Holiday Post

It has been a week since my last post, a week of wonderful family time with my daughter Kaija here to boost my girly energy - we watched over 6 hours of Pride and Prejudice, and two episodes of the newest Emma. She also helped me start the giant project of sorting out my 13 cardboard boxes and numerous plastic bags in the cellar sewing room. We made a good start. She left at noon back to Turku and her own home, to spend New Year's Eve with people who are 30 years younger than we. OK, make it 35.

A week ago, on Christmas Eve, we opened our gifts from our friend Karen from England. We both got a piece of silk (I need to wear gloves to handle it!), pearly white pins and some cute bias tape with a lace edge I have never seen before. Thank you Karen! She makes art with white silk.

I'm showing you, in alpabetical order, the gifts I have received from other blogging friends. The next package came from England as well, in fact not very far from where Karen lives. This master wrapper is Melanie, the Jellybean Angel:

 

She sent me a towel with Lake District recipes. Maybe I should try some of them, if our local grocers can supply the ingredients.

 

The big soft gift was a cushion with four different panels, one for every season. They are all in wool appliqué, in the nicest colours and made with Melanie's perfection. If you don't happen to know her blog, go there soon and enjoy her photos and text.

I will show the other panels one at a time when I change a new one for use. Thank you, dear sweet friend!

The next gift travelled across the ocean, it is from Stephanie.

She had made me a lovely placemat in my favourite colours and a forest themed pincushion with a squirrel and a bird, animals I can daily observe from my kitchen window.

She also included an antique bobbin/thread spool so I can add it to my collection of old sewing notions. The Sugar and Cream yarn feels ever so soft, and I will think about a nice project to use them for. Stephanie included some patterns as well. I think the yarn has something to do with my trying to help her learn to crochet Granny squares. She took a class and masters the skill perfectly now! Thank you, Stephanie, for the lovely gifts!

Last (in the alphabet only) is Suzie's gift from Germany. She told me that she was going to leave the house to mail packages to Stephanie and me, when the doorbell rang. There was the mailman with two packages for her, and they were - you guess by now - from Stephanie and me!

The cutest snowman card with such nice words straight to my heart and out from my eyes! Inside were some delicious treats, a little book about coffee, some scented candles and  two fabric stars she made in golden brown colours, just like all my new baubles in the tree. A bigger star is a reversible table topper, sewn with Suzie's perfection. She also made a thread catcher/pincushion for my sewing machine. Suzie must have seen the mess around my machine; I just try to hit the little trash can I have on the floor.

Here is a better look at the catcher, with a lovely "sewing" fabric. The pincushion is heavy so it will stay on the table even when the bag is full. Thank you, dear Suzie! You are in my heart.

This last picture was taken through the staircase window just before I started writing this post. Today has been a clear and sunny day with only -17 C (1.4 F). It has been snowing some more this week, and the weather forecast promises new snow for every day until Monday.

I thank all my blogging friends and readers for this year. We have been through a lot of things, luckily most of them nice and cute and beautiful or fun. Shared joys put smiles on many faces. I hope shared trouble has been easier to live with, too. I wish everyone good health, lots of energy and inspiration for the year we all start tomorrow. Happy New Year!