October has been a very mixed month for me. I've had a series of different viral infections ( 4 in the past 2 months) that have laid me low and sapped my energy (the consequence of working in a hospital I think and all the stress of the fire, burglary etc). I've had my flu jab, but it doesn't seem to have done much!
The last several weekends and some evenings have been spent trawling around Cardiff looking for somewhere for Madlen to live, now she is working for the Beeb in Llandaff. The stupid girl can't drive, though Mr Hare is trying very hard to persuade her to try again. It's not so important if you live in London, but public transport in the provinces/ countryside is just not the same! She has finally found somewhere that she is reasonably happy with. I've forgotten how shitty shared rental accommodation is !
I also took my mother to my Aunt Ruth's funeral ( a 500 mile round trip). This has stirred up all sort of memories, regrets etc. My Aunt Ruth was one of my father's younger sisters ( he was one of 9 children). My father died at the young age of 41 of a rare brain tumour. I was 16 at the time and it profoundly changed my families life. This was all a long time ago now, although my mother dwells on it all the time, partly because of her dementia but she also never really moved on with her life after his death. Sadly, she did not recognise any of my aunts and uncles. I had assumed her long term memory was reasonably intact, but it made me realise that she is confabulating most of the time. She told my Aunt Alice that she is living in bed and breakfast accommodation until she can move back into her own home! She is in fact living in sheltered accommodation because she is not safe to live on her own.
On a more positive note we now have a roof on the house (hoorah!) and the insurance money finally came through last Monday, only 10 and a half months after the fire.
I've had a reasonable month on the making front. I was Queen Bee for FQR Quilt Bee in October. I will do a whole post on this when I've had all the blocks back.
I've done a whole load of Bee blocks:
Dancing Stars for Natalie in the Simply Solids Quilting Bee.
Plus and cross blocks for Jo in Together @ do good stitches.
String block for Mary in Siblings Together.
Log cabins for Bee Blessed.
Most of my energy has been directed toward finishing my eye spy economy blocks quilt top. To be quite honest, making the last 20 blocks was a bit of an ordeal ( there are 80 in total). I was fairly sick of it by the end.
Trying to find enough fabrics to fussy cut was a bit of a challenge, but I managed it in the end.
I bought this pretty backing fabric from Ikea and only £3-00 per meter, so win, win!
Now, I just have to baste quilt and bind it!
