Hello and Happy New Year

I've missed you!  Sorry about the silence lately.  Between the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparation and battling the flu - first my son and then me, and dealing with the ailments of ageing parents, the time has flown by.
I hope you had a Happy and Blessed Christmas.
Now that the New Year is upon us, I pray for health, wisdom and patience.  Yes, patience.
As my son enters his "tween" years, the hormones are starting.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.  This will be fun.
As he is not an eager student, the homework battles continue, and I've received some good coaching on strategies to ease that struggle.  Wish me luck with that!

On the quilty/crafty front, I've been keeping busy.  I made 6 more sock monkeys to sell at RedBird Designs. I've continued to develop my hand quilting.  I'm working on my second baby quilt - from a "cheater" panel, so I can stitch it up and not worry about the investment.  I made a couple of table toppers for gifts.

I made another box full of doll clothes for the great nieces, which was delightfully received :)
 My niece had said that the dolly diapers I made last year were a great hit and could I make more.  So, I did.  Did you know you can make 2 dozen dolly diapers from 1/2 meter of flannel?  I found that out AFTER I cut up 48 diapers.  Let's just say I goofed on the math and leave it at that.  So I wrapped a dozen into the gift and put the rest in a large envelop to give to my niece.  That way she can replace them as they get lost/ripped/given away or whatever.  5 minutes after opening the box, the littlest great niece - age 3 - was diapering her cousin's truck. :)

Oh, I almost forgot.  I got a most wonderful gift from my son.  A new iron.  It's the Black and Decker "Chrome" continuous steam iron.  I'm in iron heaven.  I guess that makes me domesticated eh?  Don't tell my mother.

Today, being New Year's Eve, I'm playing it low key.  I took the van in this morning for a brake job, picked up a friend of my son's on the way home to surprise him with a playdate, and I'm doing some stitching with my trusty puppy at my side.  Life is good.

I hope you have a happy and prosperous - and quilty - New Year!