Surgery blues

Some of you may have noticed I have not blogged in a while, the reason for that being is I've been having some problems with my recent breast implant surgery.  I had my breast implant surgery 14th October - this was not my first time having this type of surgery, actually it was my third time having my implants replaced, so no big drama right?  Well, at first everything went smoothly, I came home tried to rest but with 3 preschoolers to look after that's nigh impossible - and it seems that may have been part of the cause of my impending doom.
  When they stitched my they used self dissolving stitches, so in theory by the time the stitches start dissolving, your skin has already .. well for no better word for it .. stuck itself back together.  However, in my case that was not so - picking up too many toys, wiping too many dirty bottoms, too many dirty loads of washing going in and too many loads of clean washing coming out ... ?  Well .. you get the picture.
My stitches dissolved and with my active lifestyle I ended up pulling my wounds open, and which well lets just say, ended up making a big mess!
So I went in had a small repair done, but no that didn't fix it - so back in again, this time emergency surgery - came back home with nylon stitches and a tube with a bottle on the end of it, the tube sticking out the side of my chest to drain out the build up of fluids around my implants to hopefully keep my stitches dry so they would heal - boy was I not a happy camper the next few days after that one - so okay thats fine, have to deal with it best I could, still had to look after the little ones - then disaster, ripped yet another hole, which resulted in some more leaking, so in back again for a few more stitches - fine ... no more leaking, after another week had passed, went back in to have my tube that was draining the fluid out from around my breasts removed - thank god for that, as it was not much fun to have my little 1year old boy yanking at the tube trying to pull it out of me!
Today is my birthday and I went in for another check up - they removed half my stitches, and in another weeks time they will hopefully remove the other half - so whef!  Drama - drama - drama, I tell you!  Is it all worth it, you might ask?  At my age, no probably not - however after everything I've had to go through, I dam well hope so!

So okay, on to the part that everyone popped in for a visit for -

Christmas Quaker ll by ByGone Stitches - starting to look like a real sampler now isn't it - loving every stitch.

 

New Start - Christmas Band Sampler by Heartstring Samplery - I wanted a more warmer feel to the fabric, so I decided to use Antique Cotton by R&R Reproductions instead of the recomended Natural.

 

Now, there is an award called the Liebester going around, and I have been awarded 4 times by different people over the last two weeks.  Liebester?  Lie - best'er?  dunno - sounds fishy to me - please accept my apologies to everyone that has passed on this award to me, I know that you are all sweethearts and did so with the best of intentions - however, as they say in Chinese  我不想玩 - I don't want to play.

 

I have also signed up for the Scarlett Letter Year hosted by Jo and Nicola - am SO looking forward to that, will post pictures of my choices soon.

 

Take care everybody and hope to post again soon.

Hugs,

Amanda

 

Have you heard? Carriage House Samplings

Love Carriage House Samplings?  Devastated when Kathy Barrick stopped designing?
No need to be sad anymore - Kathy has started designing again!  Happy Dance, Happy Dance - whoot whoot!
Click here to welcome her back.

A quick picture of my Christmas Quaker ll

Hugs and Stitches,
Amanda

Christmas Quaker Sampler update

Here is my progress on Songs of the Seasons by ByGone Stitches - below is a reminder of where I was on my last post and an update of where I am now.

This is my first time using Vickie Claytons silks - I found the silk a little difficult to work with at first and was having problems with it knotting up at the back, which was annoying when I didnt notice and kept on stitching! - however after I nice stiff drink of Vodka and Lime and a change in technique, I am happy to say things are now progressing along a lot more smoothly!
This is a beautiful sampler and I am enjoying myself immensely while working on it - can you see the little crosses in the star at the top of the hoop - isn't that so pretty?
Take care everybody and I will post again soon.
Hugs and Stitches,
Amanda

Time to start thinking about Christmas ...

Yes it's been on my mind a lot lately - Christmas.  It seems the bigger my family grows, the more special I want this time of year to be.
  I started this sampler by By Gone Stitches, using Vikki Clayton silks which I am really excited about as I think this sampler is gorgeous - also stitching it along with me is Kaisievic - so you can go check out her progress on this as well.

 

 

sorry for the poor quality pics!  This is my progress on my Bucilla Advent Calender - all the small windows are in and am now working on the shop window bottom left corner.

 

 

Teaching my six year old daughter how to sew on sequins and beads - I must say she did pretty well!

 

Also won a chart from Vickie - love the sweet handmade pins she included.

 

These last past few weeks have been crazy busy for me and I expect it to be like this for the next couple of weeks as well - so please accept my apologies for my sloppiness in replying to emails - it is not my intention to be rude - just feeling a little overworked and rundown. 
  In Taiwan everything has a season for reasons of good luck - at the moment it is what I like to call the Wedding Season - I am always surprised at how many peoples weddings I have to attend every year - and always the same menu - one dish you can guarentee is always on the menu is, Sharkfin soup - aren't we supposed to be not eating sharks anymore?  It seems if it is supposed to be good luck to have it - they don't dare to go without it - sad isn't it?



Take care everybody and you know I love ya all!
Hugs,
Amanda