Giraffe

And here the latest update on the giraffe from last week . Again, doesn't look like great progress, but I've moved on to the 2nd page! I find the thread really inferior, it keeps breaking and splitting apart - what a bum!!


-- Post From My iPhone

Birthday pressies

And here comes my beautiful birthday present from Simone. It was a very special surprise! She obviously knows me very well, the kitty cat card is just soo cute, and the decoration so thoughtful.


-- Post From My iPhone

Alexandra Palace and New Floor Stand

The Knitting and Stitching Show





at Alexandra Palace was
on this weekend, and as every year, a must for me. This year I went with my friend Jo - she's the one who has only this year started to cross stitch - and finished more than I have in the in past 5 years LOL, she's become a true addict.

As always, Ally Pally was very busy. We found that there were not a lot of stalls dedicated to cross stitch. I've realised that trend for quite a few years, and I think Jo might have expected something different. I don't mind so much, as I still enjoy looking at the other stuff like knitting, etc. The 'ususal suspects'  as every year were there of course, like Black Sheep, Choices, Michael Powell - sorry if I can't mention you all individually - and for me, my money has always disappeared by the end of the day, no matter how many or few stalls there are LOL. Jo got herself 2 Heaven and Earth KITS (yes, they come in kit form by Colray Crafts). Unbelievable, as a beginner, she gets into the Heaven and Earth stuff! I only got small stuff like needles, magnets and.......

Well, I have been toying with the idea of a new floor stand for a while. I had not so good experience with the Opus floor stand - it was never stable enough, too 'top-heavy' (I had to keep my feet firmly on the legs of the stand so it would not topple over), and the annoying turning over of the frame to secure threads etc was such a nightmare. I had the 'Needle Needs' frame recommended to me by another stitcher on a Yahoo-group. Well, it's not cheap... I payed £160 for the floor stand and 2 frames. But I was really fed up with other, inferiour stuff, and while I not always believe 'expensive is better' I have made that experience with some cross stich equipment, e.g. my daylight lamp. Since spending money on a good quality product - hey presto, no more problems. Anyway, back to the frame. I set it up straight away when we came back. This was straight forward, despite me really not being good on putting things together. I could tell straight away that the quality of the wood is excellent. The fabrib is held very taut, and as the frame lies on 2 arms and is not screwed in, it is straight forward to turn your stitching over. I had a bit of a problem rolling the fabric onto the top rollers of the frame if it is several layers of aida - I couldn't secure it in the slot provided, could only do it with no more than 1 layers, so the rest of the aido was sort of hanging loose, which was not a problem. the fabric in the frame was still extremely taught, the best I've ever had I have to say. The only complain, apart from the price tag, is that it could go up a bit higher for my taste, as my 'stitching corner armchair' is quite high, and even in the hightest position I feel that I have to bend down a bit. But again, not a major problem, it would just take a bit of getting used to. All in all, I am very satisfied with my new equipment. Oh, and as it was my birthday last week, I gave DH Nafees a little nudge, and voila - this is my birthday present.

-- Post From My iPhone

This is my progress on Lilliput Lane from last week. Not a lot done.

A finish in cross stitch

Here isn't latest finish - a heart design from the French designer Isabelle Vautier. I've still got the matching strawberry one to do. I thoght those small kits can be my 'on the move' pieces and took them into work for my lunch break. However, we hardly ever get lunch of more than 20 minutes so I would have never done anything on those. Took them back home with me.




-- Post From My iPhone

Poodle doodle

// Monday, 28. September 2009 // 

Here is my update on Mr. Poodle from last week. I've only really stitched on it on Sunday, and yes, it might not seem like a big update, but I feel I have actually made process. I guess another 2 - 3 weeks on it, so it's nearing the end. With the rotation though I won't see it again now for another 4 weeks.

High Heels, East Ham and Autumn colours

// Sunday, 27. September 2009 //        

What's new ... another busy weekend. I spend most of Saturday ferrying the children (and mostly Ruby) around here, there and everywhere. Birthday parties, bank appointments, swimming, gym - you name it, i drive there. And most of. the time being stuck in traffic!

Saturday afternoon Nafees and me went to East Ham, Queen's Road market. Queens Road Market is a noisy hotch-potch market of Asian and African food and clothing. Nafees usually buys his Asian spices there, and I just love the Asian sweets, they are really sweet sweets! We took Bonnie with us, so I had to stay in the car with her- she wouldn't be any good with big crowds. After the shopping, we took her to Newham Central Park. We sat on the bench, eating somosas like an old couple ... haven't done that for a while.

Ruby went out shopping with her best friend Natasha, they were hitting all the clothing and asseccorize shops. She bought this pair of high heel sandals. It's been a long time since I've worn anything like that, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to walk very far in them - it's trainer's for me.

Sunday was a lovely Autumn day. It's still extremely dry though, and the colours are all dried up browns/yellows, there is hardly any green. The rosehips are beautiful though, there are my favourite autumn fruit.

A Mother's story and a police break-in (almost!)

// Saturday, 26. September 2009 //     

Gosh, my legs are still shaking, every mother will understand.... that sinking feeling when you fear for your child... Luckily, I can laugh about it now, feel a bit embarrassed - but the alternative doesn't bear thinking about.

Yesterday, my son Dan (the 15-year old) called me at work around 8 am to tell me he's got bad headache and is feeling unwell, he wants to stay at home and not go to school. He suffers from migraines so this was not exactly unusual. I just told him to take a paracetamol and ring me if it gets worse. What I do usually is ring him every hour to make sure he's ok. Somehow I forgot, and remembered him around noon. I called the landline and mobile phone - no answer. I tried for the next hour without success, phones were ringing, but no reply. I knew that he just wouldn't go out, anyhow, where would he go, as all his friends were in school, and he just doesn't go shopping on his own like that. I quickly really started to panick and of course imagining the worse. By chance, my colleague's mother lives hin the same town as I, and she kindly agree to go to our address. She than knocked on the door for 15 mins, again nothing.

 By now I was physically sick and shaking like a leaf. We than decided to call the police. Luckily, my colleague is a trained 999 operator, and so she took full control of the situation - exactly what I needed. Police were on the scene within 10 minutes. They asked me whether they can break in if they don't get a reply - I said yes. One officer knocked again on the front door, and the other jumped over the fence into the back garden. And that's when Bonnie saved the day (and our front door) - on seeing a person in the back garden, she went mad, barking and running up and down the stairs. That is what woke Dan up - yes, he's been fast asleep!