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.

Crafty Confidence

Way back in April, after the Easter holidays, I started a confidence course called "Butterflies" which I must admit, I was a bit dubious about it at first, but it was an absolutely amazing course, run by an amazing woman.  Every week as well as working on self esteem etc we did different craft projects.  So I thought I would share my favourites.

Painting by Numbers

 I must admit to choosing this paint by numbers, as I was reading Game of Thrones at the time, so was drawn to the wolfs.  I have never done a painting by numbers before, but I really really enjoyed doing this, and actually have completed a second one of horses for my daughter who started horse riding lessons this year and is obsessed with them.  

Dream Book

The dream book was a really interesting one to do.  Partly because I have never done decoupage before, and partly because it was a lovely thing to do.  It is our own little scrapbook of stuff that we want,want to do or dreams we have.  I really enjoyed doing this and would advice anyone to make their own, because it is nice to remember what you are about and what your dreams are sometimes. This is no way near finished but some of my pages are done:

Travel the world in a VW bus with my gorgeous hubby

Have my own craftroom!!

Follow F1 around the world!!!

Ok, so the last one is a)not finished and b)a tad unlikely.....but a girl can dream.  

Hanging Heart

 I love this heart I did because it is very me!

And then I made this little biscornu for Cheryl who runs the course (the company is called You're Amazing)

Butterfly Biscornu

Butterfly Biscornu

 I have fallen a little bit in love with biscornu's recently, and this was one of the first I have made and am quite happy with how it turned out - They are so sweet!!! 

Threads!

My lovely hubby is unfortunately working on Sunday, so as a treat he took me and the kids to Hobbycraft on tuesday, and not only bought me the particular thread I needed - but bought the rest of the threads I need aswell!Yay!

DMC threads

You have got to love a man that will happily spend money on threads! (I use the term happily, rather loosely, but he did and he offered!) There were about 12 colours I needed all together and there was only 1 out of stock. Having bought a couple of threads here and there as and when needed, I am now getting a lovely little collection of DMC threads, next I need to organize them....Organization isn't really my strong point, but next on the list of craft stuff that is needed is going to be a nice little thread box.
Aside from this we then went wandering and I came away with this gorgeous mixing bowl aswell!

I feel very "betty crocker" with a proper ceramic mixing bowl like this but I do enjoy baking and the family enjoy my baking (most of the time) so all is well.
I have an update of the charity quilt block that I am working on, which is starting to look like something a bit more than a block of purple now. However you will have to excuse the shoddy photograph, I know that decent photography is the first rule in Craft Blogging but the nice camera has ran out of battery and I'm not entirely sure where the battery charger is....Will be round here somewhere - but in the mean time I have my phone's camera....

Birthdays and Books!

Yay! My postie delivered my copy of Super Cute Felt yesterday!Squee! I am so excited about this book. It looks absolutely perfect. Once I've managed to get past March (mothers day and four birthdays!!) I am going to schedule a date for felt shopping and get to work on some of these gorgeous projects. Having flicked through the book quickly I can definitely understand why it is called Super Cute - because that is the only phrase to describe it! Also it arrived beautifully wrapped by Jill (don't forget to go and check out her blog The Sew Alongs )

How sweet is that! Obviously the kids helped me to open it as they were very confused as to why Mummy would be getting unexpected gifts for no reason - surely that should only happen to 5 and 2 year olds???
Also I just wanted to say a quick Happy Birthday to my gorgeous hubby today! 

Holiday!!

On Saturday me and the hubby fly out for our first holiday in four years! Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining - we have a roof over our heads and food on the table and I am grateful for that every day!But I am thoroughly looking forwards to a break.Also we are going with friends, so it should be quite fun.  After spending goodness knows how many hours worrying about everything from whether the kids are going to be ok (They are - their Nanny is coming up for the week and they are going to be spoilt rotten I can guarantee it) to whether someone is going to come back with a broken bone (actually quite likely - we're going on a ski/snowboarding holiday) I think I have everything covered.
We're going to Borovets in Bulgaria, and they have had quite a lot of snow recently...
This is what you want when you're going ski-ing....

Image courtesy of www.bulgariaski.com

This is NOT what you want when you're going ski-ing....

Image courtesy of sofiaecho.com

Hmmm...cars stuck under snow... oh dear ... The country has been in what their papers are calling a "snow crisis". Not so good!?!However the airport seems to be running as per usual and all seems like it should be ok!
SQUEEEEE!!!!!!!!

On The Go...

My lovely Aunt managed to get me two gorgeous dragon cross stitch kits last week (photos to come I promise!) from her knitting group.  I love my dragons so I was thrilled. And I realised as I started one that I actually haven't done a kit in quite a while. I have tended to do smaller cross stitch projects for a specific purpose, with patterns from books. I forgot quite how nice it is to actually start a project with the aida to the right size and all the threads sorted out for you!

Obviously when my threads arrive for the Murloc square that is going to be my priority, but if I have dragon started then I can always pick it up and do half an hour or so...

Well that is the approach I take to quite a few projects...

And I started thinking of all my half finished projects on the go...

On the Go:

• Middle Earth Map (this is one that is going to take a while however I do it)
• North Country Quilt...still not done....oops
• Knitted jumper to be unpicked and fixed if possible
• New Dragon cross stitch 
• Popcorn kit that hasn't been touched since we moved because there wasn't enough thread in a particular colour and I haven't got round to getting it yet
• Footprints cross stitch - which needs alot of unpicking 
• TO BE STARTED Murloc square which needs to have 6"x6" cross stitched by August at latest
• ALSO am committed to knitting the hubby a cowl and hat for our holiday which starts 4th feb....

Oh dear! This list is actually not as long as it could be...but longer than it should be.

 So I think this year is the year to finish projects, and do all that pesky unpicking that needs doing.  I don't really do new years resolutions because if you don't keep them it's far too depressing. My new years resolution for 2011 was not to enter a hospital for the year - that didn't go so well.(I spent 3 months in and out of hospital last year before a doctor finally realised my appendix was in the wrong place!!!!) So this isn't so much as a resolution as a goal.

This year I want to achieve:

• Finish North Country Quilt 
• Do the Murloc square for the charity quilt(very proud of this one)
• Finish the pesky Popcorn kit that needs to be finished
• Either sort out the knitted jumper disaster OR have a finished knitted item that is wearable in an adult size
• Get the Dragon cross stitch done - because it would look gorgeous on our wall
• Make a large headway with Middle Earth. I don't mind if this one isn't done this time next year as long as it is over half way done.
• Complete my Child Development course with a decent pass

Hopefully these are realistic enough goals. What are yours?Also am I the only one with half a dozen unfinished projects or is that just part and parcel of being a crafter??

Knitted Ski Hat and Cowl

First of all I would like to say Thank You to "The Zen of Making" for featuring me on her Friday Internet Crushes.  I am very honoured.
For reasons unknown our internet has been down this last week, so have been on the missing list, but without the internet to distract me  I actually have some knitting to show you.

The cowl can't be seen too well here, but they are both patterns from Ravelry that I have made in the past week.  The cowl is quite loose, but is wide, so I think it will do the trick under a big coat.  It is knitted from some leftover wool that I have had since I first started trying to knit this time last year, and I still love the deep red colour. The hat is knitted in aran and I used the same red as the cowl to blanket stitch around the side.   This wasn't part of the pattern, but I wanted to add some colour to it and I think it works quite nicely. I am going to change the tips of the "dangly" bits on either side though, possibly to a mix of both wools plaited or something, I'm not sure yet.  I really enjoyed knitting this hat and was very relieved to finally find a decent hat pattern knitted on straight needles. I can't say that I can't knit in the round, it is purely that I haven't attempted to knit in the round.  I've tried to cast on on a pair of circular needles and couldn't figure it out.  
The reason that I have had to knit these is that my Darling Husband has sneakily organised for us to go ski-ing with friends the week of my birthday next month! SQUEEE!!!! 
He had said something about it, but by the time I realised he was seriously organising this it had already been booked.  I do have to say a HUGE thanks to my mother in law though because for both of our birthday presents she is paying for our flights AND she's coming up to look after the kids for the week.  It has been four years since we've been on holiday and I can't wait.
The next thing on my needles is a hat for my hubby!
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This Year

Normally at this time of year I find myself saying "next year will be better" or "good riddance to the end of that year". I don't mean this ungratefully or flippantly, but it is fair to say that me and my gorgeous family have had our fair share of troubles.
BUT this year instead of saying next year will be better, I find myself thinking of how far we have come this year ....  literally we have moved 350 miles north west... but aside from that I just wanted to list a few of our achievements this year. It is quite a nice exercise to do, and has made me incredibly grateful. In no particular order:

• We have moved to the other end of the country. Successfully!
•  I have started this blog, which I love doing and I have found the crafts community online in force which is incredible!
• (whispered so as not to tempt the fates) My son has had his first "hospital free" year....
• My daughter has started school and loved it. She is now beginning to read!
• My gorgeous husband has found a job that he enjoys and where he is appreciated.
• I have learnt how to knit.And found that it is incredibly addictive.
• We have bought our gorgeous but rather hyper dog and wouldn't be without him anymore
• But most importantly we have grown as a family this year. We have stood on our own two feet more, but had the sense to know when to ask friends and family for help.  We are a closer family unit and I am proud of us!

This year hasn't been without its challenges, (I spent 3 months in and out of hospital over the summer) but we have faced them and come through the other side and I am very positive for next year.

Thank You

Due to a bad bout of “we-don’t-know-what-the-heck-is-wrong-with-you-and-causing-all-this-pain-itus” I have not really been myself, however thanks are due as I have officially ran out of vases which is enough to cheer any girl up.

Last Day

Today is my daughter's last day at pre-school!
They are having a fancy dress party and then after the summer holidays she will be in "big school".
Where does the time go? Not long ago she was a tiny bundle that I bought home from the hospital.  She is very ready though, and very excited, I'm just not entirely sure that she is aware of how long six weeks is......

'Peppa Pig' Costume

Dog Days

I introduce you to Harley, the newest member of our family:

We picked him up last night and he is THE cutest puppy ever.   He has had immense fun running round this morning with my pesky kids and I think he might have managed to sniff every last inch of the downstairs.  He seems quite settled though and we adore him already!

Revision...

My final assignment for my current course has been submitted!  This would bring a sigh of relief if it weren't for the fact that I have a three hour exam next month : (
I hate exams. Give me an essay to write any day - as much as I bitch and moan about it, I do actually enjoy writing, and psychology is a very interesting subject to write about in my humble opinion.  Exams on the other hand, give me nightmares.  So I will be revising and working on some relaxation techniques for the exam ... oh dear

Back to Business as Normal....

We are mostly unpacked now!Whoop!

I unpacked my boxes of craft yesterday and tried to find places for everything, easier said than done.  However, it was quite nice to open up all my boxes of wool and needles, cross stitches, in all stages of completion, I have many finished, just waiting for something to be done with them, some that are almost done, halfway done and plenty of lovely kits to be started and a HUGE pile of cross stitch books : ) Needless to say, this had me entertained for quite a while...  My sewing machine is safely out of little hands way, and my big bag of fabrics and bits and pieces are in my wardrobe(I am running out of storage space!), then my paints and paper crafts are all put away nicely as well.

Sooo, in the evenings I have found time to do a tad of knitting, and have started to put together what I have done so far of my learning blanket.

Slowly coming together, obviously there is a lot more knitting to be done, but not a bad start.

And last but definitely not least - after being bugged for weeks by my little girl....

 ...I got her some children's knitting needles so that she can knit with Mummy!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

My Fantastic Four year old chose this cake for her Daddy!
She could not have picked a better cake! 

Welcome to the Twilight Zone!

While'st we have been house hunting we have been staying at a guest flat in my Grandma's sheltered accommodation building. Which is very lovely, and the children have wooed all the "old dears" as per usual.  One particular night my Grandma and her friends have a Wii Games and Pizza night in the shared living room.  Well my hubby happened to pass by as they were setting up the projector and plugging in the Wii and deciding which games to play, then entered the guest flat to find me knitting...Needless to say he needed a double take - but there was no denying it, my Grandma et al were having a Pizza and Games night and his 23 year old wife was knitting.... Welcome to Chorley - I.E The Twilight Zone xxx

Report Writing

I have been interested in Psychology for as long as I can remember, I think people are fascinating.  After doing it at A level my original plan was to do a joint degree in psychology and drama and become a drama-therapist.  However my gorgeous man and gorgeous babies came instead so my plans changed a little. For the better - I would not swap the three of them for a lottery double roll over jackpot! But about a year ago I realised that the plans can still be there, just altered a little. So I decided to do a Psychology degree from home with the OU.  It involved a lot of self control doing this kind of thing at home because you don't have anybody to nudge you in the right direction all of the time or to make sure you are actually reading everything, but I sorely missed 'proper' learning and luckily have enjoyed it.  My last assignment was to do my own study (I will point out that we were given a pretty detailed run down of what this study would be, so to call it my own would be a tad optimistic) but I carried out a bit of my own research which is what I would love to do some day and wrote a report on it as if you were doing it for real.  This daunted me quite a lot - I enjoy writing essays and kind of know what I am doing.  But this was a different kettle of fish altogether so I have been nervously checking for the results and had prepared myself for my lowest mark yet to find that it is quite the opposite and is now the highest mark I have got! 88 !!! Squee! Very happy bunny!

Moving!

It is official, me and my family will be moving half way across the country to lancashire!!My husband, after two months of interviews and job hunting got offered two jobs in the space of 24 hours!I am absolutely thrilled to pieces and so proud of him.  So there will be little crafting done for a while as these were one of the first things to be packed.  (3 boxes and counting.....)