What my Secret Sister sent to me and.....

On Christmas Day I dived in and opened my Secret Santa gift that I received from Tracy (if you go to her blog through this link, she explains my gift much better than I do) from the Chookyblue SSCS 2009 and this is what I found:
The cylinder was wrapped in the snowman panel and inside the tube was a wrap made from matching material as the tube, that held cottons, sewing needles and bobbins for my cottons.
On the end of the tube was a wooden stopper that fit snugly to keep the contents in. I'm afraid to say that I had to contact Tracy to find out the right use for this gift. I thought the tube was to hold knitting needles, and the attached mat was for protecting the garment and wool from dirty surfaces, but the correct use is to keep my sewing supplies in the tube and the mat to fold up the unfinished article I am working on..... very obvious once you are told! Thank you Tracy for such a lovely gift, I am REALLY happy with my present.

On my way back from taking my parents home, I called into an orchard and bought freshly picked cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches and mangoes, so yesterday, I started bottling and made these 3 jars of Apricot Curd... never tried it before, it is something like lemon curd/spread, but made with apricots instead.
I then made the rest of the apricots up into jam and made 8 bottles. I had to return to work today after a 4 day public holiday break, then after work today I made 6 bottles of Nectarine jam. Here are the bottles ready for labelling.
I also pitted and stewed 3 kilos of cherries for the freezer. The peaches and mangoes are to be eaten, not cooked.

Must get onto some sewing now. Until next blog.

Cheers...Jewells