Saturday - 4 days till Xmas

I think I've finished my Xmas shopping- food included. Xmas day will be just the 4 of us, so not a lot of food required. Mind you, I still want to make my Xmas cake and a slice or two. The fruit cake I do in the microwave so it doesnt take long, and we never leave it any length of time before we eat it, so I dont know if it improves with age ... LOL

I have been participating in an Advent swap that has been fun. We had to collect, wrap and number, 24 gifts to the value of $2 or $3, at least 10 of which had to be handmade. The 25th gift had to be to the value of $15. When we received the name we had to send them off to arrive at the recipients address before 1st December. Then each day we open one gift until the 25th December. I'm really enjoying it all.

I have spent most of thisafternoon making a cot quilt for a friends daughter who had a son early December, and then a Humpty Dumpty pillow for his older brother, who is only about 18 months old. I think it's important not to ignore the first child, and I know my son loved his Humpty cushion. This family travel a lot (and so did we when the kids were young), so his Humpty can be the "constant" while he is travelling. I remember Jason left his in the airport once and I had to quickly make him another when we got home.

Tonight I'm going to try and finish off all the swaps that I have. I've almost finished one, then have one more to do. This second one doesnt have to be finished till end of January, but who knows what might happen between now and then, so I'll start on it tonight and finish as soon as I can.

The I want to get on and quilt some of the tops I made in Nov/Dec. Next year will be another year of finishing UFO's I think. I still have quite a few in the box on top of the cupboard.