A Mum update, and an Award

I saw Mum the weekend after her stroke, and I must say that I was a little shocked, but also surprised at how well she seemed to be coping.

Her speech is slurred, but she is able to be understood.

She has regained movement in her left leg, but is not standing as yet. Her left arm is pretty much immobile, but she is able to shrug her shoulder. All in all she is making progress and some progress is definitely better than none at all.

Her spirits are amazingly high, she is giving cheek and complaining about the food she says that the food is 'S#!(' LOL. Her swallowing reflex has been affected and her food has to be the consistency of honey to prevent it going straight to her lungs, this is highly undesirable as she has a lung infection on top of everything else. She is very thirsty and is always asking for a weak black tea with a dash of cold water, or a beer LOL.

She has been dehydrated and has had a nasal-gastric tube put in place to increase her fluid intake, and the silly bugger pulled it out. It has been re-inserted, along with a trip to the hospital, she is now in a place that specialises in re-hab, for an x-ray to ensure that the positioning is correct and her right hand is now sporting a sock which has been taped on to prevent her from pulling it out again.

While I was visiting her she complained that her dentures had not been cleaned since the stroke, five days, so she asked me to clean them for her. Now, I am the only one in my family the youngest of five, that has their own teeth, and of all the people to ask, she asked me LOL. Well I gave it a shot and did the best that I could, she said that they felt better.

I would sincerely like to thank each and everyone of you that have left comments about Mum, it is so comforting to know that so many people are thinking of Mum and my family during this time. While talking to Dad on the phone one night, I told him that I had blogged about Mum and I told him about the messages that I had received, he was so touched he was actually crying and he said that it was wonderful to know that so many were thinking of us. Thanks everyone.

Ann has very kindly bestowed an award on me and my blog. On her blog she said that she was impressed with my cake decorating abilities, see previous posts where I made a Pirate Ship cake for Joel's birthday. Thanks so much Ann.

The 'rules' of the award are as follows:

1 Put the logo on your blog
2 Add a link to the person who awarded you
3 Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4 Add links to those blogs on yours
5 Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I am not going to nominate any blogs, sorry Ann, but everyone who is a regular reader, or those who have left a comment regarding Mum, please accept this award from me.

My next post will include a prize, and some wip pictures.

Some WIP Pictures

Here is a picture of A Love Song. It is by Fouroaks Designs. It was one of the first designs that I had to have when I first started looking at cross stitch on the internet. I tend to work on this when I am travelling, and when it calls to me, as it is a very enjoyable piece to stitch for me, no colour changes and it is easy to keep track of where I am up to. I am stitching it on antique white linen, I think it is 32 ct, and I am using Vicki Clayton's silk in the colour way of Garnet. I am loving stitching on this and seeing the different motifs appear on my fabric. The chart for this is divided into four parts, with the bottom portions being smaller that the top. The very left hand side of the border is where the bottom page ends. So I will say that I have done a quarter of this.

I would also like to share where I am up to on my Village of Hawk Run Hollow. I am trying to complete one square per month and have been successful so far except for the grave yard square, which took about two months because of the solidly stitched block. I do have breaks from this if I need to during the month by stitching on something else for a night or two if I need/want to. I am stitching this on 40 ct Lambswool linen and using Vicki Claytons silk again, this is a great conversion by Vicki and I am enjoying stitching this design with the silks.

This is a closer picture of the block that I am currently working on, nearly finished, so well on track to completion for this month.














I have been feeling a little flat lately, and my old 'friend' (or foe) depression has come for a visit. It seems to be worse when I am pre-mentrual, (sorry if this is TMI) but I am mainly putting it down to the move, and not being successful with a number of job applications with my current employer. With moving I am not guaranteed a position, but have to apply for them as they become available, I am okay with this, but I am limited to two branches which I can apply for, and need to wait until other employers move on. I asked to be put on leave with no pay while waiting to be appointed to a position, but first of all I have to use up all of my other leave entitlements. I am so not happy about having to use my Long Service Leave as I have worked for a long time to be able to have this and was hoping to use it for something pleasurable.
This is the main reason for no posts the last month or so, but I do love the stitching community and the people in it, looking at every ones pictures and reading about what they have been up to. So I have decided to let all of you know what has been going on. Sorry for the rant :(
On a brighter note, both boys have settled into their respective schools very well, and Caitlyn is enjoying her two days per week of kindergarten.
I think this is long enough and thanks for all of your wonderful comments on my last post, I really appreciate everyone for stopping by and I hope that you all get lots of stitching done.

My Stash is Packed

I packed my stash a few nights ago ready for the move. I was able to fill 3 standard sized cartons with everything stash related; fabric, thread, charts, wips, finishing fabrics, ribbons. These are all in their own plastic tubs, containers etc. It is a bit sad not being able to look through my magazines and charts, but we should be reunited by about the 20th of January. I have kept three wips out to work on when I have a chance, VOHRH, Bubbles and A Love Song. Really enjoying these ones at the moment. With VOHRH, I have finished the second block and started the third.

The removalist van comes on Friday the 10th and will arrive at the house that we will be renting on Saturday. We will all go to the new place then, but I will have to come back as I don't finish work until the 17th, and DH starts his new job on the 14th. I will go as far as my parents and stay with them for the night on Sunday, and leave their place on Monday morning in time to start work at my normal time of 11 am. I will be staying with one of my closest friends until DH and the kids come back to help finish cleaning this house so that it can be rented to someone else. Hoping to get most of the cleaning done after work through the week, so it shouldn't take too long, and it will be easier to to floors one all of our furniture is out.

We managed to secure a lovely house to rent, three bedrooms, a study, and two living areas, bigger than what we are currently living in. It has a large garden shed for storage and comes with 4 chooks. We went there last week-end to have a look at houses and were really struggling to find something suitable, we were trying to not be too fussy, but you still need to be able to store things and live comfortably. After looking through one house and driving past two others we put in applications for all of them hoping that one would be successful. We decided to go home and twenty minutes down the road we got a phone message from a real estate agent saying that they had just had a new property listed on their rentals and thought of us. While DH was deciding on what to do I told him to turn around so we could have a look at it, and it will be wonderful. Joel and Caitlyn will need to share a room, but they are large rooms, and it will only be until we can sell our own house, which has been getting rented out near Geelong, and possibly build a new house for us.

We had a lovely Christmas, spent the day with my in-laws, and spent New Years Eve with some friends who live about two hours away from us.

Well I had better go a pack some more boxes. I am currently sorting through toys that have not been played with for a while and have almost managed to send more to charities than what we will be keeping. Of course this doesn't include what was received for Christmas, so the kids will still have plenty to play with.

I hope everyone is well and is getting lots of stitching done. My bloglines is currently at about 900 feeds, I am determined to not just click mark all as read, I may not be able to leave replies but I will still read them all. I may not be able to post for a while but will return as soon as I can.

Stay safe everyone.

Joanne

A Finish.

WOOHOO a finish!!! This is The Drawn Thread's There's No Place Like Home. It is stitched on fabric from R and R Reproductions, I am unsure of the color or count of the fabric using the called for threads, DMC and Needle Neccesities. I changed the flag on the flag pole in the last picture from stitching to a little Australian Flag button.

Next is an update of CdC by Ink Circles.

I don't know what the diagonal line in the photo is (going from top right corner down) it is not there in real life!!! The picture is washed out due to the flash, but the coloring on the top is pretty close.

I am currently working on my second block of VOHRH, block 11 which is the school house. I have another new start, Fouroaks Designs A Love Song, another BAP, oh well!!!

Hubby and I did most of our Christmas shopping yesterday with Joel and Caitlyn with us, and I left my purse at home. We first went around the aisles and discussed what we would buy, then hubby took the kids elsewhere and waited for me to contact him by our walkie talkies. I would leave the shopping trolley somewhere nearby and we would change over, with hubby taking the shopping through the register while I took the kids to the car. We managed this manouvre three times in all!!!

Last Saturday it was my break-up party for work, but I was not able to attend as I had double booked myself. So where else did I go, to see the live production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It was truly amazing, and so much better than the movie. I went with my three sisters, my Mum and two friends of my sisters. We all had a wonderful time and one of my sisters lives around half and hour out of Melbourne and another sister organised a christmas surprise by ordering a limousine to take us all into the city. WOW, we all had the best time, sis also bought two bottles of champagne for us all to share, even though she doesn't drink.

Hubby has just been offered a position in south west Victorian. He is also in the running for a position in a town which is about an hour from here. He has been able to negotiate a slightly better salary package with the first position and if nothing comes from the second one, he will accept the first one, are you confused yet? Even though there is a short fall we will be able to manage. He had the interview for this last Friday and when the interview was finished he was told to go and enrol his children into the preferred schools. It has been horrible trying not to get our hopes up too high, but feeling rather confident with the comment that was made.

Thank you everyone for your comments and for your patience during my not so frequent blogging. This I will 'try' to rectify and post updates more frequently.

I hope you are all well and getting lots of stitching done.

I am still around

Hi everyone, we are all well again, I would like to thank everyone for their well wishes. We went on a little holiday to our beach house, we left home on the 26th of September and got back home on the 2nd of October. It was very quiet and peaceful, apart from having the children there hehe, and we did alot of nothing. DH developed a secondary infection from the flu and after visiting three different doctors in two days he finally started to get relief. He had a sinus infection and the antibiotics didn't really start to take effect until the third day.

We caught up with our neighbours down there, and are so fortunate, they are wonderful. They have three children, two boys, 10 and 8, and a daughter 6, and the play beautifully with our kids, but they also respect the fact that we are on holidays and do not let their kids over at our house very often.

As you can see by the pictures I have done some work on the Sampler Gameboard, I think I worked on this about three weeks ago. I have done other stitching, in fact I have been really naughty. While we were away I started Miribilia's Sleeping Beauty and Ink Circles Blackstone Fantasy Garden. I also kitted up Miribilia's Lady of the Mist and can't wait to make a start on it. Needless to say my rotation, which I think I have stuck with for about 3 rotations, has gone out the window. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!! This week I have been concentrating on CdC and have stitched all of the circles along the bottom row and have begun going up the right hand side.

I have received my order from Karen at Dragonfly Dream. I ordered the JCS 2007 Ornament Issue and the beads for Lady of the Mist, and two charts, Just Nan's Christmas Peace and the embellishment pack, and Lynne Nicoletti's Fairy Tale Fortune Teller. I will try to take some pictures at some stage. I am waiting on some beads still from Karen, they are on back order and she said that I should have them in the coming week. Dee was interested to know what I thought of the JCS issue: I haven't had a really good look through it yet, but at a glance there are a few that I like, though I have only ever stitched on ornament before, stitching is finished, but it is not an ornament yet. Lindy wanted to see a finished picture of Reeds Stocking, it is a Shepherds Bush design Lindy, I hope the link works for you.

Last week, after we got home from our little break away, I worked three days in a row of my new hours. I was totally shattered on Friday night, not mentally, but physically, just from standing for so long. I am so not used to this work business, hopefully it is just a matter of time until my poor feet and legs get used to it again.

At the moment I am meant to be finishing an assignment for uni, it was due on the 4th of October, I am getting so slack with uni, everything seems to be running behind. I only have to do about another 700 words, including the conclusion. It is a sociology subject so rambling and waffling are permitted.

While we were away three of us turned another year older, and two of them were significant numbers. Caitlyn turned four on the 1st of October and Dh and I turned 40 aaaarrrrrgggghhh LOL five days apart with me being the older of us. Mine was the 30th of Sept and his was the 5th of Oct. He always tell people that I (meaning me) am 'five' older than him, deliberately not including the word days, and making people think, days, weeks, months, etc, sometimes he says decades, rotton fiend. No real news on the job front for DH there are a few that he is in the process of applying for.

I haven't got any more news this time around, I think this is long enough, just wish everyone happiness and lots of stitching.

Lots of updates.

We have all been sick!!! It started with Luke who has had over a week off school with the flu. Then DH last week, couldn't get out of bed on Monday of last week but has been slowly improving. The two little ones, Joel and Caitlyn, have been in and out of bed for about a week now with varying temperatures and other symptoms. I went to a work training course last Wednesday in Shepparton, 1 and 1/2 hours away from home, didn't feel to flash when I woke up in the morning, but just put it down to tiredness from looking after everyone else. I don't know how I made it home, but when I did I just went to bed. DH took Joel, Caitlyn and myself to emergency at our local hospital and luckily my doctor was on duty that night. He started making jokes about seeing all of us at once and I just told him it wasn't funny. (Not feeling very humorous at this stage). He just said it was the flu, it is going around like crazy, treat the symptoms, go home and do nothing, he gave me a week off from work.

Luke has gone to school today, we sent Caitlyn to pre-school only to get a call from them that she wasn't well enough to stay. DH took her to see the doctor and she has now developed an ear infection which is common for this strain of flu apparently. So she has had her first dose of antibiotics and should be on the road to recovery.

Through all of this I have been stitching, and here are some update pictures of Noah's Ark and Reeds Stocking.

In other work news a person resigned a couple of weeks ago, and even though my boss knows that I will be leaving eventually, I have been offered the position. So instead of my 'nice' 2 days per week, I will now be working for 4 days per week. Mondays will only be for three hours, I will have Tuesdays off, with normal length days for Wed, Thurs and Fri. I should have started these hours this week, but with being sick it was not to be.

There is nothing significant to report with regards to DH's job hunting, he has only been doing bits and pieces on the computer and phone, he hasn't been up to doing much of anything else, just like the rest of us. I am ready for us all to be well again!!! SOON!!!

I do have updates of Sampler Game Board and CdC as well, but will save them for another time.

I have had some stashy mail; I ordered a further 10 skeins of Dinky Dyes thread for CdC and also a metre of 40ct lambswool linen and have received both from Stitching Obsession. I was thinking of doing HOHRH of VOHRH, I have both in my stash, on the 40ct, using one strand of DMC.

I also placed an order with Dragonfly Dreams so that I could get my JCS orni issue, of course that was not all that I ordered, will share when it arrives.

I had better go and try and get this house sorted out a bit, I hope everyone is stitching lots.

My Middle Name

I was tagged by Kim and here are my answers:

The rules:
1 You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2 Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name.If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3 When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4 At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My middle name is Marie (the same as Kim's)

M is for marriage: DH and I have been married for 7 and 1/2 years. We have had our ups and downs, but more ups and it seems that the longer we are together the stronger we become.

A is for additional: as in additional pets. One day DH and I took a walk to our supermarket and we always look at the community notice board. This day there was a photo of the cutest looking dog, who was free to a good home. I said to hubby that we just have to have him so we rang the phone number, when to see the dog, and then he became ours. He fitted in perfectly with our family, is great with the kids, very tolerant of them. He was owned by a young girl and is very attached to me for this reason, and he loves lying on my lap, even if said lap is already occupied with my stitching.

R is for religion: At a particularly low point in my life I felt that I needed some sort of help, and although I had never thought to go to church before in my life, I felt that I needed God at that point. In the next twelve months I met my DH, a Christian, and have been going to church ever since. I believe that all things happen for a reason and that God had a big hand in me meeting my DH.

I is for integrity: My job as a bank employee calls for a high level of integrity. I have to ensure that I do not compromise any of my clients financial or personal information in any way, even to the point of telling DH that I saw such and such today, which of course would divulge that the person banks with my employer.

E is for excitement: I love seeing excitement on the faces of my children, seeing their expressions when they are looking forward to something, like going to the park or some such treat.

I am not going to tag anyone else, but if your blog title begins with a letter which is in my middle name, consider your self tagged and let me know so that I check out your answers.

A week ago a person at my work resigned and they have offered me the position, even though they know that I will be leaving before Christmas. So my two days a week very cushy job, has now become four days a week, starting this week. The extra money will come in handy (more stash) but I will be exhausted by the time the week end comes around.

I owe some update photos of a few projects and will try to get them done soon, my camera needs new batteries and I it won't even turn on when they are flat.

Everyone seems to be coming down with some sort of flu at the moment; Luke had been in bed since last Friday, he is up and about today and I think he will be well enough for school tomorrow, Caitlyn has had a temperature since Monday morning and didn't go to pre-school yesterday and has a terrible cold, and this morning DH woke up feeling cold and achy. Joel and I have escaped everything so far, I hope this continues. I am going on a training course tomorrow for work and I am picking up another girl on the way, I am looking forward to it and I hope that I don't come down with anything.

I had better go now, after boring all of you, I hope you are all getting lots of stitching done and that you are all well.

Some pictures at last.

Yeah, blogger is finally being cooperative. This picture is for Ranae. This is of my fractal. The centre of it is stitched in greens and yellows, it is huge and apart from where I have gone off on a tangent with it, I have almost stitched two pages of thirty.








Here are before and after pictures after its rotation.


















The next update is for CdC. I have almost finished the outside border but decided to do some filling in of the circles, the more I do of this the more I love it. I am so glad that I decided to have this as my week end stitch so that I can work on it more regularly.












Here is a closer picture of where it has been filled in. Someone on the Cirque des Cercles blog said that finishing each section was like a mini happy dance, and they were so right. I get excited finishing one section and then I just have to start the next. We all know how addictive stitching can be and how hard it is to put our needles down.

It will be my birthday soon and the other day hubby asked if I would like an LCD computer screen, of course I said yes!!! So now I am looking at every one's blog on a 19 inch LCD monitor and I am loving it.
Later today we are heading to Bendigo and tonight we, DH, Luke and I, are going to the theatre to see a production of Oaklahoma. We love the theatre and are never disappointed by the productions that Bendigo Theatre Company put on. Joel and Caitlyn are being baby-sat by a friend of the in-laws and when they are old enough we will take them also.
I hope that all of you enjoy your week end, and that you get lots of stitching done.

Lots of news.

Last Saturday there was a stitching GTG held in Melbourne. I was emailing Tannia to wish her well and she asked me if I was going to the GTG. After a bit of thought, and realising that we didn't have any plans, I asked DH if he could take me. He said yes, and I asked Tannia what the details were, address etc. It took 3 1/2 hours to get there but it was worth it, I had an amazing time. For me to walk into a house, not know the owner, or any other person there, is so far out of my comfort zone, it is not funny. I had a couple of weird thoughts of what am I doing, on the drive there, but quickly dismissed them when I thought of the other stitchers that I was going to meet.

When I walked in I immediately recognised Tannia and Marita from their blogs, and I was introduced to everyone, I am sorry I am terrible for remembering names, and met the hostess Bernadette, who wait for it, also has an ONS called The Needlework Boutique. With me I took CdC, my completed Celtic Spring and Daughters and my HAED Gypsy Rose. I was made to feel very comfortable by everyone who had lovely things to say about my work. Unfortunately Tannia, Marita and some other ladies had to leave not long after I got there. Tannia gave me the warmest of hugs as she was going. I will remember this day for along time to come. Once everyone else had left Bernadette suggested I call DH, who had taken our children to McDonalds for a play, and ask them back to her house so that our children could play with hers. Luke enjoyed playing football (Aussie Rules) with her 10yo DS, while Joel and Caitlyn played indoors with her 2 DD's.

On the job front, remember DH tried to set up an interview with another company in Canberra, he had a phone interview with them, then an 'in person' interview on Wednesday. Another trip to Canberra, and then onto Melbourne for a position with a council. The two Canberra postions are being handled by the same consultant, and has told DH of another position, and told him that he would have him in a position in Canberra before Christmas. We will wait and see. We are not stressed about DH being out of work, it is almost exciting thinking about where we will end up.

I have been stitching and owe some progress pictures, will try for later today/tonight.

Thank you to everyone for wishing DH the best for his interviews, it means alot to me.

Job news

Would like to thank everyone for the comments that they have left and the well wishes left for DH for his job prospects, they are much appreciated.
The job that hubby interviewed for last Friday in Canberra contacted him on Monday to say that they wanted to talk with his referees, so that is some great news. The other Canberra position, that he was unable to organise an interview with, conducted a phone interview with him on Monday afternoon and now want to see him in person. So hubby is off to Canberra again on Wednesday, and then on to Melbourne on Thursday.

Today is his last day of work and he has been in such high spirits, I am very proud of him. This proves to me that our time here is up, and as Luke begins secondary school next year and Joel start primary school, our move could not have come at a better time.

As for stitching I am currently working on my fractual, and I feel that I have made some progress on it. I am itching to start a Miribilia after I have my next finish, but I would like to incorporate some smaller projects into my rotation as most of them are LARGE. At this stage I have Sleeping Beauty and Petal Fairy almost fully kitted, lets see what happens.

Hope everyone is well and stitching

Desert Guardian update.

I have just finished the weekly rotation on Desert Guardian by Character Creations. Here are before and after photos.

Lots of confetti stitching in this one, but I am enjoying it. It is the week end, and I get to stitch on CdC. Will post a picture after the week end.

I would like to thank everyone for visiting and leaving comments, I love reading your replies to my posts. I got my assignment away, and my uni received it only one day late, I can live with that. The next assignment isn't due until the middle to late September. So I can concentrate on the course work for this topic.

Yesterday DH drove over 1000 kilometers to Canberra and back for a job interview. I think the employment consultant felt sorry for him, with the distance traveled, and even bought him lunch before the interview. We should find out next week if he has been successful or not. He is aware of another position in Canberra and tried to organise an interview for it while he was there, but it couldn't be done, so he might have to go there again next week. He'll be in Melbourne on Monday for, I think, two interviews, one is with a university, and the other is for a council. (Sorry Marita I am not going so I won't be able to catch up with you this time, I also work on Mondays).

Luke is playing his last game of soccer for the season today, I would have liked to go but I've just been so tired lately, I am sure I just need some 'earlier' nights.

I think that is all I have to say at the moment, I hope everyone has a great week end with lots of stitching.

It has been a while

Sorry it has taken so long to get organised enough to put together a post, life just gets is the way of the things that we like to do at times, doesn't it?

I would like to thank everyone for their comments and for their kind wishes and thoughts for DH's job interviews. Still no new job, though still in the mix are; Devanport, Ballarat, a job at Melbourne University, a council in surburban Melbourne, and new ones at Warragul, one hour from Melbourne and he is still following up on a couple of others. There was one which he didn't feel that he interviewed well for which has been re-advertised. He contacted them and asked for them to trial him for 3 months, and that he would prove that he could perform the neccessary tasks required, still waiting to hear back from them.

I have an exam this afternoon, my first written one at university level. I have already seen the questions and have formulated my answers but I am still not over confident. I haven't received my assignment back yet either, just waiting to see what penalties will be applied as it was 'very' late, no doubt I will see in due course.

I have been stitching, even if it is only for an hour or so every night. I have also started to knit an afghan with six different colored stripes, eight balls of each color, and I am on the third stripe of the first lot of eight balls - I hope this makes sense, not feeling very coherent at the moment, not a good feeling before an exam.

I have made fairly good progress on Cirque des Cercles over the past two week-ends. I have also stitched on Bubbles, Celtic Banner and at the moment I am stitching on Daughters, hoping for a happy dance on this one (fingers crossed).












Here is CdC. As you can see I have been concentrating on doing the border and the outer circles, I am sure progress will seem to come to a halt once I start filling in the gaps.







Here are before and after shots of Bubbles. Not the greates of photos unfortunately, but the after shot is actually showing a second patch of lighter colors as in the before shot.













And finally here is Celtic Banner, again not much progress, but at least you can tell that it has been worked on. The left hand side border got some attention this time also.

Well I have some washing to hang out and a few other things to do before DH comes home from work to baby sit so I can do some last minute studying before my exam.

I Am Still Here

Hi everyone, as the title says I am still here, have just been busy.

My assignment is finished WOOHOO at long last and when I last checked with my uni, it had been sent to the assessor for assessment, so should have it back in the next week or so. Hubby didn't get the job in Melbourne. It was with the Australian Cricket Board, but he has four interviews today in Ballarat, two with employment consultants and two for actual jobs. There is another in the pipeline which would mean relocating to Tasmania, this would be fine as it is located in Devonport which is where the Spirit of Tasmania (ferry between Melbourne and Tasmania) docks. It is able to carry cars as well as passengers, and as all of our families and friends are in Victoria or southern New South Wales it means that it is not too difficult to reach them, or of course we could also fly. This prospect is exciting for me as Tassie is the only state in Australia that I haven't been to, what better way to check it out while living there. But we shall wait and see.

I have been stitching and I owe a few progress pictures so here they are:

First is There is no Place Like Home, before and after. Not a huge amount of progress, but still progress. I was concentrating on my assignment so stitching had to take a back seat. Not to worry.

Next in my rotation was And A Forest Grew, before and after.

Again not much progress, the three small trees are out of position my a stitch, I didn't rip them out as the position of their neighbouring motifs is not affected, I may decide to 'fix' them, or I may just leave them.

I did stitch on CdC over the weekend and made some good progress and will post of picture of it soon. My clicky finger has been at it again, this time I put in an order with 123stitch, How fast are they? I placed my order on the 11th, it was shipped on the 11th, and I received it on the 19th. I will post what I ordered and pictures later on.

Thank you everyone for you comments, they are very much appreciated. Happy stitching.

Time for an Update.

Last Friday saw the end of my rotation for The Castle.

I stitched all of the bushes that needed finishing and made a start on the castle. Teresa is quite the genius when she works out her blends. I love the way they look. But I don't know that I will ever stitch another of her designs even though there are a few that I do like. But then you never know, we can all change our minds, can't we.

On the week-end I made a start on Ink Circles Cirque des Cercles. I am stitching it on 28ct Navy Jobelan with Dinky Dyes silk in Desert Sand. Here is a picture. The fabric looks more purple in this photo and I think IRL the threads are a richer colour. Never mind, still gives all of you an idea of what it looks like. I am loving the silks they are so soft and pleasant to stitch with.

I would like to thank all of you for your support in my decision to concentrate on my studies and appreciate that you will still look forward to seeing my progress on my wips.

Hubby has a job interview on Monday for the position of Chief Finance Officer for a major sporting association in Melbourne. At this stage any job would be good. I grew up in Melbourne, but have not lived there for 10 years now, and I would prefer to be in the country. But we have to go where the jobs are for hubby.

We are all fine and into the second week of term break, finding care for the two littlies has been interesting. Wednesday last week Luke actually looked after them with strict instructions to 'actually' watch them, and not get engrossed in television shows or the computer, which he is inclined to do, as I suppose all 12 year olds do. He did a great job and was extremely pleased when he received $20 for his work. I would never let him do this if we were not so close. Hubby and I made phone calls at different times of the day to make sure they were all okay and Luke knows all of our contact numbers, and we could be home in less than five minutes. This Wednesday a girlfriend of mine has offered to have Joel and Caitlyn and Luke was disappointed as he would not get paid again. Oh well Luke, you can always help Mum with the house work.

I had better go now and hopefully get closer to finishing my long over due assignment, 700 words to go, including conclussion of about 500 words and which I generally find easy to write. Happy stitching everyone and stay safe.

Reed's Stocking update

Here are my before and after pictures of Reed's Stocking. This is a fun stitch and it does go quickly. I am doing it on 18ct floba using DMC perle cottons as suggested by the designer.

I was able to purchase all of the perle cottons, for all five stocking patterns that I am planning on doing for all of us, from an ONS which was closing down earlier this year. I was sad to see the ONS close but I was happy to buy these at a reduced price.

I have also taken some pictures from the stash that I received from Jenna.

Here are LHN and CC collaborations packs; Wisdom, Goodwill and Believe.

These one's are Peace, Faith and Love and Faithfulness.

And finally these are Patience, and Tree of Life.

The threads in this picture are all Dinky Dyes silks. The middle bundle is for Cats Whiskers Blessed With Happiness, and the other color, Desert Sands which came from StitchingObsession, is for Ink Circles Cirque des Cercles.

I would like to thank everyone who left comments about hubbies job. He has still got a job until the end of August, this is when his contract runs out, so we are not panicking too much. In today's paper there are a number of suitable jobs for him, so he will be busy next week applying for them.

My job is still going well, the kids are all well so we are truely blessed in so many ways.

Happy stitching everyone.

Job News

Unfortunately DH didn't get the job. I would like to thank everyone for their well wishes. Although disappointed some positives came out of the interview. Hubby had to do a power point presentation on differing investment scenarios, and the employment consultant said that DH's was the best out of the three people that were interviewed. Consultant also said that DH is heading in the right direction career wise, and that he should keep applying for this kind of job, as he is ready for this move.

I know that I owe all of you some update photos, will try for either tonight or tomorrow (fingers crossed).

Bye for now, and thanks for reading.

My son is awesome

You may remember that Luke qualified to run in a cross country event. This post. On Thursday morning DH and Luke left home to make their way to Sydney. At this level Luke was representing his schools' district. Out of a field of 15-20 other kids Luke came 7th. Only six kids go on to the next level, but if someone is unable to go Luke, as emergency, will go. We don't care what happens after this we are just proud and pleased that Luke was able to do so well, and get this far.

As far a study goes. I have decided not to continue on with this semester. The topic is not my first love and not where I see myself headed. Because we are planning on moving, hopefully in the next six months, I have also decided to apply to defer for six months. I didn't realise that working two days a week would take so much away from my study, but I just seemed to be getting further and further behind. Joel will start school next year, so hopefully that will enable me to have more study time. In this six months I am going to concentrate my efforts on changing my course from an Arts degree to a Science degree. My real desire is to study Psychology and while psych is a more demanding course, I find it much more interesting and stimulating. I fee relieved now that I have made this decision and it is now time to move on.

As for stitching. I am enjoying Joel's birth sampler and have made some progress. The rotation finishes tonight and I hope to post progress pictures on Tuesday. Next in my rotation is Shepherds Bush Reed's Stocking, looking forward to this one, it seemed to stitch up really quickly last time.

My clicky finger has been at it again. Can't it show any control at all!!!! LOL. I will not put my new stash away until I can post some pictures. This lot came from a new ONS, for me, called Stitching Obsession, here is a link, http://stitchingobsession.com.au/index.php Mandy was lovely to deal with and I was pleased with how my order was posted. My order from Jenna has been shipped and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

That is all for now, take care everyone and happy stitching.

To thank you all

I would like to thank all of you for your kind wishes for Caitlyn, she has recovered fully and the only downside is a small perforation in her ear drum, which the specialist has said will heal fully and should not affect her hearing at all, thank God for that.

If you recall while she was in hospital the local radio station broadcast their morning show from the play room on the children's ward and that there were lots of photos taken, well the photos have finally appeared on the web site and here is a link: http://theradio.com.au/Program.aspx?PageID=5552&ProgramID=269&Station=TheRiver_105.7FM_Albury To view to photo you will need to scroll down and click on the GM54KIDS link, Caitlyn is in the third photo. In the photo are the two presenters, the clown, our Caitlyn and another patient whose name is Cassandra. I know that the picture of Caitlyn is rather obscure with the balloon crown around her neck, and the clown nose on her nose, but hubby prefers that I don't post pictures of the kids on my blog. Unless I can change his mind this will be it I am afraid. Thought it would be okay to post this one as it is already on the net.

Yesterday it was Joel's birthday, he turned five. How did that happen? I think he had a wonderful day, cake at pre-school, he chose to have dinner at McDonald's with a cake later on at home also. He also had a cake on Monday at a different pre-school.

I will go now and get some update pictures ready for you.

What a week!!!

First of all I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to read my news and for commenting, it is wonderful to hear from you all.

Our week started in relative calm, barring my assignment being due on Monday and it is still not finished. I have been in touch with my lecturer for this subject and she has been great, but I have yet to notify her of our new developments. She has granted me an extension as long as I am making progress and letting her know where I am at. I am seriously in two minds regarding study at the moment, I don't know if it is just the topic I am doing this semester or whether I am burnt out. I would really like to transfer my degree to a psychology degree, find psychology more stimulating and interesting even if the demands of the course are higher. Some of my study time has been gobbled up due to returning to work, I will have to see what strategies hubby and I can work out.

Next lot of drama, our daughter Caitlyn made a comment on Tueday night, late, that it won't come out. I asked what wouldn't come out and she said the ball from my ear. It was around midnight and you might ask what was she doing up at midnight. The answer is easy; her and Joel have both had colds, which they have kindly shared with me, and stayed home from pre-school on Monday and I stayed home from work to care for them. So Tuesday came and I let Caitlyn have an afternoon sleep, and when this happens she wakes later on, even if she only sleeps for half an hour, and turns into a party animal and won't sleep until we go to bed.

Back to the story, I take her to our local hospitals emergency department. The doctor on duty that night didn't want to come in for this and instucted the nurse to attempt removal via suction, which was not successful. We went back Wednesday morning and our GP was at the hospital doing his rounds and he had a go but it was too painful for Caitlyn so he said that he would put Caitlyn under a general anaesthetic on Thursday morning, which is when he did his theatre work, and get it out then.

Thursday morning arrives and as happens when anyone close to you has surgery of any kind the levels of anxiety are pretty high. I nursed her while she went under and then went out and sat in the waiting room. Another doctor came to get me and told me that herself and our GP had tried to remove the ball, but they weren't successful, only managed to push the ball further down my little girls ear canal. I could hear her crying out in pain and that was all it took for me to start crying also. They had caused some trauma to her canal and there was a bit of blood coming from her ear. They decided that the best thing for us to do was to take her two and half hours away to Albury, where they have specialists and a much bigger hospital. So we got organised, picked Luke up from school, Joel was with hubby anyway, and we arrived in Albury at about 3 in the afternoon. Caitlyn was operated on again at 8pm that evening. They managed to remove the foreign body as they called it, and she was fast asleep back on the ward by 9pm.

Thankfully we have friends who live about half an hour from Albury and hubby, Luke and Joel stayed there while I stayed with Caitlyn in the hospital.

The next day she was made a huge fuss of as the local radio station was holding a promotion in the childrens ward. They were raising funds for new furniture for a parents accommadation room, and new cardiac machines. Two of the girls kept on taking photos of her to be placed on their web site and she was also chosen to be in the local paper which covers a huge area. At least we were able to have this bit of fun on top of all the stress that we had been through. We are all home safe and Caitlyn has not once complained about being in pain, she has been so good offering her ear for anyone to look in and doing whatever the nurses wanted her to do during her observations.

Stitching, what is that - I have managed a little bit during all the dramas, will have to post Mondays update photos another time, want to spend some time with hubby and just relax and unwind.

Bye for now.

Joanne

Pictures at last.

Well I am finally able to show you the progress on Lizzie Kate's Daughters. Not too much more to do on this, just another flower, finish the verse which is Daughters are a special joy, and finish the border. I thought that I would have been able to finish it this time but it just didn't happen. There is always its next time in my rotation.

Next up in my rotation is for my son Luke. He asked me to show him designs of dragons and he chose (asked for me to stitch) Desert Guardian, by Character Creations. Here is a link with a picture if you would like to see it. http://www.dragonflydreams.com.au/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=2688 I will stitch on this until Sunday night as per my rotation.

This next lot of photos is something that I have been stitching on for years, possibly as long as Luke has been on this earth, 12 years. It was started when he was quite young and I was on maternity leave from work. I found this pattern and another one, which will be a birth sampler for DD Caitlyn, in a knitting and craft book that I bought. I finished the stitching last year sometime. Luke saw me stitching on Joel's birth sampler, a Dimensions Chart and Charms pattern with a design of Noah's Ark, which has a 3 stitch wide border. He asked what would his look like with a border. I told him that if he would like a border on his that I would stitch it for him. I got him to choose the style, funny enough the same as Joel's, and color. He chose DMC variations thread color number 4050, I don't think a better choice could have been made as alot of the greens in that thread were already in the design. So earlier this year I stitched and finished the border, it didn't take too long, perhaps 5-7 days of off and on stitching.

Here is the full piece. It is quite large, not sure of the exact measurements off hand. On the bottom Luke only wanted one row of stitching as there is already quite alot of green in the grass.

And here are two closer shots of each half.

Now just to get it framed. I am thinking of just a fairly plain wooden frame without any mats as there is so much detail in the design, that it doesn't need anything too fancy. And after all it for a 12yo boy, who is also very keen on telling us that he is almost a teen-ager. Where has the time gone?

Well I will leave it at that and go and continue to do that bear of an assignment of mine. Whose idea was it for me to do a Uni degree? OOHH that's right, it was mine!!!!

Bye for now everyone, and happy stitching.