I'm already saying.."I was going to"...

I was going to join in with a couple of retrospective blog posts as the year passed from old to new.  But the two I had in mind meant that I had to trawl through my blog posts of 2013 and it made me a bit uncomfortable, so I stopped.  And then I thought to join quite a few others and post my five favourite cards of the year.  So I started trawling through posts that showed cards. I couldn't find any I liked enough to post for second time, so I stopped.
But here's a thing I did intend all along - to thank anyone who went to the trouble of sending me a Christmas card.  I loved getting them and appreciate every shred of work and effort they involve.  And they are inspiring. I actually feel like making a few Christmas cards now! So I'm sharing them with you over a couple of days....they are being dotted about the lounge room to make up for the space that the absent tree has left in my life.  

 
 Lisa Jane, Lady Nurse, Kyla

 

 Angie, Karalyn, the Enthusiastic Educator

 
 Slipper Lady, Laura, Shaz Silverwolf

 Willowy Blonde and HelenWipso

Now of course,you can't see the glitter, the dimesnion and the love on each card.  I can, and it warms the very cockles.  More tomorrow.  There's a reason for this too..I'm going to try to make some of my own based on the inspiration of these.....remember this statement.  You may be able to use it as evidence against my pleas of 'no mojo'!

  

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 239

New Year's Day edition!  Wow, the  planets aligned well for us this year!  Last year!  Wait, I don't know...but it worked nicely for Christmas and New Year's Day to be on a Wednesday. It's a good omen.  I'm sure.  Not an omen of tidiness though.  Or indeed, inspiration.

Taken at 4pm on Tuesday afternoon.  And untouched by human hand since then....except that I moved the ipad onto my lazy lap after supper.  There's some fab Kaiser 12" paper at left.  Hiding some other fab 12" papers that I bought in Christmas week and have just taken them out of the bag.  It may be another week before I put them away at this rate! The pile of stuff at right, topped with the christmas sticky tape is all work mail that arrived over the holiday.  I would not allow it to be opened; we had four straight days of a 'no work' policy, and so now it's waiting for my New Year attention.  Not the most interesting or exciting desk huh..but hey - you can at least rely on me on being consistent as the years change...particularly if like me, you find yourself becoming a bit change resistant. Argh.
So if you've got any better thing to show in terms of what and where you're working, do join us here - link your blog post and we'll try to visit.  Happy New Year.  Happy Same WOYWW.  

Brace yourselves...

There are lists of every kind concerning 2013.  They are dotted in every corner of every genre that the internet offers.  I love a retrospective, but am useless at putting them together, so let me instead recommend some....
Brenda - has joined a link party showcasing their top five favourite Christmas Cards
Elizabeth's last couple of posts are a sweep of 2013
Hels is showing her favourite makes of 2013
Mum's Monkey is doing the last of the year's confectionery reviews...it's a weird one.
Marit has been counting down the top 2000 pieces of art in her Paper World..check it out!

The List book means as much to me as any diary....

And moi?  I'm a list maker of the TO DO variety, and that will not change.  So as to have the appearance of waking up ready and able tomorrow, I've got a calendar and the work diary to sort..  a hot drink is a decent companion, huh.  For me, the Diary is a double edged tool -the best thing is it shows all the potential for accomplishment. The bad thing is the speed at which one can pass right through a year. Ah well, as long as we're still friends, still healthy and still loved...let them.  Happy New Year.

A Review. Solicited by flattery.

Oh the vanity! The nice people at Bead and Button Company asked me if I'd like to choose some goodies from their extensive website and review on my (and I quote) 'lovely blog'. Well, you know me. Flattery works. I have to say that so does the product; when you get to their website, you'll probably be thinking as I was  - make a quick overview and browse some stuff, choose some bits and away.  Well, let me tell you - the selection is so amazing that I had a list of a length that Santa would recognise.  I was compelled to keep looking...wow, really, I was envisaging projects that could take me through next year...and the buttons..oh heaven! However, on the basis that when you undertake to do a review it really needs to be done within a polite time frame, I whittled the list down to getting some stash that I knew I could use in the immediate future. It came, with a minimum of fuss and a lot of impact..I've never seen so many beads for so little money, it really felt like a bag of treasure!

As you can see, they don't stick to just beads and buttons...there are products for all sorts of crafting, there are some beautiful reels of ribbon...and oh my, the choices.  Well. Action stations people...I had to use some of them.  I know, I make it sound like a chore! 

I chose the big wooden buttons with this Jacket in mind.  My mother in Law just finished knitting it for me and I love it.  I think the buttons are perfect, and unusually for me, worth the wait.  See, I wanted to have the item before I chose the buttons and when this review opportunity popped up and I exercised grown up patience.  My word, I'm evolving.

The beautiful glass beads were incorporated into jug and pot covers that I made for a couple of great friends. They are both vintage Suzy Homemaker types, so I think they will like them.  I love the weight they give to the cotton, a perfect drape.  The colours are crackled inside the glass - really pretty.  AND, the hole size was utterly consistent...quite important when you're threading them onto multi stranded cotton, and are known to be fabulously impatient with such things.

I also chose some drop shape multicoloured plastic beads (because I couldn't help myself) and incorporated them too.  The small turquoise beads above will be a longer term project..I ordered 2 strands because I thought I may need a few...my goodness, in each case I was staggered by how much you get for the price...although I should add that I knew there would be 100 of the drop beads and just two of the big buttons...because that's what I asked for!  

I

I am quite carried away by the selections, particularly of buttons.  There are printed, plain, shell, wooden, novelty - you name it.  It's hard not to 'need' lots. Do yourself a favour and set aside twenty minutes to browse the site..you won't be disappointed. It's easy to navigate, all the varieties and departments are cross-referenced for searching and browsing, and each department has the 'view all'  feature which I love; for some reason knowing that I'm browsing loads of pages by number makes me lose the will to er, browse. I've had to bookmark it, for practical purposes of course.   There is a blog too - you can link to it through the site, I'm thinking that running the site means not a lot of time for blogging, and because it's the 21st century, you can connect with the good people at Bead and Button Company through Facebook Twitter and Google+. There's a good shipping policy and clear pricing - for Europe and international too.  And of course, there's a Sale. Might be rude not to visit then, huh! If you do have a little flutter, please show and tell - you might buy something that I need......

What's On Your Workdesk? Christmas Day Edition 238

The children (Miss D and her boyfriend, 20 and 21, respectively) will still be asleep, and so it is true to say that my work desk isn't a desk this Christmas morning.  I am to be found, in my freshly laundered dressing gown flitting about between lounge and dining, clearing up after Christmas Eve jollity and preparing for some present opening. Mr Dunnit will be beavering in the kitchen..we are both good at starting the day early, but separately! Having to walk past this beauty every time I move from room to room is making me happy.  I may well be humming.  Having my lovelies at home for a Christmas at home (we are rarely at home on this day) is such a big treat. And so I think it's OK to show our tree as my workspace this week.

Whatever this time of year means for you, whether you choose to surround yourself with people or play a solo game today, I hope you have a great day.  If it's Christmas for you, I wish you the happiest Christmas.  

Now, if you'd like to join the gentle Christmas party and tell us what you're doing today, I know some of us will be able and delighted to visit for a chat.

December does Dunnit

I think it is an accurate title.  I am totally done in by December.  And so looking forward to a few days of friends family and not much else.  So, with the very few 'Dunnit does December' posts in mind, telling of my journey through the month, I thought you may  like to see the results of  FRIDAY afternoon.  Three dozen mince pies, 1 dozen were flaky pastry, for that way lies Mr Dunnit's heart, see.

I wouldn't normally bother to show you such stuff; in our house, baking these is a given in December. But here's the thing; after a friendly exchange on Facebook, I've discovered that some of my international friends think that we're eating little pies made of minced beef.  Oh ah. Argh.  No.  Mincemeat is very different from minced meat.  It's dried fruits - sultanas, currants, glace cherries, spices like cinnamon and nutmeg and some suet if you aren't using the vege recipes.  Combined, soaked with something alcoholic..this family favours a teeny splash of brandy and then 'thickened' with some ground almonds.  Some add apple.  Loads of us make it up as we go along, and still more of us buy jars of it ready to spoon into pastry...no harm, no foul.  Just yummy. Which is why, today, MONDAY..I had to make another three dozen.  It would seem that making them an-easy-to-handle size also makes them almost too easy-to-eat!  

  

As I type, I'm enjoying a mug of fine English Breakfast tea from my lovely Christmas china. I'd like to say that the mince pies were warmed,  put on a plate and lightly dusted with icing sugar prior to being delivered to my desk with the tea.  In reality, I scoffed two while waiting for the kettle to boil......no plate, no ceremony.  Ah well, no manners when alone - go on, you would have done the same!  

And finally with reference to my previous post - thanks for asking - this is a jelly roll. Strips of co-ordinating fabrics..each strip about a metre long and 10cm wide....and you get loads, but I don't know how many! Nor do I know why they are called jelly rolls.  I got mine from New Threads, my local b&m and online quilting store.  It's a fabric wonderland. Helped by the fact that some of the fabrics are from scrapbook paper designers...love that overlap.  

So, if you've got time on this countdown to the big Ho Ho Ho, tell me how your preparations are.  And don't panic..it's going to happen anyway.  And oh - so is the ridiculous WOYWW. Why?  Well, we've kept each other company all year haven't we?  No pressure, just as long as you promise to enjoy the day!

At last....the solution..

Aha - that made you all look closely huh!  The solution I refer to is not, I regret, an earth shattering one. World Peace is simply not within my remit, but I promise, if it was...

Remember this?  Been on my desk, filling slowly, for nearly all of this year.  Although it was useful, it was also largely not what I wanted.  I don't want to sort the buttons..I like the hunt.  I didn't like them being in the jar because even when it was possible to close it, the mechanism was very anti-social.  The spring back re-opening would wither break your thumb or give you heart failure.  Not great.

Then, one summer's day,  I was with the Enthusiastic Educator at the local quilting store.  I picked up a Jelly Roll and told her about the baskets I'd seen on Pinterest, being made from really thick yarns.  Wouldn't it, I said, be fun to use fabric like this.  And there was the idea.  So, in a fit of feeling flush, I bought the Jelly Roll.  I cut each strip in half, which doubled the volume.  And then I crocheted.  With a huge hook - a 12.  It made my hands ache.  I crocheted in the same colour order that the strips were wound in the pack.  (Next time I would change that, but hey, I'm slow on imagination). I did it whilst we were in Spain in October.  It was lovely to sit in the sun and do something other than erm, nothing.

I knew it was going to be my new button basket, I just haven't had time in these last couple months to actually finish it properly.  I felt it should be lined, see..to stop the little buttons straying into the crevices and out of the basket. Yesterday, though, whilst wrapping presents, I found a large ziploc bag.  Perfect.  Now, I have a liner and the added bonus of securing the top if I want to transport my buttons.  Which I occasionally do - to Crop and the like. Not stylish, not really even what I want, but for now, an answer. Because the button jar was overflowing and the button basket was knocking about the house waiting.  Ridiculous.  And last night....when I was making something that needed a button, I didn't tip the contents out.  I just stuck my hand in there and rummaged.  

It's not even full!  I'm a bit smug.  
Even though I got carried away and thought that yesterday was Friday, I'm joining with Annie for Friday Smiles..this may be a smug smile, but hey...it's a smile!