Enough about me, but never enough roses!

Last night I cut out hexagons from the gorgeous fabrics I gratefully and thankingly received from:
Tracy at Shine Shine,



(My visit to Shine Shine will get a whole other post though!)

Katie Z. of Zana's Ninis,



Carline of Lady of the Cloth,



and Wendy (no blog)

(Wendy and I swapped some Shwe-Shwe fabric for some quilt magazines).

I thought I would get a chance to baste these fabrics to the hexagon papers while I waited at the hospital today, but I barely sat for a minute: consultations, manipulations, x-rays, discussions, referrals... and not such good news. As DH says "it's not life-threatening so get on with it". So enough about me, let's get that hexagon quilt going again I thought!

So I got the 'bits' out and realised that I don't know where I was and what I had planned when I packed it away. Looks like I'll need a bit of time to put it together properly, maybe even permanently this time, to see which areas need filling etc. (Hence this hasty photo before I quickly packed it away before I find myself trying to get it together now.)



Then one day, hopefully not toooo long off, I will lay me down under my bed of roses and feel better, because every hexagon will tell me a story, remind me of someone or sometime and that's pretty cool me thinks!

Delightful to be done

Not done, done, but until I think about borders, my Double Delight is done. At least now I can go away and not worry that when I come back, I'll need to work out which bit goes where etc etc...

I've had another great post week. Joyce (no blog) who won my giveaway sent me a gorgeous scarf that she had knitted to say thank you to me! Amazing! Amazing!



I wore it straight away and even got a compliment on it! I shall have to do more giveaways LOL. Joyce also made a superb ATC with some of the extra bits I threw in to her parcel.


Thanks Joyce. (No blog!)

And Vicki W sent me some 6"rose squares for my rose hexagon quilt.


I only need 4" squares, but I would never complain about those extra 2" :-)
Thanks Vicki!

I am preparing for my blog break and actually quite looking forward to it. I actually sew more when I blog less (funny that!) So although I will still check my email while we're away, I won't be blogging much. We still have some time before we're off and if I get myself organised, I may manage another post or two, if not I'll 'see' you all in a few months. I hope to bring a few African fabrics back with me, so if you fancy swapping, let me know.

In the meantime, my thoughts go out to those affected by the devastating Australian Bush fires.

Down came the wall

There's been a lot of bashing in this house again!! DH is preparing the downstairs for the new kitchen. So the children and I have been camped out upstairs with the hopes that we won't fall through the floor LOL. I've been sewing, the kids have been doing puzzles and watching DVDs on my computer and DH and friends have been going "thump, thump, grind, saw, bash, thump" all day.

I have managed to sew my embroidered roses into my quilt just to see what they would look like...



And the postman managed to drive through the snow today to deliver some great post from Birgit who sent me these fantastically fabulous fabrics:

Birgit also included alphabet noodles for the kiddiwinkles...

(Is it dinnertime yet? Want those noodles cooked please, Mum!)

Whenever I go to Germany, I fill my suitcase with these noodles (and fabric from Birgit's gorgeous shop). The kids love them even if they end up all over the place (as does my fabric!!) :-)


And on Saturday, I was spoilt rotten with some gorgeous surprise fabrics that arrived from Nicolette:

(Sweets? What sweets? Oh! Those ones! Yes, they were luverly! Thank you)

Thank you both so much. They have already been cut up and some are already in 'the quilt'!:

(Can you see them? Some of them are right next to the embroidered rose.)

We had an inch or so of snow today, with more forecast for tomorrow...

I'm glad I'm still not able to drive...

(and therefore have to clear the windscreen LOL)

(Not sure if Birgit sent this snow too!!! As a thank you for the snow I sent her previously LOL)

Because building work has resumed. The little boys got in the mood...


And the big boys took down a wall

No going back now!!
"Thump, thump, bash"

Christmas comes early

Last week a large supermarket chain filmed their Christmas commercial in Austwick. Some of my friends were filmed and the village was decorated with a huge amount of festive lights.

On the Wednesday, I went down to the village to attend the P.T.A. and saw the Christmas lights. Thinking the kids would love it, we went down the next night (with a camera) only to find they were gone!! So when we drove back from Skipton on Friday, we were delighted to see the town lit up once again (and this was visible from the A65!!) I drove in to town and let the children run on the village green to look at all the lights. Of course, this time I had no camera!!! A friend took this picture of us though...



It was very exciting for the boys and so very festive!

Loulee also got me in the Christmas mood when she sent me some rose fabrics this week! She included this gorgeous Santa which she had stitched!



Thanks Loulee, he's very special and will be treasured.

Friends like these

I must be unwell, I've blogged almost every day since I've been home from the hospital!

Today I got a little parcel from my wonderful friend Vicky! Even though Vicky has just had surgery herself and is not feeling the brightest she managed a brief visit to the Harrogate Quilt show on Sunday.

Here she is with her snake quilt which she has made for James (her Step-grandson, I believe)


Isn't that a great quilt!!! And a cute bag! :-)

Vicky very kindly sent me a CD with some photos of my quilts and other inspiration. As well as buying me some rose fabrics (I'm getting a reputation here!!)



And how is this for a special surprise. When Vicky was buying my fabrics she mentioned to the lady at Cotton Dreams that I was unable to attend and see my quilts due to circumstances and the lady threw in an extra FQ for me! I am delighted and touched at the kindness of others! Thank you Vicky and thank you Cotton Dreams!

Here are my quilts (again for some!)
My Scrapbuster (also seen in my header on this blog)



And Toby's baby quilt. (Which he has never used - perhaps this winter. He'll be 2, but he's still my 'little' baby! LOL)


This photo I nabbed from Andrea's blog who was also at the show on Sunday and who also got me some beautiful roses! Thank you again Andrea.



Well, it wasn't quite like being there, but it's not bad at all considering. Thank you my friends! And get well soon please Dear Vicky!!!

I want to lay me down in a bed of roses

I realise I am becoming a bit of an old rose lady! Especially as Andrea bought me some rose fabrics at the Great Northern Quiltshow at Harrogate.




Thanks so much Andrea. They will be absorbed into my rose quilt (just as your kind gifts for the boys have somehow been absorbed into the house LOL) ((And the lovely Sarah of ifonlyihadchocolate sent me some... chocolate(!) which has also been absorbed - so no photo! But it was yummy! Thanks Sarah!)

So what's the big plan with all these rose fabrics that my lovely friends send me??

Well, years ago my mother made a hexagon quilt from scraps and I just love it. I used to sit and try and find all the roses. So I decided to make my own, but with mainly rose fabrics. There are some leaves, some neutrals etc here and there to add a bit of variety, but it's mainly roses for me!

And now the current plan is to include my paper-pieced rose by Ula Lenz....




I laid the hexagon panel I've finished with the paper-pieced rose on my bed and then just sort of filled around it will loose hexagons...



Here's a close-up.



I think this is approximately the layout I'll go for, obviously I have a long way to completion as I want to make it about King-size!! But I see it as a sort of long term project that I'll pick up every now and again when I need to do some handwork :-)


On a family note, there are other people with other plans in this house too! My 'big' boy will be 4 at the end of the month.



He gets the John Deere catalogue out every now and again to remind us of his birthday hopes.

'Nil by mouth' and no quilt show either!

This was the weekend of the Great North Quilt Show in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. A friend convinced me to enter... It's not a big show, but every year it seems to get smaller and smaller and I would hate for us up North to lose it due to lack of participation. I have been the last few years and particularily wanted to go this year. I had tenatively (recovery permitting) planned to go on Sunday to see my quilts with a friend who was going to catch me (unwillingly) if I passed out from the effects of Wednesday's General Anaesthetic.

But it was not to be. Saturday night I started having post-op trouble (I'll spare the gorey details) but I had to be rushed back to hospital where I was put on a drip and scheduled for another round of General Anaesthetic and surgery on Sunday. I spent the whole of Sunday being told that I was 'Nil by mouth' and could not even have a drop of water! So I whiled away the hours wondering what the show was like and whether I would be out of the operating theater in time for dinner LOL. In the end my op was delayed til late evening so I missed the dinner trolley and had cornflakes as my evening meal!! (And I couldn't sew on Sunday either as I had the drip stuck uncomfortably in my wrist so movement was restricted!!)

I'm back at home, feeling a little bit woozey, but hopefully that's me and hospitals over with for a bit now!

Sonnja, sent me a most welcome and wonderful parcel which was in the mailbox when I got back from the hospital. Rose fabrics for my ongoing hand work hexagon project,



a get well card, a cherry chocolate so beautifully wrapped and a fun badge that I may have to wear to the next quilt show I get to :-)



Thank you so much Sonnja! I was very touched especially by the piece of fabric which has come from your mother!! That is just so special.



Thank you also for all the lovely emails of late. I know these things are hard to say, but I appreciate the time people have taken to write and show me that I am not alone. And there were times this week when I felt very alone. To think it all started last Monday... It has been one of the longest weeks of my life. Time only seems to fly when you're having fun!