Slowly, Slowly.....

No, not catchee monkey....... slowly, slowly getting back to my usual self as things heal, the pain recedes and the painkillers are dropped, thus helping my befuddled brain gain some semblance of normality. Well....... what passes for normality for me, anyways. LMAO I am getting really fed up of seeing the same four walls now, so I guess that's another good sign of improvement too. :0)

I have to show you the fab decoupaged card that Julie kindly sent to me last week:

Unfortunately the scan makes it look all flat and lifeless and it's not like that at all IRL: the nurse and teddy are 3-D and the whole is very beautifully made. Thank you again Julie, I love it. :0)

I have also been slowly, slowly trying to catch up with some of those things that went on the back burner whilst my mojo took quite a long holiday without me. When I checked I got a bit of a shock....... I haven't actually completed any ornies for the JA/S&S Forum's Monthly Christmas SAL since May! Ooooooppps! As it so happens I had a bit of a stitchfest after my first hospital stay and completed two small designs suitable for ornies....... it just took me a little longer to get round to the finishing..... as you do. ;0)

So, for your delectation, here is June's Ornie:

Design: Blackwork Partridge, kit
Designer: Carol Leather, for X-Calibre Designs
Fabric: 14ct white aida, as provided
Thread: black and gold metallic, as provided
Finish: pillow style ornie with ruched ribbon edging.

Here's a pic of the back view, so you can see the gorgeous gold on black fabric that I got from Thread Bear:

The chiffon ribbon was a 5m reel of Anita's Ribbon that I got from The Range for 99p - bargain! There's plenty left of both the fabric and ribbon for finishing more blackwork ornies, which I plan on doing at some point as I really like the combination. :0)

For July's ornie it was a reasonably quick little DMC design - I bought the kit from a shop in my local High Street that sells some cross stitch goodies, back when I had my first venture down that way earlier in the year. It was designed to be finished as a card but I had other ideas as soon as I saw it:

Design: Snowflake, from the Mini Kit Christmas Range
Designer: DMC
Fabric: good old white 14ct aida, as supplied
Thread: DMC 825; 932; 3752; 3756
Finish: Prairie Schooler style ornie

I added some glass bicone beads (another eBay bargain) and Mill Hill seed beads to the corners to give it a little festive sparkle. And yes, that is some actual, genuine sunshine you can see in that pic........ but, despite it being sunny out, it is also decidedly chilly, as the deep frost we had last night is still on the ground in the sheltered places, like my garden. Ise a stopping in today, where it's nice and warm! LOL

I've also picked up a needle again and have been making headways into the JA/S&S Challenge piece that was supposed to be done in October (I think), then there's November and December's pieces to do...... they are all lovely festive designs, so they will double up as pieces for the Christmas ornie SAL............ and that will take me up to October for ornie's. So that leaves two more to complete to make it a full year of ornies. Reckon I'll manage it? Nah, not too sure either but will give it my best shot. :0)

In the meantime I had a think (yes, it did hurt - my poor brain wondered what was happening! LOL) and decided that my HAED Mother Earth piece has been very sadly neglected of late and is in real danger of becoming a UFO....... to rectify that I asked to join Gaynor's Weekly SAL Blog for 2010 and she very kindly let me sign up and nominate Mother Earth as my SAL piece. Now I have to make progress on it. Yay! That leaves the JA/S&S Tuesday UFO Night and I reckon Sea Stars should put in an appearance for that......... plus there are a couple of other pieces that have been waiting to have beads added for some time, so they would be good candidates for then too. Slowly, slowly the stitchy bug is returning. :0)

As for other news: DH is in the middle of the big Outage thing at work so he's been working late all week, though has been compensating by going in a little later in the morning's so he can make sure I am up and safely downstairs and has chance to do any bits of shopping or jobs for me. Thankfully he still has a job: he has essential knowledge on the Instrumentation side (please don't ask what that means - I don't know!) that the steelworks can't afford to lose, as he's one of only a few remaining chaps that have it, so they aren't letting him go..... yet. DH prefers it that way - it should be a better package when he's 55 years old..... he's got another 2 years to go. Hopefully there'll still be a steelworks here for that long.

DS is busy with rehearsals for the Pantomime, as well as seeing his DGF and friends. I am getting lots of quiet evenings and you know what that means folks.......... yes, I am in charge of the TV remote! Mmmmmwwwwwaaaaahhhhhaaaaaahhhhhaaa! (evil laugh, in case you were wondering). Unfortunately there hasn't been an awful lot on in the evenings worth watching lately and the plans to watch all those DVD's just hasn't happened...... it's either been reading (finished a couple more books - see side bar), a minor trawl of eBay or sleep that has won out. Hopefully, now the stitchy bug seems to be returning, I shall be sitting and stitching a bit more instead, so I may well get to see those DVD's after all. LOL

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to visit and for all the lovely comments. I will be stopping by to visit blogs in the coming days, as I have a catch up with all your news. :0)

A Card and a Reveal

Thursday I remembered MIL's birthday was fast approaching and if there was going to be any chance of a card reaching her in time I'd best extract my digit and get on with it. She loves her flowers, having once run her own flower arranging business as well as being a keen gardener, so the theme was a no-brainer. Here's what I made:

I can't take credit for the decoupage: it was one I bought ready-made from a seller on that well-known auction site - the one where you can happily lose a couple of hours or a whole evening due to browsing through the crafts section. LOL I think she'll be happy with it.

I did stitch on Sea Stars but it was so little (a fish and a tiny section of the huge motif) it's just not worth doing an update pic of it. I was so twitchy about the visit to the Herbalist the following day, wondering about the weigh-in, it was a struggle to concentrate - added to that were numerous interruptions, so I never really got into a good flow with things. Once I've finally completed the Christmas ornie for February (tonight?) and done the finishing (tomorrow daytime?) I'm hoping to give a bit more attention to SS and have an update of it early next week.

I had my early start on Friday but I didn't get to the Clinic (so much for getting twitchy about it - that'll teach me LOL): Ann, the receptionist, rang me up to say Jan had woken up with a bad headache, apologise and ask if the appointment could be rescheduled. As I said: folks can't help being ill so I didn't mind and another appointment was made for the following morning (Saturday) at 9.15am. So, there was I with a whole day ahead to fill and no real yearning to go out, with knowing I'd be going out the next day on my lonesome (after all the travel this week, I knew DH wouldn't feel like getting up to get out of the door and down the street in plenty of time). Well it was pretty easy to find plenty to do to fill it. :0) After doing the pots and some laundry and a few other jobs it was over to some fun stuff: blog reading, to see what everyone has been up to, a little reading (the new book is definitely a good one) and assembling my February piece for the Challenge For A Finish blog:

Challenge: Redwork Heart-shaped finish
Design: Celebration Blackwork Heart - internet freebie
Designer: Christine-Ann Martin - Aion Designs
Fabric: Zweigart 28ct Brittney - Bone
Thread: DMC 816

It's the first time I've attempted a heart-shaped pinkeep style finish....... and can't you tell? A very steep learning curve, so maybe next time I'll manage to get things aligned a tad better. It's for me and DH, not a gift for someone else, so it'll be OK. LOL

Saturday was an even earlier start than Friday but well worth it all round. I had more good news from the Herbalist (see my other blog for more about this), met DH afterwards to do some shopping, popped home to put it away and have a drink and a snack before going back to the Clinic for an 11.30am Reiki treatment with Aureen. After that I popped into Tesco's Express on my way home to pick up some bits we didn't have the time to get earlier (or the extra arms needed to carry more bags!). By the time I got home and put things put away DH and DS were off on their travels, over to Mexborough for a go-karting session with other LTC members. One quiet afternoon to catch up with the Forum and emails and finally catch my breath. They were both home in time for take-out curry. DH was walking a little stiffly - he'd had fun but his bones aren't as young as they were, plus he fell asleep for a couple of hours in his armchair! DS may be younger but he'd lost the back end of the kart and slammed into the wall, banging and jerking his side and back, so was in a worse state - the area he banged is slightly swollen and bruising has started to develop today. Thank goodness for No Pain gel....... though it'll be a while before he'll be able to move freely again! Boys will be boys! LOL

Clare: I bought the Crop-A-Dile online from Crafty Devils - the link is in my side bar under Where I Like To Shop. They have a choice of buying with or without the case - I thought with the case was a better deal. It's free P&P over a certain amount too. Am happy to recommend them. :0)

Right I'd best be off as we're supposed to be having a trip out to Aldi and Wickes today.

Thank you all for visiting (Hi to newbies!) - hope you're all enjoying a good weekend. :0)