Where to begin?

I have been quite busy since my last post...


I have put together a charity quilt which just needs borders. I used orphans from the 'Heart Blockswap' that I used to do with the Blockbuddy's. These heart blocks were mostly made by Rochelle, Maureen and I. The postage stamp blocks were from Kate and were swapped for fabric. Thanks again Kate.

I have also made some more cosmetic bags... Forgot to take a photo!

I tried to make a camera case for our trip. The first was too big, the second was too small....
I'll keep trying and when I have perfection, I'll show them all LOL.
When I showed DH my various attempts he said: "why don't you just buy one?'
I said: "Because you told me to 'just make one'"
"I was just kidding" he said!!!!!!!!

My "Berry Crush" is ready to go to Chris, the Longarmer on Friday. (It's been ready for a while, but I have only just started driving again.) I decided not to piece a backing as Chris had a particularily lovely backing fabric last time I was there, and I decided if it was still there, it was meant to be for me :-) Also the top is very heavily pieced and therefore very heavy in weight so I decided a pieced backing would just be a bit much (well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! LOL)
And just as I'm ready to close the Orange Crush chapter, Toni sent me a fabulous parcel this week and inside was her Orange Crush UFO!! :-D

Here's what else Toni sent me:

DS1 loved all the Halloween bits and some things have already been feretted away in his room.

And I do love getting US mags, they are so different to ours! Thanks so much Toni. (your return parcel will be on the ship shortly LOL)

I have also finally made all the blocks for my Double Delight and am now ready to assemble them!!! Yippeee!

So it's been a busy few days, but I always get a bit frenetic before I travel, so no change there then LOL

Dinosaurs & Roses

I have been making gifts.

For little birthday boys...

And boys who now live far away...

And for kind people who look after children until the early hours of the morning.

Kind people even get embroidery...


And then after I had rested (LOL), I remembered how much I enjoyed fabric painting, so I painted some more shirts...

For little boys who like dinosaurs...





And for little boys who like sharks...




Time for another little rest ;-)

Double Trouble

This is when you realise why a WIP shouldn't become a UFO until you've sewn all the parts!

I started Bonnie's Double Delight mystery before my operation not realising I would be having my operation when I did. Now as I am starting to feel better I decided I wanted to put the blocks together before we go away or I won't know where I am in this quilt when we get back.


Needless to say, I don't know where I am LOL.

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"

Take two!

Roses on hexagons.... (for a rose hexagon quilt)



I decided that I actually quite liked the idea of roses embroidered on hexagons that weren't rosy enough so I tried a few more...



They're not quite as perfect as I'd like them to be, but they are such fun to stitch that I might have a new addiction...

Hospitals, Hexagons, Hearts...

Today I had a post-op consultation at the hospital. I waited for well over an hour for my five minutes with the doctor :-)

Just before I was called in, they tried to send me to see someone else. Someone who would know nothing about my operation or why I was there...
I sat in the waiting room sewing hexagons so to be honest didn't notice how long the wait was...

Following doctor's orders, I came home and took my own dressings off and snipped my own dissolving stitch thread ends. Then I felt sick. I am faint-hearted LOL

Speaking of hearts, I am working on another handwork project as well as my hexagons.



All this tidying up around the house has unearthed these die-cut hearts that my friend Donna sent me quite a few years ago. Donna included template plastic, freezer paper, glue, a demo heart and 85 (or so) fabric pre-cut hearts...


I decided to do them in bed and slightly differently to Donna's suggestion. So am doing the applique method where you draw an outline (using the template) on the right side of the fabric and then as you stitch you push the edges under with your needle. Needle-turn applique without the freezer paper. I would have done needle-turn applique with the freezer paper, but getting to an iron while resting was too much like hard work.


I have now done 8 and half and have 78 (or so) to go :-)





The other applique hearts that I did in an English paper-piecing sort of way while I was in hospital after my operation have found a new home. They'll be going to Clare for Quilts for Leukaemia:



Here's a little secret (don't tell DH)..., but while I've been lying in my bed I treated myself to 2 new books (sshh!).
This is one of them...



And this is my first attempt at an embroidery from the book.


I don't 'do' embroidery or 'stitchery', but I do love roses and I had an idea that I may embroider some of my hexagon pieces that are not rosy enough with a rose embroidery... just an idea...

All about patchwork

When I was having an enforced(!) clearout I found this book. I'm not sure where I picked it up, but I love these old books. Published in 1973, this softback book is a little gem (if you like English paper-piecing that is!)


(Is that me, the dutiful wife, sitting demurely stitching away at her hexagons? No! Of course it isn't LOL)

It has a large section on Hexagons...



Some ideas for leftover hexagons like decoration on clothing (gag) and cute kids waistcoats...



Gift ideas for the man who has everything ;-)...



and trousers for the boys...



The caption is great, it says "...Make extra patches to lengthen trousers as the child grows." I can just imagine the horror on their little faces were I to make them such items LOL

Of course, the book adds yet another project to my huge handwork 'to do list"!!:



I just love this design, but I think I'd better try and finish my hexagons first!

Finding a needle in a hospital

Last night we had another trip to the hospital. We put the kids to bed, organised a kind babysitter and headed off for blood tests to see if there was any infection as I have been in a lot of pain the last few days. By 1am we could go home and they would let us know the results later. At 4am I got a phonecall from the hospital and was given the all clear. It wasn't a wasted trip as I had a dressing change on the wound which is now more comfortable and I was given some much stronger painkillers to cope with the pain. I am to take it easy. (no more vacumming for me - hee hee!!)

While sitting around at the hospital from 10pm until after midnight when I finally saw a doctor I thought I'd keep busy with some handwork. I had grabbed my sewing bag so quickly that I hadn't looked inside and I hadn't noticed that I'd taken my needlecase out!! I couldn't sew a stitch as I didn't have a single needle with me. I was so annoyed at wasting all that time that I could have been sewing. So instead DH and I played "I spy".... I spy a drip stand, I spy a heart rate monitor... It was actually quite fun :-)

Now I'm in bed again. getting up every now and again to keep active, but not moving the furniture around LOL.

In my previous post, I was giving away some 'bits and bobs'. I used a random number generator as everyone is out. Joyce (no blog) has won the bits and scrappy quilter has won a surprise! Please let me have your snail mail addresses and I'll pop your goodies off in the post.

Anything is possible...

It is possible to clean the toilet, change the bedding and vacuum with crutches, but I wouldn't recommend it! LOL

Things are almost back to normal (for me) except I can't drive, use my sewing machine or do any serious physical activity (sadly this does not include the above household chores!!)

Husband dearest is also trying to de-clutter the house again so instead of getting bed rest I am getting re-stressed. Never mind, I shall wait until he has 'man-flu' again and then I will get him LOL!!

At least I can retreat into the wonderful world of blogging where you can meet people from all over the world, share thoughts, patterns, recipes etc and find out about doing nice things for others from the comfort of your own home.

One of my wonderful blog-friends is Sonnja. Sonnja selflessly makes fabric bears for orphaned and AIDS-affected children in Africa.

Here are some Beertje Zonn bears that Sonnja has made from fabric, I have sent her, but if you look on her blog you will see that Sonnja has made thousands of bears and thousands of little children have been given a 'Beertje Zonn' of their own.



If you would like to help Sonnja and send her some fabric for Beertje Zonn, I'm sure she and the children would be very grateful. (Details can be found on her website by clicking here)


Another person who would be very grateful of a giveaway is my DH!! He is climbing the walls with all my stuff. So I have put a little parcel together of bits and pieces that I will never use, but can't bear to throw away...

(A 'Farmyard Friends' pattern, a chenille dog pattern, a barely used cone of gold metallic thread, some hexagons, some Liberty Lawn swatches, a piece of purple lining fabric, some rhinestone-type embellishments, some paper roses, a horse tree ornament, some Seasonal mini panels and labels and a bag of very tiny rose scraps left over from making my September bag)
If you would like this parcel, just leave me a comment and I'll pick a name by my next post...

In the meantime, I'm stitching away at my rose hexagons...
(here's a view from my lap)


and revelling in real roses (from little boys who have the flu...)

I'm home

Well they certainly don't want you leaving a dent in those hospital beds!! This morning, I was woken early, vitals checked and after being escorted to the facilities, returned to find my bed was pretty much 'out of bounds'. I was seated in a chair, given breakfast, given a few practice steps with crutches around the ward and up and down the stairs (I'm an old hand at crutches!) and now I'm home.


I didn't get much of that TLC I was hoping for in the hospital, I think they've changed it to mean 'Tough Love Crew', but I'm not complaining. My ordeal is over for now and we'll see if this plate removal helps.

I managed a bit of handwork, although the anaesthetist scuppered that plan yesterday, with his pre-op medication. In fact I can't remember a single thing after taking a few tablets for my 'nerves' :-)



While I was waiting for physios, doctors, crutches etc I managed to applique these 8 hearts that I had basted over papers many years ago.



The original pattern called for them to be sliced in half and sewn together with different partners. I'm still thinking about this part...



In the meantime, I am under strict instruction to do no strenuous sports etc for the next 2-3 months (oh, so no change there then LOL). For now I am merely (a) S.O.R.E. (a Sewing Operative Resting Extensively!)