2011...the ones that got away...A Year In Pictures OR 13 by the dozen!!!

It's New Year's Eve...

for the first time in many years I have my 3 children here with us...including grandchildren!!!

I thought for this post I would put up a photo from each month...

photos that I took and intended to blog but just didn't get to it!!!

January......one evening JoJo and I went out for dinner to Starfish Deli...

February...went up to Canberra and had a ride on the famous Carousel...JoJo's favourite...

Headline of the month...I broke my arm, in 2 places...ouch!!!

March......Mr Armchair one Friday evening made snacks and wine for us...here Brie cheese and garlic and chilli olives...(didn't take me long to get to food ha ha)

Baker's Dozen...sling off my arm, doing physiotherapy and trying to lift the rod up...hard work!!!

Little Ryan staying with us for a week in the school holidays...he is on holiday from Pre-School...

May...went to Moruya and there were hot-rods everywhere...here JoJo's favourite...

June......and here's the girl herself...our good friends Geo and Lloyd stayed at not-too-far-away Mollymook...

July......caught up with my Niece...here I am with Grand-daughter Lidija and Great Niece Grace Eliza...

August......went to Canberra Craft Fair and had to have this kit......a flannel snowman quilt kit...

the plan is to start on my birthday......let's see how we go!!!

September.....back to food......this time Chocolate Mousse for Tracey and John.....

October......Mr Armchair, normally camera shy said 'take a picture of me' while he was cutting down some bouganvillea......

November......back to Starfish Del, it's our Wedding Anniversary......lunch and then off to Twilight the movie...

December......New Year's Eve...

here we all are having late lunch...

What a year......who ever thought this much could happen in a year...

another great year......arm is still mending......

beachwalk today......pink bubbles at the moment......happy conversation around me...

cheeseplate coming...

Happy New Year......

Wishing everybody Peace, Joy and Contentment in the coming year......

let's hope it's a good one with everything happy in this world of ours!!!

Love, Dzintra

Colour Swap Sent and Received by Partner...arm update, and a special Visitor!!!

At the start of this year I entered into a 'Colour Swap' hosted by Maree...

easy peasy I thought...then having entered I broke my arm!!!

Just send something handmade...something to eat...a fat quarter and some thread...

My Partner was Dawnfire...and her favourite colour is purple!!!

I wasn't able to send something that I had handmade so I sent this fabric together with a ribbon and a button...

Purple fat quarters...thread...and some little sweets in a tin with a compact mirror...

Thank you so much Dawnfire for your patience...this swap gift was a little late due to the circumstances!!!

Thank you so much Maree for organizing this fun Swap!!!

And back to my arm...it's not healing as fast as it should be...

then again it was broken in 2 places...

more xrays in 4 weeks...

still have to take it easy...

Physiotherapy has started...I can lift no heavier than 2L milk...

and I have exercises to do to get the arm/shoulder moving again...

AND it can take up to 12 months to get full function happening again...Yipes!!!

Couldn't resist this pic...my little Grand daughter Lidija sitting with me...(me looking a bit out of it I think) barely 2 and a 1/2 and she put her big fluffy toy "Iggle Piggle 'on my arm to make it better!!!

How sweet...that was is enough to bring tears to my eyes!!!

I love how she did that just by instinct...perhaps there's a Healer in there!!!

And this little Munchkin Ryan...Lidija's Brother is coming to stay here for a week during the holidays...

how much fun this is going to be...as an added bonus Mr Armchair will still be home caring...

but I am starting to slowly do stuff...

 Ryan's t-shirt says 'Sveiks'...which is a greeting in Latvian,

like g'day...hello...how are you

Looking forward to seeing you Buddy...

arm out of sling...art in the sand...and 'pearl'

wow what a time it's been...

7 weeks today since i broke my arm...in 2 places!!!

out of sling now but boy does it hurt, but it's all good

i had my first physio session yesterday...

i can just lift my arm to waist level...who would think that that would be so hard!!!

then with a stick...whilst lying down..lifting it up to my chin...nose...forehead,

and that was enough!!!

hard to sleep...it seems to hurt even more...can't work that one out...

if i'm not aware of it the arm immediately goes back to sling position...

after the session 'shannon' put these little things on my arm...

felt like pins and needles...like a massage to the area to help get the blood circulating...

felt weird but you get used to it...

these marks stayed on my skin for about an hour afterwards...

see how my top isn't sitting properly...

that's because of the lost muscle tone...

it happens with the clothes now...they seem to 'hang' a bit...

it will be about 12 months till i regain use of my shoulder again...holey dooley!!!

never mind i'll work at it...

dear mr armchair needs to back to work in a couple of weeks...

and jojo needs me to be able to go about her daily activities...

so all will be slow and steady and i will do what i can manage...

a little while ago we took a beach walk (before i broke my arm)...

image of branch of wood embedded in sand...just beautiful!!!

and look what's been keeping me company...

my own little pc...

how timely was this...

bought the week before i broke my arm...

then our home computer died...

and i've called it 'pearl'...

back to the issue of no space left to upload pics...

these managed to get through as there were only 4...

looks as though i'm going to have to buy more space from google...

no way round it...if i delete the pics they get deleted from the blog...

coffee's on...i can smell it wafting up the stairs...

and i better get moving with that stick...physio in 2 weeks and 'shannon' will expect to see results!!!

colour swap received...a giveaway and quilts for japan

hi there...i'm still in this sling, off to x-rays next week to see how my arm is healing...

mr armchair is as busy as ever but i think falling into a routine here...

somehow i think he doesn't want to go back to work...he would rather look after me and jojo...

he has been so good and patient with us both...

thank you so very very much...

we couldn't do it without him as we have no family here and are fairly new to the area...

meanwhile here is a bunch of roses he brought in for us...just before all this rain started...

at the beginning of the year i entered a colour swap hosted by maree...

easy peasy...the colour i chose was soft green...

above are the little gifts sent to me by sandy...

of course...something to eat...

something pretty...

a fat quarter...

some thread

the card that sandy sent...

and the goodies unwrapped...

the chocolate is a gluten free one by kinnerton...

the label says delicious for cakes and desserts...yuuummmm, i can just taste this now...

i love chocolate...

thank you so very very much sandy...i love my little package...

and thank you so much dear maree for organizing this lovely swap...

i really think you are queen of swaps...

recently i came across david's blog...

david is a gentleman from france who does cross stitch and patchwork...and all so beautifully

i entered his giveaway and blow me down i won third prize...

above is the package and card received...

my first ever mail from france...how excited was i...

the prize is a cross stitch chart by blackbird designs...rites of spring...

and david included some beautiful variegated hand dyed thread in shiraz by atalie...

the chart gives the dmc thread colours...

and also recommends hand dyed threads by weeks dye works which i'm thinking of getting...

thank you so much david for hosting this lovely giveaway... 

i'm going to try and start this by spring...

and on the topic of giveaways fee is having one...

one of the prizes is the above...so hop on over and check it out...

and back to cross stitch...my method of working with pillows supporting my arm is working...

yay...so maybe...an opam...one project a month for march...we'll see...

now chocolate and a shiraz might be the go here later on...

i'll check with mr armchair...

till next time...dzintra

meanwhile...robyn at daisy quilts has included on her blog how quilters can get involved to assist the japanese people after all the devastation they have endured...

thank you robyn...

at last...a bit of stitching...and some reproduction fabrics...

still typing one fingered here due to my arm still being in a sling...

after visiting the doctor during the week with mr armchair driving me  

as a cheer me up we called in to my local patchwork shop steph's after my appointment...  

and bought this lovely little package of what i call reproduction prints...

which i think complement the few i have at home...

along with this jelly roll 'civil war homefront' by barbara brackman...and a very informative book below on america's printed fabrics 1770-1890 also by barbara...

and from this era i have some fabric which is very similar below..

the top piece of this pic is the fabric i have...

the bottom piece is a pic from the book...i thought a pretty close match...

1. 
   and whilst at steph's i had to get this eiffel tower fat quarter to add to my collection...

meanwhile...i thought perhaps i might be able to try some cross stitch using my right hand...

but no that didn't work as i still needed the other hand even though this was on a frame...

so i had a rummage in a box under the table...

and came up with a little cross stitch in this little 'theatre bag'...

and perfect...i still have use of my left hand but have to keep it bent in the sling...

i am supported by pillows around me and can do a bit of cross stitch with the right hand for a little while...and have frequent breaks when the fabric gets too 'heavy'...

meanwhile mr armchair is doing a fabulous job caring for me and jojo...

i still cannot do anything...

can't cut my own food...

i can choose my own clothes but i can't put them on...

and so it goes on...

he is a real hero and i couldn't do this without him as we have no family members here and we are fairly new to this area...

i did say to him that he might be happy to get back to work for a rest ha ha...

i still wonder 'who cares for the carer' especially if they are on their own...

a broken arm...the first 2 weeks

nothing funny about my situation at the moment...

but i had to smile when i looked up one day in my sewing room...

and saw this lol sign...

just the happy colours in it, and what it said...

something intriguing here is happening...

my dear friend geo (no blog) is sending me little cheer up letters regularly and with each one is part of a little puzzle...mmm wonder what the end pic will be...

pic of my arm here...the purple bit went all black...a bit scary looking...

mr armchair is run off his feet caring for me and jojo...

he had a significant birthday last week and had to pick up his own birthday cake...

buy his own candles...buy his own birthday chinese dinner which he didn't like anyway...

cancel an overnight stay (yes with jojo)...

a birthday to remember...

a visit from my friend fiona (no blog) saw her bring 'round this gorgeous bunch of happy flowers and...

some slings that she made up for me...

how cool is that...

and yesterday she brought 'round a very much appreciated casserole...

what a difference that made to hubby's rather full on days...

thank you so much dear fiona...we scoffed that down and loved it...

such a thoughtful gesture and so very much appreciated...

for mr armchair's birthday we had a visit from our dear son and his partner...

they had not long ago come back from patagonia and brought back some gifts for us...

above is a tshirt for mr armchair...

a label for some handspun wool for me...

2 hunks of it....about 500g...

now i'll have to track down some patterns, thinking perhaps a vest...

they also went to tahiti and brought back for jojo this plaited leather necklace with a shell centre...

the back is held together with a shell over a loop...

meanwhile, while they were here candles were lit for a dinner that danelle (son's partner) had requested from the latest issue of delicious. magazine...i was going to make this for birthday dinner for mr armchair...

and here she is preparing a salad...

and the meal made both by danelle and james...macadamia-crusted fish with herb salad...

followed by blueberry crumble...recipe by donna hay

absolutely delicious...thank you so much danelle and james...

this won't be a regular occurence as they live 5 hours away...

these last 2 weeks have brought around lots of changes here...

the world is still going on...people are still busy...

and i feel like i have stepped aside and am a spectator...

i found these few quotes at lenna's website...

1.  Life is not fair, but it is still good.

2.  When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3.  Cry with someone.  It is more healing than crying alone.
4.  Everything can change in the blink of an eye.  But do not worry; God never blinks.
5.  Take a deep breath.  It calms the mind.

off to physiotherapy next week...so looking forward to stitching again...

and i'll never take the use of 2 arms for granted again...