A Family Member's Distress Causes Small Achievements

My little helper 'Louis' has had a tough time of it this week not to mention causing us, his family, a great deal of angst. He was missing for two days before he wandered into my daughter's bedroom at 1am in the morning looking VERY beat up and VERY sorry for himself. He could hardly walk so it must have been a real challenge to get home and up all the stairs to the bedrooms. Your eyes just well up thinking about the effort and how scared and sore he must have been and knowing that cats don't normally come straight home when they are injured. So straight off to the vet we went in the morning with much concern. They knocked him out to take x'rays and to our huge relief there was no ligament or obvious bone breakage. Just a LOT of swelling especially around the hock area  and lots of grazes & cuts consistent with impact with a car and tarseal. There is however massive soft tissue damage and so the vet has put him in a cast to help stabilise it for a few weeks so it can heal. He's not that enamoured of it but he's tolerating it and the acrobatics are diminishing. Sleeping is very much on his agenda and there's no way he's going outside any time soon.

 

So with all that drama going on which interrupts your sleep and can't help but cause worry and fear, I have not focused so much on stitching.

The Thistle Threads  CoC II Stumpwork course started over the weekend and I have read the first lesson. Tricia has such an informative manner of getting the information across, it's great. I did order the mirror form she is working on some weeks ago but it has still not arrived along with a bunch of overseas orders and my flat top casket. I hope they are not all sitting in customs while they get ready to bill me! aaarrrggghh

I am nearly, nearly at the end of the main piece of the Needleworker's Pocketbook. Just the last eyelet band and the back stitch to do on that bit. So keen to get that one knocked off.

I want to start a Scarlet Letter sampler and contribute to the Nicola's Scarlet Letter Blog. It will be good motivation to continue and I like doing these in the evenings. But I am not starting anything else until the pocketbook is done.

I did manage to do a little quilting during the week but it was slow going.

I stitched the stems onto the Di Ford Mountmellick which seems like such a pathetic effort for the week but I was fussing a bit as this is the first hand applique quilt I have attempted. I had to do some reverse stitching on them as I hated the look and thread and stitch I used the first go.

 

I did nearly complete the machine applique on the Civil War Bride quilt. I didn't do the apples as I didn't have the right colour thread. I really like using the Gutermann 100% cotton and need to go get a bunch more colours but with the Louis saga I just haven't been up to the 60-90 minute round trip to the shop I have to do to get them. Maybe in the weekend as the kids like going to the shop to as it has other crafty stuff. Only trouble with that is they want everything!!! Can't think where they got that from!!!!!!

 

 

Yesterday I traced out the second block onto the heat n bond and now to choose colours from the myriad in the kit. There's lots of leaves in this one, second along from the left in the top row of five.