Is There Anyone Still Out There?

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've been here.

Occasionally I have scrolled through the pages and glanced at other blogs, but the urge to blog just wasn't there, so i would just go away and forget about it all over again.  But with Christmas just around the corner and another new year about to begin it seemed like a good time to catch up, if there is still anyone out there...

My last post was around June time I think, I was not in a happy place at that time and it seemed that my life might be about to take a different turn, I did write something about it at the time because I had no one I could really talk to, (I later deleted that post).   

I didn't want to involve family members because they take sides and become judgemental, (one in particular would have been on the phone frequently offering words of wisdom and advice on what I should do and how I should do it!) and I just couldn't handle that, I just wanted to talk, get some things out in the open and not be judged for whatever decision I finally made.

Thankfully two fellow bloggers (who shall remain nameless, but they know who they are) gave me support when I needed it, they let me ramble on but didn't judge or criticise me, both of them helped me through those very difficult and confusing months and I shall be forever grateful for their help.

So here I am six months later and that whole business seems a long time ago and it feels sometimes like it didn't happen...other times it seems like it was yesterday and there I am full of questions again, I need to be able to believe in my own judgement, you know, take that leap of faith.  I will in time but I'm not quite there yet. 

But, on the whole things are good, better than I (we) could have hoped for, the weekends are now something we both look forward to.  I suppose it's still all a bit new but I know that we are better, kinder, calmer and more considerate people for it, we have learned a very hard lesson, one that I don't think either of us will forget.

So, Christmas is just around the corner and we are looking forward to it.  All 3 girls will be staying at home this year, Stevie is home from uni at the weekend, Joanne and her boyfriend, Gavin, and Jenny and Oliver will be staying over for a couple of days too, so we will have a house full, it will be noisy and hectic and no doubt very messy, but so good :-)  There will be one person missing out on all the family fun though,, Jenny's boyfriend, Oliver's daddy, James won't be here for Christmas or new year, he will be serving in Afghanistan until April, we will of course be taking loads of photos and videos of Oliver to send to daddy so that he can a least see that his little boy had a great Christmas.

Obviously other things have taken priority over recent months and I haven't been doing much stitching at all.   There were a couple of things that I had started and wanted finished before Christmas, so when the mood took me I worked on those.  

One was Oliver's Christmas Stocking and the other was Baby It's Cold Outside.  I'm so happy to have been able to at least those two  this year.

Shepherds Bush Thomas Stocking re-named for Oliver

I managed to stitch the stocking in secret and surprise Jenny when it was completed at the beginning of December. 
I think It's fair to say that she was over the moon with It.

It will be a while before Oliver appreciates all the love that his Nanna put into making this for him, but hopefully it will one day become a talking piece when It gets its annual outing. 

This is Baby It's Cold, I really enjoyed stitching this one.

Apologies for the blurry photo on this one, it's the only one I could find and it was from my phone.

Not much in the way of stitching to show for my absence is it eh?
Hopefully I will have more in the way of finishes to show for 2014.

I'll try not to leave it too long between visits in future.

Have a great Christmas all!
-x-