All Kinds of Progress and a Confession

Another slightly late posting but I do have a good excuse this week: yesterday (Easter Sunday) DH, DS and I were all over in Derbyshire, visiting DH's Dad and step-Mum, doing a belated Christmas present swap (we couldn't get over there at the time, due to my op and recuperation) and catching up with all the news. FIL is in his 80's nd MIL in her 70's but both remain very active and look much younger than their years. Of course the visit meant an early start and a late return, so no time to take pics or post on blogs during Sunday.

So, without more ado, here is last week's progress on Mother Earth:

Just a few random stitches and lack of time stopped the completion of yet another page. The next page has a much smaller section to stitch so am hoping it won't take too long to complete it.... it will also be nice to get on to some lighter colours, so am looking forward to stitching on that sky. LOL

As for other things: I haven't yet managed to have another drive in my baby as we've been busy - soon, I hope.

DS caught the sort-out bug over the bank holiday, so we tackled some of the loft clutter/junk. The result: the back of his Mini (back seats lowered) was filled with a dead printer (yes, DH had snuck one into the loft, to avoid it going last year!) and an old monitor, a dead kettle and assorted polystyrene infills and cardboard. When that was full he moved the car round the corner so we could get DH's on the front, to load it: that got filled with loads more cardboard (all empty, flattened boxes); a big red tub full of junk; two crates full of Tetra Paks for recycling; a black bag full of assorted cr*p and an old fibreglass sheet that came off the metal shed we got rid of last year. It was extremely satisfying to see all that lot go into the relevant skips at the amenities site. :0)

Last week also saw the arrival of the new furniture for my Craft Room and the start of the major organisation of all my stash, stitching and cardmaking. It's meant quite a few trips up and down the stairs and is going to mean a whole lot more before it's done. I'm taking the view that the enforced exercise is going to do me good and will help towards the fitness levels and weight loss I would like to achieve before our holiday in the Lake District in July..... I just hope my knees can hold out. LOL

I've taken some pictures, as promised, but they're not great - the room is small, making it impossible to get the right angles to take decent, overall, ones. Here's a view of the filing cabinet and some of the bookcase, in situ:

Only the first two shelves are in because those are the only two that I knew where I wanted them. Mind, the other three shelves couldn't go up anyway, even if I did know whereabouts I needed them, as they are all damaged. Nope, I wasn't a happy bunny when that was realised.... and we haven't been able to get them swapped yet, due to it being a bank holiday weekend. Plus whoever sorted this order can't count, as they also didn't send enough of the fixing screws to fit the final shelf, so we need to get that sorted too.

Here's a bit better view of the bookcase, which has since had about eight jigsaw puzzles stacked on the very top, their temporary home until DH puts up a shelf for me:

There's a funny gap left in the corner which I'm hoping is big enough to take one of those slimline bookcases, and that'll be used to store the things I don't use very often. As you can see some of my stuff is already in there. The piles on the top of the cabinet and on the corner of the table are kits: those are being sorted into themes (ie: Angels; dragons; historical; Christmas etc etc) ready to be filed away. I didn't dare take a pic of all of it........ DH might use it as evidence, trying to boost his argument that I already have enough/too much stash. Huh, what does a man know about what constitutes enough/too much, when it comes to stash?????!!!!! ROFL

Here's a view of the new computer chair:

I think it goes quite nicely with the colour scheme and, as you can see, has already come in useful for the kit sort through. LOL

It's been quite a voyage of discovery, this sort through. It's been punctuated with exclamations of: Ooo I'd forgotten I'd got that! and Oh, I so want to stitch this now! and the final one, when it was all stacked up: OMG, I'm going to have to live until I'm at least 200 to get through this lot - and I haven't even started on the charts yet! But please don't tell DH I said that - it'll back up his enough/too much theory.... and that "I told you so" look he'd give me would drive me crazy! LOL

OK, so now it's confession time: my name is Karan and I am a cross stitch stash addict. SABLE has most definitely been reached.

BTW, it was a whole lot of fun getting there. ;0)

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to visit. Hope you have all enjoyed a lovely Easter weekend. :0)

Update, Reveal and an Unveiling

Another Sunday has gone by, more stitching done and another update posted on the 2010 Weekly SAL Blog.... so yes, that means yet another pic of Mother Earth to show:

This time I finished the bottom corner, to the right of the tree trunk, which means a whole page has been completed. Yay! I also made a start on infilling the background above the area where the stray thread is attached. I'm afraid it's going to be nothing but background infill of those trees for a while yet, so brace yourselves. LOL DH worked a second night shift last night (Sunday) so I've since got even more of it stitched.... those after 2am bedtimes are starting to get to me though. Thank goodness he doesn't have to work nights regular.... I think it would probably finish me off. Probably DH too. LOL

It was Reveal Day for the February Monthly Challenge over at JA/S&S Forum on Sunday too, so I can now show you what I stitched and finished for that:

Designer: Primitive Betty's

Design: Valentine, internet freebie

Fabric: 28ct evenweave, unknown make

Threads: DMC 310; 326 - stitched 1 over 1

Finish: Valentine's Day card

I turned the finished piece into a card for my DH and he seemed to like it. I love to see the varied finishes for the same design and if you would also like to you can see everyone's pieces here. Some more finishing ideas to pinch for future reference. LOL ;0)

With DH working nights there hasn't been a great lot of anything been done here, apart from my usual jobs. We did go out on the Great Car Hunt again and more makes of car have been crossed off my list, leaving a very small list of ones that I do like and would feel happy to drive. Nothing has really taken my fancy yet.... but there are a few more weekends to go before the scrappage scheme ends, so there's time yet. :0)

Nothing more done to the Craft Room.......... but I thought, as I don't want anyone to start foaming at the mouth in frustration (yes, you Barb ROFL), I'd finally stop the suspense and show a few pics of where things are at at the moment. This is a view of the finished laminate flooring and the rug I scored at our local market:

Then this is the view of the corner where the computer table is. This is where it will be staying, as it will allow me to nosey out of the window at the world going by. ;0) You can also see the new nets and one of the curtains, complete with tie-back:

It was a bright day, so it made taking pics of the window a  real pain - that was the best one I got. Here's a better view of the computer table, in situ:

Ignore the bits in the bottom left corner... DH hadn't tidied his tools and things away at this point.... and I was too impatient to wait anymore to take the pics. LOL The two small shelves to the left and in the middle of the desk both slide out. I now have to find a comfortable seat to go in there, instead of the one I'm currently using - DH thinks the castors on a proper computer chair will damage the laminate, so we're on the look out for a rotating chair on legs, iykwim.

Here's a view of the pieces I currently have sat on the windowsill, with a better view of the pattern on the nets:

The little stand up picture was something I spotted at one of the local garden centres and thought it was perfect for my room and DH did too, as he bought it for me. In case you can't make it out, the saying is: Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away. :0)  And the Healing Crystal Angel that my DSis gave me for Christmas is temporarily homed there - much nicer to be watching over things from there, than cooped up in a box. :0)

There's still quite a bit to get organised yet but hopefully things will start to get back on track with it by the weekend... providing DH is back to normal working hours now, which depends on how things are going on the steelworks. Fingers crossed for problem free normality! LOL

Tomorrow I have an acupuncture treatment booked and then have my Development Circle in the evening. On Wednesday the plan is to go over to spend a few days at my DSis's again, as she is off work on a week's holiday, then be back some time over the weekend.... depending on when the chauffeur (DH) is available. Hopefully there'll be some stitchy updates to share when I'm back again.

And finally... the weather, although cold, was at least a little sunny and dry so I managed to spend a little time out in my garden today, pottering around. I can't tell you how good that felt! I thought I'd leave you with a couple of signs of Spring that I spotted whilst out there:

The little square of garden by the front door where those bright crocii bloom every year. So far the birds are leaving them alone. Then the dainty little snowdrops that are blooming in the back garden, close to the sun lounge wall.

Many thanks for taking the time to visit and for your kind comments. Hope you all had a gentle start to the week and are enjoying your own pretty signs of Spring. :0)