Last post of 2012

This photo shows best our Christmas, loads of fun with Sammy and Josh, as you can see they both loved Sammy's present, Josh is now a spy and is using his spy watch every where. We had a very enjoyable day with Su and Gav.

Today I have packed away most of Christmas, just cards and a few things out, soon we will be going to Gatwick to fly to Spain for 5 days, I am really looking forward to seeing the sun, and not having it rain every day, loads of time with dear friends.

I hope where every you are and with whom you share your New Years Eve, you have an enjoyable time. I am taking my iPad with me so I will be able to read your blogs, can not image life without my iPad, I have a couple of books on there to read, loads of photo's.

My wish is to find contentment again in the new year, get a new job and hope every one around me finds happiness in what ever form they require.

So Happy New Year and may it be a good one.

Nothing says Christmas like....

 our grandsons, 

last weekend we had both Josh and Sammy for Sunday afternoon, Sammy loves hats and loved this soft Micky Mouse Santa hat. He also loved the wooden toys hanging on our internal door handles, pull the string and his limbs move.

 Joshy is more grown up, playing with the Bob the builder trucks, which are for Sammy, no one is ever to old for Bob the builder.  We had loads of laughter and fun, we miss Logan who is 3 hours drive away.

I am sat here listening to Christmas music sung by a Welsh Male Choir, they sound wonderful, but I am still not very festive. This morning I cleaned my clean house from top to bottom, just in case, I do it every year the weekend before Christmas.

Yesterday at work we all had a nice surprise, the owner of the company decided not to open on Christmas eve, and gave us all an extra day off, we are not seasonal, and most of our trading companies finished yesterday.  Which was a wonderful gesture to all of us, so I have an extra day off, all my Christmas shopping has been done. we have also got every thing we require for Spain.

The rest of today is home together. Tomorrow morning we are out and in the afternoon we will see Sammy, Joshy and mummy. We have also got the boys at 5pm on Christmas Eve, we plan to drive them around to see all the Christmas lights, home for cookies and hot chocolate, they will open their presents if there are no plans to get together on Christmas morning, and then another long drive home to see more lights.

We have loads of rain here, but it's not cold, we are safe from flooding, so a snuggly evening in together.

It's a lot like Christmas

 I love this, it's years old, 

but I have put it on my dining room wall, 

I also have my ingredients for Christmas up, as seen here, 

below is my table decoration, I have made it the same as last year.

 I love these figures, they came from Spain 

I have them out every year, 

this year I have put all my small trees with them and the Santa, 

not sure where he came from. 

 I have purchased a new CD, 

I love Christmas hits and love the old 50's and 60's 

this Phil Spector CD is great, 

very much like the music from The Gremlins, so I am playing it loud.

 I have done no stitching for weeks

 But I did knit my 1st tree decoration, 

made with 4 needles, very fiddly, 

but not bad for an evenings work. 

I will make some more, they look fun.

It does sound as if I am full of Christmas, but it's just a show, after 5 weeks of doing two peoples work in a very busy office, I am tired, and counting down the days to a break. We have done all the present shopping, but my hearts not in it.

I have family problems with unhappy daughters, one with real problems, I feel for both of them, and all I can do is watch and be there should they need me.

My one beacon of light is hubby, what would I be without him.

And to everyone in America, we feel your pain as well, beautiful sweet little children, and an act so violent, life can be so hard at times, we all cry together.

Back to normal

 Hubby took me out last night, I would have preferred to stay in, but, we went and had loads of fun, it was a dinner dance with a Karen Carpenter tribute act, who were very good, I even had a dance, not been able to do that for a couple of years. It was great fun, I am lucky to have such a good husband and friends.

Yesterday afternoon I lazed in a big chair and finished my book, it's nice to be able to loose yourself in another's words, I am a book worm at heart, I have purchased loads of books...

 "55 Christmas balls to knit", for the Christmas tree, I have a mind to use some of these for cross stitch. I am going to pick up Tree of Life and finish that, I know what my next project will be, I have to purchase some natural coloured linen and loads of white silks, that's your hint for now. I have also seen my 2013 stitch along, I will enrol on 05.12.12 and show you the details then.

 Waiting for Josh to pop over sometime, we can have loads of fun with stickers and I also have The Toymaker's Christmas Paper Toys, you make them yourself from the card cut outs in the book.

I have also glued some stirrers together, they need balancing and then decorating, but I think these are a bit thin, I am trying hard to get into the festive mood, I think I really needed a home weekend to gather myself together. Monday will be more of the same, my boss does not make plans and waits to see what will happen, I am a planner, I want to be prepared, the next 4 weeks are going to be difficult, but I will try and let go of things.

As for my photo's, I will  pay the $2.99 each month, I get so much out of blogger

Total block

Not doing any stitching at this time, I have lost my mojo

I have started to think of Christmas, but that does not inspire me

I spend a lot of time on Pintrest, here gathering ideas

The weather is terrible, we are lucky no floods here, just days of rain and wind

no wonder I am feeling blue

I have no photo's today, Blogger has said my free storage is full and they want me to change how I store my stuff, not sure if their way is how I want to go ahead. I have printed my first 3 years into books, I am thinking of deleting the first couple of years and staying as I am.

Work is horrendous, feels like a Victorian workhouse, no matter how hard you work, there is always loads outstanding, I really have to gather my strength and find some thing different to do.

Sorry to be so negative, I don't normally suffer from the winter blues

I am going to lose myself in all your blogs and then back to reading my book, Heart and Soul, Maeve Binchy

see you next time 

TUSAL

 A few more threads this time

Big pot all pushed down, I love the mix of colours

More hearts

 My stash of hearts is taking over, so this evening I have been sorting, my key hooks in our hallway is now full of my hearts, they hang under the small book shelves, these have been collected for a while, none of them home made. I still have my heart tree on our dining room table, as seen here

 I love this slate heart, with chalk for messages, hanging in the hall next to the books. My stitching of Thomas had to be moved up higher.

 I have also made some hearts, these were done this morning

 I brought the tags from Hobbycraft, these I got last January in their sale, but they still have them on sale now, you have 10 tags in three colours in each pack, as you can see very simple pattern to follow and very easy and quick to make.

 I have a couple of tips, cut the prongs a bit longer than required and then trim when dry. After I had woven the hearts, I dampened the felt and pegged them together, when they were dry I then glued them, this helped them lie flatter.

We had a family lunch today, which was great fun, both Sammy and Joshy enjoyed their roast dinner, it is great to see such young lads eating so well. The afternoon was cut short I had a visit to the dentist, some root canal work, I'm glad it's all done now, I'm just a bit tender from the injection.
I have been feeling better today, I love stay at home days.
Yesterday we did more Christmas shopping, I'm over half way with our presents.
I have a task this week, I purchased a desk calender for Kev, without reading all the details, I have 12 photos to use, but now I find it's a week to view, not a month, so I need loads more photos.
I did promise you a give away, it's still in my mind, I am just forming it in my mind, leave another comment here if you love surprises.

A finish

Sweet Flowers is finished.

 It looks so pretty, charming and very old fashioned, perfect for the retro look going around now, I have no idea what to do with it, I don't have a room it would fit into. But it was such a joy to stitch!

 The top panels I was not going to change, but the leaves called out to be green, such cute flowers.

 Close up its a nice neat design, almost everyone who stitched this design, changed some of the colours, so mine is unique, that brings a smile to my face.

 I played with some beads and added a decoration to this photo frame, it was two hearts joined together, I added the daisy to cover the marks from the smaller frame, but I fancied some more colour, I would like to stitch a small heart to go in here.

 We were away last weekend, home to the village of my childhood, we had a fantastic time, I am so pleased to have time with my two brothers and sister, Saturday night was loads of laughter and fun.

 On the way home, we always pass Stonehenge, this photo was taken from the car as we drove past

 we had the most beautiful rainbow, at one point I hoped it was going to be near the stones but as we got closer it moved further away.

 Two perfect grand son's, Logan above and Sammy below, we were with Logan on Sunday and Monday Sammy and I had a day together.

I have no stitching planned, I have not done any for days, I have lost my mojo, I am not in the correct frame of mind, I have loads of things happening here, and much is not resolved, all I can do is watch and wait. It feels like limbo, roll on the weekend, see what that brings.

More of the same

 I have done more on Sweet Flowers, I so love stitching this, I'm on the top final panel, just grey and pinks here. Kitty won't be finished by tomorrow evening, but she is too pretty to be packed away once done.

 My 2nd book has arrived, it's 2009/2010, which really makes it my 1st book, the two years are together, which makes it about the right size to match 2011, and 2012 looks to be heading for the same number of pages. I am really pleased to have these records of my blog, my oldest daughter is very keen to have them once I am done with them.

 Inside it's just my post in date order, I have tried to set the page layouts so they are not all the same, I did put all the titles at the same level, so there is some order. 2012 in my work in progress, I will take them to my sisters this weekend for her to see. You can see more on my 1st book here

This post is number 399, so I can see a RAK in my next post, not sure what it will be, but I will put a package together to send anywhere, so leave a message here . I will post over the weekend and find items to send out.

Work is manic at the moment, we have far to much to do, so I am running out of time each day and I refuse to work late, they do not offer overtime, so we will have to see how things go. But I do have a half day on Friday and Monday off, then I'm next off between Christmas and the New Year, so I am loving these short weeks.

I hope you are all OK in America after the storm, the photo's on the news are terrible and I hope every thing settles soon, and you all stay warm and safe.

Bored on a Saturday

 My little kittie is growing, only the pumpkin to do, there are loads of half stitches on here, so I am doing on 18 count, which is large for me. But it has such a cute face, should be finished soon.

Su sent me a photo of her bed with the knitted cushion on, they have just finished decorating this room, I thought grey sounded dull, but I like the look, I'm glad to see she loves the buttons.

 This is our spare bed, the quilt was made by my sister Leanna, the patchwork cushion by the cats was made by Su when she was at junior school and I made all three along the back.

 My cyclemen is doing well, the window sill gets loads of sun through out the day. The white flowers look so sharp against the dark green of the leaves.

I have spend loads of time clearing up today, I started in the garden with the leaves, and cutting back plants which are closing down for winter. Then I came into my office and sorted loads of cross stitch patterns, then I sorted my big drawer, you know the one full of junk. I am restless, or bored, not ready to sit and stitch yet, soon it will be dinner time, then we will watch a film.

PS started the Christmas present shop today, but after the trip into Fareham, I think we will be on the internet alot. 4 purchased still loads to go.

Stitching update

 I have done more to sweet flowers, these are very pretty and quick to stitch, 

but below is a quicky I have started

 Most of the top half shown here. 

 I started this quicky when I realised I only had a week to finish it, 

I love the look of the kitten, with the big eyes. 

 I am not collecting the whole set of these, but I do like the crochet boxes in this book, and the round cushion in book 4. I have limited time at this point so I am not doing much with my crochet.

 Grace is still not sleeping in her basket, she loves the edge of this rug,
right where we walk, 

she looks as if she is on guard.

Yesterday it was Sam's 2nd birthday, we went to Mobys with his little friend in the morning, it was great fun, because all the bigger children was at school, the little ones were able to go any where, Sam loved the big slide, so mummy and myself took it in turns to go through the play area, climbing to the top of the slide and going down with him, one time all three of us went together, so much laughter. I had Sam in the afternoon, we picked Josh up from school, and after a trip into W H Smiths to purchase Moshi Monsters stuff for Josh, we had tea in McDonald's and then home for birthday cake. I forgot my camera, so no photo's just memories.

Kev and I have another day off today, we hope to go shopping in Chichester, so a more grown up day.
I have ordered my 2nd blog book 2009/2010, I put both years together, which matched the size of 2011, should be here around the 8th.
We have nothing planned for the weekend, hope to see Sammy and Josh on Sunday, just a stay at home time together, the following weekend we are away.

Stay with me

 Sweet flowers are out again, I stitched last night, completing the second to last flowers, after I have stitched the top bunch, I have just the header to finish. Next time I will show you it as a whole. Life is great when my stitching is on the go. I am looking forward to doing a small quicky for Halloween next.

My travelling penguin, is on the move again, you can see how Nicole of The Best of the Best, stitched him here.  He is now with Katie from Just a Little Stitching, I'm not sure where Katie is based,

My knitting is finished, Su just needs to pick it up, it's for her bed, I am pleased with the finish, here it's in Kev's big chair, I loved stitching cable, but with 120 stitches and 32"/ 82cm in length, it got very heavy. I love the back better than the front, the chunky buttons make it, I won't know until Su see's it finished, which she prefers.

 The pattern I loved, The triple cable is very easy, stitched over 12 sts, 3 x 4sts, with a twist every 6 rows, each time taking the outer 4 stitches to the middle, bringing them to the front. The centre V is 20 sts, 1st row purl2, knit1,P14,K1,P2, on the next row you move the V a stitch closer to the centre, doing this by slipping the K stitch on a 3rd needle purl 1 and the knit the stitch on the 3rd needle, once the two knit stitches are together, on the next row you start again. Every 24 rows you should be at the start of the patterns. I did 7 stitches of moss stitch on each side and also at the top, where the buttons are placed.

 These Cyclamens are on my desk, the white one is mine and sits on the sunny windowsill by my desk, the pink one is for a friend, she has moved just around the corner, so it's our 1st visit to her new house this asfternoon.

 Grace is having her treats, she helps herself from the tub, she is not greedy, if I put the tub down for Purdy, she would eat most of them. Both cats have decided again they do not want to share their basket, so I have packed it away and got out the two smaller baskets, but they are sleeping all over the house.

It's a very lazy weekend here, hope to go out on our bikes soon, we do have  light rain here, but I hope it will stop soon. I saw Joshy on Friday, he went to his school disco, I babysat,  Sammy was asleep, I did check him, but he was fast asleep. After the disco Josh was showing me his dance moves, I got him some glow in the dark Moshi Monsters, so he was keen to go to bed to see how well they worked.
The most exciting thing so far is having my hair cut and booking my pre Chrismas colours. I was not as extreme as Paula, she had her pony tail cut off.

If you stayed to the end, thank you, hope you are having fun with your loved ones.

PS I'm looking for a book to read, any suggestions!