Blogging Buddies & A Sneaky Peeky!

It's been a few days since I've popped in to chat, but I assure you I haven't been idle. In fact ... I've been a busy little bear! :0) I've been stitching madly late into the night, but have also made time to catch up with some blogging buddies. All work and no play makes life very dull, don't you think?! :0) Hmmm ... no fear of dullness here at the Meares' Madhouse! Tee! Hee! Hee!

The first social event on the list was a delightful lunch on Wednesday when a couple of lovely ladies made the climb up our 'hill' for a play date. Fellow arctophile (bear lover!!) Michelle Ridgway of Rag Tag Stitching and Maree of  On My Verandah met up with my fellow Quilting Angel, the lovely Fiona of Bubz Rugz, at the Village Green and I joined them after finishing work for the day ... my little car is VERY used to turning in there anyways! Tee! Hee! Hee! Michelle and I have chatted back and forth via blogs and emails for a while and have also shared the pages of "Handmade" magazine from time to time, so it was fun to finally meet up in 'real life'. :0) And it was also lovely to meet Maree ... it's always nice to meet new friends, isn't it ... particularly when you find lots in common.

Here we all are, about to enjoy a yummy lunch ... delivered by a very patient waitress who was kind enough (an element of 'don't alarm the lunatics perhaps! Tee! Hee! Hee!) to cope with three cameras and an iPhone so we could have a bloggy photo record of the play date! :0) There was lots of chatting (I know that surprises you! Tee! Hee! Hee!), lots of laughs and lots of sharing about stitchy projects. Of course, no visit to the Village Green would be complete without a visit to my home-away-from-home, but no one bought anything ... NOT!!!! Tee! Hee! Hee! All in all it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. Glad you made the trip up the 'hill' Michelle and Maree ... I'll look forward to a return play date sometime soon. :0)

The lovely Fiona and I also enjoyed a stitchy play date on Friday ... the weather was overcast and drizzly, the company was fine, and the chatting flowed as freely as the stitching. Thanks for the catch up, Fiona! Oh ... and a belated Happy Birthday! :0)

Now, I've been madly stitching the sample of a new quilt design using my delicious collection of Rouenneries fabrics. I can't show you exactly what I'm stitching, as I want to keep it a surprise until I'm finished, but I'll tease you with a little sneaky peeky ...

As you can see ... and I'm sure you're not surprised!! ... there's a little bit of a French influence in this project. With the fabrics called "Rouenneries" there couldn't help but be a touch of French, could there?! :0) I promise to show you more when I get a bit further down the track with it. It's been an overcast, gloomy, wet weekend here on top of our 'hill', so there's been quite a lot of stitching happening ... so I may even be back in a few days to show you a little bit more.

But no matter how quickly I stitch, I don't think this quilt will be being added to my OPAM list for February ... maybe March?! :0) I'm sure you lovely OPAMers, though, have LOADS of finishes to add to YOUR lists and with just a few more days left until the end of the month (It's a short one, remember!!) I hope you're all madly updating lists and getting ready to email Sweet Peg and I with your tally. Don't forget  ... there will be a DOUBLE prize draw for all projects finished in January AND February, so if you forgot to let us know your January finishes, you still have the chance to add them to your tally too.

Right now, though, I'm off to pop the kettle on for a much needed cuppa. Hope your weekend has been enjoyable and that you've had some time to kick back and relax with some stitching. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS