Working On It!

On a recent excursion to the local Recycling centre, my daughter wandered around and took photos for me - texture abounds at such sites

This handsome piece of rusty metal caught our eye....

As did the condensation underneath a glass topped table.

Mud splatters. Baked hard!

Glue under gold paint.

Inside a tragically abandoned piano.

I recommend taking your camera in your bag, everywhere you go. I plan to print some of these many, many, texture photos, onto fabric panels - who knows where it will go from there?

This afternoon the lovely Doreen Grey arrived to share her considerable expertise on blogging, with me. I learned such a lot, than you Doreen! I hope to make this a DESIRABLE blogspot, using my new skills!

See you soon!

Emergency Knickers

I guess that all women understand the importance of "emergency knickers" - but I have recently reviewed mine.

I found a VERY CHEAP method to organise my undies drawer, at a local store, and decided that it would be a useful way to spend time.

The system consisted of 3 drawer-length boxes, collapsible, in plastic - rather like long skinny topless shoe boxes. So I set about to get those damned drawers, organised.

Since I have not required "emergency knickers" for 15 years, since a hysterectomy, I found that the reason I could hardly get that drawer open, was that I had so many of those dreaded items, plus a number of bra's that no longer had any need for viable space.

Everyone should be happy to know that my drawers drawer......... is now a vision of organisation, and that every knicker in there, is useful!

Organisation makes you feel soooooo powerful.

cheers!

Yes it IS A New Year

I have been prodded gently by a couple of folks, so thought it was time to update.

What have I done since the end of June? Well quite a lot really. I have added a new slideshow to cover some of it (July to December 2009). After ages of trying, and calling for help from the lovely Doreen, I suddenly lucked into the key to get it to actually upload to the blog! I have forgotten more than I ever knew, about the process.

Early in July I broke some fingers. This was no fun I can tell you! I was on my way out the front door to take Kofee-dog to the hydrobath, she was VERY excited, because going out the front door means going in the car! Yes - rides! So as I turned to lock the door, she headed off to the car, and my poor frozen fingers just snapped.

I wrestled off two rings, as soon as I got to the car because I obviously had a problem! Got to the Hydrobath, borrowed some shampoo, and managed to get another off. Went to the nearby doctor, and he sent me for an x-ray. By the time I got back to the surgery, my fingers were so swollen that my wedding ring looked like the join between sausages in a string....

He had to cut it off, but that was easier said than done! Too swollen to get the cutter under it! So he gave me one of those lovely injections between the knuckle bones, and it really hurt much less than the pain from the fingers, especially the strangling one! He was nearly sick - kept urging me to go to the hospital, which I elected to NOT, because how long would I have waited? AND people get sick at hospitals....

Take care of your bits! For a woman who is always "doing", to not be able to use your paw is a VERY wretched thing! Not to mention cooking and ironing - they become even less exciting than they ever were!

I nearly went demented during the healing stage. The hand got plastered, as the breaks were bad, and after about two weeks, I sat researching on Youtube (don't you LOVE it?), and watched some videos on Tunisian crochet. I thought I could do that, as the work is done by the right hand, I could just drape the yarn over the broken one, and use my thumb to control it a little. That worked a treat, and though it was slow, I did learn to do some Tunisian! It will be a great thing to make woollen rugs in the winter, dense and firm.

I still can't get the wedding ring fixed, as that knuckle has grown to ridiculous proportions. I might have to get it stretched out and remade. The ring I mean, not the knuckle. It has been stretched enough.

I will be back!

Vale Fiona

I have spent a sad week in another city.

Youngest beautiful daughter was having a difficult time coping with the critical illness of a friend. Her friend, Fiona, suffered from Multiple Sclerosis - at 31 years of age, she was not expected to live.

She was moved to a hospice last Monday, after 6 months in hospital. She could not speak or swallow, and there was nothing else that our amazing medical practitioners could do for her.

My daughter had had "sleep-overs" with her at the hospital, and at the hospice, she had been amazingly strong and had given wonderful support to the family, but needed a little support for herself.

Sadly Fiona passed away last Sunday night, surrounded by her loving family. She is now at peace - no more pain for her - the pain remains for those who loved her.

I can only pray that they can take comfort from knowing that she is at ease now, and that all her beloved animals who went before her, were there to welcome her home.

A few weeks ago my daughter had contacted me to say that Fiona was "always cold" - and we decided that maybe she needed a quilt. I had enough of the colours that Fo loved, so managed to whip up a simple quilt in 48 hours, and express posted it to them. I don't think that Fiona knew much about it all, but I am glad that her family got some comfort from the simple gesture.

Quilts have a hug in every stitch - there are many, many stitches - so that is a lot of hugs and a lot of warmth. When I was visiting at the hospice, I was glad to see it there on her bed, and to know that I had helped to keep this lovely young woman warm, in her last days on this earth.

MS is a cruel disease - I pray that there will be a cure one day.

Happy Birthday Dad

Today, 23 May 2009 - is my fathers 100th birthday!  I have been thinking of him so much today - I do every day - but as he has been gone 15 years now, I can only hope that there was a party in Heaven.

The picture above is of him at 84 with my Mum - not too long before he died.  He would be a funny little old guy by now, but he would still be himself - funny and whimsical and stubborn.

Happy birthday Pop.

Bloggers Unite!

Had a lovely surprise phone call this morning, from a woman whom I don't know very well, but had called to offer me help to make my blog a little more bloggy!

Now she runs a very splendid blog herself, so I would be in good hands.  Actually it would help if I just wrote more often, but there are many enhancements that I would like to make.  

Doreen is a woman who like myself, has trouble settling on one art form, so we flit from one to the other, leaving great piles of UFO's and debris behind us.  The problem is, there are so many wonderful ways to create, and if I try them, I usually fall in love.

I really enjoyed the conversation, thanks Doreen - and will look forward to catching up with her one day soon - and picking her brain.

Well my year of living quietly has actually backfired quite badly on me.  More about that another time.

I have done a few things - including a tapestry!  Now I have not made a tapestry for about 30 years, so challenged myself to use many different fibres, and to colour outside the lines a little.  Above, you see a picture of Harriet Loves to Dance.  She has her two different pairs of legwarmers, her dancing hoofs, her pearl necklace, and her Princess crown.  Now she needs to be framed.  I thought of making her into a cushion, but decided that her jewellery would not take kindly to being laundered should the need arise.

So Harriet's body is the only wool on this canvas, I have used Perle threads, silk, soft cottons, and have an interesting collection of fibres left over.  I will have to do another to use up some of the threads!

I also finished a new quilt.  It's photo also keeps rising to the top of the page - another mystery to be unravelled.

This was a UFO that has occasionally risen to the top of the pile, only to be submerged again.  I felt the chill of winter one day this weekend, so hauled it out and finished it, so that I could wrap myself in it should the need arise.

The thing I love about this quilt (besides it's 'put your sunnies on!" brightness) is the fact that it is made of fabric that I dyed myself at a workshop.  And the fact that it is technically abbysmal in that it has more wrinkles than my own face, is neither here nor there.  It makes me smile to see it, and will warm me on chilly days.  How could you look at this and feel sad?

I willdobetter I willdobetter I willdobetter........

Resolutions

I did resolve to take better care of my baby blog this year - to this end I have spent a good part of the afternoon adding captions to my slide shows!

I also made a brand new one - on the Book of Memories workshop which I attended in November, I spent sooo long, importing photos, and adding suitable comments and captions - now I cannot remember how to import it to my blog!

I have tried and tried, and now am going to bed in frustration.

Well - soon.

Had another new experience today - I have been a long-time blood donor, but this year I am donating plasma - my doctor is displeased at me giving whole blood, so we have moved to plasma.

What a morning!  

10.30 appointment, I am on time.  Wait 45 minutes til a nurse calls me in.  Quick check of details - takes me to the plasma room - 5 minutes to hook me up to the tubing - 35 minutes for the process - leave there at 12.15.  After a quick stop at the local shopping centre, rush home, make lunch - and suddenly feel quite ODD!

I am sure that next time I will be more prepared, and I will certainly NOT be scheduling anything I need to do, for after it - but the whole half day was gone in the waiting and the process, then because of that, I lost the afternoon feeling weird!

Don't let that put anyone off donating either blood or plasma - people NEED it - so go out and do it, if you don't already!

And tomorrow - I will try again to import my new slideshow - wish me luck!