Dear Reader -greetings for the new year -a little belated for sure, but what with visiting family coming on top of recovering from major surgery late last year, computer problems and distances from cyber cafes as we holidayed by the sea, the lack of writing for some time means that there has been in some senses a textile-free three months in my life.

Certain physical restrictions resulted in my spending a of of time on the beach, either gently bobbing in the water or working on the suntan while reading quite a few good books. Visiting grandchildren meant some long noisy games of monopoly – not much tv since the set in the hose we hired and spent quite a bit of time at had no cable, therefore was mostly in spanish – they wearied of that and lost interest.

I have certainly not stitched a stitch, well apart from hand sewing on a button to a shirt, and my current piece calls to me from where it is pinned up on the wall. In my recovery period I did assemble some tiny abstract landscapes, mounted them on sanded acrylic sheeting, and without taking a pic of them, placed some of those plus several quilts with a local gallery, and will shortly hear from them if anything sold over the first month. In another separate development, a local designer and maker of 18ct jewellery, Petra Eberl, and myself have agreed we should and will exhibit together in the next few months. I could do it tomorrow but with Montevideo half empty during the summer holidays there is no point. It is true that what they say, ” nothing really starts until after Easter here,” and so we will be looking at a date in June or July probably, talking with the manager of the Museo Zorrilla gallery at the end of january to finalise this. I am very keen to continue on with the leather on fabric works and will expand the small abstract landscapes. We are both pleased at this opportunity since we feel our high priced works in different fine craft media will complement each other well with organic design lines.