Fifty one down, three to go!

Sorry about the terrible picture, it was taken with my phone and it’s really dark in here today.

My progress on Grand Marquoir…..

Just three squares left!  Phill is out this evening so I know I can get a good few hours stitching in tonight and with the weekend fast approaching I’m feeling very confident of a November finish for this design!

Visit from the frog

After I posted my progress on Grand Marquoir yesterday I had an email from eagle eyed Claire who had spotted that the block I had half stitched, thinking it was part 5 of the SAL, was in fact from part 6 of the SAL.  I never thought I’d ever be glad to have been doing so much housework on a Sunday but if I had stuck to my original plan to stitch all day I would have worked on GM and would have been frogging a lot more than I now have to.

So, a BIG thank you to Claire.  Guess what I’ll be doing this evening …..LOL

Small Happy Dance!

It seems like forever since I posted to my blog, but things have been so busy around here the last few weeks I have barely put needle to fabric so haven’t had a lot to show you.

The bathroom renovation is more or less complete, the only thing left to do is to have the carpet fitted and we are waiting for a phone call from the carpet fitter to let us know when he can fit us in.  We picked the carpet up yesterday and it is absolutely stunning.  I can’t wait for it to be fitted as I think it is going to finish off the bathroom perfectly.

Here’s some pics of the 99% finished room.  Yet again Phill has done a fabulous job – he really can turn his hand to anything and everything.

You can see how small the bathroom is, but it’s surprising how much hard work he’s done to get it looking like this.  All I need to get now is some new towels to put in the towel holder which is above our very very shiny radiator.

I have done a little stitching the last couple of days and have finally finished part 4 of Grand Marquoir, so a very small happy dance for me!.  Parts 5 and 6 have been released for some time so I’m really going to have to get my skates on to finish this by the end of the year!

One final picture for you, my current progress on the South Seas Lace stitch a long.  I’ve had a gentle kick up the backside this afternoon from Claire on her blog LOL.  She’s racing ahead and is not far from finishing, so I will work on SSL this evening to see if I can catch her up.    Her SSL looks amazing – pop over to her blog to have a look.

I’ve had a very busy day today, housework this morning, baking this afternoon – I made an apple cake (for us) and a pumpkin pie (which I will take into work, it’s become a bit of a tradition that I bake a pumpkin pie around Halloween).  I’ve also got a Lamb Hot Pot in the oven at the moment for our dinner this evening which smells so good it’s starting to make my mouth water!

It’s been a while!

Oops, it’s been a while since I last posted, but things have been extra extra busy with work, kittens and bathroom renovations preparation (and shopping!)

I had a lovely week off work, apart from the weather as it more or less poured with rain constantly for the whole week.  I also had a wonderful birthday on 22nd August and received a very unexpected gift from Claire She sent me some lovely threads, buttons and a beautiful paw print keyring, have a look …..

Unfortunately I don’t have much to show in the way of stitching.  A few weeks ago I was managing to snatch the odd hour here and there while Mia was sleeping, but she’s now at that stage of kittenhood where she is a complete pain in the *** LOL.  She iscompletely bonkers and tries to climb absolutely everything (and everybody!).  She is scared of no-one and nothing, not even the other cats in the house, and she regularly pounces on Bonnie, Ginger and Loius!    This means that it’s almost impossible to do any stitching at the moment as I just don’t want to risk her pouncing on my fabric or stealing any threads/needles.  What little I have done is pictured below.  Grand Marquoir part 4, just a few squares away from being complete, although part 5 is already out so I really must get a shift on with it.   Also South Seas Lace – I think I may have to cheat a little on this one and do a couple of days extra work on it.  You can see how Claire and Vikki are doing with this SAL on their blogs, looks like their racing ahead!

A few weeks ago Loius brought in a tiny field mouse through the cat flap and dropped it in Phills lap, however it was still alive and as soon as he dropped it it shot off his lap and disappeared.  We looked for it for hours but didn’t manage to find it, until yesterday when it walked as bold as brass across the floor in front of Phill.  It’s now about three times the size it was when it arrived, but also three times as fast and try as we might we just couldn’t catch the little bugger.  We’re going to have to get some kind of humane trap for it.  It’s hard to believe that there are four cats living in this house and so far none of them have caught it!  Quite unbelieveably as I was typing this post I could hear squeaking and found Louis chasing another little mouse around the kitchen floor.  Luckily Phill managed to catch that one and released it back outside.  Thing is, it does make us wonder exactly how many live ones he’s brought back when we’ve been at work!  For all we know we could have dozens of them!  Cats – gotta love em LOL

Totally Useless SAL

Last month I completely forgot to post a pic of my collecting jar as part of the Totally Useless SAL, this month I am a little bit late but I least I rememberd eventually!

Lots and lots of red in there again, thanks to a slight miscalculation on Grand Marquoir SAL on Sunday

I managed to get another two squares done, so three more left to stitch on this part of the SAL but the next part is almost here, hopefully I will be able to squeeze in enough stitching time before the next part to get me up to date.

Sorry for the dark pictures today, I took this VERY early this morning thanks to a hungry Ginger thinking that he had a chance of being fed at 5.30am this morning LOL .  He started off purring quietly, then got a bit louder, then decided to move on to my pillow and purr in my ear and when I kept ignoring him he decided to nibble my nose until I actually got up.   Needless to say he was back in bed, fast asleep with a full stomach by 5.45am – it’s a cat’s life!  I have a feeling I may fall asleep at my desk later on as it is so warm here at the moment it’s making us all sleepy.

I have made a little progress on Cirque des Triangle,  maybe not as much as I had hoped to achieve but with a bit of luck (and a couple of late nights) a happy dance is still achievable by the end of the week.

Again, a really terrible picture which looks like it was taken during a total eclipse LOL, I’m not sure what was going with my flash this morning.

I’m itching to finish Cirque because Claire and I are starting another SAL when Cirque is done.  It was a choice between The Bramble and The Rose or South Seas Lace, both from the Gift of Stitching magazine.  South Seas Lace was the winner, mainly as it’s smaller and we can both stitch it using supplies from our stash whereas Bramble takes 12 skeins of thread so will take a little longer to kit up.    Everyone is welcome to join in with our SAL – the more the merrier.

Some stitching at last!

At last I have some stitching pics for you!  I’ve been working on Grand Marquoir and Cirque des Triangles.  Not huge amounts of progress but I have been spending some time this week in my craft room, organising threads/fabric and generally playing with my stash LOL

 

I’ve also been trying to get more exercise than usual for the last couple of weeks, as on 19th July myself and my workmates are taking part in the Race for Life, a 5km walk along the seafront at Swansea.  If anyone would like to sponsor me there is a link on the top right of my blog where you can donate directly to the charity.  It’s completely safe to use.  There are 7 of us taking part altogether from our office, all ages from early twenties to early sixties so we will be taking it at a brisk walk, no running involved LOL.     Keep your fingers crossed for fine weather on 19th July as this event takes place along the promenade in Swansea so any wind/rain will definitely hit us full on.

A thank you and an update

I’d like to thank everyone who left a comment last week wishing me well for the Colonoscopy on Thursday.  The procedure itself wasn’t too bad, but it has taken until today for me to start feeling back to normal.  The diagnosis at the end of it is Crohn’s Colitis, but luckily only moderately active.  I have to wait for an appointment to see the Consultant at the Hospital in the next few weeks to discuss any treatment/management, but as I’ve been symptom free for a while now I think that it wil probably be a case of carrying on with a sensible diet and just waiting to see how things go.  You know the old saying “every cloud has a silver lining” – well the one good thing to come out of the last week is I’ve lost half a stone in weight LOL.  I’m sure it won’t stay off for long as I get back to eating normally but it’s good to see those scales moving in the right direction for a change!

I have been stitching this week, but not really sticking much to my rotation, apart from my SAL days, I’ve just been working on whatever takes my fancy.  It did take ALL of my willpower not to start the new Passione Ricamo chart I bought at Polstitches to cheer myself up a bit,  and if it wasn’t for the fact that I haven’t made a working copy of the chart yet I don’t think I could have resisted.

First up, my SAL with Claire – Is That All?  This is coming along well, Claire is still ahead of me though – you can see her progress here.

Next up, Growth Rings and Grand Marquoir SAL.  

And finally, Cirque des Triangles.  I got loads done on this yesterday and finished page 4, which is bottom left.  I wish a could get a decent picture of this, it looks so much better in real life.

I have been a bit slack on my blog reading/commenting this week.  I will definitely try and catch up this weekend, a lovely long Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, but as the weather is fantastic today, blue skies and not even a breeze, I think I shall sit in the garden for a while today and watch Phill working LOL.

Back from the framers.

My two latest finishes, back from the framers.

New World – Papillon Creations

Lettres a mon Chat – Isabelle Vautier

The new love of my life

My new waterbed!  It was delivered on Monday and just seems to become more comfortable every night.  Phill’s been wearing the nose strips which have helped, and he’s also stopped having a nightcap of Southern Comfort, which has helped even more!  I’m almost ashamed to admit that this morning I woke up at 10.22am, which has to be the latest I’ve slept in for about ten years    I was surprised how many of you ladies also suffer with husbands/partners who snore, it’s a much more common problem than I thought.    Phill handmade all the wardrobes and units in our bedroom himself, you can see pics here of it being made.

I have done some stitching this week, but also had a visit from the frogs and had to pull out quite a lot of Cirque des Carreaux because of one tiny miscount, but it would have looked odd if I had left it there because the design is so symetrical.    Yesterday I made quite good progress on Cirque des Triangles

And today I stitched one block of part 3 of Grand Marquoir.

I’ve also been very naughty and started a new design this week, which is Moonlight Garden by The Drawn Thread.   I bought the chart, threads and recommended fabric a while ago, and even sneakily put a few stitches in, but the fabric, Wichelet linen, which looked quite blue on the cover picture, turned out to be very green and the fabric itself was very stiff and quite unpleasant to stitch on.    I was very disappointed as I really really like the design.  But then I saw a picture of a WIP stitched on a Belfast Linen called Misty Blue, where the threads had been coverted to Hand Dyed Fibers silks.  It looked amazing!  So I bought a piece Misty Blue, used Vikki’s conversion to Hand Dyed Fibers and am really pleased with the way it looks so far.  There are lots and lots of speciality stitches in this one so it’s going to be quite a challenge.

For the rest of today I think I’ll carry on with Cirque des Carreaux and replace the stitches that I pulled out earlier this week.  I’m also getting ready to start a my new SAL with Claire this week, as she has finished her backstitching on Who’s Watching Whom, which looks absolutely stunning – you can see it here.

Grand Marquior – Part 2

First of all I’d like to thank everyone who left a comment to my last post, I really do appreciate them all.  I joined a Yahoo Group this week called Stitcher’s Heaven which I had read about in Maggie’s blog.  Everyone there is very friendly and welcoming and there are some amazing stitchers there, I spent ages going through the photo albums on the group and found quite a few new designs to add to my wish list!

I have finished part 2 of Grand Marquoir, a little behind schedule really as part 3 has already been released.  I’m going to try my best to keep on track with part 3 and have it finished in good time for part 4.

That’s about all I have to show this week stitching wise, as I’ve been working solely on Grand Marquoir but next week I’m getting back into my rotation so I should have a lot more pics for you.

Following our Lettres a mon Chat stitch along Claire and I are starting another SAL some time in May.  Pop along to Claire’s blog and see her Lettres which looks great, she has stitched hers using greens.  Our new SAL will be “Is That All?”  I’ve had the kit hidden at the back of a cupboard for a few weeks now, to stop me starting it LOL.

I’m taking part in the Totally Useless Stitchalong and today is the day for everyone taking part to post their pics. 

 

Lots and lots of reds in mine, thanks to Lettres and Grand Marquoir, I think it definitely needs a bit of variation in there!

It’s a beautifully sunny day here, so we’re going to spend a bit of time in the garden today, plus we’re having our new waterbed delivered tomorrow so we have to dismantle our current bed and give the room a spring clean. I dread to think how much dust is going to be under there!  I went shopping with my mum yesterday and bought some new bedding and curtains for the bedroom so we’ll put them up this afternoon.  I’ve already washed the new bed linen and it’s on the line drying nicely.  Ironically I slept most of last night on the sofa because Phill was just snoring so loudly.  I didn’t want to be appearing in Court this morning for murder, so thought it was safer to sleep on the sofa.  However, I now have a horrible pain in my neck where I slept awkwardly.    I’m thinking of getting some of those strips that you put over the bridge of your nose to see if they help at all, but any other suggestions would be appreciated!  I think I will pick up some earplugs as well LOL