TWO WORKING FEET AND A BEAUTIFUL DREAM . . .

Good afternoon blogging friends!

It's a lovely sunny but very chilly day here in the South and a welcome sight after a whole day of heavy rain yesterday. 

Well, finally I have 2 working feet again and am walking without crutches.  I'm now in the transition stage of air boot to orthotic and so far so good ~ 30 mins to start with and increasing by 30 mins each day until I can wear the orthotic without pain during or afterwards for 4 hours :)

I go back to the Specialists in 4 and 8 weeks time to see if all is as it should be on an X-ray and then to decide whether I need a permanent orthotic or not.

Fingers crossed!

In my last post I showed you my new WIP and a couple of bloggers have asked who the design was by, sorry I missed typing that info and sorry I haven't been able to contact those bloggers personally ~ my computer just won't let me and if I am successful the emails come pinging back to me with the message 'fatal error' ~ that's not very nice is it?  Anyway . . .  the designer is Sara Guermani, the design is called 'A Beautiful Dream' and she has her own web shop and also sells on Etsy.

It's a treat to stitch and my little Christmas Village now has some greenery as five lovely conifers have joined the scenery!

Think this is probably now my only way of seeing snow this year and that's by stitching it!

Lovey Christmas reds and greens

I'm stitching 'A Beautiful Dream' alongside another design.
With the birthday money I received last year for my 'special' birthday I wanted to buy a cross stitch that would commemorate that day to me and something all the family would appreciate in future times so after surfing the internet for some considerable time  I chose this one ...

'Santa's Nap'
A rosy faced Santa and lots of puppy dogs ~ who could resist?

I was a little shocked at the amount of thread that came with this kit, thank goodness it was already pre-sorted!

Not much to show so far and it's back to the old days with this kit as it's stitched on good old Aida, 18 count and has lots of lovely back stitching afterwards but I know, although a pain, backstitching will really bring this design alive.

Tilly and Oscar continue to do well and now only have 2 more days of medication ~ no more symptoms and her condition remains stable :)
I would miss any of my pets so much if I lost any of them, whilst I have been laid up with the fractured foot they have been such good company, sounds silly doesn't it? (must be an age thing!!!)

Thanks for stopping by
Stay warm
{{{Hugs}}}
Jane
x

GOOD NEWS ALL ROUND

Well it's good news so far for Tilly and Oscar ~ we're now 2 weeks through the 4 week course of medication and Tilly remains stable and Oscar fully fit!  Tilly still has her head tilt but we had been warned that that might stay and hopefully she'll learn to cope with it, certainly at the moment these two little bunnies are full of life and sensing Spring is on the doorstep ~ thank you all for your lovely comments, thoughts and prayers xxx

Good news for me too as I saw the Orthopaedic Surgeon on Monday night and my foot is making good progress.  I am still having some pain and swelling underneath the foot which may take some time to improve so I am now waiting to see another Specialist who can make me an orthosis so I can gradually transfer from the air cast boot to a normal shoe ~ nearly a Happy Dance!!!

And .... even more good news ~ I actually have 2 finishes to show you!

That's quite an achievement to me after my poor offering of 3 last year!

They are 2 more Mill Hill Santa's . . .

Holly & Ivy Santa

Lapland Santa

With the one I finished in December I think they will make a nice trio on the tree next Christmas, it's hard to see the beads sparkling in a photo but they are really pretty when the light catches them.

Our promise of snow here in the South of the UK has still not happened, we have the odd flurry and it settles on the roof and car tops for a little while but doesn't hang around for long

so disappointing ~ Monty's waiting so patiently  . . .

So whilst we sit and wait I've started my next stitch and at the moment it has about as much snow as we have had . . .

A Beautiful Dream

This is my 2nd attempt on this design as the first one was using the DMC colours listed on the chart and the result was really dull colours and not too my taste so whilst the air turned slightly blue as I unpicked the 2 middle houses a 2nd attempt began and as shown above it's with my choice of hand-dyed threads!

I'm trying to keep it as Christmassy as possible so lots of Christmas reds and the greens are my choice for the trees, the fabric is as suggested ~ what a brilliant fabric ~ just imagine stitching all that falling snow!

Tomorrow night the Great British Sewing Bee is starting its 3rd series, love this show, 10 contestants whittled down each week to the final 3 and along the way showing us some fantastic (some not) skills and ideas on their sewing machines ~ this will definitely be a me-time with a Do Not Disturb Sign on the door!

Thank you for stopping by

Stay warm if you have the white stuff and if you have lots of it could you send me just a little bit!

{{{Hugs)))

Jane

x

A WAITING GAME

My little bunny Tilly is sick and it's a waiting game to see if she can recover :(

Last Thursday we brought her in for the night from her outdoor hutch and her head was tilted to one side, I honestly thought she had had a stroke but she could still hop and was happy to eat and be petted that evening.  DS and I took her to the vets the next day where she was diagnosed with a condition that effects 52% of healthy pet rabbits in the UK, it's  related to their immune system and can cause head tilt, paralysis of the back legs, tremors and renal failure :(

We have started oral treatment immediately which will continue for the next 28 days but the next 7 days will determine the start of a recovery or deterioration ~ no deterioration yet, still a head tilt which does effect her balance but still eating, still drinking and still my little bundle of cuddles.

Our worries are doubled as Oscar is at risk too so he is taking the medication as well but thankfully as yet no signs!

Love my pets, love my little Tilly and can't bear the thought of losing her ~ please say a little prayer for her xxx

{{{Hugs}}}

Jane

x

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