It's That Time of the Week

Yes, it's that time of the week... blogging update time. It seems to have come round real quick this week..... and already a whole week into the new month of March. That certainly flew past.

So, what have I been up to since my last post? Well, that looked forward to visit with my DSis had to be called off, as my stomach kicked off and I came down with a bit of a bug. :0( Aaaahhh, now I remember why this week seems to have flown past.... I spent the best part of two days doing nothing but sleeping, so I kinda lost them. LOL DSis and I have made up for it by having long chats on the phone, though it's not quite the same as spending actual time together. She has more holidays later in the year, so am sure another opportunity for a visit will present itself so we can make up for lost time then. Thankfully I feel much better now. :0)

As soon as I was up on my feet again I realised my DBro's birthday is fast approaching, so I made a card for him:

As inspiration was a little lacking I opted to cheat and used some of the KanBan goodies I'd bought last month. Some of this is decoupaged but the scan seems to have lost some of the 3-D look of it. My DBro is a very good DIY enthusiast, so it's very apt. :0)

It's also that time of the week for SAL updates too. Yes, folks, I'm going to bore you all with yet another pic of Mother Earth! Believe me, you are going to be sooooo sick of seeing Her by the time the whole piece is finished. LOL With not being too well Sea Stars didn't come out to play last week, so I made ME my focus piece instead and it's showing the benefit of that - even DH made a comment on how it's coming on. Here's where I left off last night:

Basically, I carried on with the next section of background between the edge of the last page and the next tree trunk and brought it down to the bottom of that page. I stitched in part of the tree trunk too, as it will give me a good marker to work from.... and make it easier for you to see what's been added next time around. (Yes, I could hear you all groaning at that! LOL).

It's also the time for the monthly update over at the Stitcher's Showcase SAL Blog, so I do have something a little different to show you (Wow, I swear I almost heard a full on version of the Hallelujah Chorus then. ROFL). Here's where February's progress got to:

Am glad to have finished that central section as it gives a much better view of how the variegations in the Thai silk are stitching up... and I'm pretty pleased with it. If you have a look in the bottom right corner you can see the thread I'll be using for the next section of this design. I almost made a start on that earlier in the week but decided on making ME my priority instead. Who knows, I may decide to put a length or two of the thread into this tonight....... will see what mood takes me when I park my behind in my armchair later. Yes, it's good TV night tonight (Larkrise to Candleford and Seven Ages of Britain) so I shall be getting a serious case of Stitch Ass whilst they're on. :0)

The Great Car Hunt continued yesterday, with a slight change in the search, as DH said not to concentrate on new cars just so we can take advantage of the scrappage scheme, but to think of it as a search on two levels: one that includes the scrappage and one that doesn't rule any car out. OK, why didn't he tell me that to start with? I'd ruled out several older cars that I liked the look of because we wouldn't be able to take advantage of the scrappage scheme with them. So we went back to view some of the Used cars again that had taken my eye. I didn't like some of them when I sat in them because I was sat so low it would have been dangerous. Why do they make cars in such a way that you don't get a good view of even the bonnet, let alone the road ahead, because you can only just see over the dashboard?
Anyhow, the upshot is that the search may be over..... I rather liked a 2008 Kia Picanto Ice Special Edition, in a lovely icy blue colour (a cross between light blue/grey/silver) that has all the basics I wanted (air bag, air con, CD Player, adjustable drivers seat and the like). What I really like about it though is that it's a small car without being cramped, the drivers seat adjusts up (I can see the bonnet and the road!) and, more importantly, it doesn't have a foot of wheel arches sticking out of the sides, or half a mile of extra bumper front and back. Why do manufacturers add these on when all they are are hazards that are crying out to get scraped?! You've got to remember folks: I haven't been behind the wheel of a car in ten years.... and my last car was an original Mini. I loved that car, as I knew exactly where every bit of it was and I could get into any parking space without a problem.... I just wasn't so keen on the sick-making, bone jarring, boob-bouncing ride that comes from not having a decent suspension and the Council's not maintaining the roads. Yes, I'll be having refresher lessons before I venture out on the roads again... but I want that added confidence of knowing exactly where every edge of the car is because I want to avoid getting those scrapes. And because I really don't want DS taking the wee-wee and claiming men are better drivers! ;0) We should be going back to the garage to give it a test drive soon.

DS went over to Bradford on Saturday, with friends, to go and visit another friend who now lives and works there, and they all went out for curry and a few beers to celebrate the friends birthday. He's back now and has disappeared off to the theatre.... DH is already there, as it's the Get In for another amateur dramatics group and they're helping out. Yes, folks, the TV remote is all mine once again. You know, I could really get used to this! LOL

Right, time for me to go and catch up with blog reading and commenting, have something to eat (just me for an evening meal tonight) and then work on getting that Stitch Ass. :0)

Many thanks for visiting and for the kind comments you leave. Hope you have all been having a lovely weekend.... and that the week ahead is a good one. :0)

Something Old, Something New and Something Blue

Unfortunately there isn't a single wedding in sight, despite the title of this post.... but keep on reading to find out what it does actually refer to. :0)

First up is the something old: it was update time on the Weekly SAL blog on Sunday so it's time to bore you with yet another pic of my progress on that. Persevere though, as there's more to see after this. LOL

This time around I filled in a little more of the background area to the right of her arm, knocked off a few more of those confetti stitches in various places and made a start on Her dress. I am so glad I joined the ladies over at the SAL blog with this piece as it's really helping to keep me focused. :0)

As promised in my last post I have something new to show you. Well, actually, a couple of new things, thanks to a new start, an enabling JA/S&S Forum member and a little stash acquisition. :0) First up is the new start of A Bouquet for Cheryl:

Unfortunately I had to take a pic of this on one of the many dull, grey days we've been having lately..... and the digicam objects to taking close ups too. I'm quite pleased with how this is taking shape. The Thai silk is lovely to use and the colours in the variegation work nicely. I worked on this exclusively last night (Sunday) whilst watching Larkrise to Candleford and the Seven Ages of Britain and an episode of the new series of CSI Vegas. Yep, I got a serious case of Stitch Ass! LOL I made quite a bit of progress but the next reveal isn't until the beginning of March so I'm afraid you'll have to wait until then to see it. Sorry!

The new stash acquisition, which arrived last week, was a rather gorgeous piece of fabric from Sparklies called Pumpkin Patch.... so apt, considering the design I'll be using it for:

I haven't yet got the required thread for this so it won't be a new start just yet. I think it calls for WDW but I've spotted another one of those Thai silk threads that might just do the job instead..... am saving a few pennies so I can have a splurge. Well I don't want to go buying just one skein of thread when I can get several for the same amount of postage, now do I? Being a typical Yorkshire lass I do like to make sure I get full value for my money. ROFL

DH and I went shopping on Sunday, once again descending on the Edinburgh Woollen Mills shop within Brigg Garden Centre. This time I came away with two zip-up cardigans (can be used as a lightweight jacket on warmer Spring/Autumn days or cooler Summer evenings), two one-button cardigans (dress up or down type), a dressing gown and for Summer: two denim-look cotton blouses with pretty flower embroideries on them and denim-look cotton trousers. I'm all set for woollies now, so I can now Charity bag the last of the too-big ones left in my wardrobe. Yay! DH treated himself to a DVD and a CD. Whilst we were walking back through the Garden Centre I spotted some Paper Mania BOGOF bargains in the craft section:

As you can see they were just too pretty to resist. LOL I thought they would make great finishing trims for ornies...... so now I just need to stitch ones in appropriate colourways. :0)

And the something blue of the title? Well it isn't any rude jokes or links to porn sites, in case you were beginning to wonder ROFL. It's the stash for yet another new SAL I've joined. Yes, you read that right: another SAL I've joined. I'm not taking full blame for this though...... if Julia hadn't posted a progress picture of her completed first three parts of this gorgeous blackwork piece on JA/S&S Forum and her blog then I would have remained blissfully ignorant and just carried on plugging away at the same old pieces. But she did, along with a link to the Seba site.... so I went along for a nosey (as you do) and ended up joining the site and downloading the parts.... and a couple of other freebies. Of course, once I printed out the charts it led me on to thinking about what colour scheme I'd like to do it in........ which led on to delving in my stash for fabric and threads........ which resulted in this combination:

Another gorgeous variegated Thai silk and a DMC threads and 32ct Zweigart Vintage Blue fabric. The only thing that has stopped me from making a start on this is the indecision on which way round to use the threads: plain for the cross stitch borders of the blocks and Thai silk for the blackwork infill or vice versa????? Maybe I'll just toss a coin. LOL

I had hoped to be able to post a pic of DS's new wheels.... but it didn't stay in the drive long enough in the daytime over the weekend for me to take one. Hopefully next time.

So what else did we get up to over the weekend? Not a great lot. We stayed in Saturday and DH did a little more to the flooring while I did a few jobs and did some catching up with blogs on my reader (still some ways to go with that - I will get round to you all soon!) and some stitching. Sunday was the shopping trip in the morning. In the afternoon DH had a theatre tech meeting to go to for a couple of hours so I chilled with some more blog reading after putting some scrag end lamb chops in the oven to slowly braise, ready for our evening meal. Our evening meal was followed by that serious Stitch Ass session whilst DH laid the first two lengths of edging strip on the flooring. He's not as keen on Larkrise as I am, can you tell? LOL

Today (Monday) has been my regular jobs day and I was pleasantly surprised to realise that my stamina/energy levels have improved some: I managed to do all my jobs and two lots of laundry, then also vaccumed upstairs and the stairs plus made a start on sorting out the pantry (cupboard under the stairs) by binning some tatty old containers and washing a shed load of decent ones. I'd forgotten I'd got some of those storage containers so it was a voyage of discovery..... and there are a few there that will come in real useful for cardmaking stash storage. Score! I'm putting them to one side, ready for when the Craft Room is (finally!) finished and I start organising things as they go in there. If I'm not too tired tomorrow I shall finish washing the rest of the stuff that's still on the slab, wipe it all down and put a few of the bits back - then the rest of the shelves will be tackled later in the week. Slowly but surely this house is being decluttered, cleaned and organised. Yay!

Thank you for taking the time to visit and especially for the lovely comments you leave. Hope you are all having a good and productive time whatever you are doing. :0)