Thursday 5 January 2012

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 ...






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









18 comments:

May Britt said...

I'm in this year too !!!!!

Bearly Sane said...

Hi Kris! Stopped by on my rounds to wish you a BEARY happy new year and catch up on your goss.

Hey it's just as well you don't have to wash all the teddies as well, you'd really end up with dishpan hands. LOL!!

All the best for for 2012.
Hugs,
Sandi

Anna Rosa Designs said...

Hi Kris,
Looks and sounds like a wonderful Christmas had at the Meares house!
Lots of yummy gifts handed around as well.
Congrat's to all the OPAM achievers!
How wonderful to have so many people join in on the same game.lol
Take care,
Creative hugs,
Anna

Joy said...

Great post Kris, looks like you had a fun time at lunch with your stitchy friends! Nice to see Fiona there, now I can put a face to the name :o)!!
So glad you'll be running OPAM again this year, a huge thank you to you and Peg for all of your hard work! It's great to have that little extra push to get things finished, I love being able to add another item to my OPAM list each month :o).
Hope 2012 is a great one for you and yours!!!
Hugs,
Joy :o)

Grethe said...

Love your Christmas Party; love photo of faces,you must have had such a nice time:-) And Congrats to the OPAM winners of December! Great,will be watching for the signing date in January;ready for joining in 2012!

Sheila said...

Thanks Kris and also Peg for hosting the OPAM , it really is a great motivator so I will be signing up again this year and will be watching for the signal :-0 Nice to see pictures of Fiona , and your other friends.
hugs Sheila

Kiwifruit-Shiree said...

Happy New Year Kris, so pleased you had such a wonderful family Christmas. Now strawberry champagne daiquiris ~ that would be something to try!

Cath Ü said...

Glad to hear your Christmas was a good one. I am going to join you again this year... have been a bit busy the past couple of years and missed out... but I am in for 2012.... LOL

Cath Ü

sjoko said...

Thanks so much for inspiring me with the OPAM. I would really like to continue in 2012 :O)
Lot of hugs from a Danish girl living in Norway.

De said...

A big thank you for OPAM! Im glad I signed up - it kept me on track for most of the months.

Peg - Happy In Quilting said...

Love all the family shots Kris.....how good has this year been...the number of finishes is amazing....I am just so very proud of being your offsider, luv ya heaps.....xxxxxx

Narelle said...

Woohoo! Big thankyou to Kris and Peg for all your time and effort you must put into OPAM. It certainly spurs me on to have a finish each month when sometimes it would be easier to say 'next month will do'.
I look forward to what 2012 will bring :)

Maria said...

Wishing you a wonderful 2012 and may you have loads of finishes.
Thank you for sharing your pics.

Congratulations to the three OPAM winners. Enjoy your your gifties.

I will definately be joining both you and Peg for the third year at OPAM. It does help moviate me to get a few finishes each month.
Thank you sew Ladies.

Michelle Ridgway said...

Loved the Angels Chrissy party...and now I will recognise you girls when I come up your way for coffee. You sure scared me when you said 'enough pretties' I thought I was going to do an emergency intervention there...so glad you came to your senses and got back to the soap suds.
So glad you had a wonderful Christmas whith your family. Happy 2012.

Noela said...

Congratulations to the OPAM winners and an apology to you Kris as I forgot to e-mail you with my finish in December. Even though I didn't get a lot finished in 2011, I still have lots of UFO's so hope to join again this year. Would like to wish you and your family a Happy New Year for 2012 and thank both you and Peg for all the work you do with OPAM.
Hugs Noela.

Kerryanne @ Shabby Art Boutique said...

A very BIG thank you to both you and Peg,Kris. You do a wonderful job of OPAM and have united a stitching community. Looking forward to OPAM 2012.

Lovely pics too from the angels and Christmas day.
Hugs ~ Kerryanne

Marg said...

Love your china - and I'm like you when I wash mine, think why and then I know I love to have them and get back to the cleaning. I have a teenage son that sounds remarkably like yours - although I did talk him into cleaning the high parts of my dresser this time around!! I'm hoping to get into OPAM this year - hearing about this was one of the reasons I started blogging. Hopefully 2012 will be the year..... Cheers and thanks.

Litamora's Quilt & Design said...

Happy New Year, Kris!
I can really relate to the one week extra... It was so hard to get up after having some late, but nice nights!

I was so happy when I read that there will be a OPAM 2012! It's for me a little kick in tha butt to get things finished, and I can assure you I need that :o)

I had to read the OPAM winners list three times to be sure that it WAS my name there! SO FUN!
Thank you so much for doing this for us other ladies! I'm very thankful for the great fun you and Peg make this!
Thanks from the bottom of my heart! I know this means a big job for the two of you, and so many hours spent so we all can join the fun.

Big hugs to you :o)
Laila

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