A confession

I've been putting off writing this post for a while. I haven't been able to stitch on The Astronomer for ages now. Nearly 3 months. I cant bring myself to pick it up.

I have recently been diagnosed with OCD. I am trying different medications but will not be trying CBT therapy as it is not something that has worked well for me in the past.

Stitching became such a mammoth task due to rituals and compulsions i had to follow before i could even sit down to stitch. Constant checking of symbols and placement of stitches became overwhelming. The smallest mistake would end in tears. I started washing my hands till they bled in case dirt or oil got on to my work.

Im done for a while. I WILL stitch in the future but for now i need to get my meds mix right and concentrate on getting better. I want stitching to be relaxing again and fun. not how it has been for the last few months.


So for now have some pics!

Esmai recently broke her nose while riding her bike. She went straight into a lamppost. The very next day she was back on her bike. Shes fearless! The lamppost was replaced a week later as she had dented it. She will be 4 next month!

Connor is doing amazing! He can now ride his bike without stabilizers and is learning to ride one handed. He is still enjoying being Home Educated. He is doing very well at beavers and has earnt a lot of badges. He recently had his first sleep over with the beavers and enjoyed every second.  Connor has just turned 8!!

I have lost a tonne of weight- well not a tonne. 8 stone since last January. All thanks to a stomach ulcer. Im enjoying the slimmer version of me. I still Hate clothes shopping with a passion though! 

A little break

I have no stitching at all to show. Surprisingly im not that bothered by it.

I spent most of last year trying to finish page after page, I kind of lost the love for stitching.

I thought it was just where I had worked on the same project for so long and told myself that when I started something new I would plough straight in and everything would be perfect.

I found I was also comparing myself to other stitchers, how fast i finished a page, how neat my stitches was....

It was just another stress -when my life had became very stressful- that I had to manage and eventaully became not enjoyable. To be honest everything got ontop of me a little.

A break was very much needed. I told myself i would finish the page by Xmas then have a little break and would start a new project in the New Year.

I was hoping to get the threads for one of my Birthday charts but the car went BANG! so I am still waiting for them.

I decieded that a bit of a extended break was needed.

It has been almost a month since i put needle to fabric. I havent looked at any of the stitching on any Facebook groups im on unless it popped up on my newsfeed. I havent read any blogs. I havent even looked at my stitching!

Damn i have been bored!

I think its time for the break to be over. I have found that i dont know what to do with my hands at night while watching TV.

I have started to look forward to sitting down and feeling the thread between my fingers and seeing the progress i have made.

TONIGHT I WILL STITCH !!!



Slowly, and possibly not every night. I dont know when my next update will be. Im going to concentrate on enjoying every stitch, like it should be, not on how much i have accomplished.

Finally a decent update-grab a cuppa

I have worked on the background and am loving the colours still they are starting to get darker then the top of the picture which is really nice. I have spent ages thinking the blob of red at the tip of her hair was wrong until my partner pointed it out on the finished design. Next up is to finish the wing eventually (I have run out of one colour). Then I will finish off the body and her boob and that will be this page finished leaving only 5 pages. The next page will go rather fast I think as its mainly large patches of colour. I am leaving all the white in the design till last so it doesn’t get too grubby. There is a lot of white on page 7 which is the bulk of her dress. So dare I say it I think the rest of the stocking should stitch up fairly quick? I am planning on taking a break in December and was considering working on some smaller designs from a magazine I brought.

In other news:

We are doing a home school trail run. With the aim (all being well) to take Connor out of school ASAP and home school him full time. I have started a blog on it so feel free to jump over to it to see what we have been up to *learning together*

We survived the storm with nothing more than a broken fence. One of my friends 2 roads down from us lost part of her roof so we were lucky but it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. I didn’t expect it to snow though! Only for a few minutes, Connor was very upset that he had missed it.

Esmai is such a cheeky little girl now. She’s walking most places and is finally in a brilliant routine which works very well for us. We have had a break from teething which has been needed. She now has 14 teeth!

In home school I didn’t want to teach anything he is likely to learn in school in case it doesn’t work out and he returns to school. So this week we have been focusing on Halloween. We have also made Halloween decs for the windows and picked up some pumpkins last night, we are also going to try pumpkin pie and soup-which none of us have ever had-so if you know any awesome recipes feel free to let me know!

We are working on getting Xmas sorted, so to avoid the rush we had last year. By the end of November we should be completely finished, present wise and then only have food shopping left to do in December. We have lots of craft bits planned for the children and me (I’m a big Xmas freak) and I have started stock piling and organising what we are going to make already!

 

 

Give away winner

First off a massive thank you to everyone who joined in and hello to all my new followers. 

As you can see from the pics my lovely daughter ( aged 6 months) drew the winner....she actually tried to eat you!!

The winner is DEBBIE

Can you email me at a.k.mcgovern AT hotmail.co.uk  and i will email the voucher to you

Xmas



 

Hello. I hope everyone had a great Xmas, we did!

The kids loved it and Esmai done very well at eating tearing the paper. Connor was well and truly spoilt, main presents included a guitar and the whole Octonaughts set, walkie talkies, ben 10 toys, remote control cars and battle tanks!!

I got loads including my very first ring sling, which is taking some getting used to. Perfume, a tablet (when it turns up), hair dryer and straightner set, and a very pretty watch.

Esmai had a chance to finally wear her Xmas nappy (which I brought months ago) It says “Be naughty save Santa the trip” so so pretty!

Dinner was lovely cooked by my partner, way too much food and I even had a cheeky glass of wine hehe

I have started working on “Tribal dragon” again. No time limit this time just taking it nice and slow and enjoying it. I’m struggling with the size of the stitches but then again I’m due an eye test.

 

Esmai opening her first present

 

Trying to eat her teddy

Connor opening present from Santa

Connors Guitar

Octonaughts

Esmai's first Xmas nappy

My first ring sling

Progress on Tribal dragon

We had a great day, I hope you did you too!

ITS DONE!!!

Helloooo. I know its been ages since i done a proper update. Thats because i have spent all my free time stitching like a mad woman. Esmai's stocking was finished and made up last night. I did take more photos but think they may have been deleted. This will proberly be my last finish of the year. There havent been as many as i hoped but still better then none! So heres the pics

Progress after the restart

Snowman 1

 

Start of Snowman 2

Snowman 2 finished

 

Start of the background

~*~*~*~*~*~*Massive jump in pictures~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Stocking finished

All Sewn

Connor wrote his first letter to Santa, with a little help from mummy who dotted it out for him to trace. I think he done really well :)

Pic update

 

 

The colours are a little off but PROGRESS!!!

 

Excuse the rinkles

Hetic half term,lots of pics-grab a cuppa :)

Hi 

I just thought I would mention that I have taken anonymous posting off as I was getting a lot of spam comments. I'm sorry it has gone on so long I was hoping it would go away on its own but now you have to have a Google account or similar to be able to post a comment. 

The half term is pretty much over, its been our first and its been a long one! I’m truly shattered. We have done lots of fun things including lots of messy play ,visiting people, and lazy days at home. 

We mixed shaving foam and food colouring and painted the bathroom. Most people who have seen the pictures thought I was mental but it was so easy to clean off , just showered over and all done! Connor loved it and I haven’t heard him giggle like that in a long time. 

We had glow stick baths which went down a treat. Something I would love to do but on a much bigger scale, maybe hiring out the local swimming pool would be a bit eccentric though. 

We went trickle treating for Halloween which Connor loved and he was even very brave and went to some houses by himself. We decorated the windows not anything as good as we did last year as we was running out of time. We carved pumpkins but they didn't turn out too great as the knife I use snapped. Connor was a mummy for Halloween all wrapped up in bandages, he looked so cute and it didn’t cost me anything!

We saw friends that we haven’t seen in years, a girl I used to go to school with, the last time she saw Connor he was newborn!

　

Somehow in all the madness and mayhem I even managed to stitch a little , not as much as I hoped but better then nothing. I restarted the snowman stocking for my daughter using the right fabric. The size difference is immense I don’t know why I didn’t question it before. Most of the scarf is done but I’m seriously going to have to work my arse off to get it finished in time for Xmas. 

I have chosen the fabric I am going to use to back it but think it may look a bit boy-ish as its going to be a lot of blue. But it will look great. 

Well I better get back and do some stitching!!

Have some cute pics!

The size difference

Shaving foam painting

Shaving foam painting

"Its on my glasses!"

Esmai is getting strong

Connor as a Mummy

Esmai as a cat thingy 

Our decs

T-minus 7days!!

Hi!!!


I was planning on showing a few pics of why i have been away but my camera is packed in my hospital bag as this time next week i should hopefully be in labour! I am being induced on the 11/7/12 at 7:30AM!!! Ouch its gonna be a early start! I have stitched and if i suddenly decide to repack my bag yet again ill make sure i grab a quick pic. We have also been decorating the whole house....what made me think we could get it finished in time ill never know.
So this post is just a quick one to  let you know im still about and i have finally stitched at last! The house is being done and i only have 7 days to get everything ready....where did i put the coffee????


Wish me luck!!!

Catch up

I posted a pic in my last post of my progress on “Yule fairy” it seems to be taking forever as there is so much confetti. I am doing all the bulk colours first then I will fill in the odd stitches and lesser colours as I feel like I am getting nowhere otherwise. I was hoping to have a page finish by the end of the month but I doubt very much that I will do unless I overdose on caffeine.

Saturday we went down the Warren, which is some woodland very close to us, only a few minutes in the car, in an attempt to tire Connor out. It’s beautiful down there if you ignore the graffiti, which there isn’t much of. There are handmade BMX and bike trails throughout the Warren. Some very small and some that are impossible to climb up. I took my bike down there when I was younger but chickened out of all of the jumps, what can I say I like my bones unbroken!

I hope you enjoy the pics

There was some tree climbing

Connor trying to get down one of the mini BMX ramps

Posing in a hollow tree

There are loads of bluebells through out the Warren

Steve found a tree swing....

.....Which didnt end well!

The kittens are doing very well and are starting to climb. Mainly trouser legs and the curtains. There into everything and each have very different personalities.

The baby is cooking well and I have just under 8 weeks till I am induced! I can’t wait, I’ve got to the point I’m constantly uncomfortable and have pulled some muscles in my stomach yet again even though I have been so careful.

Connors operation has worked very well. I’m still trying to get used to not being able to hear him snore at night. During the day he has endless energy and is impossible to tire out. His eating has got better his constantly hungry and eating (most of the time) like a horse. He has even put weight on and gone up a trouser size. He has a little belly for the first time ever!!

100!!!

100 posts!

I should have done it days ago as I have loads of pics to update with and some progress on crocheting but I have put off writing this post as I didn’t want to rush it.

So as I have now reached 100 posts I thought it would be good to do a quick round up of what has gone on.

I have finished 4 cross stitch projects and 3 small cross stitch projects. I finished 3 crochet projects. All in all not too bad for me I think. I have started many new projects and stopped to move onto new things. I WILL get them finished at some point....maybe  

In non stitchey things I am pregnant. Connor is only months away from starting primary school. We lost 2 cats and got Simba and Kiki. Kiki had kittens. We have been camping a few times and fishing a few times. Things are getting sorted on mine and Connors healths. So all in all it’s been a good 100 posts.

It’s hard to believe that I have made it to 100 posts. This blog originally started out as a quilting blog where I could track my progress as I started my very first quilt. Some day I will make a quilt. I need to practise sowing first as I have learnt that I can’t use a sewing machine very well.

I plan on updating more in the future I have been kind of slack with posting. So hopefully over the next 100 posts I will get better with that. I also hope to finish more projects....wish me luck!

Thanks for sticking around!!

update and baby#2

Hello. Well after my accident a few days ago I have done a little stitching. More then I had hoped to get done so I’m quite happy with it. It seems to have stitched up really quickly. I can’t believe how many different colors are in one area. The picture of the completed project doesn’t do it justice at all. Neither does my pic, there are loads of pretty colours in it. So far this is a joy to stitch on.

For some reason blogger has turn the pic around. It’s actually the top line going right across not down the side

So for a baby update. I am now almost 18weeks gone. I feel massive already but that’s mainly due to the baby being long and in a weird position. Its feet are by my spine and its head by my belly button. This is making me look nearer to 7 months pregnant. And also explains the kidney shots it’s been giving me. So far it has been agreed to induce me 2 weeks early but it might be sooner depending on how my health goes and how quickly the lungs mature.  It’s so annoying not being able to tell people how much longer I got because I don’t know. The pain is getting bad where my muscles are stretching I have now been about 11 weeks without any painkillers and my mood shows that I’m struggling, and I hate mornings with a new found passion.  In all honesty I’m kinda looking forward to the hospital bed rest the midwife is insistent I will need. Just think of all that time for stitching!!

Connor is really excited about the baby, he felt it kick a few days ago, and he said it made my belly feel like jelly! Charming right?  He is a little confused but not as much as I thought he would be. He is insistent that there is a baby in his belly too.

Spreading the love

Hi everyone, just a quick post to say hi and share a bit of love

Have you checked out Cross stitch heaven it’s amazingly cheap, easy to navigate and even makes up HAED thread packs! If they don’t have the one you’re after just send them an email and they make it for you! This is so amazing I found that sorting out what threads I needed was a nightmare on “Strength” and I know a lot of the blogs that I follow do a lot of HAED this is my idea of heaven!

It was my blogverasy on the 14^th so I am doing a giveaway. If you haven’t noticed already I have made a separate page for giveaways, you should be able to comment on there. You can also comment on the post that I announced it, on the new page or email me. My email address is at the very top on the right. The more entries I receive the more stash ill add to it.

I am just waiting on some hand dyed fabric from Sparklies which is looks amazing, and this will be the first time I have used hand dyed fabric , then I’ll be starting a new project. I’m so excited about this. I won’t have a time limit on it so I’ll be able to enjoy every stitch. I don’t know how I’m going to finish it as it works out as a very big design but I have months to dream about it, don’t you just love that feeling.

~*~*~*Happy Dance!!!!*~*~*~ ( The coherent version) And blogversary Giveaway!!!

Hello ! I apologise for my earlier post, it wasn’t all that coherent. Not enough sleep does that too me, but don’t worry my lovelies I’m more then awake now! The last post should have read:

I have finished “Strength” story keep!!!! I’m sorry for not posting for so long; I have worked solidly on this since my last post. Just as well really it was a mad rush to get it finished! I now have bruising on my fingertips, partly due to the EDS partly due to it being really hard to push the needle through. I managed to get it finished and “framed” in my own way this morning. It’s the first time I have framed anything and it was a nightmare! I think when I have some spare money I will have it done properly. Black card and masking tape isn’t too professional.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

My wonderful Daddy

Framed

Framed

On the 14^th of this month it is my one year blogversary! One whole year. I would like to thank you to all of you for putting up with my incoherent ramblings. To celebrate I’m doing a quick giveaway. Simply comment on this post and spread the word if you want (but not necessary) Drawing will be on the 30^th November. If your name is drawn you will get to choose from the following:

·         Jane Greenoff  “Cross stitch castles and cottages”

·         Maria Diaz “101 cross stitch card designs”

·         Joan Elliot “Sentiments and sayings”

·         Dorothea Hall “Cross stitch for the home”

Camping

I am going camping tommrow, so will post a decent update when i return sunday. i have done lost of stitching since my last update so losts of pics. i have also brought a few little kits incase i get any time while im camping.
:)

I have added a few more links to the unusual designs page. They might not make much sense at the moment I’m hoping to put them into some sort of list over the next few days.

I was wondering has anyone cross stitched on silk. I have a red silk dressing gown I was thinking of maybe in the future using the elegant kimono design I am working on as a back piece. Does anyone have any hints or tips?

Elegant kimono is coming along ok I haven’t been able to work on it as much as I had hoped lately.

Progress

If you have anything you think should be posted on the Inspiration, Unusal designs or Hall of fame please let me know and ill include it when i update

New additions

So there been a lot of changes. 2 new pages. A couple of deliverys. I love my postman. 

I ordered a scroll frame from eBay. Very fast delivery. It’s not keeping as taught I wanted it but that could just be where I haven’t used it before I have been a little gentle with it.

Also the threads I ordered from Rosace Embroidery threads delivered. For free! Yes a freebie. 3 skeins of my choice. There are great. Quick go grab yours......

I’ve been making good progress but put wont pics up tonight as I’m shattered, so I’ll save them for tomorrow.