I'm Back!

Well we got back from holiday on Wednesday afternoon and things are slowly returning to normal. I can never get over how long it takes to empty the caravan and put things away, and the amount of laundry there is! We had a good week away and were very lucky with the weather as it was lovely a few days, and we only had rain during the day on the second to last day. Saying that, I came down with a stinker of a cold on the 3rd day and felt dreadful the rest of the week. The last two nights I had to dose myself up with cough medicine and prop myself up on pillows in the caravan to get myself to sleep, so it was nice to come home to my own bed.
Stitching wise the rotation went out of the window for the week which I knew it would, but I still managed to get some done. Firstly I finished my LHN Always & Forever for our 10th anniversary next month, and then I made some more progress on Cirque. I've now done half of the page and for some reason that's given me a boost that I might actually finish it one day lol.
The pic of Cabin has only just been taken, but it's a couple of weeks since I worked on it last. I've now actually reached the cabin itself and it's SO good to be able to stitch colours that are not blue. I'm looking forward to working on this again soon.
Back to the rotation, and I am going to tweak it slightly. There have been a few days when I haven't stitched for one reason or another and this has meant certain projects have missed out on stitching time. So I've decided that rather than have the set days of the week I'm just going to do 4 days on slot 1, 1 day on Cirque, 2 on the mystery, and then onto slot 2 for 4 days, and so on. This way if I miss a day's stitching it doesn't matter, I just don't move on until I've done my set day/s on that project. I'm hoping to get the Papillon mystery back out tonight for a couple of days, don't really feel in the mood for stitching but hoping once I pick it up I'll soon get back into the swing.
Well, only 2 more days of freedom and then it's back to work for me after 5 weeks. I had 3 weeks sick leave after the op and then 2 weeks holiday leave, so this is the longest I've had off since having Erin over 5 years ago. I'd be lying if I said I was happy about going back, right now I'm dreading it and feel sick when I think about it, but there's nothing I can do so just got to try not to think too much about it til Mon lol.

Flying Visit

Just a quick update as we are going away in our caravan tomorrow for a week so I won't be able to post while we're away.
Haven't been able to take update pics of my wips today as the batteries for the camera are on charge ready to take away with us, but I have taken a quick pic of the Papillon mystery with my phone to give you an idea of progress. It's not a brilliant photo but you'll get the idea. I've now finished parts 1 and 2 including adding the beads, and I made a start on part 3 earlier.

I made good progress on Cabin In The Woods in the 4 days I worked on it last week and finished another oval in Cirque when I worked on that for a day, but you'll have to wait til we get back for a pics of those lol.

I've managed to sneak four wips into the caravan to take with us. The mystery, Cirque, Celtic Autumn and Always & Forever. A&F is to work on during the day if I get chance at any of the activities Erin goes to, and the other three are for in the caravan or sitting out in the sun if we get any by some miracle. Sometimes when we go I get loads of stitching done, other times hardly any, but I can't risk having nothing to stitch can I?!

So til next time, I wish you all plenty of frog free stitching (hugs).

I Love My New Rotation!

Well 11 days in and my rotation is still working lol. I don't want to jinx myself as I've tried so many different ones all for them to fail eventually, but I really am enjoying this new set up. The pics I've taken were taken before the weekend and the colours are all wrong as it was so dull, but you'll get the idea.
Cirque is great to work on for just one day a week as I'm keeping making progress, no colour changes means it's easy to pick up and get going on, and I don't get bored of it.

How Does Your Garden Grow is fast becoming my favourite project. This pic doesn't show it but I've now finished Part 1 except for the beads and have made a good start on Part 2. It seems to stitch up very quickly once you get the hang of each stitch, and it's so pretty.

Last week Mon-Thur I made a good start on LHN's Always & Forever. This is for DH for our 10th Wedding Anniversary with is in September. I've been going to stitch it for a while but then he does something to annoy me and I think "I'm not wasting my stitching time on him" lol, then he does something to get back in my good books again and I change my mind. Anyway, I love the design and it will be displayed in our lounge when it's finished so I'll enjoy it as well, so figured I might as well just go ahead and stitch it. I had the silk specially dyed by Vikki Clayton to go with the browns in our lounge, and although I wasn't wild about it when I first got it, I just love it stitched up. I have to say though that by Thur I was glad to put it away as I was getting a little bored. This will be coming out again before it's next slot though as we're going away next week in our caravan for the week and I'm going to take it to stitch a little on when I'm watching Erin doing the activities, plus I need to get it finished and made up somehow before 10th Sept.

And finally as it was smalls week last week I made up the Alphabet Tree freebie I stitched a while back into a floss ring tag! I'm not wild about how the eyelet setting worked out on the back, but I guess it's practice I am very pleased with the finish on the whole.

This week is the turn of HAED Cabin In The Woods and I've managed to get a good bit done the last 2 days. I'll take a pic before it goes away again.

Health wise I'd say I'm back to about 80% now. I'm still having trouble bending over and the main incision is uncomfortable and placed perfectly to catch on anything I wear, plus I still can't drive so am stuck at home when David is at work, but other than that I'm managing to do a lot more and feeling better.

I have til next Wed on sick from work and already had 2 weeks holiday booked from work which starts next Mon, so unless something happens in the next couple of weeks I'll be going back to work on 1st Sept. Right now I feel sick when I think about it and am dreading it, but it's got to happen so I'm trying to not focus on it too much and just enjoy the time I have left and get myself to 100% before then if possible.

Hope you're all having a good week, thanks to everyone who comes and visits my blog and especially to those who take the time to leave a comment. I still haven't figured out a way to track my visitors like some can do on their blogs, so I'm just hoping I do have other visitors besides the ones who comment lol. Til next time!

Whoohoo!!!

I finally figured out after god knows how long how to add a pic to my blog title! I've tried this so many times and finally today found out by trial and error that the template I was using was the problem. So I've been playing for a while with a new template and colours etc, and am really pleased with myself and the result lol.
Now don't laugh, but I've decided to have another try at a rotation. This last week while I've not been able to do much stitching as I've struggled to get comfy I've been thinking lots about it instead, and how I can make the most of my stitching time, make progress on some wips and not get bored. So I've come up with something slightly different from the last few times I've tried. You can see my idea in my sidebar.
I started it yesterday and worked a little on Cirque last night. Today and tomorrow are How Does Your Garden Grow. I've already put a few stitches in that this morning when I went out with DH in the car for a little while to get me out of the house for the first time in a week. He was trying to get some parts for his car and we ended up going to about 4 different places, with me staying in the car the whole time, but at least it was a change of scenery lol. Easily pleased aren't I!

Phew!

Well, I made it through the surgery, not brilliantly, but it's over thank god.

Last week things got worse by the day in the run up to the op. I nearly crashed my car twice by leaving the handbrake off, I left it unlocked all day at work one day, went to work another day and didn't turn on the burglar alarm at home.... Get the picture? One highlight was a lovely good luck card and stitched gift from Sally which I received a couple of days before which brightened my week (hugs Sally). I hope you don't mind me borrowing your pic of it Sally as I'm not up to setting up the camera and taking pics just yet.

So when Friday came I just wanted it over. I did have a few tears but when it came down to it I was pretty calm. I remember seeing 2.02pm when I first went into the anaesthetic room, and the last I remember was 2.05pm, then I was in the recovery room with people pestering me to wake up lol.

I didn't find out til later that day, but the surgery didn't go exactly to plan. The largest of the 4 incisions should have been 10mm, but ended up being over 50mm as my gallbladder was so inflamed and filled with lots of large stones that if they hadn't of done this they would have had to have opened me up fully to remove it. I was also told that if I hadn't have had the op when I did I'd have been in casualty within the next couple of months with it as an emergency because it was so bad.

My hospital experience on the whole was good though. The nurses were nice, I was in a room with 3 lovely ladies who seemed to take me under their wings as a surrogate daughter and it was made sure that I was well looked after with pain meds etc.

The worst part came when I came home and my plan of feeling great on Day 2 like lots of people I've heard about didn't happen, Day 2 was my worst day with my tummy getting really swollen and me being in floods of tears. I felt so low and regretted ever having it done as I was in so much pain.

Thankfully things seem to be improving very slowly with each day, but it's been a big shock to the system to realise my recovery is going to be a lot harder than I expected (I thought I'd be out dancing the night away on Day 2 haha!). So far all I've managed to do is do a slow waddle around the house picking up the odd thing as I go past, watch tv, surf, and finally last night I managed about half an hour stitching before I got too uncomfy.

Erin has been such a little star. She is very careful about cuddling me and has only caught me offguard once by mistake which made her cry because she was scared she'd hurt me lots. She is playing nurse and fetching and carrying for me and helping to tidy up and I'm so proud of her it brings tears to my eyes. Tomorrow however she goes on holiday with my mum for a week and although I know she will have lots of fun and it's better for her to be on holiday with them than stuck in the house with me, I'm going to miss her like mad and keep crying when I think about it. This weekend DH and I are going to have our first weekend alone since before she was born and I'm not well enough to make the most of it lol. We have said if I'm up to eating a bit more by then though we might have a nice takeaway and a DVD.

Thank you again to those who've left comments, emailed and sent texts with good wishes and asking how I am, I really appreciate them. Thanks also to Claire for her lovely get well card which came yesterday and brightened my day and also to Dawn for coming to visit me yesterday even though I'm living in my pj's right now lol.

Hopefully my next post will be more back on the topic of stitching and I might even have some update pics to show!

Photo Binge!

Well, since I found out about my upcoming operation a couple of weeks ago I've been allover the place. I am getting more nervous by the day and veer from being terrified I won't wake up afterwards to being awake all through the op and not being able to let the doctors know lol. DH has been great and answered millions of my medical questions (he's a charge nurse in operating theatres doing joint replacements) but he's getting a bit sick of me having constant hissy fits and bursting into tears now so I think we'll all be glad when it's over.

Anyway, the upshot of this has been I've really struggled to concentrate on anything for long, including my stitching and it's lead to 2 new starts as well lol. As much as I love my new starts though even these haven't been able to hold my attention so I'm just hoping that after the op things will return to normal and I'll be able to enjoy my recuperation time with loads of stitching.

So without further ado here are my update pics. First is my HAED Cabin In the Woods which now has a chimney and start of the cabin roof!
Next up is my first new start, the Papillon mystery How Does Your Garden Grow. I've loved this design since the first part was released and finally gave in and made a start a couple of weeks ago. I am using DMC Variations for the flowers and basic dmc for the greens. This caused lots of naughty words when I was working on it though I'm afraid as I had a visit from the frog three times!!! At one point I was ready for throwing it in the bin, but I persevered and hopefully the worst is over. I sent the frog packing and don't want him back!

And my most recent start is a new HAED QS, Hannah Disney's Alisha. I know I already have three HAED's on the go, but I really love stitching on them even though they are very slow growing, the detail just amazes me and I've been wanting to start one in my fav colours for ages, so this had to be it. So far I've stitched approx 1000 stitches and I love it. The colours are gorgeous to work with and her pouty little mouth makes me smile.

And my last pics are of my Quaker round robin that was returned home to me completed recently! I have still to find a way to fit all of our initials on one of the pages if it's possible and then make it up into the book, but I'm hoping I might be able to do that after the op.

This will probably be my last post before the operation on Friday and not sure when I'll be back online after that. I should only be in hospital overnight but depending on how I feel and doctors/DH's orders it maybe a few days before I'm up and about and surfing/stitching again. Thanks to those who offered advice and kind words after my last post, I appreciate them.

I'm Scared!

After a long time of getting very ill on and off I finally found out in April that I have gallstones. I've been waiting for a date for the op and today found out it will be on the 25th July. Only 3 weeks away. I've only ever been in hospital when I had Erin 5 years ago and it wasn't a good experience shall we say, and I've never had an anaesthetic or operation. I'm an absolute wreck and feel sick and shaky now, so god knows what state I'll be in by the op date.
It's also come at a very bad time work wise as my boss goes on holiday the week after and I was supposed to be running the office for 2 weeks, but obviously now that isn't going to happen and the big bosses are not at all happy. Add to that the housing market which I work in is very bad at the moment and our jobs are all at risk. I'm scared that I will have no job to go back to.....
I know I have no choice about the operation as each time I get a flare up it is worse than the last (on Sunday night and Monday I thought I was going to have to go to the emergency department), and if I refuse this date I'll have to go back on the waiting list, but it just couldn't come at a worse time and I feel really stressed.
Up til getting this date I was thinking, ooh, 2/3 weeks off work afterwards, loads of stitching time, naps and watching chick flicks. I need to start chanting that or I'm going to go mad in the next 3 weeks!