This month, I am looking forward to having some precious time off with my family. At this time, while so many people increase their efforts to find Christmas gifts for their near and dear, I also send a heartfelt thanks to friends of Findi Flooshki.

It has been my pleasure to meet you at local markets; catch up with you from week to week; work with you on special orders; and most recently, announce a winner of my latest competition. I always enjoy learning your personal stories and look forward to sharing more of them in 2012.

This afternoon, I had a chance to wander at leisurely pace around our garden. The shadows were lengthening but the sunshine was still warm. From one corner in the vegie patch, the calendulas were creating sunshine of their own. And the onion flowers answered them with lunar brilliance.

Using proceeds from the latest Findi Flooshki sales, we bought bales of sugar cane mulch in preparation for the long hot summer days ahead. We laid down a good thick blanket around the sweet corn, Italian beans and peas. Our heritage crops- banana onions, trombone zucchini and zebra tomatoes appear to love it. The Californian capsicums and carrots are also thriving.

We also ordered and strung up more than 50 organic insect traps. They look like wannabe Christmas tree decorations blowing in the wind. The pheromone-impregnated glue is working wonders to attract the aphids that had been decimating particularly our cherry trees. We continue to struggle with cherry slug on the pear trees. The Japanese mandarins are swelling with delicious green intensity. Happily, last year’s katydid plague has not yet revisited them.

Back in the studio I am beginning to design a new collection around ice age artwork from the scenic valley of the Ardeche River in France. The mineral stained limestone, charcoal and ochre presents a fascinating challenge for polymer clay. I love the idea of tracing by hand designs that were first hand drawn around 32000 years ago.

What a contrast to my planning for designs based on Persian miniature paintings! And what a contrast to internet surfing for vintage metal buttons! And yet they are woven together over thousands of years with an undeniable thread of human interest in design, pigments and significance.

I am also keenly awaiting the outcome of a competition for the design of an innovative and engaging product of memorabilia that is intended to commemorate the Centenary of Canberra. To manufacture this product, I formed a new collaboration of designers in the ACT and Tasmania. I hope to have more news about this competition in mid-December.

Thank you again to all friends of Findi Flooshki. I am still available to take last minute Christmas orders until 14 December. Have a safe and peaceful Christmas period.