Proud Mum moment

As you know Mel is an Army Cadet and this evening we've been to her headquarters with lots of other parents for their CVQO - BTEC Public Service presentation. This qualifaction is eqaul to 4 GCSE's and Mel gained a Distinction

Apologies for the dark pic but my flash refused to work

Mary Busby

Yes it's that time of the week again when I share my progress with you and once again this week there's not a whole lot to show but spending 3 hours in the hospital with my Dad on Friday was way more important (And I did finish a pair of socks)

I played about in my fabric stash

I had the sewing machine out for something else this afternoon and I've had this idea kicking about in my head for a while now so I thought I'd give it a go. I think I should of used a lighter fabric so you get a better idea of what it is but I grabbed the first piece that was about the size I wanted.

That light line at the top is the trunk of the scrub ( I know what it's called I just can't spell it!)

UFO RR

At last I've got my ass into gear and got the pics off the camera of the UFO RR project I worked on at the start of the month and mailed on something like 10 days ago!

Before

After

In other news my Dad has been back to the hospital today about his knee and he was offered either an arthroscopy or a complete knee replacement which would also involve filling in the hole in his knee with bone. He's gone for the arthroscopy in the hopes it will give him several more years before needing a new knee, he has to have bloodwork done first (everyone had gone home by the time they did his pre op assessment) but he should be having it done sometime in the next 6-8 weeks.

Happy St George's Day

I'm English and proud of it.

Read all about him here here or here

Colour Exchange part 1

This morning the postman brought me a brown envelope that I recognised as being from the US and it had me wondering what it was because I'm not expecting anything so imagine my delight when I opened it to find that Carol had my name for the Colour Exchange on Exchange Heaven

Not only did Carol stitch this fabulous snowflake for me

She also made it double sided

I should point out that all the sides are frayed the same but it's was ever so slighty too big for the scanner and one side got chopped off.

Now either Carol is a mind reader, has read my blog for ages and I've at some point mentioned how much I love Sunflowers or she was just really lucky with the stamps because right there on the front of the envelope are these beauties :) (Yes I am sad enough to scan and post them, what can I say I have no life!)

Mary Busby update

Not much to say about it really other than I got to work on it this week (wasn't at home on Good Friday) and I did all of that yellow motif you can see top right.

Workshop & Craft club projects

Yes I know it's been almost a week since I last did a post and I have no real reason why that is I do have stitching to blog about but I've not got round to it for some reason, well I tell a little lie there part of the reason is that I borrowed the Twilight books off Mel and read the first 3 in 2 days!!!! I'm working on Breaking Dawn now

Thursday night was WI craft club and we had a go at Bargello and here's my little effort. I'm at a loss as to what I finish it as so if you have a suggestion I'd be glad to hear it.

It's the scan that's wonky not the stitching

Yesterday was Guild day and we did a workshop for a felted silk scarf, you start off by doing the felting in whatever way works for you (I wet felted) then you do the painting after.

After I'd done the painting, folding and twisting to spread the colour mine looked really awful, very muddy and uninspiring but and I was very tempted to go and run it under the tap and start again. I didn't in the end and by the time I'd set it the colour it improved vastly (in case you don't know anything about silk painting the colours change when you set it and all you need is a iron)

There are 4 of these patches, 2 on each end and with out trying I got them fairly level!

I'm still not totally in love with my creation but it is growing on me, all it needs now is the have the edges neatened up which Mum will do for me because although I have a new found freindship with my machine I'm not confident enough to tack working on silk.

Wedding pics

L-R

Mel, Me, Lucy (Heather)

Lucy and Steve
With ExH

L-R

My Mum,Mel, ExH, My Dad, Steve, Lucy, Me holding Caleb, Graham, Kate (Steve's Parents), Reg & Claira (Steve's Grandparents)

Quick update

I've borrowed Mel's Laptop for a few minutes to let you know that the wedding went well and I'll be back home and able to post pics on Monday. The joy's of being in a caravan on a site with free wifi and having a DD with a laptop :)
Caleb is spending the night with us so that the newly weds can have a night alone, right now he's busy kicking me in his sleep!!

Enjoy the rest of your Easter weekend

Another tassel

I finally sat down and finished off the second tassel from the class I took in Feb, I put it down to do the one for Sharon's Birthday

I'm off to make a start on the poppy box now

Playtime

I borrowed a jet wash so that Mel & Sheena could clean the yard for me today, this evening Millie decided that it was actually for her to play with unfortunately the batteries died and this was the only one I got of her. Watching her attack the handle holes was way more interesting.

Then she got fed up with the box and went for my trainers instead (the boots got it yesterday and were left in peace)

We went to Derbyshire today

We decided that today we would have our first outing of the year and so off we went to Derbyshire or to be more precise, Bakewell and Chatsworth.

Because it was such a clear day we stopped at the Cat & Fiddle to take a few pics. See that thing sticking up in the middle of the pic? well if you look really, really closely you can just make out a white blob on the horizon just to the left of it well that's Jodrell Bank

Our first stop of the day was in Bakewell where we bought Bakewell Puddings and I had to have a quick visit to Wye Needlecraft and I came away with just a few goodies

We then made out way to Chatsworth House and after a picnic lunch on the river bank we played frisbee, you can't really tell who's who from the pics but I've posted them because they do show the house and scenery quite well.

In case your wondering it was Mel, Sheena, Mum and me playing frisbee, Dad was taking the pics

We then wandered up to the old stable block to do that most English of things and have a cuppa :), in the courtyard they now have a horse sculpture that used to be out in the gardens. Mel was determined she was going to sit on and she got there in the end (bear in mind this horse is about 8ft high)

In the grounds not far from the house is Queen Mary's Bower (one of the places Mary, Queen of Scots was kept imprisoned)

I had both girls posing for a pic when Dad decided to play silly beggers in front of them and I wasn't quite quick enough to catch him so only caught him as he moved away

We had a lovely day and plan to back at some point over the summer for another picnic and more exploring

Mary Busby update

Yesterday was Mary Busby day and I think I made pretty good progress on it

I'm off to DD's next Friday ready for her wedding on Saturday and although I'll ake Mary with me I doubt I'll get much done.

Happy Dancing tonight

Thank you for all the lovely comments on the tassel both here and on Sharon's blog I really do appriciate them.

I scraped this finish in on Tuesday evening just in time to meet one of my goals for last month. It's May's Gerbera Daisy Snowlady done as a SAL using last year's Vermillion freebies and she's off to SOLAK.

December had already been claimed so I went for my birth month instead and besides she's lovely and cheerful which is something I needed when I started her back in Jan.

I went to visit the Doc today because I've been having vision problems for a little while now and it's all down to my blood sugars even though my long term one (done by a blood test in case you wondering) is exactly what it should be. So we're trying a different type of tablet to see if that helps at all and it'll be reviewed in a few months time

Have a nice weekend

A late Birthday Present

I found out late last night that Sharon received that tassell I made for her for her Birthday a month ago. I was somewhat late in posting it to her but I'm happy to say that she thinks it was worth the wait.


I also included the scissors and a little tin but as is normal for me I completely forgot to take a pic of those so head on over to her blog if you want to see them.

Dad has his appointment at Liverpool Royal today and he's been told that it's not Cancer, it's not going to fracture his knee, the cyst is at the back of his knee not the front load bearing part and that he has Arthritis in his knee that will have been there for years but twisting his knee last year caused it to flare up and once that's sorted the cyst should go

March progress & April Goals

For March I said

Finish the exchange project Done
Finish the SOLAK square Done, just in time (pic to follow)
UFO RR Done
Make good progress on My Needleswork Made a little progress
Start one of the ornaments I owe Mel Failed

For April I'd like to

UFORR
Start one of the ornaments I owe Mel
Finish Living with Charm
Make good progress on Mary Busby
Finish my Tassel
Start on Poppies box
Get colour exchange done early in the month

Another good month for me last month. I stitched for 100hrs 21 mins, ALL my active WIP's got worked on, I had 2 new starts and 2 finishes and just 1 day of no stitching.

Current WIP total = 46