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Happy New Year
It’s 2009 here in Queensland, Australia.

I’d like to wish you all the very Best for 2009
Be Happy, Be Kind, Be Positive & Be Grateful
If We want a better Life, it is all up to us…
We are Responsible for our own Destiny
Go make your Destiny everything you would like it to be…
Think Big… Dream Big…
Thank You for coming on by Bethel’s Place & Thank You for all your lovely comments over the year – I love that you come on by but I’m over the moon when you say G’day & leave me a message…
I look forward to another year of blogging & I’ll do my very best to keep you interested enough to come on back.
I’m going to keep walking & taking photos along my walks to show you & I going to keep making ART & showing you what I’m doing as the year goes by …
now this can be taken two ways
either at a treat or a threat ... ha ha
it’s only the difference of a little ‘h’
which has to stand for Happy as in
Happy New Year & Happiness in my life & my ART…

Thankful... for a great year, a great year of new blogging friendships

EDIT: it turly is after 12.00 not sure what the blog clock is doing ... ha ha

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Vegging Out has been the name of the game this week ... visited the local Grandies [always love that], doing some sewing which makes me very happy & heaps of blog cruising ... I was visiting Jackie's blog Dogdaisychains and she mentioned this game & I thought I would join in the fun.
Apparently the game goes like this...
Open your photo file and choose the 6th folder.
Open it and find the 6th photo and upload it to the blog.
Jackie added to this by opening the 6th from the top & the 6th from the bottom ... sounds like fun so here we go... Gosh I had nearly forgotten this this is the collage I did for One World One Heart challenge we had for Feb 2008 - must pop on over to the website as that challenge must be playing again soon ... OK - I see Lisa has a new website for this challenge/event - it is a lot of fun, so do join in if you like what you read. Lisa has this event so well organised - this will be the third year of joining the blog world together.
OK now for the photo that is in the 6th folder from the bottom ... Wooh it's a photo of my Mum taken 1st this month at her Respite Christmas Party we attended & I really love this photo of her.
Well there you go ... maybe you can do this on your blog too...if you do let me know please, so I can come looksee too...
Thankfull... for time to be with myself, to listen to my inner thoughts...

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Forgot to say that Kellie is doing a wonderful give-a-way at present or until New Year so well worth a look-see ...
Here are some of the things I have made for Christmas pressies ... they are repeats, as in, same design but with different fabrics ...
Remember I made the 'JOY' banner well I ended up making several - sorry forgot to take photos of them ... yet again, but one did end up with my nephew in Japan.
Here are some photos [part-there-of] banners I made for some girls in our family - their name banners ...
I must say I love the effect of putting the velvet letters on the cotton fabric...
Thankful ... for stamina & electricity as without either I'd have not of achieved anything this year

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Ohhhh Christmas is over for another year here in Oz ... myyy this year has just flown & with only a few days left in 2008 I'm hoping that 2009 will slow up a bit but I'm guessing that it will fly by just as quickly as this year ... I know they say it is a sign of age but really even the young ones are saying the same thing...
I know some of you are still celebrating Christmas Day & I wish you all a lovely day full of wonderful memories & treasured company.
My girlfriend popped over for a few hours early then DH & I spent the rest of Christmas Day celebrating with my sister, her DH & our Mum - it's so sad to realise that we may not have Mum for many more Christmas Days as she be becoming frailer by the week but she did have a great day. My sister & I sat around, after lunch was all cleared up & the boys were doing their own thing [one sleeping, the other reading the paper] & Mum resting - it was just so nice to sit around talking, reminiscing. We see each other & talk to each other on the phone but it's always rushed, so spending time together is a very treasured thing.
This year I told my sister she was not to buy a Christmas pressie; if she wanted to give me something she was to make it - I think I've made some presents nearly every year, since I could do so, as I even remember making gifts before I was married. So she lashed out & made us a pair of very vibrant & royal purple coloured satin pillow-cases - in the real satin not that pretend stuff they make the sheets & pillowcases out of these days - what luxury. I made them a calendar - something I've been doing for a few years now but this time instead of photos/scrapbooking I did a little Art Quilt or Fabric Collage of some images I had seen in Quilting Arts mag. & added a purchased calendar to hang from it[the good calendar that has all the moon dates in it + all the other revelant info...] I was very pleased with it as it is one of the first things I have done in this sort of style - of course I forgot to take a photo of it so only have this one of my sister posing with it.
It says Adventure B4 Dementia ... they have always been mad about camping & fishing & have been members of the Grey Nomad's for over 20 years ... so they got a real kick out of it - of course it is going in the caravan ... lol.
I also made Mum one & it's one I cased in parts from Kellie of an Australian blogger with flowers & a butterfly but will have to take photos of it later... by Christmas Day I'm so tired [as I'm always still making at 1 or 2 in the morning] & I get very forgetful ... ha ha
Poor Gilly had to stay at home - here she is trying to talk me into taking her along ...
Thankful ... for treasured memories & safe travel

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A week or so ago we had good old friends call & spend the day with us for some Christmas cheer ... here is what I made for them ... still having that steep learning curve, both with embroidering the letters & using the new pink camera... I have made a small loop either end of the banner for hanging or tacking to wall...

Thankful... for time spent with good old friends

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Here are the last of my Christmas PostCards...
Recently I bought the book Quilting Arts Gifts and in there was a little item by Jane Davila where she explained how to make a pocket in your PostCard backing to slip your message into... I thought this was a great idea so have made most of my PostCards like this but I also added a little ribbon hanger so the PostCard can be hung as a Christmas decoration. The ribbon has very fine wire in the sides making it easier to fold inside. Jane also had another good project in the book for a Gingerbread house but me 'tinks I had better leave that one until next year ... When I just went into her blog to get the hyperlink I see her & Elin have another new book out at the beginning of next year ... ohh when will my book fettish ever end ...

Thankful... for the yearly contact with old friends & acquaintances...

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Some of the Christmas Tree PostCards I shared with my Grandies to give to their teachers & they were very well received which is always a thrill ... I had seen this design on Vicki Welsh's blog and decided I could do a quick version but still took me a lot longer than it took Vicki. I must buy myself some of the Mistyfuse to try as I layered a organza/metallic check over a plain cotton fabric & you can see some of the fusing still between the layers - steep learning curve...



Thankful... for the ability to be able to connect with people all over the world via the internet

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Wooh, a very exciting time this week as our NZ granddaughter arrives to spend some time with us & other family for Christmas. We'll be out visiting here & there with the other Grandies & no doubt going to a few movies too...



Here are a few more Christmas PostCards... I'm still learning how to do the writing so this year it is rather faint - I like think of it as an added surprise - although some I have done with very bright thread...

Thankful... for the blessings of Grandchildren...

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These are a few of the Fabric Christmas PostCards I made for giving this Christmas ...
Thankful ... for good eyesight...

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Well I finally have this Year Diary finished & ready to post off...

It became a bit of a comedy of errors but I mustn't call them that, they were Creative Opportunities. I had made the cover just a tad short/narrow so the diary didn't want to close as flat as I would have liked so then I had to think of a way to close it so came up with the loop look but had just used a lead pencil I had on my table at the time - then after making that solution, found that most biros were fatter than that so finally found a biro the right size ... talk about making life hard for myself ... sorry, No, talk about creating wonderful opportunities to further my creative possibilities - gosh that sounds all a bit flash ... ha ha
I've also got my Fabric Christmas PostCards finished now just ready to post - will show these over the next few days instead of putting them into a slide show that I know some can't access with dial-up ... I'm running with a hot sewing machine & iron - no silly I'm not ironing my clothes, [that went out with the stockings] it goes with the sewing as I do a lot of fusing of the fabrics... Hope you are all having a great w/e ...
Thankful... for hindsight...

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Where did that week go ... I had my girlfriend ring me last week to see if I had 'stole' her year - she wanted to know where it had gone ... I think we are all feeling a bit like that at the present... I've had a busy couple of weeks & to top things off my beloved camera - which I might add isn't all that old - has decided to die on me & after consulting with my local camera shop was advised it would be a very expensive exercise to fix or even see about fixing as it sounded like a motor within ... ohhh dear so I quickly bought myself a cheapie while there ... Of course the short of all of this is I now have to learn to use, yet, another camera ... I think it is a sad state of affairs that cameras are becoming like mobile phone a very expendable item in our society of throw-a-way items... My hubby was telling our daughter that we have been in our new home 6 years & we have had as many cameras - sadly he is about right as that is when I started using digitals...

My sewing machine has been getting a pretty good work-out of late too - I've taken photos but will upload them when I know how again ... ha ha
Now for something pretty I found on my morning walks ... we used to call these Fairy trees as our kids thought they looked like little fairies flying in & out of the leaves with the breeze. Well it turns out they are called Fairy Dusters from the family of the Calliandra species ... they are so delicate ...