Lots of Presents

Another Christmas has come and gone - we've had a wonderful few days. We're so fortunate to have our family living within reasonable distances and to be able to spend time together. Our family spent Christmas Day at Elizabeth and Matt's house along with Matt's family which was lovely as his sister has 3 little children who made the day lots of fun. Elizabeth and Matt outdid themselves - the table was gorgeous, excellent turkey cooked by Matt, loads of other food brought along by everyone, great company and lots of laughs.

One of the presents Elizabeth bought me is "Dancer" - how gorgeous is this reindeer? It's a Patience Brewster design and is so detailed and beautiful.

I made this quilt, "Ruffles & Rows" designed by The Birdhouse, for Matt's 5yo neice, Emily - it was finished on Christmas Eve.

Received this lovely cushion, which is more than a cushion, from Jenny - the cushion is explained on Jenny's blog. Was a lovely surprise when the parcel arrived in the mail. I know people won't believe me, but I didn't open any parcels until Christmas Day - didn't even squish them.

I took part in 2 swaps this Chrismas - one with the on-line group I belong to, Prim Treasures: Vicki made me this fabulous Cinderberry Stitches wallhanging - it will be on my wall straight after Christmas. Vicki also made me 2 stars from Nancy Halvorsen's "Star of Wonder" book (but I haven't taken a photo of them yet). We both love her designs.

My partner to send to was Kerry and I made a Bareroots sewing bag and accessories - have had this pattern for ages and this swap was a great time to make it.

The other swap I was in was organised by Wildcraft Farm. My partner, Julie (who doesn't have a blog yet) send me ths wonderful sewing caddy, which is a great size to fit into my handbag to take to work.

Lots of goodies inside.

I sent Julie a wallhanging designed by "Country Cupboard"

plus an oven mitt, after Julie provided a subtle hint that she LOVES black and white.

I found the pattern somewhere online but have no idea which site so that I can put a link to it. Was pretty happy with how this one turned out so made some for my girls and some other friends.

Boxing Day was spent mostly recovering from Christmas Day, as we didn't arrive home until 11.30 pm (a very long day for the Nannas), then a bunch of friends came over for a bbq dinner - always enjoy the Boxing Day bbq.

Today was brunch with another group of friends - we arrived home at 6.30 pm, then went off to visit other friends to exchange our Christmas presents. We usually spend Christmas night with these friends but we thought visiting them after 11.30 pm was a tad late.

Wonderful Christmas this year.