Sticky 2

What a shock I got yesterday!  I had given our last stick insect away to Joe's friend who loves them as to be honest, Joe really wasn't that into them.
We had four ... 'Sticky,' 'Loggy,' 'Woody' and Twiggy'.

Anyhow I went to clean out the habitat and was picking bits of privet out and there was a tiny bit stuck in the net, so I went to touch it and it RAN! 
I quickly grabbed my glasses and to my amazement there was a tiny baby stick insect! Only about 1cm long.  I couldn't believe it!

So of course I had to redo all the habitat and we now have Sticky 2. What a surprise that turned out to be!

Can you make him out?  Sort of laying horizontally about the middle of the picture.
I don't know if it shows how tiny he really is, but anyhow, you can at least see him!

:)

Thank you SO much!

A big thank you to Sarah for giving me this award!

I now have to tell you 7 things about myself ... this is going to be hard! I can't think of anything much to say.

1. I'm originally from London and only came to Cumbria when we got married and Steve didn't want to live down there.
2. I love animals and have had to really talk Steve into any pet we've had. He wasn't really brought up with animals and so it's been difficult for him with me wanting to fill the house with them, so we've had to compromise.   So far, over the years, we've had 2 cats, 2 guinea pigs, 4 budgies, 11 hamsters, goldfish, tropical fish, 5 stick insects and the dog.  Not all at once, but he was a bit stressed when I had 7 hamsters all at once.  Oops!  At the moment we have 1 dog, 1 budgie, 1 hamster and 1 stick insect.  We have my mum's dog alot as well though, so he feels like he has 2 dogs really. Ha,ha.
3. This is my second attempt at blogging. I started this blog once before and then deleted it as I felt like, who would want to read anything I say anyhow.  So I've been amazed to now have 30 followers! I just want to thank you all for reading my ramblings and especially those who comment as well, it really makes my day! :)
4. When I was leaving school my english teacher went to see my mum, who was in hospital on traction at the time, to try and make me stay on at school and be a teacher! It was the last thing in the world I ever wanted to do and I stuck my ground and refused, but I sometimes think how she would laugh to see I ended up home schooling both my boys and so in a way, she got her wish after all!
5. I'm 5ft tall (or small, depending how you view things) and always wanted to be taller. For years I would only wear stilettos in the hopes of gaining some height, but I haven't worn them for years now, it's comfort all the way these days ... flats for the win! haha.
6. My youngest son was born with a rare condition TOF. He is the most amazing boy and I am so blessed to have him!  :)
7. I shop mostly in charity shops and get the most fab bargains! Steve had never been inside one until he was married to me, now we both love bargain hunting and whenever we go anywhere, those are the first shops we make for. :)

Now to pass the award on to some of my favourite blogs.

Toni
Ninu
Agi
Midge
Flossy
Lili


I'll look forward to reading facts on all of you now!  :)

Thanks again Sarah for choosing me!

:)

A little stash to share ...

I haven't been able to have another try out with my sewing machine as I have no suitable fabric at the moment.  Anyhow, out of the blue, a friend of mine gave me some of her left over scraps that she had been going to discard!  So I can now have a go at another project soon.

There are 3 pieces of a flowered type, one light blue with a white fleck and a couple of pieces of lace.

So I'm hoping to think of something fun to do with them. 

Wasn't she kind!   :)

We had to go through to Carlisle recently and while we were there I jumped at the chance to go browse in the craft shop.  Of course everyone else left me to it, but this was a dangerous thing to do as I came out with a little stash!!!  Haha!

A ball of cream crochet thread, a little booklet of 9 doilies and a thinner sized hook.  I could actually have got so much there, it was hard to decide what to get. They have both cross stitch and crochet plus knitting, quilting, scrapbooking and all kinds of things. I could have spent ages in there as well, but we only got there in the last 20 mins or so of it being open.  Actually, thinking about it, that was probably a good thing or who knows what I might have done!

So then, this week I've been dabbling with the crochet mostly as I wanted to see if I could follow the patterns (being such a newbie and only self taught).

It's in written instruction form, so I found I was able to work it out, although I did need a few trys at first as I didn't understand some parts.  It's funny though, how by looking at the picture and trying the instructions in different ways, what you can eventually work out.  I really want to learn to read the diagrams as well, as then I'll be able to follow any crochet pattern, no matter what language it's written in. 

So this is it so far ....

It seems all crumpled and not quite in shape, but I'm hoping once I finish it and I read up on this blocking/washing that then needs to be done, that it'll look a bit better!

This is what it's meant to look like ....

I hope it does turn out that nice once I've completed it.  I'm not sure it will though. 

I have another 2 1/2 rounds left to do on my piece yet and I'm then going to have to investigate the blocking and see what occurs.  Could be interesting!

I've realised I had my phone settings all wrong on the camera, so I apologise for my 'even more rubbish that usual' pictures.  Hopefully though, it's better than no pictures at all ... but probably only just!

Poor Joe seems to be going down with a cold and sore throat and a nasty cough.  I really hope that's all it is and that he picks up fairly quickly.  It's hard with his condition to be sure what you're dealing with at first.  He's such a cheerful uncomplaining little chap though ... well unless I say we're doing maths, that is, ha,ha.

Anyhow, I've pulled out my stitching now as well, so I should have an update to share soon.  It's so hard to do one thing only though isn't it, I want to stitch, I want to crochet and I just found a cardigan I want to knit for myself as well in my old patterns!  Do you all have the same problem?

:)





Weekly weigh in # 6

Well I wasn't expecting anything good this week as I haven't really stuck to plan, but after forcing myself onto the scales this morning, I was shocked to see I've actually lost weight!

I have lost 1 1/2lb!!!!!!!!

I had to jump back on again to see if this was for real and amazingly I lost another 1/4lb! LOL  Maybe I should just jump on and off scales all day until I get to the desired weight. :)
Haha
but anyhow, I'm going with my first weight, just incase!

So back on plan from today and hopefully I'll be sticking to it properly this week.

:)

Off course!

This week has been a struggle for me and I just kind of let things go.
I haven't stuck to plan with my diet (this will no doubt show up in tomorrows weigh in!! EEK!) and I've only dabbled with some crochet here and there, not even looked at my cross stitch at all. I couldn't even summon up the energy to blog!

I got some of my results back from the Dr's and it seems alot of my symptoms are from being iron deficient again. So I'm back on a strong course in the hopes I can start to feel human again soon.
Weirdly, since I got those results, I just haven't felt like doing anything. I've felt ill for so long and battled it, thinking how lazy etc, but this week I just let it all slide and did nothing.

However, I've now given myself a talking to, taken myself in hand and am starting my diet afresh and am also determined to get back on course with everything, including my lovely crafts as well. So hopefully I shall have something to show you in the next couple of days.

Hope you all had a good weekend/ week and I'm going to try and catch up on the blogs I've missed.

Take care!

:)

Weekly weigh in # 5

Well I had a lovely 4 days away but it was impossible to stick with my diet. I tried to be fairly sensible but it was hard to keep to the plan at all, so it was with much fear I stepped on those dreaded scales today ... and it seems I was right to be in fear because I put on 3/4 of a pound!!!!!!!!!!!
Sniffle!

So a step back but I just started right back on the plan this morning and I've stuck with it today.
I'll just have to draw a line under the weekend and just keep plodding on.

Hope you all had a great weekend too

From

'The pleasantly 'plump' one.

:(

We're off!

Yes, this morning we're off to our 3 day Bible convention.  9. 13am train, here we come! We won't be back until Sunday night.
Had a last minute spanner thrown in the works when it turned out Steve has to stay home because of a problem that's occured at work. We were so disappointed, but he has had to cancel his leave and instead will not only be going to work but will be doing overtime and probably working over the weekend as well, to get the job done.

Sigh!

So yesterday I was rushing round sorting things out as we now need to take less with having to go by train rather than car. It's not a bad journey, only 2 trains, but it's the whole thing of him not coming with us.  It's just disappointing.

Anyway, hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  Take care and bye for now!

x x

:)

Thanks to Toni

I have a second award thanks to Toni!  Thanks so much sis.

Now I have to think of some random facts about myself to tell you.

• I've always wanted to do creative things, but being brought up around mostly boys it wasn't the thing to get into. Then when I got married we never had the money for me to do much, so it's only in this time now that I'm being able to branch out and express myself and learn these lovely crafts.
• One of the jobs I did after I was first married was to hand paint little plaques like this http://cgi.ebay.ie/Brush-Strokes-Wall-Plaque-Anne-Hathaway-s-Cottage-boxed-/290573357031?pt=UK_Collectables_Ornaments_RL&hash=item43a7858fe7   I absolutely loved this job, but it was very poorly paid so I had to leave.
• I hate having my picture taken and it really annoys my family. I just feel so ugly and look so bad in all the pictures, I just like to have pictures of them only.  Recently they have forced me to be in some and I find it really hard.  :(
• I rarely wear make up. I used to wear it when I was younger, but I've never been good at applying it and think I just look like an evil painted doll! lol.

So I think that's enough random facts about me.
Now the hardest part. To pass the award on to only a few bloggers, when I have so many amazing ones I read and some of the ones I would have chosen already have the award. haha.

Midge
Sarah's blog
Agi

Congratulations to you all!

:)

Weekly weigh in # 4

This morning I actually put off weighing myself as I just didn't feel like I'd lost anything.  Previous weeks I felt a little smaller by the Monday morning, not this one. I feel a bit bloated.

However, my friend who I am dieting along with texted me for my results, so I had to give in and go get the bad news ... sigh ...  and I had lost! I couldn't believe it! I had to re-weigh myself just to be sure, haha.

Since last week I had lost 2lb!!!

It doesn't go at all with the way I feel right now, but who am I to argue with the scales?

So happy right now. 

In the four weeks I've been doing this, I've so far lost 4 3/4lb (4.75).
I know it's not a massive amount and some people lose that much over the first week or two of a diet, but as I'm struggling to lose weight, I'm more than happy with this, especially if it carries on going down.

:)

Bargain and another try with crochet.

I love flowers, but rarely buy any because they are so expensive, plus, if I'm honest, I don't like big bouquets ... just a few cut flowers in a vase or jug suit me fine.
This afternoon we went shopping and they had a small bucket with some flowers in marked down.
They should have been £8.00 ... I got them for 80p!

I love bargains!

Obviously, my flower arranging skills leave alot to be desired, but have no fear, I will start to poke around until they look a little more pleasing.

:)

I had another go at the crochet pattern I showed you yesterday as well.

I'm assuming you still need to stretch this even though it's wool?  You can tell I'm clueless about this can't you.  I think I need to google and read up on it a bit.

I have also done a little more on my stitching, but don't have a picture of that to show at the moment. I'm so enjoying that design, it's great to stitch and I think it's looking great.

Later next week we're off to a three day Bible convention. As we stay away for it, I usually take something to do in the evenings in our room.  I have taken stitching previously, but find it a bit difficult to take anything but small card sized projects.  So this year I'm going to just take a couple of balls of different sized wool and a crochet hook as that'll take up next to no room and will be so much easier to manage.
Hopefully I MIGHT even have something to show when I get back ... but I'm not feeling totally confident with my ability just yet!

:)

Getting there!

Today I could have worked on my stitching for awhile but I have been really bugged for some time now by the fact I just cannot get to grips with crochet.
So I again took up my hook and this time a coloured ball of wool as I thought it might be easier to see what I was doing than with the white and I gave it a stab!

This is what I was attempting:

Please excuse the flash on the picture, but I think you can still see it.

Then here is my offering.

I know it's far from perfect .... BUT ... for the first time I actually felt like I could see what I was meant to be doing. The reason mine looks so different is that on the last round I changed it and did all pointy bits, whereas if you look at the picture it's like a flat, then pointy, then flat and so on.

I'd like to say this was on purpose, letting my creative self burst forth ....

But no, it was a complete mistake on my part! I didn't finish reading the pattern for that part before rushing off to complete the round (BLUSH).

Anyhow, the intertesting thing to me is, that I feel confident to remove that row and put it right occording to the pattern, which I have never been able to do before. 

So yes, I think in this SLOW journey of mine to teach myself to crochet ... I JUST MIGHT, actually be finally GETTING THERE!!!!!!

YAY!

:)

Bling free!

Yes, I've thought about it alot and this version is going to remain 'bling free'. I have plans for other versions of this pattern, so I can let my bling-tastic side have free rein then.
This one is going to be simple but hopefully still very beautiful.

:)

I have another small update to show.

Only small, but I hope to do more over the weekend.

:)





Next!

Not too much to show at the moment, but I thought I'd give you a peek at what I'm working on.

I love this design alot and plan to do it more than once. 
For this one, which is to go up on the wall at home, I'm using my lap/table stand, which I've never tried before. Usually I hold my frame in hand, so this is a new experience for me.  It's different!

So you can see it's only just started. I did get a closer a closer view of the stitchin as well.

I'm working on pink fabric. Can you believe I can't remember if I ended up choosing the 28ct piece or the 32ct piece out of my stash!  I'm working over two anyhow and I'll go look and see which count right now.  I'm thinking 28ct, but we'll see.

Yep, 28ct it is!

I'm having to rein myself in on this one as I want to keep it nice and simple, but typically I found myself thinking how nice to use metallic or satins in the flowery parts! I just can't seem to help myself, I just so love the bling. haha.  Anyone else like that and unable to resist changing things or adding metallics etc? 
Silk would be lovely as well wouldn't it. I have some pretty silks ...

Anyhow, won't get much time on this today sadly, but am hoping to get stuck in on Friday evening.
So updates by the weekend hopefully!

:)

What were the chances?

On Saturday we took the friend that was staying with us into Cockermouth and while we were there I popped into the ladies.
What did I find there but a bag from the LNS, full of goodies. It's expensive as well, so the person had spent quite a bit of money. There was a gorgeous hardanger pattern, some fabrics, threads, breads and other bits and bobs.
I didn't want to leave it there for just anyone but how to find the owner?

So I decided to take it back to the shop incase the owner went back to see if they'd left it there.

Well I explained what had happened at the shop and they agreed to take it and I said do you remember anyone buying this this morning and one of them said she thought she did.
As we were talking another of the shop assistants (the owner) came over with an older lady and my assistant told her what I'd done. Then she turned to the older lady and said, didn't you buy this pattern this morning and the lady agreed she had, although she seemed a bit vague over it ... but it turns out she was the owner of the goodies!!
How weird was that?

What were the chances of me going there with the bag just as she was back in the shop buying more things?
The weirdest part of all was that she hadn't even realised she'd lost the bag!

So they thanked me and I went off back to meet up with the others to have a sandwich by the river.

Isn't it strange when things like that happen though.

:)

Weekly weigh in # 3

Hmm, not as good as I'd hoped for, but still better than a gain.
3/4 of a pound loss this week.
I'd love to be able to lose a pound a week, but it just doesn't seem to work that way. I do feel thinner though, so I'm sticking with it and hoping over time to plod my way to a thinner me!

I think the problems I have with the monthly cycle makes it harder and it's been that time, so I'm consoling myself with that thought, that it might be better next week. haha.

:)

So this time it really is ...

Finished!!!

Thanks to all of you.  :)  Thanks so much for helping me decide.

:)

Finished or not?

I can't decide!

Which do you prefer? With the heart buttons or without?
In the original piece there's nothing there but I thought I'd put the buttons on to personalise. Now I'm wondering whether it looks overdone.

Opinions please!

:)

With:

Without:



Thanks!

:)

Proud mum.

Last night, rather than settle down with my stitching as planned I decided to teach Joe how to play mastermind. Remember that game?

I like to remind my family of how much fun it is to play board games and things like that so there's a bit of balance from the electronic world we live in. Although in all honesty, I'd miss all the gadgets as much as any of them. LOL

So, anyhow, we got sat down and I starrted to explain it. This was a bit more challenging than normal as he's colour blind, so learning and playing a game with colours wasn't the easiest option for him. Bless him, he really persevered with it though and was over the moon when he got the hang of it and actually started to win games!

Go Joe!! I'm so proud of you.

:)