Holidays and Books

At the end of June Riley, Riley's Dad and I went on a little holiday.  We went to Wales for a few days in a caravan and we had a great time.  We went to Anglesey for a day out.

The beach was a bit pebbly so we spent some time looking fossils.

and found this one (I think it's a leaf).

On another day we went round Caenarfon Castle (said as Can-are-von), which was beautiful.  Riley and I went right to the top of one of the towers.  The original stone spiral steps are great going up, but very hard work coming down again, especially with a 3 year old in tow!

This cute little baby Seagull was sitting on a ledge in the castle watching all the visitors

Later that day we got to see the castle from a different vantage point

when we got to go up in this 4 seater plane as a treat from Riley's Dad.  It was the first time in the air for both Riley and I.  What an amazing experience!

We flew over Snowdonia as well as the castle.  Looking at the mountains from above the clouds was awesome!

Here's Riley with the headset on talking to the pilot

We also visited the Sea Zoo and I took lots of shots of the sealife, but I don't want to make this post even more photo heavy so here's just one pic of a starfish.

And to finish the holiday we went out for a special meal.  When it came time to order our sweet, I asked the waitress for a Sherry Trifle for myself and a Strawberry Icecream Sundae for Riley.  Riley got quite agitated and kept saying he didn't want that.  When I asked him what he did want then, he said "well I do want the strawberry icecream, but I want it TODAY not on Sunday"! LOL  I suppose you had to be there, but that was soo funny.

Here is the Strawberry icecream "Tuesday"!

Hope you enjoyed your peek at our little holiday.

Since my last update I haven't picked up a needle.  I could only ever stitch when Riley wasn't around, so evenings (but usually too tired) or when he went to his grandparents, as he just would not leave me alone to do it.  Even if we've had a fun play session just before hand, he still refuses to let me do something for 'me'.   Same with trying to watch at programme on tv, but I have found that he'll leave me in peace to read. So that's what I've been doing.

A couple of days before going on holiday I went out shopping with my mum and dad and we called in a book shop.  I've not 'read' a book for a couple of years.  I had been listening to audio books for the last few years but had not even done that since Christmas time, but I picked up a copy of "Glass Houses" by Rachel Caine, just because I liked the cover.

Well, I got totally drawn into the story and read it in just a couple of days.  I was so hooked that we even found a book shop whilst we were on holiday so I could buy the next book/s in the series.  Since then I've just not stopped and have read all eight in the series and a couple of different books too.  I have just finished "A Certain Slant of Light" by Laura Whitcomb, which was a beautiful ghost story told from the point of view of the ghost (not at all scary - more like a romance) and now I'm on "Second Glance" by Jodi Picoult.  I joined Goodreads too, which may or may not have been a bit mistake as my 'want to read/wish list' has already grown so long with reading all the book reviews!  If you're a member and would like be become Goodreads Friends, please let me know.

Have a good week everyone.  Maybe even some stitching this weekend as Riley could possibly be spending some time at his Dads.

Little by Little

I've spent another couple of hours on MOTDP this week.  They really are nice to stitch and moving along quite nicely now.

I also took a few photo's of Riley this week which I thought I'd share.  He's getting over the chicken pox now.  He didn't actually get very many spots and he was very lucky not to get any on his face.  You can just see a couple of them healing on his legs.

I can't believe he's soon to be 4 years old and will be starting school in September.  It kind of made it all real when I received his admission forms and uniform order form through the post on Saturday.  He gets to visit the school on Friday and then we both get to go and sample a school lunch sometime in July.  He's definitely ready to start learning more, especially reading and writing, and I think he'll love it.

Right, I'm off to try and sort my mobile phone out.  It got an update today from the service provider and has totally gone crazy.  Whatever it's doing has run a completely full battery down in less than 2 hrs.  I have no idea what I've got to do to sort it out.  Should be fun.  Oh joy.

Mad Hair Day

These mermaids sure do have a LOT of hair!  I spent hours yesterday stitching different shades of brown and it's still not finished.  Here's a photo of my progress so far.

I like the look of the tweeded sections.  It really gives her hair a lift.  Still quite a bit to do on that section before I can move down to her body though.

In other news, Riley has come down with Chickenpox this weekend.  I have a snotty nosed, spotty, itchy child.  The spots haven't reached his whole body yet.  His face is clear at the moment but I doubt it'll stay like that.  They started on his bottom, groin and tops of his legs and spread down his legs and to his feet through last night.  Between getting up this morning and getting hold of some calamine lotion a couple of hours later, we found some new ones on his hands and fingers and there are some reddish marks on his chest and back which no doubt will flourish over the next few hours into spots.  Gross.  At least he's young (I hear it's a lot worse if you get it when you're older) and it really doesn't seem to be affecting him too much at the moment.  At breakfast this morning I offered him a banana sandwhich after his cereal and he said "no mummy, banana's are not good for my spots." LOL where did he get that idea from?

Nineteen Ninety Three

I found some old photo's whilst looking for something else.  Thought you might like to see them.  These were taken in 1993 when I was nearly 26 years old.  No laughing now!

Oh to be that slim again!

Mermaids - First WIP Photo

Here's my first WIP photo of Mermaids of the Deep Blue.  There's about 6 hours work on her here (I'm a very slow stitcher!).

This is the lower of the two mermaids.  She looks kind of odd doesn't she.  Maybe even a little bit scary!  I do really like the fabric though.  I dont think I'll get any done on her tonight as I'm thinking a night in front of the tv with a big bag of Maltesers all to myself sounds good at the moment.

So how about this one?

Ok, so you overwhelmingly voted that this fabric was too light:

What do you think of this one? In real life it's just ever so slightly darker than it shows in the photo.

I must admit, I do like this one.  It's very pretty and sparkly.  Looking forward to reading your comments.  If it's a good vote then I'll be starting them very soon.  If not, I'll carry on with the 'new start' I had this weekend :o)

Next! Move along now.

Ok, so it's time to start thinking about what to work on next and I think my decision has been made.  I'm having a new start with Mermaids of the Deep Blue by Mirabilia.  I'm not 100% sure about the fabric, so tonight whilst the light was still good I did a floss toss. (Picture clickable for clearer view.)

What do you think?  Do you think it's 'too aqua'?  There's a bit of pink in there too.  Be honest with me please.  Don't just say you like it to please me.  I can quite easily work on Spring Ride for a while until I can get a new piece of fabric.  Oh, just in case you don't know or can't remember what Mermaids of the Deep Blue looks like, here's a picture:

Thanking your all in advance for your comments and a very big thank you for all the wonderful comments you made about Magnolia.  You made me very big headed you know! :o)

Magnolia

She's finished!  I worked on her all weekend apart from the times I took out to eat and sleep.  Now I have a splitting headache, but she's done,  she looks fabulous and she's well worth the headache :o)

MAGNOLIA by Nora Corbett

Stitched on Sparklies Hand Dyed aida - Slightly Summer

using DMC & Petite Treasure Braid threads

Happy Birthday Mum

It's my Mum's birthday today.  Unfortunately I haven't quite finished her birthday present and although I only have the beading to do now, which I'll be working on today, she'll then be at the framers for a couple of weeks.  Rather than leave Mum with just a card on her birthday, I thought it would be nice to show her a little glimpse of her gift.

So Mum, meet 'Magnolia'.

I dont want to spoil it by showing her in full, especially as she's not finished and will look so much nicer by this evening.  I really hope you'll like her.

Happy Birthday MUM.  I love you. xxx

Magnolia 'before the weekend rush'

Here's where Magnolia currently stands. I took the photo last night after finishing up the backstitching. Just that last petal and the beading to do. My needle will be smoking this weekend to get her finished.

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