An End to Pain for FNSI

Yes it's June already and it's the third week so it's time for FNSI sign ups!

I know I promised myself this year I'd be more attentive to my blog and blogging family, and it's been bugging me as I've been slacker instead of better.  I thought it may have something to do with CV-19 or maybe being too busy with work but I think I've finally figured it out.  

Blogging has become quite a chore for me...…. because of my glasses!  

Why would glasses affect my blogging you might ask?    Since I turned 45 ( a good 10 years ago now....even though it feels like yesterday!) my eyes have deteriorated such that I need to wear glasses all day every day, not just for reading.  So, that means my glasses have progressive lenses and have had from the very start.  

This has been great for me as I have had no problem adjusting to them and no problem wearing them.  Transitioning my view from driving to sewing to watching tv to looking at the stars hasn't been a problem, however I have been suffering from a progressively worsening neck and shoulder issue which leaves me with constant inflammation and pain from headaches and backaches and I become really irritable.  I don't want to become 'one of those wives' who whinges and whines, nor one who pops pills constantly for pain, but I'm finding that's becoming more the norm.

I've been thinking more and more about it lately and I've discovered that it worsens when I'm on my computer......because when I look at the screen, I have to tilt my head back slightly to get the right angle to see clearly through the bottom half of my lenses!  Now this seems like an obvious thing, but the tilt was ever so slight I didn't even notice it for almost forever however, now when I tilt, I feel the grinding of bones and pinching of nerves.......it's fun getting older isn't it ??!?!

Now that I've figured it out in the last couple of weeks (to say I'm a slow learner is an understatement!), I've tried raising my moniter, raising my chair, moving my glasses , all to no avail,or only slightly (raising my chair today has helped considerably but it's still not quite enough unless my head hits the ceiling!), so I think my next port of call is the optometrists to see if I can get a pair of 'readers only'.   If that works,  I can use them for my computer work and blogging and reaquaint myself with my love without pain and get back to my bloggy friends without being a whingy, whiney, drugged-up mess!

Hopefully this is the start of a better second half of the year, as soon as I can get an appointment and hopefully some relief.

Back to it for this month, it's our FNSI this Friday night.  I'd love for you to join us, just sign up, using your blog, instagram or facebook links, or any way we can stop by and see what you've been up to.   Remember to start with www.http://   then your web address......that will get us to your house!

Looking forward to stitching up a storm with you this Friday night!

xox  Sugary sweet hugs :o)

Fnsi sign ups during these weird times!

never mind what day of the week it is......what WEEK is it!???
Im so confused!  Thanks to Maria for reminding me!

here goes, without me wasting any more time .....  you know what to do.....*wink*

xox Sugary hugs :o)

Celebrating Mother's Day at Home

I've left it a little late this year, so I thought some quick Mother's Day gifts from my friend Matt
might help us all out a bit....

over to you Matt!

Mother’s Day is on Sunday, and this year it will undoubtedly be different.

There will be no large picnics in the park, open buffet cases at brunch or matinees at the movie theatre.

You’ll likely have to celebrate at home. 

To help you do that, Wikibuy created some fun Mother’s Day decorations and activity printables

to spice the day up and celebrate Mom.

Gratitude Door Hangers 

Moms don’t often get enough credit for all that they do. Now’s the time to change that!

Print off these door hangers and write a message of thanks or love on each one.

Hang them on as many door knobs as you have in your house and show Mom some love. 

Memory Photo Banner 

This craft makes use of old Polaroids or other photos lying around the house.

Gather up your old memories, write a special message about each one and hang them up on the wall

with a piece of string and some clothespins. 

(*post edit: wendy here!......These would even look particularly great and long-lasting printed on fabric don't you think!?)

Mom Baking Placemats 

While you’re spending a lot of time indoors on Sunday, you might feel the urge to bake.

After your sweet treats come out of the oven, place them on one of these placemats that have uplifting

Mother’s Day messages. (If you’re not celebrating Mother’s Day in person, bake some treats,

take a picture of the placemat and post it to Mom’s social media pages!) 

*post edit:(Wendy again!!! What do you think about printing these on fabric and bordering them in Mum's favourite fabric picks????? *wink wink*)

Mom Trivia

From her least favorite smell to a time she met someone famous or her first kiss, learn more about Mom

with these trivia activities. They’re also perfect to play over video chat and will surely lead to an

interesting story time! 

I hope you're staying safe and finding something to smile about during these scary times.

Thanks,

Matt.

I think I'm going to try a couple of these for Mother's day this year.  Particularly the last one.  I've found with losing older family members it's really great to be able to have some 'history' to the family and it's too late (or really difficult!) once they've passed.

I hope you enjoyed our special guest post today and if you pop over to check some of these out, say Hi to Matt for me!?

Take care and.......

xox  big smooshy sugary hugs from me! :o)

We WILL remember them

At the going down of the sun

and in the morning 

we WILL remember them

Lest We Forget

Remembering our Anzacs 2020

My FNSI and an Adventure

Friday started out a little differently for me....well, different to the stitching I was expecting to do all Friday for our Friday Night Sew In.

Mr B has been laid off his job due to the C-19 so has resorted to a business he has had sitting on the back burner......piloting.  No, not the 'up in the air' one but rather vehicle piloting (aka escorting, but that leads to a whole lot of other questions!!).  His car has all the flashing lights and signs to warn oncoming traffic that there is a wide/long load coming and that they need to get off the road.  His 'real' job, although fulltime is a a casual position and working on a property, that means he's down from work there when the wet season hits.   Last year with the Townsville floods, he was out of work for 5 months.   Our wet season this year wasn't much however this corona virus has taken a toll everywhere and they have told him they probably won't even be looking at getting him back till August at least, if at all this year!  So, lucky we don't have all our eggs in one basket as he has reacquainted himself with his other job-love and it's a good opportunity for us to spend time together as I'm his bookkeeper/media driver/business partner!

So Friday saw us up at 4 in the morning to drive 100 + kilometres to join our load, and boy was it a big one!  We, along with another pilot and 2 police wide load specialists, escorted a rather large bucket from a mining dump truck (those things are HUUUUUGE) that had been reconditioned from the engineering works in Bowen to its worksite at Sonoma mine. Then we were picking up another, in not such a good condition, and taking it back for a facelift.  All in all the journey was a 12 hour round trip what with waiting times (a crane used to remove the bucket broke and they had to organise others!)

Like I said....HUUUUUGE - 9 metres (or 29.5 feet) from side to side.  Needless to say, the road HAD to be cleared well in advance of this beast because there was definitely no room for anyone else on the road!  It was lucky to clear the posts on the side of the road as most of the way the bucket hung over the top of them.

So by they time we got home, I had a lovely hot shower and relaxed in front of the tv with my stitching, working on my next block from Love and Hugs from Australia Stitch-a-long Facebook group.  Have you seen them yet?  They're free and lovingly donated by a myriad of Australian Designers to help us get through this lockdown period.  I managed to get some of my block done before I collapsed in bed, but managed to finish it over Saturday before beginning the next one.

I've added a bit of wool felt applique to this block by Marg Low end employed a bit of 'creative licence' to the colouring and stitches I used as well....it's all in the fun of the stitch-a-long, seeing how each person has interpreted the block and made it their own.

This block is the one I'm currently working on by Robyn Welsh of Country Hart Designs.  You may have noticed the printing on the fabric below my hoop, the unstitched flowers and the stitching line around the 6 inch block?  This was an idea by one of the ladies in the group.  She had tried and suggested printing on fabric using our inkjet printers and I thought I'd give it a try.   I loved how it turned out so easily.  If you want to try too just using your inkjet printer and  some freezer paper,  I've included the Youtube video for you.  

If you would like to give it a go, the Freezer paper is available in your favourite quilt shops and Spotlight (in Australia) and I'm sure most quilting supply stores worldwide.  I have a large roll of the Reynolds brand which has lasted me 'forever' as you can reuse it a number of times.  I hope you give it a try. Let me know if you do and what your thoughts are on it.  I like how it makes stitching much more accurate as the stitching lines are 'true' and not how I've randomly traced them.

Off to organise dinner /tea (we always have that argument in our house...is it dinner or tea at nighttime?  Mr B says tea, but I've grown up with dinner.....bit like the chicken and the egg scenario!)

I hope you enjoyed our FNSI this month and make time to pop back HERE to catch up with the other ladies.  I'll be back in a day or so with some winners too!

xox Sugary sweet hugs :o)

Lockdown FNSI

Its Wednesday, in case you didn't know!  With all this Covid-19 and isolation, it's getting hard to remember what day it is, especially after Easter.  So I'm sorry but time has slipped by me again!  Such a slacker, I must get myself organised (not one of my better traits!).

I hope you have all been keeping well and safe and were blessed with a lovely Easter?  I have been still working, up until yesterday when I got the phone call to say that all staff had been laid off until this has all passed so I have been preoccupied with work and busyness...this morning was a little odd having a sleep in and at 11am, I'm still in my pyjamas!    Note to self:  I REALLY need to organise my schedule!    In our house we phoned and facebooked family and friends to keep in touch over the Easter weekend and Mr B supplied me with a healthy supply of chocolate Easter Eggs!  We have been practicing social distancing for a while now, and apart from shopping for food and going to work, we have done nothing...which has given me more time (and money!) for crafty stuff!  However, I need to make a special visit to the post office to post two very special gifts from the last two months....I've been wary of going outside my regular places and, like I said, I REALLY need to get organised!

I have been playing with some stitchery and stitching and have been encouraged by two very special friends who run two lovely facebook groups.   You may know them or even be members yourselves, but if you don't/aren't I recommend you take a look.  The inspiration is amazing in our lockdown phase.

The first one is the Tilda Lovers Club, hosted by my wonderful friend Fee.  She has encouraged us to try projects from one of the Tilda books each week and if we don't own that book, there's a project she posts up for us to complete.  Each week she offers prizes, courtesy of Two Green Zebras.  Two weeks ago, we made Easter bunnies, last week was a dapper dachshund and this week is a Tilda paper pieced pincushion.  I've had fun with each of them.....

I've also been stitching along with my good friend Natalie who joined with a group of crafty ladies on Facebook to create the Love and Hugs from Australia stitch-a-long.  16 lovely fellow Australian stitchers have donated a 6 inch block each to create during this lockdown so that we can stitch together and create them into anything you like.  Mine's going to become a lap quilt to remind me of our time during Covid-19.  I'm not as prolific as others and have only done five blocks but two I haven't got photos of yet so they'll be in my next post.

Why not pop over to either of these groups and join in the fun?  I'm sure I'll get a lot more of my UFO's finished, that is if I don't get to distracted by all the new pretties online!  So, with all this time on our hands, and all this stitching to be done, I'd like to invite you to sign up to our regular monthly Friday night Sew In.  Everyone is welcome and you can read more about it HERE if you're new and would like to find out more before you play along.  *Please note:  if you don't have a blog, you can play along using your Instagram account, Facebook or Pinterest if that's your thing.  Nobody should miss out on the fun!

It's taken me most of the day to learn the new Blogger and PicMonkey interfaces so I'm now off to do some stitching of my own.  Don't forget to sign up for Friday!

xox big sugary hugs :o)

Happy St Patrick's Day and to be sure, to be sure.....It's that time again....FNSI

St Patrick's Day and with the cloud of the Corona Virus -19 above us, it won't be celebrated in the regular fashion so, why not join us for a St Patrick's Friday Night Sew In???

I know it will be a little late but I'm sure we've all got green fabrics and scraps that we can use to create something even more amazing, no matter what time of year, right?
I've popped a couple of ideas below to prompt you....

Maybe you might like to practise a bit of paper piecing with this free pattern along with a number of other different designs...

Or how about practising some free motion quilting??  These shamrocks will have you doing a jig!

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you link in with us below for our Friday Night Sew In  and join us on Friday night for a virtual sew in, corona virus-friendly and still spending time with all your quilty friends!
Who knows?  You may be the lucky leprachaun who has 'the luck of the Irish' and is drawn for our monthly prize!

xox Sugary Irish hugs :o)