Sale Site Updated

I've had a very busy couple of days with the sewing machine. I've sewn up 6 new needlecases and 17 thread sacks and put them all on my sale site - link on the right hand side bar - and now I'm officially knackered. And my back is killing me. But at least I have them out of the way. I need to buy more material - oh what am I talking about, I just ordered STACKS of fat quarters and it's all on the way. I definitely need to buy more form board though, and I need to make some more needlecases and I might do more fobs too. Although they aren't selling as well as I thought they might. I've been giving them away as RAOK's instead. It's nice to receive something homemade for a change.

Did you know...the Northumberland flag is based on a traditional flag which is possibly the oldest flag design in Britain. The Venerable Bede records a banner of purple and gold hung over the tomb of St Oswald. The flag of the ancient kingdom has eight alternate stripes of red and yellow/gold.

Four Days Worth

Sorry I haven't been doing Did You Know... this week, been busy with other stuff. So you're going to get four days worth all in one go, aren't you the lucky ones. PMSL.

• Did you know...Northumberland has a tartan. Known as the Shepherd Tartan in Scotland, the Northumberland Tartan dates back to Roman times. A scrap of black and white check was found in a Roman bottle and is the oldest check fabric ever found. The black and white check tartan has been used by the Duke of Northumberland since the 18th century.

• Did you know...Catherine Cookson is a publishing phenomenon - an international best seller and for many years the most borrowed author from libraries. Born in Jarrow, she has received an accolate from South Tyneside which markets itself as 'Cookson Country'. Whilst our most prolific author is no longer with us, her stories live on.

Did you know...Northumberland is the only county that has an instrument named after it. The Northumbrian Pipes are more closely related to French small pipes than bagpipes. It is probably due to Northumbrian Pipes that Northumberland has an unbroken musical tradition.

Did you know...A stottie is described by the 'Flour Advisory Bureau' as: "A large round bap from the north-east of England. The Geordie Stottie has a fluffy texture." Stotties can be wholemeal, white, granary, or indeed however you prefer your bread. The traditional stottie filling is ham and pease pudding.

Castles

• Did you know...Northumberland has more castles open to the public than any other county in Britain.

I received the final two LK Flipit Bits from Jayne the other night, so I can get on and finish her model. I'm having a break from St P, mostly because I'm doing back stitch and I hate back stitch. But also because the silk threads are causing the skin to peel off my fingers. They don't look too bad at the moment, but that'll be because I haven't done any stitching on St P for about four days now. I will probably do some more this week, if only to get part 3 finished and out of the way.

Ian isn't having much luck with his job hunting. On Thursday, he had a three hour trial in the kitchen of the South Beach pub, not far from us. He wasn't paid and he wasn't very impressed with quite a few things. First off, he spent two and a half hours at the sink washing up, and the last half hour cutting up turnips and making salads. There were a couple of things about how they ran the kitchen that he wasn't happy with. The turnips he was cutting up were for lunches today (Sunday), which even to me was too far in advance of when they were needed. Also, there was a gateau on the serving hatch that was being defrosted. One of the bar staff knocked it onto the floor. They picked it up, finished defrosting it and put a new topping on it. Gross! I know it probably wasn't cost effective to just bin it, but even so...what about health and hygiene for gods sake!

River Tyne

Did you know...For many years the River Tyne was a heavily polluted, dirty river. It is now the best river in Britain to catch salmon. Fishing for trout has also become popular, attracting visitors from all over Britain and beyond.

Newcastle Airport

Did you know....Newcastle Airport is the fastest growing provincial airport in Britain. There are scheduled flights to places all over Europe and in 2006 scheduled flights started to New York. Starting 1st September 2007 there will be flights to Dubai, Australia, Beijing, New Zealand, Thailand and South Africa, to name but a few.

• Lynn, glad you found the book. It's a shame though cos I have the little yellow book all parcelled up to send you and was going to mail it today. I thought it might put a smile on your face cos I know you've been going through the mill a bit lately.

Thursday's UBOI!

Did you know...Hadrian is believed to be the only bearded Roman Emperor, and he never saw his wall completed.

It is estimated that Hadrian's Wall is constructed from 3.7 million tonnes of stone. It is a World Heritage Site.

Little Yellow Book

Lynn - I 'found' this book in the Mitre at the weekend, so I have no idea where it actually came from. However, there is a note on one of the first few pages that says it's "a capsule book for those too pushed for time or energy to read A Tyneside and Northumberland Miscellany. It aims to entertain and inform."

I too never admit to being a Geordie, but that's mostly cos I'm not one...I'm a Northumbrian, but not one that has any sheep! My kids are Geordies, cos they were all born at the Princess Mary Maternity Hospital in Newcastle (which has now been converted to something else), but I most certainly am not.

Geordies

This is today's Did You Know...

No one knows for certain where the term Geordie comes from, although the following are possible explanations.

Locally the term is used to describe someone from Tyneside. Throughout Britain and the world it's used to describe someone from the North-East.

1. During the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, Newcastle was bypassed by the Jacobites, as it was a securely guarded garrison that supported King George. It was said that the region was all "for George" - leading to the name 'Geordie' derived from George.
2. The Oxford English Dictionary states that the word was first used in 1876 to describe miners/pitmen. Perhaps the name originated from the region's coal mines.
3. George Stephenson's miner's lamp was used by local miners in preference to the Davy lamp. The lamp and miners in time became known as 'Geordies'.
4. When George Stephenson addressed a Parliamentary Commission "his blunt speech and dialect drew contemptuous sneers". From then on, colliers (boats taking coal from Tyneside to London) and the men who worked on them were called 'Geordies'.
5. The term 'Geordie' was originally a form of abuse first used by local showman Billy Purvis to put down a rival. This was in 1823, when the word was used in this context due to the unpopularity of King George III who became insane.

Useless Information

I came across a little book entitled 'The Little Book of Tyneside & Northumberland' at the weekend and it has lots of little bits of information in it about the area where I live. So, I decided to share it with all my blog readers, in the absence of anything else. LOL. This will be called "Did You Know...?"

• Did you know....It is estimated that there are five times as many sheep as people living in Northumberland.

You're impressed aren't you, dear reader? I can tell. Prepare to be amazed and astounded.

Or bored shitless.

Stash Raid

For a change it's not stitching stash. LOL.

My XDH, Mick, works in a place that used to be owned by the BBC, and where they used to make 'Byker Grove'. Since they stopped making the programme the building has been deserted, but quite a lot of the furniture and stationery remains...so I've been raiding. Tomorrow we're going back with a van for a new desk, and a couple of other things. Today I got staplers, hole punchers, padded envelopes, pens, and a shitload of A4 paper. Won't need to buy any of that for a while.

• Karen - no there's no beads on St P as yet. I fib, there are 4 little blue beads on the right hand side, but you can't see them on the close up. The gold sparkly bits is metallic thread, of which there is loads.

Part 2 Finished

Well here it is...part 2 is finished and I've made a very small start on part 3. I think I have all the colours right on this part, but if not, tough, at least mine will be different to all the others. I'll probably carry on working on this till I either get bored and do one of my other WIPs, or get another model to stitch.

White Nights In St Petersburg WIP

This online Chatelaine began way back in March, or thereabouts, but with all the other stuff I've been doing I haven't really had a change to do anything about making a start on mine. They're up to part 6 already and I finally managed to make a start on part 1 the other day. This is my progress so far, minus the beads (well apart from 4 cos I have no patience) and I've already made a start on part 2.

Apparently the rhodes stitches on this should be blue not purple, but I think they look ok and I can't be bothered to frog it all, so they're staying the colour they are. I have to learn to read keys better...LOL. Let's just hope I now don't run out of the purple thread now that I've used it where it shouldn't be!

I've been tagged

Apparently I've been tagged by Jacky.

The rules are: Once you've been tagged you have to write a blog with 10 weird or random things, facts or habits about yourself. At the end you choose ten people to be tagged, list their names, and why you chose them. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you've been tagged!" on their profile and tell them to read your latest blog. Here goes...

1. I've been married three times (I like wedding cake!)
2. The 3rd wedding was on St Valentine's Day - how corny.
3. I collect paperweights, china thimbles and postcards
4. As well as cross stitching I like to do patchwork/quilting and hardanger
5. I love my kids, they're brilliant
6. I miss my grandparents
7. I hate gardening but I love flowers
8. I was almost 40 before I passed my driving test, and now I wonder why it took me so long
9. I REALLY need to lose weight
10. No one ever comes to visit me and I don't have many friends - Jacqui-No-Mates!

I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you feel like doing this then go ahead.

Happy Dance

YIPPEE! Craig is home! I've missed him so much. He came home bearing lots of pressies, which is only right when I was left at home while he buggered off on holiday. Am now the owner of SIX new paperweights for my collection...

I also have some new slippers, two china thimbles and a new watch. My old one gave up the ghost last week so I was really happy with a new one. Another reason for happy dancing is the fact that I have finished this...

Elizabeth Designs - Blue Sky Sampler

Ignore the white marks on the material, it's just the stuff behind it while I propped it up to take the photo. I don't have the exact same charms that are called for on the chart, I just used what I already have. That big butterfly for instance is supposed to be a sheep, but I didn't have one of those and don't have the patience to wait for one that I order. So it's a butterfly instead. LOL.

I got another model in the mail this morning. Another one for Jo at Polstitches Designs, which will hopefully get going over this weekend. It shouldn't take me long to do.

The Latest

Thanks for all the comments to my last few posts. To answer a couple of things:

• Antibiotics - as well as the thrush I do have another infection, which is why these have been prescribed. I know they don't help the thrush but the GP is trying to get rid of the other infection as well.
• Canestan - is crap. I've had it loads of times, in all available forms, and it's never done me any good at all.

I've been waiting for the postie all day as I'm expecting another model to do from Jo at Polstitches Designs. When the kids got home I asked them if they'd had any post at work, and they informed me that the postal workers were on strike again today. Well that settled that then. LOL. I'm hoping they're back tomorrow and that the parcel turns up. It was posted on Monday after all, recorded delivery. It would have got here quicker if she'd walked up herself.

I've done loads more stitching on Blue Sky Sampler and am hoping to have it finished by the time Craig gets back from Skeggy tomorrow, so with any luck I'll be able to take a photo of it and put it in my next post.

Can't get to sleep

I'm lying here with the fan on, roasting hot, itching like hell, in agony, been crying for the past two hours trying to get to sleep and not succeeding.

• Debby - thanks for that idea. Will try and get my son to go and get me some tomorrow. It's not just thrush I have, it's an infection on top of that, which is, from what Kate tells me, all red raw and blistering.

I do have an appointment with my GP tomorrow, late afternoon, and I'm hoping she's going to try something else that will work. The antibiotics certainly aren't helping. I gave up on the antibiotic cream as that was just making everything sting like hell and making it worse. I'm still lathering on the Sudocrem but to be honest all that's doing is making a mess of the sheets. LOL.