Sewing year review 2012

 As 2012 comes to its end, I have been going through my pictures to see what I have achieved this year in my sewing room. These pics are not in any order. It is amazing to see what I have achieved this year, when it all is put together!

I have consistently used what I had, before buying things. Mostly what I bought has been batting and backing  and border fabric. Annabelles' baby quilt did entail some special fabric though.

The first pic  above is of some scrappy cushions which I made to revamp our outdoor bench -used up some nice 'leader/ender' scrappy squares and some op shop sheeting.

 This baby quilt for my  grand daughter (above)  was a very special finish, and it was lovely to take it to her and her lovely mum and dad when she was born in Melbourne.

 A pretty little frock - I hope the first of many I will make for her!

 A scrappy quilt -one which my cat Dora loved all winter.

 The "Give More" quilt banner.

 "Out of the box" came out of its half-finished state and was finished! 

 My darling DH made me some new shelves in the cupboard of my sewing room, and I have re-organised my stash, which is getting smaller as these projects were completed.

 "Pictures at an exhibition" a wedding quilt for my niece in New Zealand -nearly a year ago now! 

 Six Christmas stockings for the new mantle.

A Christmas burlap wreath.

Finally, 'remember this" -I hope you all have a wonderful new year!

Christmas wrap

 The light shines in the darkness...Christmas 2012. 

The stockings I made were a bit skinny for getting presents in, but fortunately there was room under the tree! 

The Christmas table -op shopped table runner made the right length with the addition of some Christmas fabric panels and lining. Op shop table napkins. Op shop coffee cups for the cold gazpacho soup which started the meal. The menu included roast pork with a rhubarb and rosemary jam, potato salad; beetroot and  carrot and orange salad, and a green salad. Followed by some very cute cake pops made to look like reindeer by my daughter in law!

We have had days and days of feasting with family and friends this week. It all started with Christmas lunch at home, made extra special with the presence of our son and daughter in law and baby grand-daughter who had travelled over from Melbourne for the first Christmas with the baby. We have had further parties with extended family on both sides, and with friends who were celebrating the birthdays we have around this time of the year.

All of this under a blaze of heat, as the Perth summer has provided us with a heatwave of temperatures in excess of 35 degrees Celsius for over a week-often it has been over 40 degrees.

Fortunately our house is well protected from the worst excesses -we are able to have indoor temperatures much cooler than outdoors even though we have only passive cooling from shade sails, sun blinds and the like.

We have started our routine of walks at Mullaloo beach every day, early -this is something we love to do at the start of our summer holidays. Then I spend some time at the sewing machine, followed by reading novels and watching DVDs, until it is cool enough to emerge again and get active.

The weather should cool off next week -just a little, so we will be more actively enjoying the time off by going to visit places such as our museum and art gallery.

Hope you have also had a great Christmas!