Flamingo...

I was given a set of the much coveted (by me) Daniel Smith watercolours for my birthday.  They are taking a little getting used to as they don't seem to move around on the paper like my usual watercolours, but I am loving the vivid colours.  I started this painting of a flamingo before Christmas, but with everyone home and the whole hoopla surrounding this time of year, I have not had a chance to continue it.  I'm hoping to get an opportunity very soon - starting to suffer withdrawal symptoms!

More Cheese Gromit...

With Christmas inching ever closer, I have not had much time for crafting unfortunately.  I did buy a magazine that had this cute little pattern in it though.  They said it was a quick knit...perhaps it is, but hard to say when you are so tired you keep falling asleep at 8 p.m. every evening!

I'm hoping that once Christmas is over and done with I will have more time to spend with paints, fabric and wool...

Friends & Family...

In the past couple of weeks we have...

...dropped in to Central Perk...

 ...visited Monica's apartment...

 ...called in on Joey & Chandler...

...and collected for charity outside Macy's.
 I took my daughter up to London to visit the Friends Festive exhibition, something we had booked months ago.  Despite the train strike - just needed a little extra planning - we managed to get there and spent a wonderful few hours wandering around the exhibits, taking the tour of the sets from the show, and having a Ross turkey sandwich for lunch, complete with the 'moist maker'.  The travelling too and from was tiresome and tiring, but definitely worth it to see my daughter's face light up when we entered the venue.  She had such a good time and since buying a 'Holiday Armadillo' Christmas jumper, has worn it 7 days out of 10. (Yes, it has been washed in between wearings!)

Then last Sunday I celebrated my 60th birthday - how on earth did that happen?  In order to mark the occasion, I had booked lunch for my family and friends at Meade Hall, Minley, where we had a medieval feast - I'm not kidding, feast is an understatement!  Four courses, spread out over about five hours - tureen of soup, choice of starters, a huge spread of various roast meats & vegetables to pick and choose from on the table, and finally a choice of desserts.  We rolled out of there in the early evening, went home to collapse on the sofa for the rest of the evening with no more food...well, apart from a slice of birthday cake!

 I got some wonderful presents...

 ...including this beautiful  antique carved bear from my son and his girlfriend.

 Hopefully I can play with the new Daniel Smith paints very soon - I have completed all my Christmas commissions and although I have quite a lot of work in the queue for after Christmas, I am taking a break until after the festivities.  It's been such a busy year, I think I deserve it, don't you?

Here There Be Dragons...

 I was commissioned to crochet some fingerless mitts with dragon scales, and was given a couple of photos to work with.   I searched the net for a free pattern and found one that was sort of what I wanted, but upon starting it, realised it needed some tweaking.  The yarn I'd chosen was perfect but thinner than normal dk so I had to increase the stitches.

 Then I realised that having the scales all around the mitt would make it very bulky, so started yet again but incorporating a flat palm.

So after a couple of false starts, I finally had a pattern that worked.  I love how the yarn changes colour exactly with each row of scales - very much more luck than judgement!  I like these so much that as I ordered twice as much yarn as needed, I shall make another pair.

And that's the last of the Christmas commissions - I have a lot of other work waiting in the wings but I can afford to take my time over it and hopefully do my own thing for a couple of weeks.

Peanut...

 This is my last piece of commissioned painting before Christmas - a wooden disc with a portrait of the bear Peanut on it.  This can be used for a Christmas tree ornament or hung up on view all the year round.  I deliberately made it un-Christmassy!  The disc is only about 2.5 inches across, so most of this had to be painted with the assistance of my magnifying lens headset.

This is the back of the disc, a watery pattern.  When the ornament is sent off to it's recipient, it will have a better hanging cord, not a piece of old string!  The string was used while the varnish was drying.

So while I have a few painting commissions waiting in the wings for after Christmas, it's time to take a bit of a break and re-charge my batteries while geting ready for Christmas and my impending 60th birthday.  60?  I never thought I'd make it past 40!

Surprise, Surprise, Another Bear...

This is Peanut, bear 902, another Katmai bear.  This one is a little smaller than previous stuffed bears - simply because the real bear is a petite little sow too.

Currently for sale in my Etsy shop.

I think that might be the last stuffed bear until after Christmas - time for a well earned break!