Out With The Old!

Hello to all my lovely Bloggy buddies! I hope your Christmas was wonderful & that you've had a chance to slow down a bit. Our Christmas Day was spent with the extended Meares mob & was crowded, noisy & fun. It included lots of talking, lots of food & an impromptu jam session involving most family members, three or four part harmonies, a couple of guitars, a drum box, a violin, a bass & a ukulele. I didn't say our families are conventional! Tee! Hee! Hee! Boxing Day was lower key with my folks visiting for a yummy lunch, some giftie swapping & some test cricket viewing. Two very different celebrations, both enjoyed. :0)

And My Beloved Geek Boy & I have also enjoyed some quiet days at home making a start on a few items on the list of jobs waiting for us to have time at home. As well as some reading, cooking & the usual grown up chores, I've been playing with the beginnings of a new quilt design. Meanwhile, GB has been outside ...

The back deck is a bit of a white elephant ... The previous owners kind of tacked it on cos it sounded good as a selling point in the real estate listings, but with no cover & a less-than-adequate finish, it's not really used but we weren't sure what we wanted to do to make it usable AND attractive ... Until some recent brainstorming. (Which MAY have involved a few glasses of some of the wine we collected during our recent holiday to South Australia! Tee! Hee! Hee!) So ... This will be one of our home improvement projects for 2019. It's a big job & will cost a little bit, so we'll do it in stages ... First stage ... Knocking nails back in, sanding & oiling. You can see GB has used one these babies before. :0) I'll share progress pics through 2019.

And doesn't it seem like just last week that we were welcoming 2018? Where HAS this year gone?!?! I have to say, we're actually pretty happy to see the backside of this year. It's been pretty stressful & brought some dramas along the way that have left us feeling wrung out. BUT ... Tomorrow sees us turn the page of a new adventure book with 365 pages just waiting for us to write on them. 2019 is going to be an AWESOME year!! :0) Thank you to all my wonderful family & friends who have waded through 2018 with us. Amidst the not-so-great stuff, we were humbled & blessed to be reminded time & time again how many loving & supportive people we have in our lives. As I sign off my last blog post for 2018, I'd like to leave you with one of my favourite verses, an old Irish Blessing. Til next time ...

NEW YEAR'S BEAR HUGS!!

CHEERS,

KRIS

Not A Creature Was Stirring ... !

It's been another hugely busy week here at the Meares' Madhouse with end of year parties, jobs that had to be done before Christmas & all of the Christmas preparations needing to be made. But ... We made it through & my Beloved Geek Boy & I are now enjoying a Christmas staycation. YAY! :0) We've both got lots of things we want to do at home, so that will be our Christmas gift to ourselves ... Staying home! :0)

And as we count down to the jolly man in the red suit's arrival ...

... The gifties are wrapped & under the tree, the Christmas Day food is all prepared & I'm KAPOOPED! So I'm off to bed ... Though I doubt dreams of sugarplums will dance in my head! :0P I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all my lovely Bloggy Buddies a very happy, safe & enjoyable Christmas. May you spend it with special people who make you smile & feel loved. Til next time ...

CHRISTMASSY BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS,

KRIS

A Christmas Surprise!!

Helloooooooo! Is there anyone out there??! ... Or have you been run over by the "Christmas Express" like I have?! :0P It's been even crazier-busy than usual here at the Meares' Madhouse in the last little while as we try to fit in everything that has to happen before the fat man in the red suit tries to slide down the chimney. But we're down to single digits as we prepare for a short staycation over Christmas ... Three days to go! :0)

In the midst of the madness of finalising Christmas gifties for friends & family, I received a Christmas surprise myself today in the mailbox ...

Do you see the black wrapped parcel on the tree? It's from one of my FAVOURITE artists, Brisbane-based Debra Hood  Debra creates the most GORGEOUS paintings that showcase some of Queensland's character & historic building styles in cheerful, tropical colours. Every time she shows off her fantastic paintings on her Facebook page I drool all over the iPad. Tee! Hee! Hee! You'll know if I ever win lotto cos one of the first splurges I make will be to commission Debra to paint a set of paintings for our sitting room. :0)

When Debra messaged me to say she had a little Christmas treat she wanted to send me, I never imagined what she meant ...

Look at my goodies!

One of Debra's gorgeous linen tea towels featuring screen printed historic houses ...

... Super cute house fridge magnets ... The top one is my favourite!

Most exciting ... A copy of Debra's FABULOUS book "Confetti"!!! When Debra launched her book, I drooled over the sneaky peekies she shared & added it to my wish list ...

Not only does it include some snippets of Debra's work, it shares some photos of some of the unique houses that are the inspiration for Debra's paintings. I love that Debra's paintings are so full of special details ... Furbabies sitting on steps, washing hanging on the line, birds perched in trees ... Each painting is like a fantastic tropical Queensland version of "Where's Wally". :0) If you're looking for last minute Christmas giftie ideas for friends & family ... Or a special treat for yourself, pop across to visit Debra's online shop ... She has lots of goodies to tempt you and not only are you guaranteed to find items that celebrate some of the colours, scenes & architecture that are part of the Queensland & Australian character, you'll be supporting one of our own incredibly talented Aussie artists. Thank you SOOOOOO much Debra for my Christmas surprise! I LOVE IT! :0)

Now I'm off to make myself a cuppa to sip while I enjoy "Confetti" ... It will be my anti-Christmas-stress treatment. :0) I hope you find some ways to keep you calm as we count down to Christmas. Til next time ...

CALM BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

Christmas Craziness!!

PHEW!! Finally made it here to catch up with you all! It's that Christmas Craziness part of the year when there seems to be a far, FAR longer list of things to do & events to attend than there are days left until the Fat Man in Red slides down our chimneys. I keep running out of "day" before I run out of items on each day's list. Ah well ... I know I'm not the only one having this problem. Do you ever think that we just need to write shorter lists?! Tee! Hee! Hee!

I do confess that a couple of fun social dates have also kept me from the blog ... AND sewing! The first was a belated birthday catch up with my Bestest-Buddy-Since-We-Were-Nine Lynette. With Lynette's crazy nursing rosters & my craziness in general, it's a bit challenging to match our calendars, but we finally managed & headed up another 'hill' for a play date at Mt Tambourine. We chatted, we shopped, we lunched, we chatted some more, we shopped some more & after a very enjoyable day, we finished with a delicious ice cream ...

I love this photo! :0) Especially because it reminds me of a fun day with someone who knows me well ... & likes me anyway! :0)

The second social gathering was held in the dining area of Edward House ... A.K.A. The Meares' Madhouse ... & was preceded by a belated spring cleaning spree ... Thanks for your help, Ma! :0) A few of the Friday Nutters sewing group gathered for a Christmas potluck dinner ...

Hmmm ... It's hard to see in the photo, but we had a shabby chic inspired table ... Pretty China plates, crystal glasses passed down to me from my Nan, a white enamel jug of spruce branches & some pretty blue fairy lights. And ...

I got the chance to use my new giant, recycled timber cheese board that I bought in the Barrossa Valley during our recent holiday. It weighs a ton, so nobody will run off with it! :0) And I love that it holds a few cheeses, crackers, fruit AND still has room for pate & quince paste ... A one-stop snack shop. Tee! Hee! Hee! And to accompany the good food ...

... Good friends! Thanks for coming to play, gals! It's always wonderful to gather with like-minded people who you can kick back & relax with.

There are a few more festive gatherings happening in the next two weeks, so I don't know how much sewing time I'll manage to squeeze in, but there are still some gifties on my list to make, so I'd better get cracking. I hope you're all enjoying the lead up to Christmas with some quality time with the special people in your life & that the rest of your week is fantastic. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

Time Flies!!

Hello to all my lovely Bloggy buddies out there! I hope you're all well. I intended to do this post last week, but somehow the days just kept flying past in a bit of a blur of busyness. How does that keep happening?! Every time I jump on Facebook some 'helpful' friend is telling me how many days/weeks/Fridays it is until the jolly fat man in red comes down the chimney. Three weeks today, apparently ... THREE WEEKS!?!! EEK! I so need to get organised ... Then again ... Why start now?! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Actually ... Despite the craziness that is our life here at the Meares' Madhouse, I'm sort of on track with Christmas preparations. I've managed to squeeze a bit of sewing in between my comings & goings & my wine bottle bag has friends ...

Ta! Da! Four finished gifties ...

... & another that's a work in progress. My problem is, my sewing station is on the dining room table (don't ask why I don't actually sew in my sewing room ... It's a long story! :0) ) & I'm hosting a Christmas soirée on Saturday, so I'll have to excavate through the sewing flotsam & jetsam to unearth the table. :0) I hope to finish this bag first, but there's a trip to Brisbane & a LOOOOOOT of cleaning & tidying to fit in before Saturday. We'll see ... !

My Christmas sewing has been fairly successful so far with 24 finishes for November ... More than the rest of the year added together! Isn't it wonderful how motivating a deadline is?! Tee! Hee! Hee! So ... That's a slightly late reminder to all OPAMers to update your sidebar lists of finishes & email your tally to me or my GORGEOUS Partner-In-Crime Sweet Peg. The hop around will happen in the next few days, as will the prize draw. Don't forget to check in with both my blog & Sweet Peg's blog each month to see if you're one of our prize winners because we take turns month about to announce the winners. I've had a few winners not contact me to have their prize sent.

Right ... Well ... I need to shake my tail feather to get something else crossed of my job list, but I'll leave you with a photo of my gorgeous Mumma & me taken last week when we celebrated her birthday with pancakes ... 

Birthday pancakes don't have any calories, you know! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS