Grow Your Blog Giveaway and stitching update

First, thank you to everyone who visited and commented during the Grow Your Blog party.
I have drawn the name of the winner out of the giveaway bowl.

Debbie, you have won a gift voucher to 123stitch.


Thank you to everyone for the lovely comments about Fall Mandala.
I sat down a few weeks ago and very carefully frogged out the thread that didn't match.

Then, I very carefully restitched it and frogged out the thread that I had run out of!

I must remember to double check my colours before I do any frogging in future!


Once I got past that hurdle I managed to fill in the top quarter.

Now, I am working my way down the right side doing the black outlines.


DH has been home for the last week and has been very busy getting his new race car ready for racing next weekend.  He and DS are leaving on Friday morning and getting back on Sunday afternoon.  DH flies to the US the following morning for another week away.  He has been struggling a bit with jet lag.  This is his timetable since late January - 2 weeks away, 2 weeks home, 1 week away - it's no fun flying to the other side of the world so often.  He is back in Australia a bit in March, but looks like he has a trip to Germany before Easter.  He was talking about ducking over to Singapore in March but I don't think he can fit that in.

DD is busy at school.  She has joined a tennis team at school and is playing against other schools on Saturday mornings. Her lesson and team training is early Monday and Tuesday mornings at school.  She is in 2 choirs at school, rehearsals are Wednesday morning and afternoons.  One is the auditioned choir which she was asked to join at the end of last year - there are only about 15 members taken from the whole school.  She also has singing lessons Wednesday lunchtime at school.  She didn't get her singing ability from me!

She is still playing club netball, her team finished 2nd on the ladder after the summer season and is into the semi-finals starting this Wednesday night.   Grading for the winter netball season is this Saturday.    She has early starts on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at school, and netball on Wednesday and Thursday nights.  She also has Scouts on Friday night.  We have to leave at 6.30am on Saturday morning for tennis.
I'm exhausted and she wants to add a second tennis lesson every week!  Maybe next term.

My tailbone is still not great, the worst is when I'm driving or sitting on a hard seat for a while. Getting up from a chair can by quite painful.  The doctor said 6-8 weeks, but we've been told by a few friends that it can take up to 2 years.  Luckily, stitching doesn't seem to be too painful.

The heat and humidity have gone and the weather here is back to perfect again.

Thank you for visiting.

2013 First Finish and New Start

Ok, I'm back blogging after a very busy end of 2012. 
First, I'll do the stitching news, then all the rest below.

I have finished my Many Years Ago sampler on January 5. Designed by Gudi Kolden and done through the Sticklounge yahoo group.  I used a custom HDF silk on a pale violet Jobelan from Stitches and Spice.



Many Years Ago Sampler

I have a new start, also on January 5 - Herz Yin Yang designed by Jean Louis Grandsire, also through Sticklounge.  I am using mauve and gold DMC on 32ct Fog Lugana from PTP.  The inner hearts are a slightly lighter shade.



Herz Yin Yang - part 2

While I'm waiting for part 3, I've pulled out a UFO from last year - Good Things by LK.
I hate the fabric I'm doing this on - 32 ct Tumbleweed linen from Wichelt, but I'm going to finish.



Good Things  - LK

Well, on to other news.  We had the usual end of school year chaos in November.  DS got a chess award at his schools annual awards night.  DD and I weren't well but DH was overseas so we both had to go.  A few days later DD came down with gastro and ended up missing over a week of school - seemed like every second person knew someone who had that nasty virus which started as a sore throat.  DD missed a lot of her specialist lessons exams which she was happy about.

DH and I had a weekend up at Coolum with the car club for our Christmas party.  We went up on Friday night this year and had two nights away.  We stayed at the same place as last year - lovely and relaxing.

Twin Waters Resort

The next weekend DS finished school and had a venturer (scout) camp at Noosa. DD and I ended up taking a car load of teenagers up there on the Friday night - 10 minutes notice for a 3 1/2 hour round trip.  I did stop at home on the way to grab some water for DD and I.  DD was sick with a fever the next day and ended up missing 3 days of her last week of school.  I got her on antibiotics quickly because she had a nasty cough. 

DD had a scout camp which started the Friday night she finished school.  She wasn't 100% well but she needed to get more nights camping before the scout Jamboree in January.  We picked her up at 8am on the Sunday morning and she had time to shower at home before we had to leave for the airport and our flight to Tasmania.

Our 10 days in Tasmania was so good I'm going to make a separate blog entry.

Just before we left, DH's grandfather had a serious health scare.  He is in a nursing home and on a pureed diet, but he was accidently given the wrong meal and choked on some meat.  The doctors in the hospital prepared the family for the worst, but he pulled through. Now, however, he has a damaged lung and is on oxygen fulltime.  He is around 95.

We got back from Tasmania on the Wednesday night before Christmas and my dad arrived on the Thursday to stay for a week.  DH and I did all the Christmas present shopping on the weekend before Christmas, the tree went up on the Sunday afternoon, the only cooking done was a fruit cake and the pavlova I took to the Christmas family lunch.  On Christmas day we drove down to DH's brother's place on the Gold Coast.  Had the big family lunch with cold meat, prawns, salads and pavlova, cheesecake and fresh fruit for desert.  Here is the view out their apartment looking over the broadwater. They have glass windows all along the front.

After Christmas I was busy getting thing ready for DD to go to Jamboree.  It's just a few hours up the road at Maryborough this year.  We were waiting for the bus at 6.30am on New Years Day!  She comes back this Sunday (13th) after 12 night camping in a tent.  I've seen a few photos of her on facebook which has been great, and photos of the things she will be doing.  She is one of 11,500 scouts taking part.   I was worried the weather would be wet but it has been hot and dry, but at least not the heatwave conditions they are getting in the southern states.

When she gets back she has 2 more weeks of holidays before school starts again.  Time for the dentist, eye check, haircut, etc.
DS turns 16 on the 16th (!) and will be able to get his learner's licence and start driving.
DH has been home since late November but goes away again in 2 weeks and will be gone for nearly 3 weeks overseas. 

I've been relaxing this year - sleeping in, reading and stitching.  A few more easy weeks, then back into the usual grind.
Ok, the next post will be up soon with lots of Tassie photos to make you all jealous!

Sweet Flowers part 9

I've finished Sweet Flowers part 9 and I've got the final 2 parts from Angie.



Sweet Flowers

I'm working on the Many Years Ago sampler for the next few weeks.  Part 6 has been released and I'm still on part 3.

What bird is this?
We had a wet day on Thursday - the first decent rain since June.  I was sitting in my reading chair in the office when I saw this in our yard.

Pheasant Coucal

I saw this bird months ago and had no idea what it was.  Since then I've managed to identify it - a Pheasant Coucal -  but I hadn't seen it again.  It is the only cuckoo in Australia that makes it's own nest and raises it's chicks.  (What did we do without Google?)  I did see a strange bird last week that I half think/hope could be a young chick.  My neighbour thinks the nest is in her yard next door.

The fun begins.
The next 2 weeks will be very busy.  DD has her musical theatre opening night on Friday and 2 performances Saturday, then 5 performances in 4 days the following week. So, it's rehersals most of this weekend and Wednesday night.  In fact, we are out every night this coming week Sunday till Saturday except Monday.  Most nights we will be getting home 10.30-11pm.  Getting the kids to school on time in the mornings will be a challenge!
Of course, DH is away - he is fishing at Fraser Island with his Dad, uncle and several mates this week.  They go every year at this time, I don't mind as long as he brings home some fish.  He left before 4am today so I ended up having an afternoon nap because I didn't go back to sleep after he left.  He is home next Saturday afternoon, then off to Singapore the following Tuesday for a few days.

Holiday planning
We wanted to go skiing again in January next year but DD is going to the Scout Jamboree during the first 2 weeks of January, so we've put that off for another year and decided to do something in December when the kids summer holidays start.  We thought about New Zealand or Perth, but we've decided to go to Tasmania. 
DS finishes school a week before DD, so we're going to pull her out of school 2 days early and fly to Hobart, hire a car, and spend 10 days driving around Tasmania.  That way we will have a great holiday and be back home a week before Christmas.  Just need to work out our itinerary and book accommodation and flights in the next few weeks.

DD's finger is mostly better.  I'm not sure I liked the glue, maybe she would have been better off getting it stitched.  She bumped it the other day and part of it reopened under the skin - she ended up with a large blood blister and bruising, but it didn't stop her playing tennis followed by a  game of netball.  It doesn't hurt and the bruising is fading so I'm leaving it alone to heal.  She is not able to play netball or cricket for the next 2 weeks due to her theatre commitments so hopefully she won't hit it again for a while.

I'm catching up on my blog reading and will be able to start commenting again in a few days.

I hope everyone has a good stitching week.

Saturday Stitching

I finished Sweet Flowers part 8 on Friday night

Part 9 has to be finished by October 10.
Here is what I did on it yesterday.

The kids have just started 2 weeks of school holidays and DH is going away for a week from Tuesday so I'm going to do lots of stitching.

The first week is going to be even quieter than I had planned.
This is DD's hand -

She had an accident with a craft knife at school on Thursday and the Dr had to glue her back together - the cut was too awkward for stitches.  It's not too bad, but the cut is on the back of her hand over the knuckle at the base of her index finger so we have to keep the finger still until next Saturday so it can heal.  I've strapped it up so she doesn't forget and try to use it. 
She's sad because she likes to climb up the mango tree in our backyard and sit there reading.

DH had last week off work and spent the time painting our house gutters and eaves with his Dad.
We got our roof repainted earlier in the year before the solar panels went on and the old gutters were a lovely 80's pink.
Old roof and gutters -

House showing repainted roof and gutters and solar panels.

The White house in more ways than one!! 

Looks like the garden needs some serious work.  The new roof colour is lighter than we planned but if it makes the house cooler in summer I don't care (we have no airconditioning)
The solar panels are fantastic.  We got a 5Kw system and we have a credit on our last electricity bill which was for the winter months when it was unusually wet and cold. 

We wish it was wet again, there's been no rain to speak of for the last 2 months.

I'm hoping to get caught up with my emails and blog reading over the holidays.  Since my last post we've had some nasty cold viruses through the house.  Everyone has been sick at some time except me and DD is still on antibiotics for a nasty cough.  I think they were playing tag - first DH, then DS, last DD.  I'll be glad when I have no sick/injured patients.
Looks like I will have to fight DD for computer time, she's waiting impatiently for her turn.

August TUSAL - I'm Back!

I'm still here, haven't fallen off the face of the earth if you were wondering. 
I have been busy stitching amongst other things, so I'll start with some photos.

First, TUSAL up to now

This is on my table next to my stitchy chair with my favourite Aussie flag scissors in front.

I have been busy and here are some finishes.

1. Pine Tree Inn by LHN, recommended fabric and threads

2. I did a box finishing class with Meari from ILCS yahoo group.
I chose to do Seaside Retreat from A Stitcher's Journey by Blackbird Designs.
I used Golden Wattle 32ct lugana from Stitches and Spice with Old Maid of the Sea HDF silk.

3. I joined the Sticklounge group in January and I have my first finish with them.
Thimble Collection designed by Karen of Sunshine-Stitches
I used a 32ct lugana with DMC





What am I working on now?

WIP 1.  Another Sticklounge piece - Many Years Ago Sampler designed by Gudi.
I'm using a pale violet 28ct Jobelan from Stitches and Spice with a custom colour by HDF.

I have finished parts 1 and 2.

WIP 2.  Sweet Flowers.
I had lots of problems with this piece last month.  Every time I did some stitching I had to pull out most of it and restitch because I was out with my counting.  After doing that for 2 weeks I was ready to throw it across the room, so I put it away for several weeks.  I picked it up again at the end of last week and finished part 7.  I am working on part 8 now and part 9 comes out at the end of the week so I'm hoping I don't end up too far behind again.

Well, that's the end of the stitching news, so the rest is about family and holidays.

We went up to Yeppoon to visit my Dad in June for a week of the winter school holidays.
This is the view from his deck looking out to Great Keppel Island.

Dawn, looking towards North Keppel Island. My favourite time of the day.

This is the Singing Ship at Emu Park which commemorates the landing of Captain James Cook in 1770.  Yes, it sings!

On the drive home we were waved to the side of the road and stopped by the police so this could go past. A dump truck body heading for one of the coal mines in Central Queensland.  Luckily it was on a 'good' section of the road - that's our national highway once you're more than a few hours north of Brisbane. 

Family life is still busy.  DS has made the top chess team at his school  - not bad for grade 10. He plays against other schools this term, but he trains all year.  He is also playing rugby this term.  This month he has to pick his subjects for grades 11 and 12.  It looks like his electives will be physics, IT  maths B (maths required for uni ) and maths C (maths useful for engineering at uni). He has to do English and Study of Religion (catholic school). He wanted to continue Japanese but has decided he probably should do both maths instead. He has no idea what he wants to do but his passion is IT. Out of school he is involved in the older scouts.

DD is even busier.  She is doing live musical theatre with the scouts. Rehersals started in July and they do 8 performances over 10 days in late October.  She has just finished winter netball and will start summer netball on Wednesday nights in October. She had a scare during her last netball game - came off at half time and asked me to take her to the first aid room to get a hurt finger taped up. The first aid lady said we should go to the hospital emergency department as she thought it was broken.  The doctor and nurse at the hospital thought the same, but luckily the x-ray was clear. They splinted it anyway as it was pretty sore, but the pain stopped after 4-5 days.
She has also signed up to play cricket again this summer, that will be on Saturday mornings. DD will be going to the scout Jamboree in January for 2 weeks.  It is held every 3 years and next year DD will be just old enough but it is in Queensland, only a few hours from Brisbane, so we said go for it.  She still needs to get some more experience camping in tents with the scouts before January, but she only moved up to the scouts in May.  DD also plays tennis, is in the school choir and does speech and drama lessons.  Her last eisteddfod was a few weeks ago so next up is the voice and drama exam in November.

DH is home at the moment.  He has been fighting a bad cold the last few weeks but he is going car racing this weekend so it is good he is starting to feel better.  DD is also away camping this weekend so it looks like it will be a quiet one for DS and I. 

I was trying to catch up on my blog reading before posting this, but it just wasn't happening.
If you have read all this, thank you.  If you leave a comment, you are awesome.

In a stitching slump

Sadly I haven't done any stitching recently.  I think I'm starting to suffer withdrawal symptoms.  But, I can show you some pictures at last. 
Warning - long post.

Exchanges
First, I received this from Debbie Jo for the winter smalls exchange for ILCS.
A needlebook with pins and needles included, and Carrie's Creation threads in Polar Bear and Smoke. 

Needlebook details

I love it, thank you Debbie Jo.


This is what I sent Shelly

Snowman
28ct lugana Days Gone By (Silkweavers)
DMC threads 2 over 2

Snowman freebie pattern from gazette94 found here 
This is my first crazy 15 finish.

I also made Shelly a triangular ort container, tutorial here at Needling Things

I made the opening a little bigger as I found it difficult getting threads out. I'll be making more of these.

I Won a Gift!
I won a giveaway on Kaye's blog Kitten Stitching
She sent me a Prairie Schooler pattern, page flags, udder cream, a charm and some mini pegs with hearts.

Thank you Kaye.


Sweet Flowers
Part 1 of Sweet Flowers is finished.  I am doing this over 2 on 32ct fabric so it will be huge, but it is easier to stitch.



Sweet Flowers
DMC 3722, 223 on 32ct Belfast

The next 2 sections arrived yesterday so they are first on my to do list.
The pattern can now be purchased at Aquarelle

Family news
Nana's funeral was on the Wednesday afternoon after she passed away.  DH (world traveller) changed his departing flight to Thursday.  The first week he was gone I slept badly.  You'd think I would be used to it but I still miss him when he is not here.

DD had her high school interview on the Wednesday morning before the funeral.  The process for this school is apply in grade 5 (last year) interviews and offers in grade 6 (now) for a start in grade 8 (2014).  We got the letter offering her a place a week later.  She will be going to a private (Catholic) girls high school. 
DD also received the top Cub Scout award (Grey Wolf badge) recently.  She is not enjoying Cubs anymore because she is the only girl in her group now, so she will be starting to link with the Scouts this week.  Cubs (7-10yrs) and Scouts(11-15yrs) can have girl members as well as boys in Australia.  DS is in the process joining the older Scouts - Venturers(15-18yrs). So, I'm out Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights dropping one or the other at the Scout den.

DH got back from the US a week ago Sunday. He had a few hours at home then flew to Sydney that night. We thought he would get more sleep than if he stayed at home and got the early morning flight to Sydney.  His plane ended up in Melbourne because of storms - they circled Newcastle for a while then had one aborted landing attempt at Sydney before being sent to circle Canberra (after Sydney curfew kicked in) then eventually landed in Melbourne.  He checked into his hotel room at 1.30am and checked out at 4.30am to catch his morning flight to Sydney!  He got back home from Sydney Tuesday night, Wednesday was prep for day surgery Thursday.  The first few nights I was up every 4 hours getting painkillers for him.  DH has been lying on the sofa where I sit to stitch, so no stitching for me - I can't see without my light.

Friday night I had to get DS at 10.30 pm after his chess tournament.  We had a severe weather warning for heavy rain at the time.  I hate driving in the rain at night!  The silver lining from the rain - both DS and DD's cricket games were cancelled for Saturday!  Woohoo, a Saturday off.  I read blogs until I came down with DD's head cold.  I'm still feeling crummy today so I'm taking it easy.
DH has a car racing long weekend starting Friday but he doesn't know if he will be well enough yet. He'll decide Thursday or Friday.  Yes, he organised his operation around car racing and work trips overseas.

DMIL's operation is next Monday.  DH is off to Europe a few days after that, so I'll be busy again.  I have some small projects I can take while I visit DMIL in hospital and at her home.

Okay, that's enough for now, it's time for lunch.

Sad News

Nana passed away last night (DMILs mother).  She was in pallative care, but still sad news.

More bad news - last Wednesday DMIL was diagnosed with kidney cancer. She put the surgery off until next month so she could be with her mother.  One kidney needs to be removed, the other is fine. We won't know until after the surgery whether she needs more treatment.

DH was leaving for overseas on Wednesday but will try to put this off a few days.

So, no stitching done here lately.

Playing with fabric and thread

I have a finish! - but I can't show you because it is for an exchange.  I finished the stitching on Friday and made it into an ornament on Sunday.  It was posted today so should arrive at the new home within 10 days.  I'll put up photos when I know it has arrived. 
Due to the weather I was able to spend Saturday in the sewing room getting reaquainted with my sewing machine.  I had a great time learning how to make a new object - photos later as well!

I can show you this -

Sweet Flowers SAL - Gravestone 32ct linen from Stitches and Spice, DMC threads.
I have chosen my own thread combination to go with my fabric.
I'll be working on this section this week.

Not quite washed away last week. The rain started on Monday lunchtime and stopped this morning. The biggest fall was on Tuesday - 250mm (10inches) measured on Wednesday morning.  Altogether for the week we had over 425mm (17 inches) so the ground is still a bit soggy. To put things in perspective the average rainfall for January here is 160mm.  No damage, only some minor flooding in local creeks. Not like the big floods last year.

I sent DD out in the rain to run of some energy on Saturday morning. Here she is standing under the gutter overflow.

I had her retested on Tuesday - still allergic to peanuts so  I have to check again in another 2 years. The Dr gave us a practice epipen which will be good for Grandparents, cub scout leaders, etc.  I am confident she could inject herself if required.

Both kids are back at school so getting back into the homework and activities routine.  It's a struggle for me as well to have everyone out the door by 7.45am to do the school run, and also to have everyone in bed at a decent hour.
On that note I shall stop and try to get some stitching in before it's time for bed!

Goodbye 2011

Well, it's the last day of 2011. 2012 CJC starts tomorrow and I'm all ready. I've changed my list because I've signed up for the Sweet Flowers SAL so I've removed the larger charts and replaced them with small ornaments. Hopefully this will give me enough time to finish Sweet Flowers and the HAED next year and do some more on my WIPS.

December was busy. Our holiday was lovely and relaxing.
The weather was not good, but it didn't matter. We parked our car in the hotel carpark the day we arrived and didn't drive it again until we left for home a week later. We had a few wet and windy days, but managed to make it to the beach several times. The worst day was a record cold day for December and of course we didn't have any warm clothes with us. Here are some pictures.



view from our balcony



A friend on the beach

The Traveller (DH) had to make a quick 4 day trip to Singapore and Malaysia 2 days after we got home from our holiday. I've decided not to plan too far ahead in the future in relation to his being at home!  He is home until the end of next week, then away again.

Before I went on holiday I saw my Dr about a suspicious spot on my neck.  It looked like skin cancer so after I got back he removed it. The week before Christmas I went back to get the stitch out and the lab results came back negative so that was a relief.

DH had had some health issues since he was in hospital in August but we thought they were side effects from the medication he was on but the GP thinks not and has referred him to a specialist for tests to rule out the big C. He is still waiting for an appointment but I hope it is soon.

I sold my old car in mid December. We started advertising it online in November and dropped the price every week because there was no-one interested in it.  Then, I went to morning tea at a friends house and mentioned in passing to another friend that we were finally trying to sell the old car and she said she was interested, her and her DH came around that night and brought it! Not sure I wanted to sell to a good friend but we dropped a bit more off the price so they got a good car for a good price.

Christmas was good.  My dad came for a week and left 2 days ago.  I did lots of cooking before the big day. Christmas Eve I made a roast leg of lamb then we had Christmas lunch at DH's parents house - I made a pavlova and we had cold ham and prawns with salad followed by cheesecake, pavlova and fruit.

I have done a bit of stitching but mostly have been busy getting fabric and threads kitted up for CJC. I'm still preparing fabric for Sweet Flowers.

I started Fall Mandala ages ago then had problems with needing thread and having to frog, then busy with family, etc so here is my progress. 



Fall Mandala designed by Tracy Horner (Ink Circles)
fabric - 28ct Wintered Marble linen from Stitches and Spice
thread - HDF silk

Welcome to my new followers, thank you for all your comments. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

Weekend Away, planning

No stitching done, it has been too hot and I've had some late nights recently with DS finishing assignments - 2am on Thursday morning!  He finishes for the year on Friday next week but he is going to the Gold Coast on Thursday at 7am for a 2 day maths extension program so he finishes his exams on Wednesday.  I pick him up from school at 6pm Friday.  He went to this program last year and this year there are only 5 of the top students going in each of grades 8, 9 and 10.

DH and I are going away for the weekend - after DD's cricket game and dancing practice, then taking kids to grandparents.  We are members of a car club and this is our Christmas party weekend.  We're going up to the Sunshine Coast about an hour north of here.  There are about 50-60 members going so we should have a great time. I'll take some stitching but will be lucky to do any, think I'll be napping or socializing tomorrow afternoon. 

 I've been thinking about my stitching next year.  I've decided to join Daffycat's TUSAL - it's where you save your orts and take a picture on the new moon.
I've also joined Measi's WIPocalypse to hopefully get some progress done on my wips and blog more often.
Obviously I've had too much time thinking, not enought time stitching because I've joined the Crazy January Challenge 2012 so now I have to select 15 items to start in January.
I'm hoping all the above will motivate me to do more stitching next year.

Lastly, this has made my day.  My photo of Fa-La-La has made it to the welcome page of I Love Cross Stitch yahoo group  Woohoo!

Right, I'm off to bed to get some beauty sleep before tomorrow.  The end of school stress and concerts, etc are nearly over so I'll be able to get back to stitching.  I'll have a giveaway coming up soon.
Thank you for your comments.

It's November!

It's November and I've done very little stitching since my last post.  I'm still working on my Autumn piece for ILCS yahoo group so I can't show it to you.  I ran out of thread and had to stop for a while so I'm not sure if I will get if finished in time.
October is not a good month for me and I think this year was particularly difficult - more on that below.

Here are some of the things that have been happening lately.

AIRPLANES
DH is in Vancouver again.  He left on Sunday morning and will be back next Monday.  Yes, he was caught in the Qantas drama. In case you don't know, Qantas announced on Saturday afternoon at 5pm that they were grounding their entire fleet in response to industrial action by unions.  Within 2 hours DH managed to get return flights to LA on another airline.  Of course Qantas is back flying again now.

CRAFT SHOW
A few weeks ago we had the Craft and Quilt show here in Brisbane.  I was lucky enought to get a free ticket offered by Stitches and Spice in their newsletter.  Here's a photo of part of their stall. The bins at the front are full of fabric.  Some of that fabric made it's way home with me.


Stitches and Spice stall

 I also found something else I had been looking for. I found this in one of the bead stalls.


Bead storage containers


 WEATHER
Look at this.

The closest we get to snow in Brisbane.  A hailstorm a few weeks ago.  It was only marble sized and no damage for us, but friends had cars out that got dented and it was a lot worse in other areas.  We have another wet summer forecast again - please not as bad as the floods early this year.

EXCHANGES
I was in the ILCS 10th Anniversary Birthday Exchange.
This is what I received from Renae

And this is what I sent Jo

A few months ago I decided I needed a new mobile phone as mine was not working properly. I waited and got the new iphone 4s on the first day it came out.  It's my first smartphone and I love it, and I can take photos with my phone (such technology!)  I already had an ipad so I wanted to stay with Apple.

SCHOOL

Kids finish school for the year in 4/5 weeks so it's getting busy for both of them now.  DS is getting another academic award at his schools yearly awards ceremony next week - he got one last year as well.  He has nearly finished year 9.  He is getting very tired again so I think he is about to have another growth spurt.  He will be 15 in January.

We are horribly busy and the next day when I have nothing on my calender is November 27, so we are looking forward to ...

HOLIDAYS

We've decided not to go overseas this summer, we'll go back to the snow and skiing in January 2013.  This year instead we're going up the coast to Mooloolaba for a week in early December.  It's only an hour drive away and should be a relaxing week in the sun on the beach. 

It would have been my mother's 70th birthday in late September.  She passed away in October 1982 when she was 41 and I was 13.  She took her own life after a 9 year battle with schizophrenia, caused by a severe brain injury from a horse riding accident as a child.  I spent very little time with her because I went to boarding school when I was 6, then my parents started living apart, so I have no good memories of our time together.  October is sometimes hard for me and I think this year was worse because now I'm older than my mother was when she died.  I guess as I get older I'm more aware of what she missed out on.   

If you are still with me, thanks for reading so much.  I'm almost sure I'm going to start 15 charts in January, just have to decide on which ones to do.

A finish and hypnotic progress

Fa-La-La is finished.
I finished this early September.


Fa-La-La by LHN
30ct cappucino linen with recommended DMC threads

 Hypnotic progress.
Page 3 is nearly finished, another 6 pages to do after this one.



Hypnotic by KustomKrafts

School Holidays
Kids have started their school holidays today. They have 2 weeks off then back for the last term.  I can't believe 3/4 of the year has gone.   I think DS has done well again, but we haven't got all his results for this term yet.  He got all A's last semester and is academically gifted in maths/science.  He finds exams easy but has to work on his assignments.  He was up until 2am doing his IT assignment the morning it was due and got an A+.  I keep telling myself there are lots worse things than having a 14yo son who is disappointed with B's.  Not so easy when he is stressing over assignments in the early hours of the morning.

A Close Call
I saw a car accident on Thursday morning as I was leaving DS's school.  I was first at the traffic lights to cross a main road and when they turned green I went. Past the intersection a car was waiting to merge onto my road and stopped to give way to me. A tradies ute came flying around the corner and plowed into the back of the stopped car.  I could see it was going to happen and slowed down otherwise I could have been hit as well.  I think the ute driver saw me and was trying to accelerate in front of me.  No one was hurt but it was still a scare.  Tradies in utes seem to make their own rules here and you can see why I give them lots of room on the roads.

DH has been away this week and was due back tomorrow morning.  Unfortunately his plane was delayed leaving Vancouver and he was going to miss his connecting flight to Brisbane.  He has to wait another 24 hours for a seat on the next plane from LA and now won't be home until Monday morning. 


The Vegie Patch
The snow peas are flowering and this was taken before I started picking lettuce.

Summer is on the way.  Mornings are still chilly, but it is 28C today and is beautiful.

Thank you for all your lovely comments.

Not what I'd planned

Well, my child free weekend wasn't as I'd planned.  When I last posted DH had been feeling generally unwell for a few days as if he was fighting off the flu or a virus. But, the day after my last post, Wednesday, he came home from work at lunch feeling bad and with a very sore elbow. We got an appointment with the Dr later that afternoon and he started antibiotics. Thursday he was worse with his elbow red and swollen. Friday morning I took him to the emergency dept at the local hospital. We were expecting him to get some IV antibiotics for a few hours, but the dr took one look and decided to admit him to hospital.  Initially we were told for 24 - 48 hours, but on Friday night he was told he wouldn't be home until Monday at the earliest.

I sent DD on her camp Friday night, then on Saturday morning I drove DS and 4 other scouts to their camp on the Darling Downs, dropped them off and drove back home in the afternoon - a 7 1/2 hour round trip.  They had problems with transport and I was able to fit everyone in my vehicle.  (Another mum went out Sunday morning to bring the scouts back)  I left home at 7.30am and got back after 3pm, then went off to hospital for a few hours with DH. I got home after dark to eat, feed the cat and collapse into bed.  Sunday morning I was back at the hospital, then off to get DD at midday, home to pick DS up from the scout den, back to the hospital for a few hours. 

On the Sunday night DH was told he wouldn't be out until Wednesday at the earliest. He had a staph infection in his elbow bursa and ended up spending 6 days in hospital getting IV antibiotics. At its worst his arm was swollen and red from just above the elbow to almost his wrist.  He came home with a 2 week course of oral antibiotics, a right elbow still sore and swollen, and a left arm sore with damaged and clotted veins from the IV antibiotic treatment.  He has been home for 10 days now and his left arm is just starting to feel better and he is able to ease up on the painkillers.  Right elbow is still red and swollen.  Dr said 6-8 weeks for both arms to be back to normal.

DH was meant to be flying overseas on Tuesday this week but he had to cancel this trip as he wasn't well enough to go.  Of course he was working from his hospital bed with the laptop and wireless internet access once he was well enough and was back at work a few days after leaving hospital.  He is the boss so the work piles up even when he is sick.

So, not a lot of sewing done lately.  I started a LHN ornament while visiting DH in hospital.  I miscounted the first day and had to frog the second.  Even when DH was home from hospital I think I was emotionally drained from all the stress and too tired to stitch.  For the last 3 weeks I've had kids activities, etc at least 4 nights per week and also coming up for next week.  Things are getting back to normal now and the housework is under control.  Today was DD's school fete.  The weather was not so good with light rain this morning, but the rides were still operating.  We left mid afternoon when the rain got heavier. 

I've lost the photos I thought I had on the camera and I'm too tired to find them.  I'll post them in the morning.