Boos Mummy

It did feel like I'd hardly had any finishes this year when I tried to think what I'd completed in 2014. It's only looking back through my photographs and posts that I realised I had actually had some finishes...yay!  I have spent most of my stitching time in 2014 working on Tony's dragon, he's getting a bit impatient to have it finished now so it's going to be my priority in 2015. Here's a quick update on the finishes.... and here are some of my WIPs, a couple I'm determined to finish in 2015 Finally some of my favourite family photos... Happy New Year to you all and here's hoping that 2015 is even better :-)

Our next monarch is Richard I, better known as Richard the Lionheart. Kings and Queens by Bothy Threads Richard was born on 8th September 1157 in Oxford, England. He was the son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Like his brothers Richard fought against his father in 1173. In 1183 Richards brother Henry died leaving him heir to the throne.  Henry had wanted to give Aquitaine to his son John but Richard disagreed and joined Phillip II of France in 1189. It was this rebellion against his father that lead to Henry II dying in France in July 1189. Richard then ascended to the English throne but although he was king for 10 years he only spent 6 months in England.  Richards ambition was to join the Third Crusade to the Holy Land. He sold Sheriffdoms and other high offices in order to finance this crusade, in 1190 he set off and landed in the Holy Land in June 1191. Richard came close to the crusade's main objective, Jerusalem but it continued to elude him. Quarrels a...

Autumn has definitely arrived here in Yorkshire, we've gone from wonderful hot weather to gale force winds, torrential rain and cold spells. On the good side though it's wonderful running through the leaves with the kids and DH has got some amazing autumnal photos, I do love the colours in autumn. October has been especially busy for us here, we've had swim assessments, Scouts, Rainbows, Taekwondo classes, gradings and competitions as well as the usual school and family commitments. Craft wise I've not done as much as usual due to being so tired some nights my eyes have drooped badly but needles have been put to fabric and/or wool so here we go... Big cheer from DH as another page has been completed on Cruising the Information Highway, the cars radiator gave me the most trouble as it was mostly confetti stitches and drove me crazy LOL! Cruising The Information Highway by Randal Spanger Heaven & Earth Designs  Stitched on 25ct 1 over 1 close up of the r...

Our new monarch is Henry II, at the bottom of the post there are some photos from Canterbury Cathedral that Tony took last time we were down in Kent. Bothy Threads Kings and Queens Henry II was born in NW France on 4 th March 1133. His father was Count of Anjou and his mother Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England. Henry I had named his daughter as his successor to the throne but her cousin Stephen took over.  Henry was the first of the great Plantagenet dynasty and he had 5 sons including Richard I and John, 3 daughters and several illegitimate children. Henry first became the ruler of Normandy and Anjou when his father died and in 1152 he married Eleanor of Aquitaine. Then in 1153 he crossed to England to begin his pursuit of the English throne, finally reaching an agreement with Stephen that on his death he would succeed to the throne. In 1154 Henry became King of England and he began to restore order. Henry’s chancellor was Thomas Becket and using him he began t...

Here's our next monarch all finished, this time it's Stephen... Stephen was the son of the Count of Blois and Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror. He was sent to England to be raised at the court of his uncle, Henry I.   A fter Henry I died in December 1135, the leading lords and bishops welcomed Stephen as the new king as they weren’t comfortable with Henry’s daughter Matilda being the ruler.  Stephen was not a natural leader. In 1138 Robert, Earl of Gloucester, took up arms on Matilda’s behalf. Stephens early victories faded when he lost the support of the church and Matilda invaded England in September 1139.    The tussle for the throne continued until Stephen gained the upper hand and in 1148 Matilda left England. Unfortunately Stephen didn’t have much control over most of the kingdom and couldn’t enforce the law or mediate between the warring nobles. He hoped to secure the succession for his son Eustace. But Matilda’s son Henry...

Well the kids school holidays are done as well as the sun disappeared halfway through them :-(  We did get quite a bit of stuff done in the 6 weeks, though not all of it fun for the kids. New windows for the house, DH and I used quite a bit of his week off to do jobs around the house and garden much to the kids disgust but we'd been putting them off since winter.  We did go out and about so there are a few photos and I even managed to get some stitching done which resulted in a couple of finishes..yay! Photos first... Peter spent a week in summer school at Westfield School (where fingers crossed he'll go to seniors in a years time). At the end of the week they had a day trip to Cleethorpes and I took the 2 youngest with us. Apparently it rained in Sheffield but it was hot at the coast and we had a great day on the beach... Later in August Tony had a week off and we all went to Cleethorpes together... Peter couldn't resist doing a bit of Taekwondo at the coast ...

Henry I is all finished on my project. Must admit that I groaned when I noticed this monarch had gold as I'm not a fan of metallic threads but the thread in this project stitched up beautifully...hurray! Bothy Threads - Kings and Queens Henry was born in England in 1068 or 1069, the fourth son of William the Conqueror. When Henry's elder brother became king another elder brother had died and left only Robert and Henry as the heirs. When William was killed in a hunting accident in August 1100 Henry had himself crowned a few days later, taking advantage of Robert's absence on crusade. Robert invaded England in 1101 but relinquished his claim in return for Henry's territories in Normandy.  This peace didn't last long and Henry invaded Normandy and in 1106 he captured Robert and held him prisoner for life. Henry's only legitimate son, William, died in a shipwreck in November 1120. This left Henry without another legitimate male heir despite remarrying in or...