Catching up with myself

 Haven't blogged for a while; was actually thinking of giving it up or re-focusing the blog. But a couple of folks still follow my musings, so I'll keep it going for a while.
One of the reasons I haven't blogged much was because Wayne and I were on a cruise/holiday for nearly a month. We boarded the "Noordam" in Sydney, and headed for Port Vila, Fiji, Samoa, Hilo, Honolulu, and Victoria, disembarking in Vancouver. It was a lovely, leisurely cruise across the Pacific, and I had the pleasure of the company of a lovely quilter friend, Audrey. Also managed to catch up with our dear friend Nancy, who spent a wonderful day with us, showing us her Vancouver. We then flew back to Honolulu

for a few days of sunshine and surf (and shopping!), before heading home to autumnal Victoria.
Not long after our return, a kangaroo made a mad dash across the road right in front of me, and sadly, the roo died. However, her joey in the pouch survived. Just as we were frantically looking for wildlife rescue numbers, by some small miracle a wildlife officer drove past, and took the joey with her to be reared in a shelter. I could drive the car home, but there was quite a bit of damage, so I didn't have a car for nearly a month. I refuse to drive Wayne's car (the 'death trap'), so I had a rather boring month of not doing much. Thank goodness for the studio; it

gave me the opportunity to catch up on things.
I made a few cards, playing with different looks and ideas. I used my "Ladies Diary" papers for the first time (love them!), and a friend put me onto a foam glitter, available from the Chinese shop, which works perfectly well with dies put through the Sizzix. It comes in about 10 colours, most of them perfect for Christmas cards.
Sherman likes sitting with his friend, the Owl, as it is the warmest spot in the house, with the sun shining in, and directly underneath the heating vent. It's almost better than my lap.

 I've nearly finished my Scandinavian Rose panels, and I've bought my next hand sewing project, a Kim McLean quilt. It's made with Kaffe Fassett and batik materials, and I'll probably needle turn the pieces. It will no doubt keep me going for several years! In the meantime, I'm knitting another potato chip scarf (yes, again!), and just finishing off a miniature challenge quilt. More about that next time.