Happy New Year!  As always it’s the time for making declarations and planning for the year ahead…….I’ve decided to keep it simple to avoid the disappointment of not living up to all the declarations made!

1.  Have a quieter year - shouldn’t be that difficult as it would be hard to have a busier year that 2008.

2.  Do some more crafting rather that just reading about it on blogs and dreaming (and buying the supplies!)

3.  Aim to be ‘40 and fit’ rather than ’frumpy and 40′ - I have until mid-year to achieve this!

There’s lots of UFOs that need finishing so the aim would be to finish one project a month but I won’t go into more detail than that suffice to say I will show you photos when the projects are done.

So far the year has started off nicely with some more relaxing, a day at the Hanging Rock Races and a wedding last night.  We are off to an afternoon tea in the Fitzroy Gardens today to continue the wedding celebrations in perfect Melbourne weather.  Hope you are enjoying your start to 2009.

Two of the girls’ best friends are moving to Sydney……..lots of tears over the last couple of days but promises of Skype and begging for MSN (not keen on that one!)  They both helped make cushions for them to take.  Trying to remember it’s not ‘Goodbye’ but just ‘See you later’.

On the flip side though good friends have just arrived back from NZ and will once again be ‘just around the corner’ - yeah!!

Our end of year celebration this year was brunch.  We had more people come to that than any UFO night during the year (LOL!)  But it was fun.

Dale set us a challenge for this year, the rules being:

1. Everyone was given a fat quarter.

2. You need to incorporate this into a completed project by this time next year.

3. You cannot add this into an existing project.

4. You can choose to show this project as you go along or keep it a secret until the ‘unveiling’.

5. The project can be big or small, anything you want, but needs to be completed by our Christmas breakup next year.

This is my fabric…………

Lots of ideas, now just need to put one of them into practice!

It’s become a tradition now - for the last 8 years a lovely friend and I have made our Christmas Puddings together.  Usually we do it sometime in November but this year today is the day!  We make them using an easy, basic recipe from the Weekly Times 1964.  And it’s a tradition that has stood the test of many things - babies, living overseas and chemo but so far we haven’t missed a year! So here’s to many more puddings.

The recipe is below - we think it’s really yummy (even if half of my family won’t eat it!)

CHRISTMAS PUDDING (Weekly Times 1964)

• 250g butter
• 250g light brown sugar
• 5 eggs
• 185g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 375g raisins
• 250g sultanas
• 185g currants
• 60g dates (chopped)
• 60g almonds
• 185g soft bread crumbs
• 3 tablespoons brandy

Cream butter and sugar with a wooden spoon (note: we use an electric hand mixer but I’m guessing they didn’t have those in 1964)  Add eggs one at a time.  Add 1/2 sifted flour/spice/bicarb soda, then 1/2 fruit mix, then 1/2 flour/soda/spice and then 1/2 fruit mix.  Add brandy and bread crumbs.  Boil cloth for 20 minutes.  Use tongs to squeeze out excess water.  Thinly flour cloth before adding pudding mix. Tie up leaving loop to hang later and enough room to expand.  Add slowly to boiling water.  Top up with water as needed (careful not to add directly onto pudding).  Steadily boil for 5 hours.  Hang to cool and then place in fridge. (We attach ours to a wooden spoon that sits across the saucepan so that pudding hangs in water and dosen’t touch the bottom of pan).

Boil for 1 hour to serve hot.  Serve with brandy butter, cream and custard.

Hard to believe that it’s Sunday again already!  There’s not many posts happening in between Sunday Stash ones at the moment - but there’s lots happening in ‘real’ life!  Four nights of gymnastic displays, Grandparents Day at school along with school swimming each day means some tired girls as well!  We did go around looking at Christmas Lights on Friday night until 10.30pm which did not help at all!  It was fun though.  One amazing place worth a look is 13 Narracan Street, Vermont South, if you are in the area.  And Saturday morning I had a very yummy High Tea with a gorgeous group of mums at this place - definately recommended!  Unfortunately I forgot my camera but if I get hold of any of the photos taken I will post them just to show how lovely it is!

Now to the stash………..

A cute Kokka fabric with matryoshka dolls - from one of the road trips.

PS.  Did I mention that I was given an Amitie voucher as ‘thanks’ for coaching Ella’s netball team???  So sometime soon I will be able to add more to the stash………..

……..and they just seem to get better!  Accompanied by lots of fun, chatter and laughing we set off again today, our aim to visit some lovely patchwork shops and spread the word about Sewjourn!  First stop was Patchwork Passion in Cranbourne - we even arrived before the shop was open but the lovely owner let us in.  Then we headed to Craft Quarters at Koo Wee Rup.  Here we also discovered the gorgeous Something Shabby Something Chic which was a treasure trove of goodies - we were well behaved though with only one little jug coming home with us.  (Note to self:  need to go back here one day soon!) 

And last but certainly not least was the always divine Quilters Barn at Loch.  What a great way to spend a day…..and have a few more things to show in Sunday Stash!

Unlike Lara and Bronwyn I didn’t manage to post Sunday Stash on the correct day this week!  Partly because I didn’t get back from Lancefield until after 10pm last night.  Had a great weekend though - while Mal went on a Golf Weekend with 15 other dads from school a friend and I (and 6 girls) took advantage of the fact that Sewjourn was free this weekend. 

The plan was to make (and write) all our Christmas Cards - and the girls were so keen they were over in the studio in their pjs on Sunday morning.

Well, I didn’t get all my cards made but did make some good progress………

As for my stash - here’s a pretty one that I bought from Foothills Fabric and Threads a year or more ago.

This is my second attempt at this post - and let’s just say that my computer and my incredibly SLOW internet connection are really testing my patience!!!!

Tonight was the 6th anniversary of ‘UFO’.  Each Wednesday night a very kind friend has us to her home to stitch, chat and laugh.  Where has that 6 years gone?  There’s been lots of babies come along (and then graduate to staying home with their dads!), lots of good times shared, lots of support given when it’s been needed, a few glasses of champagne drunk, many good recipes tested, lots of projects finished but even more on the go.  It was weekends away with these girls that kindled my idea for Sewjourn.  Thanks ladies!!!  Looking forward to many more years of UFO……….. (I certainly have enough UFO’s to keep me going for lots of years to come!)

(This photo has nothing to do with stitching but it’s colorful and reminds me of a celebration - I took it in Hoi An, Vietnam last year)

Today we set off on our second road trip - this time to Bendigo and Castlemaine.  All three shops visited - Attic Crafts, Honeysuckle Patchwork and Threadbear are absolutely gorgeous and the three of us all walked out with our bags a bit heavier and wallets a bit lighter!  Again it was a really fun day with lots of laughing and lots of chatting……….only this time I forgot to take the camera so you will just have to take my word for it.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway before Friday!

Two friends and I set off today on the first of a few ‘road trips’ around Victoria to visit some patchwork shops - all in the name of marketing for Sewjourn of course!   The gorgeous Drapers of Mt Macedon was the first stop followed by Ballarat Patchwork where we were all so pleased to learn that Emma is no longer selling her business - YEAH!  As always, it’s like being kids in a lolly shop being there.

What a fun day!!!  We already have at least 3 more planned………….