Covet revisited

A while ago I did a bit of a mass covet and covetted 3 fabrics at once - just plain greedy, eh?  I've valiantly resisted the temptation to order Melody Miller's telephones from the States, (ostensibly to be loyal to Annie, but really because it's January, and with 6 weeks and Christmas between pay days, who can afford to splurge on fabric??)  What has helped with this is the little stack of one of the other covets sitting on my sewing table readily available for stroking and drooling.

However, I've discovered today that just being my fabric dealer for the last 10 months is no longer enough for Annie, she's now turned active pusher!  And I am going to have to resort to crime or selling body parts, as that other covet, Lizzy House's Pearl Bracelets, is now on pre-order as a fat quarter bundle.... at a discount!  

Just £60 will get you one of these scrummy bundles by the end of the month.

and I really, really, really want one.....  Click here if you do, too!

Amazeballs

The generosity of my bloggy quilty friends never ceases to amaze me. Look what the postie brought today for my new gizmo, from the lovely Kelly, who just can't bear the thought of a 'nekkid' iPad!

Last Christmas...

I promise this will be my last Christmas related post for a few months! I spent this weekend with two of my sisters, exchanging Christmas gifts as we didn't see each other during the festivities. I managed to finish some gifts for them in spite of the grumbly machine, and we got some lovely things in return.

Somewhat poignantly however, there were gifts from my mum. She was always very organised, and so there had been presents all bought for us, although not wrapped. Amongst the stock pile of things found, more amusingly, were set after set of Christmas chutnies! We've no idea who they were for....

We received a lovely ceramic garlic roaster and super-industrial garlic press. Because of our catering business she nearly always bought us food or cooking related items. Needless to say, there were tears!

One legacy she has left us is a determination, now we've lost our family's 'hub', to make more effort to spend time with each other - we're all so busy and geographically dispersed its not always easy to find time to get together. But we had a wonderful weekend with all our dogs (6 people, 4 dogs!) & we've already got the next gathering planned.

Wish it could be Christmas everyday!

At the ripe old age of 17, I had my appendix removed. While I tried to downplay the pain and other symptoms in a bid to avoid surgery, my dad was berating the surgeon who was suggesting the appendix be left to 'grumble' in the way that they liked (notwithstanding the risk of bursting and causing peritonitis....... I never understood that logic).

"Where the heck is she going with this and what does it have to do with Christmas?" I hear you ask. Well, I had to abandon plans for Christmas gifts in the week before the big day because I have a grumbling sewing machine. It only does it when there's fabric going through it (ie not when winding the bobbin or pulling the bobbin thread through) so I'm guessing it's something to do with the foot. It clearly needs a trip to the chiropodist!

I've noticed today two blogging friends talking about Cherry Christmas and one of my abandoned projects was a simple 10" square quilt for one of my sisters and her two children. It pieced ok, but the quilting made it look like the Himalayas!

So it had to be unpicked, which then lead to a tear and a tear or two of frustration! Luckily, it's near the edge so I can hopefully quite simply unpick it and replace the torn square. I've decided that as I replaced the quilt with DVD at Christmas, I have all year to get it finished, and so I'm going to hand quilt it.

I've got a couple of other Christmas gifts that need finishing by this weekend though, and so I'm hoping my machine will just get those done before it goes for a service. Think I might need to invest in a spare!