It's been a busy old summer......................................

and I can't believe how long it is since I posted

 

A bit of stitching going on in and amongst work and family things

 

 

a baby quilt for some friends and their new daughter is an old one I finished up for her

Then my cousin had her little girl Poppy -  she received two quilts, why give one when you can give two

 

a big one which will eventually sit on a single bed if she wants

 

and a smaller one which she's already using as a floor mat

 

Other than stitching we've had a busy summer.......

 

 

My parents celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary and as Dad's condition means he probably won't realise what's happening if he lives to their 60th we decided to get some family together and take them on a trip on a horse drawn barge along a local canal.  This is my sister and I enjoying a good old laugh about something

 

 

And the very same weekend, told you it was busy,  Louise had her school prom - here she is with Harry her prom date

 

All three kids have made us very proud, even more so than usual, this summer.  Nick received his AS results and gained an A in Economics and a B in Law - considering how ill he was at the start of the year these are nothing short of miraculous.  We're not counting our chickens but he does seem much more stable now and the health professionals are delighted with his progress, long may it continue. 

 

Louise received her GCSE results only this week and gained 3 As, 5 Bs a C and an E.  Considering the knock on effect of everything with Nick she has coped so well and these are a real credit to her - one of the As was in Art so all that late night stitching was obviously worth it.  September will see her joining her brother at the local sixth form college to study A levels in English Literature, Government and Politics, Law and Geography.

 

Sarah completed her university course and attained a First Class Honours degree in Physiotherapy.  We heard at the end of last week that, in an incredibly competitive job market she has taken up the offer of a permanent job as a Band 5 Physiotherapist at Basildon and Thurrock NHS Trust in Essex not too far from where she studied at uni.  This was the first and only interview she attended.

 

Nigel has been on his travels again with work and spent a fortnight in the Far East visiting Tokyo and Shanghai

 

And he and I took the two younger ones on holiday to the Netherlands - here we are standing on the spot where the Dutch, Belgian and German borders meet

Finally last weekend Sarah and I met up for the weekend in London where she treated me to tickets to see Top Hat at the Aldwych Theatre as a belated birthday present - the show was superb and we had such a lovely weekend together, just the two of us.  Here she is at the Rainforest Café where we enjoyed Sunday lunch - all the other babies were under the age of ten and considerably younger than mine who turned 21 in July but I know we had just as much fun as the little ones