A stitch here and there

Yesterday's hospital appointment was good except that on my last blood test, one of the results was up slightly but still within the normal range. That meant I had to have a blood test but a least I had my favourite phlebotomist take the blood. No pain and no bruise. The last blood test was right at the start of the year so too much good food and alcohol over the holiday season could have been the cause. Whilst waiting to see the doctor I got on with stitching one of the frog stitcheries. These are very cute and will eventually finish up as a baby quilt. On the pattern these are all stitched using only one colour but I'm adding other colours.

Once I've finished a couple of frog blocks I'll make a start on the pieced blocks. Again I won't be following the colour choices from the pattern. Here's my progress to date on the first stitchery.

These will stitch up quite quickly, so I'm hoping or is that hopping to get this one done by Saturday.

Over the day I cleared some chores mainly laundry and ironing but now the laundry that was put out to dry yesterday needs ironing. I guess that's why we call them chores, we do them but come the next day there they are needing doing again. Oddly I do like ironing and it is perfect for doing whilst listening to an audio book or podcast.

John and I met up with older daughter for a spot of retail therapy once she had finished work for the day. We wanted to visit a fabric shop that had opened during the last year. It sells mainly dressmaking fabric and Katy wants to make some summer dresses. We had a good look round and were impressed with the range and the prices. Katy bought two lots of fabric. I stopped myself buying as I have a lot of fabric I can use in my stash. In another shop I was able to purchase what I wanted, a tailors ham, a loop turner for making rouleau or spaghetti straps and some dressmakers chalk.

The tailors ham will make pressing out the darts or shoulder seams so much easier. Up to now I've used a rolled up towel which works well but the ham is much firmer to press against. 

Katy had a lot of marking to finish so instead of going back to her home for something to eat and for her to help me fit my dress bodice we dropped her off and headed straight home. She is coming over to us on Saturday so we will do a dress fitting then and hopefully I will get the dress finished over the weekend. When we got home we still needed to cook dinner before I could settle down for a little more slow stitching before bedtime. Although I didn't get the dress fitting done and didn't have time to draw out the next pride and prejudice stitchery, the day was successful. I bought the items I wanted to make dressmaking easier, Katy has some fabric for her summer dresses and we enjoyed a family shopping trip.

Today is a work day and I'm interviewing from 9 to 5:30 with a short break for lunch. By the time I've finished that my brain will be exhausted from the experience and I'll need to take a walk to exercise my stiff body from being sat all day. With luck I'll get the patterns drawn out and I'll do some work on the frog stitchery. For now I need to get the last laundry load on the washing line so it can dry before the rain that's predicted for this afternoon arrives. On a Friday morning I meet up with friends online for breakfast club, so I need to get a wriggle on to have time to meet up with them.

Take care

Lyndsey