Motivation

I've not really been very motivated to do any stitching for a while. I think the whole having-to-rip-half-my-work-out saga really put the kybosh on it for a while. That and a few issues at work and I really haven't been myself.

However, I have sorted things out at work now (to a point) and I finally got the motivation to pick up my stitching again at the weekend, when I had a stitchy meet with my lovely stitching friends (Belinda, Bek and Cassie). It was a fantastic few hours and as hubby was out watching the footie with his dad I had to take Little Miss with me. I was a bit dubious as to how it was going to go for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was right on her normal sleep time, which meant she was either going to sleep in the car and get grumpy, or she was going to get grumpy due to not having a sleep. Neither of those things happened and I ended up putting her to bed almost an hour early that night and she was straight to sleep! It did make her a bit more tired the next day though so she's not quite ready to come out of her daytime sleep yet :) The second reason was that she's never been around my stitchy stuff before (I've always made sure it was away before she got up so she didn't get attracted to the scissors or needles. Again, I needn't have worried - there were far too many toys to play with at Cassie's place for her to worry about what we were all doing. It was a great afternoon with lovely company, good conversation and of course some stitching!

So now, this is how far I have managed to get with Jack's sampler. Besides the backstitch, the border is complete so I only have to work on the inside picture. Hopefully it won't take too long now as I feel like I have been working on this one forever. I already have my next project lined up too - Ouroborus. It's a design of a dragon, stitched in purple and I'm doing it as a stitchalong with Bek. We got it at the same time and a good friend of ours (who used to be in the stitchy group before she upped and left us to move to Germany) sent us some lovely sparkly material which was just perfect to stitch him on. I would love to get back to stitching on him but won't pick it up again until I have finished Jack's sampler (or it'll never get finished!)



At our stitchy meet, we also floated the idea of going on a weekend away towards the middle of next year, as a kind of retreat. I'm pretty excited about the prospect and have already been looking on t'internet at places to stay. Three out of the four of us are mum's to young children (Little Miss is the oldest at just over 2 years) so we don't want to venture too far away in case we need to get back, but far enough to feel like we're having a complete break. There are a few places that look promising. It'll just be nice to get away from it all, have good company, lots of stitching time and hopefully lots of laughs. maybe even a stitchy shop or two!

I hope everyone else is going well with their stitching - I'm going to attempt some catching up on blog reading, but I may be some time!

Happy stitching xx

Double figures!

I just noticed that I made it to TEN followers! Thanks everyone for reading my little blog - it amazes me that people are interested in reading what I have to say and what I am working on, so thank you! I get so much enjoyment out of reading your comments and, of course, your blogs too. I can feel that this is the start of something wonderful :D

Now, here's to the next 10.... :P

Must take pictures!

That's a mental note for myself... lol! I have been putting off posting as I wanted to get photo's taken first. Now I have decided I can't wait that long, so I'll post pictures later. I want to have natural light to take the photo's but every time I have chance to think about it, it seems that the daylight has gone... I'll try tomorrow :)

I finished my Home Is piece on Monday evening - yay! - and am now working on one of the birth samplers I have to stitch. I am currently unsure as to whether I am posting pics of these as I go, as the friend whose children they are for reads my blog. I am leaving the decision up to her as to whether she wants to see them as I stitch them or if she wants a surprise at the end. So c'mon Jane - let me know! :D

I have had a pretty good stitchy week, to be honest. I had a stitchy meet on Sunday at Cassie's house which was smaller than usual but it meant that we all got plenty of stitching done (despite the snacks calling out to be eaten!). The company was fabulous and I realise now why we try and make the meetings as regular as possible. It's lovely to get together with a couple of friends and stitch the afternoon away.

On Monday afternoon, I headed over to Belinda's house for some more stitching. She couldn't make it on the Sunday so it was nice to catch up. Bek came along after work and we all had dinner together and then did some more stitching. It was a great couple of days - lots of stitching and lots of good company.

Besides those two days, I have managed to get a little bit of stitching done in the evenings, but not as much as I could have done. Unfortunately, my daughter is teething and has a pretty bad cough to boot, so she's having difficulty in getting off to sleep and staying asleep (understandably) so my time has been taken up with trying to settle her. I'll be so glad - for her sake - when the cough goes and the teeth coem through. How hard it must be to be a little one...

Stitchy meet

The stitchy meet I went to at Melody's house yesterday was fantastic. I'd almost forgotten how good it was to just sit and chat and stitch and eat yummy foods! There was me, Belinda, Melody, Cassie and Melody's very cute 9 month old daughter so there was plenty of chatter going on. I got a little bit stitched on my WTP design, so I made progress but not much. I think because of all the fractionals I probably need to do that at home and take a simpler piece to the stitchy meet.

I can't believe that there was so much sweet stuff to munch our way through - too much probably! I took my slice, Belinda baked a banana bread with a caramel topping, Cassie bought Lammingtons and Melody supplied Oreos and cupcakes. Thank goodness she also supplied salsa with celery and carrot for dipping! I'm thinking next time, I might do something savoury for a change. I only have a few weeks to decide what I'm doing though as the next one is mid-August. Bring it on! :D