Ozark Sampler SAL 2007

As the second part of the Ozark Sampler SAL is due out tomorrow I thought I'd better get on and stitch the first part which I've had for the best part of a month. The border looks lovely IRL but god it was monotonous to sew. I would have lost the will to live without a few essential breaks - afternoon nap, tea, supper. LOL!

I've been watching 'Bridget Jones - The Edge Of Reason' while finishing the border off but now there's a break for the news. I've seen it before of course, AND read the book (which is nothing like the film - but then they never are!) and just debating my next new start. I think the new start for tomorrow is going to be Sweetheart Sampler by Blackbird Designs. And there'll be a new start on Friday too, Signs Of Spring from Bent Creek. Will have to have a look and see which WDW threads I have for the latter, the rest of the threads will have to be DMC, unless I substitute them with Six Strand Sweets. Hmm...decisions.

Celtic Lady has head and shoulders

Yesterday was our Celtic Lady SAL day. As you can see I did some stitching on her head and shoulders. There's a little bit of stitching still to do in her hair, and I need to add some beads, but they will go on last. I also made a small start on the top border. That little bit above her head is going to be the letter U (not a hat like Craig thought!) but that probably won't get done till next week, unless I go back to the bottom of the chart and finish the bottom of her dress off.

Chevrolet Tacuma CDX

...is a bloody horrible car. I know we were comparing it to the C-Max but even so! The boot is a hell of a lot smaller for a start, and we felt all scrunched up in the front seats. The bars at the edges of the windscreen (there's probably a technical name for them) seemed bigger, which makes for a larger blind spot and I didn't like the dashboard. The model we looked at was actually 3 years old as they didn't have a brand new one in the showroom, and the Chevrolet Motability bloke wasn't in, he was off delivering someone's car to them. It was flippin' freezing standing around outside, although we were offered a coffee in the showroom if we wanted to go back in. Our car was nearer and after we decided we didn't actually like the Chevrolet we just got back in ours and came home instead.

So...it looks as though I'll be getting another C-Max, and we're going to the Ford showroom next Tuesday to order it.

Getting Older

GAMES FOR WHEN WE ARE OLDER:
1. Sag, you're It.
2. Hide and go pee.
3. 20 questions shouted into your good ear.
4. Kick the bucket
5. Red Rover, Red Rover, the nurse says Bend Over.
6. Musical recliners.
7. Simon says something incoherent.
8. Pin the Toupee on the bald guy.

SIGNS OF MENOPAUSE:
1. You sell your home heating system at a car boot sale.
2. You have to write post-it notes with your kids' names on them.
3. You change your underwear after a sneeze.

OLD IS WHEN:
1. Going bra-less pulls all the wrinkles out of your face.
2. You don't care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don't have to go along.
3. Getting a little action means I don't need fibre today.
4. Getting lucky means you find your car in the parking lot.
5. An all-nighter means not getting up to pee!

Thoughts for the weekend:
Wouldn't it be nice if whenever we messed up our life we could simply press 'Ctr Alt Delete' and start all over?
Remember...if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.
If raising children was going to be easy, it never would have started with something called labor! Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever.

But Most Of All, Remember ! A Friend Is Like A Good Bra. Hard to Find, Supportive, Comfortable, And Always Close To Your Heart!

Things To Ponder in 2007

• Number 10 - Life is sexually transmitted.

• Number 9 - Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

• Number 8 - Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

• Number 7 - Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

• Number 6 - Some people are like a Slinky ... not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

• Number 5 - Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

• Number 4 - All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

• Number 3 - Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200 and a substantial tax cut saves you 30 cents?

• Number 2 - In the 60s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

• AND THE NUMBER 1 THOUGHT FOR 2007: We know exactly where one cow with mad-cow-disease is located among the millions and millions of cows in America but we haven't got a clue as to where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of immigration

Weird Me!

I have been tagged by Claire to reveal 6 weird things about myself. Hmmm...gonna ask Craig for help on this one. Ahh isn't that sweet, he can't think of anything. LOL. Blimey, Dene says I don't do that many weird things either...he must be after something.

1. I almost always read the last page of a book before I'm halfway through reading the first page.
2. When I'm playing bingo I play with my books upside down.
3. I chew the insides of my cheeks and my bottom lip when I'm concentrating on something.
4. I can touch my nose with my tongue.
5. When I was little I used to disappear from the house and go and sit in the hen hut, in the nesting boxes...without being pecked once.
6. I can swallow a handful of tablets with one gulp of water.

As a last resort I had to ring Mam and Dad to help with this one and they couldn't think of anything either, so that means I must be perfectly normal. OK, who to tag next. Kathy, Karen, Sharon, Jo T, Chris and Jane.

The Earth...Update

I've been stitching on The Earth... today, in between doing other stuff like taking the dog for a walk along the beach. SHE was on the beach, I was on the prom. And watching last night's Top Gear, where they showed Richard Hammond's crash. WOW! He was very lucky to get out of that one alive.

Anyway, we now have a turtle and the polar bear has defined ears. Watch this space for next week's update. Tomorrow I'm going to be working on Celtic Autumn, but I'm also going to a Chevrolet garage to see if I like the Tacuma. If I do it could be my new car in May. If I don't (it's automatic and I've never driven an auto before) then I'll just get another Focus C-Max like the one I've got now.

Comfort & Rest WIP

I took this photo this morning after working on it for most of yesterday. I should have it finished next week when I work on it. The picture doesn't really do it justice, I will try and do a better one for the HD photo.

Today I've been working on my Dimensions SAL - The Earth Is Our Home and I now have a Galapagos Turtle (turtle of some description anyway), he just needs backstitching. Will post a photo of this tomorrow after working some more on him tonight.

Birthday New Start

This is what Jayne nagged me into started yesterday. I've actually done a bit more since this photo was taken earlier today but I can't be bothered to take another photo. How lazy is that?! It's a design from Chatelaine (Martina Weber) and is from the chart entitled Mini Mandalas II - A. I have B and C to do after this one. They all use the same colours but are all different. You can't really see all the colour changes on this photo, all the different shades of greeny-blue. There are still some beads to go on round the middle and another metallic colour that I don't have as yet. And I'm up to the speciality stitches soon. Maybe you'll see them in the next photograph.

Clean Drawers

And no, I don't mean the kind you wear! LOL. I mean the type you keep stuff in, namely, the chest of drawers in my corner of the room where I keep some of my stitching stash, WIPs etc. As I've had the house to myself since 8am this morning (Craig is out and Dene has gone paintballing), I decided I would clean out my drawers. Craig had already half emptied one of them last night while he was looking for something...something that wasn't even in there, it was on the top...so I thought I might as well do the whole lot. There are two small drawers at the top which were fairly quick to do, then two full width drawers, one deeper than the other. I managed to get them all cleaned out and they looked lovely and empty. But that could have been cos most of the contents were still piled high on the table!

Anyway, I've put back what needs to go back and now I have a black bag full of rubbish, a huge pile of charts etc that need to go back upstairs, a few things that can go in my patchwork box, and some things that I've parcelled up for the Stay At Home Parcel on Stitch & Stash. I can't post those off just yet though as the lady who organises it has gone on holiday. Of course, now that they're tidy, I won't be able to find anything.

Birthday Stash Haul

I've had a great birthday today, with lots of stash, both as pressies and that I bought myself. From Kathy I received:

• My Country House - Elizabeth Designs
• Blue Sky Sampler - Elizabeth Designs
• Nature's Alphabet II - Elizabeth Designs
• Mill Hill beads and Treasures
• WDW threads
• Needle Necessities thread

Mam & Dad gave me money and Lynn a gift card for Jayne's Attic, so this afternoon I went to the Attic to spend it all...as well as the kids' board money. I bought three new pairs of Premax scissors, 4 Finca #12 Perle threads, some Dragon Floss, 2 x Dragon Fabrics, 2 x Sassy's Fabbys, 2 x Sugar Maple Fabrics, 2 x Chatelaine Charts - Mini Mandalas II and Taj Mahal Mandala Garden, and some Count On Me fabric. I've been in heaven today.

Dene bought me some flowers and some trainer socks which Kate immediately claimed as being nickable. Told her if she nicked these ones I'd evict her.

When I came home I had a bath, got into my jammies, opened a bottle of wine, sent out for a takeaway from the best Chinese in Blyth and settled down in front of the telly with my stitching and the laptop. Craig is out, Kate is at Matty's, Ian is at his Dad's and Dene has been upstairs most of the night. Just me and the dog. BLISS!

Another Year Older & Deeper In Debt

Well the first bit is true, but not necessarily the second bit. Forty one today! Craig took me out for a meal last night, to the Astley Arms, where they do a fairly decent, and more importantly, CHEAP, carvery. Had a couple of drinks before coming home and spending the rest of the evening in front of the telly.

I was up this morning at 6.30am! Yes I know it's virtually unheard of, but hey, it's my birthday...cards to open, money to spend etc. Craig renewed my subscription to the patchwork & quilting magazine that I get and bought me a pen set; Kate gave me The Proper Stitch book that was supposed to be for Christmas but didn't arrived from the US till a couple of weeks ago. Mam and Dad gave me money. No one else is up yet.

I'm hopefully going over to Jayne's today. I know there's a gift card there for me from Lynn, and I'm expecting a pressie from Kathy in the mail. It could be this afternoon before that arrives; yesterday the postie didn't come till after 12.30pm!

Snowman HD

I finished this earlier today. It's called Ain't He Sweet by 4 My Boys, and it's stitched on Polstitches Santa's Little Helpers 32 count fabric, with Weeks Dye Works threads. I didn't have the correct buttons that it said on the chart, so I just used what I did have and I think it's turned out pretty good.

Thanks for looking folks.

Oh! And this is finish number 8. In case you were wondering.

Sally...I stitch on Celtic Autumn one day a week. I have a few weeks to catch up with to be honest with you, but I don't know if I ever will. LOL.

Celtic Autumn Update

As you know we're doing a Celtic Lady SAL on one of the boards that I visit. I haven't posted a piccie of her for a while and I was stitching on her yesterday so thought I would bring you up to date with what I've done so far.

I've done a bit of beading on her but I'm going to save the rest till the cross stitch is finished as they keep getting caught on the frame and coming loose. I'm going to have to re-attach quite a few that are hanging off. SIGH!

Today I'm back to working on the snowman from 4 My Boys, although I could be going back to bed soon as I have terrible stomach cramp. Don't you just love Mother Nature...NOT!

We went to bingo last night and Craig shared a £100 house with two other people. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick I suppose. I didn't win anything so we're back to normal.

The Three Bears

Baby bear goes downstairs, sits in his small chair at the table, he looks into his small bowl. It is empty.

"Who's been eating my porridge?" he squeaks.

Daddy Bear arrives at the big table and sits in his big chair. He looked into his big bowl and it is also empty.

"Who's been eating my porridge?!?" he roars.

Mummy Bear puts her head through the serving hatch from the kitchen and yells,

"For God's sake, how many times do we have to go through this withyou idiots?

It was Mummy Bear who got up first.

It was Mummy Bear who woke everyone in the house.

It was Mummy Bear who made the coffee.

It was Mummy Bear who unloaded the dishwasher from last night and put everything away.

It was Mummy Bear who went out in the cold early morning air to fetch the newspaper and croissants.

It was Mummy Bear who set the damn table.

It was Mummy Bear who put the bloody cats out, cleaned out the litter boxes, put out their food and refilled their water.

And now that you've decided to drag your sorry bear-asses downstairs and grace Mummy Bear with your grumpy presence, listen carefully because I'm only going to say this once. . . . .I HAVEN'T MADE THE F***ING PORRIDGE YET!!!"

WIP's and Driving Tests

Well, here is The Earth... after two days of work. The brown thead lying on the material is just the backstitch thread. I couldn't go any further up that side with it till I've done a bit more down the side of the polar bear so it's just hangin'. The black bit on the left hand side is the arse end of a penguin, but he won't be finished for a while cos I'm going up the right side first. The next animal is a turtle.

Kate had another driving test this morning...and failed again. She wasn't as gutted this time as the first one. She had to do a reverse park this time and she mounted the kerb. The examiner said she deserved to pass as her general driving and the rest of her manoevres were fine. She's going to wait a couple of months till her finances are sorted out properly, then she's going to put in for it again and have some more lessons.

4 My Boys - Ain't He Sweet

Seeing as I haven't had a picture post for a few days I decided to give you a treat. LOL. Here's two. The first one is Rachael's finished Michael Powell RR. It was on aida so Craig did it for me. I hate aida.

The second photo is a 4 My Boys design called Ain't He Sweet, that I started over the weekend. It's being stitched on Polstitches 32 count fabric but I can't remember the name of it. Santa's Little Helpers (just found the bag in the bin!), and I'm using Weeks Dye Works threads like it says on the chart.

I've done a few hours of my Dimensions SAL piece today and now have a recognisable polar bear, and a penguin's tale. I'm working my way up the right hand side before I move across, so there's a turtle to do next.

I went for a walk again today. Instead of going along the promenade we went along the path through the dunes. Mollie had a great time exploring all the rabbit holes and hindering joggers (silly sods, fancy running in this weather! Running in ANY weather come to that!) by jumping up at them on their way past. Another taxi driver came with us this time, called Debbie, and she's even more unfit than I am. After tea we went along to Kevin's and took my computer tower with us as Kevin wants it to replace his which is getting old and decrepit, a bit like me. I might get a new one soon but I won't be holding my breath.

I have just had a lovely cup of hot choccy with brandy in it to help me sleep and I'll be going to bed soon. I am absolutely shattered. YAAAAWWWWWN!!

Budgie's Cage Syndrome

While I didn't have a headache or anything this morning when I got up, I did have a mouth like the bottom of a budgie's cage. BLEUCH! And I had a great nights sleep last night. Was up this morning before 9am and had a few games of Text Twist on here befre my brother rang me just before 10. Could I take him to the car parts shop as his car had committed suicide and he needed to go and get something to fix it.

Now I'm not into car mechanical bits and pieces AT ALL! As long as I can get in, drive from A to B, and get out in one piece at the other end then that's all I need to know. As soon as someone starts talking about car innards my eyes glaze over and I lose the will to live and switch off. Besides which, Craig used to be a mechanic so he does the tyre changing and "stuff", and as my car is only three years old, gets serviced regularly for free, I don't worry about it.

Anyway...I digress. The bloke at Ken's told Kevin that it was probably an electrical fault and to take the car back to the Nissan dealer to get it sorted out. Or have one of those diagnostic tests done on it. He was given the number of a mobile mechanic so we went round to Mam and Dad's so he could use her phone. While we were there, and while Kevin was looking through the manual, he discovered that he's a member of the RAC! So, he rang them up and they came out and more or less fixed the problem. Kevin is a taxi driver, and while the company mechanics were putting in his communication radio they've shoved all the cables back into the steering column willy nilly. They'd wrapped around the turning bit (sorry if this is too technical for you) and something had snapped. They'd also wrapped round the clutch pedal so that the pedal wasn't coming back up all the way. It's now more or less sorted, but he has to get a new bit. Don't ask.

This afternoon I've been working on the 4 My Boys design that I've been on about all week while I was waiting for the threads to arrive. I've stitched about half of the snowman while watching a DVD starring Ewan McGregor, called The Island. It was a bit weird, but good.

Tonight I'm going to carry on with the snowman though I don't think it'll be finished tonight. Then tomorrow I can do more of The Earth. Hope everyone's had a good weekend.

Now This Isn't Deliberate

But I've just noticed that I have 23 blog entries so far this year and it's only the 20th Jan. I wonder if I can have at least 365 entries (one per day) in 2007. I've not managed an average of one-a-day since I started this blog so it would be interesting to see if I can do it. I also have another two blogs on Blogger, but I never write anything on those. I might see if I can utilise them in some way.

No Stitching...

...at all tonight.

Too much on telly I wanted to watch for one thing, then chatting to friends on MSN. I love ice dancing so I had to watch Dancing On Ice, then Ant & Dec with Poker Face and when this finishes the skate off, so not a stitch stitched tonight. Isn't that terrible? Oh well. C'est la vie! I'm sure I'll make up for it tomorrow. LOL.

Feeling Worse For Wear

I've just opened my second bottle of wine and am feeling a tad the worse for wear. You probably all think I'm a bit of an alcoholic, but it's not often I have a good drink. I certainly shouldn't drink this much as I'm diabetic, but hey, life is too short to be a boring cow. I wish I could remember to take my tablets!

Round Robin HD

I've been working on a RR today. This is for Aion Friends, on the Aion message board, and I was working on Sarah's piece. Her theme is shoes, apparently she has a bit of a shoe thing going on. I quite enjoyed working on it, it was a quick stitch, althouh I did have to wait for a thread as it couldn't be found anywhere in the house. LOL. Always an excuse to buy more threads. The first picture is my square, and the other picture is of the whole thing so far. I hope she likes it.

Now, do I carry on and do some more of The Earth... or do I start something small? Oh I know, the WDW threads arrived in the mail this morning, as well as a couple of charts I'd ordered. So maybe I could make a start on the 4 My Boys chart that I was waiting for them for. Or maybe I should have the night off...

New Project Started Today

As some nice kind person sent me the 28 count white evenweave (Thanks Jo!) I was able to make a start on the Dimensions SAL. As most of you know, I'm not really into stitching C'massy stuff, so I'm doing something different (everyone else is doing Dimensions Sleigh Ride). Instead I'm doing 'The Earth Is Our Home...' which features a lot of endangered animals from around the world. This is my progress so far after about 3 hours of stitching.

The wind is getting up again outside, sounds as though we're in for another rough night. And when I let Mollie in it was raining too. The mad mutt could do with a bloody good bath cos she stinks. When Dene took her for a walk tonight she was apparently rolling in the mud on the field and now she is caked in the stuff. Typical when we've just put a clean quilt cover on the bed.

'The Earth...' is going to be put away for the weekend as I have a RR to work on for Aion Friends. I think the theme of the one I have is shoes, shouldn't take me too long, the back stitching will probably take me longer than the actual stitching. And of course I have to find the folder first that contains it. Someone has piled a load of junk on top of my drawers. Guess it was me. LOL.

Susimac

Hi Su, just a quickie question for you. You said your email address was in your profile and it's not. Mine is jacqui66elliott@btinternet.com could you please get in touch with me? Thanks.

I believe...

...that this is finish number 7! That's 7 this month, and 7 for the year total so far. (Thanks for asking Heather). This particular item was started at about 2.30am this morning - I couldn't sleep - and finished at 4.55am. One one of the boards I go on the January SAL topic was snowflakes, so here's mine. It has been taken from a bigger picture from a design by A Mon Ami Pierre called Jour de Neige (roughly translated as Snowy Day - knew my school French would come in useful one day!)

It's been stitched on Polstitches 28 count material called Christmas Day Morning, using Kate's Kloths stranded cotton Summer Sky. Bit daft for a snowflake but there you go. I like the colour and it doesn't really show up all that good on here.

Love Letters HD

This is Love Letters, a freebie design from Papillon Creations. I didn't use the DMC threads that were suggested on the chart, but used Grape Ice and Ocean from Weeks Dye Works. It was stitched on some sort of pink linen and this photo doesn't really do it justice.

On to the next one now!

HELP REQUIRED

Ok, so I want to change the format of my blog page...but I have no idea what to do with HTML. I've managed to change the bits down the sides but I wanted to alter the whole lot. I've downloaded a few templates but every time I try to change the codes it buggers everything up. Does anyone who reads my blog have ANY idea how to go about doing this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It's just that the templates provided with blogger are soo boring!

Bracing!

It's been bloody freezing today, all day, with high winds and torrential downpours, but thankfully no snow. I'd agreed to go for a walk along the beach with my little bro, his workmates Malcolm and Debbie, her dog and mad Mollie. Kevin rang me up this afternoon to see if I was still going seeing as the weather was so crap and I said I would. He picked me up at 4.30pm, then Malcolm, but Debbie chickened out. We drove down to the beach and started walking. Thankfully it didn't rain but it was blowing a gale and it was freezing. We walked to the end of the promenage then turned round and walked the other way, then back to the car. All in all about half an hour. More than enough in the cold. I've said I'll go with them again on Monday, as long as it's not snowing...I do NOT do snow. BRRRR!

In The Beginning

In the beginning God covered the earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, with green, yellow and red vegetables of all kinds so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives. Then using God's bountiful gifts, Satan created Dairy Ice Cream and Magnums. And Satan said "You want hot fudge with that? And Man said "Yes!" Then Woman said "I'll have one too with chocolate chips". And lo they gained 10 pounds.

So God created the healthy yoghurt that Woman might keep the figure that Man found so fair. And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat and sugar from the cane and combined them. And Woman went from size 12 to size14.

So God said "Try my fresh green salad". And Satan presented Blue Cheese dressing and garlic croutons on the side. And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast.

God then said "I have sent you healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them". And Satan brought forth deep fried coconut king prawns, butter-dipped lobster chunks and chicken fried steak, so big it needed its own platter. And Man's cholesterol went through the roof!

Then God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with potassium and good nutrition. So Satan peeled off the healthy skin and sliced the starchy centre into chips and deep fried them in animal fats adding copious quantities of salt. And Man put on more pounds.

God then brought forth running shoes so that his Children might lose those extra pounds. And Satan came forth with a cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil changing the channels. And Man and Woman laughed and cried before the flickering light and started wearing stretch jogging suits.

Then God gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite. And Satan created McDonalds and the 99p double cheeseburger. Then Satan said "You want fries with that?" and Man replied "Yes, And super size 'em!" And Satan said "It is good." And Man and Woman went into cardiac arrest.

God sighed ......... and created quadruple by-pass surgery. And then ...........Satan chuckled and created the National Health Service.

THE FINAL WORD ON NUTRITION

1. Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.

2. Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.

3. Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.

4. Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.

5. Germans drink beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.

CONCLUSION:Eat and drink what you like. It seems that it’s speaking English that will apparently kill you!!

Nothing gone right today...

Apart from the finish I had this morning (see below) nothing has gone right for me. I sorted out the threads for the Dimensions SAL that I'm doing with Karen and Kathy (and I think Joanne is going to join us too) and was just about to start gridding the material when I had a proper look at the chart and realised that most of the white bits aren't actually stitched, it's just the background material. As I was going to use a hand-dyed blue fabric to stitch this on I had to change my mind, and I'll have to wait till I can get some white evenweave. I have lots of antique white, but no pure white. Bugger!

So then I thought, right, I'll do something little in the meantime rather than get my CA out, and printed off this Ain't He Sweet chart by 4 My Boys. It needs Weeks Dye Works threads (or the DMC alternatives) so I go hunting for my WDW thread box. Only have ONE WDW thread out of the six that I needed. So I've ordered the rest from someone on eBay, as well as some Kreinik for a HAED design that Craig is going to start stitching as soon as he's finished the Michael Powell RR that he's doing for me. It's on aida and I hate aida. I've gridded his material for him and he's got all the threads, and now he can't wait to start it - QS Elemental Magic.

Seeing as I was still stitchless I printed off a Papillon freebie that I had on the laptop, called Love Letters, and subbed the two DMC threads for two WDW threads instead (seeing as the box was already downstairs and I couldn't be bothered to trek upstairs again to look for two DMCs.

I managed to get maybe 20 stitches done before tea was ready, inbetween picking the kids up from work, and before we headed off for bingo. The Gala bingo has a new machine, called a Wiz, and it's brilliant. Instead of buying the books you get one of these Wiz machines, which are more expensive, and a special pen to tap the numbers with, and it's all done on this little computer thingy. It beeps at you when you only need one number and tells you when you've won, although you still have to shout. I won £20 tonight, my first win for yonks and Craig won £5.25 plus a voucher which he used to buy a drink with.

By the way, for people who read my blog, I do read all your comments. Well, I have to before they get published, and I really appreciate you taking the time to make them. Thank you!

Another finish

Have just finished this today. It started out as a Whispered By The Wind design but I stitched the borders the wrong size so I had to design my own squares. Then it was sent as a RR, but only Kathy stitched the two squares that she was supposed to stitch, everyone else just did one. Consequently there were about five squares left for me to do when I received it home. Sigh!

MOLLIE TO A T!

A Dogs Law

If I like it, it’s mine
If it’s in my mouth, it’s mine
If I had it a while ago, it’s mine
If I can take it from you, it’s mine
If it’s mine it must never appear to be yours in any way
If I’m chewing something up, all the pieces are mine
If it looks like mine, it’s mine
If I saw it first, it’s mine
If you are playing with something and put it down, it’s mine
If it’s broken, it used to be mine but now it’s yours

Another finish...soz Kathy

I have another finish. It's the Alphabet RR, Merry Heart's Folk Art Alphabet. It just needs a few buttons stitched on it, but I need to find the right ones, and I need to be able to pay for them with PayPal. I was losing the will to live doing the black and ecru on the borders, it was soooo monotonous. But now it's done and I can go on to something else.

This second photo is of Craig trying to get his cup of coffee in peace. Mollie loves coffee and is waiting for her caffeine fix. She sits there with her head in his lap, staring at him, till he puts the cup on the floor for her to finish the dregs.

Kate has gone to Nottingham for the weekend with Matty. This means that hostilities in the Elliott household have been suspended till Sunday night, which is when Kate will be back. I'm waiting for her to phone me up and ask for a lift from the bus station.

Wonder what I can stitch now! Something little to finish quick and pee Kathy off? Or something else!

New Drugs For Women

NEW DRUGS FOR WOMEN

DAMNITOL Take 2 and the rest of the world can go to hell for up to 8 full hours.

EMPTYNESTROGEN Suppository that eliminates melancholy and loneliness by reminding you of how awful they were as teenagers and how you couldn't wait till they moved out.

ST. MOMMA'SWORT Plant extract that treats mom's depression by rendering preschoolers unconscious for up to two days.

PEPTOBIMBO Liquid silicone drink for single women. Two full cups swallowed before an evening out increases breast size, decreases intelligence, and prevents conception.

FLIPITOR Increases life expectancy of commuters by controlling road rage and the urge to flip off other drivers.

MENICILLIN Potent anti-boy-otic for older women. Increases resistance to such lethal lines as, "You make me want to be a better person."

BUYAGRA Injectable stimulant taken prior to shopping increases potency, duration, and credit limit of spending spree.

JACKASSPIRIN Relieves headache caused by a man who can't remember your birthday, anniversary, phone number, or to lift the toilet seat.

ANTI-TALKSIDENT A spray carried in a purse or wallet to be used on anyone too eager to share their life stories with total strangers in elevators.

NAGAMENT When administered to a boyfriend or husband, provides the same irritation level as nagging him.

Alphabet RR update

Have done a little bit of stitching on this today. To be honest I'm a bit pee'd off as it's come home in a bit of a state...there's a slight stain on the 'O' and at the right hand side it looks as though it's been pulled a bit in a hoop or something and the threads are out of shape. Dunno if you can see on this pic. It's almost been in the bin today, we even had a family conflab about it. LOL.

I've bought the material for the Chatelaine that starts in March. I was going to use either Silkweavers or Sugar Maple but changed my mind and decided to buy British. I rang Jo up at Polstitches and ordered a piece of 30 x 30 inch Fallen Leaves 28 count evenweave. Just have to wait for her to dye it and post it out now.

I'm going to put some more things on ebay tomorrow. It's 10p listing day so will have a good rummage and be very strict. Yeah right! So if any of you that read my blog are interested, my user name is cushie1966. Feel free to have a look and BID!

New Judy Dixon Designs

I got these from Jayne's on Saturday. They are called Morning Light, Mohair Elegance and Autumn Glow. Knock yourself out Zena!

Alphabet RR

I received my Alphabet RR back not so long ago and I've been doing some stitching on it as it came back unfinished. I have most of the border to do, two of the letters and the bottom. Tonight I'm supposed to be starting a SAL with Kathy and Karen. But the thing they're doing is Christmassy and I'm not really into stitching C'mas stuff. So instead I'm going to do Dimensions 'The Earth Is Our Home...' instead of Dimensions 'Santa's Sleigh Ride' which is what they're doing.

I've done this one before, but it was framed wonky (cos I did it myself) and got a bit grubby. I'll get it framed properly this time, eventually. LOL.

Kathy is gonna be sooo mad!

Sorry Kathy but I have another finish. LOL. This is from Cross Stitch Collection magazine and is a design by Patricia Bage. It has a few speciality stitches and I had to improvise on some of the threads but I think it's turned out ok.

World War 3 has broken out in our house. Kate is back from Matty's and her and Dene are at each others throats...AGAIN! Something to do with them going down to Nottingham in April for Kate's friend Laura's birthday and the fact that Dene was going to be staying at her house. When do they move out? Anyone?

Stash Attack!

I subscribe to about 8 clubs at Jayne's Attic and some of them were collected on Thursday - the new Ozark Sampler SAL, 2 x Sugar Maple fabrics (Enchantress & Lilac Grove), 2 x Sassy's Fabrics (Ginny's Iris & Sugar Plum), 2 x Dragon Shades fabrics (Neptune & Dewberry Pearls), 1 x Count On Me fabric (February), and 22 Carrie's Creations threads. Then today I was in and got the three new Judy Dixon designs, but I can't see where I've put them so couldn't tell you what they're called! LOL!

On A Roll

Kathy is going to kill me. LOL. I finished this at about 4am this morning apart from the buttons and the charm. They went on at about 11.30am after I'd taken Mam shopping and been to the Attic to pick up a sampler that a few of us from the S&S board are stitching on for someone's wedding.

This design is a L*K freebie and I used Kate's Kloths hand dyed threads on it rather than the ones that were suggested on the chart. I think it's turned out rather well. Now what...?

First 2007 Finish

FINALLY finished this tonight. It's called Cottage Garden and the chart was free when you bought the Dinky Dye silk threads to stitch it with. The silks were gorgeous to stitch with and it was a fairly easy thing to do.

Kathy and I, and I think someone else (but I forget who) are having a competition to see who has the most finishes in 2007. So this is #1.

Wonder what I can do next. Got a huge pile of stuff I would like to do this year. Hmmm...decisions, decisions...

I've been selling a stack of stuff on Ebay, some material and some charts. Most of it has gone, but it's not all paid for as yet. I've got some videos on there too, but they're my bro's and to be honest I don't think they're going to sell very well. If anyone is interested in looking at what is left then my user name on Ebay is cushie1966.

10 Reasons To Buy Stitching Supplies

• 1. They insulate the closet where they're kept.
• 2. Stitching is less expensive and more fun than psychiatric care.
• 3. You get to make friends when you visit your needlework shop.
• 4. You'll never find the fabric/pattern/fiber/notion again if you don't buy it NOW.
• 5. It helps support the economy. (It is our duty to support the cotton farmers, the sheep ranchers, the textile mills, the foreign trade exchange and our local shop).
• 6. It keeps without refrigeration, doesn't add calories and has no upkeep required ( you don't have to cook it, feed it, change it, wipe it's nose or walk it.)
• 7. It adds extra weight to the newer, lighter cars for traction on muddy, rainy roads.
• 8. It protects the horizontal areas of our house from dust.
• 9. It is not immoral, illegal, unethical or fattening.
• 10. BECAUSE WE ARE WORTH IT!