Celebrations!!!

 At last we are Tuesday girls 5 again!!  Chris has had a special birthday, but was moving house at the time, so we started with tea & biscuits & a celebration for Chris.

Happy ??th Birthday to you!!

 As children we tend to rip open the paper but, in Chris' own words
"As we get older it is the anticipation that becomes fun - savour the moment for as long as possible".  That, & the fact we want to open carefully so we can re use the paper!!

 Chris with some of her goodies.  Although we tend to feature a lot of quilts in our blog, or related items, we are also quite keen on other crafts.  Chris is a great knitter so has some lovely wool & patterns.  Adult colouring is very trendy at the moment so a doodle book of postcards is just the thing to have in your handbag for those snatched moments!!

 Next, more tea & it was Janet's turn as her birthday is this week.
It is just as much fun watching others enjoy opening their parcels!!

Janet was delighted with her Christmas smelling room diffusers.  Nothing like getting in the mood!!  Another quilt book?  We can never have too many!!

Christmas celebration next!!  To get us into the festive atmosphere - one Christmas table cloth & lovely Yankee Candles.

Lunch was a delicious & very healthy Chicken dish with plenty of vegetables & roasted potatoes followed by home-made profiteroles (not so healthy but just as nice!).

Caroline provided the mulled wine - bottle green spiced berry with a cinnamon stick & some fruit.  Non-alcoholic but just as good as the real thing!!

 Janet was on a roll.  This is Marcia's fabric that Janet finished up.  Love the simplicity of the idea which is very effective.

Amanda showed off her twisted rail fence, done at a class at "Little House of Patchwork" in Chichester.  A striking pattern that was easy to put together in an afternoon.

Janet & others spent a long weekend on retreat in Belsey.  I think Janet holds the record for how much she was able to get done!!

Alison also went on the retreat but we only saw the photos of her efforts.  Just as many as just as spectacular.

 These hexagons are on-going.  A hand sewing project for Tuesdays.  Watch this space for future expansion!

Chris spent the morning cutting small squares to make into paper pieced hexagons.  Another on-going project!!

Chris & Janet shared a yummy carrot cake made by Alison.  As if we hadn't eaten enough!!  No Tuesday would be complete without!!

 As if the celebrations hadn't gone on long enough it was now time for Christmas!!  Everyone made such an effort.  We always love giving & receiving gifts, may of them home-made.

Janet had found some lovely trays, perfect for that cup of tea & cake, or for a small project!

Janet's husband was around so we managed a rare photo of the five of us.

Smiles all around - a real start to Christmas!!

As we will probably not all meet again for some time, it was a lovely celebratory day, full of good food, fun & laughter - a day spent with friends.

Happy Christmas to all & here's to a wonderful 2015.