FROM CHRISTMAS TO HALFWAY THROUGH JANUARY

Where has the time gone? Like many others out there in the mysterious land of cyberspace, I have not been able to post pictures, this has slowed me down somewhat in the posting department. My last post of O'Reilly all decked out for Christmas became quite the challenge.    I know it has been a while since Christmas, but I thought I would share some bits (mostly foodie bits) from Christmas, another trip to sunny Merimbula and my latest projects.    Lots of photo's  courtesy of Picasa (my last resort!)

 

Christmas day started off well - O'Reilly is sulking here because he kept getting told off for his supreme interest in the very hot Webber and the goodies they contained.    Al can be seen preparing the said Webbers for the annual "for heaven's sake are those bloody things lit yet, I want to get the turkey in" scenario - it is a tradition to have some sort of argument about the Webbers before 9 am each year. 

 

As I said, the day started well - turkey stuffed, coffee in hand, presents given and received.....then the phone call you don't want, your three best eaters are down with a horrible stomach bug.   My poor niece and her father had been through the wringer all night and stayed in bed all day, my sister looked a wreck but my other niece was as bright as a button.    

I made individual Pavlovas with a Christmas touch of red and green......

My mum made trifles, in glasses I collected from a couple of Op Shop runs.....

Miss Rachael made reindeer pops to decorate the dessert table  -   they were very cute and tasty!

A few other bits of festive fair.    I made nougat this year.   I finally hit the jackpot with the consistency - I tried  making this a couple of years ago and every batch came out either, too soft, too hard, too sticky.     I will have to try it out again soon, just to see if I can replicate the successful batch.     

We managed to re arrange the furniture to fit everyone in.   The table came up well with red serviettes (mum wanted to try the camera out on her new IPad which was just as well, because I think this is the only photo of the table).        As I said, it was a different Christmas.      Mum and Dad where my only guests for tea and as  I was heading off to Merimbula for a fortnight,  Mum and I had Christmas taken down and put away by 7.30 p.m.   Never mind, we will try again next year!

 

This is the first time we have been to Merimbula in the peak season.    The weather was sensational, the fishing good and I even went in for a swim.   Twice.   That's right....Twice.  

It is sights like the one below that makes getting up and out in the boat by 6am almost seem worthwhile.      This stingray was just hanging about by the fish cleaning pontoon one morning.   He had quite the collection of beautiful blue fish with him.   Once Al started cleaning the fish we caught, this stingray was joined by a couple more.    This one was the biggest and looked to be about a metre and a half wide.    They are just so graceful.

Once word gets out that fish are being cleaned, quite the crowd gathers......

Here is O'Reilly waiting for his walk on the beach.

 

I can't remember if I mentioned this little acquisition a month or so ago......

 

but this little accessory was waiting under the Christmas tree for me.   I haven't had a moment yet to actually give the embroidery unit a whirl, but hope to do so in the next few days.   Melbourne is expecting some more really warm days  so that will be the perfect excuse to stay indoors and stitch under the air conditioning.

 

I decided I needed to make a bedspread/lightweight quilt for the  "elf 's" room at the beach house so the last few days since we got home, I have been busy messing around with boats and have digitized these.    

I am happy with the samples and even gave "Bernie" a spin and did some quilting - I think they will become cushions.    (We won't talk about the horizon being a bit down hill - I was going for the 'edge of the reef ' look, I will  have to go back in and make the distance a little thicker - may look like a tsunami wave coming at them).

 

I have made the boat design up in a few sizes and will get them on to Etsy soon.    The big version is done in two parts, the sails are stitched first and then the hull, cabin and wavy bits are a second hooping.    There is wriggle room for error!!

 

 The three boat panel is completed using  5 x 7 designs - again in two parts and below is a 4 x 4 version.

 All things being well, I may have some of the boat quilt completed in the next few days.

Til then, have a good week.

Sue xxx