Life is getting back to something like normal

Life has certainly been very different this year. Since I last posted to my blog in February, I spent my time with my mum in Adelaide until late April. By then Mum had decided she was not able to live there on her own, so I packed a bag for her and brought her to my home in Canberra.

The process of arranging residential care then took over my life, all the while taking care of Mum. In June I managed to break my ankle when taking a basket of washing out to the line. I was confined to a "moonboot" for ten weeks and then began the slow process of getting the ankle to move again, a process that is still ongoing. Back to the physio tomorrow for another visit.

Mum moved into St Andrew's Village in late August and has begun to settle in well. Three weeks ago, I travelled to visit my sister in Victoria for a couple of days and then together we went to Adelaide to pack up Mum's home in a retirement village. This process was quite difficult both physically and emotionally and took two weeks. Both of our husbands also came over for the last few days to finish the process. We completed the hand-back last Friday about lunchtime and began the long drive home, towing a very heavy trailer.

We stopped at Barmera the first night and Narrandera on the second, getting home on Sunday. Mum was happy to have some of her furniture around her again, especially her rocker. Each day I am going over with a box of things to unpack for her, and am trying to find time to unpack the boxes of things I am keeping myself.

On a crafty note, I have been crocheting mostly in the past few months as handwork. I discovered a blanket that I made many many years ago as an extra large granny square was beginning to fall apart in places where the wool had worn out, so I am remaking it, larger and in small granny squares which I will lay out and crochet together with black wool. I have bought quite a few balls of wool to supplement the blanket, and then found quite a bit in Mum's stuff which I have added as well. It will probably end up being 2 blankets, not just one by the time I'm finished.

My friendship group has started making "Quilts for Others" for Canberra Quilters and I have an almost completed top at the moment together with fabric put aside for 4 other tops. I am looking forward to being able to get back to sewing, but can't see the dining table at present as it is full of bits and pieces that I need to find places to store them.

A time to Crochet

In the past few weeks since I last posted, I have spent most of my time crocheting doilies. Many years ago I was given 9 balls of pink variegated No. 40 crochet thread. I located a magazine that I had bought in the 1980's and have part crocheted a doily of motifs with a flower centre, I popped that on hold when I discovered that it was only going to use up 1 ball of thread and downloaded quite a few pineapple doily patterns from online. I have made some of these up and am currently working on the final one.

I first made this oval pineapple design
which didn't even use up a ball of thread

Then it was onto this slightly larger doily with a pineapple edging.
This managed to take just over a ball of thread

So then I made this graduating pineapple doily which took most of a ball.

The next doily was a bit fiddly in the centre but I love the design now it's pressed.

I also have done a bit of applique and embroidery and have completed another block in Esther Aliu's Forget Me Not quilt - the Calla Lily.

Calla Lily - An Esther Aliu design

I had a lovely surprise this morning when my husband said he would be coming to visit tomorrow for a week. He has a quiet patch at work so it will be nice to have him here for a while.

On a home front, we have had the Home Help people come, one lady to help with cleaning and another to help with shopping. Mum seems to be happy with the 2 ladies. Both have been very friendly and helpful, so I'm hoping that this will help Mum be able to cope on her own.

Australia Day

Well, I've been in Adelaide now for almost 2 weeks and have done quite a bit of stitching. It was very hot for the first week so we didn't venture out too much.

I have been working on the part made items I brought with me as well as my baby hexagon quilt.

The final row in my 2012 Canberra Quilters ROWmakers quilt 

A closeup of the butterfly and caterpillar

Forget Me Not quilt designed by Esther Aliu - Peony Block

William Morris Sampler by Michele Hill - Block 13

Calling All Angels from APQ - Applique blocks reading for piecing

Closeup of Birdhouse block - centre

Wish upon a Star - left block

Right Block

Heart block

Moon block

Believe in Angels - top block

Cloves Wallhanging designed by Cathy Stevenson -
I finally have completed the applique.
It has been so long since I started this I have
misplaced the red and blue fabrics so will need to
have a big hunt for them when I get home.

 Apart from the sewing, I have been working on sorting out the final details from Dad's estate and keeping Mum company.

Time to update my blog

Well, I haven't managed to post for the past few months. In mid October I went on a trip to visit my parents and spend time with my husband while he was away with work in Adelaide. The two week trip turned into a much longer time away.

On my last evening in Adelaide, my father fell over, broke his pelvis and was hospitalised. Mum is unable to live on her own so I cancelled my flight home and stayed longer. Dad became progressively more unwell and passed away on November 26.

My sister came to Adelaide to enable me to return home in mid November for my birthday and to attend my elder son Nat's graduation as a motor technician for Jaguar Landrover. The graduation took place at Luna Park in Sydney and was a wonderful evening.

 

Nat after being presented with his certificate
at the graduation ceremony

The day after the graduation was very busy. We were taken  to visit the classrooms and workshops where the training took place, and then to the airport to fly home to Canberra. Upon arriving home, we had half and hour at home before starting the drive to Adelaide so we could be with Dad for his last few days. A very stressful time.

Greg having a test seat in a Jaguar

Nat explaining things about another Jaguar to his father

The sunset view on the Hay plain as we headed for Adelaide

Both my sister and I as well as our husbands were with Mum when Dad passed away. Three years ago, Mum and Dad had arranged and prepaid their funerals which took a lot of the pressure off in the week after his death. The funeral was a fitting tribute to Dad and my husband received many compliments for the eulogy he delivered.

R.I.P. Dad - Richard S Knight

Dad's coffin in the beautiful funeral parlour at Harrison's Funerals
in Ridgehaven, South Australia

We spent a few more days in Adelaide before heading home to Canberra, arriving on Saturday 7th December.

On 18 December, my younger son Bryan graduated from the Australian National University with a Bachelor of Information Technology. I was privileged to attend along with his wife Elizabeth. We had a celebratory morning tea early in the day at Adore Tea at Gold Creek. Bryan looked very regal as he wore the doublet and shirt from his wedding in August.

Bryan's graduation ceremony

Bryan with his wife Elizabeth after graduation

Christmas Day was a lovely time spent with both our boys and Elizabeth and her family at Bryan and Elizabeth's home.

We had another death in the family on 27 December. Our cat Smokey had become quite ill over the last few weeks before Christmas and needed to be put to sleep, a very hard task to do. We have had her cremated and she will join her playmate, Pierre, who passed away three years ago in the rosebed.

R.I.P. Smokey

I have been doing some sewing over the past few months. The cross stitch I purchased at the Embroiderer's Guild exhibition was completed during my first week in Adelaide in mid-October. I have purchased a frame and need to lace the fabric onto some foam core also purchased.

I have been working on the hexagon tablecloth and now know I need to stitch on 2 more rounds to get it to the correct width for the table. Then it will be onto adding rows on each end to make it long enough. I received a gift voucher for my birthday in November and I purchased a piece of cream and blue floral fabric to use as an edging of hexagons.

Part of the blue and beige/cream fabric for the border

I have been working on quite a few different projects, things that had been put aside and in some cases forgotten about.

I have done the embroidery (colonial knots for eyes) on 2 of the rows for the Canberra Quilters 2012 ROWmakers challenge. Only one row is left to complete now - I need to draw and embroider antennae on the butterflies and caterpillar row.

I located a buttonholed quilt called Calling all Angels from an APQ magazine that I began in 2003, 4 of the six large blocks were buttonholed, and just need the embroidery (words and faces on the angels doing). I completed the "moon" block buttonholing and have started work on the final (vine) block.

I will be flying to Adelaide next Monday to look after Mum for the next few months and have spent time preparing things to take with me. I will be taking my baby hexagons; a cross stitch kit my husband bought for me about 3 years ago called "Compass Rose" (all I needed to buy was the threads, all the speciality ones came in the kit); all the applique blocks I have part done or prepared to do (these are the final block in a Michele Hill William Morris quilt, 3 of the first 4 blocks for  Esther Aliu's Forget Me Not quilt, a Cloves Wallhanging block from a class by Cathy Stevenson from many year's ago, and the last 3 of 12 blocks from a quilt called Stars in the Garden by Becky Goldsmith); the Calling all Angels blocks to complete; and one new project that I purchased the background fabric and interfacing for with a gift voucher from Christmas. It is Polka Dot Girls from Red Brolly. I have traced the designs onto the blocks and ironed on the interfacing, and pulled out threads from my embroidery floss stash to take with me. It sounds like a lot of stuff but I have chosen projects that are not cumbersome and will take time to stitch.