Friday, December 31, 2010

Goodbye 2010................

Well Christmas has been and gone for another year.
As usual it was a very relaxed affair in the Sweet Birdy Love household, no stress, no fuss.
A day to relax, but Boxing Day was the biggy for us. My sister and various family members came and had lunch with us.
Very enjoyable, but it meant clearing all my sewing gear off the dining table!

My sewing bits and pieces were banished to the spare room for a couple of days and I must say it was nice to get reacquainted with the table .......

Well, after Boxing Day, various things started reappearing on the table, a snippet of fabric, pair of scissors, thread and finally sewing machine.
It had to happen.......

As I have 2 weeks off work, I have had a number of new projects swirling around in head and finally I started one.
I had been wondering how to use up a recycled woollen blanket and pot holders sprang to mind. Something I had tried earlier in the year but wasn't happy with my design.
I trawled the net for an appropriate saying and once I had that, everything else just fell into place.
There are ends which need to be tied off and tidied up, a job to do while watching TV. Backing to be sewn on and voila, all done.
Click on the photo to enlarge, the saying is by George Miller -
"The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you're hungry again"
And of course it had to be polka dots.


With all the rain we had recently the garden has gone berserk. The Aggies are almost shoulder height.
"Morning Tigger"


Summer has finally reared it's head and with temps edging 40deg I thought I better rescue some roses which were putting on a beautiful display.
I couldn't bear to go outside and see them fried to crisp!


Beautiful Buddleia, filling the room with waves of honey scented perfume.


A bunch of artichoke flowers from a friend, just stunning and will last for months.
Purple, just looove it.

Well, the new year is just a few hours away.
What will it bring?
Do you make resolutions?
I don't make resolutions as such but in a reflective frame of mind try and make a few changes here and there, avoid pitfalls and bad habits and move into the New Year in a positive way.
Oooh, getting a bit deep, better finish up now.....
To all those who have dropped by to read my ramblings throughout the year thankyou and to those who have posted comments an even bigger thankyou, for your friendship, encouragement advice and interest.
However you celebrate New Years Eve, enjoy it, stay safe and all the best for a happy, healthy and creative 2001.

Until next time, take care,

Claire X


9 comments:

  1. Hi Claire, thankyou for your lovely comment. It's been such a pleasure visiting your blog .This post is great as always. Your tablemats are so lovely, and all that writing-I wouldn't know where to start.
    Your floral goodness is so pretty, I loved your "aggies" and tigger picture, so perfectly summery. Those "arties" are amazing , I've never seen anything like them :0)
    Looking forward to your 2011 posts. Have a great new year.
    Jacquie x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy NY....the flowers are cheering me up ready for more daylight and SPRING!!! YAY!xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great quote on the pot holders!

    I sometimes make resolutions but not always. What I do do every year is say that I'll have the house clean and tidy with no ironing to be done when 1st January arrives, in the hope that the rest of the year will be the same.
    I've yet to find out if it would work because I've never actually got the house that clean by 31st December!

    Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy New Year Claire. Your garden and vases of flowers are beautiful. x

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy New Year Claire. This post was like a breath of fresh air to me, as we are snowed in!! I'm not sure where you live, but I need to live there too!
    Your flowers are just grand! If you need a little cooling off, stop over at my blog. Have a great new years eve!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the flowers Claire. My buddleia seems to have caught some poison drift from a next door neighbour and while I have chopped off the worst, it really seems to be still struggling. I do miss the masses of cheery purple.
    The pot holder project looks very interesting....so you are sewing the design straight onto the blanket material? Are you putting on a backing or more layers or is it thick enough this way. Looks like a great project and design. I was talking with a friend last night about freehand machine stitching and going to give it a go.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey ladies, fellow bloggers, friends, thankyou for stopping by, it's always nice to have visitors.
    Glad those of you in cooler climes enjoyed the summery photos.
    The garden is enjoying a bit of warmth after a very cool December, sadly I'm not.....
    As I keep telling myself 'it's one day closer to Winter!'
    Obviously we don't have the extreme Winter weather that most of you have been experiencing.
    The pot holders are still waiting to be backed and finished off ready for an upcoming market. I sewed straight onto the blanketing Tanya as it was thick enough not to be a problem and I will add another layer , so 3 layers of fabric all up.
    Lisa I will be popping by your blog to cool down for sure and anyone who wants to enjoy a bit of warm weather and blue skies, keep visiting as no doubt my photos will contain both over the next couple of months.

    Claire X

    ReplyDelete
  8. That is a fun quote!!! LOL!! Your flowers are all gorgeous!! Especially those artichoke flowers. I have not seen those before. Glad you had a nice time with your family. All best wishes for you and yours in 2011!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hello Claire,
    I have enjoyed stopping by your blog this past year and plan to visit often in 2011, so keep the welcome mat out ;-)

    Proud and happy to call you my 'Blog Buddy'

    Here is to a fun and creative new year!

    Janet xox

    ReplyDelete

Life's busy isn't it?......thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
I love hearing from you and will reply via email unless you are set up as a
'no reply blog'
in which case I will reply here on the comments page...♥

Thankyou xx