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Monday 10 December 2012

Sewing for pleasure

I have had a few enjoyable days stitching a present for my daughter's ballet teacher.  I'm not usually into the whole thing of buying/giving a present for the teacher, but this year I wanted to.  The ballet teacher, let's call her Mrs H, has done such a great job with the class this year - in particular getting the girls ready for their ballet exam (results not due until January, so let's hope they pass!) - that I wanted her to have something nice by way of appreciation.

I browsed my Cross Stitch Card Shop magazines (one of my favourites) and found a cross stitch pattern of the ballerina, and then found the ballet shoes from another pattern, selected my threads and off I went.  Then stitched the finished pieces into the heart, found some matching ribbon and voila! 


I have had so much enjoyment from taking my time over making this.  I'm really hoping Mrs H likes it, but I'm sure she will!

Monday 3 December 2012

Where have I been?

I met someone in person this morning who had come across my Helen Small Designs Facebook page and through that had found my blog.  I was initially a bit speechless that someone I had never met before had actually found me on-line!  Then she said that it was ages since I had blogged anything.

This is true, so I thought I would tell you where I've been.  In April this year I was in a lot of pain with my hand and wrist.  'That'll be tendonitis then', said the GP.  Obviously he didn't quite use that language, but the casualness of his diagnosis belied the unfortunate impact my tendonitis would have on my fledgling business.

'It needs complete rest. Could take up to 6 months,' the GP added.  I'm glad I didn't know in April when I was tearing my hair out at how long I would be out of action that I would still not be right in December.  So 8-9 months later, x-rays, consultant appointments and several physio appointments later, my wrist is still not back up to full strength.  I have managed to sew the odd few bits here and there, but I do have to be careful as it doesn't take much for the niggling pain to be hovering in the back ground.  And I still can't bear much weight on my wrist.

But enough of that!  I have decided to sew up a few rose petal-filled and lavender-filled purse/pouches and donate them to St Luke's (Cheshire) Hospice.  It is a wonderful place and I am so glad to be able to help out raising funds in some small way.


Here they are, all packaged up and ready to go.  And do you know what, my hand and wrist feel pretty OK!!