Friday again...

I do apologise for being pretty lax with this blog over the last couple of weeks - just been too busy &/or too tired!

Hi to my Dutch reader!! *waves madly* It's nice to know there's someone out there & I'm not totally talking to myself! In response to your question, I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of my stitching corner, but I'm expecting a visit from my parents in a couple of weeks so I'll see if I can borrow my mother's camera & take a couple of pics. If Daisy sits still for long enough, I might even post one of her as well!

So how's everyone been? As usual, things have been very hectic here. I've been fighting off all the germs that my colleagues keep bringing into the office - how kind of them to want to share - so I've not been at my perkiest recently.

I went to visit an old friend of mine in London last weekend, and despite the pair of us being more tired & wiped out than a very tired & wiped out thing that's been up all night & run 2 marathons, we managed to stay up far too late drinking some particularly nice wine & talking about life, the universe and relationships. He's my closest male friend (apart from OH!) so it's always good to get the male perspective on things - and as we've known each other for about 20 years (yes, it's official, I'm old) we tend to converse in a series of insults and abuse. I say he's a geek, according to him I'm a short weirdo with a string obsession, and it amazes both of us when other people manage to put up with our strangeness long enough for either of us to have a relationship with the opposite sex!

Oh, and let's not forget the fact that by virtue of me being a year older, I can always look forward to ageist comments when he runs out of short, weird jokes. But then he's an IT geek. Okay, okay, "Management Consultant". But once a computer geek, always a computer geek. He can cook a mean tuna steak though...

And I do like his car. Heated leather seats - what more can a girl ask for?

While I was there, we went for a walk round the grounds of Hampton Court Palace - in my opinion, one of the most beautiful of the royal palaces. The weather was gorgeous - a perfect crisp, clear autumn day - and the light filtering through the trees and hitting the walls in the setting sun, bringing out the warmth of the old bricks, may well be something that pops up in a future design...

Sunday was another clear, sunny day so we went to Richmond Park to walk off the previous night's fantastic meal. I've always loved autumn and after the unrelenting greyness that Manchester had been experiencing, it was a reminder of how beautiful this season can be. It was also a reminder of how many people there are living in south-east England and why I decided to leave! It was lovely to visit but I was glad to get home to the relative sanity of Manchester...

So not much stitching got done at the weekend. I took some with me with intention of doing some on the train but I fell asleep virtually as soon as I sat down on the Friday night, and as I missed my train back on Sunday (which had my seat reservation) I had to get the next one. Being more crowded than an overpacked tin of sardines, I had sit on the floor in the corridor for 4½hours - not exactly conducive to relaxed stitching!

One evening a week, I work behind the bar at a local golf club and as the manager was on holiday, I had to cover for a colleague and work an extra night. I've always enjoyed bar work, and this time of year the club is virtually deserted except for a few dedicated bridge players which makes for a very quiet night! This gives me virtually uninterrupted time to catch up on reading and sketching out design ideas, without the interruptions and distractions of home. Obviously I can't stitch at the club (far too smoky & grimy!) so it forces me to spend time finalising tricky problems and making construction decisions and I really like the fact I'm getting paid to do it!

Still, after the late nights at the weekend, a full week of the day job (8.30am-6pm) followed by two nights of working 6.30pm-11pm can make one rather tired! Not to mention the "drinks & nibbles" organised by my boss of my day job last night. Luckily I was sensible & left at 9pm (unlike a considerable group who rolled in late this morning looking very pale and swearing never to drink again), but I have got the distinct impression that my OH and Daisy the cat are forgetting what I look like...

Tonight, I have no plans other than to make blueberry muffins for a Sampler Guild get-together in Lancashire on Saturday and I can't wait! A couple of hours stitching....cuddling up with OH & Daisy on the sofa....an early night....salmon fillets for dinner....oven-warm muffins for supper....utter bliss......

Much as I enjoy visiting & going out with friends, I do love quiet nights at home - it's just that sometimes, getting the balance right can be tricky! Age also has something to do with it. Gone are the days when I could go out clubbing till 4am twice a week & still have the energy to go away at the weekend, and work a full week complete with 20 hours overtime... I feel exhausted just thinking about what I used to do...

I hope everyone has a good weekend! Let me know what you've been up to - all comments are welcome!! :)

Where did the weekend go?

Well, Monday's rolled around again and I'm still behind with the stitching...

Last Friday night, we went to the dreaded IKEA and tried to get a few bits for the newly painted living room. For once, we actually came out with more than half of the things we wanted and managed to arrange for some to be delivered on Saturday - there's a limit as to how much will fit in a Mini!

So, while OH was at college on Saturday, I was waiting in for the men from IKEA to turn up. This of course means that you can't go out, hoover, do anything that involves noise or even visit the bathroom - you just know they'll ring the doorbell at the most inconvenient moment. But it did give me a fabulous excuse to sit & stitch all morning which helped me catch up a little!

Eventually, the van turns up in the early afternoon and I then spend the rest of the day putting a set of bookshelves and a chest of drawers together - possibly my favourite household chore! With OH out of the way at college and then off to watch the football, and Daisy busy chasing squirrels and frogs in the garden, I managed to build everything & make a really good start on organising everything. I do have a vested interest in these items of furniture particularly - they're both for all of my stash!!

Now I have a perfect stitching corner in the living room, complete with a dinky little halogen light that swivels & twists in every imaginable way. My essential reference books, the folders with all my designs & notes in and a few of my stitched pieces are carefully arranged so I can reach everything! The chest of drawers now contains all the chart packs that have been languishing in an extremely large cardboard box, in the middle of the floor, together with the odd bits and pieces like pens, pencils, a cutting board, tape, string, oddments of card...etc...etc....etc.....

After going to a party on Saturday night, Sunday seemed to zoom by! By the time the housework had been done (including the inordinately large pile of ironing - I didn't realise OH had so many shirts & I have no idea how he's managed to wear them all in such a short space of time!), and I'd finished tidying the house after all the recent commotion, I didn't seem to have long to sit and stitch at all.

So the workshop piece is further along than it was but still not finished yet. Deep sigh.

I must admit that I wasn't exclusively working on it last night - I spent about 30mins on John Clayton's Greek Steps which hasn't been touched since we were on holiday in May. I really want to get this one finished and framed - I have the perfect spot in the hallway reserved for it. It's been a WIP for 2½ years as I've just been doing it when we've been away, but I want to make a start on L&L's Angel of Love soon as it is the perfect colour for the newly painted living room.....

Greek Steps is about 65% done so I think if I can squeeze an odd 30mins in here & there I can finish it fairly soon. I know, I know, I could just start Angel of Love as I've got all the bits ready to go, but I'm determined to finish Greek Steps first, otherwise I can see it languishing in the corner for another couple of years! And after that, there's the Ann Medd Sampler......then the L&L Seasonal Angels................Mirabilia's Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty...............

Let's face it, with my designs plus my full wish list, I've got enough to do until at least 2024..........can I retire yet?

Total chaos...

OH and I spent yesterday afternoon up to our elbows in emulsion and newspapers as we finally got round to decorating our living room - to be fair, I was up to my elbows while he managed to keep himself remarkably clean and tidy. If I hadn't seen him up a ladder with my own eyes, I'd swear he hadn't even touched a paintbrush! We've got one more wall and a small patch of ceiling to do this evening but the worst has been done.

Most of the contents of the room have taken up temporary residence in the very small hallway and my stitching has been removed to the bedroom for safety, well away from any stray splats... Daisy, the cat, thinks it's all a game that we're playing for her benefit and was particularly delighted when we had a picnic of pizza and chicken wings on the floor for dinner, the dining table & chairs being completely inaccessible.

All this commotion has meant that I'm a little behind with the planned stitching, but I think I needed a break from this piece. It's a very straightforward design & in a way, that's caused me more problems than one of my more complex pieces. Normally I'd be constantly making decisions on the details of the design, but with this one there were no problems to be solved and it's turning out just as I'd planned so it's not really holding my interest!!

Of course once I'm working on the birth sampler again, I'll be dreaming of a nice, easy project where all the decisions have been made, but at the moment I can't wait to finish & get back to the problems..... As my father would say, it's just because I'm "bleedin' awkward". OH just rolls his eyes & thinks I'm completely insane for wanting things to be more complicated, but then neither of them really understand the "string" thing!

Still, there's not much more stitching to do on this one so I should get it finished this week. The construction for this piece is very straightforward as well and I'm hoping to finish it completely this weekend. Of course, this is all assuming I can find all the essential bits & pieces that are currently stashed away for safe-keeping. Luckily we only have a small house so the hiding places are limited, aren't they...?