Today I have finally managed to finish up my  flying geese block for Valerie for Stitch Tease for October (one day to spare – heehaw!). I’m very glad that Di pointed out that this block was for Valerie and not Jennifer…as otherwise the geese would have ended up flying well off course….

I love flying geese – but you know that, I ‘ve probably mentioned it oh, about 20 times..I have my own favourite method for making flying geese too, which doesn’t involve rectangles and squares as this one did, so I have to confess to being a tiddly bit disappointed with the result. I’m just used to ending up with geese that have been cut down to a perfect size….where they are a piece of cake to work with. Ah well, hopefully Valerie will think they are OK.

I love the colour scheme that Valerie chose but was really shocked to see thatI had very little in raspberry and gold in the stash. With the amount of fabric I have hidden away I didn’t honestly think it was possible to be lacking in some colors…but there you go…raspberry and gold ….I know what to buy next! I was also very slightly on the short side on the low volume fabrics too, so there is a bit more doubling up than I would like. If I had a LQS that sold anything other than every batik ever made I would have bought more, but I don’t, so it was a bit of a case of making do.

I’m still trying to get over the shock that I don’t have everything..

I almost feel secretly proud!

Helen

I hereby declare that I will not be wearing a bikini in the near future. (Actually it’s fair to say that as I haven’t worn a bikini for many a long year anyway, that train may have left the station forever).

Right now I’m actually tempted to wear a burka.

Why?

I am black and blue all over. (And it is not a pretty sight!).

It is bad enough that 3 1/2 weeks on I still have a partially blue boob after the biopsy from hell. To add to this though I had a little adventure in the dark in the woods on Friday. Well you do, don’t you? But before you start to worry, I have to tell you that it was all self inflicted.

The ladies and I were out for an early morning run on Friday morning. As our kids are all older now we’ve moved our start time to 7.30 instead of 8.15 (which it had been for the last 10 years). What we hadn’t quite factored into the equation is that it’s not completely light at that time of the morning in late October. Anyway, we set off happily as we always do – full of discussions of signing ourselves up for races and setting ourselves some training goals (we’ve got a bit lazy on that front over the past year or so).

The woods were lovely, peaceful and quiet with a beautifully lethal covering of golden beech leaves all over the path…..

…which resulted in my foot cleverly locating a hole that my eyes couldn’t see (and I was honestly too busy chatting to be looking much anyway) and I went very spectacularly t over a. Boy, did I come a cropper. I haven’t done that for years – or at least not quite so dramatically. So now I have shredded knees (and wish I had been more sympathetic to my son when he was a little boy and did the same – they HURT! – not to mention the fact that getting up and down stairs is a nightmare), around the shredded parts they are also blue and swollen, my ankle is twisted and my foot is bruised, I have a large bruise on my hip (not even sure how that hit the ground!) and a scraped and bruised arm.

In truth, dear reader, I am a mess.

(And that is leaving aside the grey hair and wrinkles).

I actually feel like I have been run over by a steam roller. It is not a good feeling. There is way too much blue everywhere for my liking and I’m not happy that I shredded my nice running tights.

I’ve been sewing to cheer myself up – although these Flying Geese for a Stitch Tease bee block for Jennifer have seriously challenged my stash. Raspberry and gold are not in great supply round here..which could actually be regarded as a positive sign that perhaps things aren’t as out of control as I’d thought.

In any case it is appropriately soothing…as is chocolate…and gin…and a liberal dose of Strictly…

I’m also comforted by the fact that none of you can see me. The kids’ comments are bad enough and I’m not going to tell you what dear husband said. Enough to say that sympathy has never really been his forte.

Until next time when hopefully I will look a little more presentable,

Helen

PS To all the Brits out there – I hope you have battened down the hatches and get through the storm OK.

I’ve finally got a little of my sewing mojo back. Not that there’s been a whole lot of time recently to do any awful lot, but I have at least assuaged my guilt with some bee blocks for October:

Lovely cups and saucers for Di in the Sew Euro-bee-an bee, which is now finishing up. The pattern is from Sarah Fielke’s book “Handmade with Love” (and made with permission from the author).

And a big bold block for Pippa for European Siblings Together…

I still have my Stitch Tease block to make, but have until the end of the month, so should manage that….

I’m planning on finishing up with the bees I’m involved in and cutting down on how many I’m involved with. Right now there are four, one of which seems to have died a death anyway, but in future I’m going to keep it down to one or two. I love making friends through the bees, but I JUST DON’T HAVE THE TIME! (Sound familiar anyone?). It seems crazy if I hardly get to any sewing for myself because I’m so busy with bees. Wouldn’t you say?

I’m sporadically beavering away at the petal quilt. It’s quite a good one for picking up and putting down because the individual blocks are pretty small. So far I’ve made almost 100 little blocks – which means almost 800 individual petals – and I still can’t see the difference in my scraps basket. It’s quite extraordinary. I somehow thought it would be half empty by now….I’m really not sure what is going on. I’ll show you a photo once the sun comes out again I can take a halfway decent photo.

I’ve also started knitting socks again. What with Strictly Come Dancing starting up again, not to mention Downton Abbey, there really was no alternative. And anyway I like a bit of sock knitting on the needles once the nights start drawing in. It just feels right.

OK ladies, that’s your lot. I can see I’m starting to just burble on, so I’d better stop while I’m ahead.

More anon. Have a good week!

Helen

There’s nothing like a bit of a shake up to make you appreciate what you have. This might sound a bit bonkers, but I really feel like all the recent upheaval has made me re-evaluate things a little and made me realize that it’s NOW that counts. Carpe Diem and all that – we have to live TODAY. I’m really seeing things through almost new eyes and am determined to make the most of every day. I don’t know what’s round the corner, none of us do and with that in mind I’m going to jolly well get off my (slightly) fat derriere and go out and enjoy life.

Yesterday this involved a lovely walk with my husband.

One again it made me realize – as I had when out running on Friday – how enormously lucky I am to live where I do. I always feel that it’s a bit surreal that an inner city working class kid from Newcastle has ended up living here in Switzerland. Sure I worked hard to get where I got, but honestly, what were the chances that I would move to San Francisco with my job and sit next to a Swiss guy on my first day at work and end up 25 years later married to him and living in a village in the Zürcher Oberland? One in 8 billion? Maybe not quite that high, but it must be heading in that direction. One of those things in my life where  I look back and see that my whole subsequent life has been the result of one or two pivotal events that frankly could have turned out any other way. What if I hadn’t been sitting in the office in Guildford one day feeling bored and decided to ring the London office to ask about international transfers? What if I hadn’t made the selection? What if DH had gone to New York instead, or had started a year later? What if I hadn’t had an adventurous spirit and been prepared to take the risk? What if….?

Life is a funny thing, don’t you think?

I’m quite glad I didn’t marry the boy next door though! (He was weird, if you’re asking!)

Helen

There has been a bit of a life hiatus round here recently. You may have noticed that I’ve been absent for rather longer than usual.  Or then again, maybe you didn’t!

I’ve had a month or two of tests and more tests and more tests – all for breast cancer – some of which were more than a little complicated by an existing medical condition and a body that doesn’t seem to lend itself to ready analysis. So there’s been an awful lot of waiting going on. It put me into limbo, well and truly. I was absolutely fine, but somehow stuck in no man’s land and unable to get on with my life. I wasn’t in a situation where I really wanted to talk about it – how do you talk about maybes? – but at the same time that was the only space my head was in. Hence radio silence. I’m sure a lot of you have probably been through similar experiences.

Now I know where I stand – and frankly it’s a lot better than it could have been. It’s pre-cancerous, not cancerous…and luckily for me a condition that previously would have resulted in radical surgery is now monitored intensely. So it’s a wait and see situation, but I can absolutely live with that. It’s given me the impetus to improve my nutrition and work on stress management to try to boost my immune system. I’m a great believer in giving the body a chance to heal itself.

So supermarket fruit and veg department here I come…

I’m sure that sewing and knitting are the biggest stress reducers too. Life ain’t all bad!

More tomorrow I think.

Helen