Hello everyone. I trust you all had a lovely Christmas day with family and friends and that St. Nick brought you everything that you would of wanted! We had a nice day - we were a little naughty and opened our presents on Christmas eve before we went to bed so we could have a little lie-in on Christmas morning! As well as a nice soak in the bath and a hearty breakfast before we set off to visit my parents and brave the nephews(!!!). The nephews were very well behaved and we had a very nice lunch - THANKS MUM!!! :)

J was very good at presents this year and took the hint 'John Lewis have got some nice Cath Kidston sewing boxes' very well. He chose the biggest one as it was the one he liked best! It just means I have lots of room for all my little projects! AND he got me a giraffe puppet kit. I am a bit of a giraffe fan - but always feel a bit sad seeing them at the zoo. I managed a good haul in nice new socks and some lovely smellies too!

Oh! I have some good news! I managed to get all my Christmas crafting done just in time! I found my sisters hat - after a 2 hour search - that I started knitting months ago, before I started being ill, and had only done half of it. Christmas eve afternoon was spent watching movies while I finished the hat, sewed in the odd end I'd forgotten on a few scarves and frantically wrapped presents! Next year I plan on being a lot better prepared and better at avoiding all the germs the 'orrible kids at school cough and sneeze in my direction! (someone remind me of this come next December)

With that I shall wish you a rest of a happy holiday and will be looking forward to new year with J's family. I'll also be frantically trying to baby-proof the house in the morning ready for our friends visiting with their 10 month old. You never think about these things when you only have a couple of cats - our house is a babies health and safety nightmare!!! Knitting and sewing stuff everywhere! Wish me luck!

Look at this! Two blog posts in two days - from me....that's a little unusual at the mo! Thank you all for the well wishes - I really do appreciate them when I've had cold after stinkin cold. I think the main problem I have with being ill is the frustration that I can't really do anything. Not to worry we're almost at the end of term and I can have all the rest and relaxation I need! I have been doing a spot of crafting, but its finishing Christmas presents and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for anyone! I did get a lovely envelope on the door mat today when I got home from work.......A few days ago I found out I'd won prize number 1 on Emma's blog. You should stop by and have a look at the lovely bags and purses she makes!

Lots of lovely glittery (and felty!) christmassy goodness! Thank you so much Emma! I shall have fun with this :)

WOO-HOOOOOOO! I'm finally beginning to feel a little christmassy - only a little but its a start. Saturday we went to the Christmas tree farm (as visited by the Hairy Bakers in their Christmas special!) - it seemed busier this year!? Sunday we put the tree up and managed a little Christmas shopping and some lunch. Since then I've been slowly adding to the decorations. Here are a few to share some Christmas cheer to make up for me still having a cold - i think this one is a new one! Pffff!

All of my shops are now closed until January. I was getting a little fed up of a 45 minute queue in the post office to post one parcel so decided I would have a well deserved break to get over all this illness. They will be back open in the new year, possibly with some shiny new items too and hopefully I'm done with colds for a while! Only 1 and a half days left at work! YAY! Then it's relaxing, sewing, resting, eating and more relaxing for 2 weeks! And of course seeing family :)

Hello.....Not to worry I am still very much alive. I have spent most of last week and the weekend in bed with the most awful cold/virus/manflu you could possibly imagine and to top it all off I now have a really awful cough and can't have any cough medicine as I cough so much it all pops back out again before its had chance to do any good. Pfffff! I blame all the germ infested kids! ;) 

Not a lot has been going on in Claire's crafty world for the last week - mainly sleeping, occasionally getting out of bed and lying on the sofa in time for Diagnosis Murder (I love Dr. Sloan!) and drinking lots of fluids. I've not even had much of a chance to get to grips with my sparkly new sewing machine! I've done a test strip of all the fancy stitches to see what they really look like....

The cats have been keeping me company while we've snoozed.

And yesterday my grumpy old postman delivered my Christmas swap parcel from my partner Sal! It's all bright and cheery and certainly brought a bit of a smile to my face (that looks a little like Rudolf with all the nose blowing that has been going on!). I'll take better photos in the light to really show it all off.

And finally, before I go off back to the sofa to watch more god-awful television from under the duvet, I shall leave you with today's decision that I am going to close my Christmas shop for the year on Monday (the 15th). All prices have been reduced so hop over to etsy and have a look. I know there is still one Rolley Robin in need of a loving home! ;)