Lurgy

Well, the winter lurgy has well and truly struck our house.  My daughter had a couple of days off school last week with a temperature and stinky cold, which meant I got hardly any sleep, and now she's feeling better I'm down with it...that means I've been lying awake in bed since 4am and finally at 5am I got up, took some tablets for my headache and snuffles and decided to do something a bit more useful than staring at the ceiling.  So I'm having a little catchup on all your lovely blogs, which is cheering me right up, thank you!  Stitching updates to come when I feel like I can handle fabric without germing it all up.

Holiday times

A couple of weeks ago we took a lovely trip for half term.  Thankfully, the majority of the week was decent weather, not too hot or cold until the end of the week.

After spending a lovely couple of days with family, we went to a beautiful place on the Yorkshire Coast called Filey, where we've taken a few holidays over the years.  I wanted to share a few photos as we've had some beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and as it's autumn it means that we don't have to get up too early to see them (although quite often we were waiting for an early train at Filey station to take us out for the day)

Here are some photos from our trip.  We had such a beautiful time (once we had forgotten about the crazy train journey/cancellations/delays to get there in the first place)

Moon coming up over Filey Beach

Sunrise on Filey Beach

Day trip to Scarborough - North Bay

Early Morning looking towards Flamborough

Penguins at the zoo at Sewerby Hall, near Bridlington

A fun tree in the Sewerby Hall gardens

After a few lovely days, the rain came...Still gorgeous though!

Comments

Apologies friends, I've only just realised that Blogger has managed to somehow stop sending me notifications when someone comments on the blog, so there were a bunch sitting awaiting my approval (alongside a load of spam)... and I was there thinking nobody was reading it, hahaha!

Thanks ever so much for your lovely comments, they made me feel all happy this morning. I hope it's all fixed now!

Have a beautiful weekend, whatever you are up to!  I've done my workout and now I'm catching up on your blogs and chores and TV...anyone else watching Strictly this year?

IHSW October

Hello everyone!

Time for a very late IHSW post.  That's International Hermit and Stitch Weekend for those of you not familiar with this term.  You can find out more about it HERE!

I was away over the week starting with IHSW so it stretched a bit to a train journey either side of my travels with an evening in the middle of the week.

So, this IHSW I worked on my baubles for the Mr X Stitch project some more as the deadline was 31st October... Of course I stretched it right until the deadline date.  I am really pleased with them and they were a nice straightforward stitch that I was able to do when I was travelling or just pick up for a short time at home to relax.

Here are my results...I hope they look as striking when they are all framed and hanging in Standen House!  For more information about the project, here's the link. 

Sparking Joy

Last year, my parents bought me the book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying" by Marie Kondo. I read it cover to cover straight away and then filed it on my bookcase, not quite ready or able to get on with it and clear the house but since then keeping in mind to try not to buy any more things which would end up as junk. 

Since my daughter has started full days at school (I know, where has the time gone) I've tried to clear out the house a little, one drawer or shelf at a time, keeping only the things that 'Spark Joy'. So far I've tackled most of the kitchen (Which felt great - 2 bags full of things we never used already taken to the local charity shops) and my clothes (another 2 bags at least).  My size hasn't really changed that much since my late teenage years, but I did have enough wages in my 20s to buy a lot of things that I didn't really need or wear.  Since some of them still had their tags on, it was time for them to go.  I was pretty ruthless!  The rest I rolled.

And then I got to the underwear drawers.  These were a disaster zone - stuffed full to bursting.  I bought some lovely drawer dividers and then had a massive panic when I unpacked them as they were huge.  Luckily they fit but I had to have a MAJOR clearout.  However the results look pretty amazing.  I can see everything clearly and theres a place for each thing.

What strikes me most is how much money I wasted on things I wouldn't use or wear.  And this makes me feel terrible. 

Now to tackle the kitchen cupboard with all the cups and plates and childrens cups and plates that is like Jenga!  I look forward to having more time to actually enjoy the things I'm left with.

Have you read any of Marie Kondo's books or attempted to declutter like this?

Until next time!
Jo

Baubles

Hello! I'm back. It's been a while, I know, but I haven't been completely idle.

Whilst I gather together all the things I've been working on here and there, I though I'd update with this month's IHSW post - since for once, I feel like I made some decent progress (probably due to having hours to stitch on a train).

For this month, and knowing I needed something portable, I got stuck into the project curated by Mr X Stitch, some lovely xmas baubles which are going to be hung in little frames around the National Trust property at Standen House.

For more info, or if you'd like to stitch your own... please head over to the webpage https://www.mrxstitch.com/bauble
You have until the end of October.

Until next time...

Mid October Updates

It's been a while since I did a project update... there are a few things I've got on the go... I don't always feel like hefting the big frame into the lounge so it's good to have a few handheld bits to do as well.

I did manage to put in 100 or so stitches on this one this week...doesn't look all that different from the last update, but there was LOADS of confetti... I'm actually looking forward to getting back to the big chunks of black trees.

A small Pooh bear Xmas card that has been in my stash for absolutely years... I made a mistake with it when I was quite near the beginning so it went away for an age... I'm hoping I've fixed it up enough now, and I've counted the stitches so many times that I went cross eyed and I couldn't figure out if there were any mistakes left to fix so I'm hoping for the best.

This little one is stitched on perforated card and is a Nutmeg Company design.  I really love their cards, and my family have received them on many occasions.  A bit more difficult to stitch on perforated card as your needle slips out constantly, but such a nice way to make a card.

And finally a small update to this one...It seems like I have a bit of a thing about cottages and houses, doesn't it?! Again, loads of confetti in the tree and going a bit cross eyed, but I made a bit of progress on this while we watched the amazing Endeavour series on TV... I hope there's another one coming soon - it's good to have things to watch while you stitch... probably why I have mistakes dotted all over my pieces, hehe!

I hope that wherever you are you've had a lovely week :)