Christmas is Cancelled this year

Well my lack of Christmas spirit sunk to new lows over the weekend.

One of my aunts who has been ill for some time was taken into hospital on Friday. On saturday we got more snow and I was unsure about travelling in to central London to see her at St Thomas'. Thankfully I did as she passed away in the afternoon with two of her sisters, myself, one of her many nephews and a close friend.

She had been put on a ventilator and we had  "the talk" with a doctor who looked about 12 about removing her from it. He was very good though and it was the right thing to do.

She never married or had kids but she had a partner. However he can't handle anything at the best of times so now I am sorting the funeral and her possessions out with my Mum and another Aunt. The phone lines are busy between London and Limerick, its almost going to be a funeral by committee as so many people want a say about what is happening. We will have a cremation in the New Year and then take the ashes back to Ireland to bury later but some people over there think we should take her body back which would elevate it to a whole new level of complication!

On top of that, more snow is forecast and I'm supposed to be going out to the country for my dinner of Christmas Day. I can't see us being able to make it so I want to get somethings in for my Mum and Myself if we can't!

I am not really going to be commenting or anything on any blogs until things get straight but I will probably browse when I need to get my sanity back and relax.

Take care and I hope your Christmas' are peaceful and drama free.

Christmas Spirit

BAH HUMBUG.........


.....wait for it........



 
The only Christmas Spirit I'm feeling at the moment is in a vodka bottle! (Unopened I may add in case you are worried I have a problem!)

AAAARGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

Bloody sodding workman!

Why oh why did I get this bit of work done? Why? Why? Why? Or at least by this muppet who was recommended to me. A few odd jobs! Thats all I'm getting done and he has trashed my house.

I can't even get from one room to another without tiptoeing over tools and boxes and cables and boots! Boots! Why are there workboots in the middle of the hall? He's wearing some, why did he need a spare pair?

There was less mess in the house when I had three men fitting a new kitchen!

AAAAAAAARGGGGGGGHHHH............................................

Finally some finishes

Being snowed in for nearly a week has had one advantage, I've got my sewing mojo back and finished a few things.

This little baby quilt is only 32in square and made from bits of scraps I had. Three of the centre patches were made months ago and then sat in a corner ever since. Even the backing and binding were scraps and the wadding was a right hodge podge of bits. I used spray glue to baste and it worked really well with the scraps of wadding to keep them in place. I'm still trying to use up the pinkish thread I bought for the Loony Limerick Ladies quilt and as I can't get it to work with freemotion I used the walking foot to make the wavy lines. I really like how these look quilted.

Next I finished off another scotty dog from 2.5 inch square scraps. Again, he's been nearly finished for months but just needed a bit of work. He was also stuffed with scrap wadding, the bits that were too small to save for anything else.

Here he is playing on the stairs with the one I finished earlier in the year. Much cleaner than real puppies running around the house.

I also made up three more penants for the http://www.quilts4london.org.uk/ Olympics from sample patches and other scraps.

This first one I used to practise my freemotion echo quilting, it was hard and not perfect close up but from a distance it looks okay.

I used close straight lines on this one and love the texture, but it wouldn't be good on a full size quilt as it would take forever and wouldn't be very snuggly. Ideal for this though.

This last one I used the wavy lines on a diagonal. I'm not sure about the abstract nature of it, the circles ended up looking like a paw print!

I also noticed today that I had past the 100 posts mark. Can you believe I didn't notice til now? When I started blogging I never really thought I would keep it up so I am shocked I've got this far. Even better, the 100th post was for the October Bloggers Quilt Festival which is perfect as it was reading all the posts for the Quilt Festival in Spring and Autumn 09 that gave me the incentive to start this blog!

Favourite Things Friday

This week its candles. I love having candles burning in the house, although I am very careful about only having them on in the room I am in. On a cold winter even curled up in front of the telly with a glass of wine and the candles flickering is so cozy.

My current favourite one which I love in the bathroom when I am having a long soak with a good book and maybe another glass of wine (can you see the theme here) is this one in a tin. It has the most delicate scent, sweet and naughty which wafts around the room when burning. It also burns cleanly, I get really frustrated when candles are badly made and don't burn straight.

And who couldn't love the name - Fairy Dust!

For more Favourite Things head over to Mrs P at http://fairybreadmusings.blogspot.com/2010/12/favourite-things-friday.html