Cross Stitched T-Shirts

Before Christmas, I was trying to think of gifts that I hadn't made before, or a new take on some of the crafts that I did.  It was while I was pondering this that I found a fantastic tutorial over at  Wee Little Stitches called "How To Cross Stitch Anything".  It is a really good step by step guide to how to use waste fabric and it is something that I haven't attempted before.  So I set about making  cross stitch patterns to suit my brother and brother in law.  I should point out here that I am still relatively new to making patterns, but that I thoroughly enjoyed having these items come together from an idea to a finished item.
For my Dr Who obsessed brother in law I made this.

Dr Who Fezz and Bowtie

This was the Dr Who image I made, then added the phrase "Fezzes are Cool"  

Fezzes Are Cool

I think he was quite happy with it!

Then for my brother who adores Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory I came up with a Bazinga pattern.

Bazinga!

Bazinga T Shirt

I'm really happy with how these both turned out. It was a lot easier that I thought it would be to stitch onto the tops and waste fabric is now my new best friend.

2013 - Update

Hello 2013! I am here, honest but I have had a bit of a busy start to the year.  Regular Scheduling should resume, but I thought I would start with an update of my absence.

My next OU Psychology course started yesterday,( DD307 : Social Psychology) which looks to be really interesting, and it is my first level 3 course so I am scared to death looking forwards to the increased pressures that go a long with that..... 
However I did realize over the Christmas break that I have exactly half the points needed towards my degree, which is an achievement that I am proud of and will hopefully keep me motivated.  Distance learning is a tough cookie to crack, but in my opinion it is well worth it.

Also I start volunteering this year and as part of that I got to go to the  Us Girls Conference which was amazing and inspirational and also quite fun.

Just Me and Gemma hanging out with a couple of Olympic Athletes...as you do.....!!!

Me and Gemma .... working hard....

This was a completely new experience for me as I was very young when I had my daughter so my only work experience is waitressing.  I was completely out of my comfort zone but surrounded by a lot of very inspirational women and am eager now to get started on UsGirls Chorley and am hopeful that we will be able to put some of the knowledge we gleamed to good use.

After the conference and before I started preparing for the course, I was whisked off to sunny Scotland for a long weekend with "The Hubby" and "The Boys" for a Ski Holiday.  As it turned out we had a good Scottish Holiday with a couple of runs on the mountains. Ironically the kids, who were being looked after at home by Nanny, had more snow that we did. It was the first time I had ever been to Scotland and hopefully it won't be the last as it was absolutely gorgeous. Even the drive up was lovely!

The beautiful Scottish Highlands

It's a bit nippy!

At the bottom of Glencoe Mountain

The Boys on the way back down Glencoe Mountain

I hope you have all had a good start to the new year and I will be trying to turn my attentions to something craft related.