I'm still in shock typing that title! Can you believe it? This year has just been one crazy, hopefully never-to-be-repeated year, but despite Covid-19, health issues, hospital stays and work changes, we made it through!
Let's celebrate together at our very last-for-2020 FNSI where you can get comfy, finish off a few last Christmas gifts, nibble a few Chrissie treats topped off with a glass of wine, hot toddy or egg nog if you wish(or all of the above!) knowing you're in like-minded company with your virtual, crafty friends.
All you need to do is sign up below with your blog, IG or social media address and join us on the night. Next year I'll be doing a refresh and making our get-together more inclusive so keep an eye out for the new improved version then. In the meantime, sign up, organise some crafty business for Friday night and join in. Remember, it doesn't matter where you are in the world or whether you join in Friday night Australia time or anywhere-else-in-the-world-time. We'll be coming to visit during the week to see what you've been up to and cheer you on!
I'm a week behind and I didn't even know it....this year really hasn't been one for the faint-hearted, has it?
Sorry I’m late but i guess you won't mind if we join together this Friday night instead? I'll understand if you can't but if you're anything like me, you'll have heaps to do before Christmas so anytime is a good time, right?
just click on the link below, sign up and I'll see you then!
We've been home about 2 weeks now and I've had my hands full, to say the least. (For those of you new to the blog or who've been away since the last one, check back HERE for full details)
Mr B was recovering slowly as his diabetes was not well managed prior to the heart attack, which the diabetes specialist informs us was the cause of his heart issues.....not poor eating habits, but poor general follow-up by his gp with medicines and blood tests and a lack of knowledge on our part which resulted in a natural progression of the disease. If only we had a time machine! I definitely would be more in charge of learning about our health rather than just relying on the gp to keep on top of it! Don't get me wrong, our gp is wonderful, but we weren't aware of the blood tests we needed to get and medicines that were available to counteract issues Mr B was having....living in a rural town certainly has its downfalls with medical interventions for preventable diseases.
We spent four weeks in hospital, having had a fall (as he forgot he was attached to a blood pressure machine and oxygen and took a dive on his shoulder and whacked his head after getting up to go to the bathroom!), having two blood transfusions and then, after contracting an infection in his arm wound (where they took one of the veins for his bypasses) and then having high-dose antibiotics intravenously to kill the bacteria. Mr B was climbing the walls!
Fast forward to now and we are managing medications, we've perfected the art of injecting insulin, and our walks are getting longer and longer each day! AND we're extremely thankful for prayers and positive thoughts....I'm convinced that got him through so I get to enjoy his company for a lot longer!
Now onto our topic at hand.....this week is our FNSI....I've been doing lots of stitching but not getting much finished so maybe that's what I'll be working on. What about you?
I’ll be hosting FNSI from afar this month.....well, only an hour away from home but in ICU. Not me, I’ll be the visitor, but Mr B has had a big scare that’s thrown the biggest curve ball to us that we’ve ever had to face.
A week and a half ago, Mr B was complaining of not being able to catch his breath when he was lying down to sleep so had not had much sleep for 3 nights. On the second night he mentioned he had a bit of a whistle when he breathed so we monitored it. He also mentioned he had no energy to walk from his car to his workplace during the day, he was very lethargic. On the third morning he woke up not feeling well at all and his chest was rattling. I thought he had the beginnings of pneumonia so convinced him (after much “discussion”) it would be a good idea to go tho the emergency department of our local hospital.
When we got there and explained what the problem was, the took us in and within minutes of checking him over, had monitors and all sorts of tests and xrays happening. They thought he had either a blood clot in his lung or had had a heart attack but Mr B hadn’t had any pain or symptoms of a heart attack. After a trip in the ambulance to the radiology department for a ct scan, They discovered his heart was in fact damaged, and his right lung was filling with fluid as his heart was struggling. They informed us he had in fact, had a silent heart attack. We’d never heard of one before and as there were no symptoms, other than afterwards with lethargy and difficulty breathing, it appears he had his about 3 days prior, at work, whilst he continued about his job driving heavy machinery. Mr B drives a dozer clearing scrub timber on a cattle property so works by himself all day away from anyone else, often out of phone range so you can imagine my panic.
By late afternoon, we were travelling to Townsville, an hour away, by ambulance to a much larger hospital with cardiac specialists at hand. He was booked in for an angiogram last Monday, where they planned to put a stent in if at all possible. Well, Mr B being Mr B had to be a little more difficult than straightforward didn’t he? He was booked for open heart surgery Monday this week as it seemed he had five or six blocked arteries that needed bypass grafts. We did a tour of ICU on Sunday night so we knew what to expect when he returned from surgery as he was to stay there for one or two days till he was well enough to return to a hospital room. His surgery was booked for 12pm Monday and the surgeon rang me at 5 pm saying he was out and everything went well, although it was more extensive than they thought....he had to have SEVEN bypass grafts....unheard of!
I didn’t post FNSI yesterday as you can say I was a little preoccupied! But so far so good. Despite having difficulties overnight with maintaining his blood pressure, which they had to struggle to maintain with medications, he made it through. He was still intubated this morning and anesthetised so they could stabilise him but by afternoon the tube had been removed and he was breathing through nasal tubes to keep his lungs inflated and to avoid further complications like pneumonia. To say he’s out of the woods would be optimistic, but he has made progress and they are expecting he will spend another two days in ICU recovering where he will wake properly and walk around to promote healing. As they keep reminding me, it was a MAJOR operation, one of which the experienced nurses of 30 years had not seen before, six yes but seven......never! So my hubby is a bit of hard work at the moment, but worth every second in my opinion. And being 61 years old, he’s considered a youngster in the cardiac care unit, so he has a lot of life to look forward to. I’ll have me a new husband, Mr B 2.0!
To think, two weeks ago, we were planning a long needed weekend away with my son and his girlfriend but that has been postponed for quite a while now. I’m just thanking the Lord that I still have this special man still in my life and treasuring every moment we get. I won’t be taking any of it for granted anymore!
So you now can see where I’m coming from when I say this week I’ll be hosting FNSI from ICU. Join me in celebrating my new and improved model!
Sign ups below, and if your the praying kind, like me.....your prayers are very much appreciated. If not, thoughts and loving wishes of health and a speedy recovery are just as appreciated. It’s times like these you realise how precious family and friends are and how Quickly our routines can be changed forever.
Always Remember to tell your loved ones how precious they are
August sign ups are ready below and we all know we need a bit of girlfriend time in these wicked days of Corona and lockdowns, don’t we?
I can’t really complain....we’re pretty ok in Queensland and the worst we have to do is wash hands regularly (who didn’t do that before?), sneeze or cough into our elbows and keep a social distance of 1.5 metres. Our poor Victorian neighbours are in complete lockdown yet again and they’re almost forgetting what life pre-COVID was like.
So it’s important to get together once a month (or twice if you join in with Cheryll), and forget what’s happening in the world around us, join with our likeminded friends and stitch our cares away!
Join with us by signing up below with your details and we’ll see you Friday night!
Well hasn’t this one crept up? Can’t believe it’s time already ... but I did have a bit of a turn at work Tuesday of last week that’s thrown me into a time spin.
Let’s just say two ambulances, 3 paramedics, 2 police officers caused a bit of excitement, but still, not a partridge in a pear tree in sight (or none that I remember)!
I did get a special trip to the hospital after passing out numerous times and vomiting for no apparent reason just out of the blue. My blood pressure was recorded at 80/50 but after numerous tests at the hospital, everything was normal.
I went home and rested for a few days, I was extremely tired and lethargic but by Sunday I felt almost normal again, apart from the fact I forget the occasional word here and there.
I’m off for a brain scan, inner ear scan and ultrasound of my carotid artery next week to make sure there’s no nasties going on. Plus a number of blood tests have to be taken so surely if anything is out of whack they’ll see it. I’m confident I’ll be ok with whatever happens so in the meantime, how about joining me on Friday night for our monthly stitch in??
Just sign up below and I’ll see you in a Friday Night!
Yes it's June already and it's the third week so it's time for FNSI sign ups!
I know I promised myself this year I'd be more attentive to my blog and blogging family, and it's been bugging me as I've been slacker instead of better. I thought it may have something to do with CV-19 or maybe being too busy with work but I think I've finally figured it out.
Blogging has become quite a chore for me...…. because of my glasses!
Why would glasses affect my blogging you might ask? Since I turned 45 ( a good 10 years ago now....even though it feels like yesterday!) my eyes have deteriorated such that I need to wear glasses all day every day, not just for reading. So, that means my glasses have progressive lenses and have had from the very start.
This has been great for me as I have had no problem adjusting to them and no problem wearing them. Transitioning my view from driving to sewing to watching tv to looking at the stars hasn't been a problem, however I have been suffering from a progressively worsening neck and shoulder issue which leaves me with constant inflammation and pain from headaches and backaches and I become really irritable. I don't want to become 'one of those wives' who whinges and whines, nor one who pops pills constantly for pain, but I'm finding that's becoming more the norm.
I've been thinking more and more about it lately and I've discovered that it worsens when I'm on my computer......because when I look at the screen, I have to tilt my head back slightly to get the right angle to see clearly through the bottom half of my lenses! Now this seems like an obvious thing, but the tilt was ever so slight I didn't even notice it for almost forever however, now when I tilt, I feel the grinding of bones and pinching of nerves.......it's fun getting older isn't it ??!?!
Now that I've figured it out in the last couple of weeks (to say I'm a slow learner is an understatement!), I've tried raising my moniter, raising my chair, moving my glasses , all to no avail,or only slightly (raising my chair today has helped considerably but it's still not quite enough unless my head hits the ceiling!), so I think my next port of call is the optometrists to see if I can get a pair of 'readers only'. If that works, I can use them for my computer work and blogging and reaquaint myself with my love without pain and get back to my bloggy friends without being a whingy, whiney, drugged-up mess!
Hopefully this is the start of a better second half of the year, as soon as I can get an appointment and hopefully some relief.
Back to it for this month, it's our FNSI this Friday night. I'd love for you to join us, just sign up, using your blog, instagram or facebook links, or any way we can stop by and see what you've been up to. Remember to start with www.http:// then your web address......that will get us to your house!
Looking forward to stitching up a storm with you this Friday night!
Moms don’t often get enough credit for all that they do. Now’s the time to change that!
Print off these door hangers and write a message of thanks or love on each one.
Hang them on as many door knobs as you have in your house and show Mom some love.
Memory Photo Banner
This craft makes use of old Polaroids or other photos lying around the house.
Gather up your old memories, write a special message about each one and hang them up on the wall
with a piece of string and some clothespins.
(*post edit: wendy here!......These would even look particularly great and long-lasting printed on fabric don't you think!?)
Mom Baking Placemats
While you’re spending a lot of time indoors on Sunday, you might feel the urge to bake.
After your sweet treats come out of the oven, place them on one of these placemats that have uplifting
Mother’s Day messages. (If you’re not celebrating Mother’s Day in person, bake some treats,
take a picture of the placemat and post it to Mom’s social media pages!)
*post edit:(Wendy again!!! What do you think about printing these on fabric and bordering them in Mum's favourite fabric picks????? *wink wink*)
Mom Trivia
From her least favorite smell to a time she met someone famous or her first kiss, learn more about Mom
with these trivia activities. They’re also perfect to play over video chat and will surely lead to an
interesting story time!
I hope you're staying safe and finding something to smile about during these scary times.
Thanks,
Matt.
I think I'm going to try a couple of these for Mother's day this year. Particularly the last one. I've found with losing older family members it's really great to be able to have some 'history' to the family and it's too late (or really difficult!) once they've passed.
I hope you enjoyed our special guest post today and if you pop over to check some of these out, say Hi to Matt for me!?
Friday started out a little differently for me....well, different to the stitching I was expecting to do all Friday for our Friday Night Sew In.
Mr B has been laid off his job due to the C-19 so has resorted to a business he has had sitting on the back burner......piloting. No, not the 'up in the air' one but rather vehicle piloting (aka escorting, but that leads to a whole lot of other questions!!). His car has all the flashing lights and signs to warn oncoming traffic that there is a wide/long load coming and that they need to get off the road. His 'real' job, although fulltime is a a casual position and working on a property, that means he's down from work there when the wet season hits. Last year with the Townsville floods, he was out of work for 5 months. Our wet season this year wasn't much however this corona virus has taken a toll everywhere and they have told him they probably won't even be looking at getting him back till August at least, if at all this year! So, lucky we don't have all our eggs in one basket as he has reacquainted himself with his other job-love and it's a good opportunity for us to spend time together as I'm his bookkeeper/media driver/business partner!
So Friday saw us up at 4 in the morning to drive 100 + kilometres to join our load, and boy was it a big one! We, along with another pilot and 2 police wide load specialists, escorted a rather large bucket from a mining dump truck (those things are HUUUUUGE) that had been reconditioned from the engineering works in Bowen to its worksite at Sonoma mine. Then we were picking up another, in not such a good condition, and taking it back for a facelift. All in all the journey was a 12 hour round trip what with waiting times (a crane used to remove the bucket broke and they had to organise others!)
Like I said....HUUUUUGE - 9 metres (or 29.5 feet) from side to side. Needless to say, the road HAD to be cleared well in advance of this beast because there was definitely no room for anyone else on the road! It was lucky to clear the posts on the side of the road as most of the way the bucket hung over the top of them.
So by they time we got home, I had a lovely hot shower and relaxed in front of the tv with my stitching, working on my next block from Love and Hugs from Australia Stitch-a-long Facebook group. Have you seen them yet? They're free and lovingly donated by a myriad of Australian Designers to help us get through this lockdown period. I managed to get some of my block done before I collapsed in bed, but managed to finish it over Saturday before beginning the next one.
I've added a bit of wool felt applique to this block by Marg Low end employed a bit of 'creative licence' to the colouring and stitches I used as well....it's all in the fun of the stitch-a-long, seeing how each person has interpreted the block and made it their own.
This block is the one I'm currently working on by Robyn Welsh of Country Hart Designs. You may have noticed the printing on the fabric below my hoop, the unstitched flowers and the stitching line around the 6 inch block? This was an idea by one of the ladies in the group. She had tried and suggested printing on fabric using our inkjet printers and I thought I'd give it a try. I loved how it turned out so easily. If you want to try too just using your inkjet printer and some freezer paper, I've included the Youtube video for you.
If you would like to give it a go, the Freezer paper is available in your favourite quilt shops and Spotlight (in Australia) and I'm sure most quilting supply stores worldwide. I have a large roll of the Reynolds brand which has lasted me 'forever' as you can reuse it a number of times. I hope you give it a try. Let me know if you do and what your thoughts are on it. I like how it makes stitching much more accurate as the stitching lines are 'true' and not how I've randomly traced them.
Off to organise dinner /tea (we always have that argument in our house...is it dinner or tea at nighttime? Mr B says tea, but I've grown up with dinner.....bit like the chicken and the egg scenario!)
I hope you enjoyed our FNSI this month and make time to pop back HERE to catch up with the other ladies. I'll be back in a day or so with some winners too!
Its Wednesday, in case you didn't know! With all this Covid-19 and isolation, it's getting hard to remember what day it is, especially after Easter. So I'm sorry but time has slipped by me again! Such a slacker, I must get myself organised (not one of my better traits!).
I hope you have all been keeping well and safe and were blessed with a lovely Easter? I have been still working, up until yesterday when I got the phone call to say that all staff had been laid off until this has all passed so I have been preoccupied with work and busyness...this morning was a little odd having a sleep in and at 11am, I'm still in my pyjamas! Note to self: I REALLY need to organise my schedule! In our house we phoned and facebooked family and friends to keep in touch over the Easter weekend and Mr B supplied me with a healthy supply of chocolate Easter Eggs! We have been practicing social distancing for a while now, and apart from shopping for food and going to work, we have done nothing...which has given me more time (and money!) for crafty stuff! However, I need to make a special visit to the post office to post two very special gifts from the last two months....I've been wary of going outside my regular places and, like I said, I REALLY need to get organised!
I have been playing with some stitchery and stitching and have been encouraged by two very special friends who run two lovely facebook groups. You may know them or even be members yourselves, but if you don't/aren't I recommend you take a look. The inspiration is amazing in our lockdown phase.
The first one is the Tilda Lovers Club, hosted by my wonderful friend Fee. She has encouraged us to try projects from one of the Tilda books each week and if we don't own that book, there's a project she posts up for us to complete. Each week she offers prizes, courtesy of Two Green Zebras. Two weeks ago, we made Easter bunnies, last week was a dapper dachshund and this week is a Tilda paper pieced pincushion. I've had fun with each of them.....
I've also been stitching along with my good friend Natalie who joined with a group of crafty ladies on Facebook to create the Love and Hugs from Australia stitch-a-long. 16 lovely fellow Australian stitchers have donated a 6 inch block each to create during this lockdown so that we can stitch together and create them into anything you like. Mine's going to become a lap quilt to remind me of our time during Covid-19. I'm not as prolific as others and have only done five blocks but two I haven't got photos of yet so they'll be in my next post.
Why not pop over to either of these groups and join in the fun? I'm sure I'll get a lot more of my UFO's finished, that is if I don't get to distracted by all the new pretties online! So, with all this time on our hands, and all this stitching to be done, I'd like to invite you to sign up to our regular monthly Friday night Sew In. Everyone is welcome and you can read more about it HERE if you're new and would like to find out more before you play along. *Please note: if you don't have a blog, you can play along using your Instagram account, Facebook or Pinterest if that's your thing. Nobody should miss out on the fun!
It's taken me most of the day to learn the new Blogger and PicMonkey interfaces so I'm now off to do some stitching of my own. Don't forget to sign up for Friday!
St Patrick's Day and with the cloud of the Corona Virus -19 above us, it won't be celebrated in the regular fashion so, why not join us for a St Patrick's Friday Night Sew In???
I know it will be a little late but I'm sure we've all got green fabrics and scraps that we can use to create something even more amazing, no matter what time of year, right?
I've popped a couple of ideas below to prompt you....
Maybe you might like to practise a bit of paper piecing with this free pattern along with a number of other different designs...
Or how about practising some free motion quilting?? These shamrocks will have you doing a jig!
Whatever you choose to do, make sure you link in with us below for our Friday Night Sew In and join us on Friday night for a virtual sew in, corona virus-friendly and still spending time with all your quilty friends!
Who knows? You may be the lucky leprachaun who has 'the luck of the Irish' and is drawn for our monthly prize!
I can’t really complain....we’re pretty ok in Queensland and the worst we have to do is wash hands regularly (who didn’t do that before?), sneeze or cough into our elbows and keep a social distance of 1.5 metres. Our poor Victorian neighbours are in complete lockdown yet again and they’re almost forgetting what life pre-COVID was like. 
Join with us by signing up below with your details and we’ll see you Friday night! 
