I know I’m a day late, and there wasn’t a Friday Five for this week, however my brain is already a bit mushed with writing essays and stuff, and I really can’t stretch it any further to think of anything particularly orginal or exciting to blog about. So I’ve gone into the archives for the Friday Five – and this is the very first one…..

1. Where were you born (city or state or just country)?
Oldham, Lancashire. In the North of England, very near Manchester.

2. What is your favorite number?
Errrrrrm…..87

3. Vanilla or chocolate?
Chocolate every time.

4. What section of a bookstore would I find you in?
Popular science. NOT pop-psychology, that drives me demented, but things like The Selfish Gene, Brief History of Time, Seven Daughters of Eve, Cats Paws and Catapults. Stuff like that.

5. What kind of mattress do you have on your bed? soft? firm? water?
Firm. I hate squishy matresses.

And now this weeks questions…..

1. Do you like to use specialty stitches when you stitch?
Well, I’m only just really getting into this, but yes. See last weeks answers about getting drawn into samplers.

2. Can you do a perfect french knot?
No. And I’ve almost given up trying. I now use colonial knots because I can do those, or if there were hundreds of them, I might be tempted to use beads.

3. What is your favourite stitch?
Tricky. I quite like Algerian eyelets, and rice stitch because it’s quite delicate.

4. Are you currently working on any projects with specialty stitches and if so which ones?
Not at the moment, but I’ve just finished my second Beyond Cross Stitch ornament by Victoria Sampler, and I’ve got another 8 in my stash. I’m hoping to do them all eventually, but I’ll settle for having another 3 done and made up by Christmas. There’s also a couple of really nice sampler charts in a recent issue of Just Cross Stitch that I hope to do soon.

5. Name a specialty stitch you would most love to learn how to do.
More a class os stitches – but I’d love to learn to do Hardanger. The whole ‘cutting’ thing scares me witless – that’s really why I’m doing the BCS ornaments, to build up to this. Then I want to do Heirloom Christmas Sampler, also by Victoria Sampler.

I’m running a bit late – so this is last week’s Stitcher’s Five:

Favourite Themes:

1. What is your favourite theme to stitch (i.e. primitive, fantasy, samplers, etc)
Fantasy – dragons, wizards etc. Especially Teresa Wentzler’s designs.

2. Has this always been your favourite theme (i.e as your tastes change)?
I also really like animal designs – especially big cats, and recently I’ve been drawn to samplers (eg Just Nan, Victoria Sampler type designs). I also prefer more subtle, detailed designs than I used to – although I think that’s more to do with greater availability of these designs, rather than a change in tastes.

3. How many WIPs/UFOS do you have currently in this theme?
Ermmmm – just one. DMC’s Teddy Wizard – not that you can see much from that picture.

4. And how many finished?
Two. TW’s The Castle, and Stretch

5. Name three favourite designs in your overall favourite theme.
Well, they’re all by TW.
Enchanter
Storyteller
Celestial Dragon

Okay, Okay, I know it’s not Friday – but anyway:

1. What do you do for a living?

At the moment, I’m a student Midwife. It’s a degree course that lasts 3 years, and I’m about halfway through. I don’t get paid (although I do get a small bursary) but my debt at the moment just isn’t funny! Half of the time I’m in University, and the other half I’m on clinical placement in hospitals in the community.

2. What do you like most about your job?

Supporting women throughout pregnancy and birth.

3. What do you like least about your job?

Cleaning up vomit, urine and other unmentionables!

4. When you have a bad day at work it’s usually because _____…

Something awful has happened to one of the women I’m caring for.

5. What other career(s) are you interested in?

None! Although I may decide to become a research midwife rather than staying in full-time practice. Maybe half and half….

Heights of Abraham

Had a great day yesterday. Because DBF works on a University contract he gets most Tuesdays off after a Bank Holiday, so we went to Derbyshire for the day. We started off a the Heights of Abraham in Matlock Bath where we went on the cable car to the top of the hill (which was actually much scarier than I’d imagined!). At the top there’s a huge show cave that we went down – it’s actually an old lead mine. Then we walked halfway down the hill to go in another old lead mine. Both tours were really good – but the walk back to the top of the hill from the second mine nearly killed me! It’s a very, VERY steep hill. Finally, we went back down the hill in the cable car.

Photos of Heights of Abraham

As we were so close, I couldn’t go home without a trip to Bakewell and Wye Needlecraft. Because of my infamous sense of direction (or rather lack of it!) I set off on the right road (the A6) but in the wrong direction!! Anyway, I realised pretty quickly and we turned round and arrived in Bakewell by about 4pm. So I spent a glorious 45 minutes in Wye Needlecraft. I tried to restrict my spending, so I didn’t buy Barnabee’s Quest (which would have set me back about £37.50!), but I still managed to spend £45 all together.

I bought:
Planted Hearts – Needle Roll and Scissor fob by Lavender Wings
The Bunny Hop by JBW Designs
Miss Kitty’s Dragons by Just Nan
The charm I needed for Bunny Hop
Some Thread Heaven
Some John James needles
New scissors
And some plain white evenweave (always useful!)

And on top of this, the stash that I ordered earlier from Paw Prints arrived today!! Fantastic!

University day today. Had a session on Anger management (other people’s anger, not mine!). In it, we learnt a couple of ‘breakaway’ techniques, that of course I had to practice on DBF when I got home. I’ve discovered that my hands are too small to do some of them on people much bigger than me, and I also discovered that I have a higher pain threshold than some of my colleagues – which came as a real surprise, because I think I’m a total wimp!

However, I’m still very grumpy when it comes to being ill, and I’ve still got a sore throat and blocked up nose from this cold. I don’t feel ill, but I am very fed up with not being able to sleep properly and being constantly bunged up.

There was a highlight to my day though, I went into a charity shop on my way home and I managed to get an ace T shirt and three books for less than £6 – bargain!!

I mentioned on the TWBB that I’ve been in a bit of a stitching slump recently. I think it’s a combination of having to work on Through a Mother’s Eyes to try to finish it before the wedding, and being so busy with University stuff that I just don’t have the spare time to do a lot of stitching. Anyway, I thought I might do a small project to get myself back in the mood, and so I’ve been very bad, and I’ve been doing some online shopping at Paw Prints.

I bought:
Just Nan – High Hopes and Jump for Joy (scroll down the page)
Chatelaine – Mini Mandelas (again, you’ll have to scroll

I’m pretty sure I’ll have the fabric to do these on, and hopefully it’ll get me out of my slump, and also give me some 2004 finishes!!