I’ve finally reached the end of the seemingly endless work for shows and applications. I’m having a well deserved rest for a week or two leading up to Christmas. By rest I mean working maybe only 7 hours a day and maybe taking weekends off! I will really stop completely for a few days over the holidays. Two days off in a row will be a great treat – first time in 6 months!
I’ve got a cushion project and instructions to do, a commissioned cushion to quote for and hopefully make, two pincushions to send off to the other side of the world, a jacket commission to make and hopefully, at some point, my own Christmas party dress to do. All of these are really nice tasks that I am looking forward to, but I’m looking forward even more to having them finished!

This is one of the shows I’ve just done – in Dorset, closely followed by two in London. I didn’t manage any photos of the London shows, which really defines what the weekend was like. Frenetic and exhausting, but a lot of fun in between. Many thanks to my hostess for the weekend and the DVDs lent (helping me stop work quite effectively this week). Eternal thanks to my lovely assistant Siobhan, without whom it would have been impossible and I would have imploded.

Thanks also all the lovely people I met at all the shows, particularly Alec of Anti-Quaint for constant entertainment and supremely comfortable chairs. If you stopped by to say hello or buy things, then thanks, and hope to see you again!

I’ve done a little housekeeping on the blog and there are a few new links about, including the Geek who cheered me up hugely when I was flagging over the weekend. Will this make any sense to anyone else? Who knows, but I like it.

While I was away it became winter. Two weeks ago the view from my bedroom window looked like this.

Now it’s all bare.

I’ve got lots of medium and small projects for the spring and one really big one starting in January which is really exciting. I’ll spill the beans on that as soon as it’s official. I celebrated that with a delicious South Indian meal yesterday. Being able to eat this kind of fabulous food 5 minutes from my house makes it almost ok to be 110 miles away from London.