Sewing happily

I have started a new quilt, with fabric I bought from the US.

Even with the postage it was a bargain, so I am happily sewing, albeit slowly.

 

 The design is called quadrefoil and you can find it here .

I sew a little every evening and I am thoroughly enjoying sewing it.

Chris x

TA-DA..Top done

 I have loved sewing this quilt. It was originally to be a picnic quilt for us but, when my DS#2 and DIL saw it, she said she'd love it for their motor home.
I still have to do a white border then of course layer and quilt, so still a lot to do. I thought I could get it done for their wedding anniversary in June.
I will have to buy the white for the border, the wadding and backing but my local shop is only a few miles away and although I am not buying anything unnecessary in Lent, this is a needed to get it done.

I am very pleased with it, each tulip is made up of 16 separate pieces, but lovely to see each one grow. It is lovely to be sewing again. And I have some new fabric I ordered before Lent, which I have already cut some with my new cutter, which works a treat.

It is so colourful and the tulips turned out a lot better than I thought. A friend who has recently started quilted complimented me on the tiny stitches and I felt really proud!!
Have you something you're proud of?

Chris x

Where there's a will......

........ there's a way!

To finish the top of my tulip quilt I  needed to cut some more squares and sashing. Well I  found I could move my arm forward with my rotary cutter although it was painful, but then I didn't have enough strength in my arm to cut the fabric!!
DH helped, so I could finish the white edging on the tulip blocks. But it was difficult with me fussing him on how to make sure the ruler was dead on the 1/2" line  for the
1 1/2" sashing.. and then I remembered seeing a combo-ruler cutter in a fabric shop. Good ol'Amazon had loads all different sizes, I tried a bigger one, but I couldn't manoeuvre it, sent it back and bought this one 12"x12"And I can use it with my broken arm, as it doesn't need a lot of pressure, but I can also use it left handed!! Watch this space I have nearly finished hand sewing the main part of the quilt top, I want to edge it with a white sash border and then 'piano keys.' I may tackle them on my machine. I am a happy bunny now I can quilt again.

Chris x

St David's Day

Hapus Dydd Gŵyl Dewi

Chris x

 

 

And then there were two and some tulips!

I have slowly worked at knitting this second sock. They look matched colour wise, but I didn't attempt to match them, it means wasting so much wool.

I am pleased with them and they will be very nice to wear in the evenings when I kick off my shoes and pull off my pop socks.

 I also managed to hand sew the borders on these for my tulip quilt, which I started before I broke my arm. I had a few problems cutting out the border strips. I can just about reach forward with arm holding the rotary cutter but I don't have enough pressure in my arm to cut through the fabric so with close supervision, Dh cut it for me.

I am going to attempt to machine the coloured squares to see if I can finish it. My #2DS and his BH would like it for their motor home, in which they travel to Spain for the summers. This is it in the book, ' Quilty Fun,' by Lori Holt.

xx

One done and one on the way!

I can knit socks because the shorter needles don't get

caught in my sling.

 

These are going to be bed socks for me. The yarn is Regia 'Baby Smiles' 4ply. 75% wool, 25%polyamide, so machine washable. Sold in 50g balls which I bought from Wool Warehouse.
I try to keep myself doing something in the evenings as it keeps me from fancying something to eat. Yes I am still trying to lose weight. At the moment I am not losing,
 I am not gaining but not losing.
But the start of 2017 has not been a good year for me, I have been more ill in these first few months, than I have ever been. I've had visits to A&E, the out of hours Dr, and my own Dr who is very nice and umpteen blood tests. Some very unpleasant blood needles stuck into me, but when you get older, you are much more likely to tell Junior Drs very loudly when they are sticking needles in you that hurt. And I did, very loudly!! My Dh was wincing with my every yell. I have certainly had my money's worth of the NHS and I can't praise Basildon hospital enough. Very good care and very nice Drs and nurses, albeit the junior one I first saw needed to practise taking blood on someone else!! I am beginning to feel  better.
As well as not being well, our house buying and selling fell through, when the people at the bottom of the chain dropped out the day before contracts were to be exchanged, so we had to cancel our removal firm booked for 31st January. There is another buyer but of course we have to wait for them to go through the house buying process. But we will move in the next month.... hopefully.

XX

Do you remember?

 

A while ago I asked what you peeps you thought this might be.

It has taken me a quite a few weeks, but here it is. A flat bottomed knitting bag.

It should have some crochet flowers with the lace trim, but I have packed my spare wool so that will have to wait!

I quite like it as it is, it's fully lined, which I had to hand sew as I couldn't manage to use the sewing machine, although I think I could now.

I am using my arm a lot more but not fully, it is still painful. I am booked for a CT and MRI scan middle of February, so things are happening albeit slowly.

Anyway hope you like my new knitting bag.

XX

A hospital visit.

Today I have been to The London Orthopaedic Hospital to see a consultant who specialises in shoulders and upper arm trauma. She was very nice and quite a young Dr, probably middle thirties.. she wants me to have an MRI scan plus CT scan, then she will see me again.. however she said I will never have 100% use of my arm again, but I already knew that, because I know someone who broke her arm 18 months ago and still can't lift her arm up to her head to style her hair.. This Dr said I might only have use of my arm at waist level and it will be shorter, so I guess I 'll never be able to play the piano again. And probably not drive again,  so not fantastic news, but I could possibly be pain free, which would be good. So I am trying to be positive and I don't have to have the surgery,  but the non invasive treatment is what I am having now, a sling and possibly a brace again, which would mean I will always be like this. I did say I was trying to use my arm as much as possible and she said, yes to do that.
So after the tests I am to see her again in 6 weeks time.

She sounded Welsh so I asked her where she was from and she was from Neath which is just 12 miles from Porthcawl! I was with her for 35 mins and I had x-rays, but much quieter than Basildon Hospital and no long waiting. We arrived an hour early,  because we didn't really know how long it would take to cross London,  so we had a coffee and I had an almond raspberry slice in Pret A Manger and it was very nice!!!
Anyway I do have choices now, but I am not making up my mind about it until I have had these tests. I can't believe such a simple fall can leave me like this, unfortunately I am white and middle 70s so a classic case of non healing bones!!
So I am determined I will do at least stitching and sewing and gentle gardening.. I WILL If you believe in God I need more prayers.
A very positive outcome of today, my Fitbit registered 5421 steps and the day isn't over yet!

XX

My Greatest Pleasure

I managed to read 87 books in 2016.. and I really liked these:-

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty.
Stone Cradle by Louise Doughty.
When Breath becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi,
Circling the Sun by Paula McLain.
A Thousand Blue by Stuart Finne.
Not Without my Daughter by Betty Mamoody.
Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman.
In Falling Snow by Mary Rose MacColl.
A Tree Grew in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.
My Real Children by Jo Walton.

Although I liked them all; I rarely read a book I don't like, but sometimes I persevere if it's the choice of my reading group.
Reading is my greatest pleasure and thank God my duff arm has allowed me to read, even if I couldn't do much else.
I am looking forward to new books in 2017, I don't often read a book twice although I have by mistake, that's why I keep a record of books read. Do you have a favourite author or book?

XX

Happy New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my blogging friends and thank you for your comments and support through the last one and a half years. I hope 2017 will be healthy and full of love and happiness for us all.