NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

Hi everyone

One week into the New Year and I have more or less stuck to my New Year's Resolutions - these are:

Extend the range of crafts that Christmas Pie Crafts will make and sell - stuck to that one
Work on my website - stuck to that one too
Lose weight/diet - er, not quite stuck to this (see below).

I hit the shops in Oxford Street with my sister on Friday (I bought some gorgeous 'things' for one of my new ranges - all will be revealed at a later date). and we had a great lunch again in Carluccio's (hence the note above about not sticking to the diet!) and so amazing that the weather was mild enough to dine alfresco.  I know that in town the tall, close together buildings do reduce the likelihood of chilly winds and cold temperatures, but it was hard to realise that this time last year we were all knee-deep in snow!  This is the second time this 'winter' that we have been able to do this and it was great.  However, as a gardener I appreciate the benefits of some severe frosts to get rid of bugs and some soil-borne diseases and I also know some vegetables need a good frosting - sprouts are just not the same without a touch of frost.

I stayed overnight with my sister and after watching a horror story - not sure if you have seen it: The Horror of the Bank Account Balance (a frightening tale that scares everyone who sees it) - we drowned our sorrows in some fizz.  Lovely.  The following day we visited the cemetery where our mum and her family 'reside' - our mum died ten years ago on 7 January and it is just as hard to cope with now as it was in 2002.  She had a great sense of humour, which I think we have inherited, so not a complete gloom and doom visit.

I had a good beginning to the New year as I won a prize on the Popular Crafts website - a book called Stitchopedia by Helen Winthorpe Kendrick.  Thank you Popular Crafts, it is a lovely book and I am really pleased to have won it.  It contains some gorgeous projects and made me recall the times in my dim and distant past when I spent a lot of spare time with fabrics: embroidery, dressmaking, tapestry, all things that fell by the wayside when I took up teaching.  I had planned to take up tapestry work again this year, and feel I need to spend some more time on the other 'fabric loves' of my life too.  With clothes being so expensive, and no longer needing smart work suits, the time is clearly ripe to get back into dress-making again.

So, to finish, I am adding two new resolutions:

Join a gym - I have found one that is very local to me but due to various other things taking place, I cannot join until mid- January.  My second new resolution is to visit my Blog followers and post on their Blogs more frequently.  My feeling is that as they have been kind enough to sign up to my Blog and it is only fair I post on theirs regularly - it may not be very week but I will try to comment every 2 or 3 weeks.

Although I haven't got any 'makes' to add to this week's Handmade Monday, I am going to join in as it is the first of the year and I am really looking forward to reading all the great posts from those participating.  So, come on, nip over to Handmade Monday and read this week's posts.

Now, what are your New Year's Resolutions are?

Have a great week - I will be back on Wednesday.

Jill