At last....FNSI for December Sign ups are live!

Thank you for all your beautiful heartfelt comments from my last post...they mean the world to me.

 I've remembered and here it is, at last.....   and THE very last for 2017.....

Today we had a meeting with doctors, physiotherapists, nursing staff and aged care people and we got the news that Dad would not be coming back home but would be in hospital until a bed in a nursing home becomes available.  Mum is heartbroken that her partner of 60+ years will not be 'with' her any longer, but we all know that this is the best thing for him.
Some days are good, some ....well, not so....today was a reasonably good day. 

Yesterday we got to take dad home for half a day to spend one last family Christmas together as one of my sisters-in-law had managed to fly up from Brisbane. 
Dad had a wonderful day, even though we exhausted him.

We wished it didn't have to end, but it did.  Dad was ready and was eager to get the taxi back to hospital to his 'home'.   Dementia really is cruel to all the family.

So that's my life to end 2017.  We're sad and unhappy without our family together but we know we're  luckier than many.  I know we are truly blessed. 

Let's end with some fun.....spending quality time together with our stitching family on our Friday night get togethers.  Sign up below, no sadness allowed!   So pleased to be able to spend it with you all, just before Christmas....such a precious time of year.
Looking forward to this one, so very much.
xox sugary hugs ;o)

FNSI delayed

My what a year this has been and it hasn’t finished well either!  Poor Dad in law has been in hospital the past two weeks after a fall with his dementia  and it has taken a sudden and acute downturn.  I’ve been at the hospital every day with mum (in-law) and really have lost track of time. 

 Therefore I had thought with all honesty that FNSI was next week.....what day is it, seriously I don’t know whether I’m Arthur or Martha?!?   So please accept my sincere apologies for not being ‘with it’ and failing to be ready for tonight’s FNSI. I hope you can make it next week instead?!?  

Thinking of you all if you stitch away without me tonight

Xox sugary hugs :o)

Wendy 

My quiet November FNSI and a winner.

This was the second last Friday Night Sew In for the year.....can you believe it?

And mine was pretty darn quiet.....all because the Queensland state election was being held on Saturday and I had to work in one of the voting booths for the day.  Starting at 6am, another lady and I drove the 3/4 hour to get to our polling booth, in a little sleepy seaside town called Cungulla.  We then set up and run the booth from 8am - 6pm, before closing the doors ready for counting.  We were finished by 7.30pm as our booth was a smaller one and we only took about 250 members of the public however it was constant all day long and with the humidity the way it has been, it was quite steamy too.  Knowing this, I thought I'd better get a reasonably early night the night before!

I did manage to get some sewing done though, even if it was of the 'conventional' variety.....

 Mr B started a new job today and on Friday night,  I finally got to hemming the two new pairs of work jeans he'd asked me to shorten and hem 'month's ago!  Why I'd never thought before now to use my walking foot for hemming jeans I'll never know.....made it soooo much easier.  How do you hem jeans? (or don't you?)  If you struggle like I have in the past, I encourage you to 'think outside the box' and  multi-task your walking foot....honestly, you'll wonder why you hadn't thought of it sooner.

Now, before I announce our November winner, here is our prize - An owl pincushion kit by 'Quiltologie'.  Wouldn't you love to win it?  Let's see who Mr RNG draws out, shall we?

Firstly I'd like to say a BIG thank you to all 19 lovely ladies who joined with me for our FNSI this month....I'm sure you'd love to pop over and see what gorgeous things they made on Friday night?  You can do that by clicking on each of the links back HERE and remember to leave them a comment - it really touches our hearts.

Finally after jiggling the names in Mr RNG's random number generator, the computer pulled out this person as the winner for November: 

congratulations to JEANETTE

I really hope you like your prize.

I will post it in the next couple of days.

Off to bed for me. Tomorrow's another big day!

What are your plans for the week?

xox Sugary hugs :o) 

November FNSI sign-ups

....were supposed to be last week but it was a crazy week here and I completely lost it!  I won't go into details yet but just know this week is better!
But without further ado......

and with a thousand apologies........ here are the sign ups for November.    Link in and join us for a belated but well deserved and NEEDED stitch in.....perfect for getting things finalised for Christmas gifts and swaps or just 'because'!

xox Sugary hugs :o)

a delayed FNSI result

What a week!   I NEED to stop and get off at the next station....just for a little bit!

I'm so sorry our FNSI draw has been delayed but unforeseen things have been happening in our world....and all at once!

I mentioned our bathroom reno was starting......well.......our building crew are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  They started Wednesday and already by Saturday, despite a number of setbacks, they had the bathroom, toilet and bedroom re-sheeted, the bath and shaving cabinet installed and now we're waiting for the tiles to arrive. I've never seen such enthusiasm and dedication to work....they only stopped for a short lunch break after starting at 7 each morning and on Thursday evening they worked through till 7pm as they were drilling the concrete up for the plumbing!  I've never seen such a thing before.

Whilst this was happening, the electricity was on and off a number of times so I couldn't stitch, blog or much else I hoped to do.
....and then on Monday, the fridge decided to have a hissy-fit!   Thank goodness we didn't have to buy another, but we are waiting for parts to repair it.....just add it to the list!

My father in law had another turn on Saturday night so we called the ambulance and he was taken to hospital.  We were there till midnight when he was admitted and he is still in there.  On Monday my MIL and I had an appointment with the nursing home to try and get placement, but that's a looooong process.  Dad's getting more settled but he's still in the hospital and looks like coming home on the weekend.   Mum's had a bit of a rest without him at home but it's unsettling for her too, after 60 years of marriage watching your life-partner disappear before your very eyes.

Sunday we had an appointment to visit our newest members of our family.....  Meet Bailey and Mocha....

 This little pair are Burmese kittens - 3 weeks old and are browns.  My husband has always wanted Burmese cats and we made a pact that after Charlie had passed, we'd think about getting one.  Well, we are adopting two....a little brother and sister born in Finch Hatton at the Bootlace Cattery.    Two, so they can keep each other company.   I was thinking of calling them Bailey and Khalua after two favourite tipples, but could you imagine calling them???  (We had daschunds when I was a child and they were named - Whiskey, Brandy and Shandy..... so I had to keep the tradition alive!!!)  Here is the rest of the litter with mum...

She looks black but she's a dark brown and very relaxed -the kittens take after her! *bonus* 

Can you see the variation in colours?  There are a couple of blue kittens (grey colouring) and three browns...that one in front is our little girl.....just too cute!  We get to pick them up the week after Christmas as they will be microchipped and spayed at 12 weeks.  It's just so exciting!

Yesterday, hubby had to escort a load back from the bush so I accompanied him for the drive.  

I love watching him work.....he can manouvre those huge machines onto the backs of those trucks with the teeniest of spaces to spare without any trouble whatosoever!  

Back to FNSI.....so I did manage to get something done.....not what I planned but as we spent much of the night in with Mum, helping calm Dad, I did get some more of my cross stitch completed....and it took my mind off things. 

It's coming along quite nicely...I've completed the entire right side, now I'm moving onto the left.  Just like quilting and sewing, there was a little 'reverse stitching' happening as it was hard to concentrate fully, but it was still relaxing and "bonus", I got some more completed!

I've been messaging a new blogger whose joined in this month with us for FNSI.  Make sure you pop over and say a big Hi and Welcome to Sue.  Her blog is HERE.  I love the encouragment we receive from each other as bloggers and especially new bloggers.  I can remember how scary and unsettling it was putting myself  'out there' on the web for the very first time!  Sue and I are in the same swap group so I'm loving  being able to see what she's up to.

Our prize this month is a mini charm pack called "Aria" by Kate Spain for Moda.  Such pretty colours, I'm sure whoever wins it will make something beautiful.

 Now for the draw...........
from the 23 friends who joined with me on Friday night and using our Random Number Generator -

CONGRATULATIONS

Christine

I'll pop your prize in the mail and you should get it soon!  Thanks everyone for your patience and for joining in this month.  Next month, FNSI for November (can you believe it!?) will be on the 17th with sign ups on the blog from the 13th  - jot it in your diaries so you don't forget....you know how busy our schedules get!

in the meantime, big sugary hugs xox :o) 

Busy-ness and FNSI sign ups

Yes, it's that time again.....FNSI is THIS Friday Night and my favourite time of the month....where I get to stitch and relax with all my stitching friends.

Don't you love that time too?  A bit of a selfish indulgence, but I prefer to think of it as creative sanity time....or just plain ol' sanity time!

Yesterday I'd planned to get so much done at home, including this post, but a quick trip to Townsville, where my boy has moved, to take him to the eye specialist took priority.  He has a condition called Keratoconus  which he's just recently been to Brisbane to have surgery for on his left eye  (surgery on his right eye was 5 years ago).  Unfortunately he hasn't been able to work since as he works with computers and his eyes can't focus, nor can he drive as he can't see the difference between traffic lights, so he can't even get to work.  This can take up to 12 months to improve so we would love your prayers as we've now found, apart from hard contact lenses, (which cost upward of $1600 a pair and he needs two pairs!), time is the only thing that MAY bring some improvement....or a corneal transplant down the track.

So while I was there, I gave him a hand setting up house.  He and his girlfriend moved about 4 weeks ago for his job, then he had surgery, now he can't work.  While Tiana was working, we thought we'd surprise her by getting the pantry 'built' (well... putting a flatpack together is technically building isn't it?).  As Nick can't read the instructions and finding the screw holes is a challenge, I took on the role of chief constructor!  Pretty proud of our handiwork.....what do you think?

It also gave me a chance to play with my new fur grandbaby.....meet Miss Rosie....

She is the sweetest little doxie-poo....a dachshund crossed with a poodle.  She's 7 weeks old and 900 grams...teeny but boy, what a personality!  She's just gorgeous and yes, I am biased!

I got home at 4 and we went over to see dad-in-law.  He's had another turn and seems he's had a bladder infection.  He's getting more and more confused though and wants to tear down the walls of the house and build new, better ones so he can move his furniture to his house. He's really not sure where he is.   Last night he had to catch a plane but he wasn't sure where to or why, just very insistent....dementia really is very cruel.  He's been off to the doctor today and they've upped his meds so hopefully that will help.

I did manage to get some sewing done last week.....working on Mr B's 'Diggers 'n Dozers' quilt.

It's starting to take shape but I'm going to need to make quite a few more blocks.  Maybe this Friday night?  What have you planned to do for our Friday night get-together?  Join in and link up so we can support one another in getting things done.   Link up is below and remember, one lucky person will win a prize just for joining in!

I'm off to empty out my bathroom.....we've got the builders coming tomorrow to tear it out and start again!  That job I talked about HERE....it's finally taking shape!  I'll share photos later in the week!
In the meantime...don't forget to sign up!

xox sugary hugs :o)

Christmas Caroling Row Along Winners

Thank you to everyone who supported me with my contribution to the Christmas Caroling Row Along.

I had such a good time preparing and creating in the lead up to my release of "Once In Royal David's City" and I hope you enjoyed it too.

The feedback was incredible, and even though my thoughts had been to give designing a rest for a while, this renewed my love of sharing my, sometimes crazy, ideas and patterns with you.

 As mentioned in my last post, this row is still available but is no longer free. You can download it as a PDF file instantly for just $6.50 USD which is about $8.00 AUD both HERE at Payhip and HERE at my Craftsy store, whichever is more convenient for you.....I try to make it as easy as I can!

During my pattern release, there were a few competitions....did you enter?  The winners have been drawn by Marian and notified  and here they are:

CONGRATULATIONS 

June Tailor
3 Cotton Press Cloths (3 Winners)

Nancy L
Kathy H
Carol K

Northcott 
2 yd Fat Quarter Bundle

Marti M

Calibre Art
8×8 Rotating Mat

Karen T
Contessa PT
Lisa L
Allison CB
Maryellen M

Thank you to all who entered, I wish I could have something for everyone, and also to the sponsors for their wonderful prizes.  Remember, the fun isn't over yet....there is still a couple of weeks left to gather up some more rows and enter some more competitions!  Head back to THIS POST to find the links to all the remaining bloggers who'd love to share their gifts with you.  There's four more new ones tomorrow and more to come.

In the meantime, I'm heading off to my sewing room to finish off a new quilt for my husband.  He informs me that I need to make him his own 'special' quilt with dozers and diggers and such and I'd promised him when we got married, 13 years ago!

I started yesterday.....well, you can't rush these things!

xox sugary hugs :o)

Computer meltdown for FNSI....

Yep, that's right!  My darn computer decided to throw a hissy fit and I couldn't get it to go after a recent Windows update.  Don't know what happened but that little wheel just kept a-spinning and took me nowhere.
So instead of getting frustrated after I turned it off and restarted it again and again, I turned it off one more time, walked away and left it for a day or two.  It seems it must have been as frazzled as I had been in the anticipation of it starting because after rebooting and going through the whole 'updating your computer....do not turn off' saga, it's finally back to normal! Phew!
Don't you just LOOOOOOVE technology? hmmmmmmmm.

So, last Friday was our monthly FNSI and mine started at my best friend Dianne's house.  This year, when we get together, we've been working on our Natalie Bird's Homespun BOM  - Foxley Village, practising new techniques and learning off one another....it's been fab.  Here's our progress on block 4...or is it 5???

 It's always loads of fun when you can 'actually' FNSI with someone else 'in the real' so we make the most of it as it doesn't happen often enough.

I did make some progress that evening on the Christmas Caroling Row a Long block too with some of the stitchery completed and I think it really finishes it off nicely.

I'll show you the rest by the end of the week and I'll hopefully have it finished over the weekend, although we are going for dinner at the Cowboys Leagues Club to watch our favourite football team hopefully make their way to the finals!

PLEASE NOTE  though, that the FREE download of the row will close 8pm  Friday Night (AEST time - which is around the early hours of the morning of Friday in the US...compare your time zone HERE).
After that I'll take it down temporarily and add the finishing instructions to make it into a Christmas wall hanging. I'll add it back to both Craftsy and Payhip but after Friday it will no longer be free, so if you haven't downloaded your copy, head back to THIS POST to get your link to the 'Once in Royal David's City' FREE Christmas Caroling Row-a-long download.

Now I haven't mentioned what this month's prize is for one lucky, random FNSI'er...so here it is......

....a mini charm pack of Lecien 'Radiant Girl' and a Craft Keeper for your threads, ribbon or even a key ring or necklace charm!  I hope you like them?

I can't leave you waiting any longer.....I've consulted Mr RNG and he's come up with ....


....the lovely lady who was working on this gorgeous Michelle Ridgeway design (and it just so happens it's a 'W'...how freaky is it that Mr RNG picked this one out????)

CONGRATULATIONS TO:

\0/ \0/   J*E*A*N*E*T*T*E   \0/ \0/

I'll get your prize off in the mail very soon.  Thank you to everyone who FNSI'ed along with us and if you're contemplating joining in next month but still sitting on the sidelines, pop back to THIS POST  and see what the ladies did, or go over to THIS PAGE to read about how FNSI works.  Don't be shy, we have loads of fun, and you could be our next FNSI winner!

Until next time,
xox Sugary hugs :o)