Sunday 31 October 2010

Halloween - whooooooo, hoooooooo

We went out for a meal today with the grandparents for Michael's birthday, it was a bit odd because Dad wasn't there (more about him later) and Philly wasn't there because she was on her first day a Debenhams. I made some Halloween cupcakes instead of a big birthday cake.


Dad is improving but it's been a difficult week. He was moved Tuesday to another ward as he was doing well, the new ward was an overflow ward with mainly agency nurses. They were terrible, hardly ever came when Dad pressed his buzzer. We visited on Weds afternoon before driving 3 hours to the caravan because we need to close it down for winter. A friend visited Dad and rang to say he was shocked how poorly he was, poor breathing and didn't seem with it. We rang the hospital and were told Dad was not co-operating and they had struggled to get him to stand out the car so had not changed him since afternoon visiting. I was fuming but we couldn't drive back.

We packed the caravan up Thurs morning and drove 3 hours home in time for afternoon visiting. Dad was definately unwell, and was being kept in bed because he wouldn't get out he chair the nght before. They said he was being unco-operative, but the chair was so low he couldn't stand to get out as he has poor strength in his legs anyway. He had big black eyes, very poor breathing and not really aware of much. I asked the nurse for some oxygen, the look said it all but I insisted and eventually she fitted him a new mask.We complained to the Patient Service and that evening requested Dad move wards.

Friday morning he was moved back to a ward he'd been in before, was on full oxygen and the nurses were bustling around saying 'fancy seeing you back here Ron'. By evening visiting Dad was so much better, they had found a chest infection and put him on anti-biotics .Our friend visited again and was amazed at how much better he looked, he said he was quite worried Weds and I dread to think how Dad would have been if we'd have stayed in Wales until Fri.

Two days on Dad is back to his old chatty self, still on the drip but in the chair, being regularly changed and eating all his dinners. He said he felt like a bag of potatoes on the other ward but feels like a person now :) He's been in three weeks now and it is nice to seehim finally improving but it's very tiring all the rushing around. I'm back at school tomorrow too.

Stitching wise I have finished the summer basket on my Round Robin peice and have now started the lettering.


I have also started knitting again - I bought some wool at the bargain price of 40p a ball and the pattern is a freebie from Prima. It will be a short sleeved jacket when it's done, fingers crossed. It's not quite the right wool and there are a few large stitches which I might have to move along later.


Happy Halloween everyone, thanks for flying by :)

Monday 25 October 2010

London, birthday and stitching

We've had a great weekend in London with our friends.The journey down on Friday was not so good, 4 hours in total, the last 8 miles taking 1 hour 45 minutes :( The Travelodge is always good, we use City Airport which is quite new and has a bar downstairs. Saturday morning we walked around South Bank and had a quick visit to Tate Modern. There was plenty of time to enjoy lunch at our favourite Thames side pub, Dogetts, before popping into Selfridges to buy my Nespresso glasses. We saw Graham Norton there doing a book signing.


The Tesco Wine Fair (our main reason for going to London) was great; there were 55 stands with five or six samples at each. It's great to get to try wines we wouldn't buy and using the guide book we now have ticks and crosses against wines to buy when we go shopping.

We had a lovely meal at Pizza Express before taking the tube back to the hotel - another very good trip but I did struggle to get around and have rested yesterday and today :0

I have worked hard on the summer basket on my  RR tablecloth, I don't get to do much stitching each day but it's coming along.


I have also finished another cross but it needs the silver lines adding, I have added the silver to the other four.



DH is off this week as well and hopefully we'll get to the caravan for a day or two. We need to close it down for the winter, hopefully we'll get to use it more next year as we didn't really visit that often in 2010.

Thanks for reading my news, happy blogging x x

Monday 18 October 2010

Lots of news

It's been over a month since I blogged - the only reason is lack of time. I can blog today because unfortunately I am off work; I've had a very bad cold which has affected my MS so now I need a couple of days to let my body recover.

Home news: my dad is in hospital after a fall on his mobile scooter, he's been in a week and is improving but seems so tired. He has always looked good for his age (84 in Dec) but this fall has definitely aged him. I'm off to the hospital to see him again this afternoon.

Philippa has settled well into Sixth Form college, and has survived the two weeks her boyfriend Kieran was away in America. She has changed from netball to volleyball and now plays for Nuneaton Ladies.She is now Gold Ambassador for the Sports Academy and is one of the leaders on a netball course for younger girls over half term.

Michael is enjoying his new job - he is working hard at promoting the Nature Reserve. Ianthe Badger is the facebook account - please have a look and become a friend.If you are based in the Midlands it is a great place to visit and enjoy a day outside; wellies and binoculars recommended. They do have some events on over half term, just click on the facebook events tag.

Stitching News

I had a great day on Saturday at the Stitch and Stash meet up (I did just sit and stitch though). Julie, Rachel, Tina (and her three friends), Angie, Vikki (and her daughter India), Jackie, Kathy (who organised a fab day), Lynn, Jacqui, Tracey and Hazel all travelled to Nuneaton for the day. We had a great time sharing ideas, wips and finishes. We also spent some time planning Round Robins and ideas for updating the forum; pop along and see, it's growing :) One thing I've added is a gallery to show off work we've done over the week - a great way to see things growing.

The rest of my news is in picture form - enjoy :)



Dusty's Round Robin - I was the lucky stitcher to complete this, I stitched the birdhouse above the writing.


This is my Round Robin - it will be a table cloth when it's finished. I am currently working on the summer basket.

Julie taught me how to crochet - this was my first attempt (it's a new design as I did it wrong but it looks ok)

My second attempt and this time it's right :)

Dusty sent over these gorgeous crosses for my Cross Stitch tree at church's Christmas Tree Festival.

Mum made all these too, mainly card but two tatting ones and a knitted cross.

and I've done a new centre on this one; it was an accident as there is no centre hole so I did a double line but I'm very impressed with it and will be doing the others the same way.

This is a Ruby Wedding sampler for my Godmother, I think I'll make it into an ornament with white lace and red ribbon.

Thank you for reading my blog - I'll try to keep the news flowing a bit more often :)