More Christmas & OPAM Winners!

We're still in holiday mode here at the Meares' Madhouse ... back to work on Monday ... SIGH!! We can't complain too much, though, as we've had a nice break after a VERY busy lead up to Christmas. In fact, things got SO busy that I still have a few party pics to share with you before I wrap up OPAM for 2011.

In the week before Christmas, we had a gathering of as many of our Quilting Angels group as could make it to the lovely Fiona's place for a special lunch. There was food galore and Helen mixed up her 'special' pink strawberry champagne daiquiris ... I was driving so only had one! :0)

Here they are ... can you see those sparkling halos?? Tee! Hee! Hee! Bobbi, Bev, Helen and Fiona all toasting with special pink drinks. And at Helen's insistence ...

Helen and I swapped places for another photo. We had a lovely lunch, lots of laughs, more special drink of a slightly less alcoholic kind ...

Can you see the bottle? A personalised bottle of coke to share with Fiona. :0) Still haven't seen one with "Kris" on the label! :0) Oh ... and there were several visits from a VERY special member of the group ...

Yes, even Santa popped in to wish the Quilting Angels a happy Christmas.

Christmas Day itself was spent in the wilds of Mundubbera (small country town where I grew up and where Mum and Dad still live!) with Mum, Dad and my sort-of-sister Tiffy ... perhaps we should just adopt her and be done with it! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Here's Tiffy supervising Dad's giftie opening technique ...

Mum unwrapping the gifties from us ... I have a habit of buying a number of items and wrapping them all separately ... makes it look like there's more gifties under the tree! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Tiffy with one of the lingerie bags I made for her ... she loved them! :0)

And now we're home again for a few days and you'd think we'd be resting and relaxing, right? I wish!!! :0) Nope, we're spring cleaning ... yes I know it's summer now, but spring kind of slipped by me, so it's cleaning catch-up here. My Beloved Geek Boy is playing in the office (he SAYS he's cleaning!!!) and I'm in the dining room dusting my display shelves and ...

... washing my china collection. SIGH! Yep, it's all party, party, party here! :0) I forget how many pretty plates, cups, teapots etc that I have in my ever-growing collection until I have to wash them ... at which point I think perhaps I should stop buying pretties ... and then I come to my senses and go back to washing! Tee! Hee! Hee!

The other thing I've done during my break ... of course ... is to blog-hop around with my partner-in-crime, Sweet Peg, to collect the end of month finishes for OPAM, the last for 2011. We had our second biggest tally for the year this month with a whopping

813 Finishes

for December. WOW!! Well done to you all ... I think you must all have been like me and worked really well under the deadline pressure of making things for Christmas gifties! :0) That takes our year's total to ...

7470!!

WOWSERS!! Congratulations to each and every one of you who has contributed to that total!! I reckon there must be a LOT of room in sewing cupboards around the world by now! Or are you all like me ... have you bought lots of NEW fabrics, patterns and notions using your finishes as justification?!?! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Once again, I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to each and every one of you for playing along with OPAM this year. It's wonderful to hear of people making new blogging buddies by visiting fellow OPAMers and lovely to have people comment that the encouragement received from other OPAMers has helped motivate even more creativity and inspired people to try new things. The main reason that the lovely May Britt and I started OPAM and Sweet Peg and I have continued to host it, is that we know how a little bit of encouragement and positive feedback can inspire us to create. OPAM is not really about the NUMBER of finishes ... though the final tallies blow me away ... I don't think you gals sleep!! ... OPAM is all about busy gals taking a bit of time out from the hustle and bustle of life to take a breath, relax a little and take some time to create and do something that makes us smile. So even if you didn't finish as many projects as you had planned and your "To Do" list is like mine and overflowing ... if OPAM has encouraged you to spend some time with your feet up and stitching, then it's been a successful year! :0) I'd also like to say a HUGE

THANK YOU!!!

To my Sweet partner-in-crime. If it wasn't for Sweet Peg's wonderful assistance in co-hosting OPAM, I don't think I'd be able to manage the deluge of emails and the list of blog-hopping each month. Peg and I were blogging buddies for a couple of years before undertaking the OPAM adventure and I feel so very blessed that our friendship has grown even more ... even though we've still never met in 'real life'. One day, Sweet Peg, we'll get our play date and then it will be ... LOOK OUT WORLD! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Now, to the bit you've all been waiting for ... the December random draw winners are ...

ANNE-LISE

LAILA KS

NARELLE

With that sorted, Sweet Peg and I will have a little break of a couple of weeks before we start all over again when

OPAM 2012

is launched on ...

FRIDAY JANUARY 20

You'll see I've added a countdown gadget to my sidebar to help you keep track, so if you want to join Sweet Peg and I for more fun, stitching and taking a bit of time our for "ME" make sure you stay tuned for OPAM sign up.

In the meantime, there's some dusty china calling my name in the kitchen, so I'm off to play in some soapy water. Hope everyone is enjoying their first week of 2012. :0) Til next time ...

SOAPY BEAR HUGS!!

CHEERS!
KRIS