A Yo-Yo Day

After putting ET to one side yesterday, and not having found that ideal chart for the exchange card, I picked up my HAED Mother Earth piece last night after a looong break. The fine work is still a bit tiring on my eyes but I'd forgotten just how beautiful this piece is, so will be continuing with it for a little longer. No pic yet, as there hasn't been enough progress to make it worth taking one.

The chart hunt was successful today. Karen: I can't tell you what it's for because you said you didn't want me to say it.......... but it's seasonal and starts with a C and ends in s. ;0) LOL
My re-think was to go with a bit of a theme and the chart I've chosen fits in nicely with it. Not saying any more, so you'll just have to wait and see. Eheheh! Next job is to gather the fabric and threads together, then I can make a start.

The card theme continued in the afternoon when I finally got my papercrafting head on and made the wedding card for tomorrow.
The scan is awful: I've used cream pearlescent card, gold card, shiney gold peel-offs and amber coloured gems and it's much sparklier in real life. Hope they like it.

My DBro had a scan yesterday and he says the good news is........ he's not pregnant. LOL
He's been told there's no sign of anything nasty in his major organs etc, as far as they can see. Am still waiting to hear from him about the results of the other tests, so still got my fingers crossed.

The woman from the Crem got back to me today: it sounds like the Courier excuse wasn't quite true. What did happen is that someone at the suppliers, at some stage, managed to drop and damage the memorial plaque and whoever it was didn't bother to sort out a replacement for it. This has now been arranged and it should be ready and fitted in a weeks time - she'll phone me to confirm. I'm not stressing but admit I got a bit upset after hearing what had happened.

My DSis tells me that the cheque from Dad's bank has arrived, all as it should be and made out correctly. When that's cleared everything there will all be done and dusted so we can finally kiss them goodbye. Yay!

So with all that lot I feel like a flippin' yo-yo - up one minute, down the next, then up again........ you get the picture >roll eyes< I'm off to do some sanity saving: a bit of stitching. :0)

Another UFO Night, Another Update

Even though I've done extra stitching on ET this week I couldn't miss the regular UFO night, could I? Certainly not when I know Julie's Mr Stick is hovering and raring to go! LOL So this is where I left off last night: I think I'll be leaving her alone until next week now though - I don't want to overdo it and get fed-up with her.
There's also my stitched card exchange to sort out, as I don't want to leave things until the last minute and get into a panic. The good idea I had isn't going to plan so I've been dithering about what else to stitch, had a re-think, and decided on something else (can you see why I haven't signed up for exchanges before now?) I know what I want to stitch for my partner - it's just a matter of finding the right chart, so some serious hunting through downloads and web searching is going on here. Maybe I should have told Jane that my sign-up was for Christmas 2008, to give me a bit extra time. ;0) ROFL

I shall have to get my papercrafting head on soon as well: DH and I have been invited to a wedding evening do on Friday night, so I need to get a card made for the happy couple - friends of our DS from the amateur dramatic group, and he's the Best Man.
I haven't been to a party in years because of the agoraphobia and panic attacks I am getting over - it would be another step in the right direction, providing it's good news from DBro and I can actually make myself go. Fingers crossed!

DBro should get all of his test results tomorrow. Thanks to all for the well wishes - hoping they've worked for him. :0)

The chap from the Crem didn't phone me back yesterday....... no surprise there then, I'm getting quite used to this happening by now. I phoned today and got a very helpful woman at the other end: our parents memorial plaque seems to have gone a.w.o.l after being sent to the Courier for delivery back in September, so they'll be chasing it up tomorrow and getting back to me. You would think the Crem's admin staff should've realised something was amiss before now, without my needing to phone, but I won't stress over this: it's their problem, they can deal with it, and if the plaque can't be found they will be expected to supply another one a.s.a.p, sorting out between the three of them (Crem/Maker/Courier) as to who pays for it. Enough said.
Fingers crossed the cheque from the bank will turn up soon as well.......... and let's hope they make this one out correctly!

Right, I'm off to get some tea then set off on another web trawl for that elusive chart.
Hope everyone is having a good day, whatever you are up to. :0)

Monday Mutterings

OK not mutterings but a full blown moan - so don't say I didn't warn you in advance.

The weekend was OK, well as OK as it could be in the circumstances. Saturday we got my pots planted with bulbs and some winter bedding plants and did some general tidying up in the garden, as well as a few other jobs, and I got some more stitching on ET done in the evening.
Thanks for all the encouragement, here's how she looks now:
Sunday we had a trip over to Doncaster to my DSis's and went out for dinner. Afterwards we went to see our DBro to see how he was doing (coping: not a lot else you can do when you're in limbo, waiting for tests/results) and to fill in some more forms for Dad's bank (yes, more forms....) and DBro faxed them back for us. It was good to see Erin and Fin as well - every time we see them they've grown even more. :0)

Today is D-Day for my DBro, as he is having the camera investigation of his insides done. Fingers crossed all they find is healthy guts! I'm hoping he will feel up to phoning tonight.

It does seem like it's just one thing after another at the minute though, as I've had to phone Dad's bank and the Crematorium to chase things up today and neither of them helped my stress levels any. >:-(
Dad's bank haven't got a good track record with us as we've been through the complaints procedure with them once already, so I rang up today just to confirm that they'd received the faxed forms OK - yes, they'd got them alright but they didn't have any record of ever having received the Grant of Probate...... this is despite this same woman telling me a copy had been faxed through to her last time I phoned, which I reminded her of. After making it clear that, as far as I was concerned, we (the Executors) had already supplied everything that was required to various departments of their bank - including yet another copy of my Mum's death certificate as this hadn't been forwarded to the relevant departments back in 2003 - it was up to her to sort this latest mess out, as we had had enough. I left her sorting it out.
Then a phone call to the Crem in Doncaster to find out why we hadn't heard from them about the memorial plaque being ready, even though it's looooong past the 10 weeks wait they quoted. Only, I got the jobsworth at the other end, didn't I? Despite the fact that it's my parents plaque, the money has long gone from my sister's account and it was an enquiry as to non-contact from them the guy started quoting "Data Protection Act" and similar baloney at me because my sister sent the cheque and everything is addressed to her. As I told him, that was because the money for it went through her account - I was phoning because my DSis works and was unable to phone in the daytime when they are there, which is why it hadn't been chased up before now, and why she had asked me to do it on her behalf. It's a good job he got the message because I was about ready for tearing off somebody's head by this point.......

I've calmed down a bit now: the woman from the bank has phoned back and the "missing" Grant of Probate has miraculously re-appeared. The words: booze-up, brewery, organisation and lack of, spring to mind - I will be so glad when this cheque has arrived and we can finally kiss that damned bank goodbye!!!
A much nicer fella from the Crem has phoned back too: they've tried contacting the plaque makers but haven't been able to get hold of anyone. They'll be contacting them again to find out why there's been such a delay and will get back to me, hopefully tomorrow. There's only one place left on the monument and that's been reserved for our Mum and Dad's memorial plaque but I'll be a whole lot happier when it's actually in place.

My friend Alex came for her regular Monday visit this afternoon and we've had a coffee and a good natter, so I'm feeling a bit more chilled now........ amazing how putting the world to rights with a friend does you the power of good. A bit of stitching tonight and normal service will be resumed once again. ;0)

Belated UFO Night Update

Glad to say that I managed to do a reasonable amount on my belated UFO night stitching. Here's the before pic: Here's where I left off last night:

It's coming along, slowly but surely.

Today started out a good day with a pink parcel and I knew I was feeling better when it was dived on and opened straightaway LOL. It contained the November Count On Me Fabric from Jayne's Attic: a very pretty lemony yellow, nicely wrapped with a curly ribbon and a sweet little flower attached. I love those little personal touches, they make pink parcel days extra special.

I've also had what I think is a good idea about what to stitch for my Christmas Card Exchange partner. I spent some of this morning looking through some of the downloaded charts I have on the computer, spotted one I liked and decided it was a bit basic by itself but it would be nice to develop it a little further........... but you're going to have to wait and see if it works out. I can't go spoiling the surprise for my partner now, can I? :0)

This afternoon brought some news that I'm trying not to worry about: my DBro phoned to tell me that he'd been to the GP's and he is being sent for some tests. This year has already been really difficult for us, so we hope it's just a minor health problem and that there's only positive news to come from this.

Some days it's only my stitching that keeps me sane.......... although I think DH and DS might argue that one.

A Royal Wednesday

No, I haven't been visited by any of the Windsor family! LOL
Here's the update on Queen Guenevere who now has hands, a golden belt and rainbow sleeves.

Thanks for the tip about the Guttermann's Julie, I will have to remember that for next time a project calls for metallics or filaments.

Here's a scan of The Princess in a posh frame. Sorry it's so bad but DH hasn't been around to take a pic (problems at work keeping him late, again) and I couldn't wait to show it off.
The frame is actually a mirror finish in silver, very shiney, so Erin will be able to see herself in it, and the strips up the side are bands of Mother-of-Pearl. It's probably a bit overly sophisticated for a three year old but the other frame I liked, which had sparkly diamantes around the inner edge, hadn't got a deep enough rebate for the thickness of the mounted stitching. I think she'll like it though. Tuesday was UFO Night but I wasn't able to stitch at all, thanks to having a bad head and stomach. I knew I was feeling rough when the sight of a pink parcel on the doorstep didn't have me rushing to grab and open it >shock< I went back to bed. In the evening I felt too frazzled to concentrate and I didn't fancy a visit from the frogs, so left the stitching well alone.
I did open the pink parcel though: it was the Alchemy chart for the Stitch'n'Stash/Attic Humbug SAL - can't wait for that to start as it's such a lovely cute piece.

Thankfully I'm feeling much better today and, as it's been Craft Day on QVC, I've spent some of the afternoon vegging in front of that whilst stitching - perfect day or what? LOL Although the TSV and some of the Pergamano kits were mighty tempting I didn't succumb to anything.
I've also received my partners' details for the Stitched Christmas Card Exchange on S'n'S Forum. This will be my first ever exchange (I've always been too paranoid about my stitching to join in before) so I hope I get things right. Now all I've got to do is choose a design to stitch........ methinks it may take a while......... I keep changing my mind >roll eyes<.

Tonight was the Little Theatre Club's casting night for their panto Sleeping Beauty and DS has come in from that practically bouncing off the walls: he auditioned for and got the role of Eddie he wanted and it's a much bigger part than he's had in previous productions. It also involves some dancing, a singing duet (which he's apprehensive about) and a whole scene with his character talking to a glove puppet (well, it is a panto!). I am so looking forward to seeing him in that..... and to taking the mickey about his mate the glove puppet. ;0)
BTW Julie, getting him to go shopping is pretty easy as: 1) it means he gets a free feed and 2) he uses Dad's taxi service, so it doesn't cost him petrol. Guess that's his Yorkshire genes outing - his Grandad would be proud! LOL

Well I am off back to stitch on Egyptian Tablet so it'll be worth doing an update pic tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving comments, it's much appreciated.

A Good Weekend

Well the weekend was a good one and got off to a flying start with our meal out. We ended up going to a pub called The Jenny Wren out in a village called Susworth, on the river bank. We didn't see anything of the river - far too dark and cold out - but the meal was excellent and worth the drive. If you're ever out that way it's well worth a visit, as the pub is all olde worlde with lots of old wood beams, some of which have been carved, and the atmosphere was lovely. It was also like a flippin' Corus convention with four people DH knew from work also eating there. I tell you, we can't go anywhere: even at the theatre there were three fellas he works with in the audience and at least two in the cast!
Just for you Karen: we both had salmon with a creamy shrimp and chive dressing, served with boiled new potatoes (in their skins with butter on) and mange tout. Afterwards I had a floater coffee with Tia Maria and DH had a whisky one and a meringue served with lemon curd and mascapone - him a diabetic too! Tut! Tut!

Saturday DS joined us and we had a family shopping day: Dunhelm so DS could buy a duvet.......... yes, it was a replacement for the one he spilled the bucket of sick over as that wouldn't fit in the washer and would've cost too much to have dry cleaned (not that I'd want to inflict that on any one!) A costly mistake he won't forget in a hurry........ mainly because I'll keep reminding him of it >:0) I also managed to get a frame for The Princess and one of those large frames with a mount board that has various sizes/shapes of apertures for photos, so I can display all my family pics together.
Next was a trip to a local retail park so DS could buy a Christmas gift for a friends older daughter (Bindeez kit - looks fun but he wouldn't let me have a play!). We popped to another store and I got one of those plastic four-drawer storage units so I can finally start organising some of my craft stash - I did have it in mind for my fabrics and the like but my cardmaking stuff would also benefit from some organisation, so not sure which to do first....... maybe I should have bought two and saved myself the dilemma!
We finished with a trip to the Pink Pig organic farm and coffee shop. Well, after all that hard work shopping and everything we'd earned a warm drink and a sticky, hadn't we? LOL We came away from there with a beef joint and veggies for Sunday's dinner.
No stitching that night but I did frame The Princess (pic later).

Sunday was a jobs day for me and DH. We were busy for much of the day but I'm still not quite sure what we actually achieved as there doesn't seem to be much evidence for it >roll eyes<
Sunday evening we watched the 300 DVD DS had bought: King Leonidis/Spartans/bloodfest just about sums it up (the action was pretty amazing to watch, if you switched off from all the gore - I'd watch it again, especially as there was a lot of skimpily clad male talent definitely worth giving a second and third look to. LOL) .
DS and I played our favourite game of spot the actor/music, i.e: Ooh, he played Faramir in LOTR; I recognise that voice but who the heck is he? (for the ones hidden under all the prosthetics); Now that sounds just like that bit out of such and such a film........ well, you get the gist of it. DS and I feel it enhances our enjoyment of the film.....DH feels we should shut up and let him watch the ruddy thing in peace. ;0) ROFL
I finally picked up a needle after the DVD finished (well, I wasn't going to risk missing any of that male talent - Ooops, I mean making a mistake on my stitching - was I?). All I managed was the outline of Guenevere's hands plus the outline and infill of her belt but that belt is in gold thread and it's awful stuff to use as it keeps unravelling as I stitch, so the little I did took an age.
I will post an update pic when there's something worth doing an update on.

Hope everyone had a fun-filled, or at least an enjoyable, weekend. :0)

A New Start and New Stash

Not much to share yesterday as I was busy with house jobs and gardening. The front garden has benefited by having another couple of hours spent on it, clipping dead growth and weeding - I knew I'd got some nice plants in there somewhere and it was good to find them again. ;0)

As a reward for all that industry I made a new start last night. Was it one of the two Christmas designs I mentioned in my last post? Nope! Was it one of the Halloween designs? Nope! It wasn't a seasonal design or even a cross stitch piece but something totally different: a blackwork kit I found when rootling round in my stash boxes yesterday afternoon. Here's a pic of last nights progress :
She is called Queen Guenevere and is by Holbein Embroideries. It's a bit different from the other (charted) blackwork I've done, as you first have to trace the outline onto the fabric using a transferable red paper. I must say I'm not overly impressed with this method because, despite being very careful, the paper shed slightly across other areas of the fabric leaving it looking like it's had some rose wine sprinkled on it (not that I'd ever be daft enough to ruin fabric & thread by doing such a thing.............. or waste good wine, for that matter!). It does say it comes off - I sure hope so!
The instructions are a tad basic, as in: just picturing certain areas and with only a small piece of pattern to follow, so I guess it assumes only experienced stitchers will want to stitch it........ which is why, over the years, I've had this out of my stash box on several occasions and put it straight back in again. Guess maybe I'm up for a challenge at the minute! LOL

Today started nicely too: my grumpy postie is back delivering mail again (not complaining: a grumpy postie is waaay better than no postie/mail at all) and the HAED charts I bought from Sally arrived first thing. Am I a very happy bunny. Thanks Sally. :0)
So which two did I succumb to? They are White Magic Storykeep by Jessica Galbreth and Victorian Angel Quick Stitch by Meredith Dillman. Although I have several HAED charts these are the first Storykeep and QS chart additions to my stash.
I guess I really must invest in that light/magnifier very soon to give my eyes a chance at coping!
Plus I really should go join the HAED forum at some point. Although I've been avoiding doing so in an act of desperation...... if I don't go over there I won't see any of those gorgeous charts that the members are stitching (or accidentally stray onto the main site), then I won't be tempted to add any more to my stash.
The theory seemed good but it's just not worked......... has it Sally? ROFL ;0)

I'm hoping tonight will be a good night too, as DH is taking me out to a local pub for a meal - no special occasion. DS will be out babysitting our friends' kids so we'll be on our own and I don't fancy cooking.
OK, I'll hold my hands up: I overdid the gardening bit, am aching all over, and was so shattered last night I kinda forgot to get some meat out of the freezer for tonights tea. By the time DH got in from a works "leaving do" he wasn't up for remembering much of anything either. LOL
Not sure where we're going yet but there are plenty of eating places in and around the town to choose from.

Thank you to those who drop by and for taking the time to leave a comment: it sure is good to know that I'm not always rambling away to myself. Hope you all have a good weekend. :0)