Thank you........again I say thank you !!

Thank you everyone for your lovely thoughts, prayers and those warm and embracing hugs you have sent to this li'l corner of the world. They have all been received with much thankfulness; they have meant so much to both my husband and I. You will never know just how much they have comforted us in those moments where one feels at a loss, those moments when one feels alone.....thank you! The blogging community is filled with the loveliest of ladies who genuinely care, you are all little smiles from God!

My husband's treatment has begun and we have settled into a daily routine of hospital visits, walks and resting up. At the moment he is not unwell, but I suppose this will change sometime down the bendy path we find ourselves upon. As we live in a 'far rural outpost', which involves a 3 hour return trip to the hospital for ten minutes of being zapped with radiation, during the week we are staying in a cute little hundred year old cottage across the road from the hospital. Driving to and from the hospital each day was too exhausting. As there is no treatment on the weekends we wing our way back to our humble li'l olde abode......back to the peace and 'normality'.

In the mornings we have been going for a daily walk and exploring some of the cafes, parks and the 'sights' which the city of Launceston has to offer. The doctors have ordered my husband to walk for forty five minutes each day. and to "fatten"' up.....so who are we to disobey!! The problem with this 'edict' is that I am afraid I might just "fatten" me up as well!! The task of fattening up my husband is an impossible task. He has never put on a single ounce, pound, gram or indeed kilo in all the thirty seven years we have been married........(yes.......I was a child bride).....so the task of expanding his girth and wherever else fat likes to deposit itself in his anatomy is futile......but try we will!

Oh, there have been a few op shops and vintage establishments to explore as well. Rest assured, I wouldn't dream of making my husband wander around these treasure troves. No, on these occasions he is comfortably ensconced in a cafe, seeing to the task of fattening himself up and taking it easy.

Mmmm....how serendipitous.......this quirky establishment, the Vintage Red Fox, decided to include a cafe right next door!! Just means one doesn't have to travel far from perusing all those vintage goodies to partaking in a cappuccino.....or two!

Of course I took my sewing machines with me to the 'big smoke', with a suspicion perhaps my sewing mojo would percolate to the surface once again.....and percolate it has. Whilst my husband has been resting in the afternoons I have been enjoying a little sewing, in a sunny spot at the back of the cottage. Sewing is my happy place, a place that somehow helps me to smile for a little while.

Whilst packing for our 'holiday' in the city, I found this piece of vintage Hungarian embroidery. I had an idea formulating in my brainpan that I just might fashion a bag with oodles of vintage pretties. I had stashed this gorgeous embroidery away ages ago because when I washed it, all the colours had collided into each other and caused it to become a li'l 'muddy'. The once bright flowers were now tonal with all the colours that had escaped. Upon unearthing this pretty embroidery, I decided I like the muddiness of the flowers. I like the tonal qualities of the flowers AND I love the 'it has been around for a very long time' look, the vintage feel this piece suffuses.

So.......hankering after a quick project AND being in need of a new, sling across your body, boho type of bag, I decided to play with all my pretties once again and stitch a bag to carry around town.

I must say I am loving the worn and antiquated look of this 'looks as if it has been around for a good while' Hungarian embroidery. 

After gathering oodles and oodles of pretties together, I started to play. Oh how I love to play with vintage pretties, stitching and placing them wherever they magically find themselves. It is so calming and soooooo easy on the brainpan. With the meandering of ruched velvet ribbon around the Hungarian embroidery, the adding of doilies, the sprinkling of pretty trims, crochet flowers and the twining of cord; the prettying of the front of the bag is singing a colourful melody.

The bag is fashioned with a charcoal grey, canvas-type fabric. I chose a gorgeous vintage fabric from my "dowry of cloth" for the lining. Love, love, lurve the oranges, greens and purples of this fabric.

With my vintage inspired, boho bag all stitched up, I might just enjoy a little more playing with my bits and bobs.

Remember me saying I have been darkening the threshold of a few op shops this week......well I found this Victoria Cooper (an Australian Designer) cute little jacket. Can you guess what I might be doing this week? However did you cotton on.........am I really that predictable? Yes indeedy, amongst the hospital visits, appointments with doctors, and the morning walks, I might just find myself sitting in a sunny corner in the cute li'l cottage some afternoons, tarting up this little pretty whilst my husband rests.

We are at home for the weekend which means I can dive deep down into my plethora of pretties in readiness for the tarting up of this jacket. Once again thank you all so very much for your kind thoughts and prayers! Both my husband and I have been overwhelmed with your kindness, prayers and generosity of spirit!!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

This too shall pass...(now would be good)

Little did I realise when I wrote my last post just how life would propel my family down the most difficult of paths that we have ever walked along. Little did I realise as I sat in the sterile, hospital room with my husband, gazing out at the vignette of the autumnal trees with the lovely church spires ascending to the heavens, that our lives would change forevermore.

My husband has been diagnosed with Cancer, and whilst I have always regarded my blog as a happy place, always wishing to beam a spark of cheerfulness and sprinkle a little colour and whimsy to you lovely people who follow my blog, I feel I need to explain why I have not visited each one of your delightful blogs of late.

These last couple of weeks have been a constant revolving door of doctors, specialists, MRIs, CT scans etc etc. We have been bombarded by a plethora of information that I have been engulfed by an anaesthetised numbness. It has been an emotional couple of weeks. I have my 'blubbering idiot' moments, my moments of sheer panic and my moments of calm.

Both my husband and I have a deep faith in God. Our daily walk is one of faith, one of trust in God, even though we have no inkling of what tomorrow may bring. We have no idea what paths this next journey will lead us down, but we believe that we can only take one day at a time. To look at the gargantuan boulders in the middle of the road blocking our way, to look at the Tolkien-esque huge and looming trees overhanging the road, swiping us as we pass would only cause me panic. There have been many moments these last weeks where I have come face to face with this execrable creature, they call PANIC! I have cried many, many tears. Why oh why was I born with an oversupply of tear ducts??

There are many of you, I know, who have a loved one walking along the insidious path of cancer, or indeed a loved one struggling with an overwhelming illness. I have sensed from your writings it is a grueling and exhausting journey, a journey filled with the gamut of conflicting emotions. I am thinking of you with compassion as I write.

We live in a small rural town where friends have been amazing. Both my husband and I have been humbled and overwhelmed as to the loving support and care some of these salt of the earth 'treasures', which we are honoured to call friends, have shown us. Smiles from God indeed!

So.....the ensuing weeks....months......will find me waiting in hospital rooms whilst my brave and wonderful husband undergoes treatment. It will be strange to think the world outside will go on as usual whilst I am waiting.....waiting.  My husband truly is the best man I know. As I wait, perhaps I will stitch my hexie quilt (aaaah yes....my hexie has been rather neglected of late and has a ways to go) or perhaps there will be the clickety clacking of knitting needles, breaking the hushed tones of the waiting rooms. I have a feeling the stitching of a pretty or the knitting of a woolly will perhaps keep my mind from sliding down that slippery slope.

So over the next coming weeks, months, from time to time, I hope to visit your lovely blogs and read  your engaging posts; as you all in your own unique way bring a smile to my  heart......please forgive me if I miss one or two.

As I finish, I am comforted in the familiarity that God whispers in my heart...."do not fear, I am here". He and my family have walked many a difficult path together through the years and I am assured He is walking with our family today....tomorrow......and at times, carrying us. He has done so many a time before and I am assured He will once again. So in the coming weeks........months, I pray God will steady each one of my family's hearts, quiet our minds so that we may hear our Heavenly Father's voice and throughout the difficult days ahead, we will recognise the peace of God in our hearts. AND.......perhaps, dare I utter it, there might even be moments when my husband's and my wicked and droll senses of humour gurgle to the surface.

Until the next time..........