The Grande Finalé

Gimme an H...

Gimme a U...

Gimme a G...

...and what have you got?

And a very happy 'me'!!!  74 evenings, about 150 hours and just a little bit of unpicking, but so worth it!  Have a great Sunday everyone.

Good and not so good...

Well a bit of a disturbed night with poor son keeping a temperature, including being inconsolable that he had broken the Tardis, not his toy one, the real one, crashed it into a tree in the forest, apparently, at about 2am... the night didn't get much better!

The postman was able to put a smile on my face!  Firstly just seeing the package...

...and the contents, well, simply lovely!

This afternoon, after a long call with a telephone-nurse, we took the 20 mile round trip to the hospital for the first available out-of-hours doctor's appointment 2 hours later.  Running 20 minutes late, a 2 minute consultation just to diagnose a virus!  Not that I wanted more pain, suffering and prescriptions, but grrrrr! 

Still, dear husband has gone to get us a Chinese takeaway, and tonight I will be finishing this...

A little sunshine...

To try and brighten up this gloomy day, I have whipped up this sunny little number for my Dad. 

I really managed to get into the HUG last night, so I am planning the same again - working by colour - the brown is now finished, tonight I think I will do the red and start on the remaining cream.  I love that the 'G' is now there and the end is in sight!

Chopping, changing and candyfloss...

I thought I would have a good go at the cushion covers this evening; so I ironed all those lovely Tufted Tweets, and got slicing.  However it was a short-lived affair as I kept changing my mind, and I realised how tired I was when the 'measure twice, cut once' mantra started going array - so I've quit before any irreparable damage! 

I blame the tiredness on the hours of cleaning, washing and ironing I did earlier, followed by a walk to the fun fair, a couple of rides, including the Teacups and too much candyfloss!

So some more HUG for me this evening - I am planning to get all that cream completed first.

I see U baby...

Whoopee!  I have a 'U'!  I stayed up late, (well it was after 10pm!) last night to get this finished.  I now have to decide whether to get on with the 'G' or tackle the other 'little pink hand' first and leave the 'G' until last...

So all my recent purchases will be getting a look in very soon - I promise to stop buying and start making!  With this lot for starters...

Lynne of the infamous QAL and Lily's Quilts has posted a great little tutorial on creating way lines, so I might have to have a go at that this weekend, in advance of sewing the Dresden inner-circle.  I am pretty good at unintentional wobbly lines, but that isn't quite the same thing!

Other weekend plans include a trip to the funfair and spending Sunday trying to locate all our clocks, watches and timers and then trying to work out how to change them!

I'm on to U!

I have started the 'U'!!

I had a bit of a frustrating evening, being unable to count to 7 correctly and then unpicking the bits that were right, but eventually the next letter is definitely on it's way!

I am so glad that I completed the bottom border sooner rather than later, instead of leaving it until after the 'G', as that felt like a long slog.  I am getting even more excited about seeing it finished now!

Pretty sure I am not going to be done in 60 days, (people keep wanting to be fed, and work expects me to turn up everyday!), so I have set a very arbitrary goal of 75 days to complete it...

If you read last night's post - I must re-iterate that I am so pleased to have joined the QAL and posted my fabric picture on Flickr.  The comments have been so lovely and encouraging - definitely a confidence boost; thank you everyone, especially Lynne, who now knows what it is like to have the largest, naughtiest class in school! 

Eat your heart out Saint Jamie and your Dream School - try mustering these 200 fabric-fanatical, very chatty and probably quite crazy women into doing what they're told, all at the same time!  20 teenagers, easy-peasy!

Where's Wally... and other successes...

Well, can you spot him? 

He loved his outfit, wore it until bedtime, and I obviously thought he looked the best - we even spotted a Wenda in another class!  It is going to fit him for years!

Last night I finished the 'H' - looking good eh!

I think I am going to work the bottom rows as I move along, as I don't want to be left with days of straight stitching to do after I have completed the 'G'.

Then this afternoon I got the samples stitched and stapled to the canvases, with the minimum of re-stapling and fuss!  The panel now resides on top of our bedroom chest of drawers until we sort fixing it to the wall... photos will follow, but for now, the sunshine was too lovely to miss.

And just so they don't feel missed out - the girls made a Belle and Rapunzel...

A bit of this, and a bit of that...

It feels like I have had a bit of a disjointed day. 

Disappointingly the Where's Wally hat and glasses I ordered have not arrived in time - so I have made a bobble and put some red wool round one of my hats and hopefully that will do the job tomorrow; a pair of Dr Who/David Tennant plastic specs will look just as daft!

I have re-laid out and cut all the fabric squares for the bedroom 'picture'; hopefully I will have the time to sew tomorrow.

Poor son fell over on the walk home from school and cut under his nose, so I did my best with some Savlon and a piece of kitchen roll, but he wasn't happy.  Then the pair of us endured enjoyed about 3/4 hour of the twins 'performing' some Christmas songs and ballet, both dressed as Tinkerbell.


I now have a pile of new magasines to peruse, and I want to get that 'H' finished this evening... wish me luck.

Gimme an H...

Just a quicky tonight as I am embarking on the 'H' and I am too excited to stop and chat!  I am so loving seeing the HUG 'turning the corner'.

Now, I am hoping that by the summer I will be well into the KISS, so lets see if I get done before this comes out to distract me!

HUG update

It's been 3 weeks now and things are starting to look a bit more interesting...

It's so lovely to start adding the colour and seeing the wonderful patterns take shape - I am really excited about getting onto the letters, I just have an ocean of cream to stitch first!

For those checking up on me on Flickr, it probably doesn't look like I get a lot done on a daily basis - but it is slow.  More specifically, I am slow, but there's no rush!

Inset day tomorrow, so I have a breakfast date with dear son and a big Danish pastry at a local coffee shop :)

Quick hello from me...

It's late, I have had a second wind of the 'unpacking and getting sorted' variety and I have only just sat down.  But a few more boxes have been unpacked, the girls have smashing new bright pink valance sheets (oh how they hide a multitude of sins/toys!), and my 'to do' pile looks a little more manageable.

Success on the HUG too last night - I finished the top flower row (not sure that's an Emily Peacock term, but hey...).

So things are advancing at a pace - still waiting on that IKEA 'bit' though.

All white now...

It's all about balance; so to counteract my love of all things bright and beautiful, we need to keep everything else simple, otherwise I think I, at least, would go bonkers, (hush, I can hear at least 2 of you saying 'too late!").

I would love to live in a clean white palace, but I have too much stuff, hubby has too much stuff and the kids, well, I needn't say a word!

So today's delivery was a white one. 

OK, so it's only a laundry basket, but it hides the horrors-within in a very 'aesthetically pleasing manner', and replaces a rather grotty cream canvas number that had seen better days.

But enough of the simple things, I need to crack on with the HUG - I managed to finish the row of flowers, but didn't have time to stitch the surround. 

I did discover that I was 2 stitches short of the number required though.  Oops.  So I soon rectified that.

The best laid plans...

Tonight I was going to regale you with tails of DIY and our smashing new bedroom furniture, instead I am in a mood because 'someone' packed an incorrect piece into our Hemnes 8-drawer chest, scuppering our plans until a new bit can be sent this week :(

So just to cheer myself up, here's a peaceful corner of our home.  Flowers just about still going from last Sunday, and a picture my Dad painted as a wedding present...

Also a reminder to check out the HUG progress on flickr; I feel I am going great guns for a couple of hours per evening, and tonight I am hoping to get the flower row completed.

Toys for the... Girls

If I was in the market for a new car, this would be it, no question...

The page takes a little time to load, but it's worth it.  The wonderful OK can do no wrong!

OK it's been a week, and so far so great...

Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to get my sewing machine 'out of the box', but this relaxing in front of the TV and sewing away is just what I need right now.