Use it Up swap

 

The theme this September for the BQLPC swap was "Use it Up - Spare Cards".  Great I though I have a few spares this should be easy.  But you know how it is, you get attached to them and I couldn't decide which ones I wanted to send.  In the end I went with the 'use it up' option and created the bottom card.  I have had to post a photo of it unbound as I posted them before I remembered I hadn't scanned them.  

 

The top card is from Alice and I think she has trapped scrim or something similar between plastic.  It is quite thin so could be cling film.  It is very effective.   The card below is from Jan and she has used up her scraps.  I had some spares done along similar lines but decided to keep them, now I'm pleased as it is always nice to get something different from those you have sent.

 

Good news at last on the Keith front.  He saw his oncologist on Monday and had a new chest xray which shows that the chemotherapy is working.  His tumour in the lung has definitely shrunk and his consultant is very pleased with the result.  Two more chemo sessions, next one on Thursday, then a fresh set of xrays and scans before they make a decision on any future treatment.  We know its inoperable and can't be cured but at least its going in the right direction.  In addition they have got Keith's pain under control and he is feeling a lot better.

Yesterday I broke the car!!!

We had a new garage door fitted on Monday and today I managed to get the car hung up on it.  Don't ask me how, I don't know.  Keith normally backs the car out of the garage but today he was extra tired and due for chemo so I said I'd do it.   I thought I was reversing straight but obviously I wasn't and we have a slight drop out of the garage onto the path.  It was at this point I came to grief.  I must have turned the wheel as the car dropped and managed to jam the car up against the garage door.  Now as I mentioned it is a new garage door, the old one being over 40 years old gave up the ghost.  This one though is just slightly narrower than the old one and I badly misjudge how far away I was from the frame.  The new door sliding mechanism sticks out about 1cm and I managed to get that 1cm piece lodged between the join where the front bumper and the wing joins.  Keith at that point decided he'd better unjam the car but in doing so managed to rip a piece out of the wing, ouch.....

Today I will be ringing round body shops to find someone who can repair it as our poor car has a bent bumper and a large hole in its wing.   Photos to follow, I daren't have another go at getting it out of the garage Sy will do that tomorrow, hopefully.  Who knows it might have to live there forever....

In the meantime I've been using my Big Shot to cut out hexagons in fabric and paper for my next doll quilt swap, the theme of which is "A quilt within a quilt".  You'll have to wait to see what I come up with.  Hmm wonder if I could make enough to cover the hole in the car wing..

Colours of Summer

These are the Colour of Summer swap cards I've received so far.  Each very different and better in the flesh than in the photo.

From Helen

From Jan

From Miriam

From Pauline

 

 

It's been a bit hectic around here for the past couple of weeks.  We thought Keith was going to sail through his first session of chemotherapy as he was so well for a couple of days.  However the poor love has been really quite ill and we've had two emergency visits to hospital plus several GP call outs.  He has now finished the second week of chemo and has a week off before his second session starts all over again.   Naturally he is a bit apprehensive but today for the first time in two weeks he has actually had breakfast and has wandered out to his shed to look at his woodturning.  So perhaps he might have a few days of feeling well.   He has to get the second session out of the way before they will repeat his scans etc to see if the treatment is working.  After all he has been through recently I am keeping everything crossed that it has.

Progress

I've actually done a bit of sewing.  I joined the Doll Quilt challenge as I thought this was something I could do by hand while waiting for Keith to complete his chemotherapy.  It has been very therapeutic and relaxing, which is just what I need at the moment as my asthma has been a bit of a beggar.

I've also finished a set of postcards for the BQLPC Colours of Summer swap.

 The challenge was to create a doll quilt any size from 12" square to 30" square, mine is 16.5" square.  August theme was "up to the nines" and was to include any form of 9 patch.  Mine is fairly basic and I had decided to use up some of my bigger scraps.  When I finished it reminded me of the orient so I hand quilted lines, not very good ones I'm afraid as when I was quilting it the light wasn't always the best but its on its way to my partner now.

 

The Colours of Summer set me a challenge, I did have any notion of what I would do until I saw a picture of a pear made up of fruit slices.  I always think this time of the year is very fruitful so picked a few fabrics and made my own fruit slices.

A quick Keith update, not sure whether I said before but the cancer has spread from his lungs to his lymph nodes, liver and kidneys so surgery and radiotherapy aren't appropriate.  Although if the chemo doesn't work they might tackle one of two of the smaller tumours with radiotherapy.  He had his first chemo session on Thursday and so far has sailed through it with little more than a bit of tiredness, much less than that after his stroke.   He has the second week of chemo (1st session) next Thursday then has the next week off before starting the second session.   He's lucky in that he has no symptoms and is taking everything in his stride and has a positive attitude so we are all hoping for the best.

I have done some work

Not much but at least its a start.  I found some templates I had bought and forgotten about and remembered that I wanted to try colouring in the templates and sewing round the images.  They are about 6" each and I've used them to keep me sane in the evenings.  Here are two of them which I think I will use as a pocket on a tote.

Landscape

Flower border

This is a piece I started some time ago and keep adding a stitch when the mood takes me.  I might make this into a book cover.

I've now got all my Indian Spice postcards to show you.

 

 

 

From the top the cards are from Lesley and Pauline who favoured the Indian Elephant and Marian and Jan who went for the colour of Indian spices.

 

 





News isn't good

Got Keith's results today and his tumour is inoperable.  It has spread to the lymph nodes and into his liver.  It's knocked us both for six today so this will be a very short email.

More bad news

We have spent the last week attending one consultant after another.  It seems the routine chest xray Keith had following his stroke has shown shadowing.  As you can guess its been quite a stressful time and after scans, tests and a bronchoscopy where samples were taken of the tumour in his lung we now have to wait two weeks for the results.  Everyone we have seen so far confirm that its a tumour but as yet we do not know what type.  With a bit of luck it could be benign.  So these postcards I have ready to swap based on the theme of Indian Spice might be the last for a while.  There are still some cognitive difficulties left over from his stroke, which doesn't bother him in day to day life but under stress he simply can't concentrate on what is being said to him.  I want to give him as much time as it takes to deal with whatever is thrown at us so I hope you won't mind too much the gaps in communication.   I will blog when I have something to say and the time to tell it.  In the meantime here are my Indian Spice postcards all ready to go into the post tomorrow.

When I was in my twenties I went on an overland trip to Kathmandu in a bus, camping and eating what the locals ate across Europe into Asia.  It lasted over four months and my only regret was that I'm not fit enough to do it again.   Whenever I see Indian elephants I think of those we saw as we crossed India and the smell of spices and cooking.   The card backgrounds are a combination of two photos, one with the names of Indian spices in several languages and the actual spices.  I merged these in Photoshop and reduced the opacity so they wouldn't overpower each other.  The elephants I made with my embroidery unit, the designs are by Ace Point.  I hope the recipients enjoy them.

Saltburn by the sea

We thought we'd have a day out and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.  Although Keith's consultant said he could drive the DVLA say not until they have the consultants report.  So its back to begging lifts and public transport.  We thought we'd try out the local rail services and got the train this morning to Saltburn a small seaside town on the east coast.  The train was packed and I think every child had a bucket and spade with them but we enjoyed the ride.

The guerrilla knitters have been out again, this time displaying knitted objects with a seaside theme.  Unfortunately vandals had spoiled one or two of them pulling of arms and legs but undeterred these phantom knitters got stuck in and replaced them.



Beach huts and boats



Swimmer



Ice lollies



 

There were quite a few people enjoying themselves too, normally this beach is fairly quiet.  They were  flying kites, learning to surf, not enough surf today for the more experienced surfers, riding donkeys and building sandcastles.  There was also a family day out in the Valley Gardens which we walked to but by that time we were both tired and feeling the heat so got a train back home.

 Look at the beautiful glass in the funicular rail cab.

Keith back to driving

He was given the good news on Wednesday after seeing his stroke consultant.  They are very pleased with the way he's recovered and gave him the go ahead to start driving again.  We had our first drive out this morning, early, before the shops opened.  He was quite cautious for the first five or ten minutes then the old 'heavy boot' syndrome kicked in.  Having said that he is a careful drive just hates being behind someone who is driving below the speed limit in the middle of the lane.   We've all been there but he enjoyed driving again and its given him a bit of his confidence back.

Wednesday was a good news, bad news day.  The second consultant he saw that day gave him bad news.  The routine chest x-ray he'd had showed shadowing on his lungs and according to the consultant its typical of cancer.  So Wednesday is going to be another all dayer at the hospital while Keith undergoes CT scans of his thorax, blood tests, bronchoscopy and sampling of the tumour.  After which we will know more about what he has to face.  We are hoping for good news.

In the meantime my sewing has taken a nose dive.  I have the fabric all cut out for 16 more owl purses.  This will bring the total up to 40 and I might just have them ready for the Christmas dinner treat.  Although at the moment I am doing badly in the sewing concentration department.

 

Hickery Dickery Dock

Marc and Alix took Keith and me to the woodturning club yesterday where Peter Berry was demonstrating how to carve a mouse.  Marc and Alix made one each but Keith and I shared a piece of wood.  He has a little piggy face as I made his snout a bit big.  It was lovely to see Keith really enjoy himself again with friends.   We ended up with three little mice named Hickory, Dickory and Dock - ours is Dock.

Done a bit of sewing, not much

but at least its a start.  I saw a pattern for a bib on the web and decided to make Flynn a couple.

Photo has come in sideways again but at least you can see the bibs.  The backs are towelling to absorb the dribbles.

I received another gift 'naked flower' postcard, this time from Jan.   I'm feeling much more cheerful after all the good wishes and prayers from everyone.

 

Jan has used real seed heads for this card and I love the concept of using naturally naked flowers.

 

A couple of days ago I saw these books advertised at a reduced price in Amazon and they arrived this morning.

 



I to have a go at making dog bag and several of the projects in these books.  Never made anything before designed by Lynne Anderson but I think its time to make a start on my Christmas presents.  At last a spark of interest in sewing.  As these patterns also include embroidery its just the thing for me to do while sitting with his lordship.

It's been a difficult few days but we are getting there.

We are finding not being able to drive a real bind.  Family have been wonderful but we hate having to ask for lifts to go food shopping.  I continue to improve but it will be another 3 weeks before I am allowed to drive.  As for Keith, he is having a much tougher time and at times he worries me.  This morning he said his head felt strange and he couldn't get his balance (this is new) he had a constant headache and his face had a very slight droop.   After a sleep he seemed much better but he is finding life exhausting and frustrating.   It looks like it may be some time before he is capable of driving.  He has an appointment to see his GP tomorrow she may throw some light on what is happening.

I withdrew from the swaps I had joined during June for obvious reasons but this morning I received two unexpected postcards.  These really cheered me up.  The swap is called 'naked flowers' meaning they have to go through the post without an envelope of any description.  They one with the white background is from Diana and the green one, created using a 100year old linen sheet is from Heather.  I think Heather is very brave to use it.

First Birthday

It was Flynn's birthday yesterday, one whole year old and full of smiles and cheek.   We met up with the family this afternoon when my son Simon and his wife Julie held a Father's Day BBQ so I had an opportunity to take some photos of his lordship.

Flynn decided the stones tasted much better than the sausages.  He is beginning to talk to everyone and everything, lots of babble but a very distinct "want down".

Keith continues to progress well though he remains quite tired a lot of the time and when he's tired he has lapses of contentration.  He knows when he's tired though and rests but is finding it very frustrating that he doesn't have the energy to do what he took for granted before the stroke.   He has no recollection of the stroke at all and finds it dfficult sometimes to understand why he feels like he does.  At the moment they are trying to find the level of Warfarin to treat him, I think he's enjoying the attention of the nurse.

As for me, well everythin went fine, the op itself took almost twice as long as expected, mainly due to tryingto get all the pieces of the old implant from between my ribs.  I'm quite pleased with he result even if my consultat did leave the hospital that night for another post.  I'm still a bit sore and have quite colourful sticky out bits.  I have a check up tomorrow and don't anticipate any problems.

Last two photos, this beautiful basket of flowers is from Julie's parents and one last one of the birthday boy.

Just waiting for the Off

It's almost time to set off again for the awaited surgery, hope its not cancelled again.  I have to ring the ward in 30 minutes time to confirm what time they expect me in, phew.....   It's two weeks today since Keith had his stroke, he is very much better.  In fact he is back to normal except for the exhaustion.   His consultant told us he was very lucky we managed to get him to hospital in time for him to have the clot busting drug.  Thank goodness, not sure what I'd do without him.

In the meantime I have been making some small drunkard path blocks to turn into a bag to take into hospital, but never actually got any further than making the blocks.  However this morning in the post arrived a bag from Carol Jamieson, with whom I was swapping 12 inch blocks (oh I forgot I made a 12" block but didn't take a photo).  Carol had very cleverly made her block into a bag for me which is ideal to take into hospital as I am not allowed to carry anything over my shoulder.  This bag goes across the chest.

Carol's bag for me, it has a secret pocket on the front.

My Drunkard's Path blocks, as you can see this is as far as I got.

And the very last of the Crumb postcards.  This one is from Marian and she has used all Laura Ashley fabrics as a tribute to her.

Better go and pack the last bits and pieces now I have a nice new bag to put them in. See you all soon.

Last crumbs

Last of the crumbs swap, these cards are from Inge in Berlin (top) and Heather (bottom).

My cards have been ready for posting for over a week but with everything happening I haven't actually got them into the postbox.  Hopefully this will happen today.  Sorry girls for the wait.

Crumbs and Homophones

Two more swaps I showed my 'crumbs' in the last post these are ones I have received.

 Top crumb is from Jan and the bottom crum from Alice.

 

This one is from Miriam



The other swap is Homophones, words that are spelt differently but sound the same.

 Sail and Sale from Janet

 Sea and See (Eye of Horus) from Jacquie

And mine, Sew and So.

Family update is that Keith is home, still a little weak on the left side but improving.  He's very tired and his concentration is poor when tired but apart from that he seems to have come through unscathed thank goodness.   He is bored though, no driving and worse still no woodturning - he isn't allowed to use sharp tools.   He's having a doppler test tomorrow but as he has had the clot busting drug it may prove negative, still better late than never.

I though seem to have lost the will to sew at the moment but hopefully once the Bank Holiday is over and I can talk to Keith's GP and other carers I will relax and begin to shuffle bits of fabric around.

Wouldn't you just know it

Thank you for your kind thoughts they helped me get through this.  But wouldn't you just know it - I've been given a new date for my op.  Its the 5th June, now I'm in a quandary, do I accept it or do I decline.

I spoke to Keith's doctor yesterday who advised me to go ahead as Keith will improve and so long as he can look after himself making a simple meal ( the boys will take care of other things) he is okay to be left.

Hopefully he will come home today, the news is a bit mixed.  Physically he has returned to normal, slight weakness on the left but he can do everything he used to do.   The main problem is that there appears to have been some cognitive damage and they are less sure how much better this will get.   He favours his right side and although he is well able to use his left he forgets he has a left arm.  He was holding his Ipad when his fingers slowly opened and he dropped it because he had forgotten he had hold of it.   He can't drive, naturally but he doesn't seem to understand why he can't and is determined he will drive when he gets home.   I am looking forward to having him home again, its cold at night without him and I miss cuddles but I am also a little apprehensive.   But I'm sure we'll cope.

I did manage to get my 'crumb' cards finished but they have not as yet been posted.

I did intend to make a card using all the crumbs but decided to make crumb boats instead.