Meet Millie

The newest addition to the household

We had a fantastic night in Blackpool on Tuesday and I do have pics to share but I'm not at home right now to post them so you'll have to wait a few more days unless I get enough time while I'm here in London to sort them when I'm not quite so tired.

Mum had to go for an X-ray on Wednesday to try amd find out the cause of the severe pain she's been suffering from the last few weeks that suddenly got much worse last Friday, so bad that she called the Doc out on Tuesday afternoon and it was her that asked fort he X-ray as well as putting her on Morphine tablets! Anyway it turns out that she fractured her pelvis at some unknown point in the past, we know it's not a recent injury because new bone has grown

Dad's Knee is getting better slowly but he's still not fit to drive

Mel started college on Monday and has settled in quite well but this week has been more about sorting timetables and getting to know the college amnd course tutors rather than actual studying.

Wednesday night I headed down to London for a couple of days with Liz to stop at her's and we stopped at the services on the motorway, when we got back to the car some Barsteward had somehow managed to scrape along the side of my car busting my wing mirror luckily the glass didn't brake just fell out and scrapping down the side of my car leaving a dent and scratches.
We went and got some T cut this morning and the scratches look alot better now, we also taped the wing mirror back together and the glass is taped in place as well, it's good enough to get me home where my Dad will have a look at it for me.

Today has been a packed one of being a tourist in London and I have plenty of pics to share but agin they will have to wait until I'l home

Home of a Needleworker Framed

I've been down to Chris at The Nimble Thimble today with Liz to pick up my framed Home of a Needleworker, I'm planning on hanging it in the hall by the front door.
As soon as I get off here and he girls have eaten their tea we're off to Blackpool to see the Illuminations :)

Quaker Sampler update

I've been spending my days working on Oriental Orchids (pic tomorrow hopefully) but because I find it easier to work on that on my floor stand and on the other sofa which is at the other end of the room from my normal stitcing area where my light is once it starts getting dark I move back to my normal spot. That means a different WIP in the evening's and for the last few days that's been the Quaker Sampler, I've made a bit of progress on it but I'm now fed up with it for this month so it's going away until next time.



As it's Sunday it means I allow myself a day off from the Orchids as that's a paying piece so I'm off to pick up Bigger Stash and do some housework ready for a very special visitor tomorrow

Now for that Happy Dance

White Tiger Eyes and it's for Mel, I bought the kit earlier this year with her in mind for it when it was done but she saw it and started dropping very large hints that I should stitch it sooner rather than later, I gave in last month. Most of the stitching was done in the caravan in Wales last weekend, I've found that when I'm in the caravan aida is easier to work on even with my portable daylight lamp.
I've signed up for the next round of the UFORR and the first mailing date is Monday so this afternoon I went through my WIPs and pulled out the candidates then got Mel to help me choose which one. She went for the Celtic Cross so off it goes on it's travels for the next 8 months looking like this

While I was going through my WIP's I made a decsion about a couple of them and that was to retire them completely and recaputre the stash. Both are TW's, Millennium and Holly & Ivy Sampler, with Millennium it's been a case of hoping the stitching turns up (it's got lost in one of my moves over the last few years or it could be buried somewhere at ExH's) and if it does then I'll reinstate it. With Holly & Ivy I've come to realise that while I do still like it I don't love it enough to finish it and as there's very little time invested in it I think it's time to call it a day with it.

So while it appears I've cut my WIP list done by 3 I've only cut it by 2 in reality because I came across a partly done kit in a bag of things that came down form Ex's but it's only small and won't take long to finish it, I may do that one next after I'm done with Charmed Hearts (current UFO SAL projects)

A WIP and a trip out

Well I was right yesterday when I said I'd get into trouble for posting the pic of Mel asleep, she came down the stairs like a herd of elephants, told me off and so far hasn't spoken to me again but that's pretty normal in an evening once she goes up to her room and gets online.

So to the WIP, this is Oriental Orchids and is the project I'm stitching for a customer of my little local shop. I need to have it done by the end of this month and could do with all the encouragement going as it's not really to my taste and it's on aida which I avoid whenever poss as it's my least favourite fabric to work on. I'll try and post updates every few days although having said that there won't be any next week as I'm not at home.

This afternoon Mel and I went to Bluebell Cottage Gardens to get out for a few hours, it's run by Sue Beesley who won BBC's Garden of the Year in 2006 and I found out about it last week at WI when she was our speaker.

I've killed a WIP this evening and will share tomorrow

Sunday in Wales *Pic Heavy*

Sunday morning started with a sneeky pic of Mel fast asleep (Boy am I going to get into trouble for this!)
Once we set out we had to stop and fill up and after sitting there for 5 mins while the people in the car in front of us mucked about and then all decided to go to the cash machine at the same time once they'd filled the car up before paying this pulled up at the pump beside us so I lent out of the window for a pic

Our first stop of the day was at Pili Palas at Mel's request

Then we spent the afternoon at the Anglesey Sea Zoo. Because the lighting there is quite dark and your not allowed to use a flash I could only take pics of things in well lit displays so until I can get copies of Mum's and Mel's pics there's not many to share.

These are Baby Seahorses, sorry the pics a bit blurred but they are only about 1cm long and moving all the time

A few tanks up are some adults that arrived there from Chester zoo in July

Since we found Nemo on Saturday (no Sharon I didn't flush him down the loo, he was quite happy in his large tank) I just had to take a pic of this Starfish

If you clicked on the link above you'll have seen the pic of the Big Fish Forest well they have a camera in the tank that you can move about, zoom in and out etc and it shows up on big TV screen so while Dad played with the camera I took a pic of Mel and Mum on the screen

On the way out they have these boats you can have a play on so guess who just had to put her 50p in to have a go, Mel and Dad joined in

I'm sure my boat had a mind of it's own as it refused to go where I wanted it to

Both Mum and Mel got pics of the sharks and the other fish they have there so there may be more to follow in a few days along with more Butterfly's

Home from Wales

Apart from the pouring rain the trip to Wales was uneventful. We left about 2.30pm and arrived a couple of hours later, once all the setting up had been done and a brew had Mel and I headed off for a call of nature and on the way back we noticed how the cloud was hanging around the top of the mountains so I grabbed my camera for a pic.

Mel caught me taking a pic of her as we walked down the slope from the play area

Saturday morning we went to Conwy Water Gardens to see what reptiles they had, sadly they didn't have any Water Dragons but we did find NemoWe went for a Pancake in the Dutch Pancake house they have there and we got a few odd looks because at Mel's suggestion I took a pic of my pancake (yes I know I'm sad) then my camera was passed around the table for everyone else to do the same!

Mine's apple & cinnamon and was very yum

Then we thought we'd walk round to see the Otters. You have to go through a gate to get to them and the second the gate was opened we got mobbed by ducks!

We had planned on going to Conwy Butterfly Jungle in the afternoon but it was closed due to the weather (still can't figure that one out as it's inside not out in the pouring rain) so we wandered round Conwy for a couple of hours before heading back to the caravan.

Sunday was a trip to Anglesey but it's getting late and it's time for me to head for bed so you'll have to call back tomorrow to find out where we went :)

Oh Dear

That Steam fair that I was due to go to this weekend has been cancelled :( for the first time in it's history because of the amount of rain we've had the last days and the forcast is for worse over the weekend.

BUT we didn't find out until we arrived at the field at 1.01pm (your not allowed on the field before one, talk about good timing!) so I just had to turn round and head back home again.
On the way back we decided that as the caravan was packed and I did OK towing Mum would see if we could get on the site they alway use in Wales and we could so tomorrow lunch time I'm towing the caravn to Wales for the weekend, back on Monday.

Sharon, a Steam Fair is like a car rally but it's steam traction engines/ fairground rides etc, although I refer to this weekend as a steam fair it's proper name is Malpas Yesteryear Rally and they have vintage cars/trucks etc there

Celtic Bookmark Exchange part 2

After 2 long weeks the bookmark I sent to Australia has finally arrived, boy was I getting worried! I stitched Bookmark H from Celtic Bookmarks 1


Here's everything I sent over, I've never made a bookmark before so I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, flaws and all

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Sharon asked how my Dad's knee was, well it's getting better slowly and he can now bend it a little but not enough to drive so I'm currently the family taxi which also leads onto something else............. Remember how in cartoons whenever they were scared their knees whould be knocking together, fingers nails would get bitten off like a saw and they would generally shake all over? Well that was me yesterday afternoon!! Because my Dad can't drive I had to have a lesson in his 4X4 to get used to the handling of it ready for Thursday when I'll be doing all the above and more when I tow the caravan for the first time in my life! Talk about a crash course, I've gone from being quite happy in mine and my Mum's car to driving my Dad's huge one to driving Dad's and towing all in the space of a 4 days! I've always known that I would have to learn to drive it at some point and have been putting it off for as long as poss but my time is up now. Oh and in case your wondering what's this weekend it's a steam fair that we go to every year with the stall and the carousel I blogged about earlier in the year will be there, if I can escape the stall long enough I'll get some pics.

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Mel had a phone call on Friday from Reaseheath and they want to put her on a higher course than she orginally applied for that they has suggested when she went to register for a place. She had planned to ask when we go to enrol on the 12th if she could do the higher course so she's really pleased they want to put her on it

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The missing Q-Snaps have turned up, Yay. I was sat here yesterday morning thinking that a sure fire way of finding them was go out and buy a new set a little later in the week when I was struck with a sudden urge to go and check in the Blanket box at the bottom of my bed and there they were, what I can't figure out is how they got in there in the first place as it's not somewhere I keep stash (OK well I do but not stitching stash, it's where my rovings are for spinning). I can't even claim they got put in there when I moved because I used them not long after we had