Butterflies and pressies

Life remains challenging but then again it would probably be boring if it wasn't!?

Whilst hubby has been mainly sleeping during the day I decided to have a little play, I selected some pretty butterflies and asked hubby to resize and sharpen them, he does it in minutes in publisher and it would take me ages.

a little glitter

They are sitting in a little holder ideal for pressies, pattern from Lynette Anderson

adds a different dimension to a plant

 I will print out some more and plan to use them to decorate presents just to add a little something

The online yarn store I use recently had a 30% sale, so I selected different balls to make some more of these

another chrstmas pressie, would match the wrist warmers I made previously

Still on the christmas theme, a nice hanging decoration

sorry couldn't find a way to turn it round

 Then I moved on to some lavender sachets along with another couple of dish cloth/pot holders.

My mind wouldn't stretch to anything complicated so I feel pleased to have finished several albeit simple things

Finally, leave anything open, a drawer, box or in this case a guitar case and you will find a cat curled up in it

Willa

DD is visiting today, so I am looking forward to lots of catching up

take care 

Good news

Yesterday was check up day for hubby, he was so tense with anticipation.  One of our friends kindly drove us over to Denia, we arrived 15 minutes early, hubby was called within 5 minutes and was checked over, dressings changed and replastered in 20 minutes. Wow never seen anything so fast, so we were home just after 2 hours from leaving, including the travelling time of 40 mins each way. Fingers crossed is happens each time we have to go.

The good news is that he only cut half way through the tendon so the surgeon was able to reconstruct it and says that he will be able to play again.  Hubby commented that his hand looked like something out of a frankenstein movie which the medical team thought was amusing.  They just said he should have seen the inside.......err no........

Three weeks of plaster casts then probably physio, the antibiotics are making him feel yukky, as they do and I think the trauma of it all is catching up with both of us. Amazing that a wek has passed already.  Hubby wears a magnetic wrist band and we realised that this was the only think that saved his wrist, the consequences doesn't bear thinking about.

Had the carpenter out to measure up for a complete revamp of the entrance doors, complete with safety glass!! something about horses bolting springs to mind........

take care

Drama

Amazing how fast an innocent pleasurable evening spent singing and hubby playing the guitar can turn into a nightmare. Sounds a bit dramatic, but let me tell you that is certainly what it was.

It was about 10.15pm and hubby stepped out into the inner courtyard for a breath of cool air, on his return his shoe caught in the grooves of the floor tiles and he went flying.... putting his left hand out to steady himself he went straight through the glass of the front door, unfortunately the inside shutter was not fixed, otherwise it would have saved him.  How he managed to retract his arm without further damage I shall never know, as it was things were beginning to look like a war zone.

After contacting 112 (emergency servcies) i ran down into the plaza to try to find any neighbours, no reply anywhere, eventually one came up, I must have given them a rude awakening, the ambulance had still not arrived (it took an hour) so we bundled into Beno's car and luckily met the ambulance half way down the mountain where we transferred.

Emergency bandaged hubby up and he was admitted by about 3.30am then it was a waiting game for the doctor, who eventually arrived about 10am, in the meantime however poor hubby had to endure the nursing staff removing the sodden bandages, pouring oxigenated water and iodine over everything, awful feeling helpless with only comfort to offer, a bit daja vous as with DD.  

He was taken to the operating theatre at 12, about time, as the bandages were sodden again, he didn't return till 2.30pm, the operation had taken over 2 hours with the doctor exclaiming  'mucho, mucho, mucho sutures'  The artery, nerves, tendons were all repaired completely encased with bandages and then a plaster cast was applied, making sure there was no movement.

Hubby's home now, rather wobbly and certainly not looking forward to what comes next.  Going to be rather a long time before he will be playing again, just hope he doesn't get too frustrated coping with one arm.  DD has been brilliant in running me/us around, and unless I can get my head around driving again, which I haven't done for years with the fibro, she has offered to do 'taxi' services whenever. 

Due to our health care plan we are visiting totally different hospital/clinics, adds to the fun of trying to find our way around.  If it's not one thing it seems to be another.  Don't want to play this game anymore.....:-(

take care

Little knits

Last week the storms came, not too bad really and at least the garden is happy and everything got a wash, power only tripped but no outage. Even had to find a cardi!  Back to 27C and sunny again.

Friday saw DD and I making the trip to Denia hospital where it was the beginning of the 3 monthly checks, except its now 4 months but hey it was August....... we were very surprised to see the Doctor that we saw every week in Valencia, he in turn was so pleased to see the progress DD has made since he last saw her, DD found it comforting that there was continuity as he had even been on the team for the ICU scare... he is also a bit of a dish!!!!!........now we have PET scans in Benidorm, vascular consults then back for final reports in October, it's the waiting that winds us up.

Knitted a couple more pairs of wrist warmers, one was using cable...... getting adventurous.

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Little bunny was a bit cold in just his jacket, so he is now sporting a nice pair of dungarees

But then again he might be a she, being a tom boy, so for a party girl she must have a dress

ends to sew in and buttons on the straps

Saw this through the landing window yesterday morning, the sun was a huge red circle throwing pink hues across the valley.

Photo doesn't quite do it justice.

Off to play with cable bracelets and kitchener stitch............

take care

Mixed bag

Our internet is still pretending to be a yo yo, so we are having to be patient??!!...........

We really enjoy the cold Spanish soup gazpacho, very refreshing and ideal during the hot days when you really don't want anything to eat, so hubby decided to have a play

He took the basic ingredients, plus olive oil etc, a few tweaks and produced this

It was lovely, but it changes each time he makes it, now he is blending twice and sieving it to give a nice smooth texture, such a good way of using the plentiful veg around at the moment

Our vine has loads of white grapes on it this year, just need a little rain to help them swell, then it will be a race to beat the wasps......

half of the vine

 These are the first pickings of the almonds, we have a young tree in the driveway so they were easy to pick rather than putting the nets down and bashing the nuts, even though some of them were small, the kernals were quite large, plump and on sampling yummy.  We have around 16 almond trees, wonder what the yield will be this year

 Some more refurbishments - the watering can was in a sorry state with it's spout broken , after a quick solder and a lick of paint, good as new, the  little wheelbarrows came up nice too

Puff (the dragon) with his buzy lizzies

 

 

 

Needed a little over the shoulder bag for just those few essentials, really wanted this for the fiesta but guess I was a little late lol, came up quite nice using bamboo and cotton yarn

Saw this cute little rabbit pattern complete with its own wardrboe of clothes, just had to have a play to see how it came out

pattern from www.bysmallmeans.com

Isn't it cute, dungrees, a little dress and hat as well.

We are expecting storms for the next few days so time perhaps to play further.

Of to batten down the hatches

take care

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Refurbishing

 Been busy refurbishing - removed and painted all the door furniture, bolts etc including the gates to the courtyard, the fierce sun soon discolours them, now they are all bright and shiny again. Gloss painted the interior sides of the front doors and their shutters and hubby did the outside of them, so much nicer again.  You can only do these jobs in the morning as it's so hot that the paint dries on the brush

Whilst I had the painting bug I revamped these sorry looking wooden flower decorations

before

after, ready to use

 I found this lamp lurking in a sorry state

parafin lamp

 A couple of coats later

 

like new

 Amber is a funny little cat, she really doesn't like to be touched very much and certainly hates being picked up, and yet she always wants to be near to where ever we are, she decided to take comfort by cuddling a ball of merino wool

 Decided to check out Ravelry and look for some wrist warmers - found several nice patterns and chose some bamboo yarn. unfortunately the yarn hasn't much 'give' but in fact will be ideal for DIL as she has very small hands.

One for the pressie box

These will be good for the christmas stockings, DD suggested I was being very organised, but as we all know the time flies and crafting pressies isn't always the quickest option, but certainly a satisfying one.

I found another pattern using a cable stitch which I thought would be good for DS, but not being a very experienced knitter, came across a slight problem (for me) so I emailed the designer with my query and she responded by return including a chart for definition, offering further help if needed - how lovely, crafters are such nice people.

It's about 32C + at the moment, I think I can hear the pool calling.............

take care

Grrrrr

Still plagued with internet connection problems - getting really annoying now,we have just had a call from the company who have at long last admitted they have changed the signals and we are now on the very edge for receiving!!!! it's taken months for them to say this whilst all the time taking monthly payments without giving a service, even harder Grrrrrrrrrr...............................it seems the only way out is to change to satallite which is both restrictive and costly.......

Unbelievably it is now a week since our fiesta, we were festers this year, so it was our job to make sure all the tables and chairs were out and covered, preparing the table dishes, mainly olives, peppers, silver onion, and tomato mix, plates of monkey nuts, special beans (which I can't remember the name of) and of course sandia (water melon). Then of course all the clearing up after everyone had gone.

Friday followed the usual format, everyone brings their picnic and the hub bub of noise in the plaza grows, after the tables have been cleared away it's time for the music.  This year hubby had agreed to set up his gear and do a gig too, unfortunately there seemed to be a little local politics going on, with the usual guy refusing to take his break so hubby could play, so he didn't get on until 1.30am.  However he was well received and everyone enjoyed his music and it's paved the way for a long spot next year as well as the local mountain restaurants all suggesting he goes to play for them.

Quieter Friday night

 Saturday was much busier and the plaza soon filled with people

Setting up Saturday, taken from our balcony which is actually  our ground floor

the plaza was packed, dancing after dinner

 

 The music continued until 3am.  

Sunday morning was the church service and parade of Santa Barbara followed by the races for the cockrells and all the children's races.  The refreshments were a lovely lemon ice slush, great in the heat of the day and cake, next years festers received their slab of cake adorned with a carnation.

Early evening saw a return this year of the traditional dancers, whirling and twirling

traditional dancers

 

The plaza filled a little more for the dinner and then it was time for more music and dancing.  Luckily the music stopped around 1am, it had been a very long weekend with very little sleep and I have to admit that it has taken nearly all week to get back to normal again.

We will have further duties in December when they have another church service, but then our year will be over and next years take over, the fund raising begins in December so its quite involved.

have a great weekend what ever you are doing, take care