Where have I been ...

... and what have I been doing there?

Well, here's two pictures that'll give you a clue:

 

The photo on the left shows some of the blocks made at the last meeting of Yorkshire Modern Quilt Group.  Some time ago we decided it would be fun to have a block of the month programme, with a different volunteer member coming up with the block each time.  I volunteered to do the first block, which I have called Tipsy Asterisk. I know I've seen a block like this on the internet, but I can not credit anyone for it as I don't know who first came up with it. (If you know who originally designed it, please let me know so I can give them credit) However, the instructions are all my own work, and I can tell you, it's not easy to explain how to angle the inner part to cut it and end up with your asterisk on the slant! Anyway, this is just some of the blocks that were made on the day.

Then we have the photo on the right. It's not me who is moving, it's my father. This has all happened very quickly. About a month ago I asked him if he would consider going to a brand new care home for a couple of weeks in October while I am on holiday and, as he was happy with idea in theory, I went to have a look at it, and was very pleasantly surprised by it. I obviously did a good job of praising it to Dad, as, the next day, he said he'd like to have a look at it, and if he liked it, he thought he'd move in permanently. So, off we went, and he was so impressed that he made the decision there and then to move in. So, moving in day was set for 1 October. He decided to sell his house, so on the market it went. By the end of the first week of it being for sale he had two offers and a third couple who wanted it but had to sell theirs first. The offer Dad accepted is from a young guy who is a cash purchaser with nothing to sell. All this means that where I thought I'd be able to empty the house, sort out paperwork, work out what was going to various members of the family and what to charity, etc, after my holiday, I have had to do most of it before, as the solicitor thought it could all go through by the end of October.  I get home from my holiday on the 25th! Dad moves out on 1 October, and I'm off to stay with Lovely Lynn again on the 10th and I can hardly wait to see her and Mr Joe again, and at some point I'll be seeing Naughty Nancy too.

So, that's where I've been, and what I've been doing.

It didn't work ...

Remember my thought that I was owed 5 days of good luck? Well, it didn't work.  The day after I found the 5p my father collapsed at home and has spent the past week in hospital while the medical brainboxes tried to work out what was wrong. It turns out that he has a problem with his heart, which I did tell them I thought was the problem about two years ago (aren't I a cleverclogs?) Anyway, he came home again yesterday and is waiting for an appointment with a cardiologist to see what happens next.

Yesterday, while Dad was still in hospital, Scrappy and I escaped for the day. We had lots of fun, lots of food, and some fabric purchases. Here's what I bought and now I'm looking forward to not spending all my free time hospital visiting, so I can actually use some of them

Hello ....

.... is it safe to come out now? I have been hiding away over New Year as I really did not want to do the traditional review of 2015/planning ahead for 2016 thing. 2015 was not a good one health wise for either my husband or my father, and who knows what this year will bring to them? Neither of them are suffering with things that will get better unfortunately. I have not really done any sewing since October when my father became seriously ill and I have spent a lot of my time caring for him. This meant that I have been beyond tired and not had the energy to do much when I had free time. However, things are improving. Dad's improved to the point of getting up every day and although he is very weak, he is a little more independent. Starting last week, I have had some help with him and he now has a carer coming in twice a day which gives me some free time and I am starting to recover.

Next weekend I am off on a 3 day quilting retreat with members of the Yorkshire Modern Quilt Group. I am really looking forward to it, and have started gathering up my projects and making plans. I have gifts ready for my mystery gift swap, treats ready for the treat table and am good to go. The great thing about this retreat is that it is only about 15 miles away, so I can get home easily if I need to.

As part of my "getting ready" I decided I needed some zippy bags to organise things into, so I ordered some from Amazon. They came in a pack of 5 A2 size and were delivered this morning. below you can see the box they came in on the left, and the actual bags on the right. Slightly over-packaged maybe?

Also I am going to "try" and make a scrappy quilt while I am there, and worked out how many scrappy strips I would need, so I could cut them ahead of time. Well, I am so insecure about this scrappy lark, that I have actually cut enough strips to make three quilts!

It's beginning to look a lot like .....

Christmas....

This morning we decided that Christmas was coming, whether we wanted it to or not, so Mr Fixit and I got the trees out and got decorating.  That really means, he checked the lights and then found something else to do in his workshop while I got decorating.  Being somewhat minimalist in my tastes, it really didn't take too long.  There are two more trees, one in the dining room and one in the hall, but they are more "sculptural" so they don't get decorated, just plugged in.  We've just been out in the wind and rain and strung lights over 3 bushes and round my father's porch, and that's it. Christmas sorted.  Apart from wrapping that is.  All the cards are done and sent, the food's all ordered, so now Christmas can happen.

Yesterday was my quilt group's Christmas party ( you can pop over and read all about it here if you like.  I'll wait.) and we all had fun making key fobs

This was mine, and I've just noticed that the ribbon is sewn on all wonky! I'm sure it was straight, so I reckon one of the Christmas elves popped in overnight and did that.

 It was also the Grand Handing Out of the name badges, and here are some of them.  I love how different they all are.

Two weeks,

a fortnight, 14 days.  However you want to look at it, I can't believe I abandoned this poor blog for that long.  Where on earth has the time gone, and what ever have I been doing with myself?  Well, I think the truth is that I've been going through a lazy patch, which means I haven't really been doing much, so there was nothing to blog about.  However, that's all changing now.

One thing I have been doing is making these cute little 9-patches.  I have joined a swap being organised by Barb, and she has a wonderful tutorial here showing a great way to make these blocks which will end up being 3" finished squares. The idea is that we will each make everyone in the swap a pair of blocks. There were originally 24 of us in the swap, but we needed 25, so I said I'd go in twice - after all they're only small blocks aren't they - which means I need to make 100 blocks. No problem, they're only small aren't they? Then someone said why didn't we all make 4 blocks for each person.  The majority thought that was a good idea, so now I have to make 200 blocks - but they're only small, aren't they! I have realised that it takes almost the same amount of time to make a block, whether it is a 3" or a 6" or even a 9" block.  Next time I decide to volunteer for extra duties, please someone gag me so I can't say the words.  Mind you, I love the blocks I'm making and think I am going to have a problem when it's time to send them off to Barb to be redistributed.  So far, I have 110 made plus 16 almost made.

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of the Yorkshire Modern Quilt Group that I belong to.  Unfortunately, Scrappy couldn't make it this month.  I was late, which meant there was no space on the table I usually sit at, so I joined the so-called "naughty table".  Oh boy, I now know why it's called that - there was far more talking, joking, and most importantly, laughing than sewing going on round this table.  As one other person said at one point, "I have just spent the last half-hour or so laughing instead of sewing".  That summed up the day.

On the domestic front, Dad is now the proud owner of a shiny black mobility scooter.  He bought it on Thursday, after checking that he was happy "driving" it and that I could dismantle it and get it into the car, and we had our first outing with it on Friday when he had optician and audiologist appointments.  It all worked well, and will at least mean that he can now get out of the house rather than being stuck in all the time.  Since he was ill, he has not recovered the strength in his legs and can barely walk now, so this will make a big difference to him.

After a few weeks of glorious weather, it's all changed this week and has gone to being wet quite often, windy most of the time and relatively cool all the time, with temperatures well below average.

So now, I think I'll take myself back to my sewing machine to make some more 9-patches.

Hello ......

.... I'm still here, but are you still there?

Dad is well on the way to recovery now, and this morning he even got up, showered, dressed, downstairs and had his breakfast on his own and is intending to do his own lunch too, so I think he's on the road back to independence.  I have recovered from my laryngitis, and also from the bronchitis which followed it, so I think I too am on my way back to what passes for normal around here.  Thanks to people who have emailed me to check on me since I've been so quiet.  Talking of quiet, there was a funny side to Dad being ill and me losing my voice.  Dad is pretty deaf and wears hearing aids in both ears usually, but not when he's in bed, so just imagine the fun and games we had trying to communicate when he had no ears and I had no voice. Also, one day, I had to go round to Mrs Nomad and forgot to take my mobile phone.  When I got there, their front gate was locked although I could hear them in the back garden, but I couldn't make them hear me.  I went home and sent her a text that went along the lines of "why the bleep, bleep, bleep is your front gate locked?"  She rang to say it wasn't locked, but I needed to have pushed harder, but why didn't I just shout? Hmm, ever tried shouting with no voice?

On a different not altogether, remember this quilt, made by Vicki when she was pattern testing Tubix for me?

Well, just look at it now

all bedecked with pretty ribbons.  Vicki decided to enter her quilt (now called Orange Slices) into her county fair and won a blue ribbon and also Reserve Champion award for it.  Well done Vicki.  In fact, she entered 13 items across various categories, and won 10 blue ribbons, 2 red, 1 white, a Grand Champion, 2 Reserve Champions and an honourable mention.  Obviously a talented lady.  If you go to her blog you can see all the items and loads more eye candy too.

At last ...

... here is my finished Tubix.

and a close-up so that you can see what Big Bertha did to the flimsy,

and just to make absolutely sure that you're bored with it, here's the back.

I used all Kona plains for this quilt, and love how I was able to get the 3-D effect of the tubes/cubes with them.

Colette's Tubix

Oh look, here's another Tubix.  This one was made by Colette, who blogs at What About Rheema who was another of the great people who tested the pattern for me.  So, without further ado, may I present Tropical Shores

I can really see why she has called it that, and if you click to enlarge the picture, you will see that the turquoise border even has little bubbles on it.  I love This version and think it's a great colour combination for a summery tropical quilt.  Thanks Colette for doing a wonderful job for me, even if you did have a few (unnecessary, as it turned out) worries about colours running when you washed it 

I finished sewing the binding on my own version of the quilt this afternoon while watching today's matches at Wimbledon ( Go! Andy) so I've just got a few more ends to bury and then I can show mine too.

Sue's Tubix

Today I wanted to show you the Tubix quilt made by Sue who blogs over at Sue W Sews.  Sue is another quilter who lives in the UK, and for a while she lived quite near me, although we never managed to meet up. When I asked for some testers for my Tubix pattern, Sue was actually the first person to volunteer.  A couple of days ago I received an email from her with a picture of her finished flimsy

I think it looks great, and I love the red binding that is pinned on just to check the length. I also love how the colours she used just makes her Tubixes (I just made that word up as the plural of Tubix) jump out from the background. You can read Sue's thoughts on the pattern in her blog, here. Now she is trying to decide about her backing and also about the quilting.  Thanks Sue for doing a great job of the testing for me.