Already the new year week has gone.....

So the new year is already one week old..... and we're back from the beach, (15 of us, aged 2 years to 52 years). 8 days of sunshine and rain, togs and gumboots, food, food and more food, cranium versus balderdash and plenty of rest, reading and red wine. Nothing like some ocean + bush to put things into perspective, (they're so big, me so small).

It's not all business as usual back on the home-front, here's a brief rundown of whats looming on the immediate horizen:

*Making 25 flags for Lilyworld, B.D.O., using an overlocker and silk for the first time, not as tricky as i suspected. (but man-o-man, the frayed threads are from one end of the house to the other...!)

*Preparing for a class at Amitie, my first as teacher. Inspired by the quilts of Gee's Bend we'll be exploring the no-rules block construction recipe!. Now, if you're anything like me, some quilt ideas seem so conventional, complicated and rule-centric that i feel defeated before i've even started! Not so with Gees Bend. It's a very satisfying approach, experimental, quick to construct and great for first time quilters. In a nutshell: exploration + process = design ...or something smart like that. Justine has signed up (and if she brings me an apple i'll give her an elephant stamp!) Go check it out at Amitie, (a really big work space plus lots of great fabric inspiration) Plenty of elephant stamps for all!

*sewing up some skirts, simple and quick i hope.
*finishing a quilt for above class...eek!
*quietly woo-hooing to 1 year of blogging!
* making a 2nd Christmas fruit cake cos the first was so good and was gone in a week!
*reading the Thrift Book by India Knight. Lots of good reading here, a nice reference to this clever person and even a section on emotional thrift...Right on!