April TUSAL

Better late than never - it seems that 14th April slipped by unnoticed by me - so here's my TUSAL jar as it looks tonight. The latest threads are all pinks and whites - from the flounce of the underskirt of L&L's Angel of Grace. There are also a few broken needles, and some floss tags added in the past month.

And here's the progress pic for my Angel of Grace:

There's not a lot of progress since the last pic. I am STILL working on the flounce. I really had hoped to have it finished by now, but life just seems to get in the way of my stitching these days. I am really keen to finish this one, but it's just not happening. I am still hopeful of having her at the framers by the end of May (I always was an optimist).

My streak of bad luck is continuing. I keep expecting things to pick up (there's that optimist peeking through again), but so far each time I pop my head up 2010 just knocks me down again. Yesterday the hot water system sprang a leak, and had to be replaced. I must surely be running out household items to replace - in the past twelve months or so I have replaced the wall oven, the microwave, the clothes dryer, the washing machine, the vacuum cleaner (twice), the motor of the spa pump, the remote control for the garage door, my home telephone, the computer, the printer, a VCR, a digital set top box with DVD recorder, and the TV aerial - and now the hot water system. I've also had a prang in the car, lost my much-loved Bichon, attended two funeral services for long-term friends, had a number of friends diagnosed with cancer, been diagnosed myself with three new chronic health problems, and watched my Dad's health, mental acuity and state of mind deteriorate markedly. I am not a happy pussycat!

Consequences ...

I found this lovely Angel at a local garage sale. She had seen better days, and lost a hand at some stage. The poor little thing was looking quite unloved, so I brought her home, cleaned her up, and made her a beaded wreath to disguise the missing hand. She has now joined my Angel family, and will have a special spot this Christmas in my Angel room. While looking for the ring to use as the base of the wreath, I emptied and re-organised two cupboards in my craft room (not a planned activity, but one that was certainly begging to be done). In one of the cupboards I found three pre-loved mini Christmas trees that I'd been meaning to re-birth for some time. Since the glue gun and beads were out and ready for use, it seemed logical to redecorate the trees before returning them to the cupboard. This is the result:

Despite the evidence of your eyes, the trees are all straight - it's my camera skills that need improvement. The largest tree is made of seed pods, some of which were missing. I replaced the missing seed pods, and a few others, with baubles and added some large white beads. The middle tree is 15 cm (6") tall. I decorated it with large pink pearl beads and little pastel stars. The smallest tree was in a broken pot, so I took off the foliage ball and glued it into a ceramic candle-stick holder that had lost its mate. I decorated this tree with tiny coloured jingle bells and gold coloured beaded stars.

I would never have predicted that bringing home a damaged angel would have resulted in a

reorganised and tidy craft room, and four additions to my 2010 Christmas display, but there you go ... consequences are often unpredictable!

On the home stretch now ...

and very keen to see Angel of Grace finished and ready for the framer. I have some of the flounce, and almost all of the floral trim to stitch. Ths week's picture is once again incomplete - I'm hoping by next weekend the Angel will be finished and off her split rods, and I can show a picture that includes the whole Angel. This Angel is my project for Yoyo's Christmas Design SAL. My substitute project will be my HAED Jolly Old Fellow. I plan to stitch on him in the first week of each month for the rest of the year - except for the month of June, when I have a prior commitment that will keep me away from the floor-frame. I am really looking forward to stitching some Christmas ornaments and little projects.

More progress

I have made good progress in the past week, and I am very pleased with how she is growing. Once again I'm just showing the area where I am currently stitching - it's just too difficult to take her off the split rods to take a pic of the entire stitched area. Marg - if you're watching - you should be able to see the finished Angel when you're in town on 17th April. I have the tail of the over-skirt to finish, then there's just the floral trim and the flounce to stitch. I am really looking forward to bringing Jolly Old Fellow down to my stitching corner as soon as the Angel is stitched and off the frame.

I am also very pleased with my Dad's progress at his Hostel. He's sort-of settled in, though often when I visit I find he has packed all his 'precious' things (today it was his torch, clock, phone number list, newspaper, hat, walking stick and my brother's work shirt) into the basket of his walking frame, and unplugged and neatly rolled up the electrical cords of the recliner, TV and stereo, so that he's ready to leave as soon as he's 'turfed out', which he often mistakenly thinks is about to happen. Most of the time he seems contented, and he is the first to get to the dining room for his meals and the last to leave, so that's something. Today he allowed that there was plenty of choice and variety in the meals, which was the first positive comment about the food. The food is actually delicious - I know, because when Dad was on his hunger strike I tasted many meals in an attempt to coax him to eat.

Happy Easter!

Angel of Grace progress

My Angel is growing. This pic shows just the section I'm working on, because she's on split rods in my lap-frame, and I don't want to remove her completely from the rods, which is what I would have to do to show all of the stitched Angel. I'm working from the top down, and I have reached the bottom of the chart on the far right section. I am on target to finish Grace next month. There'll be big celebrations in my house then!

Annus Horribilis? (with apologies to HM ERII)

It's shaping up that way. I just can not believe this year. So far, this is what has happened (roughly in chronological order, not in order of importance):

• the washing machine died
• I flooded the lower level of the house with the new washing machine
• my best friend's mother died unexpectedly
• the set top box cum DVD recorder died
• the VCR player died
• my Dad developed an acute psychotic delerium culminating in self-harm and requiring admission to hospital
• my Dad collapsed following a procedure, and went into cardiac arrest (he was successfully resuscitated)
• my Dad required placement (not of his own choosing) in an aged care facility
• my much-loved Bichon developed severe intractable pain and had to be euthenised in her 17th year
• my BIL's brother died unexpectedly of cardiac problems at age 48
• a previous work colleague lost her long battle with bowel cancer
• a tooth filling dropped out and had to be replaced
• the repaired tooth filling fell out after two weeks and a much more expensive repair is required
• the vacuum cleaner died
• the new vacuum cleaner died on its second use
• I smashed the front of the car when reversing out of a parking space yesterday

Not happy, Jan!

March TUSAL jar

It doesn't seem possible that a month has passed since I last took a photo of my TUSAL jar, but Yoyo says the New Moon is here again, so it must be time. There are quite a lot more threads in my TUSAL jar this month, all from my Angel of Grace. From the top, there are a lot of white threads mixed with some pink threads from the under-skirt - I seem to have been stitching this part of the skirt forever. Under these are the darker pinks of the ribbons, and the green and tan threads from the over-skirt, along with a few floss bands.