Catching up sort of and Christmas in July

Time to dust things off and crank this blog up again 

I know when life gets busy my poor old blog suffers.....I do admire the bloggers who get on and post every day or at least regularly no matter what's happening in the lives, I don't seem to manage that, although I'd like to....

So in a nutshell.....I've been busy painting -  the house, not art .......then time out for a while when I fell off the ladder!! ...... getting the winter garden planted and keeping it neat and weed-free, sorting and having a big clear-out with a view to putting my house on the market to sell......more about that another time.  My children were here for a visit...my daughter from the US and son from Sydney.  It was good to have the 3 of us together again, this happens very rarely these days.  

I've managed some sewing, some of it secret for Cheryll's Christmas in July Swap.

But yesterday was "Christmas Day" and so it was time to open these beautifully wrapped gifts from my Secret Santa Tania who blogs at Ollieandt.

Before .....with an extra gift....a vintage santa mug

....and after 

Lovely pieced hexagonal table centre, perfect for my round table

Wall-hanging mini and cushion with appliqued baubles

Closer look at Tania's beautiful stitching.  Those squares framing the stitchery are tiny, half an inch square!

 Thank you Tania for my beautiful gifts.  I didn't "know" Tania before, she has a lovely blog so I'll be popping in to see what she's up to from now on....the other good part about these swaps is meeting new people and getting to know them through their blogs.  

My partner was Deb at Frog Cottage Designs and this is what I sent her......

A prim angel, not too Christmassy, I thought Deb might like to have her hanging somewhere all year

Closer look at those knobby knees and stripey stockings

Snowman ornie 

I forgot to take a photo of the bunting I made, so I borrowed one from Deb's blog, hope you don't mind Deb......

Thanks to Cheryll for organizing the swap, you can pop over here to Cheryll's blog where she has a linky set up, you can see what everyone else made.....beautiful gifts sent and received all over blogland.

Ok, need to go do other things now, draft an XXX large sweatshirt pattern for a friend and finish making my blocks for this swap I joined back in March, organised by Kate and Sue .....the first blocks were sent in June, and I have a week to finish July's blocks and get them sent off. 

I'll be back to to do a post on this fun swap soon, so see you next time..............