Happy Mother's Day!

 Happy Mother's Day!  It is Mother's Day here in the UK, and here are the presents I got from my 3 offspring:

Mother's Day presents

This week has been quite stressful and hectic, due to OfSTED inspecting my workplace, but we have got through it!  We just have to wait for the inspection report to be published in about a month...  I was observed, and also had to have a meeting with the Lead Inspector - both were on the same day, so I got it all over and done with!

My youngest child has come home from Uni for the Easter break (a whole month!).  It seems strange having her home again, but we'll have to get used to it, as she is leaving Uni in the summer...

I have started a Couch to 5K running programme!  The first session was yesterday (Saturday), and we had to walk for 90 seconds, then run for 60 seconds, repeating this several times.  I managed it quite well, not feeling the need to stop at any time, and can't wait for the next session tomorrow evening.  The programme runs for about 10 weeks, and is held on Saturday morning and Monday and Thursday evenings.

Here is my progress on "Spot of Summer" by The Drawn Thread:

"Spot of Summer" by The Drawn Thread

I thought I was going to finish it this week, but there were a couple of nights when I couldn't stitch due to headaches...

As next week is the first week of the month, my rotation takes a break for a Round Robin piece...

Happy Stitching!

Stitch from Stash 2014 Update - March

I have spent more of my allowance this month...

• £6.45 on GAST threads for Hootzi Humbug
• £6.00 on two second-hand charts at the Needlecraft Haven meet-up this weekend:

A total of £12.45 in March, and a grand total of £15.15 for the year so far!

I have stitched on the following items this month:

Gillie's Round Robin piece

"Tiger" by Ross Originals - not much progress...

"What Side?" by Raise the Roof

The Tiger and What Side? items were both UFO/WIPs.  I have also stitched a new item (from stash) - an exchange piece - but I can't show that until after reveal day...

Looking forward to seeing how everyone else has done this month!

Stitching Meet-Ups and Progress

It has been a busy week!

Work has been hectic, as I am being given a full-time position with the Training team from the 1st April, where I will have responsibility for Functional Skills...and then on Friday afternoon, we got the call that all Educational establishments here in the UK dread - the call from OfSTED to say that we are being inspected as from Tuesday...

This weekend has been spent in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, where I met up with some members of the Needlecraft Haven Yuku forum, and spent the day stitching on my current rotation piece:

Stitched items on display

Stitched and beaded items on display

Stitched items on display

Stitched items on display

Happily stitching away...

 

Happily stitching away...

My progress on "What Side?" by Raise the Roof

Gingerbread Man made by Clare

Raffle Prize, hand knitted by Julie

Another Raffle Prize, handmade by Lindsay

Two charts (Black Swan and Blue Ribbon Desgins) that I bought from Lindsay

A CCN chart given to me by Julie

It was a lovely day - a chance to meet up with like-minded people and get ideas for stitching projects...There was also a book exchange, and a Goody Bag exchange, but I didn't participate in either as I tend to read books on my Kindle now, and I couldn't think of what to put in the Goody Bag (Nursery Rhyme theme) - although I got the idea when I saw what other people had put in theirs!  My husband travelled with me, and he went for a round of golf whilst I was at the meet-up.  We then met up and walked around Nuneaton, before going to our hotel for the night.  We had intended spending today in Warwickshire, but due to the imminent OfSTED visit, I wanted to get home to sort some work items out!

I am organising another meet up with the forum - at the Nimble Thimble stitching shop near Oswestry.  Several forum members and I met there two years ago, and it was a great day (stitching and buying more stash!) Hopefully, this year's meet up will be as successful as that one...I'll have to be careful, though, since I have an allowance with the Stitch from Stash challenge...

My rotation piece for next week is a new start - "Spot of Summer" by The Drawn Thread... Not sure how much will get done, though...

Happy Stitching!

Round Robin and Rotation

I'm finally getting my stitchy bug back!  I have finished the Needlecraft Haven Exchange piece, and also my section of the Round Robin:

"Douceur de vivre" by Jardin Prive (RR piece)

I'm back on rotation this week, and it is the turn of "What Side?" by Raise the Roof.  Here is how it will look when it is finished, and how it looks before I start stitching on it this week:

"What Side?" by Raise the Roof (to show finished design)

"What Side?" by Raise the Roof as of 16th March 2014

I am stitching this using DMC threads, rather than the WDW and GAST threads that the model was stitched with...

I have booked tickets to see a ballet!  This is something that has been on my bucket list for quite some time, and I have finally managed to get some tickets...  I am going to see Cinderella by the Vienna Festival Ballet in Blackburn in May, and I'm really looking forward to it!  You would normally expect to see me going to rock/pop-punk concerts, but I'm doing something cultured for a change...

Next weekend is the Needlecraft Haven meet-up in Nuneaton.  A whole day spent stitching!  My OH is coming with me this time, and will be going for a round of golf (yawn...) while I'm at the meet-up.  We are then going to potter around Nuneaton, before staying in a hotel overnight.  It should be a nice break.

Happy Stitching!

New York, New York!

Yet again, I haven't done a lot of stitching that I can show over the last few weeks...

We went to Cardiff to see the girls last weekend, so I didn't manage to have any time to do any stitching, and this week has been spent on a round robin piece and an exchange piece.  I'll be able to show progress on these items over the next week or two - the round robin when it is ready to send on, and the exchange piece when the recipient has received and opened it!  I'm going to continue with these two items over the next week, as they both need finishing and sending on as soon as possible.

We have been fortunate enough to book some holidays this weekend...  The one we are most looking forward to is a week in New York City, USA!  We are going there in November (countdown clock at the top of my blog!), staying at the same hotel we stayed in back in 2011.  We are going to book day trips to Washington DC and Boston for during our stay, and also a helicopter ride over NYC (one of my bucket list items!).  As we have already done the main touristy sites in our previous visit, we are hoping to go to different areas of the city, and the more unusual attractions (I would really like to go to Yankee Stadium - no idea why, since I don't follow baseball!)

Statue of Liberty - August 2011

Our other planned breaks are a night at a hotel in Nuneaton this month (when I go to the Needlecraft Haven meet-up), and a weekend in Edinburgh in June for my birthday.  We had hoped to go to Rome for a weekend, but the price was just too much, so we are postponing that until next year.

We walked up to Peel Tower in Holcombe today:

Peel Tower, Holcombe, Lancashire

Peel Tower is a monument to Sir Robert Peel, who was Prime Minister of the UK in the 1800's, and also helped to create "Bobbies" (Police).  The Tower can be seen for miles around, and I'd wanted to walk up to it for a while.  It is opened up at the weekend, but it wasn't open when we got to it, so we are hoping to go up again sometime over the summer.

I have been listening to an audiobook in the car recently.  "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown is an excellent story, but I did the unthinkable and saw the film before listening to the book...  I spent the whole time imagining Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, and Ewan McGregor as the Camerlengo, and also thinking "...that doesn't happen in the film!" in different areas of the story (particularly the last chapter or so!)  I really must read books before going to the cinema to see the film!  (I went to see Angels and Demons as I had seen The Da Vinci Code, and thought it was a sequel...).  However, I read "One Day" before seeing the film, and felt that the film would have been a bit disjointed if I didn't know the story beforehand...so I suppose it works both ways...

My power walking has had to take a break - I have done some damage to my achilles tendon (on the other leg than the one I broke the ankle on last year), and it has been quite painful this week.  I was planning on having a couple of days off, but have ended up taking the week off, as it is still not 100%.  I'm going to go out tomorrow night to see how I get on, but I won't be doing anything like the 5 miles I was managing last week!  I'm going to try 2 miles on the first try.

Happy Stitching!