A very Merry Christmas to one and all, have a great time and a very healthy New Year,and many thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this blog and comment it is much appreciated

My husband who is in deep trouble moved my bay tree about 9 months ago it was about 12 years old and I had nurtured and pruned it into a lovely round ball on a straight trunk,well in moving it he killed it off.So my lovely daughter from Oz has sent me these two beautiful trees to replace it,I am a lucky lady,and husband will not be allowed to touch them. His worst deed to date concerns my catalogue,I am taking part in Maggie Greys online tutorial and the catalogue has been out in the garden since the summer and he was asked not to move it.Well for a man who never puts anything away or clears up he had a sudden rush of blood to the head and put it in the recycling bin,and it has gone forever,I am contemplating a quick divorce or even murder.

Hard grafting, no crafting

Spent most of my spare time and this W.E decorating our bedroom I think we are getting too old for it groaning up and down ladders and in my case unable to get up after painting skirting boards.I used to do all the decorating and quite enjoyed it but when my husband said "I think I will get another ladder when we next do some decorating" I was thinking "No fear I am going to pay someone". I think it would make more sense for me to treat patients feet and pay someone to do the decorating especially having just noticed how uneven the top of the wallpaper is.Well I suppose we can whack up some coving,we have a Victorian house and they have high ceilings and very uneven walls. Have also made 200 Christmas cards for my patients seemed like a good idea at the time but even using the gocco to make the screen print they took quite a time,I have had the message inside printed so that made life easier

This little fellow has been born at Sydney Zoo he is a Pygmy hippo,and my lovely daughter is going to try and get me one for Christmas a bit of a messy feeder but very cute.

Another masterclass

At the start of Angie`s masterclass we all show and discuss are projects and journals,Cheryl who does some lovely paintings brought in some of her machine stitched pieces,they have a very appealing quality and I could not resist this one, which is titled "Two redheads" I am really pleased I got it.

Three of the sections I cut from my piece on the Sue Dove technique

Angie had us doing the Sue Dove technique of ripping paper and colouring in between it is very effective,we did it on a piece of A4 paper and looking through a view finder we cut them up,below is one of Angies This monstrous cat was made by Annie

Cheryl`s piece you can tell she is an artist

The next two are mine the first one is supposed to be ammonites

And the next 2 are Angie`s which he has cut up

This bird was made from an idea in Tesco`s food magazine,my husband who does the shopping keeps bringing them home in the hope that I might get keen and cook something different,not much hope of that, they showed theirs made in white felt but I decided red would look more cheerful

Well these are some of the screen prints that took me 5 evenings and cost me £120.00,I do have quite a few and I am thinking of papering the downstairs loo with them.The whole course was very rushed and would have been impossible to get the final printing done had not half the class not turned up.It was not what I was after as it was for printing on paper and any questions I asked about blocking a screen for fabric just got dismissed so it was for me a waste of money,but you live and learn.I did ask him at the start of the course what we would be doing but it was a wait and see answer, I did feel I ought to tell him that it was too rushed,but when we talked about it ,it was the first course of that type he had done and I couldn't bring myself to criticise it.I am just a coward.I did smile to myself on the way home he showed us some prints that were going into an exhibition and although I can admire the skill I just do not like them as a piece of art,so what a nutter doing the course.