Latest finishes and a close call

First, here are my latest finishes.

1.  Red House in Winter by LHN

2.  Frosty Flakes by LHN.  I got most of this finished on Sunday - the V8's were racing at Bathurst  so watched that on TV all day, then it was the final of  The Block on TV that night.  Both had dramatic finishes.  I grabbed some time last night while dinner was cooking and added the beads before I had to go out.

I'm still working on old wips.  Next is another small LHN ornament - Pear Tree.

I'll have less stitching time for the rest of this month.  I like to sit down and stitch for an hour at night when all my jobs are done, but DD has amateur theatre performances over the coming 2 weeks as well as sport and I will be out 5 nights a week with her for the next few weeks.  DH is going to be in Vancouver next week so I need to be organized.



I was driving DD home from school last Thursday afternoon when we witnessed a car accident just in front of us.  It was on a busy suburban street, lots of traffic going the same way as we were, but still moving close to the speed limit - 60km/h.  A 4WD coming the other way swerved into our lane and hit a car head on, a third car couldn't stop and hit the second car from behind, then ended up on the footpath.  We were 2 cars behind and I think I said a bad word as I was braking.  All I can remember is seeing car parts flying in the air and a car shooting across the road.  I was amazed there were only minor injuries.  The driver of the middle car was fairly shaken up.  The driver of the third car was a learner and did a fantastic job - he had some facial grazes from the airbag and his mum hurt her wrist.  The second car would have been a write off and the third car had lots of damage to the front.   Not an experience I'm in a hurry to repeat!


I'm enjoying the warmer weather here as we head into summer.  It's still a bit cool some mornings and very dry.  We could do with some rain, but not if is accompanied by violent storms like they just got down in NSW.

Blogger seems to be playing up.  I'm only getting email notifications about some comments?  Sorry if I haven't replied to you.

Wishing you all flying needles and safe driving.
Until next time.

Found

No, I'm not talking about my stitching and blogging mojo which has been gone for months but made an appearance yesterday.  I'm talking about my camera charger which has been lost since the renovations last year.  The iPhone photos aren't the best for stitching pictures and I wanted to use my camera.  I've been looking for this for months, tore the office apart and looked in all the plastic containers 3 times each, searched everywhere I thought there was half a chance of finding it.  Asked DH it he had seen it - 'Don't worry, it'll be in a box somewhere.'  Finally, yesterday I searched again.  Office - no, sewing room - no, kitchen - no, box of cables beside the TV - no.
DH's bedside drawer- YES!  Time for a happy dance.  In DH's defense, the bedside drawers are huge and stuffed full of various things.  I'm sure I'd already looked in them.

There is a story behind this camera, we brought it in New York on my first trip to the US in  October 2008 because DH left our camera at home.  It was hideously expensive because while we were there the Aussie dollar was collapsing due to the GFC. 

This weekend I caught up on all my blog reading and I was inspired to pick up my stitching again.

I didn't leave comments but I'd like to say thanks to all those that blog and encourage us all to keep stitching when we see such fantastic work out there.  

This is Red House in Winter by LHN.  I had a small red blob when I started.  Put it down about 11pm last night.  I was going to say I'm hoping to finish this today but with the way I'm going the end of the month might be a better goal!

I've decided I don't do stitching deadlines or SALs.  I had lots of plans at the start of the year and joined a few groups but I've barely done any stitching all year.  Maybe it's just this year hasn't been a good one and hopefully next year will be better.  

I think I've been really stressed lately and that's why I'm not stitching.  DS is in his last year of school and is struggling to get the good grades he used to get easily.  He wants to do engineering next year at uni and needs to do well and get a good OP.  He was quite sick in May and spent a week in bed with fevers, needed another week to recover enough to get back into school work.  His assignments were extended but that just pushed them into exam block so he didn't get time to sleep or study and did badly on some exams.  We told him not to worry, to do well in the next term!  Should have keep our mouths shut.

I've decided that 2014 is the Year of Broken Bones in our house.  DD had broken her toe and badly sprained her ankle in term 1.  In May (term 2) she broke her left index finger at netball training and missed another 5 weeks of netball.    Three weeks from the end of term 3 DS broke his right collarbone during a school rugby union game on the last weekend in August.  DH thought he had been subbed off  as he picked himself up after the tackle, walked to the sideline and then said there was something wrong with his arm!  His coach was shocked when DH came back from the first aid room and said it was a broken collarbone.  His first injury during 11 years of playing!  It was 3 days before the QCS exams - statewide exams that indirectly effect how they are ranked to get into uni.  He couldn't do them and is given the school's average result for all the calculations - not so good for an above average student.  He missed all his exams at the end of term but will be doing some this week when school goes back after the holidays.  Luckily his break was stable and he didn't need surgery.  The ends are jammed together at an angle but the surgeon said it will heal fine.  He was pretty sore the first few weeks but is able to move his arm freely this last week. It has been 5 weeks since the break now.  He still needs to be careful for the next month or so.  We aren't worrying about his results anymore, if he doesn't get into engineering he can do science for a year then switch courses.  It is more likely he will get his second preference and do engineering at the uni in the city centre which is easier to get to anyway.   

Hopefully that is the last of our health dramas for this year.  

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading the epic story.  Leave a comment if you are new to my blog and I will follow you in return.  

Happy stitching.