2008

I know it’s not over yet, but what a year 2008 has been for me. Who would have believed it!

It all started with writing two articles for Workshop on the Web followed by being asked to submit a piece of work (well, three pieces in this case) for the Cyber Fyber exhibition organised by Susan Lenz, which have now being sent so I’m waiting with baited breath to make sure they arrive safely and in one piece.

I also had a painted quilt I created for my first ALQS partner Wil appearing in Maggie Greys latest book ‘Textile Translations ‘ (Pages 74 and 75 in case I haven't mentioned that already)

Then there was the resounding success of the first Fibre in-Form workshop (which runs again on January 9th – more details here).
And of course, the icing on the cake, being asked to write a book with Carol for d4Daisy. My heartfelt thanks go to Dale here for insisting on introducing me to Maggie at Ally Pally back in ’07.

Of course, these are not the only really exciting things to happen to me this year. Wendy from C&G Machine Knitting days got in touch and I then managed to track down one of our old tutors, Jane Ford and we are all going to meet up sometime in the New Year for a 'play day'. Then the amount of wonderful people I have become friends with through blogging, far too many to list, is totally unbelievable, and managing to meet several of them in 'real life' has also been amazing.

Who knows what 2009 will bring?

And talk about the season for giving. I have been most fortunate in the past couple of weeks.
It all started when I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn’t seem to catch the light at the right time to take any halfway decent photographs. A young friend said he had one of these light tents that he just didn’t use anymore and I would be most welcome to it.Well, having never come across one of these before I didn’t quite know what to expect. I unzipped the carry case and the damn thing ‘exploded’. It measures 60” x 60” – I’m sure it would sleep a family of four quite comfortably on a camping holiday :)
Taking a photograph of a postcard in this tent looks a bit incongruous. We had to re-arrange the furniture in the sitting room to accommodate it! Trying to get it back in the carry case was hilarious. It took the pair of us to do it and it was like something out of ‘Mr Bean’! Not too sure that I will use it that often.

I’ve been using recycled blankets from the Charity Shops for several years now for one thing and another and its also what I use as wadding in these painted quilts. Its been very difficult of late to get hold of them – nobody uses blankets anymore – plus they have increased in price from £1 to £2!
So there I was, moaning again, when my listeners husband said he thought he might be able to get hold of a couple for me. Well, he did better than that. It really was my lucky day. Several of them were actually being disposed of because they were no longer needed , he asked if he could have a few and was given 7 boxfuls of blankets – each with 12 in a box. 96 blankets!! They will last me a lifetime. So if ever you need a blanket or three, you know where to come :)

I was given an early Christmas present from my (sometimes)lovely hubby :) – a multimedia projector. Its been on my wish list for a long time. I have hundreds of slides of different textile exhibitions – loads of the Windsor (Jan & Jean) exhibitions from over the years which are always very inspirational to look at. My old projector is just about giving up the ghost so I was really excited about this. What I didn’t realise is that you can actually play DVD’s and also plug it into the TV. So guess what I was doing yesterday evening? Yes, watching the ‘Strictly’ finals on the BIG screen.(Although I really shouldn’t have bothered, what a travesty (?). So pleased I don’t waste my pennies on voting – I would have demanded a refund!) Anyway, it was like being in the cinema (or ‘the pictures’ as I still have a habit of saying – mind you, I still listen to the ‘wireless’ and still ‘tape’ on a DVD!)
The only thing missing was the popcorn and the close proximity of a strangers body parts ??

In the post I received a bumper package from the very generous Joanna. We were getting a bit concerned as she had posted it about two weeks before it arrived, but those of you living in the UK will know what our postal service is like at this time of year. The contents spilling out of the jiffy bag seemed never ending. I can imagine Joanna as being the winner of one of the challenges we used to give to the Brownies on the largest number of items you could fit in a matchbox!
Amongst the treasures were these which I can’t wait to try out.And also the Calendar Girls 2008 December card. We are going into 2009 with the Calendar Girls but this time we all choose one picture from our own calendar each month for the other members to interpret – should be fun.And last, but certainly not least, this lovely little vintage style Christmas heart arrived from Pat.I seriously want to root around in Pats workroom and grab a bag of the lovely old bits of lace she uses. I really need to know where she comes across these. :)

And thats it! Apologies for loads of words and very few photos but I wanted to share my good fortune with you all. Hopefully I can get back to ‘normal’ with regards to blogging and bloghopping in the New Year.
Hope you all have a really great Christmas and a fantastic New Year.