Well, I'm here, ....

.... but is anyone there?

I know I've been very quiet lately, but it's been due to ill-health unfortunately. It started with Mr Fixit developing a virus which gave him a temperature and a horrid cough for some weeks. Fortunately, he is virtually over it now. Then my father was ill again. This time he was confined to bed for quite a while but he is now making slow progress. Father was taken ill before we were due to go on our quilting retreat to Bridlington, so unfortunately I could not go. That was a shame cos I'd been looking forward to that and had projects planned, fabrics bought, etc. and I was really looking forward to the food. Still, that's how things go sometimes isn't it? Then, not to be left out, I decided I ought to have my annual chest infection a bit early this year, which has wiped me out for the past week. I'm getting better too and I can now talk again, but I'm still prone to coughing a lot.

One good thing about not going on the retreat is that my son and his family came up for a few days. They were here for Halloween, so here's a picture of young Mr D all ready to answer the door to Trick or Treaters.

and here's a picture of the pumpkins they carved

So all that means no sewing has been happening and if I don't get my act together soon, Christmas won't be happening here either.

You couldn't make this up ...

... My father has decided to apply for a Blue Badge which would then allow any car he is travelling in to park in designated disabled parking places.  He is now over 90, with a dodgy heart and has difficulty in walking more than about 20 yards without needing to stop and rest.  In order to get this badge, he has to attend an assessment.  With me so far?

OK, so he makes an appointment for this assessment, which will be in mid-November (good job this isn't urgent then isn't it?).  When the confirmation letter arrives, it also tells him that the assessment centre is moving from it's current location to a place right, slap bang in the middle of the Big Scary City.  (You know, where I don't drive if I can possibly help it cos it's big and busy and scary, and they keep changing the one way system so I get lost.) Helpfully they also include directions on how to get there.  They read something like this, with my comments in italics:

1. if you are coming by car, please note there is no on-road parking nearby, however there is a multi-story car-park fairly near. (remember this is in the city centre and the chances of there being any spaces at all is so remote that it's not even worth trying)
2. if you are coming by bus, the bus station is a 10-minute walk away (what?)
3. if you are coming by train, the railway station is a 20-minute walk away (whaaaattt???)

We decided that getting there is actually the assessment - if you arrive at their office, you are reasonably fit and don't need a Blue Badge.  We had to laugh really at how well thought out this plan of moving into the City centre was.

It's almost as good as an assessment centre my sister had to attend a few years ago.  She is in a wheelchair, and my father had taken her to the appointment.  When they got there, the entrance to the building was via some steps.  No ramp or anything.  Dad had to ask a couple of strong-looking guys to get her up those steps.  Another well thought-out plan. Ain't bureaucracy grand?

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.

So, what's my excuse ....

... this time for being absent from the blogiverse?

Well, last weekend I went down south to stay with my son's family for Mr D's 8th birthday.  We had a good weekend, but I must confess that pizza, birthday cake, chocolate brownies and cheese sandwiches did not do my diet any good!

When I got home I found that my father was not well, and Mr Fixit and I had to help him to bed.  He had a pain in his chest, and could not stand up or walk.  This happened about 10 days earlier too, but that time he fell and couldn't get up.  We called an ambulance that time who took him to hospital where he was kept overnight but they weren't sure if it was a heart attack or not.  This time, I called the doctor out.  It is still unclear what the problem was, but it was possible that he'd had a heart attack, but it was by no means clear.  Anyway, long story short, Dad has been in bed all week with the doctor coming in every day.  The doc now thinks he has had a virus or an infection of some sort.  I've been going in and checking on him, making sure he is drinking water, etc, all week.  Yesterday he felt better and got up for a short time, and Mrs Nomad cooked him some pasta and a light sauce, and he managed to eat some, so she is now taking credit for the fact that today he managed to get up and come downstairs, He is obviously on the road to recovery now thank goodness, but still needs a lot of looking after, so that's why I've been quiet again.

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.