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! 

Progress on The Astronomer and Some Sad news

I have progress!! I have only managed to stitch for one night recently,as life has got pretty busy.

But i feel i have accomplished a good amount. Some of the Milkyway? has been filled in. I managed a ton of black and can now make out another glass discy thing. (Technical right?) The small unfilled black area is the Crow!! 

Im not sure if im going to get a chance to work on this again this month. I am learning to drive and have a intense week of lessons starting this Monday. After that i will go back to doing weekend lessons so hopefully by the start of April i will be able to get a few hours in a night. I had my theory test today and failed on the Hazard perception part of it. 

Last week one of our cats passed away. We had to put him down after he became poorly a few weeks ago. The children have taken it very hard. He was very cuddly and because we dont know completely why he was poorly they are struggling to understand. My partner rescued him 3 years ago driving 3 hrs to pick him up. 10pm at night from a lady on Facebook. Not getting home till 1am. He was very poorly looked after. Fleas, Ticks and a birth defect in his jaw. His teeth was rotten and he was under weight. He slowly came to feel at home with us. Over the last year he has started cuddling anyone he could. Generally the children or guests. Covering them in cat fur haha. He was the worst cat possible. Unable to jump fences, balance, running into windows. Ect. He once set himself on fire-TWICE-in the same night! He is going to be missed. 

The Astronomer started!

I have finally started!! 

Just under 400 stitches

Block of 1600 stitches.

Im actually quite liking the magic grid fabric. Its taking some getting used to as its in blocks of 20X20 and i have only worked in blocks of 10X10, but if i continue to confuse myself i might get a fabric pen and spilt the grid up, ill see how i go.

I have started adding colour to this section as after working only in black on Tribal Dragon i have just about had enough of black.

I decided to start at the top left corner to save my fabric getting too dirty.

Stitching, Swearing and progress... Eventually!

Urghh i'm a bad blogger! The comp died so have only just got round to updating properly.

I have made progress on Tribal dragon. 

Here it was when i last updated.

A bit of progress on the wing

 Half the wing done

 I was really panicking about the two edges not meeting up. I told myself that i was being silly and everything would work out. 

 I checked and doubled checked while stitching, so what could go wrong?...

Yep..... i screwed up...

 Then to make matters (and my already fragile nerves) worse while unpicking where i *think* i went wrong, the thread i was using stained the fabric! STAINED IT!!! I could have cried! Thankfully the lady that dyed the fabric was amazing.

 After a good scrub, its hardly noticeable...except i know its there :(

 All correct!

And that means that the wings are finished! I'm already working on the body and will update when i have made some good progress with it.

Pre Birthday update

Well its been a while since i last updated. In my last post i was working on a Cross Stitch for Esmai, i never finished it. I lost interest and it was clear i wasn't going to be able to finish in time for her birthday so decided to stop pushing myself as i wasn't enjoying it.

I instead started doing some more crochet, something about the end of summer makes me yearn for yarn. I have been able to crochet for years (My Nana taught me) but i  have never been able to read a pattern. My Nana would speak it to me and i would crochet it then its stuck in my head. This time i  wanted to read and work it out for myself.... it didn't go so well, mainly as i wasn't quite grasping the concept of working in the back loop- to create the cable rows i needed. I eventually found a you tube tutorial of the pattern i was using. The lady on the vid finished them in about 30 minutes, she made it so simple and i was able to watch and re watch over and over. The complete set of wrist warms took me around 2 days to finish and I'm pretty sure now i know how to do it, i can do it faster. I plan on making lots more in the future. Now if only i could find some matching boot cuffs.....

 Not stitching related but I'm so chuffed that i HAVE to share. Finally after moving out of my parents just over 9 years ago and moving house 7 times ,i FINALLY have decorated my bedroom...a proper adult room.No where near perfect but i managed to do it all myself!

This is the colour it used to be...i hated it!

 Last night we had a fantastic storm. The first roll of thunder was so loud it sounded like a explosion! All the neighbours ran out and was screaming. This is NOT my picture, it was posted on a local facebook group for our area. Look how fantastic it is! This was taken on my estate, one road down from me.

*~*~* I *think* if you click on the pic to make it bigger you can see the photographers credit, but im not sure. When i find out details i will update.*~*~*~*

Its my birthday soon and my amazing family have got me  The Astronomer by Myles Pinkney!!! Im sooo excited! i fell in love with when i first saw it,i cant wait to start it. Only 17 days to go........

Im back with a new start!

I have finally found my stitchy bug! A new start and evenings to myself has helped. Connor is marvel mad! As it's his 7th birthday in 6 days I thought this would be a nice present for him as we are hoping to decorate his bedroom in the next few months, yes decorating is still on going but that's a whole other post.

Ironman (yummy!) Is the first of the Avengers. I'm hoping to start black widow tonight. If I can stitch one character a night I should just be able to finish it in time. If not I'll keep it to one side and wait for his room to be decorated.

Also does anyone else sew little notes onto there pieces? Last night I decided that the lettering needs moving over 1 square. So I added a little note to remind me.

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Stitchey corner

My new stitchey corner,complete with chocolate,diet coke and comfy pillows.

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Happy Xmas! Yule Fairy

Happy Xmas!!

After almost 2 years of stitching i finished Yule Fairy but put her away as she is my Mums Xmas present. I found some lovely fabric in my local fabric shop and that very night i sat down to finish sewing the stocking.

It has turned out a lot better then i thought! The toes and heel are still a little boxy- as i have found on the other stockings i made- but nowhere near as bad as i expected. The sewing machine played nice so i managed to finishing sewing it after only 3 attempts at rethreading! Thats a record! I think i am finally getting better at sewing....

I thought i would include a photo of my Mum receiving the stocking Xmas day. Shes just starting to cry....good tears :)

Xmas morning was over so quickly. The kids loved it and was very excited.

Stockings 

 One of Esmai's main presents was a recycled dolls house. This was originally made for my sister almost 15 years ago by a neighbour. My sister has long out grown it so gave it to us for my daughter. It had been pretty beaten up, all solid but the door and windows were hanging off and it had chewing gum inside.
My partner complete redecorated it, white paint, flooring, fixed the doors and windows, wallpaper and the best bit was it was complete free, we brought some dolls and furniture but the actual house and decorating didn't cost a thing!
She has played with it for hours. Making the dolls walk up and down the stair, over and over and over- telling me off when i dont do it right!

 We made a gingerbread house with the kids. It was the first one we have ever made and it was a disaster!! It was from a kit but the damn thing kept falling apaprt

Quick pic

Just a quick pic. Rawr is almost done- just one more colour left :D

Cheeky little New start....

Just a quick pic of my new start "Rawr!"

Please excuse the creases and gridlines, up next the cutest dinosaur ever except for Ducky from The Land before Time

 

I will post a update of "Smaug" soon as I have done a fair amount before I started "Rawr"

A rare chance to stitch during the day with my little helper

Esmai snuggled up for almost 30 mins ( a life time for a toddler!) and helped me stitch. She held my chart, helped me count, well upto 3 anyway, and made sure i didn't get distracted by eating my chocolate for me!

I love it when my children take a interest in my hobbies. I remember sitting with my Nan as she stitched. She taught me, maybe one day Esmai will want to learn :)

Wing finished!

I had to frog part of it, i cant work out where i went wrong, but it looks close enough. Im very happy with him. Now onto wing 2! Im not looking forward to pulling out the gridding,which took me nearly 3 days to grid up! I have no where to put this when i have finished, would it be totally insane of me to decorate a entire room around this one piece of stitching? It would infact be the very first piece of stitching that would be have ever been displayed in my home and the first thing i have stitched for myself!

Return of Smaug!!! ( Tribal Dragon)

 After Finishing Yule Fairy i have decided to continue working on Tribal dragon by Sparklies. I have only done a little partly as the holes are so small and i need my eyes testing.

What it looked like when i stopped

How it looks now

I dont know how far i will get with this before he has to go away ( were moving in a few weeks) but hopefully i can get a good chunk of the wing done.
I am planning on treating myself for my birthday and getting the threads for one of my HAED designs but its going to be awhile because of the move. I also need to choose a new chart as part of HAEDs reward program, i just dont know what!!

Yule Fairy - FINISHED

After almost 2 long years she is finally finished! 

Just some very quick photos as she hasn't been dried or ironed yet. 

Now the hunt for some backing fabric begins! 

More progress then i thought!

I have spent 2 nights working on my sewing, the rest of the time i have been working (the boring kind)

I was surprised at how much i had managed to get done. I didn't realize how much until i looked at my last update. I would hate to jinx myself but *whispers* I think i might have it done in time for Xmas this year!.....Maybe. A year late is better then never ....right?

Yesterday we went down to a local park with my parents. It was the first time in ages they have been able to come down and play with the kids, due to everyone's health problems. My Dad had more fun then the kids and i expect he would have slept well last night as he was charging round the park chasing the kids, who of course loved being chased by the child eating Ogre! 

It feels like ages since i have updated how the Sprogs are getting on:

Connor: Is really enjoying being home Educated. All the nightmares have gone! He is growing in confidence. He never fails to surprise me with his love of learning, which has made a recent reappearance. He is struggling with a bad bout of hay-fever at the moment so is having to take meds daily. Its his birthday in 15 days. He is massively over excited.

Esmai: We have hit the Terrible 2's a little early. She is into climbing everything and anything. She is sleeping better and slowly stopping boobie. She loves anything vaguely baby shaped or furry and has a fascination with her coat and the word "Nooooo" and "Stuck"

This went on for almost a hour!