Friday 30 August 2013

In the Arms of an Angel update

Well we took the plunge and now have two wee goldfish! The boys are over the moon and love watching them. Vinnie has picked the ornaments, the first day we set it up it only had the starfish in and he said bye to it and night night too.
 
 

I've made great progress on In the Arms of an Angel. It was a stormy night when I started, nothing nicer than being curled up snug with stitching in hand.

Before:
And now:
 I've made a little progress on the neck but its hard going as its one over one and as you can see its the same colour as the fabric.
 My hubby's gran passed away recently and we had the funeral yesterday. Its been hard loosing two big figures in our lives but there are lots of happy memories to hold onto.

We've still been having some warm days despite the clouds and drizzle. So we've been out and about seeing the ducklings at the park and visited my brother in laws nature reserve and saw the otters and ducks there too.

Hubby has took the boys out this afternoon so I'm looking forward to putting this live and getting my stitch on.

Keep stitching...

Tuesday 20 August 2013

Sarah Kay update

I might not have a finish yet but this rotation has gone really fast. So fast in fact I've not got much else to waffle about other than that this is the  progress on Sarah Kay.

Before:


And now:


Have to say I've been enjoying stitching this one more than I was before. There is the toys in the chest to finish, a parcel under that, flowers up the other side and the girl to finish.

So it's coming along nicely. Hopefully this pace can keep up and I might be nearing a finish on something, which would be nice.

Was tempted when I got my new copy of cross stitched which has a nice whale in a bottle to stitch it for my eldest seen as he's mad on fish, whales and sharks. He's wearing me and hubby down on getting him a goldfish...I've been looking at toy aquariums but like hubby says not really a substitute.

Keep stitching...

Friday 16 August 2013

fluttering fairies

Kinda wish I was posting a finish, at least it seemed like everyone else is posting finishes the last few days. Jealous but can only finish when I finish.

I've been working on the thimble fairy this week.

Before:

And now:

 
She's certainly looking beautiful. I've mostly filled in the white of the dress. 

My playgroup had an outing for the toddlers and we went to a farm. They got to feed the baas, as Vincent says, held bunnies, had a tractor ride as well as seeing the animals. But really the highlight for my boys and my niece...the play park and sand pit lol

I also added this to my stash. I found it in t k max, they had a handful a few years back and I've been hopefully checking ever since. I was lucky as it was under a pile of stuff but I beady eye spotted the DMC logo at the bottom peeking out. It's not every day I find stitching stuff out and about.

 Keep stitching...



Wednesday 7 August 2013

apps and downs




This week we've had ups and downs, so plenty to update you on.

I've downloaded an app for my phone, cross stitch thread companion.

It keeps track of all the threads in your stash. I've been working on adding the stats into it. I've done the threads I have in the thread box, in the box for In the arms of an angel and a bag I'd got from the charity shop that had yet to be put away. But there are threads all over the place in packed up ready to start etc. So to have a list to check on my phone will be so handy to just check that instead of digging out all the places the threads are. maybe saves buying too many doubles which I have done before.
The beginning of the week was great we had a trip to an aquarium, Vinnie's mad about fish so thought it was awesome and Henry enjoyed it so much he thought it was worth missing his usual nap for.
The rotation this time has been a struggle towards the end. We've had several bad nights first with Vincent vomiting everywhere, followed by Henry cutting a new tooth and then him and hubby coming down with the vomiting bug. So I'm tired to say the least and my eyes are super tired the last couple of hours have been tough to squeeze out. Fingers crossed I'm not next though.
Here it was before:
And now:

 Not far off having the skirt finished apart from the beading and metallics.

Grampsy came to visit with another box of stuff sorted from Grandma's stash. I got a massive bag of clothes to upcycle seen as I've been making the memory angels. Which I have since found out my cousin's wife is expecting so I think I might see if I can make a blanket out of some of the knitwear. Stretching my skills to stitch with knit but will be worth it if I can pull it off.


There's a tin of buttons and beads, motifs, blank aperture cards, loads of charts cut from magazines etc, scissors, fabric, kits in various stages, needles, graph paper (which I was just thinking I needed to pick some up) and some stitched items like the sunflower pin cushion I made and the Christmas decoration next to it.

There was also these wooden Christmas stencils I remember from being a little girl. There was also about four of these aprons that she has made must have been for gifts or a church fair.




 This stuff my mam had put aside from grandma's stash thinking that the boys would be able to get some use out of soon. There's alsorts like, corrigated paper, gum paper, feathers, glitter, stencils etc. I'm sure they'll come in handy as they get older. Vinnie is starting to get interested he likes to get me to draw him pictures to scribble on top of. Funny because I remember Grandma used to draw princesses and the like like for me to colour in. I found this ages after we'd been drawing when I was clearing the table for tea.


 How funny is that I've drawn a croc and it looks like my tot has added in his dinner. I thought it was funny anyway.

I thought I would also share these pics. My mother in law has recently redecorated the whole living room and has displayed the bulldogs I have stiched for her together. They look amazing displayed like that




These are on the other wall, the helter skelter on the right is my work. The other two are cross stitch her friend had done for her. Interesting to see work displayed and nice to know the hard work has been appreciated.

My highlight of the week though was going to see the strongman. We always watch giants live and world's strongest man at Christmas time when it's on. So hubby got tickets to see it as they came nearby this year. Was a great day even if we both got horribly sunburnt. Dunno there's just something about watch big men lifting really heavy stuff ;)


Keep stitching....