'Twas the night after Christmas (or thereabouts!)

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas?  I'm sorry I haven't been around much (at all!) but I've been enjoying meeting friends (some of whom I only get to see once a year), doing a little sewing and a lot of sleeping and spending time with my family.  I wasn't planning on posting for a while yet (I feel like I'm really out of the loop as I haven't really been online in over a week - I'll reply to all your lovely emails and catch up on your new posts soon, honest!  I'm really missing you all and hope you're all ok?) but I've just had a nudge from a certain someone and I decided to post my response to her recent post on the Fat Quarterly blog - if you haven't read it go and do it now and then come back, it's OK, we'll wait!

I loved Lynne's post but couldn't think of a verse to put in the comment section.  I kept thinking about it and spent far too much time a couple of nights ago messing around with this when I should have been in bed and then emailed it to Lynne who suggested I put it on my blog...so here it is!  It's a little rough round the edges but I hope you can forgive that and enjoy it!

*putting on best 'speaking in public' voice*

'Twas the night after Christmas and all round the world

Quilters were admiring fold after fold

Of glorious new fabric chosen with care

Proof that St Nicholas once had been there.

There were fat quarter bundles and charm packs galore

A mountain of needles and under it, more!

A stack of Summersville I got pre-release

And I can't wait to use my new fusible fleece.

The possibilities are endless, maybe a quilt just for me?

And I admire my stash and squeal with glee!

A pillow, a cushion and a quilt to begin

Can I sew through the night without making a din?

I'm sure my family won't mind one bit

If I wake them at midnight shouting 'Oh sh*t!'

When nothing goes right and I've stitched through my thumb

And I've sat so long my bum has gone numb.

But think of the beautiful quilts I can make

My followers will marvel and their heads they will shake

At my talent for combining different fabric lines

But I'm sure to tell them of my doubts and my whines.

For a quilter I am and a quilter I'll be

There's no hobby like it and my friends all agree.

I'll be buried in patchwork with my machine by my side

And I'll join the quilters' guild in heaven with pride.

We'll stitch through the night and won't have to worry

That the machine is so loud they can hear it in Surrey.

We'll all gather together and each exclaim with a grin

I died with the most fabric, I told you I'd win!


And because it's not a blog post without a photo of Archie, here's one I took on Christmas morning as he demanded to know when he was going to open his present (which is still under the tree - I like to eke out my presents from friends and open them on a day when it feels a little flat and as though Christmas is over...I still have six presents to open so it's not that I'm rude and haven't said 'thank you', it's that I'm saving them!  Does anyone else do this?  No?  Just me then!)

I know one of them has something for me in it - let me at it!  Please?

You can't see it but his tail was wagging so hard he knocked several tree decorations flying across the room!

He did get his hedgehog though and it lasted 20 minutes - good value for money!  This it what he did shortly after he realised he wasn't going to be allowed to open his present for a few days - it took me a moment or two to realise he was trying to be the first dog to be proficient in telekinesis...

I can't see it but I know there's something up there I'll like...

See?  I told you there was something up there!

I'll be back sometime next week for a Christmas round up and to share my new hexies.  Hopefully I'll have stitched the five I prepped last week by then!  Oh, and apologies in advance for my slow reply to any comments, I'm not sure what everyone else is like but I don't tend to spend much time on the computer over Christmas and New Year, partly because it's a busy time and I tend to be wiped out most of the time - but at least I'm shattered because I've been doing lovely things!  I will reply though, don't worry about that!

I hope you all have a lovely New Year..I don't like New Year's Eve - I've given up doing anything and tend to watch a DVD and then go to bed - boring but true!  This year I'm planning to stitch some hexies whilst watching something I've recorded (maybe the recent series of Downton Abbey that I still haven't watched?  Or the BBC production of Great Expectations that's been on this week?) and then be in bed well before midnight...unless I put Archie in the garden before midnight and then let him back in afterwards so he can be my first foot?!  Hmmm, tempting!

Happy New Year - I hope 2012 is full of good fortune, good health and happy stitching for you all!

And I almost forgot again!

Random Fact Three I can tap dance...I've been dancing since I was about seven when I joined a class with my cousin.  Obviously I don't dance much at the moment but I still love it and no, before any of you start with the jokes, I've never once fallen in the sink!

Must go, Archie is demanding some attention!!