Targets for 2013!!!

My intentions for 2013 with regards to cross stitch are:

WIP's x2:

This is one of my WIP's; Its a red pagoda
and I'm hoping to get it finished by mid February

 

This is my second WIP and again I'm hoping
to get this finished by mid February

My good intention for these two WIP's is to alternate them ... progress will be shared here on a weekly basis.

My To Do List:

These are from Mouseloft and are called
Stitchlets ... these are the kits my brother
gave me at Christmas

These have been hanging around for a while
and I'm hoping to make these into cute little
cards for Christmas 2013

These were given to me by a
good friend and they complement
each other so well which is why
I'm hoping to get them both done
so I can hang them side by side in
my front room.

This was also given to me by the same good
friend as before, I'm really looking forward
to stitching this one.

Again this was given to me as well,
not sure where to put this once its completed

Last but not least is this lovely Blackwork style
kit. Thankfully this came with both Aida and
Evenweave, I am choosing to do it on the
Evenweave as I think personally it gives a
better finish and would look better in a frame this way.

Happy New Year and enjoy your celebrations. Love as always Stitchy xx

return of the stranger

Just want to say HI!!!!

Sorry I've been out of circulation for almost a year ... took some time out to concentrate on family life BUT ....

I'm back!!!!

2012 can finish for me as I intend making 2013 200% better than this year has been.

I have been clearing out the cupboards and found a pile of kits that I am determined to get finished by this time next year. I also have two WIP's that I am determined to finish before I start on the new ones that I got for Christmas from my brother.

What I have managed to do in the last few months for my children for their Christmas presents was 3 knitted teddies, one huge fluffy zebra print bean bag and two dalmation cushions.

       

 love as ever Stitchy xxx

week 2

Been a so so week for the schools this week apart from finding that my eldest is behind on some of his subjects. The school have set a level of standard that he should be working at for the end of the year but they seem to be expecting him to be near this level already. If they didn't set his levels so high then he might actually have a chance of making his targets, mind due two of his subjects he said that he gets bored in the class so doesn't pay attention.......that to me is a teacher problem not a student problem and I will be making an appointment to see these two teachers with our James to see what can be sorted out between us. If they don't make a lesson interesting I can't see why or how they can blame the student for not maintaining the correct level of attainment that is set.

On Monday night our Becca went for an audition for a stage play but unfortunately she was unsuccessful this time. I thought she might take it worse than she did but she came out quite composed and didn't seem too bothered. The experience of doing the audition was a first for her and at least now she has something to work on and build up from.

Tuesday night was orchestra night for our James. He has been playing violin now for several years and he really enjoys his weekly orchestra sessions. He is in the senior group I think and plays either in the 2nd Violin or the 3rd Violin section depending on what the music the conductor has chosen for them to play requires. He is there for 1½hours so I always go prepared with something to do and a flask of tea as the hall is rather on the cool side after school hours. This week I took my crocheting with me and finished off some granny squares that would become part of a pram size blanket. This is the finished article:

 

Wednesday after school Becca went to her Drama class for the second week running and thoroughly enjoyed so def well worth the £4.50 a lesson. I went off shopping at one of our local retail parks while she was busy, got myself some more wool for the next blanket.....yet another pink and white one, it'll be the third one of a set of 3 that was ordered.

Unfortunately, Thursday evening was not a good night for our Becca as her and James argued and a door got slammed onto her shoulder joint leaving it a bit sore and stiff. With her HMS accidents like this don't heal as quickly as you and me so even now she is suffering with some residual pain from it :( She has been excused from doing PE until it no longer hurts as they are doing gymnastics at the minute and a wrong fall at school could more than likely make her shoulder take even longer to recover.

As a family we also got some bad news on Friday, we found out that one of our local police horses had passed away. It was our Becca's favourite one and she cried buckets when we told her, there was no real right or wrong time to tell her as we knew it would break her heart either way. The police officers that look after the stables are really good and let us go up and see the horses on a Sunday morning so we went up to see the others. She really enjoys being up there and comes right out of her shell so to speak even to extend that she allows the officers to have a bit of a laugh with her without her taking it to heart like she would if the ribbing came from her brothers or family. She is getting better with a couple of the horses and is starting to really fuss them now by stroking them, I'm hoping that next time we go up she might let her new favourite one eat a carrot or an apple from her hand.

These following pictures are from a few years ago RIP Blue xxx

This was taken a couple of years ago but it is of Becca with her
favourite horse Blue that passed away

This was taken the same day with her brothers James (L) & Stevie (R).
The police officer with them is Vicky who was Blue's rider at the time.

A Stevieism!

Conversation with Stevie from Tuesday.

STEVIE: What's for tea mum?
ME: Pizza and chips
STEVIE: (said excitedly) Oh good chippies.....(said with a grin on his face) I love eating buildings!!!!
ME: Buildings?? What do you mean??
STEVIE: Chippies are buildings Mum so we're having pizza and buildings for tea!

I love the way my Stevie can turn a simple conversation into a howler!!!

Stevie & Becca on New Years Eve, trust Becca to notice the
camera and pull a funny face lmao

week 1

Wow!!!!! What a week to start the year with!!!!!!

Kids went back to school on Wednesday which means the normal routine is back in place, yippee!!!! no more "I'm bored Mum!" or "he won't let me play mum!" or "GET OUT!!!!!" being shouted across the landing/down the stairs!!! I love school for the chance to recharge my batteries, unfortunately school brings its own problems but at least I'm used to dealing with them now :)

In all honesty school hasn't been a problem this week and our Becca actually made it to the newsletter on Friday as well. Go Becca! Go Becca! Go Becca!

Our Becca goes to a dancing school on a Saturday and has been given details of auditions for two local shows where they need an amount of children in the cast. One of the auditions should have been on Wednesday night after school, unfortunately when we got their we got told the production company had to cancel due to personal health. Now with Becca you can't normally change a plan of action at such short notice due to her Aspergers but she coped brilliantly with the news. The dancing school owner said that our Becca could join in with the Drama class that she runs on a Wednesday as a norm, left Becca and when she came out she was beaming from ear to ear asking if she can go again next week as she enjoyed it that much!!! I'm so impressed that she not only coped with the change but also embraced the chance and has now found a new love to indulge in. The Drama class will help her with her social skills as she can hide behind a character within the class which makes her come out of her shell as the character is being judged and not her (if that makes sense).

This week I also decided to make a collage of the pictures my friend sent me at Christmas from Vancouver of her and her young family:

I love seeing these pictures every day as I walk through the front room. Thank you Heather for sharing a little bit of you with me, it has given me the idea to do something similar for my own 3 kids when I get the chance.

Another accomplishment this week is that I have managed to finish off blanket number 1 out of an order for 3 from Handmade By Stitchy and here it is:

Sun is shining and radio is on so I'm off to make a cuppa and enjoy the peace that school brings lol and work on blanket number 2. TTFN xxxx

Its 2012!!!

I've had a busy few months since i last properly posted on here. Here's a few photos to show you:

This is one of two blankets I made for my friend who had twins and lives on Vancouver Island, Canada

Then I started making some teddies like this one in various colours including a rainbow one.
I posted this teddy on my Facebook account and ended up with people requesting them
so I made a page up called Handmade by Stitchy, please feel free to stop by.

A pig

A rainbow one (with the new 2012 ear tag)

A puppy

I got asked if I would do a bespoke piece of cross-stitch for someone's partner, this is the result of several weeks of discussions to see what he wanted after he'd given me the description brief of what he wanted in it.

Now I'm doing an order for 3 blankets, one cot size and two pram size so that should keep me busy for a bit as then i've got another order for a puppy and rainbow teddy.

I have also decided it time to do battle with the bulge again so as of Sunday just gone I'm back on the Weight Watchers, will keep you guys posted on my weight loss. Take care wherever you are at the moment as there is some really really strong winds around at the moment xx