What a lovely Christmas!!!

I hope you all had a super wonderful Christmas. Ours was just fabulous. The only thing missing was our DD1 Tahlia and her boyfriend Luke, they are still on the other side of the world. BUT, we got a phone call from them on Christmas morning - we were over the moon. It was so lovely to hear her voice on such a special day :o). I can't wait 'til they visit in February!!! DS Ross and his gorgeous fiance Alicia came over in the morning too. Within minutes it was wrapping paper and pressies everywhere ... loads of laughs, they are all still just big kids - bless ;o).I finished the bag for my MIL just in time!! I put the last stitches in on Christmas Eve afternoon ... the same with a couple of little toiletries bags that I made for Alicia and my SIL Cheryl. Phew ... I was cutting it fine ;o) LOL I always do. Here's the bag for MIL ... the stitchery on this one is by Bronwyn Hayes, it matched the fabrics perfectly (I love her stitcheries!!!) but the bag is a JoyPatch design, it's called "Sowing the Seeds of Love" and you can find the pattern with the original stitchery on it here :o). I'm pleased to say that my MIL loved the bag :o)!!!I finally got to unwrap my pressies from Dawn (my partner in Janet's Christmas swap), and Maria in UK,who was my 'mortal' in Helen's Stitcher's Angel Swap. This is what Dawn sent me, an armchair caddy and a matching pincushion ... aren't they gorgeous, the stitching is so neat - thanks so much Dawn, I love them :o)!!!! Thanks also to Janet for organising this last minute swap ... it was such fun :o)!!! And this is what Maria sent from UK ... gorgeous Kaffe Fasset fabrics!!! I love them Maria ... you really are a sweety!! Can't wait til 2010 ;o)!!!!! I also got a lovely gift from Julia - she let me open it early after she read my last blog post ... so of course I didn't need to be told twice ... and this is what I got!! I just love it, it's now hanging with my Christmas quilt in the loungeroom :o). Thanks so much Julie!!!The morning was spent with my side of the family, then we went off to DHs family for lunch ... what a magnificent spread, and everything was so festive. We had great fun ... the guys all had Chrissy ties to wear and the girls all had flashing brooches!!! Here's DH and me in our finery ... lol you can see the tie well enough but the brooch is a bit harder to spot!!I ate so much I thought I'd burst!!! ...... this is just what we had AFTER dessert!!!!!!

We went home for a quick nap then it was back to my brother's for tea. Everybody loved their pressies, and we got some great stuff too :o). Today we've just stayed at home and been totally lazy!! I'm having such fun reading about everyone's Christmas Day :o) - I hope everything went well for everyone and that Santa was good to you :o).

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the tutorial ... I'm working on it and will be posting it very soon :o).

Take care,

Hugs,

Joy :o)

2 more sleeps!!!!!

I'm so excited!! Only two more sleeps until Christmas!!! Can I really wait that long until I open some pressies??? Well, in a word ...... nope ;o). I must confess that I've already opened one ... just one, that's all. These are the gifts I received from my swap partner Dawn - it's a long story, but her little darling Jemimah (3) has already helped her open her gifties from me lol, so I have opened just the one from Jemimah to me (it's the one on the bottem left of the picture).... and this is what Jemimah sent me, isn't it lovely!!! I'm looking forward to stitching it up - Thanks Jemimah, hope you love your little Santa :o).

I also received a gift from Julie - this was totally unexpected and really made my day!! Thanks so much Julie, I can't wait to see what's inside ;o). ...... But that's not all, I've been admiring the very clever work of my friend Jeanette on her blog lately and one of the things she made arrived at my house this morning!!! You can't see them in the piccy, but this gorgeous bon bon is full of toffees!!! YUM!!! What a wonderful surprise!!!!! I'm feeling incredibly spoilt this week - thank you all so much for your kindness :o).

DD2 and I have been busy in the kitchen the past few days. We've finally got the Christmas treats all made. Do you love our little mini puddings??? Soooo easy to make :o). We do these every year.We made these yummy shortbread stars .... I have to tell you , these just melt in the mouth - YUMMY!!.... and we made some 'White Christmas' - sorry, I should've taken a piccy of them, and little cherry chocolates. I did the Ice creams today too - I love this recipe, I found it last year and it was a HUGE hit. It's vanilla ice-cream and you mix in chopped red and green licorice, chopped macadamias, shredded coconut and chopped macadamia cookies. It's so delicious :o) you should try it.

More sewing to do now ... and don't worry, the tutorial for the little red bag will be coming very soon, I promise :o). I'll post piccies of MIL's bag as soon as it's done too ..... yep, that's right, I'm still doing it LOL.

Take care,

Ho-Ho-Hugs,

Joy :o)

Snow storm!!!!

Not what you're thinking I'm sure ...... don't forget, I come from sunny Queensland, Australia!!! It's a rarity to get snow here and we definitely don't get any in Brisbane!! Nope, this is something completely different .... perhaps I should have called this post "SnowMAN storm" he he he.

I went to visit my friend Gwen (no blog) yesterday and I was blown away by all of her fabulous snowmen!!! I think I see a bit of an obsession there LOL, everywhere I turned there was another gorgeous snowman - and most of these she made herself!!! Very clever friend I have :o). Here's a few of them for you to see ... Mr and Mrs Frosty ........

The kids .....Snowman swag ...Snowball fight...... (my favourite - aren't they cute??!!?!)Frosty hanging on the back of the chair ....Another swag ... this time vertical ;o) ...

Snowman stitchery ....And last but not least this smily chap :o)!!You can imagine how festive Gwen's house looked ........ AND the Christmas tree was covered in snowmen too!!!!

On another subject, I was surprised by how many emails/comments I received about my Mum's little red bag on the last post. I've decided I might do a tutorial on it ... what do you think??

Take care,

Hugs,

Joy :o)

Christmas pressies ... 'to' and 'from' :o).

I'm having a great December!!! Look what arrived in the mail for me from Norway!!!This was from Laila, my Secret Angel. Thanks so much Laila ........ I've never done a Tilda stitchery before, it's absolutely gorgeous, I can't wait to start it :o)!!!!!

I've been busy making some rather last minute gifts for Christmas. The first one I finished just the other night and it's a little make-up bag for my Mum ...I can't believe I've even put a zip in it!!! After all of those zipper pouches I've made I think you can see I'm no longer "zipperphobic" :o)!!! I love the fabrics in this and Mum loves red so I'm hoping she'll be pleased with it. I've filled it with nail polishes and nail care products for her for Christmas.

I've also been busy finishing the stitchery to go on the pocket of the bag for my MIL.... Now I just have to make the bag LOL. That's today's job!!! I've done all of this with the help of my little friend Olly ....... here he is overseeing my work LOL. He's so cute :o).

I'm off to make a bag ....................

Hugs,

Joy :o)

I've got mail!!!

Last week I got mail from Lynette Anderson!!! I was quite excited as it was the badge I won on her blog - isn't it just so cute!!! Thank you Lynette so much, I love it :o).I've enjoyed the tales of Felix and Hugo so much over the past months and now I have them on my very own limited edition badge :o)!!! I also got mail from Natalie Ross as I had won a giveaway on her blog too!!! How lucky am I LOL!!! I have to admit, if I hadn't won this pattern, I think I would had to have bought it - it's so adorable!!! Thank you Natalie, I'm chuffed to bits - now I just have to decide which one of these gorgeous 'Garden Friends' to make first ;o)!!!Here's a couple more of our Christmas favourites .... the first one is a lovely little Christmas Tree that we use every year for holding our Christmas M&Ms ... which are getting harder and harder to get each year I might add!!! DD2 made it when she was only 10 at the local "Art Cafe". We used to be able to go in there and have a cuppa while we painted fabulous ceramic items, then we'd go back a week or so later and pick them up all fired and ready for use :o).Last of all we have "Olly" ... he's DD2s budgie and he decided to hide in the Christmas tree when he came out to stretch his little wings. Doesn't he look so cute?!!?!
Of course, once he realised the camera was out he started posing, typical he he he.

Hugs,

Joy :o)

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas .....laaaaaa la la la laaa.....

I got a lovely surprise in the mail!!!

Maria (who was my secret Stitchers Angel partner in Helen's recent swap) has sent me a Christmas gift ..... all the way from UK!!!!! Thank you so much Maria for putting such a big smile on my face!!! I'm being very good and I haven't opened it - I have the best intentions of keeping it until Christmas Day ... but I make no promises he he he. Honestly, there's never any pressies under the tree for me before Christmas because I'm a "sneaky peeker"!!! Can't help it ... ;o).

I've taken some piccies of some of the older handmade deccies on our tree ..... this one has the date on it so it's easy to see when I made this one...It was a project I made when I joined a local cross-stitch club. This next one always gives me a giggle. DD2 made this one in 2nd grade - she's 15 (almost 16) now so it's a real sentimental favourite of mine :o) ...She's so cute!!! Here's another cross-stitch one, probably about 11 or 12 years old too ... I think it was a kit (???)... starting to look a bit shabby around the edges [sigh]...I've been running around the shops (figure of speech of course - I don't run anywhere LOL!!!) looking for a gift for my MIL ... can't find anything ... so I've decided to make her a bag. I've sorted through my stash and found some really cute fabrics and I'll do this Bronwyn Hayes (love her work!!!) stitchery to go on the pocket...................I'll show you when it's finished.

That's all from me for now ... I'm off to battle the crowds and do more shopping today!!! Wish me luck he he he....

Take care ..........

Hugs,
Joy :o)

I'm Back!!

I had no idea how much I relied on the internet until it was (all but...) taken away!!! It's amazing how many times a day I would want to check something (mostly the weather) or find some info ... I really was lost without it, and I'm surprised by that cos I didn't realise how much I use it. Funny (scary) isn't it!!? Anyway, it's back now and I'm hugely relieved :o), everything's back to normal (well, as normal as it gets around here lol).

Well in case you're wondering what on earth I found to do with myself while 'net-less ;o) ... here's what I did!!!
I made 27 of them, one for each of the lovely ladies in my quilt group for Christmas - all from my scraps :o). It was our breakup on Monday and we had a lovely lunch.

Yesterday DD2 had a friend over and they made the house all festive and Christmassy ........ about time I hear some of you say lol.How gorgeous are they??!!

There are lots of handmade bits and pieces all over the house, I'll show you a few....I made this stained glass window last year and I have another piece of fabric to make another one but I haven't gotten around to it yet ....... sound familiar LOL????These I made when the kids were quite little, in my cross-stitching days - they are red velvet. Gosh, I haven't done any cross-stitch for years.Here's a cute way to display your Chrissy cards ..... each of the ribbons hanging down is about 1.5m and there's a big ceramic star button at the bottom of each ribbon to weigh it down a bit. I made this a few years ago and I love it :o).Awwwww, pretty :o)!! Although I daresay there will be more added to it over the next couple of weeks :o). Don't you love the pressies under the tree .....??? They're 'wrapped' in UK postal envelopes ... tee hee. DD1 sent them over from London and some aren't wrapped inside so I've been instructed to not open them until Christmas ........ it's driving DD2 insane LOL.

Talk soon ....

Hugs,

Joy :o)