Wet and grey

The weather that is , though I was rather soggy myself after the school run this morning ,lol.
Here we are mid May , and it only seems like yesterday that it was February. I can hardly believe that the kids have this week and next week at school before half term , and then it is the last few weeks before the summer holidays. My son's last year in Primary school starts September , wow.
  Enough of that anyway , before I get all misty eyed ,lol .
I finished my last sign up .

 It was kind of hard to get a good picture, it's one of those that looks better at a slight angle , but hopefully it will go down well.

 Recently finished this as an a/c .

 I have started a Jack Russell for my son, but the chart is not pleasant and I seem to have a bit of a mental block when it comes to stitching for my kids. I don't know why but I seem to put it off all the time and find other things to do . Not good!
  I was tidying my shelf the other day (aka looking for something) and came across this cover kit I'd forgotten all about . It was with Cross Stitcher 315 March 2017 .

 Thanks to my mum , my daughter has started watching Babushka on TV , and has got a bit of a thing about Russian dolls , so I stitched this up for her. It took slightly longer than the two hours it said , but not much and I love it .

 I backed it with some felt to protect the stitches as it was very difficult to run the threads under the back to finish off . Other than getting a sore finger from puling the needle through , it was lovely to stitch .

  So , if anyone has one of these kits that they do not want to use , please let me know , I'd be happy to pay up to £2 plus postage . I'd like to stitch more in different colours or even different patterns and make a collection for my daughter. Thanks .


 I'll leave you with a pic of my boy flaked out on hubbys' trainer  ,lol

Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

Latest stitchings

Thank you for bearing with me in my absence , now it's time to catch up on what I've been stitching .

  Squares for Love Quilts UK ,named squares .

And an "any child" square. Disney Princesses are so popular ,we can never get enough of them .

A little bit of info about LQUK . So far , I have stitched 79 squares and been a part of 55 quilts (with two quilts having more than one of my squares on). There are at least 11 quilts coming up that will have my squares on too. That's over 66 kids whose lives have been brightened a little by my stitching. Now , I am not bragging as we have some fabulous stitchers , some of whom have done over 100 and even 200 squares. Now that's impressive . But , each and every square is important .So , each and every stitcher is as important .
  We have sent out 144 quilts so far this year , with the hopes of going over 170 before the end of the year. We have already passed last years total of 141 . We could do more , but need the funds and the quilters. These quilts are given with no charge to the kids or their families , it is all charity donations , so if you would like to help in any way , please do what you can. You can donate here . We would really appreciate new quilters though as no matter how many squares we have , or how much money ,we need people to put them together , so if you or anyone you know can quilt and wants to help some poorly kids to smile , please look here .  Thank you.

OK , I also stitched this for my Daughter as we are planning a quilt and she has chosen animals in a tribal style.

These are what I have done so far , only another 10 to go .

More news coming soon .
 Thanks for reading
Cath

Errrm

Well , time is flying again. soon be the end of the summer holidays for the kiddos . Part of me is relieved ,another part is sad to see the end of a mostly fun time.

 I kind of disappeared for a while , for a couple of reasons. I was stitching on a secret project which I was not really enjoying so it took quite a bit longer than it should have. So, no stitching to show. Then , we booked a last minute holiday to the coast , so I was frantically trying to get things washed and dried ready to pack , getting the kids and animals sorted and also getting things ready for hubby as he was at work. The new job is going quite well ,thanks to everyone who has asked.

 Anyway , Saturday we got back from our break and we had a great time , but I'll post about that later.

 Stitching news , the secret project was duly sent off , and put together with some other fab pieces and turned into the finished item .
 This is what I stitched

It has been added (with a lot of other gorgeous squares) to make an amazing king size bed quilt for a lovely couple who recently got engaged. I'm not going to name names as I don't have their permission, but they were very happy with their fantastic gift . Though I really did not enjoy stitching this as I had to make my own chart and I couldn't get the words to look right no matter what I tried , so I ended up leaving them off. I would still do it again as they deserve it so much.

 I needed a break after this , so charged full on into a Disney princess square for LQ . They are so popular , we never have enough .

Then , I promised my Daughter that I would do one of hers , so a wolf popped up.

I will be doing more of these very soon.

  Yesterday saw me put the last stitches into this little guy

Again , he took longer than expected , but while we were away the weather was kind to us , so we spent a lot of time out .

 So , that's the stitchy catch up. Expect a lot of non-stitchy pics in the next post .

 Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath

Mays' catch up post

Lots going on , but first the stitching.

 Lesley Teares' Owl for Love Quilts . I loved stitching this and may do it again one day for myself. OK , who am I kidding , lol. I spend so much time doing charity stitching I hardly ever do anything for myself , and I have tons of charts and kits waiting , but hey , I can dream right ?

 One of our Love Quilts quilters is making a quilt for the therapy music cradle at a hospice that his daughter attends and asked for some music themed squares and this is what I came up with .

 LQ squares

  And , on the 21st May , we were very excited to go and see Shake Shake Go at Rough Trade in Nottingham . We have followed the band since we saw them busking in Nottingham a couple of years ago and have waited not so patiently for them to come to the area again. Last year they supported James Blunt on the UK leg of his tour , and have been doing lots of music festivals too. We all love their music and they are great people too . They stopped to chat after the gig and signed things for the kids, So a brilliant night . Sorry for the bad pics,I was more interested in enjoying myself.

A quick video for your enjoyment.

Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

A mixed bag

Well ,we are getting some very mixed weather at the moment. The other day we had hail/ice which covered everything .

 Straight after this , the sun came out and there was glorious rainbow.

Today we have snow , not as much as last time , though it is still trying . The day is very grey. Had a very disappointed hubby and kids this morning when they realised there was not enough to stop them going to work and school .

 I'm lucky to have my Christmas pressies to keep me warm . My lovely mittens .

 Hand knitted socks.

 And snuggly scarf . This pic was taken in the last lot of snow .

Latest finish .

 This is for my daughter and will be made into a cushion cover .

And these are the butterflies I have been working on for another charity group. They will be put together with other stitched squares and made into comfort pillows.

 These are a few waiting for their bodies , I will do them all together.

I am planning a bit of a stitchy day today as I didn't get any done on Monday or Tuesday. Monday was busy tidying and clearing out and yesterday I was in school until lunch time listening to the kids read. It was kind of unplanned , I just offered to help sort out a problem which got solved anyway so then kind of got volunteered to do reading. I always said I wouldn't go into a class that one of my kids was in , but my sons' teacher is struggling to fit everything in and only has a couple of part time TA's she also has quite a few children that require extra attention.
  First time went ok , so I will see how it goes.

Still snowing a little , and I am meant to be having an extra school run today as DD is supposed to be staying for Handball club , so we shall see.
 Take care everyone ,
 Cath

Almost ready

for Christmas .
 Bought the last to be bought gifts yesterday . Hubby has graciously nominated me to make two scarves for Monday , so going to have  busy weekend .
 We finally got he tree up last night and it is fully laden with "stuff" thanks to the kids ,lol.
Now, I have have lots and lots of wrapping to do. A quick tidy up this afternoon as we have people coming over this evening , should be fun .

 A little bit of stitching has been done . Love quilts any child squares.

  Not sure if this will end up a LQ square or if I will do something with it myself .
    There is a set of ten charts and I kind of fancy doing them all and maybe attempting a lap quilt , but we will see. I am enjoying the very little stitching time I'm getting at the moment .

Hope everyone is well and safe and looking forward to the festive season.

Take care ,

 Cath

Lots to catch up on.

Wow , time is certainly flying by this year .

Firstly ,welcome to my new followers , it is great to see you here  ,especially when I am posting a bit sporadically at best ,lol.

Lots going off at the moment , end of school year always leaves me with very little time to myself . Two separate sports days , celebration assemblies (two again) , trips , school fairs and other things all conspire to take my time away . Not that I am complaining too much , it is a joy to be able to share these things with my kids , especially the assemblies as pretty much every year , one or both of them receive at least one award. I am very proud of their efforts at school .

Anyway , on to other things. you may know that I organised a birthday thread exchange to start this year . It started out great, and on the whole has run pretty well with a few hiccups .
 Mary Jane has no blog , so I said I'd post her pics on here .

Thanks for the photos Mary Jane .x

  Lonneke unfortunately had a couple of her beautiful cards go missing in the post , so she was a superstar and sent out replacements. A big Thanks Lonneke . The only fly in the ointment has been that Bernadett has not been sending . Sharon and Mary Jane have only just received from her ,and their birthdays are March and April and everyone else who has had birthdays since then have not received . I have tried many times to get in touch with Bernadett to no avail . To say I am disappointed is a huge understatement , but I will leave it at that .

 On to stitching , I have been still stitching squares for Love Quilts UK . I have enjoyed every single stitch . I am working on one at the moment and have three more sign ups to do . After that , I think I will be taking a bit of a break as I am getting a strong urge to do my own stuff .

  Love this Lion , I nicknamed him Jon Bon because of his lovely mane.

 SuperMan for a super young man .

 At the moment I am working on a Formula 1 car , which is a huge stitch . 120 x 100 and it is all stitched . I really want to get it done asap but with all the school events , it  is probably going to take a while . I will show a pic next time , which will hopefully not be as long ,lol.

  I have other bits and bobs to catch up on , so will be back soon.
Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath x

Hello again .

Wow, I can't believe it's nearly the middle of June already. soon be time for the summer holidays and bored children ,lol.

 So ,what have I been up to ?

 Well, just coming to the end of a ten day course of penicillin for tonsillitis. No sore throat, croaky voice or cough , just swollen manky tonsils and swollen glands. To be honest , apart from the swelling going down a bit , not much has changed. The boy had it too and we went to the docs together , not that we got to see a doctor , you get to see a nurse if you're lucky. Anyway , he is also nearly at the end of his meds and thankfully is much improved. Two days off school is more than enough for me ,lol.  Got the girl at home today with tummy ache, though I think the main problem is tiredness as she seems unable to get to sleep before 10pm at the moment.

 Anyways , on to stitching stuff .

 Lots of new LQ squares have been produced, I am loving doing them at the moment.

 Mr P. for a named quilt .

 Lots of Witzys . (any child)

 Cute li'l owl

 Butterfly

 At the moment I am working on a lion for a named quilt and have three others signed up for so planning lots of stitchy time before the summer holidays which will curtail it somewhat while I spend time doing things with the kids. Both of which have taken a fresh interest in stitching , which is lovely. My daughter can read a chart so can be left to get on with it for a bit, but the boy need lots of help , so my time is limited. Hopefully we will have some nice days out to look forward to ,too.

 Hope everyone is well .

Thanks for dropping by ,

 Cath