Happy new year to my bloggy friends

This will be my last post for 2010, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to wish all my bloggy friends a very happy and safe new year. Thanks for inspiring me with all your beautiful projects, and for your kind and thoughtful comments on mine.

I've spent most of my spare time this week gardening, so I haven't achieved much craft-wise. The only thing I've made are these doggy placemats from some sweet puppy fabrics I bought on sale a month or two ago.

This one is for Sugar and Spice's indoor water bowl. (They have a bigger one outside, but if they're indoors, like to drink inside and tell me off if it is empty).

And these are for two little doggy friends of mine, Benny and Banjo, for their food bowls. They're little boys, so I hope they don't mind the girly pinks.

I spent Christmas Day with my parents, sister, brother in law and niece, who all gave me lots of lovely presents. 2 year old Olivia unfortunately stole Sugar and Spice's presents, unwrapped them, and gave them to her toy dog, but I managed to get them back and bring them home for the puppies.

I also brought home turkey and ham for their dinner, and this huge ham bone which the pups spent a happy hour or so demolishing:

Spice even managed to chew it in half so Sug could share it.

I've spent yesterday and today mowing, weeding, expanding the vegie garden and moving compost. That scruffy grassy mess behind Spice in the photo above no longer exists, and I'm ready to plant more vegies. I've picked the worst days to be in the gardening mood though, with the weather suddenly heating up.

I've also somehow managed to get an eye infection. I thought I got some dirt in it yesterday, but last night their was an infectious looking yellow lump under my eyelid. This morning my eye was swimming in infectious fluid, and almost swollen shut. I look like I've been punched in the face. I went to the local doctors but they were closed, and couldn't face spending half the day in the waiting room of the big medical centre, so went to the chemist who kindly examined me instead and gave me some antibiotic eye drops. So I don't know if it was something in the garden that infected it, a stye, or what. As half my family have come down with conjunctivitis too.

Luckily, I hate going out on new year's eve and have stayed home the last few years. I hate the crowds, I hate not being able to get a taxi to come home when I want to, I hate being hungover on new year's day, and I find it a very depressing event too. Plus there are always lots of fireworks around my area, so I like to stay home with the pups who find it a bit scary. So anyway, it is lucky I have no plans, as I look quite leprous with my swollen eye at the moment so would have had to cancel them anyway.