the big "Reveal"

Now that Christmas is over and (most of) the gifts have been put into the hands of their intended receivers, I thought I'd show a few pictures of the finished items.

The parrot quilt was a BIG hit.

My quilts all go with a guarantee that covers them only if they are actually USED! I don't make them to be folded up and put away!! (otherwise what excuse would I have to make another one later??)

I was pleased to see this beauty be put to use right away.

and I did get advance permission to borrow it back in August so I can enter it in the State Fair.








Just before we went off to our daughter's I finished the vest for her friend's little girl

It's a little hard to see, but the yoke of this has kitties knit into it, complete with little tails on the back

cute!






















and then there were the new doggie toys

these 3 designs were actually whipped up in the last couple of days before we headed off (and the "princess" has already been in her best "destructor" mode on them)

Future toys for the terrier will be made of very sturdy denim --- it doesn't stop her, but it does slow her down!!

Aren't they cute

don't be fooled, this was one of the peaceful moments when my dog (the big black lab) and my daughter's newest dog (wheat colored cairn terrier, aka "the Terrier-izer") were asleep








see this lovely lady?

yes, Ewe!

one of my presents for Christmas was the fleece of this beautiful Jacob Sheep -- her name is Dot -- and the box should arrive today

The plan is to use the many colors to do needle felting on teddy bears and other ideas

I'm looking forward to a lot of "play time" in the new year







there is actually some work going on, believe it or not

this is the second batch of beach glass

I've already started working up some jewelry from the purple pieces, and have some other pieces waiting from the yellow and the white

The glass that looks white here went into the tumbler red -- alas, the color was all in a "paint" on the outside which of course the tumbler took right off

I have found some genuine, through and through red glass, however, and it will be in the next batch

a while back I had started on this knitting project then set it aside because I had knitting that needed to be finished for Christmas

since we got back I've been working on this a bit, and just finished this last block last night



Yesterday we did the inventory of the jewelry and this morning I ran the necessary reports to do the taxes for 2008

I really hate tax season, but I've found that by spacing out the work it's less painful.

This is also the time of the year when I fiddle with the web site, apply to shows and design new pieces of jewelry and bears

Yup, it's good to be getting back in the flow of actually working --- maybe the forced time off was a good thing

onward and upward

Happy New Year!