Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

A time of year To think of love and sharing A time of peace For the whole world to cherish A time to be with all your friends and family And wish them all A Merry Christmas This verse by Phillippe Brisebois sums up the festive season for me. The last week has been a frantic rush to finish handmade gifts and then enjoy the wonderful times at Christmas parties with friends and family. 2009 was the fifteenth Hello Dollies Christmas party and everyone still enjoys the time to share our favourite creations of the year, and to enjoy the company of both the Sydney and Newcastle Dollies. It was really hard to believe that it was the 25th Simmons Family Christmas get-together in its current format. There are now four generations of Simmons and their families attending this " not to be missed" annual party. Our grand daughter Amy is the latest addition , and  was introduced to her wider family on Sunday. Our other grandchildren as younger members of the family ce...

Happy Australia Day and Happy Chinese New Year - Year of the Ox Here is my husband , Jim, resplendent in his Chinese coat (a traditional garment worn by dong ba, Chinese scholars from the Na xi ethnic Chinese group) and Brandon, our oldest grandson in his trendy Aussie T-shirt. We have quite a few family celebrations happening this week - all featuring lots of great food, of course. Our son and daughter and their families are both hosting parties this weekend, so there has even been cooking here in our kitchen. Brandon has been learning to take photos with my digital camera, and here is one of his images of Chinese New Year - he took many photos of food from various angles in various stages of preparation. This week I have been trying to catch up with the work from the online class I am taking from the Thread Studio - I have been working so furiously that I broke one of the felting needles in the embellisher machine. The "underwater" sample (left) is not quite finished - a fe...