Wednesday Witterings!!!

Good morning 😃

Well we managed to watch to the very last episode of Game Of Thrones and I have to say that I found it very disappointing and weak to say the least. Tonight though DD and I are going back down to watch an end of season episode which goes behind the scenes. Andy has work so he will not be coming with us.

We had a wander around the garden centre yesterday as we didn't want to go too far and it was lovely. Andy treated himself to a metal whirly thing to stand in the garden and he also treated me to more threads than I actually had on my list so that's a few more ticked off ready for the Christmas chart which should be arriving today.
I have just started the border on the last of the four Halloween pieces and will be glad when it's finished now as if I never see another cross stitched pumpkin it will be too soon....lol.

Not much to do on the housework front today....laundry is up to date and everywhere is tidy. There is some stuff I could do upstairs but Andy will be going to bed before long to catch up on some zzzzz's before his night shift so that can be shuftied over to the weekend.....guess I'll have a bit of stitchy time then 😄.

Have a lovely day.
Sheila-x-

Good Grief.......!!!

 .........I can't believe I haven't done a blog post since Friday. Where did that weekend go?
It's not like I have been up to much other than domestic things and a bit of stitching really but just lately the days seem to blur into one another and sometimes I have to stop and think what day it actually is.

Last night we went down to DS's house to start watching season eight of Game of Thrones and we managed three episodes before we called it a night and headed home. We'll be back there tonight and we're picking fish and chips up for a treat and we'll try and finish the rest of the season plus the special that was on. There's a lot to take in so I'll be glad when it comes out on dvd which will hopefully be September and then we can watch it again.

Andy has an extra day off today as he has a dental appointment for a filling. When he gets back he wants to go for a ride out but I don't feel like going far today so it will most likely be the garden centre which will be handy as I could do with picking up a couple of skeins of thread I need from the craft shop.

I'm hoping that the weather in Ireland is better than it is here as that is where The Doodles have gone for their holiday.
Ruby and Marlowe went on a plane for the first time yesterday and judging by the smiles on their faces in the pic that DDIL messaged me.....they loved it. I doubt I shall hear much about it as it's going to be a couple of weeks before I see Ruby again and by then she will have forgotten all about it and be on to the next exciting thing....lol.

Anyhoo....I had best go and make myself presentable if hubby is taking me out for an airing...lol.

Have a wonderful day.
Sheila-x-

I Thought I Was Going Mad!!!

The plans I have for the little Halloween squares have been knocked firmly on the head then. I thought I was going quite mad when looking at what should be a square finish and finding that they are not exactly so.....a quarter of an inch bigger one way than the other. I counted stitches, counted them again....no I was right and there were no mistakes in my stitching. On looking very closely at the aida I am using....what should be squares are actually slightly rectangular so I now have one piece taller than it is wide and one piece wider than it is tall. The aida came in a kit with a part work I started collecting (but soon gave up) so it's obviously not the best quality.
I have decided to carry on though and will find another way to finish them once they are all done.

Today so far has been totally pain free thank goodness. There's not much going on in the housework department but I've had a lovely morning stitching....until the postman came with a parcel of threads and then I spent a lovely hour winding them on to bobbins for my thread box.

Tomorrow we are off down to The Doodle House to visit with DDIL and the girls and hand over some holiday spending money for their week away next week. The rest of the weekend will probably be a quiet one as Andy is very tired and DD is at work on Sunday.
On Monday though we will be back down there after they have left to binge watch the last season of Game Of Thrones which they have very kindly recorded for us. DS has also said that if I want to go and spend some time there I am welcome to so I may take him up on that and have a couple of days there so that I can have a wander into town by myself. Obviously I will have to come home in the evenings to feed Andy and DD but it will be lovely to be able to get into town under my own steam.
I'm excited to see Ruby tomorrow as she went to have her hair cut yesterday. Waist length hair to a short bob she said so I wonder if she went through with it 😲.

Anyhoo....I am off back to my stitching. Trick or Treat is finished and Smell my Feet just needs some backstitching and then that will be done.

I hope you all have a lovely relaxing weekend this Bank Holiday.
Sheila-x-

Struggling A Bit!!!

The last few days have been a bit of a struggle. What started off as just an achy back became something worse and I have been having problems getting about and have had to resort to a walking stick for support when I did actually manage to stand up.
I think the problem has been a trapped nerve which I think  has untrapped itself now but I feel rather bruised and battered and very sore.
I'm just going to take it easy for the next couple of days in the hope that the pain will go away and I can get back to normal.

My little ray of sunshine will be here after school today and I am taking the easy route of pizza with some coleslaw and vegetable sticks. I'm sure she won't mind as pizza is one of her favourite things.

Well now that I have sat for a bit I need to go and have a walk round and loosen up before I tackle the hoovering which desperately needs doing before DS arrives with Ruby and thinks his Mother has turned into a total slattern....lol.

I hope you are all enjoying the sun today.
Sheila-x-

Sunday!!!

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments on my last post....and Pam.....I love the idea of the wild flower seeds.

Today we are just having a day at home as strangely Andy has gone down with a bad back too. Obviously being a man he is making a damn sight more fuss about it....as they do...lol....and the house is full of various heat pads and rubs which do absolutely nothing to help the pain. I tend to take a painkiller and grit my teeth...lol.

We have just finished a lovely roast lamb lunch and now I am about to start laundry and do some witchy stitching in between loads. It should be quite relaxing as all I have left to do on the pumpkin is the back stitching of the pumpkins and the border.

Hope you are all having a lovely Sunday.
Sheila-x-

A Sad And Quiet Day!!!

It's two years today since we lost my sister Maggie so I will be spending a quiet day remembering her and also thinking of my nephew and nieces as they not only remember their Mum but also are dealing with the death of their Dad on Monday.
Maggies eldest daughter also lost her beloved dog a few days ago so May is a pretty horrendous month for them.

While I am being quiet....and also resting my poorly back....I will be stitching on this.........

I am hoping to finish it today so that I can start on the one with the boots.....they are just too cute for words.
I aim to do all four pictures and turn them into a wall hanging for the girls rather than making coasters.

Andy is treating us to fish and chips tonight to save me hobbling about in the kitchen....bless him. Bending down to the oven last night was just sheer agony so I am pleased to be spared it tonight.

Right....I shall hobble off and make myself a coffee and then get on with some stitching.

Hope you are all having a good day.
Sheila-x-

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Due to the glorious weather we have had for the last couple of days I seem to have been bitten by the spring cleaning bug.
Lots of scrubbing and spider chasing going on and tomorrow window and frame cleaning.....albeit very gently as my back is starting to complain a little bit. 
After the windows are done I shall take some time off for a couple of days and then start upstairs at the weekend when Andy has finished his night shift.
I'm not going to complain about the sunshine as even I....a dyed in the wool Winter lover....am glad to see it. It's lovely to not be sloshing about in mud and puddles....although I have to say....I am not warm enough yet to give up on the fluffy socks and the hot water bottle.....lol.

I had a little money saved so I have been gathering supplies for my planned Summer of Stitching. I aim to spend two hours on nice sunny afternoons plonked on a bench in the garden stitching for Christmas and maybe a bit of Halloween too as I have found some gorgeous little patterns to do for the girls.
Three parcels have been delivered this morning and another one is due tomorrow and that will be the end of my spending for a while.....unless I win the lottery and I can treat myself to the most amazing cabinet I saw on a website this morning filled with every colour of DMC thread available. Ooooh I was drooling I can tell you.

Andy has just got up so that means it's nearly tea time. There has been a chicken curry simmering on the stove and I just need to do a pan of rice to go with it.

I hope you are all enjoying some sun today.
Sheila-x-

Fooled!!!

It was bright and sunny when I got up this morning so I decided to start on the laundry and get some dried outside.
That sunshine fooled me......it is now grey and wet. So tumble dryer it is then....she says with much gnashing of teeth.

Hobbling about a bit today as I have spent the last couple of days doing scrubbing jobs and patching up a bit of paintwork that needed doing. My arms feel like spaghetti too but that is totally my own fault for over reaching instead of fetching the steps to get at what I was doing.

DD has popped out to do a top up shop for me as I didn't feel like going out today.....if I stay in and get the laundry done it pays off with an easier day after lunch tomorrow and also Monday which means more time for stitchy goodness. I am now on my third cross stitch piece and will soon start to think about how I am going finish them into decorations for Christmas.

I can't believe that this time last week we were just starting our tour at The World of Harry Potter but DD and I will be going again in September courtesy of my wonderful husband who has treated us to tickets. I will be counting down the days 😀

I feel the need for a coffee so I'll go and put the kettle on and then sew a few X's while I wait for the washing machine to stop.

Hope you have a lovely weekend.
Sheila-x-

Where Is Spring?!!!

What an absolutely foul day it is today.....cold, grey and wet. It hasn't stopped raining all day. Poor DD will likely be frozen to the bone and soaking wet when she comes in so soup is on the menu tonight.

I have just spent an hour setting up a printer on my laptop. I had to buy a new one as the old Epson I had upstairs won't work any more. I got an absolute beauty....Canon Pixma MX475 which was thirty quid but I had an Argos gift card for £5 so that bought it down to twenty five. It prints, scans, copies and even has a fax....although I won't use that I don't suppose.
I've printed a couple of things and so far so good. I am dead chuffed.
It's mainly been bought for scanning cross stitch patterns from books and magazines so that I can have a copy to mark off as I stitch but it's also going to be useful for printing tickets when we book anything online instead of DD having to send stuff in e mails to herself at work and printing them off there.

Just had a phone call to say that Ruby won't be here this afternoon as she is feeling a bit off it and just wants to go home and get into her pj's and have an early night. Marlowe is the same so I hope they 're not coming down with anything horrible.....me poor little scrumplets. I hope they feel better soon.

There is just a bit of tidying to do before I can get on with some stitching. I have nearly finished my second piece but I am not going to show them until they have been fully finished as you would be horrified at the state of the fabric I am stitching on.....all crumpled and deliberately grungy from tea/coffee dying. I didn't iron it before I started on it because I stitch in hand....no frame or hoop....and it gets wrinkled anyway.

What hobbies are you indulging in to keep you inside where it's warm and cosy?
Sheila-x-

Back To Earth With A Bump!!!

Well after a magical day on Saturday and two pretty lazy days since....today it is back down to earth and making a new list for jobs which have sort of crept out of the shadows and need to be done.
There are kitchen cupboard doors which need a good scrub, cobwebs that need getting rid of  and some carpets to shampoo...although they can wait for a warm day when I can have all the doors and windows open to help with drying.
Other than cleaning in there I won't be in the kitchen cooking big meals this week as Andy is on afternoon shifts and DD and I always eat very simple meals when he isn't here. Tonight we are having scrambled eggs on toast and a nice cup of tea.
Jobs are done for today apart from a few clothes that need taking upstairs so once that is done I am going to have an hour or so working a little more on my cross stitch before DD gets home.

Hope you are all having a good day.
Sheila-x-

Magical!!!

Thank you all so much for your get well wishes on my last post. apart from being foot sore and having a few aches and pains from my day out on Saturday I seem to have recovered.

.......and talking of my day out on Saturday....what can I say but WOW. In fact I have been working with a very limited vocabulary since we visited The Making of Harry Potter...OMG, amazing and WOW featuring very large indeed.
It is an absolutely wonderful and magical place....walking around actual sets and learning about all the behind the scenes work that goes into creating all of the special effects. It was totally awesome.
Here are a couple of pics from the day...........

So many brilliant places to take iconic photos.

....and this made me cry....it was so beautiful. A scale model of Hogwarts in the minutest of detail.

The only downside of the day....the dreadfully overpriced and totally disgusting Butterbeer.

Ruby absolutely made the day as she went in the full Griffyndor uniform and robes which we had bought her for Christmas and she looked so gorgeous. I really wish I could show a pic of her but unfortunately I can't.

I would highly recommend a visit but take your own food and drink....unless you take out a mortgage to pay for it beforehand.....and wear really, really comfortable shoes. We were in there for over six hours so it's a long walk round.
DD and I are definitely going again at some point.

Today we are all at home and I have been asked for homemade scotch eggs with salad for tea. Eggs are cooked and I now just have to assemble them and cook them.

I hope you are all having a fabulous Bank Holiday weekend....although it is a tad chilly and damp out there.
Sheila-x-

Oh Dear!!!

Well this week isn't shaping up to be quite as I planned it.

There should have been lots going on in the way of domestic activity but I seem to have been scuppered by what I think might be hayfever which is not something I usually suffer with but the atomic blast sneezes and eyes full of grit make me think that is what it is.

I also got hit by a particularly nasty stomach bug which has left me feeling as weak as a kitten so most of this week so far has been spent lolling about doing not much at all apart from some cross stitching. I just hope to gawd that I feel better by Saturday.

I hope you are all having a bit better week.

Sheila-x-