Well, Bert didn't manage the 3 months the doctor gave him, and died March 27th. Incredibly it doesn't seem 3 weeks ago, more like years as I miss him so much. Ed and I went to a local church last Saturday to light a candle for him. It was the first time I had been in this church and it was really lovely inside, quite a surprise as from the outside it looked just a pile of blocks. Also the windows had pictures of buildings along the bottoms which was quite appropriate as Bert was a builder. It was a comforting moment.
On a positive note, I received a couple of doll patterns that tested my abilities, especially at the moment, and after some rather harrowing mistakes, I produced my 'Berties' and 'Doris'. The Berties are made from Karen Shifton's pattern = Bouffon. The Bertie with the beard happened because I had this sily idea that I could spray the faces with hairspray to fix the colouring, but the sharpie I used for the mouth liquidised and ran down his chin so I had to rescue him.
Doris also had a traumatic time when I tried to paint her shoes on. I had finished everything else and tucked her on a wall unit to paint the shoes; I had placed the paint on the kitchen roll close by and she fell off her perch straight into the paint, all over her cap. I tried to wash it off, but the watered paint ran all over her face and I ended up having to remake her head completely.
My final 3rd traumatic happening came 2 weeks after Bert died, when my dog Digger swalled a sewing pin and had to have major surgery to remove it. The operation itself was fine, but getting his medication into him afterwards was so stressing for both of us and we ended up in tears. He was off his food for days and a visit to the vet made them rethink his medication and thankfully it was stopped altogether. He started eating again after 48 hours and was ravenous, bless him. He is fine now and bounding aroung the house in his usual noisy way.
All these happenings had made me lose my mojo and I'm finding it hard to get back into the swing of my life. I have made plans to get back slowly to the market, but not making waistcoats yet, just helping another lady with her stall. The local paper has listed a couple of groups of interest, like 'Good Companions' and 'Sip and Stitch' which I'll try and I have booked a day out on one of our local coaches, so I can see something of Devon. Hopefully this will help me develop a set of companions and a focus again.
