OK - just how gorgeous and loveable is she? Look at her - a bundle of cute snuggliness. I'm melting.

Tonight was the last night of our quilting course. My quilt top is now completed - all sashings added. I will post a photo. Tonight I bought the wadding, and selected and paid for the backing fabric. So basting next. This will keep me out of mischief over Christmas. Marianne, our tutor (who is lovely) took photos of our completed quilt tops to put on the Busy Bees website, as examples of what beginners make. If our quilting is complete by next July, the quilts can be exhibited at Duffryn House as Busy Bees will be celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Also bought some smaller pieces of festive fabric to experiment with making some Christmas hangings. This will be a good opportunity to practice my new techniques.

Went to see Crowded House last night in Cardiff. They were absolutely wonderful. We both love their music and have done for many years. The band are not very rock starry - most of them looked like your favourite maths teacher, with blazers and rumpled ties but who cares when they play like angels? They had a little woolly (toy) sheep on the stage - a cultural cross reference between New Zealand and Wales, I guess. It was lovely to go to a non smoking gig - still a novelty. At the end, we went over to the merchandise and Andrew bought himself a Tshirt and me a coffee mug. Showing how respectable gigs have become though, the tour tshirts were prominently available also in organic unbleached cotton and there was a wide variety of childrens sizes. In my teenage years, neither would have been an issue.

CH's music has a particularly special place in my heart as we went to see them just after I had been diagnosed but before my treatment started (for cancer). It was a tough time and things looked grim. One of the things I made time for was thinking about my funeral arrangements and drawing up a shortlist of songs - one of CH's is on it and accordingly has a very special place in my affections. If I'm unprepared for it, it can sometimes be difficult hearing it as has so many associations. I once heard it play as I was walking round Ikea and it was a quite surreal moment.

Another strange experience on Monday evening. We took the dogs for a quick spin round the block in the evening, just to stretch our legs and encountered a hedgehog. The dogs were fascinated but wary and I was entranced. It ought to be hibernating I guess, but it is still quite mild considering it is December with temperatures still well above 10C most days. Would be interested to know what their threshold is for triggering hibernation.