Quartered Heart

There's definitely a quarter of the big heart in the middle done.  Lots of stitching still ahead, though!

Gifts from Adriana

The girls got together just before Christmas, and we had a small party.  We also did a small gift exchange.  This is what Adriana got me!  I love the ribbons and threads and beads and will use them in various projects.  The little stocking is so cute, and cookies with a reusable tin are always welcome.  Thank you so much!

Miniatures from Buenos Aires

Finally took a picture of these.  They're miniature prints of some beautiful paintings we found in Buenos Aires.  I just fell in love with them - probably due to the color scheme.

Christmas in Montevideo

Between it being summer here and the worry about theft (crime has skyrocketed in the past few years), there isn't much in the way of Christmas decorations around Montevideo.  These pictures are of the setup they have in the mall for children to walk through.  The mall, by the way, is a former prison.

Last year's theme was Disney.  This year's is "Christmas at the Zoo".  There are several climbable areas and some animatronic animals.

 A view of part of it from above.

Yes, Virginia, there is a camel.

A picture of the two and a half story fake Christmas tree... almost all the trees are fake.  You can't find any real ones in the city at all.  And the fake ones for homes are pretty pathetic looking.

The poor girls overseeing the area had to dress up as zoo guides.

Santa was not in the zoo.  He was on the third floor in the food court.  This is where they have weekly bingo games when Santa's not in session.

Last Cracker - from Susan

 Susan absolutely spoiled me with the amount of stuff she put in and around her cracker - there was a whole baggie full of things not stuffed in.  Here's a pre-opening picture.

And here is the exploded view.  Isn't it all wonderful?  I've decided I'm going to put the block to use, too.  I'm going to use it as my steampunk round robin block because the colors and all the rich brocades and such are perfect for it.  Thank you so much, Susan!

Thank You Betty!

 Betty sent me this pretty cracker with red fabric in the Christmas cracker exchange.  The gold stitching on it is snowflakes!

Here's what was inside:  many pretty batiks, some beads and trinkets, and some cute crocheted flowers.  Thank you Betty!  I'll definitely be using the fabrics soon.

A Fairly Summery Christmas

Defensor Sporting Club sponsored a Christmas artisan fair this year.  It ran for three weeks in the evenings only (not starting until 7 pm) before Christmas.  Here are some pictures from one of the times we went.  As you can see, it was pretty popular.  Notice, too, how light it is.  It's not been dusk here until about nine lately.

Handmade games.

I thought these flipflops were neat.  They took the regular Dr. Scholl's design and printed different designs on the bottoms.  Aren't they cute?