A little more work on the Ostrich

Well the next round for my unsuspecting ladies after the bias applique will be 'Flowers'

They are free to interpret this in any manner they decide - I'm even giving them the option to use a flowery fabric in a different pattern if they can't face doing actual flowers

For mine I decided to applique hexagon pieced flowers and here are the first three - four more to go for the full row

The other photo shows how to keep two primary school aged children and their grandmother occupied on a miserable wet half term afternoon.

Nigel's parents are stopping with us for a couple of nights to see the kids and us of course. Grandad was helping Daddy with the pre-conservatory electrics, I was stitching hexagon flowers sitting on the sofa in 'my spot' and Sarah was catching up with her mates on the internet after a very heavy rugby session earlier in the day - luckily the ankle held up and she had a great time.

Nick and Lou decided to play nicely together ( a rarity in itself I might add) and started the game you can see in the photo - it's based along the same lines as Twister where you have to put the relevant hand or foot onto the continent as selected by Nanna turning the arrow for the relevant instructions. They had great fun and loads of laughs - it made a welcome change from them being glued to the PS2 or the internet

We're in the throws of a family crisis in a different direction at present, my father is in the Coronary Care Unit up in Doncaster, about 240 miles (at least four hours drive) from us having suffered a 'silent heart attack' and subsequent fainting attacks. My dear sister ( sorry the tongue is firmly in the cheek here) is now giving me enormous grief because my mother and brother (who lives very near to Mum) happened to phone me before my sister to give an update of the situation.

She is very childish and loves to play the victim - you might recall her stay here at the end of the summer and the turmoil she managed to stir up then - and to cap it all has phoned me this afternoon to demand when I will be travelling up to visit the hospital

The after effects of the labyrinthitis are limiting the length of drive I can undertake to about an hour and both my husband and children have other commitments all weekend - of course this has given my sister the prime opportunity to impress upon my parents what a dutiful daughter she is and of course by reverse what a neglectful one I am. I don't doubt for a second that neither mum or dad would expect me to dash up there especially as he is in the best possible place and not in immediate danger

Of course the net result of all this is for me to feel wretched at not being able to get there and all the more worried about his welfare for not seeing him

Families! Who'd have them?