Saturday 17 September 2016

Big Birthday Bloghop - The Years of Jo's Life - 1987

Happy Birthday, Jo! Our most favourite blog-hop-hostess is celebrating her birthday, which was today in 1966! Of course, this calls for the biggest blog hop yet, so she assigned each of us a year in her life to blog about, and the year I got was 1987.

1987 - Jo was 21.  She had completed her training and was now a full fledged Documentation Technician in the Marine Hull Department of Sedgwicks Insurance Brokers.  In the summer she bought her first house, a Victorian terraced cottage with the original slate roof.  This roof somehow survived the famous hurricane of October 1987.  The following month Jo married her boyfriend and they moved into their house together.  One of the main attractions of the property was its location a mere 100 yards from the train station which allowed Jo an extra 30 minutes in bed every morning!

What an exciting year for Jo! I myself, I wasn't quite 'there' yet in 1987, so I'm going to talk about what I did when I was 21 instead. And thinking back, it was quite an exciting year for me as well, because it was the year Felix and I finally got together (which is a story for another time, but I was interested in him for quite a bit before that ;) ). I didn't really stitch much back then, but I wouldn't have had time either, because this was the year of our software lab at university, where we had to work on small groups the code a real time strategy game withing three months. Well, long story short, no everyone in out group was capable (or willing) to pull their weight, and so we often spent all night at the lab, working until four or five in the morning and resuming work no later than 9am. I don't think I'd be able to pull off something like this today, I feel seriously old now!

No, I have prepared not just one, but two stitching pictures for Jo's birthday! One I just finished yesterday, and it's Magical's birthstone ornament for September. I want to try and finish the remaining months all in the 'correct' month before the year is over.






Now, while very fitting for the date, I am not sure how much Jo loves these ornaments, so I want to also again post something I know she liked - in fact, she has stiched it herself, from the same pattern I used now! Of course, I'm talking about my Very Victorian Strawberries Sampler that I just finished last month.





Again, I want to thank Jo very much for passing this pattern along to me - especially since it has one me the first place in the Stitching Pirate's Ye Olde Sampler contest! And since this is a travel chart (I'm nor sure exactly how many stops it made before it arrived at Jo's), in honour of her birthday and in the spirit of the Gifted Gorgeousness, I'll be passing this pattern along to another loving home today. If you want to be included in the raffle, please leave a comment below stating that you're interested, and please make sure that you are not a no-reply blogger, so I can contact you in case you win!

9 comments:

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Thanks for taking part in the Birthday Blog Hop. Your time at university sounds exhausting! How exciting that you met Felix that year too. I actually met my hubby over 20 years before we got together!
I love both the pieces you showed, I do enjoy a seasonal design and blue is one of my favourite colours too.
What a nice idea to pass the chart on to someone new.

Vickie said...

Wow! Now there is something we did not know about you or Jo!
Very nice stitching.

Bea said...

Both stitching pieces are lovely - the blues in the birthstone really caught my eye. Nice to learn something about both Jo and you.

Tiffstitch said...

Wow, I remember those days at undergrad, we had to pay for every page of paper we printed, etc. Great post and congrats on placing first in the contest!

Stitching Noni said...

Love those 2 pieces - they are lovely!
1987 was the year that I got married the first time round - so pleased that Jo didn't give me that year - it is best forgotten!! :o)
Hugs x

Brigitte said...

Dieser Blog-Hop für Jo's Geburtstag ist schon etwas Besonderes. Und obwohl ich aus zeitlichen Gründen nicht teilnehmen konnte, ist es ein großer Spaß, die verschiedenen Blogs zu lesen. Auch deine und Jos Geschichte eures 21. Lebensjahrs. Ich vermute, du hast Jos Geschmack gut getroffen mit dem geometrischen Muster und dem Band Sampler. Schöner Geburtstags-Post für Jo.

Katie said...

I'm hopping by on the blog hop. What a great post. Thanks for sharing. Beautiful stitching!

Elfie said...

I am slowly hopping through the birthday blog posts. I enjoyed reading your lovely post. This is such a nice thing to be involved in.

Heather said...

Great projects and post :). I wasn't born yet in my year either...but I was in yours!