Tattoos of memories

Finally, about two years after I started it, Lizzie*Kate’s Peace, Love and a Cure is finally done!



I stitched it on white 28 count linen of some sort. (I’m really bad about labelling things, or taking good notes.) I decided to use the DMC conversion for it since, let’s be honest, I can be cheap. And, I am really pleased with the outcome.



It will most likely be sewn into a shopping bag using the fabrics above. If you have the pattern, you may have noticed that the fabric on the left is the same one shown on the cover. I looked everywhere for it, and ended up finding it somewhere nearby.

Somehow, finishing this gives me a bit more peace. While I worked on it a friend’s sister died of breast cancer and, as I mentioned before, a family member dealt with and overcame another type of cancer. It is silly, I know, but I feel like there is a bit more closure now.

I hope the Easter Bunny was good to you! Caden Bryce, Regan, Erin and I were all very spoiled.

Although because of Caden Bryce's peanut allergy, the Easter Bunny goes very light on the chocolate for him, and a bit heavy on the Lego and books. 😉

Regan, Erin and I also received books (and some alcohol - naughty Easter Bunny!), but we definitely got our fair share of chocolate too!

February just seems to drag on and on, doesn’t it? Have you ever thought that it would be a nice idea to switch Valentine’s Day and Christmas? Wouldn’t a nice turkey dinner, some gifts, time with family, and a pretty Christmas tree be just the perfect things to perk up dreary February?

Speaking of Christmas, I’ve started a new project. Yeah, I know that I shouldn’t, but this one was planned for this year and isn’t an impulse start (seriously). It is Santa’s Journey from Dimensions, designed by Peggy Abrams. (If my mam is reading this right now, she just got really excited.)


I decided to stick with the aida that came in the kit. The last time I stitched a Dimensions stocking I did switch out the fabric for linen. But, my too-large fabric stash is actually really lacking in plain white linen. Hopefully I won’t regret my decision. 😉

I have two more Dimensions stocking kits to stitch after this one - one for Erin and one for my dad. I would like to get a fifth one for me, but nothing has caught my eye. Well, I would love to get my hands on the discontinued Windswept Santa kit but it is selling for a silly amount of money on eBay. I really don’t like it when things sell for so much more than their original price when they really aren’t special. :(

Caden Bryce and I have spent the last couple of days home sick. He is just about back to his old self, and should be off to school this afternoon. I, on the other hand, am looking forward to a long nap.

I rarely stitch or knit or anything when I’m sick. Instead I read, watch a bit of TV, and sleep as much as I can. Mostly I sleep. 😉

2016 IS the year I get back on social media. I know I kind of suck at it but it's one of my New Year's resolutions and everything. I miss it. I miss sitting here, typing out the random shit that's in my head and reading what everyone else up to.

Of course, on a related note, 2016 is also the year I change all my passwords. I guess it's a good thing as it's something you're supposed to do semi-regularly anyway.

Dreamwidth. Livejournal. Twitter. Tumblr. Facebook. Last.Fm. Goodreads.
All back up and running. Let me know if you want a link to any of them, but in general just search for vanillamagick.
Tomorrow I'm hoping to get my old Wordpress site back up again.

Right now, it's time for the Monopoly death match between my Erin and I. We've played 4 games today, and we're at 2-2, so this is the decider. The last game we had was pretty intense. I was down to like £20 and nearly all my properties mortgaged but somehow I came back and won it. It was a 3 hour game!

Regan thinks we're completely and utterly boring but we're having a blast. It's cold and wet and windy outside, so what's better than being in the warm and dry, having coffee and flapjacks, a fire roaring, good music playing.

Hopefully the pizza we've ordered will come soon. Then it is ON!

We’ve been very lucky with Caden Bryce. In his three short years, he’s only been sick three times. Once with a minor cold, once with roseola (that was fun), and once again with a nasty cold today.

Dealing with a child with a cold, especially with his first real serious cold, is an exercise in patience. He broke down in tears several times this morning because he just didn’t understand what was wrong. He kept whimpering and pointing at his nose and throat. And, while he is quite vocal and fairly good at understanding what we try to tell him, it is really hard to explain to a 3-year old why he is sick.

Thankfully, a little while after this picture was taken (and a long while after he calmed down), the little man was nearly back to normal. If I had half the energy he has when he is sick when I am well, I could take on the world!

I know this is one of the first in a long line of illness to come. Because of “advances in medicine”, we will likely get to skip over some childhood illness, like chicken pox. But, there will be colds and flus and goodness knows what else yet to come. Sometimes all it will take is some tissues and a hug to help him feel better, and sometimes it will take a whole lot more.

Caden Bryce is not sleeping. As you can tell from the fact I'm writing this at 01:10 on a Sunday morning. Regan is a very light sleeper and the slightest thing wakes her up. She cannot sleep through Caden Bryce's cries. The stress of dealing with a cranky teenager and 2-year old on little sleep combined with all the nights I’ve spent sleeping on the floor has lead to a very, very sore back for me. At this point I am running on fumes and pain medication. And caffeine. Goddess bless you caffeine.

I was on the phone with my mam this afternoon, and she told me that she thought it had been too long since I posted on my blog. So, here I am, posting on my blog. Hope you enjoy it, Mam.

I'm not sure I have anything to blog about. I do have new followers though (*waves* hi!), so maybe a quick refresh of the family, since it's something people do get confused about and I can completely understand why

Regan is my 14 year step-daughter. She's a whirlwind of energy, I swear the only time she stops is when she's asleep. She loves sport, dance and baking and has unfortunate tastes in pop music and boybands. She wants to be a... well last time I checked it was sociology, and she even had her choice of university and course plotted out.
Her mother Shaine was the love of my life, we were together from our teens until Shaine died at in 2007. She was depressed and had a history of drug problems, she was battling it, but something came up in therapy that she couldn't deal with, and she took her own life.
One of my best friends, Craig is Regan's biological father. She spends every weekend with him and his boyfriend Jimmy. They are both fully active fathers to her, and spoil her rotten (not that I don't)

Caden Bryce is my almost 2 year old son - his birthday is in 11 days. He loves cars, sleeping, eating and babbling. He follows Regan around as much as he can.
I do not know who is father is. I was raped, and fell pregnant from it. I couldn't bring myself it have an abortion. I thought about it long and hard, and found myself unable to. My way of looking at it is that Caden Bryce is an innocent, the circumstances surrounding his conception are not his fault. I can't imagine not having him in my life.

Erin is the other person I talk about a lot. She's my girlfriend. We've been together just over two years and she is my rock. She loves football, even if she supports an awful team. She loves sex, astrology, mythology, sci-fi and fantasy. She has the most beautiful bright blue eyes and accepts my raggedy family without question, has fitted it with us perfectly.

I also have an older sister, married with two daughter, who lives down on the south coast and I have a younger adopted sister who lives in Wales with Mam and Dad.

That's the basics of the 'about us' which should clear anything up.
Mam, is this a good enough post for you? Have I missed anything you think needs saying?
Is there anything YOU want to ask, dear reader?