ORANGE!

My creative space today is filled with this…

as it has been for a number of weeks recently.  You will have to wait to see what this turns out to be – it’s a surprise!

Yesterday it was filled with these…

(No, they don’t really open that way.  I still can’t get the my mobile to stop taking mirror image photos.)

Three late and one in advance cards.  I’m unsure on the feather ‘bouquet’.

It was a friend’s birthday last week, one of the big ones, but even on not big birthdays Pat insists that the card should be there to be opened on the morning of the birthday and not a second later irrespective of whether one is born at 00:01 or 23:59.  However until yesterday I didn’t have the enthusiasm/inspiration to make a card.  My sister in law’s is two weeks late. 

I’ve been really er, tired isn’t really the right word.  Tired to me is like when we went on holiday quite a number of years ago and I was probably starting to get unfit and we did a ton of walking and I ended up nodding off over a cup of coffee and piece of tiffin in a mountain sports shop cafe.  When I’m tired I’m sleepy, I sleep and feel better – well after a period of ‘coming to’.  It’s not for no reason that my Auntie Betty used to say ‘Hail smiling morn.’ if she encountered me just after I’d woken up.

I had assumed that with having the Velcade on the 7th by last weekend I’d be feeling bright and perky-ish (despite Bridget saying that she was tired in the off weeks I thought that with no steriods to complicate matters I might perk up).  By Tuesday I was thinking that maybe my haemoglobin had dropped again but it wasn’t quite the same tiredness (that was a kinda sleepy feeling).  This has been I think, more fatigue like.  I’ve knit, I’ve made food, got dressed gone out occasionally but nothing really with enthusiasm.  And obviously not posted anything since Monday because for once believe it or not I couldn’t think what to say.

Then yesterday morning I was up and dressed and standing dazed and confused in the kitchen at 07:35 volunteering to take the car to the garage so the offside rear wheel could be looked at (get me offside) since it’s been squeaking and there was rather a disturbing burning smell from it last Thursday when we got back from the Royal.

After an hour in the garage, knitting orange yarn and reading, I headed home, had breakfast, took Bud for a walk, the first on my own since I got home from my relaxing holiday in the Royal, spent half an hour chopping ivy in the garden (until my back got a little cranky), spent more time with orange yarn, warmed up the Bubble & Squeak for lunch, made the cards, played a game with B on the laptop, got dressed up nice-ish and went out for my tea with the big birthday friend and another friend and still felt good when I went to bed at 23:15.

Today Buddy seems to think that yesterday set a precedent and seems to think he should be getting a walk refusing to go out into the garden for a wee wee and giving me funny looks.  I think I may have to take him on medical grounds so one of his kidleys doesn’t explode – think of the mess.

Other creative spaces here.

Christmas Cards

 Well I finally got my Christmas Cards done.  So far they seem to have gone down well with the recipients who opened them in front of me.  I tend to make simple cards because I prefer making them that way and I generally need to get them done quickly.

I used the fabric that I remembered following the dream where I had not sent cards, and finally found hiding very nearly in plain sight.  This gave me 18 different designs, and I had 6 panels which gave me the 54 cards I needed. 

 

I needed to fold the cards myself and need some easy way to quickly score 54 cards so I jerry rigged the following from a thick piece of card and some spray adhesive and it worked really well with the scoring line drawn on…

As I couldn’t find my bone folder I scored with a size 3.75mm blunt ended knitting needle – they are so versatile, the things you can’t do with one aren’t worth mentioning.

I cut around the edge of the individual squares very carefully following the outside gold line.

Then I foraged in my machine embroidery threads and found the perfect gold thread with which to zig zag stitch the fabric squares to the card. 

I cheated and printed the whole of the message, including the love Paula, Bernard & BUDDY! The paper inserts in either white or cream, to match the card, nicely cover the reserve side of the stitching and ta da…

just in time for last posting tomorrow.

Unlike sewing fabric to fabric, the card is a tad unforgiving so if you go too far (completely out of character for  me) you can’t just unpick it and do it again on the same card however I discarded two and then realised that it wasn’t a lost cause and just ran the stitching on and added some more…

And of course after I realised that – I didn’t need to do it again!

Don’t worry I’ve not put paid to popping the antlers on Bud.

 

WOW A craft related post

Before my holiday I made a few cards because we sem to have a few birthdays, April, May and June and a few other things.

 

This was a thank you card for a birthday present.  I was lazy and emailed everybody else!

    

Two birthday cards.  When my sister-in-law, Gill, said a friend of hers wanted a sewing machine for card making I did think WHAT!  Having had a little go I’m quite impressed and am sure the possiblities are endless.

Brithday cards for my nephews.

Birthday card for my Auntie Ann whose birthday is today and is shared by her dog Ben!

This one hasn’t show up very well but the little petals actually have a glazed appereance something I’ve admired on Gill’s cards for a while.  This one was a little over due (March!) but I was let off and it went this this glass pendant, which I made myself ie, strung on a card but considering the trouble I had with the clasp I think I could have hand blown the glass in the same time.

I love the way it changes when the light hits it in different ways.

I’ve never made a sympathy card before as I always thought an appropriate verse was needed and that the verse made it personal.  Then whilst making the others, one of which was a Brithday card for the same friend who had lost her Auntie, who was in her 80’s and they have always been really, really close along with Karen’s Mum, I kind of realised that because I put the thought into making it instead of standing in a shop picking a verse written by someone else it ultimately amounted to the same thing.

I’m feeling much better today, temp normal so far, good night’s sleep, still on the antibiotics, some thought to taking the line out as this may be the cause but since more anitibiotics and pump still needed too many other things would need to be inserted so leaving until tomorrow.

Oh, and there was a boo boo on one of the cards, which I did correct before sending out – first person to spot it gets a free Myeloma Buddy!