Learning to walk again (and again and again..)

It has been a blur of pain medication in insufficient doses, interrupted sleep by blue uniformed nurses, hospital food of questionable flavour, needles and cannulas, bandages and staples and not very nice revelations...:


On admittance I was informed that the current corrective procedure probably now needs to be done in 2 surgical phases and we will need to see if this first correction heals satisfactorily before proceeding with the second corrective surgery later in the year. The second phase will in fact be a reversal of one of the initial corrective surgeries that I had in Germany (which at the time was necessary just to get me walking again).

So it has been quite an ordeal to say the least and to know that I will probably have to be this sore later in the year again is not a thought to be relished. However, I am home, I am alive, I can walk a bit, albeit very painfully, with my crutches and my hands can still sew, so I will sew and read and heal and love my boys (and Mom) and be happy to be home!

Oh Mickey!

Just one more before I go...


My 4th finish for 2010 and probably my last one for a long while now as Monday I'm off to the chopping block for my 3rd bout of corrective surgery on this gammy leg of mine.


I am so pleased to be able to give both boys a quilt before I go into hospital so this was a race to the finish. I machine quilted a grid and then big stitch handquilted around the stars...



Labels are on both this quilt and my Mother's butterfly lap quilt (shown finished in my previous post) and as my computer is now working (yes, you read that right! Not for long according to the copmputer shop LOL, but I'm not complaining!) I managed to find some photos of the Butterfly quilt, that I made for my brother and his wife, which produced the bonus triangles for Mom's quilt...

It lives in South Africa...

Along with all the wonderful swap gifts I got for Christmas, my lovely hubby bought me a 'posh' phone. As I usually get by with the cheapest phone the supermarket has to offer, I have been having a few issues with the technology LOL. He suggested that I make a case for it so I whipped up this one in the most awesome fabric aquired in South Africa from Shine Shine.


I think I love the case more than the phone LOL and I am working on a laptop cover in the same fabric, but I doubt I'll finish it before Monday. I have bought wool to knit beanies (the sum total of my knitting repertoire) and have lots of handwork lined up including a trial of a Carolina Lily block done in the English Paper piecing style. In fact, I have so much handwork, I doubt I'll get through it all, or at least I hope not!!

Butterfly Bonus

Another finish - My third for 2010! This crazy nervous energy has an amazing effect on my productivity. These are the bonus triangles from the Butterfly Blossom quilt, that I made for my brother and his wife, which was basically Bonnie Hunter's Pineapple Blossom quilt done in butterfly fabrics.

This lap quilt is for my Mom, who has had a change of heart and will indeed be coming to help me get over my op... yay!



It's backed with fleece and I hope it will keep her nice and warm...


It just needs a label.

And this is a quilt for Linus that went to Vicky last week.

(It had been finished for a while, but ahem, it got lost in my stash... )

One Mickey Mouse quilt coming up

I had these Mickey Mouse placemat panels as the starting point for Ds2's quilt, but I wasn't feeling too inspired with their shape. There were 10 rectangular panels and I wanted a 3 x 4 layout so needed 12 blocks. I cut the panels into 12 inch squares and managed to squeeze 12 blocks out of the 10 panels.

Then I laid them out. They needed something....
I remembered the beautiful star quilt from the book 'Quick Quilts for Kids' by Elizabeth Keevil. I have made one of the other quilts in this book and always wanted to try her star quilt (you can see a bit of it on the cover) ...

I found some 'Wonder Under' from my good friend Birgit and set about customising my Mickey Mouse squares.

We had 'black ice' outside our house and in the yard yesterday. After DS1 slipped and hurt himself getting to the car, we decided not to risk a drive to school. So the boys were home and my sneaky sewing was interrupted a few times...



Voila! LOL. Lots of stars in red. DS2's favourite colour!



I used my selvedge method of keeping track of which squares went where...



Added sashings...



And then borders... And now we have a Mickey Mouse top ready for basting!



Mom's butterfly quilt got put on hold to do the Mickey quilt, even though it was already basted as Mom has decided that for health and warmth reasons she won't be able to come and help me when I go into hospital. I'll be on crutches for 6 months so she probably feels that there will be plenty of time to lend a hand LOL. I do hope to get it quilted soon though and can always handsew the binding while recovering.

Cats & Dogs

My second finish for 2010.

The front:



The back:


The label:



This quilt or idea and fabrics for it have been around a while. I finally finished the top last year in the hopes that I could get it longarmed for DS1's birthday in September, but that didn't happen in time so it just got put aside for yet another bit. As I'm due to go into hospital soon, I just wanted to get it done so I machine quilted it myself with a wiggly line around all the blocks and up and down the borders in a sort of grid formation.

I finished sewing the binding and label on last night, but am not sure now when I'll give it to him, perhaps sooner rather than later as it's been so cold here and he could at least use it while it still so icy out (only problem is I haven't really started DS2's Mickey Mouse quilt and I haven't much time before my operation!)

PS we get some strange birds, feeding on our birdfeeder, these days!

Monkey Business

My first finish for 2010!


Pieced with fabric from Vicki W, basted using Sharon Schamber's technique, quilted on Vicky's Bernina and aided by Mrs Scraps & Threadtales (who answered lots of silly questions!)


Thank you to everyone who has helped me get the quilting bug back! In fact, I have quilted the dog quilt and am presently sewing on the binding!! My only complaint about the quilting would be user error, but then I am only human :-) (And the photos could have been better!)

Hot & Cold (& A love affair with Sharon & Bernie!)

Yesterday, we made a trip to Tropical World in Leeds for a bit of warmth and a look at the flowers that make me truly homesick...









And the snakes which make me another kind of sick LOL...



Today was supposed to be the first day of school, but it snowed overnight and we couldn't get out again. In fact, the school was closed due to the weather so the boys went sledding again and the sheep tried not to get too cold...

The other night, I basted the monkey baby quilt using Sharon Schamber's basting method. I love it!! (I have also basted DS1's Dog quilt with the same method, but am yet to quilt that...)

I used 'basting' thread that I found at a Village Fair... (it came with the pink watering can LOL)



So now I have quilted the monkey quilt using Vicky's wonderful Bernina (Bernie!) and he's the man! I love it too, in fact the combo of the basting and a great machine are just so much more fun. That walking foot is so cool. Thanks so much Vicky for lending me your extra man!

When there's some decent light I'll take a photo of the completed (and labeled) monkey quilt before it goes on it's long journey to the East...

Sometimes she sows?

I read this on Yahoo news:

(Start quote)

"Showbiz knitting trend set to catch on

According to editor of The Lady magazine, Rachel Johnson, it is what all the celebs are doing.

She said: "Knitting is really trendy, everyone from Lily Cole to Madonna knits and sows.''

The writer and Mayor of London Boris Johnson's sister says there has been a real resurgence in the womanly skills that her magazine champions.

From jam making to arts and crafts, 2010 is set to be a productive year."

(End quote)

I wonder what the celebs will be 'sowing' this year then ROTFLOL!!!

EDIT: I followed the yahoo link today (Monday) and see that the spelling error has been corrected. Perhaps the journalists realised that gardening isn't as trendy as sewing after all :-D

Sometimes she quilts!

It doesn't seem to be very often these days, what with all the gifts and swaps I've been making, but I do love patchworking and the occassional attempt at quilting :-)



I have made a start on a baby quilt for some friends who live very far away. The monkey fabric is from a very lucky win on Vicky W's blog. (See Vicky, I'm not just stashing it LOL.)



It is such gorgeous fabric and although I wanted a more complex design, I didn't want to lose the monkey's. I used a pattern from Ursula Reikes' book, 'More Quilts for Baby'. I have used this book several times before and it's great for quick quilts. It's almost a top, but now I just need to work on the borders...



I need to finish this quickly so hope to be able to show more soon.

Sew Many Thanks!

Wow! What a wonderful quilty Christmas it has been this year!

Jenny of Elefantz made me a beautiful cushion cover and pincushion (both almost too nice to use) and included a Melly & Me pattern for the Chookyblue Secret Santa Christmas swap.


Such exquisite stitches!!


Jenny's gift was wrapped in awesome Christmas fabric. Thanks Jenny (and Thanks Donna for hosting this great swap again!)

From the BQL 'made' Christmas gift swap, I got this great bag!



Thanks to my Secret Santa and to Kandy for hosting this swap again!

My BQL 'purchased' present was this cute vintage-style tin with threads and some mini-charms...


Thanks Secret Santa and thanks again Kandy!!

This is a gift I made for my DSIL's dog. He seems to need a lot of stuff with him when he gets taken out so I made him a big bag :-)



My dear friend Vicky gave me this for Christmas...



A Robin bag filled with polka dot delights! Love them!!! Thanks Vicky!



Some unexpected fabric arrived from another dear friend...


Thanks Josie!

And from the Advent swap, my 'big gift' from Ailsa...


Thanks Ailsa, and thanks Jo for organising the swap!

Another snow day

I have not left the house since Thursday! I know DH has not done any Christmas shopping and with my little car we won't be going anywhere for a while...



So we'll just enjoy the snow, survive the cabin fever and hope that we get a Christmas dinner this year :-)



Some people enjoy the snow more than others...