Getting back to normal

First let me thank all my kind cyber friends who have sent their condolences on the loss of Jan, they have been a great help during this sad time. Thank you everyone. The funeral is on Monday and we'll meet up with the rest of the family then. Why is it you only meet at weddings, funerals and christenings, we always say "we'll have to get together sometime" then go off and do our own thing. I'm sure we will all feel better once Monday has passed.



I have done some sewing, not much I'll agree but the hand sewing of my cards for the June 'patchwork' swap was very calming. I chose a variation of Cathedral Window for my card and I think I'm going to make a smaller version in Christmas fabrics to hang on the tree. Anyone done this?

This is Jennifer's June patchwork card, I love these colours.

Cindy is a quilter and her card shows her skill at getting points to meet.

Brigitte too is a skilled quilter and her windmill patchwork block is as usual beautifully made. She said her machine has been ill so Brigitte I do hope it is better by now.

I joined the Flower Page swap on MixedMedia_ATC group and the two pages below are my June pages which by now should be with their respective new owners. I hope they like them.

The background is painted lutradur on which I sewed paper lace then used the backing of the lace as a stencil. The central 'flower' is several layers of sheers which I then burned back using a flower stencil. Small lace flowers were the last pieces to go on.

The next two flower pages are the onces I received in the swap.

This one from Paula Watkins. I think she has bonded dried flowers and silk rovings between a cotton bottom sheet and a top sheer.

The second page is from Pat Heeth and Pat has made folded patchwork flowers with buttons for the centres. Leaves and a lace border complete the card.

These are two very different pages, I really enjoy how different we all think when given the same theme to play with.

I received my jigsaw puzzle pieces from the swap Pat Winters had organised a few weeks back. I think I must have done the wrong technique as these are all crazy patchwork pieces and mine were made from fabric paper. These pieces are all similar yet different. My follow conspirators in this swap where Ira Rosenstein (blue top left), Janine Franc (green top right), Arlene White (yellow bottom left) and Jennifer Wilson-Parks (blue bottom right).

I received this really great Mailer Journal from Tracy Borders. Tracy has been really creative with the cover and I haven't photographed the inside but the pages are all blue speckles. Thank you Tracy.

Buster is making himself at home and knows he's top dog. He need to put on some weight and I'm sure with the amount he eats he will soon. He's begging to go for a walk, so is Keith so I'll close now and hopefully it won't be so long to my next blog.

Sad news

Sadly my mother in law Jan lost her fight with Alzheimer's last night and died peacefully in her sleep. She died on her birthday, she was 84 yesterday. We fully intended to be with her at the end but after several hours sitting with no decline in her status we took a chance and popped home to pick up my insulin. Naturally as soon as we got home the phone went to tell us Jan had gone she'd waiting for us to go.

We always said she'd wait for her birthday she loved a celebration. We are looking to celebrate Jan's life with lots of happy memories.



Keith and his Mum Janet.

Not all doom and gloom

I thought I'd show some of our Italian/French Riveria holiday as a reaction to all the doom and gloom we've been going through since arriving home. Portofino where Rod Stewart has a holiday home, we did wave to him but he didn't wave back. It is a beautiful little island but we'd need to win the European Lottery to even think of living here. But I can see why people love it.

Think I might go in for this model next time I buy a new machine it seemed to keep its price!!!! Not sure what make it was but it weighed a ton.

One of the things I love about Italy is the amount of vegetation on the roofs. This one has alliums would you believe, I find them difficult enough to grow in the garden let alone a roof.

Wherever you go along the mediterranean coastline you will see row of sunbeds and beach umbrellas. These were in Diano Marina where we were staying. In many tourist towns you will find the best spots on the beach are owned by hotels and they put the beds and umbrellas out for their customers. You can rent one but again its expensive.

I'm off now to pick up our newly adopted dog Buster, Sy has just arrived home and he is getting impatient so I'll blog later.

Back at last

It's been an age since I last blogged or at least it seems like it. A lot of things have been going on over the last few weeks, not all good. I caught the dreaded lurgy and it caused me a few breathing problems but they went with the Italian sun. Our holiday was lovely, we saw lots of beautiful places and I'll post photos in my next blog.

In the meantime back at the ranch the postman had been really busy and on return from Italy three beautiful journals awaited me. This touchy feely velvet and silk one from Margaret Roberts, love these colours.

Iris Bell's fantastic paper and fabric flower journal. I should say the insides of each of these journals is a work of art too.

Aynsley McKay's journal was completely different being made from melted plastic and very well done. Aynsley has created a unique journal and again her inside pages are all decorated too.

These two postcards are from the private swap with the May theme of 'anatomy'. Top one is from Jennifer and the bottom one from Cindy. I also got today one from Christine and mine are ready for the post but I will show those in the next post as I haven't scanned them yet.

And finally I received this beautiful little atc from Anni. Anni has made paper fabric for the background and layered images, lace and stamped. A really well made little atc which I love.

Now for some more bad news and then some good news.

Bad news is my mil is very ill and we aren't certain she is going to recovery. She was fine on Wednesday, singing and laughing but Thursday morning broke to find her far from well. So far they haven't been able find out what the problem is and its felt that perhaps she is nearing her time and we've been told to let the family know she may not get better.

Good news is - we've adopted a Staffy from the Dogs Trust. Buster is 4.5 years old, lively and very friendly. We've been considering getting a dog for a while now we are both retired and my son Simon and his girlfriend Julie both wanted a dog. We hope to get Buster on Wednesday and we can't wait.