A New Stomping Ground

Hello friends! Well, I've made it safely to my new place in Southampton. Sunday was a very busy day. My parents drove all the way from Glastonbury to help me move my stuff. They're storing most of it in their outbuilding until I find a more permanent residence. 

It was strange to see my room in Winchester completely bare. I felt a little sad as I closed the door for the last time, but I know I'm moving onwards and upwards. Plus, I know I'll see my former housemates regularly. They're not getting rid of me that easily!

I've settled into my new room here. I'm having to live out of my suitcase, but I can cope with that. I've got a cupboard and fridge/freezer space all sorted, so I'm perfectly content. I managed to get some stitching in last night, here's how Miss Peepers is looking . . .

I start my new job in just under a week. I'm quite looking forward to going back to work actually - more money for stitching supplies! Keeping within the SFS budget of course :P

Best wishes,

 

Festive Cheer (picture heavy!)

 Thank you all so much for the lovely comments left on my last post. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, filled with friends, family and food!

I thought I'd do a picture walk today of all the Christmas goings on in my student house. I'm so looking forward to be spending Christmas with my family, but it's still nice to spend time with my house mates and decorate our house too :)

Here is our humble tree, complete with presents and home made decorations!

I'm sure you will recognise these little ornaments from my previous blog posts :) It's great to finally be able to display them properly. 

Also on display for the first time this year is my framed CCN Gingerbread House.

We had our house Christmas meal on Thursday, seeing as most of us were travelling on different days to get home. We didn't take the traditional route for food. We had a Mexican night! I was on cooking duty, which I love. I take such joy in preparing food for others, that we can all sit around the table and enjoy. I made two different types of chilli and a batch of rice, and we also had home made guacamole and Christmas tree-shaped tortilla chips! Very festive!

White rice and veggie chilli (sweet potato, spinach, peas, onion, kidney beans)

Meat chilli in the slow cooker (beef mince, pork mince and bacon)

After we were thoroughly stuffed from our delicious meal, it was time for presents! I received such a wonderful gift from my house mates. It was so thoughtful and perfect for me :) 

Isn't it charming? It's a wooden suitcase that's been decorated to look vintage. It's just so pretty and I love it! But even better, there were more goodies inside. 

A DVD from my wishlist, two vintage style coasters (I collect these) and an X-men comic. 

I feel truly lucky to have been given such a gorgeous gift. Big thank you to Kathryn and Lucy!!

I feel spoilt already and the big day isn't even here yet. I'm travelling tomorrow. I've got my tickets and booked seats so it should be fine, but you never know with our railway systems. Fingers crossed I make it to Glasto in good time. Yes, I am taking my stitching on the train :)

Best wishes and Merry Christmas,

 

Builder Bekca

I tell you my friends, I can't believe I've been in my house at Winchester for just over a week. It feels like so much time has passed and so many things have happened.
For the first few days of living here, I was using one of the spare bedrooms because my bed had not arrived. It was delivered on Friday morning, and armed only with a screwdriver and sheer determination I set to work. Whilst I was building it, I found it quite funny that I was using jewellery boxes as props. It just seemed so stereotypically girly! At least they got the job done :)



Lawrie visited over the weekend and treated me to dinner out on Friday. Such a love! We went to my favourite place in Winchester, Buddy's Diner. Unfortunately, I couldn't have my normal cheeseburger as I have recently discovered that I am wheat intolerant. When I was staying with Lawrence, I kept getting severe stomach aches and headaches. They continued when I went to Glastonbury, always after I had a meal. So, after doing a bit of research on the NHS website, I decided to cut wheat from my diet and alas, no more pains! I do have to do a lot more looking at labels when I go shopping now, but I think that's a small sacrifice for not feeling ill anymore :)

Lawrence got a job! I know this is not particularly related to this blog, but I'm just so proud of him. He worked so hard for his exams and now he's continuing to work hard over the summer so he can have a little bit of money to enjoy all the things we do. He's waiting at a fancy hotel and the pay is decent too. Go Lawrence!

And finally, a stitching update. Hurrah, at last! I hear you cry :P
In our living room, there is a really old fashioned wicker and wooden chair with huge pillows. I have sort of claimed it as my stitching chair for now; it is so comfortable. I'll be sure to get a snap of it next time I'm stitching. It's very relaxing to come home to a couple of hours of stitching after work. And all that stitching is paying off, look at Farmhouse . . .

I've nearly finished the cottage itself, just a bit more greenery to add in round the bottom right hand corner. Then I think I'll do the red border to get that out of the way before moving on to the animals. I'm still loving every stitch on this project. I love that it's so colourful. My fingers are itching to start another project though. Maybe when I've unpacked all my stitching gear properly something will leap out at me. I'll let you know :)

I'm hideously behind with my Birthday Stitch Surprise Parcel for this month. I'm so sorry Teresa! It is my mission to get the package in the post to you this week. Rising postal cost might be an issue, but that's not going to stop me sending out parcels to truly lovely stitchers :)

So that's my round up for today my friends. I've got one more shift at work this afternoon, then I'm heading straight to Lawrence's house. We're going to see the Olympic Torch tomorrow, I'm very excited! I'm taking my camera, so hopefully I'll get a few snaps to share :)

I hope you've all had a brilliant start to the week.