A Present, Prizes & A Peek!!

Well ... it's been over a week since I popped into blogland to chat (well, on MY blog, anyways!!) and it's been a very busy week - which explains my absence! We headed three hours north west for Easter to my home town of Mundubbera to spend the long weekend with my folks and had a WONDERFUL weekend! We didn't do very much at all, really, except relax and kick back. There was a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle on the table that we all worked on throughout the weekend here and there, we watched a few movies, ate lots of Mum's home cooking, read and I managed to do some stitching on my quilt-in-progress. (more on that later in the post!) All in all, it was a lovely way to spend Easter and since Scott had this week off work, my boss told me to take Tuesday off if I liked, to travel back and avoid the Easter traffic - I have a terrific boss! :0) So, then of course it was a case of playing catch up - at work, unpacking (partly!), washing, washing ... oh and some more washing!! We had friends stay in our house over the weekend while we were away, so ... more sheets and towels etc. Plus, there always seems to be loads of washing to do after being away - not sure how that works - do we wear more clothes while we're away?!?! One of life's little mysteries - right up there with where to pens disappear to when you need them in a hurry and what happens to the second sock when you put a pair in the washing machine and only one comes out?!?! Please tell me if you know the answers to any of these! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Then, to end my week on a sweet note ... a parcel landed on my doorstep yesterday. (if anyone ever sends me breakable things, make sure they're well-padded cos our parcel delivery guy is NOT gentle!!!) Now I'd been told to stalk my postie for this parcel, all the way from Germany - Julia let me know she'd posted a belated birthday present to me - What a Sweetie!! I opened my parcel ... and found a note from customs - Uh oh!! The meanies had taken a weighted pincushion from a GORGEOUS thread catcher because they couldn't identify the filling and it will cost HEAPS for me to pay to have it irradiated - oh POOH!! Australia has some of the toughest customs regulations in the world and although I know it's necessary to keep our flora and fauna safe, this is the second time they've taken things from parcels lovely blogging buddies have sent me. Still ... I've got the pocket part of the thread catcher and will make a new weighted pincushion from the pretty blue fabric Julia included in my parcel. I'll show you my goodies ...


Aren't those fabrics PRETTY!! And you can see Julia has also included some sweet treats to help keep my energy high so I can stitch! At least, that's MY story and I'm sticking to it! :0) There's some yummy gummy lollies that are, I think, cranberry flavoured, a lovely mix of sweet and sour; some German Smarties (kind of fun to see chocolates that we see in our shops with the wrapping written in a different language!) because Julia knows I like dotty things and a chocolate bar called "Kuhflecken" and Julia tells me this literally translates into English as "Cow spots" - because the milk chocolate is covered with white chocolate kuhflecken ! Tee! Hee! Hee! How cute is THAT!! And I looooooooove white chocolate! Thank you so much for my sweet present, Julia!! I really have been spoilt by my blogging buddies this birthday!!

OK ... now onto what many of you are waiting for - the announcement of the winners of my pattern launch giveaway! Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who left comments sharing what their ideal weekend would be like. I had such a wonderful time reading them all, and I found that even though details differed, some aspects were common in almost all of the ideal weekend lists - good company, peaceful setting - and CHOCOLATE! :0) Quite a few said their ideal weekend would involve getting all their blogging buddies together for a super stitching weekend - WOW! Can you IMAGINE that party!! All that chatting in so many different languages - what a BLAST it would be!!! I think we'll all keep dreaming about that one. If you haven't yet taken the time, click on the comments on the give away post and read what people said - it will make you wish for a weekend getaway!! So ... I've done my prize drawing magic trick and the winners are: (suddenly I feel like I'm at the Academy Awards! Tee! Hee! Hee!)


The winner of the "Girl Stuff Bags" pattern is ... PEG!! YAY, Peg! (Some of Kerryanne's cute faux cupcakes in the photo there!!)


The winner of the "Beary Christmas Stocking" Wonderful Weekend Kit is ... SHIREE!! Congrats, Shiree!! (The little snowman bell was part of my SSCS gift from Karen!)


The winner of the "Grow With Love" Wonderful Weekend Kit is ... JANICE! Enjoy, Janice!


The winner of "Love Bears All" Wonderful Weekend Kit is ... HANNE! Have fun, Hanne! (Here's the little bear Deb sent me for my birthday!)


And lucky last, winner of the "Lavender Tea" Wonderful Weekend Kit is ... JOY!! Hope you enjoy this 'brew', Joy!

Congratulations to all the winners and if you can email me your snail mail addresses, I'll go and bemuse my mate Raymond at the post office this week. Thanks again to EVERYONE who took part in this fun give away - I would have loved to give a prize to each and every one because I had so much fun reading your dream weekends, but unfortunately it's not possible. However, if you'd like to treat yourself or a friend to any of these patterns, pop over to my Tag Along Teddies website - Paypal means that no matter where you are in the world, you could soon be enjoying stitching one of these fun patterns! :0)

And just quickly before I sign off, I thought I'd show you another sneaky peek of my quilt-in-progress. As I said, I got quite a lot of stitching done over the Easter break and apart from some grumbling about vlisofix not sticking (must seek out an alternative!!), I've been enjoying doing some blanket stitch applique`. Another peek ...


Oooooooooh! A red butterfly!! Butterflies are just so cheerful, aren't they, spreading joy and beauty with their rainbow-coloured gossamer wings!! OK, enough poetic stuff!! If you're lucky, I might share some more sneaky peeks again soon! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and that your weekend is filled with fun! Til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS