Happy New Year!

Hello again and welcome to 2020! (Must stop thinking about the optician's every time I say that!)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, with time to do some of the things you wanted to do.  I always enjoy those days between Christmas and New Year - ''twixmas"!  There seems no urgency to do anything in particular and everyone appears to be so mellow.  This year DH came down with a cold so it meant we spent most of twixmas at home by the fire, but do you know, that suited us very well!  We listened to Classic FM, watched a couple of Box Sets on television, ate leftovers and simple meals and generally enjoyed the opportunity to relax and not feel as we should be 'Doing'.  I enjoyed my knitting and crochet - I didn't sew much as my sewing room is upstairs and I was enjoying being together downstairs.

DH was well in good time to go to my Daughter and her partner in London for New Year.  With some trepidation we took Daisy Dog with us for her first trip to the Capital, but she was amazingly good!  Sat patiently on my lap on the train going there, and wasn't fazed by the noisy underground trains either.  She made herself at home in their apartment (we took her favourite blanket to help her feel settled).  

On New Year's Day we took her to Greenwich park and she had a lovely time as I'm sure every dog in London was there for a walk.  She made lots of new friends, including Dylan!

The following day we went to Oxford Street and Regent Street to do some shopping.  I had read that certain stores were dog friendly (with different rules, so do check if you plan to go with your dog).  Liberty are completely dog friendly, as are Fenwick of Bond Street and Peter Jones (Sloane Square).  Selfridges prefer dogs to be carried as did John Lewis on Oxford Street (probably as it's so busy). Fortunately Daisy is really happy being carried in the extra large Yarndale bag - the one known as 'Nigel' so we were able to have a good wander around knowing she was secure and happy.  She rests her head on the side of the bag and has a good look at everything going on.

Now that we have ticked over into the New Year I have totalled up my completed projects for 2019.  You may remember I pinched the idea from my friend @judipop1 to document all the items I finish each year.  I only include things totally finished, not projects in progress.  I'm happy to report the total for 2019 is 67 items! This includes:

12 adult dresses
4 skirts
4 pairs of knitted socks
1 knitted dishcloth
5 crochet baby jumpers/cardigans
10 embroidered cloths/napkins/towels
1 bed quilt
1 quilted wallhanging
2 quilted table mats
2 crochet shawls
2 hats (1 knitted/1 crochet)
17 embroidered bookmarks
1 quilted cat flap cover
1 knitted capelet
1 ladies shirt
4 small crochet blankets

I really love seeing it all written down and feel like I actually achieved a lot, when I sometimes feel I seem to be frequently starting new projects!  I am most surprised by the 10 dresses - 7 were for my daughter and three were for me.  The prize for the most random make is the quilted cat flap cover, which I wrote about here.  It's proved to be such a worthwhile make as it has warmed up the laundry room no end, and makes it cosier for Daisy Dog, as she sleeps in there at night.  

I am definitely going to keep the notebook of projects going this year.  So far I have lots on the go, but nothing finished yet, but I am busily working away on a 'stained glass' quilted wallhanging, as I will need something to replace the Christmas one, coming down on Twelfth Night.  There'll be more about this as it takes shape...

I wish all of you lovely readers a very, very happy and healthy 2020.  Thank you for following my blog, for your comments, which I love to see, and for just being there for me to write to.

Until next time, take good care,

Donna x