Checking In & Christmas Mail!

It's OK!! You can call off the search parties! I'm not lost or MIA ... just flat out trying to meet a deadline and juggling all of the pre-Christmas busy-ness ... you know ... the same thing EVERYONE is doing at this time of year! :0) So I thought I'd just better check in with you all so you know I'm still here and reading about your exploits via RSS Feeds and a few quick blog hops, even if I haven't had time to leave comments.

Now, I can't show you photos of the project I've been working on with the deadline, but I CAN tell you it's a bit exciting, as it is a project to be published in "Handmade" magazine in the new year. We really are spoilt here in Australia with such wonderful craft/quilting/stitching magazines on offer! I've been hard at work in my sewing room to meet my Friday deadline and this afternoon got stuck in to tackle my "FAVOURITE" part of designing (NOT!!) the instruction writing. So, I'm on the home stretch and hope to get back to my Christmas stitching on the weekend ... AND catch up with all my blogging buddies, of course!! :0)

And while I've been slaving away in the sewing room, my postie has been making a few stops at my front steps to deliver yummy Christmas parcels - I've been VERY spoilt!! Before I show you what has been winging it's way to me, I'll confess that all Christmas gifties are being opened immediately and not kept until Christmas ... but I have a REALLY good excuse ... err ... I mean ... reason!! We're going away to the beach for Christmas (the house-sitter/dog-sitter is booked!!!) and since we only have a little two-door Ford Festiva hatchback ... there is NOT going to be much room to pack, so any gifties that arrive before we go will be opened, 'ooh-ed' and 'aaah-ed' over and the givers thanked. That's MY story and I'm sticking to it! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Right ... the first surprise to arrive via the postie's usual gentle delivery ... NOT! ... was from Deb. Do you remember in the middle of winter when I was complaining about being cold? (with 40 degrees recorded here today, that seems a loooong time ago!!) I commented that my fingers were a bit frosty when typing and perhaps I needed to find some rainbow coloured fingerless gloves. Well ... the Lovely Lilly Linda sent me a lovely blue pair of fingerless gloves that helped keep my fingers warm and now ...

I have a RAINBOW pair as well to keep my fingers warm! Thanks Deb! Aren't they lovely and cheerful!! Now, even on the cloudiest, coldest day, I'll have a rainbow ... and toasty warm fingers! Tee! Hee! Hee!

The second parcel to arrive was a bit exciting too, as it had this sticker on it ...


Ooooooohhhh!! I was pretty sure it had to be my SSCS parcel!!! How exciting!! It was from Shiree in New Zealand! And when I opened it up I found ...


Ooooohh!! How spoilt am I!! A wonderful little bag with a Christmas bear stitchery that I'm going to use as a pretty storage spot for all my gifting bits that get lost - sticky tape, ribbon, gift tags, Christmas Cards etc - so that whenever I go to wrap a giftie ... I know where everything is, in it's pretty bag! And there was a gorgeous Christmas cushion/hanger with a couple of angels - must be Shiree and me! Does one have a slipped halo - that would be ME! :0) And I don't know if you can see it well in the photo, but Shiree also popped in a cute "Noel" Christmas tree ornament that looks like it was made from candy canes. Thank you so much Shiree!! I feel very spoilt indeed!

Now, there was a couple of funny things happen to Shiree and I during our SSCS venture. The first happened when Swap-Mama Chookyblue first sent out the names of our swap partners. Shiree thought she'd try to trick and tease me a little by sending an email under a different name ... but my email program recognised her address from where we'd emailed each other during the OPAM Challenge sign up etc and it TOLD me it was from KiwiShiree! Tee! Hee! Hee! THEN ... poor Shiree had a little hiccup in her very organised plans to get swap gifts out on time while in the middle of moving house. She was incredibly organised and had all swap gifties ready well before their due postage dates, then somehow, they accidentally got put into one of the boxes packed for their big move! OOPS! After frantic searching failed to reveal the whereabouts of said packaged, poor Shiree then had to RE-DO all her gifties!! So, she really does deserve an extra pat on the back, I think. The funny part is ... when I was doing my blog hopping to collect the end of month finishes for the OPAM Challenge last month, I read the post on Shiree's blog where she explained that her swap gifties had been misplaced ... not thinking that it involved me at all! :0) So I hope your swap partner spoils you rotten, Shiree - at least you'll have a head start on NEXT YEAR's Christmas swaps! Tee! Hee! Hee!

OK ... so that was really the only parcel I was expecting before Christmas, so imagine my surprise when the postie dropped off ANOTHER parcel TODAY!! Hmmm ... what could it be. Well, in the words of the Playschool song ... "There's a BEAR in there ...

And what a GORGEOUS little bear it was too!! This little cutey is from Toni at the Red Boot Quilt Co. We chat back and forth and, since we're both designers, encourage each other through the instruction-writing phase of designing! :0) (Hmmm ... is there ANY designer out there who actually doesn't mind the instruction writing phase, I wonder?!?!) Now Toni has been showing photos of her lovely little bears for a while now and I've commented on how darn cute they are ... and now she's sent me one of my very own!! I really AM spoilt, aren't I!! And she knows me too well, since she's chosen some yummy red and white spot flannel to make this cuddly character from. And look at his lovely little snowflake buttons - bet he's wishing for a bit of snow to cool him down in our heatwave weather. I've decided to call my new little critter "Cranbeary" for a few reasons. One ... he's the colour of cranberries. Two ... Cranberries are a perfect match with Christmas turkey and he's arrived just in time for Christmas. And three ... Cranberries are sweet and I looooooove them in a fresh salad and "Cranbeary" is sweet and ...well ... I won't be putting him in a salad, now, will I, that would just be silly! Tee! Hee! Hee! Thank you Toni!!

PHEW!! Now that I've let you know that I'm not MIA and how spoilt I've been, I think I'm going to go and find a nice, cool, icy glass of something refreshing. Hope you're having a great week and feeling spoilt too! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS