January Update and starting a new SAL

Hello everyone,
A bit late in the month but Happy New Year! We stayed in and had a quiet one this year as we were meeting friends on 1st January.  I just about made it to midnight but it was hard work to keep my eyes open.

Lots has been going on over January it seems.  I am continuing with the KonMarie clearout (after binging the entire series on Netflix). I've tackled clothes and books now... and the next category I'm dreading as it is papers.  It's not that they are scattered over the house, they are actually contained only to a couple of places but there are so many old letters and things, that I have kept since I was a teenager, and then all the adult things like bills and payslips.  I don't know why I still have them! I started looking through them at the end of last week and decided it needed a full week at least to sort through them.  Which things do you keep hold of?  I was big on penpalling back in the day...so you can imagine what a lot of things I have.

It has also been busy with birthday parties for little ones. Something every weekend!  I had heard that it is quite full on when they start school, and it certainly is! 

I've been trying to relax in the evenings and make some stitching progress... it's all going well, there will be things to show soon.  I'm not sure who made me aware, one of you lovely folks whose blog I read I think, but over Christmas I saw a few people stitching a 'Caterpillar Cross Stitch - 12 Days of Christmas' piece.  Not knowing the brand, I followed them on Facebook and was happy to see a new SAL starting yesterday.  Luckily, I have a giant box of all the thread colours which was a gift from my hubby years ago, and the perfect coloured piece of fabric, so I ordered 'Seas the Day' and began work on it today.  It is spread out over the next 9 months.  for more information or to join in, take a look here. It is the most beautiful site and the colours in this SAL or so bright and colourful that it is a welcome change from the brown, yellow and green I've been using for the last few months!

Well, I'll sign off here... well done if you made it this far.  Enjoy the rest of January!

Quick Stitching Update

Not a huge amount of progress since I was on a bauble frenzy and I'm still fighting a headcold so stitching is the last thing I've been thinking of picking up, but a couple of updates of things I've stitched a little on... Most of my stitching energy has gone into this 'Ugly Duckling' piece:

Still a little way to go with it but it's getting there.

Also a tiny bit more on Bluebell Lane:

I'm debating whether I can try and squeeze in a stitched card for my Daughter's school for Christmas... I shall give it a go and see how I get on... wish me luck!

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