Snow, Snow, thick thick snow - or something!

Blizzard conditions this morning, and I was looking forward to our garden looking as well-tended as everyone else's. Some hope!! By the time I had remembered where I had put my camera and worked out where the best place was to take a picture, most of what was left was muddy slush! That's typical of snow in Derby. However, now it's dark, snow has started falling again!!

I seem to have spent the past fortnight or so coping with an elderly friend who has been in hospital with pneumonia. For a few days it was touch and go whether he would recover or not, but he's back to where he was before. Not exactly fighting fit since he's very deaf, has inoperable cataracts, and arthritis which has rendered him almost completely immobile. But he still gets some enjoyment out of life, especially visits from friends. He has no living relatives, so relies very heavily on us. I am very touched that amongst the few possessions he has in the nursing home is a cross stitch picture of an owl I made for his 75th birthday. 

Anyway, he has been transferred to a different, hopefully better, nursing home, and we are looking forward to continued improvement in his health.

Slight panic over the weekend. I discovered on Friday night that we had no preacher for Sunday morning. So guess who had to prepare a service with less than 48 hours notice! I was very glad I had a good team to assist with prayers and readings. It was the first service I had led for about 3 months, and I found it quite draining, far more so than normal. But at least I know I can still do it, and without a panic attack, so I am quite looking forward to the next one on February 8th.

Sewing-wise, I have been progressing a bit on the cushion I am making for my younger sister. If you read my previous post, you will discover that is my UFO for January. 

Next one will be decided on Monday. Here's hoping it's not Frederick as he's on black, and I definitely do not like stitching on black in artificial light!

I had an explore of my ancient - at least 50 years old - knitting machine earlier today. It's a Jones, and the pattern book with it is from the 1960's. I must have a look online for repair and cleaning instructions, not to mention an instruction booklet! I haven't used it for 30-ish years!! Its great advantage is that it will cope with DK yarn: its great disadvantage is that it doesn't rib!! (Just found instructions at http://machineknittingetc.com/brother-kh588-user-guide-guide.html) As far as knitting is concerned, though, I am trying out 4 ply dolls' clothes and plan on trying toe-up socks on circular needles, but that will be slow because of my wool allergy!!

At the quilting group I am working on a table-topper made up of tiny triangles. No pic yet as I haven't progressed very far! I am getting comments about a beginner not starting with miniature work, but since that's what I love, I'll continue!! It'll probably end up as a pot holder....

That's it for now. 

Jenny

PS My new fridge-freezer arrived, and only just in time, but more on that saga next time.

Challenges and trees

After much thought and, errm, "encouragement", these are my stitching challenges for 2015 - well, some of them, anyway. One of the Facebook groups I have joined is running a challenge to make a dent in the progress of, or even complete, some of our UFOs (Unfinished objects). The "rules" are that you select 12 stitching/craft projects you want to tackle during 2015 and list them in any order. On the first Monday of each month, a number will be drawn out of a "hat", and you work on that project till the first Monday of the next month. You also post a "before" and "after" photo. So this is my list of projects:

The number chosen for January is 4, so I am busy working on Mary's cushion, and this is my "before" photo:

Since taking the photo I have made a bit of progress, though not as much as I'd have liked!! But that is fairly typical of my sewing!!

I missed my quilting group's meeting this past week. I had a doctor's appointment to review my medication, and he was running over half an hour late, so by the time I would have arrived, I'd have had time for a coffee and time to unpack my project. I will restart next week. I must decide soon what I am going to work on during the meetings.

Anyway, the doctor seems quite happy with my progress apart from the frequency of migraines (one every 8 days), so I am on a different beta-blocker which will have a prophylactic action for those.  Panic/anxiety attacks are happening much less frequently and with far less severity, but he would like to see them stop altogether. After that, it will be another 6 months before he would even consider taking me off the SRI (serotonin re-uptake inhibitor), so I will have to behave properly till then with regards to caffeine, chocolate and alcohol!!

Last year (whoops!), I promised the saga of our trees. It all started when Bruce was cutting back our rather large laurel bush in the front garden and he was offered some help by a tree-surgeon. We asked if he could help with the very tall conifers in the back garden which he agreed to do. No problems, as he did what we needed. Then he started on the laurel. Oh, dear! He was using a chain saw, and for some reason he omitted to tie his ladder securely to a sturdy part of the bush. I looked out of our front window just as he fell off the ladder, and dropped his saw in such a way that the blade caught the top of his head. I thought I was going to have to deal with a dead body, but the saw had a safety cut-out. Even so, he looked like something from a horror film! He refused A&E, so I mopped him up and used some very large plasters on his head - he was bald on top - and gave him a glass of water and made sure he rested a while. Still refusing to allow me to send for an ambulance, he insisted on carrying on for another few minutes to get his nerve back, and then drove home, telling me he didn't want his wife to worry. I phoned him a few days later, and he assured me he was recovering nicely.  Sadly, the next time we saw him, he told us his wife had died, but he himself was fully recovered and looking for more work.

Other challenges:

The house is a mess, and I am trying to get sorted bit by bit. 

One of my resolutions not listed last time is to do a bit of writing each week, be it blog, sermon, letter or other stuff.

The freezer packed in just after I had defrosted it, and the new one arrives on Wednesday. Well, actually, it's a very nice American-style fridge-freezer. 

Outside

Inside

I reasoned that if the freezer wasn't working properly, the somewhat older fridge probably wouldn't be far behind. However, whilst the freezer will be being recycled, I hope the fridge will go to a home which can use one for a while.  

 
The challenge will be getting everything into a slightly smaller space than we have at the moment.

Well, I think that's quite long enough! If you have been, my dear non-existent reader(s), thanks for reading this ramble.
Until next week.  
Jenny

A New Year and some new starts

So - it's the beginning of 2015! Happy New Year to all my probably non-existent readers. I haven't posted for so long, any I did have will have given up long ago!!  To make up for it, this may well be a long post!! I have just put a poster on our church notice board which reads:

CPO poster - Reboot

It caught my sense of humour - and that of others in the church as well.

2014 has been a bit of an iffy year. Briefly, I had just about recovered from the surgery I had in April 2013, when a very stressful family situation developed, unfortunately not one I want to blog about. The stress has made both my husband and I very unwell, and in my case, it caused irregular ventricular contractions. Of course, I became very anxious about this, especially as my doctor was considering the possibility of heart failure! So that, in turn, led to panic disorder - not something to be recommended!! It has limited my activities quite a lot, including my concentration span, so I haven't done as much sewing as I would have liked.

In April of last year, I joined a quilting group, and have become hooked on it. I am quite impressed with what I can do. OK, I'm still a rank beginner, and my progress is very slow, but two hours each week are spent sewing and chatting - and I have no responsibility for anything! The first thing I tackled was a mystery project. I haven't yet finished it, but this is the main panel part done:

Mystery Quilt project - main panel

One thing led to another, and I ended up repairing (with guidance from a very nice lady I discovered on the internet) a rather elderly hand sewing machine we have had lying around for about 25 years and never quite got around to disposing of!! With a bit of research, I have discovered it dates from around 1895 - 1914. It works beautifully now it has been cleaned and oiled and rusty parts very lightly sanded. It's beautifully decorated and a joy to use when quilting as I have so much more control over the stitching.

My finishes for 2014 consist of two cards, and a needlecase for an exchange. I received a lovely card and needlecase in return. At the moment, I don't have a good photo of the needlecase I received, so I will post it in a later blog.

Wedding Blessing card

The needlecase I made: From the top
back and front, inside front, inside back

The exchange Christmas card I received

 

 

 

The Christmas card I sent

As I mentioned earlier, my health hasn't been brilliant. My doctor has put me on some medication which means no caffeine - ie no tea, no coffee, no chocolate! It also means no alcohol. He told me all this just before Christmas. Guess what I received as presents?!  Chocolates and chocolate biscuits!! Oh, well, I can be kind to family and friends...  At least the medication is being effective and I am starting to feel more myself again. Hope I don't have to take the tablets for too long, though.

Christmas was hectic with 14 of us at our eldest son's house - 6 under 9 years old. We came home for a rest. Our middle son was over from Canada, so it was a real family occasion, and we have some family photos to show off to everyone who is willing to be bored by them!!

Once home, I decided to think about where I want my stitching (and other things) to go in 2015, and have decided that I'll aim to 

• do a little stitching each day as it's very therapeutic - except when the frogs come to call!!

• say "No" when I feel under pressure to do too much

• keep up with my blog a bit better

   I have started a new project for 2015: Muppet, Gabby, Malteazer and Gemm from HAED. It's one over one on 25 ct Lugana in "Dusk" from Sparklies. It's gorgeous!! This is a mock-up of how I hope it might look:

I'll keep you posted!!

Well, I think that's quite long enough! If you have been, thanks for reading this ramble.

Jenny