Happy New Year

Well hello!
Do you remember me?
It's been a long time between drinks. I half heartedly tried to write a couple of posts after coming back from holidays, however my impressively slack personality took over and nothing eventuated.

This is the post where I SHOULD be doing an impressive mosaic of all the things I've made during the year.  I'm not even going to bother, it would be embarrassingly small and would just remind me of how little sewing I was able to do during the Year of Change. I'm not going to beat myself up about it but I am well and truly determined to make amends in 2013. I did however, really enjoy participating in the swaps, despite my complete and utter terror before I joined.   I loved stalking my partners and hope I made things that they liked. I made some really great new friends and was incredibly lucky to receive some awesome swap items in return, thanks so much.

The best thing about 2012 was that I finally made the move and after 13 years had a massive change of scenery.  I love the new house. I haven't regretted the move for one second. I have a proper sewing room, a still very messy sewing room but nevertheless a proper sewing room that is all mine and I don't have to share with guests, office stuff or anything else. I promise to take photos asap. I keep on misplacing my camera, and trying to download photos from my phone is proving to be a real PITA.

I have a new swimming pool, even though I liked my old pool I love the new one even more.  I think I've been in this pool more in the last few weeks than I had in the last three years at the old house.

 Old pool

New pool

(Both photos taken from the real estate listings as I still haven't taken any photos of the house since I've moved in, 3 months ago...slack....slack....slack)

I had a fabulous holiday in Hawaii with BP (BitchyPoo). It was so nice to relax and not have to worry about cleaning, cooking or moving furniture.

I'm back, I'm ready and looking forward to sewing. Only one slight teeny tiny problem, I have no freaking idea of what to sew, other than I want to make a hexie quilt. I can not for the life of me make up my mind on anything else.  I don't even have a list of things I'd like to make in 2013. I have a million ideas spinning around in my head and I've pinned a squillion ideas on Pinterest, favourited lots on flickr, printed out free patterns, and bought lots of patterns.  Maybe that's my problem, too many choices.

I want to get those creative juices flowing. I think starting something new will start me off on the right track and then I'll possibly tackle a couple of UFO's during the year. Maybe a Dresden quilt this year, maybe something with Drunkard's path blocks. I need to dust off the Baby Go cutter and utilise that a bit more. I'm  also thinking about joining a couple of sew alongs, but then my track records for those is appalling.

In the meantime I'm cutting squares for hexies. Fingers crossed

I'm not making any NY resolutions this year, a waste of time for me, as I never keep them. I am determined to enjoy 2013, it's going to be my Year of Rest and Relaxation.  That for me, is doing the things I like doing, sewing, holidays, spending time with friends and BP, and dining out occasionally. Thank you so much to all who have hung in there for the ride and lent support when I needed it.

I hope everyone has a fabulously enjoyable year, do what you love doing and spend time with friends and family you love. Happy 2013!!!!!!!

Favourite Things Friday

This week my favourite thing absolutely has to be birthdays.

I wonder why?

Let's see.

Presents

A shower cap, love the fabric

Balloons

Yesterday.

A beautiful day in the middle of winter

Lovely views with a celebratory coffee glass of champagne, and sunlight sparkling on the water

Dinner with family, oops no pics.

(If you are ever in Noosa the food here is superb.)

Well wishes from lots of friends.

Mucking around with BP taking photos with photo booth on the computer, and thinking, gee, I don't look too bad.

Two are not necessarily better than one.

More celebrations with friends to look forward to this weekend.

More balloons

Oh crappity crap, it's back to front, lol.

 Life's good.

Pop on over to Shay at Quilting In My Pyjamas to see more favourites.

Pyjama Party Sunday

Mrs P at Quilting In My Pyjamas is hosting PJ PS this week, so hop on over to link your post and see what she has been up to this weekend.

Spiders, potty mouths, diets, exercise and challenges, a look back

Since it's a new year, I thought my blog could do with a few changes. I was going to go all out and change everything, but then decided against it as I like the way it looks. I've changed the header with some new photos. I kind of liked the original one more, but considering I made that cushion a whole 12 months ago, and I have been quite crafty for the last 12 months, I thought I'd change it to show that I quilt and crochet, after all I am quite proud of those finishes.

I wanted to look at some of my posts through the year too, and look back at whether my blogging has changed.  I don't think it has, maybe I've loosened up a bit since the early days. Reading some of my old posts was very very interesting. Getting to know Shay over at Quilting In My Pyjamas has been a huge influence on me. Her blog posts are very funny, she has a great sense of humour and she has taken me under her wing, so to speak, with helping me in my quilting (and in potty mouth training), lol, actually that is more likely the reverse!
We have struck up a real friendship over the last year and I think this post, Sew-in and a Spider sums it up completely. If you are going to click on this, consider yourself warned.

Looking back is sometimes not good, when you can see how many squillions of yards of fabric you have bought since since June 29 2010.  That cupboard is bursting at the seams now and I have a huge plastic bin and a basket filled to overflowing as well.  I really think I should go on a fabric diet.

Speaking of diets, hmmm, and exercise, remember these, Exercise+Me=Bad Outcome closely followed by Exercise + me is not a good equation which concluded with a bubble wrap helmet courtesy of Shay. I'm too vain to link you to that post, you will just have to find it yourselves, and it took me forever to find it, so good luck!!!! If you bribe me I might point you in the right direction.

Finally, why I was a bit very hesitant to take on another quilting challenge after my disastrous attempt with  the *@!# snowball challenge.

This has emphasised the fact that blogging has been such a rewarding experience, and more importantly, I now have a "diary" that I can refer back to as I haven't previously kept a diary.  I love this medium, 2010 was a great year of blogging for me.

Reflection

The decade that was.

It has only just occurred to me that today is the end of the decade. Compared to 1999 it is going out very quietly. Remember Y2K? New Years Eve 1999 saw us "celebrating" the end of the century. We, (my husband, myself and our daughter) were in Wales, UK, staying with wonderful friends we had met back in Australia, some years before. I think in December 1999 I had high hopes for the new century. I always remember that when I was in school I used to think that the year 2000 was a lifetime away, and I would be really old as I would turn 41 in 2000. How funny that is now.

In hindsight this decade didn't have a great start. New Years Eve day 1999, our friends were having a combined party with their next door neighbours, unfortunately the neighbour's mother/grandmother became gravelly ill and was rushed to hospital. The party was cancelled. We decided to have a low key affair. I was suffering from the flu ,and had been very sick all day and dragged myself out of my sick bed to join in the "festivities" in the evening. My "angel" who was 6, stayed up long enough to see the fireworks. We had an uneventful night but when it came to midnight, my ex-husband, E's father, wouldn't even wish me Happy New Year, let alone share a kiss. ( I should have figured then, shouldn't I).

Eighteen months later, we separated. I finally saw the light, that I did not need to be married to someone who verbally abused me, who treated me badly. It took a long time to recognize the fact that I had been a victim of domestic abuse. It was a long time ago that we separated, and eventually divorced, but I am very, very glad that we did. When it happened, it shook me to the core as I always believed that marriage was for life, (til death us do part), and I would do anything to keep the marriage working. It also took me a long time to believe in myself and to realize that I had done the right thing by both myself and my daughter.

The last eight years have flashed by very quickly. I was determined to bring up my daughter in a stable home, where she would always feel safe and where there were no "surprises". I kind of put my life on hold for her. No regrets. Now she is 16 and is about to start her last year of school and then possibly go to university or travel overseas. Who knows what is in store for her. She will get her drivers licence this year, so she will be a free spirit, and won't be relying on me to get her to places. Kind of sad that she is growing up, but, I am proud of her as she is a great kid (most of the time).

I am looking forward to this new and exciting decade that will have a whole lot of possibilities for me. I have only great expectations for this next decade. I am not going to have any New Years resolutions, they always end up being broken. No, this year I am just going to look forward to what life will offer, and not dwell on the past.

I can't wait!!!!!

PS. I normally don't dwell on the past. Especially the distant past, but, I just felt that this decade needed closure and this was a good way to deal with it.