Happy New Year!!

Very happy New Year to you all!! Some of you (us) will be H*O*T, some of you will be C*O*L*D and some of you will be W*E*T!! But whatever your climate I hope you have an enjoyable New Year's Eve.

And of course, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Our smaller than normal family spent Christmas Day with my BFFL Claire and her extended family at her sister's place. Claire and I met at school when we were 13 - you could call this a long term relationship! I love her dearly and spending the day with her crew took me back to many hours spent at her house when we were teenagers. We had a great day. Here's Claire (right) and her sister Mary.

And here is my NOD pretending to be an elf. She's the one on the left.

Boxing Day was spent with my family. I made a cake which turned out (alarmingly) to be Barbie Pink.

Not good for the waistline, but it was delicious.

Since the Christmas festivities have been over, I have been pootling around trying to restore order to the chaos that a busy year leaves behind. This requires some major work trying to clear my bookshelf of old stuff to make way for the recently acquired new stuff. So I have been flicking through old quilting mags - throwing out any that I don't need anymore - boy have I generated some recycling! It's quite funny to go back 15 years to see what was cool in quilting......in Australia it was naive and country style. Even the sewing machines in the ads look ancient.

Have been chipping away at some sewing projects. The borders for Phebe are taking some time at the machine. No progress worthy of viewing right now. My first Lollypop tree block is nearly done. A couple more circles and the stems to go.

It's a riot of colour and so easy to stitch. Just right for the hot weather over summer.

And finally, finally I have finished the centre of Sallie Ann.


I wasn't happy with a couple of fabric choices, so pulled them out and replaced them. I'm much happier now, it would have bugged me forever. And just because I like new beginnings - here is the next block ready to go.


True it's not a new project, but it still feels like a start.

Well nothing you haven't seen before in part - so just because I love you all sooooooo much, I pulled out a UFO to show you.



Started about 1999 and very quick to do. Everything is hand done - even the backgrounds are handpieced. I moved to Sydney about this point and much of my stuff went into storage for a year or so. Once I came back I'd sort of lost momentum so it has languished. It has a very simple floral border partially completed. Very festive isn't it? So my one and only NY's resolution is to get it finished by Christmas 2011. Now if you don't see it as a WIP in the not too distant future, you have my permission to nag me - because I will get distracted.

On that note, a glass of bubbly is calling my name. I shall drink to the health of friends near and far away, including my lovely boy who I am missing dreadfully, but is having a great time in India.

Here's Cheers,

Deb