Guess who had his first birthday last week? I wasn't there for the celebration, but Matt gave me these photos today. What a cutie Macca is, and obviously he was fascinated by the musical candle and the cake. It was white chocolate with strawberries and cream in the centre, made by Matthew.

Of course Mac had to sample the icing first ( all kids do that ) but I'll leave out the shots of Bonnie and him eating their pieces; it got a bit messy at the end.


(Don't all dogs sit on chairs eating their birthday cake?)

We went back to my place after Kaye and Bruce left today, and sorted through some tops so that we could keep Marjorie Millhouse (the new Statler) running.

I found 12 in the first two drawers of my quilt cupboard.That was enough to be going on with, and the backings were already made for three or four, so we brought them all back here. Now we're going to load one to stitch tonight.

I can't believe that they're all going to finished, and without the hassle of forcing them through my little Janome.We had quite a few people dropping in today, all fascinated by the machine purring away. There's something about a Statler just stitching away by itself that impells people to stand and stare; it's like magic. But I'm in love with the possibilities of free-motion work and I keep taking the belts off and playing with it, just going where I like. The Statler can stitch the pantographs for me in computer mode, and then for fun I'll scribble away, filling up the leftover bits of backing and batting. It's like doodling on a grand scale!