A better day

This has taken some doing I can tell you! For some reason I was unable to upload photos from the computer, I've been all over the internet trying to ensure you have an image! Anyway, I'm here now. Thank you for your supportive messages in response to my last post, they are just what I needed. I've arranged to have a few Mondays off work, we'll see how things go. Next Monday I'll be going with Mum when she has her appointment at blood clinic. Hopefully not only will she have her usual test, they will also do a type match and give her a transfusion. That takes up quite a bit of the day and really does nothing for her mood. I plan to take along some crochet and a pile of my foody magazines. We both enjoy looking through them and Mum can mark all the recipes she would like me to have a go at. She really enjoys that. Sometimes they are a hit and sometimes a miss, but we never know until we try. :-)

Onto the troublesome image. Nothing terribly special, just an update of my latest crochet project. I think one more round of colours and I'll call this one quits. Maybe I'll have it ready to take with me on Monday, I can add borders while mum gets her blood!

We have a busy weekend ahead of us. It's mums birthday on Friday, so we're off out for dinner. Then on Saturday my sister and her family will be joining us at home for another birthday dinner. (Having just had a major op, she is excused from joining us on Friday), Sunday, mum is having lunch with a friend, while I'm at work, then on Sunday evening another friend will be joining us for a Chinese banquet, which we will be doing take away style. Phew!  Maybe I won't have the blanket ready for it's borders!

Hmm, problem with doing the image thing this way is I don't have my siggie sewing machine. I do hope they sort out what ever the issue is very soon.

I don't like Mondays

No, I'm not reliving my past and singing along to the Boomtown Rats.

Mondays are bad days in this house. Monday is blood test day. Mum resents having her blood tested, it reminds her that she is ill. It is inconvenient and gets in the way of her life. As if that were not bad enough, sometimes she has to go for a follow up test and a transfusion, and that really spoils her day, well actually it spoils the whole week. I'm not in a good place myself on a Monday, I'm on edge all day, waiting for her to get back from the hospital and wondering what sort of mood she will be in, knowing it won't be good and that she will be angry and snappy and as I am the one here waiting for her, I'm the one who will get all of that frustration. I'm also the one who receives the call from the hospital and has to relay the results. Not a pleasant job even when they show an improvement, and a horrid job when I have to relay bad news. 

I've made the decision to reduce my working hours by one shift a week and I've come to the conclusion that I really shouldn't work on Mondays, I really don't cope any better than Mum does. We had a chat this evening Mum and I, she reassures me, that she is not angry with me, she says she is angry with Luke (The illness) and she doesn't mean to take it out on me and upset me. She says Mondays don't exist any more. I too feel that I have lost Mondays. We agreed that we need to find a way to inject a little positivity into our Mondays. Getting together for lunch or a look at the shops is out as blood clinic can take anything from 2 - 4 hours, which kind of screws up your day. I could go and sit in the hospital with her, but that has kind of become my brothers job, he sees to the test and I deal with home and the results, I don't want to take that away from him, besides he says that gives me a little time off. So what can I do to make Mondays better, for both/all of us. Maybe we should go out for tea on Mondays, or I should bake a cake or another sweet treat, Mum has a very sweet tooth even if I don't. 

What do you think people? Please help me out here.

Working hard

I'm still here, I just don't seem to have much to blog about at the moment. I've been doing a little crochet here and there and the pretty blanket pictured in my last post has grown a little.  What you see in today's image is homework. I'm trying to complete the course I began in September last year, it should have been finished by the end of November, but life got in the way and my tutors have given me time off. Now I just want to get it out of the way, before life gets in the way again. Only one assignment left to complete. :-)

What do you think of the table? At the flat I had two tables which I used for cutting fabrics and often used either the dining table or even the kitchen floor when layering and pinning quilts. That facility is not available here. My beloved husband agreed that I needed something though as the only table we brought with us is not big enough and yes there is a dining table here, but it's down four flights of stairs and if I were to scratch it with anything, severe punishment would follow!! So he purchased this lovely for me, it folds away to almost nothing and seems to be the perfect solution, though to date that is an untested theory as the only thing I've managed to spread out on it is homework. There are still 10 project boxes and two completed quilt tops here waiting for me......

Two steps forward, one step back.

A quick update of my latest project. I'm enjoying working with these colours. I've been working away on this one in between work and clearing away a few more boxes and trying to settle in here.

 With the Christmas tree down and put away I've been able to get on and unpack a few more of our belongings. I've made a little corner for my sewing machine, then promptly covered the table with clutter! LOL 

 The spare bed is still here, but looking much better now that I have cleared most of the clutter and covered it up.

 There are still a couple of boxes to sort out.

It still feels rather cramped and cluttered up here, but we're getting there. 

New Start

I had planned to use up some of the left over yarns from my previous project, but decided that I want to do something in pastel shades and these were the only two which came up to scratch. So before I do any more, I'm off to the shop in search of pastels.

Then I'll be getting on with another blanket for my grand baby.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. Sorry I'm not around much recently, my life and routines have changed considerably since our move. I do still make time for some pleasures though.  Behold, my first finish of 2013. :-)  This colourful beauty is a gift for a friends daughter.

 It's rather a grey day today and unfortunately you don't see it at it's best. Believe me it is soooo much prettier in real life.

So whats next? I have two quilt tops here awaiting my attentions, but just can't bring myself to work on them.  So more crochet it is. I've plenty of yarn left over from the the latest finish.