Okay, so this is the final post of the day

I know, I said yesterday was going to be my last post of the year, but I came to a good stopping point so I thought I'd take the picture and put it up. I've finished the top row of Little Snap Dragon, and I can definitely see the dragon now, so I'm quite excited. The top row is now finished, with a little run down on the right hand side where I was finishing cottons off because I didn't want to cut them off when I didn't have to. So, in theory, I'm now a third of the way through little snap dragon and I'm very chuffed to see the little curled wings making an appearance.



The Beautiful Shoes Have Arrived!

And this makes me happy!

This will be a very short post, due to the fact that was pretty much the only purpose of this post, to inform of their beauty. I did throw a slight strop yesterday, cos I wasn't sure if they fitted, but I've tried them on again and realised that they're not squashing any part of my foot, the bit that's a little snug is the bit that's holding them on to my foot, so that's probably meant to be a little snugger than the rest. But aren't they beautiful? Weird looking, I'm willing to accept that, but also beautiful!

Lego Harry Potter is seriously cutting into my stitching time, but I'm working on it (the stitching and Harry Potter)!

Oh yeah, and what New Years Resolutions are you all making, I listed all my stitching stuff a while ago, but I'm also going down the get fit and get some more writing done route. Don't quite know how I'm going to achieve the writing, but I'm somehow signed myself up for Zumba twice a week, Badminton once a week and Belly Dancing once a week, so I'll be fit, or dead, that's how it's gonna go I think.

This'll probably be my last post to 2010, so Happy New Year everyone!

A blatant plug

Good afternoon ladies and gents, I hope you've all had a glorious Christmas and are looking forward to New Year.

We spent Christmas was my dad and his fiance and had a lovely, albeit rather quiet Christmas, and of course all got completely spoilt. Dad and Shirl have given us the money to go to a local ski ramp, get me a couple of lessons and then a couple of hours skiing for the both of us. Ben really wants to go skiing but I refused to go on a skiing holiday without having a chance to try it first, so this is what we agreed to do.

Apart for from that, I got a couple of games for the Wii, Ben and I are now completely addicted to Lego Harry Potter, which is seriously going to cut into my stitching time if I'm not careful. Anyway, hope you all had a good Christmas and got whatever you asked father Christmas for.

Have you been shopping in the sales? We went today, but I didn't really  find anything, changed a jumper that I was given due to not being able to get my giant bum into the one I'd been given (too much Christmas chocolate methinks - and you should see how much is left), but didn't get anything else. Have a little money with which to treat myself, and am now debating what to spend it one. Indian Beauty Cross Stitch kit? Troll Beads bracelet? Yet more beautiful shoes? I'll have to have a think.

And now for the blatant plug. I have a new follower and am in return following her, and the lady in question is my dad's fiance, and I said that I'd give her a bit of a plug. If you're interested in paper craft then she's well worth a follow, so please pop over and give her a visit. Designs on Craft. There's some really lovely stuff over there. She does some amazing stuff, completely out of my skill level.

Have a look at the pictures, these are our Christmas card off her and my dad, the left one is the card flat as it first came out of the envelope, and the right is it all set up when it's all open. It's an easel card which are apparently very in this year. You make the easel card then need something at the front to prop the easel against. The front bit on ours pulls out, you can see the little ribbon on the right, it's a drawer that pulls out, and they'd put the money for our lessons in there.

Anyway, I said I'd give her a bit of a blatant plug, so pop over and see what you think.

I bought beautiful shoes!

Well, it's true I did! I haven't got them yet, I ordered them online yesterday. Apparently they've already been dispatched, but it seems unlikely that I'll get them before next Wednesday, the next working day. I'll post a picture when I get them because they really are beautiful. I didn't used to (awful grammar) have the 'traditional' shoe obsession, but it's developed in the last couple of years, then I discovered Irregular Choice and it's become a full blown obsession, although this is the first pair that I've bought cos they're quite expensive, but there was a lovely sale at Schuh, so it's all good.

Anyway, I'll stop obsessing about the beautiful shoes, and go back to stitching, which is what this is meant to (mostly) be about. Here's the latest update on In Love, I was hoping to get this page finished this week, but as you can see, it hasn't quite happened, it's definitely a lot more identifiable as people now, I think that that's the first that I've been able to say that. Haven't got as much as I hoped done as it's been a busy week (and who hasn't this week?). I was ushering the panto at teh local theatre one night, and out with the folks from work another, plus packing cos we go away to spend some time with family over Christmas, but it's made a jump forward, and I'm hoping to get quite a bit of stitching done over the Christmas break, seeing as I've got some time off when Ben's in work.

And finally, I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas, and if I don't get back on here before, also a lovely New Year, good luck with all those New Year challenges everyone. My first one's looking quite good already seeing as it was finish In Love. Good luck everyone.

Winter's Majesty and a bit more snow

We woke up to snow this morning, albeit only a little bit, which, because I'm still a big kid, I'm very excited about. The strange thing is we got back late last night (it was Ben's work's do) and there was nothing, not even a sign that it might, then woke up this morning to our tiny amount of snow!

Anyway, here's the latest update on Winter's Majesty. I was thinking that there wasn't muhc progress since the last picture, but I've just looked back and it looks much better than I expected. I'm loving how the red makes the snow flake stand out cos it was really annoying me that I couldn't see the snowflake when it had been such a pain to stitch! It's lovely glossy thread, but I really don't enjoy stitching with it for some reason.

Quite excited that it's Christmas next week (I told you I was a big kid), we're going to see my dad and his fiance in South Wales, as long as the weather is all right. Ben and I have to go shopping today for a final shopping trip, so it's going to be chaos, but I need to get something for Ben's stocking. We only decided about a week ago that we were going to do stockings this year so I've had a bit of a last minute panic shop, especially as we're on a very strict budget, £7.50 to fill the stocking. I've cheated slightly, I got a 3 for 2 while buying a couple of last minute presents yesterday, so I've used the free 3rd one for his stocking, a real cheat, I know. But it's devious in a generous way, so I don't feel to guilty about it.

Don't know if I'll get another post in in the next week, so I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas!

Oh dear!

She's my latest obsession (as well as all the HAED, obviously). I'm definitely going to have to get her in the new year. Saw her in the window of a shop in town and jus think that she's absolutely beautiful. She's 40 by 50cm, and done on evenweave, generally about £50, so I'd better get saving.

Anyway, that is all, just felt that I had to share.

Costume Chronicles and New Year

Another mid week post, what's going on?

Have you heard of Costume Chronicles? It's an online magazine released four times a year (I think) that's about costume dramas, with a theme each magazine, the current one (and the next one) being Austen. It's completely free and written and produced by people who do it for fun. I recommend it, cos it's really interesting. If I'm honest, this edition I'm recommending it even more than usual cos they've taken an article of mine for the current edition, which I'm very excited about. But I recommend it for anyone who finds anything costume dramay interesting.

And secondly, what are everyone's New Year targets? I haven't taken up the Crazy 2011 challenge (I think that's what it's called), because I value my sanity and that could only end badly. In fact I'm not joining in any of the obvious challenges for the year, I'm just setting myself some targets.

So, what targets should I set?

1. Finish In Love (easy, should be able to do that quite happily)

2. Finish Little Snap Dragon (again, should be pretty easy, should be able to manage that without any real stress)

3. Finish Winter's Majesty (possibly, but I don't know, it's taken me about a year to do a page and a half, leaving four and a half pages for the next year. I'll give it a shot, but who knows)

4. Start and finish another birth sampler, we've got friends who I suspect are going to get Pregnant this year, and to stop the rush finish of the horrible Tatty Ted earlier this year I'm thinking that this time I should just start one and work on it in a leisurely fashion - I've found a really nice Newton's Law one, so I think I'll go down that route, or possibly a County Companions one cos I've always loved those.

5. Start my first HAED - I'm not going to lie to myself and say that I'm going to finish it, because we all know that that's not going to happen. But I do want to make a start on my first one, first question, which one should it be? I currently have Titania, Lance and Gwen & Bubbles (Selena Fenech) Iris, Alice in Wonderland, Queen of the Night (Meredith Dillman) and Mask of Colours (Linda Ravenscroft). Decisions decisions. I think it's either going to be Lance and Gwen, Bubbles or Alice in Wonderland because they're my favourites of the ones I own, but then I could end up being weak and buying another one between now and then.

6. Oh yeah, and I've joined Daffycat's TUSAL, although there isn't much there yet.

I'm going to cheat slightly, (on the targets, no on the TUSAL) cos I've got some time off for Christmas & New Year (ie my last day is the 23rd and I go back on the 4th - the time off was enforced, we all have to take it, and weren't massively happy about it at the time, but now I'm facing nearly two weeks off and that's quite a nice feeling) so hopefully I'll get some stitching done before the New Year, especially as Ben's got three half days between Xmas and New Year.

What does everyone think, any thoughts on if I can do it all, or which HAED I should do?

What challenges are everyone else setting themselves for the New Year?

A mid week post!

I'm away this week, so I won't be able to post, so, as it's Winter's Majesty that I'm working on this week I'm cheating and am going to work on it for two weeks instead and update the weekend after. (Any excuse to spend more time on Winter's Majesty).
As such, so tha tI can post something this week I have pinched this from somewhere... I'm feeling really guilty cos I can't remember who, so if you think it was you, let me know, and I'll give you credit.

A - Age: 27 - heading towards 30 much faster than I'm happy with

B - Bed size: Double
C - Chore you hate: All of them, I hate housework, probably cleaning the bathroom most though
D - Dog's name: No dog, so there's no name
E - Essential start your day item(s): Breakfast, can't cope without it, and a shower, cos I'm a real cow if I don't feel clean
F - Favorite color: Purple
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5' 4" ish
I - Instruments you play: Recorder, very badly, but I quite fancy the mandolin
J - Job: Recruitment admin, but I'm contemplating a move towards events, sales and marketing
K - Kids: Nope, just the two fo us
L - Living Arrangements: Still just the two of us, in quite a wee flat.
M - Music you love: David Bowie, Beatles, Fairport Convention, Christian Kane, and then it starts getting quite obscure, Save Ferris, Letters to Cleo, Tangelfoot, Mundy-Turner
N - Nicknames: At the moment, not really anything, in the past, Kimby, Kimetha, Burly (as in Kim-Burly), Daria
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Yup, couple of years ago, pulminary embolism, or two, or four, it was very exciting in a very brief way, much to everyone's horror I found it very amusing from start to finish
P - Pet Peeve: Rudeness and bad manners.
Q - Quote from a movie: There's two 'As you Wish' from Princess Bride (and if Ben was reading over my shoulder he'd be yelling 'Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die - same film) and 'Just smile and wave boys, smile and wave' from Madagascar
R - Right or left handed: Left
S - Siblings: Nope, I'm an original, and obviously put my parents off having anymore.
T - Time you wake up: 7.15 on a week day, as late as possible on the weekend.
U - Underwear: Well, year, I own some, actually looking for new stuff, I have the La Senza site open even as I type this.
V - Vegetable you dislike: Sprouts and mushrooms, evil!
W - Workout Style: Where it can be witnessed by as few people as possible, although I do play badminton, and am starting Zumba next week.
X - rays you've had: Chest, see previous story
Y - Yummy food you make: Brownies, if I say so myself, I'm a good baker.
Z - The best place to visit: Dont quite get it, really want to visit Japan.

Look, look, look, a dragon!

I have the hiccups! That's completely unrelated to anything that I'm about to write, but it's annoying me, so I thought that I'd share!

Another progress on Little Snap Dragon! I haven't done as much as I hoped to this week, just couldn't quite settle into it really. Was hoping to get this page finished this week, but that hasn't happened. However, I think the next time this gets a weeks worth of stitching I should finish the top row of pages, cos there isn't much to do on the third page.

Also, look look! The dragon is appearing, those two little lighter curls at the bottom right of the page are the beginning of his wings (I was half way through this page before I realised that) so I'm well chuffed to see him start appearing.

Ben's got a boys afternoon/night tonight so I get sole control of teh remote control, and hopefully the return of my stitching mojo, and I'll settle and get some done, possibly the return of Winter's Majesty!