one. I am getting more and more stressed as the realisation hits me that she may not get a place so will be devastated. Especially as Laura will then probably go to University in Sept and Becki may stay home. Her back up plan then will be just to apply for Dance courses at Uni, but that would be for the following year. Don't you just wish you had a magic wand to make everything right for them !

Happy stitching

Ginnie xx

First card finish of the year.

I am pleased with how quickly I stitched this Forever Friends ted. I only started him last weekend. He is out of the latest issue of WOCS magazine. The chart had the candles all different colours but I went with just the lilac. He is so cute I wish I was keeping him myself ! But he is for one of the girl's bestest friends who turns 18 in a couple of weeks. I kept the card simple so she could just remove the Happy Birthday sticker and frame the picture. I hope she does.

Because I worked on this all week I have done no more stitching on Pension Day. I want to start another small cute picture for another card soon but have just realised I need to stock up on a particular DMC colour required in the chart.

Otherwise I am still stitching squares for my charity and may start one of those instead until I get to the shop.

Had a tiring weekend, not because I went out but because the girls have had late nights out and I tend to wait up for them (or have to pick them up late !) I suppose that is the joys of having 17 year old daughters. Next Saturday we are going to London again as Becki has an audition at London Contemporary Dance School, I hope she gets a good outcome from this as we all liked this school when we visited in October. So fingers crossed !!

Hope you have all had a good week.

Ginnie xx

Good Start !

The first day of 2012 and I am blogging... what a good start !

We had a good Christmas but then after Boxing Day I got a cold and cough and felt pretty rough. Still not 100% now. Stuart not feeling fab today either so hope I haven't passed my germs his way. Spent New Year's Eve with my mum and dad, girls went out (first NYE with out them). Back to work on Tuesday !

Luckily I managed to get some stitching done while I wasn't feeling too well. I started a while back a new picture for mum and dad called Pension Day. It is from an old WOCS magazine. It has lots of colours in it though so I put it away for a while. Over Christmas I sorted several of the colours onto my thread organiser and that really helped.

Here is what it will eventually look like -

And this is my progress so far. I made a slight mistake early on too so I have that to make some parts up as I go along ! Lots of browns.... oh well !

This year I also want to stitch this -

Hopefully if Becki gets into a Dance School she will leave her local dance school where she now teaches too and has been attending since she was 5. So she wants me to stitch a special piece for her teacher Rachel. I intend to stitch the dance school name instead of just her name.

Before I start this I have a couple of 18th birthday cards to do for 2 of the girls friends. I have started a Forever Friends bear already for one of them and will update next time with a photo.

Hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2012.

Ginnie xx