Puddle jumping

It's taken a while for me to get around to embroidering some doodles that I made a while back. They are for my daughter's bare bedroom walls once I get around to popping them in frames.

I only drew blood twice, which has to be some sort of record for me. I'm still stabbing myself with the needle as frequently as before, but apparently the wounds are shallower. I'm taking that to be an improvement in my embroidery skills...

My husband and I went to an awards ceremony in Sacramento this last weekend. I have now worn a dress 7 times since my wedding day. That's less than once a year. I probably should be making more of an effort to embrace my feminine side. Or my husband should be making more of an effort to take me out to fancier places...

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It also marked our first night away from our kids (well, that'll teach me to live on the other side of the Atlantic from free babysitting, I mean, my parents). I was surprised that I was a little apprehensive about it. I had always thought that I would skip out of the house gleefully when this day finally came, but, since becoming a parent, my mind keeps wandering through wild worst case scenarios, which would have never crossed my mind before.

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Still, I was looking forward to the first morning in seven years when I would not be woken up by my early-rising son. As it turns out, I was woken instead by some hotel guests at 4am. Oh well. The food was good. We did return to find our children happy and healthy - they were spoiled rotten in our absence. I think that they're hoping that we'll go away for longer next time.

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Translation of the day:

UK English: lie in = 'staying in bed longer than you usually would' in US English

My kids like to be up with the lark, so I haven't had a bloomin' lie in in bloomin' ages...

No bears were harmed in the making of...

From spotting some black furry stuff in the offcuts bin, to gathering some felt scraps, to wondering whether the turning hole should have been a smidgen bigger, to swearing never to use metallic embroidery thread again, to... a wee soldier in a bearskin.

I do like how hand sewing can feel a little like doodling in slow motion.

I'm just scribbling this off while I can - my husband is having his friend work on the computer again. Not even a new pc is enough to stop him disappearing off to work with our computer under his arm. Hmm, so what else is new? Another baby blanket, with a blue border this time, for my husband's work mate's baby who is in NICU (SCBU).

A hat for my son (wearing his dad's sunglasses) made partly from this pattern. I say partly, as I lost my copy of the pattern half-way, so I just improvised the bottom half.

See that white stuff? Yep, that's snow! Finally got to go to the local mountains and play in the snow - and wear our new hats (I haven't written down the crochet hat pattern yet, but will do soon). Skied for the first time since my honeymoon.

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As for now, it's back to normal. My parents have gone home, the kids are back in school and, just when I finally have a few spare minutes to catch up my e-mail etc., my husband is disappearing off with the pc again. Mothers, warn your daughters not to ever marry a computer gamer...

Happy Easter

We're busy enjoying having my parents over here for a visit. Even had a couple of possible sightings of the Easter Bunny on a walk yesterday.

Egg dyeing was less successful than planned - next time I'll do a more thorough search on the internet for how to do this. I ended up just swirling half of them in food colouring...

I'm starting to feel slightly guilty that my dad is out raking the lawn while I sit here typing this, so I had better get going. I hope that you all have a lovely Easter. I'll be back soon.

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Take care.