As the light ebbs out of today I am grateful.

I am very glad that this day is nearly over. Even with such a pretty sight as this visible from my verandah I have had enough of today. My week has been busy and long and seemingly unending. I haven't done much of any consequence. Taking Miss 23 to the hospital each day to have her wound dressed was tedious. Fortunately she doesn't have to go so often now. I have spent most of the week doing migraines. (Why? I'm not sure. I should have chosen not to do the headaches I think.) I am so glad when the sun goes down because light hurts my head so much. I should be more cheerful than I am because all the kids and my Bradley have helped me out all week. They have cooked meals and cleaned the kitchen. Vacuumed and picked up aroud the house. Washed clothes, hung them out to dry and brought them in again. Pain seems to make me be an ingrate! Fictional girls seem to learn so many more lesson from pain than I do. Both Cousin Helen and Katy from "What Katy Did" were much better people after having studied at the school of pain. I, however, just seem to whinge! Of course there is an upside to having a dreadful week. Next week can only be better, and I am looking forward to it! We weeded the garden this week and now we are thinking about what to plant in the garden beds in place of the weeds we grew so professionally. I am also planning to grow some fruit trees in pots. I love planning and thinking about the garden. Roll on next week! It's got to be better!!!

Block of the month number 6

Where did this week go? Not sure. This is what I managed to achieve. Block of the month number 6 finished and number 7 begun. I have almost run out of thread though so I won't be able to finish number 7 until I get more thread. Miss 23's wound has become infected so we are spending some time at the hospital each day. It is just a superficial infection which is the better kind of infection to have! I have mending to do today so I will get to sit in front of my sewing machine. (I enjoy any kind of sitting in front of my machine.) As for anything else getting done, I wouldn't count on it! Hope your day is full of your best things!

Block of the month number 5

Whilst I was busy sitting last week I managed to stitch block number 5 of my Rosalie Quinlan's A Redwork Christmas BOM. So much for photography classes! I took quite a few photos of this stitching and this was the best one! Oh well, don't think I'll become a professional photographer any time soon! I am really enjoying this BOM. Sometimes I get a little redworked out, but after a a week's respite I'm good to go again. This week I'm starting on block 6.

Busy Week

I have had a very busy week! Miss 23 had her operation on Tuesday morning. I've included this photo of her favourite piece of equipment in the hospital (her PCA button, Patient Controlled Analgesia button! It delivered pain relief after her operation) because in the background it shows the chair I spent a lot of the week sitting in! Her operation went really well. She had a vertical cut from her bellybutton down to her pubic bone (24 staples worth) through which a large external fibroid was removed. She was up and about the day after her operation and came home on Saturday morning. She is so happy to be home. Hospital is not really a comfortable place - even the best hospital in the world! (Which she declared the Women's and Children's Hospital to be!) She was busting to get out because she felt so much better physically with the fibroid removed. Before the operation she felt nauseous and tired and had lots of discomfort. She has to take it easy for about six weeks which is going to be difficult I think because she does feel so much better.

On my bedside table

Ten posts away from my 400th post. (And the required give away! Thought I'd give you a heads up!) My, doesn't time fly when you're having fun! This is what I have on my bedside table. My dvd player helps to while away those awful insomniac hours early in the morning. It also helps me go back to sleep. If I can't go to sleep I put on "As Time Goes By" (BBC comedy) and I drift straight off. I love that series. In fact I wore out the videos I had. The dvds have been much more robust than the videos were! I guess it's just familiar and I go to sleep. Hmmm..... I should be asleep now. Goodnight!

Moon

The moon last night was beautiful. It was big and yellow and not at all how my photo shows it. I am fascinated by photos taken in low light. I am fascinated by the way light affects colour. Our eyes are pretty amazing. We actually see in low light really well. Our eyes perform much better in low light than cameras do. I am fascinated by light and colour in general. It is one of the reasons I am so interested in patchwork and quilting. It also manifests itself when you draw or paint. You know how people often talk about how evocative smells are, well for me light is the same. That quality of light that would happen when I lived in Brisbane at the end of a warm day, just before a thunderstorm erupts. Occassionally I have seen that light here in Adelaide, but it feels so Brisbane to me. I'm looking forward to the weekend. I'm really hoping to stitch!

Photography

Went to the first of two photography classes last night. Miss 12 and Mr 8 came along with me. We each had a camera and took lots of photos. I also now know a little more about my camera and how to use it. (Of course I still managed to take blurry photos! What is it with me and blur?) Next lesson is tonight. Perhaps with all these lessons I will leave blur behind!

Sewing

I love to sew! Today I spent some time unpicking squares and re-sewing them together. Unpicking is not one of my favourite things, but I was unhappy with how I had put the squares together. I thought I'd never finish them until I had made them right. I decided to turn the squares into doilies. They are all pastel and floral - just right for doilies! Tomorrow I am hoping to finish them. We will also go to see the anesthetist. Miss 23 will be having her operation next week and tomorrow's visit is the last thing we have to do in preparation.

Out my front door.

Trees

Trees at my house this morning.

Flowers in Ballarat

I heard a comment on radio last week that I really enjoyed. An Adelaide musician was being interviewed. He said that he didn't get any work in Adelaide, people obviously just didn't like him. Later he was asked how he would describe Adelaide. His answer: Adelaide is Ballarat with a car race. Having recently been to Ballarat I don't think he was wrong! These photos were taken in Ballarat. They are part of my photo a day contribution. Hopefully I will get more organised and take my camera with me each day so that it really will be a photo a day!

Sewing Saturday

I finally finished this doll quilt Saturday. I sewed the binding on and handstitched it Saturday morning. I love it so much. It is destined for the etsy shop - any minute now!

The following three photos are of the "tinsel" I am making. At the Patchwork Apple's Christmas in the Hills Jane had "yo yo tinsel" decorating things. I just loved it and bought a kit to make my own. Mine is actually suffolk puff tinsel. (toe-ma-toe/toh-mah-toe) I have traded the redwork-stitching for tinsel-making infront of the tv. This morning I was struck with an idea. Buttons inbetween the suffolk puffs. Some of the buttons also have bells attatched. It is heavy and jingley and red, red, red! The kids are all thoroughly unimpressed because Christmas is still ages away. Of course, you can never start too early for Christmas I think!

It's August! I'm doing a photo a day.

Can't believe it's August already! (I had to say that to keep the tone of the year going!) July just zipped by - don't think I even had time to say, "I can't believe it's July already!", and it was over. We are S L O W L Y getting the new house organised. I am joining in with Bird Bath and The Byron Life by posting a photo a day for August. Of course, I may not post a photo each day, but I will strive to. Regular readers know that I need all the photo taking practice I can get! I will be doing a photography course this week so it all dovetails nicely. These photos were taken on my phone. Mr 15's finger at his checkup last week. The doctor said it looks good. Mr 8 laughed and said that it depended on your definition of good! (He thought it looked disgusting!) Busy week coming up! I'm looking forward to it!

More Stitching

And the week has finished as a stitching kind of week too! I finished month number 4 of Rosalie Quinlan's "Redwork Christmas" today. I am all redworked out I think. I'm considering what to do next. I have some suffolk puff tinsel to make (I really am getting into Christmas early this year!) and all sorts of other things dancing in my head (like sugar plum fairies). My etsy shop needs some attention and Mrs 25 is encouraging me to make some patterns of my stitching designs. (Ah, more opportunities to become more computer literate!) Not sure what will be happening this weekend. Hopefully there will be sewing!

Stitching

I had a stitching kind of weekend and it's been a stitching week so far too! A couple of weeks ago I went with Miss 23 to a hospital appointment where we had to wait... and wait... and wait. (Sometimes it's like that!) For some strange reason I didn't have any stitching with me and felt sad that I had lost such a wonderful opportunity to stitch, so I came home and prepared a Rosalie Quinlan Block of the Month to stitch next time! Well, next time was last Friday. Mr 15 was helping me prepare pumpkin soup when the knife slipped and some of his finger got chopped off. (Not very much finger thank goodness) I took a look at the piece of finger in his hand and realised that we needed a hospital, not a bandaid. In the panic to get out of the house I left the stitching home! His finger required surgery (a skingraft) and an overnight stay so there was plenty of opportunity for stitching! I finished the stitchery today and will be preparing another one for more stitching tonight. I loooooooooooooooove to stitch!

Linda and Stephanie's Christmas in July Swap

Yesterday I opened my Christmas in July swap that Linda and Stephanie ran. My gift was from Maria. I was really excited when I received my package because I am a fan of maria's blog! Everything was beautifully wrapped and the insides were just plain beautiful!

My santa sack. The colours here are much more lovely in real life. I can't believe I now own something that Maria has made! (Make sure to visit her blog, she makes the loveliest things!!!)

Some of my girls watched me unwrap the gifts and we all fell in love with this "origami" Christmas tree. My kids are all into origami and studied the tree closely. Having recently moved we still have vacant hooks on our walls so we hung the tree up immediately! It's hanging in our family room underneath our twinkle lights.

Isn't this a lovely card? Perfect for those of us who love to sew! Maria bought it from an etsy shop. Such a great idea for a card!

More of the goodies that Maria sent me. As you can see I was thoroughly spoilt. Thank you Maria, Linda and Stephanie! Great swap!

Christmas in the Hills with Rosalie Quinlan and Jane Green of the Patchwork Apple

The hall that the Christmas in the Hills workshop was held was just sooooooooo beautiful. Jane has a talent for details! Here's some things I loved.

Rosalie Quinlan's new fabric !

I had a great opportunity on the weekend to see Rosalie Quinlan's new fabric range. I attended the Patchwork Apple's "Christmas in July" and Rosalie had her new fabric with her. In fact someone won a fat quarter of each of the range as a door prize! (No, it wasn't me. Loz and I threatened to mug the winner out in the carpark, but came to our senses in time. We figured we could buy some of Rosie's fabric when it hits the shops! - it is gorgeous, you are all going to want some!) Rosie is very proud of her first fabric range and is full of ideas about using it. More about the gorgeous Christmas in July soon!