Finally Our Journal Page Swap

It's nothing fancy, half of our group works, so we meet at 5pm at Tim Horton's. We have grown to five now, with one participant in Australia. Perhaps she'll be home for a visit this summer. We had fun to-night; it is the  second swap, and I  think the creative juices are kicking in. I love  the page above that I received form Carla in Australia--what makes it even more special is that she actually hand wrote a four page letter explaining the process and her thoughts behind it.

She also included an extra little gift--an envelope with circus stamps. I will put that into the journal too.


Anne got creative by fusing discarded threads on a wool background and adding ribbon and bits form store packaging. I love the handwork that she added too! Charlotte was very happy to take it home.

I can't show Nicole's yet, as it will be mailed and I want it to be a surprise.

I started off by making fabric paper (tissue glued to muslin and tea dyed). I wrote on it and then collaged fabric bits around it. I made a stencil from freezer paper to paint the eggs, and then drew the nest and the bird with a black pen and  free motion stitched them. Mine went to Anne.

There is one left to show and that is Charlotte's. We had a similar idea with the nest and the eggs, but she used bits of wools in her nest. I love the colors.

Whoops!

What was I thinking? Well, clearly I wasn't. I'm blaming it on my present illness stupor, but of course the picture I posted last entry is not a peacock, but rather, a pheasant, as another blogger informed me.
I am slowly making progress--starting to feel a tiny bit better each day. It is though very much like the proverbial saying, 'two steps forward, 1 step back'. From day-to-day it is frustrating, but if I compare to last week I am better.

The next picture is one I'm dying to show, but I have to wait until after tomorrow night just in case a certain person might be lurking here. I am so anxious that I am posting a sneak preview. It's a little blurry--even better for a peak.

I am heading downtown in a bit to meet some of my work colleagues for lunch. They are having a training day today.

Some New Fabric

Yesterday, I made the trip to Moncton to see the specialist and I managed a few minutes in the fabric shop--The Fabric Cupboard. They had just received some new bright  fabrics fro children, so I bought some. I always like to have some on hand because they are fun to put together and you never know when you might need one for a gift. don't you love the colors?

Visiting the specialist was not terribly productive. One of the first things he said was "Bonjour, do you speak French, my English is not very good". His English was not after all too bad, but there were several instances when he did not really understand me. I won't go into a lot of boring details, but 2 things did come out of it. He looked at my blood tests that were done for thyroid and glucose, and he said they were not valid because the prednisone would affect the results. He will advise my doctor as to how to test for those again.
while were driving the back roads of Moncton, we spotted this peacock roaming freely. My husband saw one there last week when he was there on business and was told there are a lot of them. Apparently they are descendants of  some zoo escapees .

Though I said in my last post that I was going back to work, I am off again because my last x-ray showed that I still have pneumonia. I'm on another round of antibiotics and enforced rest again.

On the weekend I did this bit of painting, stenciling and stamping on a piece of interfacing. It is not finished yet--I'm planning to add it  to the journal that I'm using with my journal swap group. Someday, I hope to be able to sew again.

Back To Work

Tomorrow, I'm going to try going back to work for half days. I have about a month left, and I don't expect to do

full days until the end. I've been walking or doing some exercise everyday this week; however,  I do still need to rest every afternoon, and I'm still having shortness of breath.
I couldn't resist buying these daffodils at the mall, and last night at about 10 pm,  I decided to do a quick sketch. I wanted to try something different--I used brown watercolor pencil and a yellow oil pastel. It's not great, but I think I might have liked it better if I had used a white pastel for the highlights.
Also, I did put together my journal page for the swap which unfortunately, I can't show until after April 28th.

No Definitive Diagnosis.

I think my sofa is starting to take on the shape of my backside, I've been spending so much time on it. I saw my doctor yesterday, and there was nothing really definitive from the blood tests. She did send me for another chest xray, as the last one still showed a touch of pneumonia. That alone could account for the fatigue and shortness of breath. combine that with Addison's, a  full time job, well it's just too much. She says my body is in a starte of collapse. Also, the blood glucose was normal, but I've had some that were too high when I did the finger pricking at home, so now I have to go for the 3 hour fast just to be sure. It doesn't necessarily mean diabetes though. I've had to stay on a much too high dose of prednisone for the Addison's disease this past winter, just to be able to work, and that can affect blood sugar levels. I'm in the process of reducing now, so that might be it.
Next week, I'm going to start back to work again(only because I have just a month left) for half days although this time I plan to stay on half days until the end which is May 21st. I'll rest in the afternoons and once I'm done work, I'm aiming to get my health back on track.

Here is the only picture I have to share. It is of the sweater I started this week which I found the pattern for on the site Ravelry -I just discovered this, and it's great if you knit or crochet! This is a down-loadable pattern, called Tea Leaves, that I purchased. It is a cardigan that it is knit form the top down and I love it.It's so much easier.

The Irony.

Little did I know months ago when I was trying to think of a name for my blog, how ironic and true it would become. In the past few weeks I have been reduced to looking at the world almost exclusively 'through my window'. I went back to work 2 weeks ago for half days and nearly collapsed by the end of the week. This week I've been at home; I seem to be getting weaker. My world has been narrowed to the sofa where I read a  little, knit a  little, and try to keep up with some work. Therefore, I'm not getting much done creatively. I've been doing more ripping out than finishing with my knitting.
I saw my family doctor on Wednesday, and she gave me a small meter to measure my blood sugar-- there was one level done that was high. Apparently blood sugar issues go with Addison's disease, as do other things such as thyroid problems, so I'm going to have tests for all that this Tuesday. I sure hope we find something.
I'm excited about the next journal page with my group because I kind of know where I'm going with it-- I just can't get to it. I've got the basic elements laid out. The theme is speckled eggs. I'm posting a picture of the basic elements, but I don't want to show anymore until the reveal at the end of the month. There is one more section I want to add which involves pen and ink. Since I'm shaking so badly I can't do it yet.
Also, I did manage to get the pieces for my fishing huts ironed down.

Back home

We had a nice visit with my daughter and my son and his girl friend in Fredericton. we all had dinner together at my daughter's apartment on Saturday night. I am still feeling very weak and still having breathing problems so I was limited in my activity, but everyone pitched in and to help and we kept it simple--ham and veggies. we picked up dessert from the market earlier in the day. The weather has been spectacular too. The weather girl on TV said we recorded a temperature of 23C yesterday; however, our car thermometer said 28C around 3 PM when we got home. Wow!

I did manage to get into Fabricville where I bought some linens to coordinate with my Daisy Jane fabrics. Now I just have to figure out how I want to put them together to make some cushions and runners.
This morning, I quietly cut out fusible for a project that I drew out last week. I used a picture that I took of some local ice fishing huts. I'm posting a picture of what I have so far. It is a little wonky yet, since it is not ironed down. There are still pieces to add and adjustments to make. My intention is to make the pattern available to a local quilt shop and perhaps also on line.

Fabric in the mail

Don't you just love it when you come home to find that little package in the mailbox? Here is what I found today, and if you look closely, you will see how well the colors match my existing colors. I'm going to get to work on a few accessories to update my look a little. I just love the modern look of these fabrics. They are linen and so scrumptious. Also, I continue to be pleasantly surprised with everything I order from blog land. Notice the little notebook that was included as a thank you...sweet.
I worked mostly 1/2 to 3/4 days this week. My intention today was to do a full day, but I was so exhausted at 2:30 that I left shortly after that. I came home and stretched out as usual. My poor sewing machine must be getting lonely.


I did grab my sketchbook and colored pencils after dinner to put some color on this little sketch o f some gifted flowers (thank you Paula- they are being well appreciated!) that I did early one morning when I was awake early. I am musing and planning to do something with this design on fabric that may involve dyeing, painting, stamping, and sewing. If only I could just get the energy up to do it.


Tomorrow we're heading to Fredericton until Sunday to visit my daughter. My youngest son and his girlfriend are also coming for dinner on Saturday night.
I'm planning to do a little shopping for some supplies that can't be bought locally. I'd like to find some plain linen to go with my fabrics, so that I could make table runners.