Day 207

31st July

Flowering Gum Pixie Hat

 

I'm sneezing

I hope I'm not catching this flu the children have.  Today my son joined my charges on the sick list.  The littlest one, Jasmine, lost her teddy today, OMG.  What a disaster.  It took me all day to find it.  She had put it into a shelf and then stuff it in the corner with her magic wand.  When I found it she told me the wand didn't work because she had tried and teddy didn't come back!  She is still ill but her fever broke this morning.  Poor Monique has a terrible fever and the medication only works some of the time.

She hates shivering so I retrieved one of her baby shawls and wrapped her up.  Grandpa held her tight and this seemed to help. Charlie had me up every couple of hours through the night to go outside.  She got to sleep, I had to keep going.  Now I'm off to bed.  I have a  later start tomorrow as my daughter-in-law has to give an evening lecture at University.  It is the first day of of the Academic term so what with sick children she will need a rest when all this is over.

Day 206

30th July

Happy World Hand Embroidery Day

WIPW

For the first time in months I have done NO work on any of my projects.  Those two sick little grand daughters have sabotaged all my plans.  I had forgotton how little ones have to be nursed and held.  Their noses need wiping all the time and those temperatures just don't allow me to sew.

BUT I can read about sewing.  Or rather look at the pictures as all the script is in Japanese.  I had a new book, I don't know the name because I can't read Japanese but it is byYumiko Higuchi  and there are lots of great small embroideries to stitch.

She has a link to Amazon on her blog for this book but how do you get Amazon Japan to deliver outside of Japan?  I know they do because my daughter-in-law orders the books for me (and all my friends) but I just can't seem to work it out myself.  (Yumiko also has some nice images of her stitching on her blog as well.)

Day 205

29th July

But Oh those thornes!

Sometimes you just have to hang on in there.

I spent the whole weekend teaching and then on the Monday morning at 5am I got a call.  "Mum the baby is sick can you come and help?  We both have to leave the house by 7am." 

It is a 40 minute drive out to my son's home and I was out of petrol.  So one great rush to get ready, get some petrol in the car and get out there.  Poor baby Jasmine, who is 2 years old, has a terrible cold.  So terrible that she only wants to lie in bed.  That means that she is really sick.  Usually you can't keep her down.

So I spent yesterday baby sitting one sick baby and her older sister.  Who when she was told Grandma was coming over refused to go to day care.  Every time I do this I wonder how I worked full time with three children and no one to help me when they got sick.  My husband and I had a roster as to who would have to take time off work and then there was the guilt at having to leave a sick child.

Hence tomorrow I have a 5am start to get over there.  This time I am taking activities, which includes Moniques first sewing basket, food and treats for the kids.  But the cost is going to be my embroidery time. 

Three year old , who can now swim, asks: "Why do you sew all the time Grandma?"  I'm still considering that answer.

 

Day 204

28th July

So pretty...

Hishizashi Patterns ~ No 442 - No 451

Pattern No 442 - No 451

The patterns have increased in size but the size of the pieces of fabric that I pre-cut has not, so something has to give and what is given is the number of patterns I can fit into the space I have.  That means that I will only had ten patterns each week for the next 3 Mondays, unless I can stitch quicker and get ahead.   (Last time I said this I got sick), who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Download No 442 - 451

Day 203

27th July

Day 202

26th July