Home Sweet Home

At work we had a collection for Laura C. She is leaving us to go on maternity leave and won't be back for nine whole months!

She is a very creative crafty person so I knew she would appreciate something with a little thought and effort put into it.  So I discussed my idea with my co-workers and they all agreed she would love this gift.

Here is the before shot [after a long day of shopping in the 68° heat]...

After I found the colorful polka dot tea towels I knew that they had to be used and that it would be bright and beautiful.

Here is the after shot...


I couldn't really figure out a way to get the digital thermometer in the cake without taking up much needed diaper space so I decided to wrap it on the side.

So each level is made from folding and pinning the tea towels together and then rolling up diapers inside. It officially held around 85 or so.  Then all around the tiers, as you can see, I added little goodies for the baby.


My favorite part of the whole cake was the cute little caterpillar... how adorable?


I was off work on Friday but I took it in for Laura's last day and she LOVED it!  As we all knew she would.  I'm so glad it turned out so nice cause she deserves the very best!  I'm going to miss her loads over the next nine months. But I've already told her that there will be lots of visits.

... is to learn how to quill!

I finally got all of my quilling supplies organized and in order but I haven't been able to actually start practicing yet.

Oh how I wish there were more hours in a day!

As you could tell with my previous posts I am slowly but surely getting all of the supplies needed for Quilling together so that I can work on a few new projects.

Well this is my new fancy Quilling board. My Mom had said it was required to get a cork board to work on as it is needed to hold your quills in place as the glue dries. When I found this one online I knew I had to get it. I thought the pre-shaped cut outs would help with forming pieces.

I can't wait to get everything together and start playing around with my new craft!

... For Ikea!

Today was my Saturday to work so when I got out at 1:00pm I went and picked Laura C up and we headed off to Ikea and Hobbycraft.

I was in search of Shadow Box Frames. Yes I know they shouldn't be that difficult to find but over here it was! Thankfully Ikea had them and not at a too bad of a price either. I picked up a couple white ones and a black one.

Even though it is against my very nature to buy anything from Hobby 'Rip You Off' Craft (because of how much they jack up their prices) there are some things that you just can't find anywhere else so we also stopped by there. I ended up finding the cutest flower paper punches so I picked those up. They were not even that expensive either which was a shock!

I picked this up at Homebase after work tonight. It is going to be perfect to keep all of my Quilling stuff together. The plastic containers have dividers inside that run long ways. It will be perfect for my papers and a way to keep them from getting smashed and tore up.

There are also little grooves and square pieces of plastic that you can use to make smaller storage areas and this will be nice for my tools, pins, etc...

I love being organized!

Winnie-the-Pooh is all decked out for his Valentine and I almost forgot to take a picture of him this month! With that hat it makes me think of him as a little chef.

Wish he would have helped me with my Valentine cake the other day!

Sorry... The picture is a little wonky and crooked but you get the idea.

I was able to finish the inside of the restaurant and I am so glad that part is done! Still only about half way done but I am finally seeing progress. I started this on December 26th so not too shabby.

Yay!

Today my Mother-in-Law Hazel, Laura C, Laura M and Helen (girls from work) all made our way over to Manchester for the Stitch and Creative Crafts show. I was able to find some great cross stitch kits and some other little goodies...

Above is gorgeous Christmas kit! I fell in love with the little dog and cat sitting on the steps watching the goings on in town.

The below kit is called Paris Market. I thought it would look beautiful in our kitchen next to the European Bistro one I am working on now.


I got some new 16 count aida. The one on the left is a beautiful dyed fabric that I am going to use for Murky Manor! I was so excited to find it as it will go perfectly with it. The one on the right is white with glitter pieces that is beautiful!


I also bought six white and six royal blue skeins of yarn for me to make an Everton color scarf for the matches next season. I love my scarves really long and the ones you can buy at the Everton shop are all really short and you can't even wrap them around your neck. I have been looking at some royal blue yarn online but was afraid to get it because I was afraid it wouldn't be the right color when I got it. This will work perfectly!


This is a cute little needle/scissor case that I picked up.


There are felt pages in it where you can keep safety pins and needles.


Then a place in the back to hold your scissors.


All in all it was a great day out with some great people and we had a lot of fun! I honestly didn't find the prices that much cheaper then what I could get online but you can't beat the company of some good people and a nice day out. It was well worth it! There were SO many things I wanted to buy so I was good to get out when I did.

European Bistro is coming right along. Wish I had more time to work on it but it's nice to try to make an hour or so a night to pick it up.

Thought I would add a photo of the backside of it also. My Mom always teases me about now neat the backside of my projects are. I think it is the perfectionist in me... I just can't have long threads hanging off the back. If I need to move over say 10 lines I always run it under other stitches rather than just letting it be loose like she does. My Mom may have taught me how to cross stitch but this is one habit I picked up on my own.

I love getting fun things in the post! I am in the middle of my current cross stitch project 'European Bistro' so I won't be able to start this right away but I am so excited for this to be my next project. Andy says I won't have it done before Halloween but I know I will. You can click on the picture to see the pattern better.

The Orange and Yellow filament thread is glow in the dark. I already have white glow in the dark thread to use for the ghosts.

I bought a nice blue aida to stitch it on but I think I am going to play around with a swatch of it to see what it would look like if I dyed it with tea to look really spooky!

SO excited!!

High: 28°
Low: 23°
Forecast: Clouds and Sun
Sunrise: 8:25 AM
Sunset: 4:09 PM

This a new cross stitch kit that I got for Christmas. I started it yesterday and have pretty much worked on it all day today. It is a Dimensions Gold kit called European Bistro. Once completed it will be framed and hung in my kitchen.


However as you can see it is very detailed so it may take me a while to get it completed. While I was working on Meg's baby quilt I had started watching Brothers & Sisters as I had never watched it before. I am now addicted to it and am finding my stitching time a good time to catch up and I am up to the start of season 3. They are currently in the middle of season 4 so I still have a few to watch. I will be gutted when I do catch up though as I will have to wait a whole week in between episodes.

When I do catch up I will have to find a new series to start watching.

High: 44°
Low: 38°
Forecast: A Couple of Showers
Sunrise: 8:27 AM
Sunset: 3:56 PM

I have started keeping all of the glass candle holders once the candle has burnt down. It's pretty easy to clean them out. I love burning a nice smelling candle but boy are they expensive. I am going to starting looking into how to make my own candles so as a way to cut down some of the cost.

Plus it is a new craft I can enjoy doing... and we all know how I love my crafts!

High: 43°
Low: 35°
Forecast: A Couple of Showers
Sunrise: 8:26 AM
Sunset: 3:55 PM

A few days ago I won an auction on eBay for 150+ cross stitch magazines for £20. Since they would be so expensive to ship it was listed as pick up only. The lady selling them was in Blackpool which is about 28 miles away, so not that bad.

I talked Andy into going with me so that he could lift the plastic bin full of magazines the only trade off was that I had to drive... off we went. I am very pleased with the magazines! It will be a lot of fun to go through them all.

After we got back home we got ready to head off to Liverpool for the Everton match against Tottenham. Wow what a match! We went down 0-2 right after half time. With about 20 minutes left a lot of people started leaving.

I have a huge issue this! What kind of supporter can come to a match and then decide to leave with 20 minutes left to play? What kind of support is that? I find it ridiculous. There is a little old lady that sits in the front row of our section and every time we are down she comes up and complains to the steward that stands just behind me. She was having a right fit. Well she finally decided to go with 20 minutes to go.

Around 2 minutes after she left... Saha scored and the place went crazy. I think we have found our bad luck charm! As soon as she left we scored.

Then not too long after that Cahill scored again! I have been dying to see Cahill score at our end so that he could punch the corner flag in front of us. He does... and I was too busy screaming and jumping up and down to even watch.

Well then it got even crazier... in injury time the [idiotic] referee gave Tottenham a penalty. Well the crowd started chanting "USA USA USA" to pump up Tim Howard as he got ready to try to stop the kick. Did he stop it? Of course he did!

The place went crazy! Yes it was just a draw but I swear it felt like we just won the league. To come back after being 0-2 down and having so many people walking out and just giving up. I was so proud of the team to fight their way back and I am SO very happy that those jerks that left (including the complaining old lady) did not get to experience the last 20 minutes.

I swear if she complains to the steward behind me next time we are down I am going to turn around and tell her to go home because obviously when she does we start scoring!

High: 46°
Low: 45°
Forecast: Periods of Rain
Sunrise: 8:10 AM
Sunset: 3:52 PM

I was noticing that I was starting to run low on quite a few of my DMC floss colors so I decided to buy some new ones to replenish the ones that were a bit low. No I did not spend .79 each because that is crazy money and Hobby 'Rip You Off' Craft is not getting me to fall for their little scam. I instead bought them online at the same place that I got my Charles Craft Aida and it was £12.40 for 40 colors. Bargain!

Now I just need to organize them and that takes a lot of time...

High: 41°
Low: 40°
Forecast: Rain
Sunrise: 8:06 AM
Sunset: 3:53 PM

It is official... Meg has opened the gift I made for her, Matt and their little bunny so I can also share photos that I took prior to posting it out to her.

I knew of Meg's love for all things Beatrix Potter so when I was thinking about what to make I was searching for anything Peter Rabbit. I also thought this would be fitting since they have called their little bundle of joy 'bunny' for as long as I can remember.

When I came across a pattern book that had twelve of the cutest patterns that also told a portion of the story I knew it would be perfect for a baby quilt.

I officially started cross stitching it on August 29th and have worked pretty much non-stop on it since then. Meg knew I was making something for her and I kept telling her she would have to keep her legs crossed until I was done as I wanted it to get to her before the little guy's arrival.

Well I made it in the nick of time as she is due next week. You can read what Meg and Matt thought about it here. But to let you in on the secret... they love it! Yay!

I am so glad they love it and it makes me happy to know it is going to be on display in bunny's nursery as a wall hanging.

Her blog about the quilt truly did make me cry. It is amazing how close we have become even though we have never met in person. Meg has quickly become one of my best friends and I am so thankful that even though we live 87 miles from each other we are only a text away. She is the reason for getting the larger texting package on my iPhone! I am so happy for Meg and Matt and their little guy is coming into this world with two great parents and into a home with a lot of love. And Meg I know you are reading this and I know your pregnancy hormones are going crazy so don't start crying... just know that if you ever need anything Andy and I are here for you guys!

Now to the pictures...

High: 42°
Low: 37°
Forecast: A Little Rain
Sunrise: 8:03 AM
Sunset: 3:54 PM

I walked to the Post Office today on my lunch and posted out the gift to Meg. I have had a lot of fun working on it but I am happy that it is on it's way to her now and just in time for the bundle of joy to make his appearance.

I feel odd now though because I have been working on it non-stop since August 29th so it feels weird to come home from work and not have it to work on it. Nic, a co-worker, has asked that I stitch a freebie pattern of Robert Pattinson (Edward to fellow Twi-Hards) so while I am slowly working on that I may stitch a little bit on Nova also.

High: 39°
Low: 29°
Forecast: Late Rain and Snow
Sunrise: 8:02 AM
Sunset: 3:55 PM

Now that Thanksgiving is past it means I can officially put up Christmas decorations without it being 'too early'. Although I have noticed that here in England people put their decorations up sometime in December but being the American that I am anything past lunch time on Thanksgiving is acceptable.

My Mom made this snowman and I think he is so cute that he now gets to be the first to greet visitors when they come in. Of course Winnie-the-Pooh has also put back on his Santa outfit and gives a cheerful Merry Christmas when people come in.

I think tomorrow I'll drag out some more Christmas decorations to put up!

High: 42°
Low: 37°
Forecast: A Couple of Showers
Sunrise: 7:57 AM
Sunset: 3:58 PM

Phase Two has officially started! Now back to working on it...

High: 44°
Low: 41°
Forecast: Rain
Sunrise: 7:50 AM
Sunset: 4:02 PM

Remember this post regarding my new project? I have been working on this project non-stop and finally this morning I put the finishing touches on phase one.

Yes you heard me right there are two phases to this project but I am so very pleased to be done with this first part as it was the hardest bit. I have to go this weekend to buy some additional things to finish it off and then I will take my pictures of the finished project.

No you will not be able to see it right away because it is a gift for somebody (I wonder who it could be) and they read this blog so until it gets shipped and opened by them I will not be giving anything away!

Trust me though.... it is going to be beautiful!

High: 48°
Low: 45°
Forecast: A Couple of Showers
Sunrise: 7:40 AM
Sunset: 4:10 PM

Winnie the Pooh is all dressed up for Thanksgiving this year... and he is not the only one that is excited about this upcoming holiday.

Last year I had just started my job so I couldn't take the day off and it did feel very weird to work the fourth Thursday of November. Andy and I have both taken off for Thanksgiving and Black Friday this year. Not that we will spend Black Friday shopping as it is just another Friday here in England but it will be nice to have a four day weekend.

I do need to find some Libby's Pumpkin Filling though... Andy hates Pumpkin Pie but it's not the same without it. I guess I will just have to take one for the team and eat the whole pie by myself. Oh the sacrifices we have to make in life...

High: 49°
Low: 39°
Forecast: Times of Clouds and Sun
Sunrise: 7:19 AM
Sunset: 4:28 PM