After Christmas

 I always feel the week after Christmas is a bit of a limbo, the decorations are still up but Christmas is over, the next year is just around the corner but not quite here. All the new plans feel like they have to be put on hold until new year (though that's probably me being lazy).
We had a lovely, quiet Christmas here. We have a tradition where we open a present an hour because it makes the  "oooo present!" factor last longer. I love Christmas, the food and decorations and even the awful television. I always get this urge to go to a church service at this time of year, I'm not sure why as I am in no way religious ( I think there is "something" I'm just not sure what.)

 I made some of my own decorations this year, the glass Christmas tree on the left is an experiment I had.They turned out a bit wonky and have only a passing resemblance to a Christmas tree shape but I have gone from initially hating them to loving how they look... I'm fickle! I hope that they are hung on the Christmas tree for years to come.

 This fairy is older than me, her wings are half off and her head is hanging by a thread but I love her!

 Along with the usual decorations, someone (my dad I reckon) has hung the shoe horn I won out of a cracker, on the tree.I think this will be the start of a new tradition!

I must admit I go a bit overboard on the decorations, as I see it the more shiny and bright the better.

Christmas shopping was a bit of a last minute rush this year, I managed to catch myself a lovely virus (lucky I was already in hospital when it started to kick in, I haven't felt that bad for a few years and because of the pain I couldn't open my mouth which was a problem for someone like me who likes to gab, saying that I lost my voice a few days after and had to resort to angry hand gestures. I was given codeine which took the edge off and made me a bit smiley. ) just over two weeks before and with no presents bought, it all had to be done during the last few days. Needless to say I wasn't feeling great as I dragged myself around town, and I promised to listen to the doctors warning to take it easy when all my wrapping was done.
Still, I'm feeling much better than I did and am up and about. :D


I've taken alot of photos with my new, Christmas gift, camera which I have fallen totally in love with and will be with me where ever I go.

I hope everyone had a fab Christmas!

LH
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Merry Christmas!

Well I still have things to wrap but I'm not too stressed out :) Did my last Christmas shopping yesterday and the tree was put up last week.. I think it looks quite sparkly :D

Have a great Christmas everyone!

LH
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Home at last

Well I'm home from hospital.. it was an unexpectedly long stay but I ll go into that my next post. I just wanted to say that curling up in my own bed with a packet of crisps and Father Ted on the telly is bliss.

On holiday....ha!

Well I'm in hospital again and just at the right time too as I have come down with an awful cold. I was due in anyway for routine treatment (my sort of top up, super drugs) but yesterday I started with a sore throat and headache and today I have a temp and am a bit shivery.I'm posting this while the paracetamol I have been given has kicked in.. I can slowly feel it wearing off tho so think this will be a flying visit and I will catch up on blogs tmw.

I thought I would share some pictures of my home for at least the next week and what I had for tea (the meals here are soooo much better than they used to be now we have our own chef)

My kitcheny bit

My bed.. not too messy yet.

Chips and lemon meringue pie...yum 

Drugs!! One down, 69 to go....


LH
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Spring Signs

Well I though I had better post again as it has been a while. I've been keeping fairly busy, experimenting with my kiln (more failures than success but still loving it) making lots of phone calls (I've heard "the number you are calling is unavailable" way to many times) and reading online tutorials for everything! I've also been adding to the epic bedspread project with a little "help" from my dog.

A first for me was planning ahead and sowing some sweetpea (one of my favourite flowers) seeds for next year. Now normally I'm not the most organised person, my mum said my middle name should have been Later, so this is a first for me. I have loved seeing the new signs of life springing up while everything else is cold and dark and it helps to remind me that Spring isn't too far away. I hope they survive over the winter.

I made some black and white beads the other day and thought I would wrap a piece of silver wire with thinfire paper and place between the layer of glass to make a hole. They looked ok, a bit of cold work is required to get them the shape I want but when I turned them over I found a dirty, yellowy mark in the glass. Nooooo! I *think* it may be because i glued the paper to the silver with prittstick as that was the only thing I did differently...more experimentation needed I think. I'm also thinking about glueing on a bail and forgetting about making a hole until I can get myself a drill... lots to think about.

The beads on the front...

The beads on the back, complete with manky yellow.
















still, waste not... I decided to make myself a necklace and bracelet.

Not too bad from an experiment gone wrong. :)

Have a great week!

Ps.. if you get chance watch Love on the Transplant List (it should be on iplayer) It's a documentary about a fellow CF patient and her wait for a lung transplant. I advise watching with tissues as it's very emotional but well worth the watch and highlights the importance of organ donation and what a difference it can make to someone's life.

LH
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A healthy breakfast

Hot chocolate and malteasers. In my defence I'am at train station and the choice is a bit limited.

Handmade Monday

The past week has been a one of craft firsts- First I sat down and made a plan of what I wanted to make, not my usual style of crafting but one I think I'll adopt, then I cuts shapes out of glass instead of straight (ish) strips (need practice and some way to smooth the edges out so they are..err..smooth, I used glassline to draw on the glass and I made my first blank.  

My pieces of glass waiting to be fired

This is the blank I made... well done to Caroline who correctly guessed Poppies! When I was sat down designing I was thinking of big flowers and just ended up with poppies, I think Remembrance Sunday must have subconsciously paid its part.
For my first go I'm quiet happy with how this turned out though I'm not that keen on the bubbles and think I may have to alter my firing schedule next time..also I wanted the petals to be more separate... I guess its all about experimentation at this point.

I wasn't just setting out to make a flat piece, nope, time for another first.. slumping! I bought a soap dish mold and, with a bit of trepidation, I put that and the glass back in the kiln....

Not very good photos, but I think it turned out pretty well and was gifted to my mum who is using it as a candle holder and not a soap dish!

Have a great Handmade Monday  everyone.

LH

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Can you tell what it is yet?

It's really great to be back to posting on my laptop, I've been so meh this past few weeks that I've just been eating and sleeping, I haven't had the energy to use my laptop for decent amounts of time, instead relying on my phone to read everyone's blogs. I think in part it's my health being a bit poo and partly because of the time of year. I always feel better when its lovely and sunny and warm. Anyway....

I've had a productive day today, trying out a few new things with my glass. I've been attempting to make shapes, its not been totally successful but I know I'm a bit better now at scoring and breaking than I was at the beginning. I'm in that rare( for me!) state in that I have a good idea what I am planning to make, normally I just make it up as I go along. This time though I sat down and planned it all out, drawing what I wanted, then altering when I found fault with the design. I really enjoyed the whole process, choosing colours, doing a bit of research and getting started. I must say that even though I had a plan I still ended up changing things in the actual making stage. Here is a pic of some of the items I used and the progress I made today. I wonder if you can work out what I am hoping to make... It's not very obvious at this stage.

I was shattered after doing all that scoring and cutting out.

I went to clinic yesterday, it went OK, I've put on a whole kg! wooooot! Only one more and I'm at my target :D :D :D Also got jabbed in the arm with flu vaccine. It's strange after all the needles I've had but that one makes me a bit :S Still, the nurse fussed me and let my mum hold my hand! HAHAHA! I wasn't that bad!
My lung function is down on last time which wasn't a big surprise after all the drama of a few weeks ago with the pleurisy. Luckily it's not a massive drop, I'm on my lower side of normal and so I'm booked in to go for a course of I.V's but not for three weeks. I could have started now and done them at home but I like ( actually like isn't the right word.. maybe accept is better) to go in for a week, have a drug called aminophyllin over night which can't be given as an out patient, and do some heavy duty physio. I then do the last week at home. I'm already planning what to take in with me to keep me occupied.. you'd think after doing this for 26 years I'd have it down to a fine art. HA! My laptop is a must, maybe my epic beadspead project and some jewellery making bits and pieces so I can put together a few things while I'm in. This gives me a great excuse to buy some more beads :D

Hope everyone's having a great Thursday.

LH
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Bonfire night!

Hello! It's been a very busy few weeks, but more on that when I'm not posting from my phone and have full use of a keyboard!  Want to say a big thankyou to thatfuzzyfeeling for the concern shown on my last post, go check out her owls, they are super cute and I wanted to comment but my phone doesn't seem to let me... honestly, go check them out now!

Had a (very slow) wander around to the local playing fieldthis evening  where they had a huge bonfire and a fireworks display . My lungs aren't happy with the smoke or me right now , but I've told them to shush, I want to play with sparklers! Think I may stick myself on some oxygen for a bit to get rid of the low oxygen headache I have going on. There is line you have to walk when you have cf, you have to decide which risks are worth taking and the ones that are just too much to gamble on. Sometimes doing the right thing, (and I have been known to be sensible sometimes!) is the most frustrating, upsetting, soul bruising thing ever,but it needs to be done. It dies make the small risks feel like little victories though :)
I'll leave you with some (awful , taken on my phone) photos from tonight.

LH
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Oh... there is a pic of my zelda inspired pumpkin in there too :)

A&E

It's been an eventful day... it started Sunday, I'd just posted my handmade Monday blog and was relaxing before bed, all my nebs were done, tablets were in my stomach and high calorie mush swallowed.. nothing out of the ordinary when suddenly I felt like I had been stabbed in the right hand side. It hurt. It hurt a lot. But I've felt worse and because I wasn't coughing anything red up or feeling too breathless I decided to see if I could sleep it off (stupid I know)

Well in the morning I acted out of character and did the sensible thing and rang the hospital I go to.. they told me to take paracetomol and see how things went, I tried to get on with things but was wincing everytime I coughed ..this morning I was still in pain when I took a deep breath .. this time when I rung they told me to go to my local hospital (saving me a round trip of over 100 miles) as I may have had a collapsed lung.. in all honesty , while this freaked me out a bit I wasn't scared, I've not (and hope I never do) had a lung collapse before but guessed if I did I wouldn't have gone a day and a bit without treatment. Still, off I went to casualty and had all the normal tests done including an xray. It felt so,so strange being treated by a different team, in some weird way I felt like I was being disloyal to the team that always looks after me and I missed them! Strange eh? The last time I was a patient in a&e was when I super glued my fingers on both hands together .
It turned out my xray was fine (tho the doc asked what the implant in my chest was and I had to tell them about my port :) ) they are pretty certain I have pleurisy and have told me to just take pain killers .
So now I'm sat up in bed, surrounded by sweets and yarn and the start of a crochet square that I'm sending to Africa.

What a day!
LH
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Handmade Monday- I'm back at last!

 Happy Handmade Monday everyone! Be sure to check out what everyone else has been making this week.

 The past two weeks have been the sort of fortnight where I haven't been able to get much done, I haven't been able to get anything started (or finished) I think it's because I have been on extra antibiotics which always slow me down a bit (and give me very freaky vivid dreams). So I have spent most of my days doing crafty things as well as visiting my aunt in hospital. My aunt is fantastic, she is in her eighties but is so full of life and has a wicked sense of humour. It's been a shock seeing her so poorly and is strange being the visitor and not the patient. Getting used to visiting times is odd as we don't have them at the hospital I go to.I hope she is out and back home soon.

I made the most of the lovely weather we had to get out in the garden and take some photos. Here are the results :) They aren't great but remind me of the sun!

I have been doing a little bit of experimenting with my kiln trying to form a hole in glass while it is fired. For my first attempt I soaked a cocktail stick in kiln wash and sandwiched between the glass...

 It didn't work but I like the pieces I made. I then got some advice from a very helpful person on the frit happens forum and tried wrapping the cocktail stick in thinfire paper. Success!

I'm not that keen on this, I must admit I was learning a technique rather than trying to make something I like. I used all the scratched pieces of glass that I couldn't break... it saves wasting them!

I still need to work on this technique but at least I have a good idea what I'm doing  now :)

I've also been adding to the Epic Bedspread Project! I wasn't happy with what it was looking like so I have started again... hard work! here is a close up picture...

And the a pic of the width...lots to do yet!

Glass

It's Handmade Monday time again and this week I thought I would show you my very first glass pendant. I finally got to buy a kiln after an age of saving, it is something I have wanted for a long time and it felt brilliant to get it delivered. I've just got to find a good name now for it :) My mum has suggested Trevor after my dad, as it is full of hot air and takes ages to do anything (we love you really dad!) but I'm not sure... one to think about I think! I have to buy some cutting tools as my skills in that area are none existent and snapping down the score line with my hands isn't producing the results I want (and I'm probably risking my skin!)... so a pair of running pliers are on the 'to buy' list.
I'm fairly chuffed with how its turned out, I think I'll have to read up on how to minimise air bubbles but other than that I'm just happy it came out the kiln in one piece. The colours are inspired by my football team (Blackpool) and I'm going to hang it from a necklace as soon as I've glued a bail to the back of it and wear it on match days for luck (could of done with that Saturday!)

I also have this picture of some crochet flower pin board pins, I made them a few months ago but have only just got around to photographing them as they have been pinning bits of paper to the notice board in the kitchen.

Have a great Hand Made Monday everyone, I'm off to have a look at what else has been made this week.

LH
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Friday

It's been a strange 8 days. Monday was awesome, I finally, after months and months of saving, got my kiln. I made two glass pendants which turned out better than I thought they would. I'm going to post some pictures as soon as I take some :) I must admit I'm a bit rubbish at glass cutting, it's going to take a bit of practice and the arrival of some decent tools before I can cut anything that resembles the shape I was after. As ever I have grand plans that my newbie skills aren't quite up to! Still, I've always been someone who tries to run before I can walk. Tut!

Wednesday was a day of mixed feelings. I got some news that I had been waiting for but that left me feeling... well I'm not sure how I felt and I still don't . You see, my sister(who didn't have cf)  passed away unexpectedly last year and Wednesday we found out why. I m glad I finally know what it was but it has brought all the grief back. I miss her so, so much. That she's gone hits at the most unexpected times, like the other day I was looking at some crochet tutorials and thought 'wouldn't it be nice if I made Karin a bag for christmas, I ll have to get started' of course then it hit that she wasn't here anymore. When I told her my dreams of making and selling things she was so supportive. I made her a scarf once and she was so happy with it, she was the sort of person who really appreciated the thought that went into handmade gifts. She was creative herself and was great at drawing and painting. The hallway of her flat was painted like a castle and she had a seaside scene painted on the wall in her front room.
So Wednesday was tough, I txt'd my best friend who, as ever was a total support. He has a knack of just listening to me and talking when he needs to. He also knows I won't ask for help so he always gives support if I ask for it or not. Mostly he drives me crackers and I know he's a much better friend to me than I am to him, something I'm going to change as I've come to realise you shouldn't take people for granted.
Well it's Friday night, I'm trying to decide if I should go out dancing in the local rock club where I shall meet some creative arty type (who happens to be rich) and we will decide to set up a gallery come bookshop come bead shop come sweet shop together... or I mighr just be watch telly instead.

LH
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Get it before November 4

Here are some more items that have to be delisted after November.

From LittleRedRobin

Two pocket mirrors




Ponytail holders





And fridge magnets






Get them while you can!

Get it before November 3

Here are some more items that won't be available after November 1st. Get them while you can!

From sweetsuzy

These cute teacup earrings.




PuttingontheCharms has a great selection. I love the robots!











maxineveronica has this lovely necklace.




From ickleimogen








I love these earring from Oldskoolretro



CraftyWarren- a pretty necklace.

MiaScintilla- Get these before the shop closes!







From heartsandcrafts







Some themed earrings from PoisonedAppleJewellery







Selling for a good cause- GrimmExhibition




From cosmiceden some stitch markers, earrings and a ring.








Some gorgeous earrings fromBlueForestJewellery




Click on the photos to be taken to the shops.

LH
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