Why the NHS not NWS

It’s impossible to think of weddings and work when we aren’t even sure what happens next. My life normally consists of brides and wedding dates but all of a sudden that’s gone. These days I think of my brides who are having to go to work and their wedding is the last thing on their mind. 

So much has been going on in my life and my work was part of what kept me going. Maybe as much as work it was actually the people I was working for!! Part of what I do is attention to detail and over the last lot of years with trends, abbreviations have got more prevalent. OMG, GOT, GOH, MOG, TWG, ICU well I never really took to that. Recently a guy text my husband NS and we guessed what he meant until we revivified it to discover it was not actually what we had thought!!

NHS!! Well I know that one and I had no doubt in my mind that I wanted to do whatever I could in anyway to help them and I will explain why. I’m very fortunate I have hardly ever even had to go to the GP.  But with work I get to chat to lots of brides and I learn an awful lot of them. Experience of life, thoughtfulness, modern technology, Iphone APP & some abbreviations, MOB & MOG. My Mum was diagnosed with a horrible illness and the day I was told about it one of my brides, a doctor, was with me. She knew me well, I had made her sisters dress,told me not to Google it! She said it’s a horrible illness and it will not be a nice end so just don’t read up about it. If you know me, and she clearly did, that was what I took out of what she said and I reckon to this day it was the perfect advice. Sometimes people ask for my take on a situation, I probably always have one but I like to think I always say that it is only my take on it and they must do what they feel is right for them. 

Thankfully now this charity is helping NI too.

  I’m not good at abbreviations!! I’m going on a bit!! I read a quote “nursing records must be written without abbreviation”, I wonder could I have been a nurse. Back to my brides, within my former brides I have doctors working in ICU now, doctors in mental health, two midwife’s and lots of nurses!!! If I could say anything to them now it would be those famous three words used at weddings, FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. MY Experience of life has taught me stressing or panicking is wasted energy. My husband has had his battle with the cancer (Big C) for three years, I panicked but hide it as much as possible from him and my brides, however it was a useless emotion! Without the NHS in particular where would he be. 

While my Dad was in hospital recently I talked with ambulance drivers and nurses about work, they all were so calm and caring! Outside people were panic buying and acting like idiots and everytime I went into the Ulster Hospital I found an oasis of calm. Once I wasn’t able to visit Dad I turned to my sewing to fill my days. Shops were shut but The Skip opened for me and gave me the fabric to make scrubs for the Ulster Hospital. I felt it was at least my way of helping. Former brides gave me advice on what was needed and guided me through. When I ran out of fabric social media put me back in contact with a girl who’s Mum & Dad I had worked for years ago. Her Mum was or is a very specialist palliative care nurse. Weirdly my Dad drove for the Wedding Cars the day of their wedding, funny how memories comeback! Thankfully the same car company agreed to drive my Dad home to his beloved house on Good Friday 2020, not quite the goodbye my Dad had wished for. 

So you see Faith, Hope and Love gets you through most things but the NHS were a big big part of that so that is why I will do what I can to help. Any of the people I came in contact with through these times, once we are back in wedding mood must hopefully know I will do anything I can to help them in return. Our NHS are awesome!! 

XxJo

As we go into another week of lockdown and more news of people dying of Covid-19, it seems strange that people seem to think that its time to flaunt the lockdown measures. I feel guilty, while brides that I know and some of my brides fiancé's have to go fight the war against coronavirus, my minds racing on ideas.

Its weird but arty people can't switch their brain off, no matter what moves them  they feel complied to use it like energy. I always find I have too many ideas and never know which one to start, I have been like that since Art College. It's one of the things that means it's brilliant for me to work for clients as they keep me to their brief. There are never enough hours to my days, and my mind flits from one thing to the next. Normally I can turn that to my advantage as normally I am working on more than one bride's dress. Monday mornings I like to have a plan for the week. This week I want to try and get a project I'm working on to a more complete stage. Since the start of this lockdown I have been dependant and in awe of the NHS. So I decided to cross-stitch a piece of work to say Thank You.

 My idea is to raffle the piece online to raise money for the NHS & or Key Workers. You, my social media friends and your friends can nominate someone you know to have the piece personalised with their name as a keepsake of this historic time when we want to thank them for what they did for us. By coincidence Facebook said for my birthday I could choose a charity to give to free of fees. I need you All to HELP me with this.
I sign off text messages and emails with XxJo! Makes me stop and think of All the XX stitches on my piece of work.

Bee Happy

When I woke this morning and opened my phone I noticed a wee bee!!

Do you ever stop to think of their importance to humanity. They may bee tiny but they pollinate two-thirds of the world's crops and 85% of the worlds flowering plants, sooo I'm very fond of the tiny Bee!

Google are celebrating Earth Day 22nd April 2020with the Bee pollinating flowers, give it a go!

This is a time when we should be making promises to be Happier, Healthier, and Kinder to our Green Plant.

No earth, no life!

No earth, no birth!

If you want a happy life, save the earth.

Earth is the only planet to have life, save the earth.

Google's Game

Without earth, no one will take birth.

If you destroy the earth, you destroy the chance of life.

Save earth to continue living here.

Save earth to save many lives.

Save earth saves natural resources.

Save the earth, save a ray of life.

This time last year I was embroidering this veil for a bride.

Save the earth, save a hope of life.

There is no place to live other than earth, save the earth!

Our planet has no alternate, please save it.

Save earth to get saved your lives back.

Saving of earth is the first and foremost responsibility of everyone, just do it!

Stop polluting the earth and making it a heap of garbage!

Let us plant more trees and make our earth green and clean.

Slow the flow…..save H2O.

This year I am working on a cross-stitch embroidery to say Thank You

Keep our forests green, keep our oceans blue, our planet needs you!

Forests are green, oceans are blue, keep the earth clean for me and you.

Don’t blow it. Good planets are hard to find.

Join the race to make the world a better place.

Think globally, act locally.

Care for the earth, care for the coming birth.

Save to protect every inch of earth.

Keep our earth green and clean.

Raise your voice against every act of harming the earth.

Love the earth and be happy.

A few weeks ago I read this quote on my local hospital's accident and emergency  notice board!

What's our purpose.

Sometimes we don't get time to stop and think, but question these.
What truly matters, deep in your heart?

What do we want to stand for, while on this planet?
What sort of human being do I want to be?

How do I want to behave towards myself and others in the world around me?
What personal qualities do I want to cultivate?

A Very personal 'About me"

A lot has happened since my last post, if you ever read my "About me" probably there will have been mention of my Dad!

"I grew up on a stud farm on the Ards Peninsula in Northern Ireland. My father had a hardware store providing essentials for locals and as a young girl I was taught the importance of making customers happy. "

The closing down sale of my Dad's shop.

You may be wondering why the name "McKee's" well that was my grandmother's name on my Dad's side. Some of you may remember it in High Street, Bangor. From a young age he had to work hard and care for his Mum & Dad. His Dad had Parkinson's disease and died before I was born. His Mum I associate with Jaffa cake biscuits and she sadly also died before I really got to know her. However we were brought up on a farm on my Dad's side. 

When Mum and him meet he raced motor bikes, he even did the Isle of Man TT. All around our house were trophies that he won. But as the family grew Mum made him give up the motorbikes and they turned their attention to ponies. 

I was born into this crazy family, I'm probably best known for hating having my photograph taken so this is one of very few. It was taken on the day of my Aunt's wedding in the Crawsfordsburn Inn while I'm sitting on the piano! One of four girls my Dad brought us up to be self reliant, a trait we all need in these times. Being  inventive and creative were also characteristics he pasted on. He built us our very own horse box and invented a hoover to clean the horses!

Ponies were our life line as kids, we went everywhere with them and meet loads of people the places we went with them. From Cork to Coleraine we travelled the country, from Ireland to Poland my Dad took us by then with the horses.

Do you ever stop to think about the influence your circumstances and environment make on your life?

"My Great Aunts were keen patchwork quilters and my Grand Mother had seen a lot of the world and had brought back many inspiring pieces of everything from jewellery to clothes."

This sampler was worked by a relative on my Mum's side. Note the date, it was the time of the Irish Famine when a million people died!! Makes us realise that weird things have happened in our country and our relatives survived. Let's hope this corvid-19 makes us stop and rethink how best to live our lives.

I want to inspire other's to sew. I thought that this time would let me do so but then my father fell and went into hospital and somehow time has just elapsed. 

I made this patchwork quilt maybe  twenty years ago or more and still use it on my bed today, hopefully this will inspire you to have a go as it's like a family heirloom and has last years.

With the present circumstances I have found it weird to think of my wedding dresses, we don't have a clue when people will be allowed to gather to celebrate wedding days. My shop is so strange and quiet these days. When I first moved here my dad had a heart attack!  I remember going to the man that owned it and apologising for not having turned up the day we were meant to because of my Dad's illness. Then much as today the NHS came to our rescue and did a triple bypass on him which meant that he was well enough to watch my progress over the years.

Weird Times

Pyjamas seem to have been the “reaccuring “theme this week. At the start of the week I was sewing my Dad’s name of his pyjamas as he’s in hospital at the moment snd we hope that he might get to a nursing home and well that means naming things like your pyjamas.
These days I’m up early, can’t sleep much, so I sit quietly in my kitchen listening to the birds waking and sipping a mug of warm lemon juice with ginger and honey. Well on Monday morning I looked out and saw a man in his pyjamas. I looked again, yes there was definitely someone trying to get into our outhouse with his pyjamas, dressing gown & slippers. During the night my husband and I nearly always have a time that we both waken & discuss weird things. We had mentioned our neighbours along the road and that I must call & check on the couple as sadly one of them has issues remembering things. Poor man there he was at my back door. Good news was we got him back home before anything weird happened. His poor wife had been out in the washroom and she hadn’t noticed his escape.
Reminds me my Dad has been planning his great escape from hospital, but with a broken hip & being unable to walk, sadly he’s dreaming. But the power of positive thinking, can be what keeps us all going.
Back to the pyjamas, yesterday I was using my husband’s pyjamas to copy the pattern so that I could have a go at making some scrubs for the Ulster Hospital as my way of thanking them for all they have done for me and mine over the years.

You never know when you might need those sewing skills!
So join me to learn something new, learn to sew with Jo  

Life Experience

I’m wide awake, can’t sleep, it’s the usual time 3am and my mind is racing with things to do. I tell my brides if they wake in the night with things to do write them down so you can get back to sleep ( we all need our beauty sleep!) & the mind is a powerful thing!!

“We think we have a problem until a bigger one comes along.” Well a few weeks ago we were all working towards a plan and then “bang” everything changes and we have to learn to quickly adapt and alter our course to work out how to cope with that problem. 

Life experience is a powerful thing, you can learn from things that have happened you and people you meet if you are bothered to be interested in their life experience. 

My job is fascinating and my life experience especially over the last three years but maybe way longer gives me heart to keep going. Always be thoughtful, as quite often people are coping with far more than you know. Always be positive,negativity is a wasted energy. Don’t stress, listen to your heart, quite often guidance our strength comes from within. However over the past three years it was my brides and clients that got me through the most difficult time of my life. Over the years we have had the troubles in this wee country, we have had the banking crisis, & we have had brexit ( it’s not getting a capital letter from me!) but our health Our HEALTH that if we don’t have it we can’t go to our work, go to our weddings, go on holiday , do what we want nor be with our loved ones. 

Be wise, be healthy and be grateful. 

Thanks as always to All my customers for being there for me. XxJo