HURRY UP 2015 . . .

Only 10 hours to go and then I can happily say goodbye and to be honest, good riddance, to 2014!

It's been a horrible year, full of sadness with the loss of a loved one and full of worrying illnesses which are set to continue into 2015 but hopefully with a full recovery!

Christmas was lovely this year but hard without my MIL, we miss her so much.

A  few days before the big day I was struggling with my foot in the air cast and the continual swelling so medication was prescribed along with crutches and only a maximum output of 25% body weight on that foot is allowed with a warning from the Specialist that this could take 3 months to heal :(

DH and the gang have been so good sorting everything out and they were brilliant with preparing and cooking the Christmas Dinner ~ so proud of them all x

This was my only contribution but had great fun making them with DD ~ melting snowmen on digestive biscuits . . .

I feel my blogging contributions have been poor too ~ the few posts I have contributed have been full of misery but the dark days have been aplenty and I still feel I'm struggling.  I'm so disappointed to have lost, what I considered to be, special blogging friends and sad to find that a lot of previous blogs I followed now say I haven't been invited to read any longer but I guess if I haven't been around to comment to others then this can only be expected.

I'm so grateful to those bloggers that have stuck with me ~ your comments and kind messages mean so much to me x

Now . . . . stitching . . . can I present finishes 2 and 3 of the year (I would say Happy Dance but that's not too hopeful at the moment!)

Yes, I have achieved a whole 3 finishes this year, one was a sheepie pillow for someone and these next 2 have been completed recently . . .

 LHN ~ Snowy Pines (Mill Hill ice beads arrived this morning so almost there!)

and . . .

 Mill Hill Appalachian Santa ~ it's very pretty when the lights catch the beads and sparkle

Struggled a little with his beard but found my own simpler way of doing it!

I have another 2 of these little Santas in the pipeline and have just started the Holly & Ivy Santa, I find them really easy to handle and stitch whilst immobile and having everything all together in a kit makes life a lot easier!

Well, it's not the happiest post ever is it? 

But a year ago I didn't have this little fellow in my life and he certainly has brightened up every day since!  He loved his 1st Christmas, toys and treats aplenty, some a little noisier than others and I'm quite surprised to say the Christmas Tree is still standing up straight and complete with its decorations!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE

Enjoy your celebrations!

(((Hugs)))

Jane, Monty, Tilly & Oscar x

AN EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT AND THE 'BIG' ONE!

Time has flown by again so quickly since my last post, my apologies again, but now's my chance to catch up!

Santa's bought me an early Christmas present . . .

Starting yesterday ~ a fun-filled 6 weeks wearing an air cast boot for a fractured foot ~ funny I don't remember that being on my wish list and I'm sure I've been good all year, not very naughty and most of the time nice!

I have no explanation for the fracture just a sudden pain 6 weeks ago which I hoped would go away but one ultrasound, one x-ray and one MRI scan later this is the result ~ a phone call from the Specialist Monday evening and this lovely present yesterday!

I do feel quite miserable about it at the moment and what a time of year to be told to just rest for 6 weeks and wear this all the time other than in bed :(

This has all  followed another string of illnesses ~ inhalation of some toxic fumes at the local Supermarket resulting in a severe allergy reaction, emergency injections and a stay in hospital with a drip to flush out all the toxins, a kidney infection, yet another chest infection, the return of the dreaded Keytones in my blood ~ more drips and finally when I thought I was safe from hospitals ~ Monty and I were attacked by an unleashed dog whilst walking at the Park!!!

Hey c'mon enough is enough?

On the brighter side do you think if I leave this boot next to the fireplace on Christmas Eve, Santa may come back and fill it with something nicer than a fractured bone?

Now to the 'BIG' one . . . my 50th birthday ~ ouch . . . OMG . . . 50?

As health issues have been so prominent this year, I had begged my family many months ago for no big parties or surprise holidays etc. and it was decided instead that we would make use of this unused part of the garden (as shown to you in my last official post) . . .

WITH A NEW CRAFT ROOM . . .

To say I'm thrilled to bits would be an understatement!  I knew this was going to be built and as my birthday was in November it was started in plenty of time to be ready for my big day.  It stands next to our other Summer House (old sewing room) and it has been built to my specification which was to maximise space for storage and take in the full view of the garden.  Over several weeks we collected second-hand furniture and odds and ends which we have gradually restored and in the last month it has all come together and finally been landscaped ~ I have lots of progress photos and before and after furniture pics and in a post or two time I will share them with you ~ just one little problem at the moment ~ our garden is tiered and I have to get down 6 steps from our balcony to reach it . . . not a problem unless you have a fractured foot!

When the big day arrived, then came the surprises and off to London was first on the list ~ DH and DD took me out to lunch at a fabulous restaurant where we were joined by DD's boyfriend and then Christmas lights, shopping and a visit to Liberty's . . .

Beautifully lit up for Christmas

My favourite window

 Love the cuddly fox and knitted mouse

We got home early evening (with one very throbbing foot and at this time no knowledge as to why, so carried on regardless!) and then with my twin boys and their girlfriends I opened their lovely presents ~ lots of lovely crafty things for the new room ~ fabrics, buttons, jelly rolls, decoupage rabbits and from my DD ~ the Harry Potter Maurauder's Map, printed on parchment and framed ~ WOW! I am so lucky, lovely presents to treasure always x

AND THEN . . . came the weekend and the next surprise, up early and a bus to catch????

I couldn't believe this!  We're probably a family of  the biggest Harry Potter fans ever and hadn't yet visited the HP Studio Tour, but to top it all this wasn't just the ordinary HP Tour this was the Hogwarts in the Snow/Christmas Harry Potter Tour!

I must have been the biggest kid of the day, I enjoyed every minute of it (not so much the very throbbing foot by now!) and 500 photos were the result so let's get started . . .

PHOTO #1 . . . . only joking!  As I think everyone else has already done the Tour I'll just show you some that will look different at this special time of year . . .

 The Yuletide Bull Christmas Tree

The Great Hall decorated with Christmas Trees, Christmas fayre, presents and real flaming Christmas puddings

  Hogwarts in the Snow

So so pretty

Thank you my lovely family for such a wonderful celebration

of 50 years

xxxxx

AND FINALLY . . .

 some sewing news and as I'm sure you'll understand there's been very little of it!

I started this Christmas Carol sampler last Christmas and was doing well with it until the sad times hit us last February

but it has seen light of day again and progress had been good . . .

 I'm going to take a little break from it at the moment as it's quite a large project and I don't think it will be easy to sew it with one foot raised and resting so I've started a little easy-to-hold design . . .

LHN ~ Snowy Pines Christmas Ornament

This design will be nothing new to a lot of you, I think it was first released back in 2010, but I found this whilst transferring all my stash down to the new Craft Room so got the gang to go down and hunt it out yesterday so that I can make some use of the long 6 weeks ahead ~ no walking of any distance and no driving makes Jane an unhappy bunny and I have to say Monty is looking very oddly at my foot too!

Well, lovely followers, and I'm so happy to see I do actually still have some, that's it for now.  I promise to be back soon with lots of pics of the new room and hopefully lots more stitching.

Again, as usual, I am so behind with all your posts but will get to you soon and catch up, I bet you're all stitching up some lovely Christmas designs and I'm looking forward to seeing them.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit me

{{{Hugs}}}

Jane

x