Almost Christmas!!!

Hello kind friends and readers. Happy ALMOST Christmas! I have been under the weather as has DH and we have been so low that we nearly had to back out of having Christmas dinner here at our house! Please forgive the long, silent absence. I BELIEVE that I am , once again, back in the land of the living. Aches and pains are lessening, hand and finger are MUCH happier and I even have a little bit of energy again!! YAY!!

I have to say that I have been following many of your blogs and they kept me feeling like I was still somewhat involved. I really look forward to starting up my art quilting and dyeing again after the New Year. Thank heaven for my camera!!! I have been "married " to it for weeks now which has been great. It has kept me sane AND I have learned a TON! I have just kept experimenting with varying degrees of success. I HAVE made a LOT of photos that will provide me now with an almost endless supply of subject matter for quilts. In case you do not follow me on Flickr -carolynn.mcmillan@yahoo.com

I shall post a few examples of some of the things I have been doing. One really FUN and interesting experiment was "The Great Pumpkin Experiment". I bought a GREAT pumpkin at Hallowe'en that had a splendid "handle". It was no neat that I could not bear to carve it so I just looked at it, as did the little kids who came Trick or Treating. After Hallowe'en, I used my apple corer and poked two small "eyes" into it and with the small paring knife, slashed a sort of "mouth" line. The pumpkin was intact otherwise- seeds inside and all. Then, I perched it up on an urn in the garden and just left it to see what would happen! I will show you a few shots but to see the whole progression, have a look on my Flickr Album entitled The Great Pumpkin Experiment!!

One of the first shots showing how I "carved" him.

The beginning of the Squirrel "carving"!

Squirrels, apparently, LOVE pumpkin and pumpkin seeds!!!

One of the "sculptors" !!

...put him in a pumpkin shell...

Look inside. It is beginning to look awful.

And so, we say cheerio to this year's pumpkin!!

I LOVE Macro, as you know. Here is a brief sample of some of my favourites...

A little wreath I made years ago of North Sea shells from the beach at Alnwick.

Fun with eggs!

GREAT fun with eggs

Dandelion head

There are at least a zillion more- check out my Flickr. Just to round things off and to wish you all a VERY Happy Christmas or any other festival you celebrate at this time of the year....

Basket full of shiny glass balls and lights.

Our Christmas tree lights.

Let's all try to have a LOT more fun than these two appear to be having!!!

That's more like it! I think I was 4!!!

Happy Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, PEACEFUL New Year to all!

With Lots of love xxx