Happy New Year! (a little late!)

Did you wonder where I was? I've been well out of the loop this last two weeks, as so often happens at this time of year. This last week my Mum has been staying and the week whizzed by. There has been no time for any creativity, apart from a little hand sewing on an ATC for the Cyberfyber International Swap. I was hoping to do three but I think this will be the only one I swap as I must post it tomorrow.

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I haven't photographed it but it is a variation on the theme above! Why aren't you surprised?

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Look at what one of my Mum's friends sent me for Christmas. Isn't she adorable? I love the painting and the easel. Thank you so much Edna! Edna knits hundreds of toys for charity every year. (My beautiful cat looks happy to be out of the cupboard too! The cat is made by Jenny Winstanley of North Walsham Norfolk and is so sensitively crafted.)

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Do you remember the fabric I dyed and printed before Christmas that was going to be part of a 4-way swap? So far 3 of the swaps have been made and I am delighted with the pieces I have received. They do make mine feel a bit inadequate though as they are both finished pieces and I left mine at a state where it could be worked on further.

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This is part of one piece of mine.

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This stunning piece, which is slightly less blue than the photograph shows, is absolutely beautiful. It is titled, "Cosmic Chaos" and is by Liz, who doesn't blog. The rays are interspersed with golden rays which don't show up in the photograph and there are tiny sparkly stars. I love it. It's also initialled and dated.

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This second gorgeous piece is by Angela, the tutor. Some of you may know Angela from the Quilters Guild Young Quilters. Angela has added organza which she has stitched and slashed and also sequins. Again it has been initialled and dated. Why didn't I do that? I love the colours Angela has used. I now need to decide what I will do with these two beautiful fabrics as they are too lovely to leave in a drawer.

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While I have been away we have slipped from 2008 to 2009 and everyone has been very busy round blogland looking back, as I have done, and looking forward to the new twelve months opening up before us. Last year I chose three words to coax myself along with throughout 2008. The words were 'focus', 'growth' and 'balance'. I certainly think that I grew in my skills and ideas throughout the year and I think that was brought about by better focus on what I wanted to achieve and on what I was doing. However, balance was another matter! I always want to do more than time or my energy levels will allow and I still need to sort out better balance so that maybe I can accomplish more.

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So what about 2009? I have been chatting with one or two fellow bloggers by email and have bandied one or two possible words around. The word that came to me last week when the winter blues had popped in for a visit was "calm". I think that would be quite a good word as calm would surely influence every aspect of one's life and creativity, wouldn't it? It would be good to feel calm instead of fraught and frustrated when energy runs out before time (that word balance comes to mind again). However, I think that I will continue with 'focus' and add on 'positive', as it is very easy for me to see the negative in things.

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My Mum went home this morning and I had planned to have this coming week to myself, sorting out the chaos, doing a little shopping, catching up with some podcasts that I didn't get chance to hear over the holiday and making a few notes of direction for this year etc. However, my DH has had the disgusting-let's-not-be-too-graphic-about-it lurgy since Friday and won't be able to go to work tomorrow as he may still be full of bugs (not welcome in a hospital) and yesterday our central heating developed a problem and has had to be switched off! Brrrrr! Our plumber friend thinks a pipe is blocked somewhere in the loft space so the engineers are coming tomorrow (should have come today). Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't involve taking up the floor in the loft room. By the way, we're not too cold, my shed/studio heater has been pressed into service to keep the chill out and we have a halogen heater for the lounge. Thank goodness for small rooms, on this occasion! :)