beCAUSE It’s Pink – Peace Love and a Cure.

Finished as a pillow.

Nicole emailed to let me know that my HoE beCAUSE It’s Pink exchange piece for her had arrived safely. I stitched Lizzie Kate’s Peace Love and a Cure some time ago but had no idea what to do with it, until now! I clean forgot to take a photo of the back so I can’t show you what fabric I used, but it was a very pretty striped fabric that matched the front nicely. :)

Finally.

K is coming home tonight! This solo parenting thing has been HARD.

Thankfully the girls have been cooperative for the most part, aside from the usual whining and bitching. Yes, it is entirely possible for a 3-year old and a 7-year old to bitch about each other. Better yet, the 3-year old is capable of bitching about other kids and why they didn’t help to clean up the playroom before leaving for home. 

You can tie ‘em up, but you can’t shut ‘em up.

Saturday Morning Snapshot: Alison’s first swimming lesson.

Kicking her way up and down the length of the training pool with a back-float.

I took Alison for her first swimming lesson today. There’s no direct bus from our house to Republic Poly, where the lessons are being held, so I decided that a walk would do us good. Walking there was OK, but walking back was tough because Alison was pooped from the lesson and the scorching sun didn’t help things either.

There were three children in the class – two girls and a boy. Alison and the other girl were very cooperative with the swim coach, but the boy was rather reluctant and had to be coaxed. Apparently there were two other students who were supposed to show up, but there was no sign of them today. Alison seemed to have fun – the coach introduced new activities in a step-by-step way that helped the kids feel more at ease with what was being taught, and he also threw in some water play as well.

It was a full-on hour and it was quite obvious near the end of the lesson that Ally was tired. But it’s only the first lesson and I’m sure that as she goes along she’ll become a lot fitter and have more stamina, in addition to being able to swim.

Flying solo.

K is en route to Perth for some BMX stuff and will only be back on Wednesday, which means I have to cope with sending Zoe to my mom-in-law’s in the mornings before I go to work, and then this weekend I have to manage a swimming lesson, ballet class, Kindermusik class AND a birthday party all in one day. There’s no Kumon this weekend, so that’s a minor blessing.

Can you tell how excited I am?

I think on Sunday I will be parking my butt on a sofa at Fidgets and letting them run wild…oh, till it’s time for Alison’s second ballet class of the week at 2.30pm. Fun.

TTE needlebook and Midnight Watch.

I’m so glad to see that Cindy received my Tiny Treasures Exchange needlebook safely! I stitched part of Happy Bunny Bunny Day by The Trilogy on 32count Oyster fabric from Countrystitch, with DMC.

This is my second attempt at a needlebook, much better results than the first one I made. I realise that it should not be too small, otherwise it will be awkward to finish nicely.

The inside of the needlebook. I really need to find thicker felt!

I also made a new start on Blackbird Designs’ Midnight Watch. I don’t know about other stitchers, but I have to go through an agony of indecision every time I want to start a new design. Is the fabric I’ve shortlisted from my stash too light? Too dark? Too mottled? Should I just buy the recommended fabric? This design was no different. It calls for 18th Century Brown by R&R Reproductions, and I had nothing close to that in my stash, so I settled on 32 count Earthern by Picture This Plus. So far, so good, I think.

I started this two Sundays ago, and am using the recommended threads.

Pretty flowers on a vine.

It’s taken me a pile of WIPs and UFOs to realise that I’m really a one-at-a-time stitcher. Although I have a short attention span and tend to get bored after a while, I prefer sticking to one project and finishing it before moving on to another. Unfortunately, I’m also the kind of stitcher who doesn’t feel like picking up a project that’s been left in the cold for too long. But I should just suck it up and complete some of my WIPs already. Summer Snapperland and To Laugh Often, for instance, are so close to being done, I can almost smell the finish. I need more discipline!