What with the girls' Easter holidays from school and the extra long Bank Holiday weekend for the Royal Wedding and DH going off to Italy for training before he starts his new job in Saudi, it's been a couple of weeks since I was here last. I have been stitching ... honest gov! But I have also been doing something else - my completely different - running.
I have long battled with self-confidence and depression and one thing the doctor always said was "do something for yourself, it will help". Well yeah whatever I thought and promptly ignored her. Then, I set up my little stitching corner and lost myself in lots and lots of tiny crosses. I carried on doing this for a long time, but the problems never quite went away. Then I realised, I really needed to get up and do something else for me ... something that was outside the house, where there was no "mum! I need a drink!" or "muuuuum, I'm hungry"! So 10 weeks ago, I started running around the footpath on the estate.
To start with, I could just about manage to run the distance of 3 lampposts. I managed to get round 2.5K doing this but would be just flattened afterwards. So my running buddy and I decided we needed to be told what we needed to do, both being running novices and also having, in a complete moment of madness, signed up the 5K Race for Life. Couch 2 5K was the answer and, although it has been a struggle, in the space of 7 weeks I have gone from being able to run for a minute, to running (in the loosest sense of the word) for 25 minutes at a time.
We run 3 times a week - even when we don't feel like it lol! With just 2 weeks of the training programme left that time will gradually be built up to 30 minutes and the elusive 5K! So, has it helped with the 'me' problems? I don't know yet ... somedays my doubts kick in and I struggle (like today when I actually gave up because I just couldn't run any longer) but there is a great sense of "yay, I've done it!" when you finish. I haven't lost any weight yet, which of course would be fab, but I am definitely more toned and fitter than when I started! And yes, I am ever so slightly hooked :-) So, I'll carry on.
Anyway, back to my first love, my stitching :-D After kitting up and gridding Ophelia I started her last Tuesday. Two and a bit columns in and I am going insane already. It's just black, black and more black! I don't mind block stitching but I know that I stitch slower with black, trying to ensure that my coverage is good. On 28ct it looks patchy when under a daylight bulb and close up but once you get a normal distance away, it looks good. Here is progress so far, as you see, not much.
Portrait of Ophelia (c) JBG and HAED
So as that black is driving me crazy, I'm going to swap projects this week .. to my Wall. Talk about one extreme to the other lol! I've not stitched on Dragon Charmer in what seems like forever but seeing her finished by another stitcher on the BB recently has put her in mind. No doubt my next post will be about how much the confetti is driving me mad - but lets face it, us stitchers are never happy are we?! Here she is as I left her last (threads all over the place) I think in October of last year. Stitched on 28ct light blue jobelan, one over one, full crosses.
Dragon Charmer (c) Josephine Wall and HAED
Finally, FF150. I stitched on her for a bit for the themed SAL last week but starting Ophelia got in the way. I have managed to make good progress on her though so here she is. Not sure about the green on her face, it looks a lot brighter in real life but I'll trust the charting and go with it!
FF150 (c) JBG and HAED
Lastly in an effort to clear away some cobwebs, I've changed my online profile pic. The old one was taken last April and has been there far too long. The new one was taken on our 10th wedding anniversary last year at 15 (Jamie Oliver's restaurant). I've put a photo filter over it to jazz it up a bit because it was a bit grainy. How long will this one be around for I wonder?