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!

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.

Ouch ...

... Mr Fixit is now home again with his infection and his fever under control, and a load of strong antibiotics. The reason for his fall is not clear, but may have been caused because of his extremely high temperature. His bruises are multicoloured, and I still don't know how he didn't break any bones, but he says he's not in any pain. Thanks everyone for your thoughts, wishes and messages.

Well, I'm home ...

... in fact, we came home last Saturday, (just half way through our holiday) as Mr Fixit was not well. Things went from bad to worse then.  Mr Fixit had a fall, and came from top to bottom of our stairs, round two bends, all, thankfully, without breaking any bones.  So along comes an ambulance, and off we went to the hospital.  The hospital were concerned about why he fell, and wondered if it was connected with the very high temperature he was suffering, so they're keeping him in for a few days. Mr Fixit is not a good patient unfortunately, and my son made me laugh when he said that he and my daughter were thinking they ought to send the hospital staff a Good Luck card!  Maybe today we'll get some answers from the hospital and Mr Fixit can come home.

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.