she's home!

I went and collected Mum from the hospital this afternoon. She's not as steady on her feet as she could be but, after all, she's got Parkinson's disease and is 84 years old so, as I keep telling her, she's doing marvellously well for her age! And she won't be trying any Laurel and Hardy type dancing any time soon - hopefully!

Anyway, she's home and settled in front of the television with her slippers on and watching whatever takes her fancy. She has the phone right by her hand and she's promised to phone me if she needs anything. I'm only 3 minutes away in the car so it's not a problem for me to go and help her out if/when she needs me.

I'm so glad that she's home - and so is she! - and I've told her to stay out of the garage. She said she would but I know what she's like so we'll see how long that lasts!

Thank you all again for all your lovely comments. They've certainly kept me going this week. I hope to get back to reading blogs and commenting myself soon but there's a lot of houseworky things that haven't been done around here this week that I really get done. Soon. Maybe. ;o)

heartfelt thanks

First of all, please let me say a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you who commented on my post yesterday. Every one of your comments made me feel hugged and that means so much to me. Thank you.

Mum is being kept in hospital "for a few days" as she had a bit of a temperature spike yesterday morning and they just want to make sure all is well before they let her out. She told me her head's not thumping any more and the wound doesn't look nearly as bad as it did on Monday. She was very grateful when I took in her book as she's getting bored lying in bed all day long. I'm taking that as a good sign!

In other things, I'm trying to do a little sewing and am at the binding stage of the placemats I started last week. If my mind doesn't wander too far, I might get those finished today.

Thank you all again for the hugs and prayers. They really do mean a lot to me.

lots going on

Yesterday my 84 year old mum fell in her garage and gave herself a nasty cut on the back of her head. Douglas and I took her to the Accident and Emergency as I knew the gash needed more than me just cleaning it up. Sure enough, she (eventually) got 4 metal staples in the wound and they kept her in overnight just to keep an eye on her. I sent Douglas away after a couple of hours and called him for a lift home when she was settled for the night - four and a half hours after our arrival. Got to love A & E - not!

To say that my mind just isn't on blogging or happy photos or anything else for that matter is an understatement. I'm so tired I can barely string 2 words together and people around me are having to repeat things repeatedly (!) to me to make sure I'm paying attention.

This morning I've been in to mum's house to clean up the mess and to put the tea she was cooking at the time of her fall in the bin. Telling myself "it's just red liquid" repeatedly as I cleaned up the mess didn't help much. So much blood. :o(

Anyway, I just wanted people to know why I'm not here, or answering e-mails or commenting on blogs, or replying to my commenters. God willing, Mum will get home today but we just have to wait and see what happens next.

placemats and musicals

I've managed to get all six placemat tops sewn together over the last couple of days. This is a bit cut off at the sides but hopefully you can get the general idea of them.

I dug out a fleece from my (ever decreasing) pile which I've often passed over as the back of a quilt because it's cream. Perfect as backing for placemats, I think. So I managed to get them all pinned on to their fleece backs and now they're waiting for me to quilt them.

But that won't be happening tomorrow as Joanna and I are heading out for the day to go to a Broadway Musicals Come and Sing day. We'll spend all day learning the songs and then we put on a concert in the evening. It's being run by the local opera company so there will be tons of very competent singers there. We did it last year and had a great time so I'm sure it'll be just as good tomorrow. Can't wait! :o)

placemats

I decided to make us some new placemats for our dining room table. I wanted to use up some of the 2½" squares I had left over from Joanna's Great Granny Square quilt so I dug them out and played around with them.

Here's the first placemat under construction.

Since I took this photo, I've sewn the rows together on this one and pieced another one as well.

I did have to cut out a few more squares as I wanted each placemat to be made of 48 different squares but I used my Go! cutter so cutting out about 50 squares took very little time at all. I have the remaining 4 placemats all pinned and ready to sew so the sewing, quilting and binding of them all should keep me out of mischief over the next few days. :o)

52 weeks of happy - week 11

Here are my 4 photos for this week.

1. This photo is called "Molly's Apology". She had been bark, bark, barking at a wee boy and his dog (and mum) who had the nerve to cycle/walk past our house. I might have shouted at her to stop barking and, about 5 minutes later, she literally sidled up on to the couch and sat as close as she could to me. I asked Debbie what on earth she was doing and, apparently, this was her apology for annoying me! As we say in Scotland - "what a sook". :oD

2. I showed these fabrics from the scrap bags I bought the other day but they still make me happy so I'm showing them again.

3. I started a granny square blanket last week and this is what I've done so far. I'm making an effort to use all the colours I have in my basket. They're making me happy so far!

4. I got my new spex last week. I'm happy that I can now see well enough with them to thread a needle! I was also very happy that they were buy one, get one free! Yay!

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I spent it!

I took the drawstring bags to choir rehearsal last night and S was deeee-lighted with them. She told me she couldn't wait to get home so she could fill them with the percussion instruments. Job well done!

The money she paid me for the bags didn't stay in my purse for long. I spent it all this morning when we went out for coffee. Of course, the fact that we had said coffee/tea & scones in the craft shop meant it was hardly surprising that I spent all my earnings from the bags.

What did I buy? 4 bags of scrap pieces. I *love* these bags. It's like a lucky bag of sweets we sometimes got when we were children. You never knew what would be in the bag but you know it would be good! And these scraps were very good!

I also bought some of their sale price fat quarters. I love all of these!

Now I need to think of a way to organise my fat quarters so they don't all fall over when I pull one from the bottom of the pile. I'm thinking of standing them up in plastic boxes which would mean they would all need re-folded so that they stood with the fold at the top. I wonder if that will happen any time soon?

drawstring bags and some re-organising

I sewed some drawstring bags yesterday.

They were for a commission from the musical director of the choir I sing in.

She wanted 2 drawstring bags big enough to take a tambourine and other small percussion intruments for when she teaches young children. I used fabric and cord that I already had in my bid to "use what I have". I hope she likes them. I know I do! :o)

After I'd tidied up after sewing those bags, I wondered what I could fill the 2 empty cubbies in the sewing room with. I showed them here. I had an idea but I needed to tidy some things that I don't use too often into boxes on top of the shelves.

I labelled them all so I know exactly what's in each box.

By doing all that, I managed to clear another couple of cubbies and this is what I filled them with. My tartan bee stock!

I even made a wee label for those shelves too. I *love* it! :o)

52 weeks of happy - week 10

Here are my 4 photos for this week.

1. It was Mother's Day in the UK yesterday and Joanna got me some fabulous goodies. This salt & pepper set made me laugh out loud. If you're offended by cows "playing leap frog", don't look at this photo! :oD

2. Another salt and pepper set. These chicks in their basket are so cute!

3. She also got me some measuring cups. I love them!

4. Rosie didn't miss a trick when it came to snuggling down on the Farmer's Wife quilt yesterday afternoon!

bags finished - pinnies almost done

I got the bags all finished today.

Some of them will go into the tartan bee shop when we get some decent sunlight to get good photos taken - hopefully over the weekend.

The pinnies that were waiting for blue thread are nearly done. Just the ties and the labels to sew on now which I should be able to get done tomorrow then it's into the shop for them as well ... if we get that decent sunlight!

more pinnies and bags

I spent some time yesterday cutting out some more pinnies (aprons) and bags. This was how they all looked this morning when I went into the sewing room - pinnies at the front, bags at the back.

By the end of the afternoon, 6 pinnies were ready for the hand-finishing:

The bags and their linings were all ready for their corners to be boxed:

Some of the bag handles were still waiting to be sewn up:

And these 2 pinnies were just sitting there because I didn't have any thread that matched the blue ties. Out of all the threads I have in my sewing room - and I have LOADS of the stuff - not one matched that blue! Un-be-leeev-able!

All in all, a very busy and productive day. :o)

52 weeks of happy - week 9

Here are my 4 photos for this week.

1. I just have to include the Christmas quilt as it really did make me happy this week. It's still not been put away yet because I just love looking at it!

2. The next 2 photos make me happy because spring is definitely showing its face around these parts. My daffodils are not far from opening.

3. And the crocuses are out bringing some much needed colour to the garden. I expect the wee birds will eat them soon but, in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy them.

4. Two empty cubbies in my sewing room make me really happy.

I went through my fabrics and gave some to Debbie and Joanna. I didn't give away too much fabric but a wee bit of refolding meant I ended up with this empty space. I'm not planning on filling these cubbies with more fabric ... but then you know what Rabbie Burns said about the best laid plans of mice and men! :oD

Christmas quilt - finished

I finished the Christmas quilt I was making. I just LOVE it!

I hung it on the line to try and get a good photo of it but the wind had other ideas!

Oh well, you get the general idea, I'm sure!

I LOVE the way the binding worked out so well.

And the back is perfect for it.

It's going to be hard but I'm now going to put it away until December when I'll dig it out and fall in love with it all over again. :o)