Little girl...

So, I'm pretty on track stitching wise at the moment. I wanted to complete 4 kits this year... I'm halfway through the year almost and I've finished the Iris and also now I've finished the Banksy picture of the little girl with the balloon.

This one I'm definitely keeping, I love how it looks, and it's stitched up really well. The black took almost no time, but there were a lot of little stitches in many other colours which meant it took longer than I had anticipated once I started.

The fact that it's finished before the end of June gives me a little breathing space, which I'm quite happy about, although I find if I stick in the routine of doing a little every day, whether on my main project or a little side project, this helps keep me going and keeps me relaxed.

So, here's my little girl, I think I'll call her Gloria.

Drumtastic

This week was my birthday, and after nagging quite a lot for quite a long time, I was given the Band Hero kit (we totally have room for a set of drums... honest!)

After a bit of a slow start, I've spent a few days playing now and finally got into it... the drums are just great fun. I'd played a little guitar hero, but found that it gave me sore hands to play for too long as I'd be gripping the guitar too hard. The drum kit is much easier for me... although I am only playing on easy so far...I think anything more than that is gonna need a lot of practice.

Favourite song for when I'm feeling a bit grumpy has to be Joan Jett singing Bad Reputation, once you get the hang of it, it's a good speed and a lot of fun.

Of course, now the equipment is also compatible with the Rock Band games, I am mainly waiting for Green Day Rock Band, which is due out in a couple of weeks time. I'm thinking a little practice every night in the run up to then will be great. I'm sure it also counts as exercise... surely your arms and feet are getting a workout while you play drums, even if they are only a teeny gaming version!

Finished stitchy!

So I'm pretty happy. I've finished the cross stitch that I was doing. It's an Iris design that I bought around 5 years ago and only got round to starting at the start of this year. I'm impressed that it stitched up pretty quickly, it's probably the largest design I've done so far.

Here's a photo:



So that's the penguins done, the Iris done. Next up, Banksy's little girl with the balloon... (the Banksy design is one of the few that I'll actually keep).

By the Seaside

This time last week, I reached the end of a very lovely holiday up on the North Yorkshire coast.

The base for the week was in Filey, which I didn't really remember much about - most of the times we went to the seaside when I was younger, we usually went to Scarborough.

Filey was a pleasant surprise. Although it's fairly small, it was clean, it had a lovely and huge sandy beach when the tide was out. There were enough shops and coffee shops and things to do. It was really quiet, especially at this time of the year. The weather for the week was mostly sunny, but fairly cold still. That didn't matter though, we got wrapped up and managed plenty of walks with my sister's dog. The arcades were fantastically old fashioned. 2p slots were plentiful, we won a fantastic Wall-E toy (amongst other things) without having spent more than a couple of quid.

The only real downside that we found was that for a lovely view of a beach in a self catering apartment, you have to give up any kind of internet connection or phone reception. Up in town, it worked fine, but to be honest I'd rather have the beach and the sound of the sea and the sunrise. We just had to do a little more planning between the 6 of us.

Later in the week, we made a special journey to Whitby for fish and chips. The best in the country, I swear, and believe me, I have sampled many. Here's a photo.



We stayed in St Kitts Holiday Flats 2 and 3, 2 The Beach, Filey.
We ate in Whitby at the Magpie Cafe, and for posh nosh at the Downcliffe House Hotel, The Beach, Filey.