November Winner & Butterflies Released!

Well ... here it is, only Wednesday, still with two days to go in this week and already it's been a big one! Some exciting things have been happening here at the Meares' Madhouse, home of "Tag Along Teddies" designs ... BUT FIRST ... I need to announce the end-of-month winner for November for the One Project A Month Challenge. Before I do, can I just say that, either lots of us have got our sewing mojo happening again at the moment OR ... we're all starting to panic, cos it's less than a month til Christmas! Tee! Hee! Hee! For me, I think it's a bit of both!

The total number of projects completed (either emailed to me or May Britt, listed or posted on blogs - if you didn't do any of those things, sorry, your projects didn't get counted!) for November was ...

568!

That gives us a running total ... SO FAR ... of ...

5,084!

WOW!! Can you imagine what a sight that would be if we had ALL of those completed projects displayed in the ONE ROOM!! It would be crafter heaven, I think! :0) OK ... drum roll please! And November's OPAM winner is ...

Maria H!!

CONGRATULATIONS, Maria!! If you email me your snail mail address, I'll pop your prize in the mail and who knows - we might even manage to convince our mail systems to get it to you in time for Christmas. And that would be very fitting because THIS is Maria's prize ...

A fun pattern by another Toowoomba designer, Majella Rush of "Kookaburra Cottage" designs that has three versions of a country Santa! I've got a copy of this pattern myself and the flat wall-hanger Santa (a bit hard to see cos the camera flash has hit right on his face!) is very quick and easy to make AND it looks FANTASTIC!! :0) Maria also gets a cute country-style calender that will help her schedule regular stitching days next year :0) AND a groovy laser-cut timber gift tag button created by Lisa at Button Bliss (I have a stash of lots of her fun timber buttons!). I hope you enjoy your prize, Maria.

CONGRATULATIONS to ALL of the OPAM Challenge participants on all of your finishes and CONGRATULATIONS, too, to everyone who has made some progress on some long-term projects, even if you haven't actually finished them yet - every stitch takes you closer to enjoying a finished project! :0)

Now ... a few of you have been asking whether May Britt and I will host the OPAM Challenge again next year. Well ... we're thinking about it! If we do, there will be a few changes to the guidelines and we will limit the number who can join in because we've discovered throughout the year that 276 blogs is a LOT of blogs to visit at the end of each month and keep track of finishes for. So, stay tuned for more news of that later this month.

And on to the first EXCITING thing that happened this week. There was some of this going on here at the Meares' Madhouse on Monday afternoon ...


Yep, HAPPY DANCING!!! Which had to stop when the RSPCE (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Elephants) sent a representative to our house after neighbours complained we were forcing our pet elephant to learn to tap dance! Tee! Hee! Hee! And what led to the tap-dancing-elephant-impersonation? This ...


The long-awaited December issue (No.79 Vol.10 No.12) of "Homespun" arrived on my doorstep. Now although many of your (especially Aussie gals!) will understand that the arrival of the latest "Homespun" issue is USUALLY cause for Happy Dancing anyway, THIS particular issue was a BIT more exciting to than usual because inside ...

... was my "Butterfly Hunt" quilt AND a designer profile on yours truly! OOOOOOOOHHHH!!! HOW EXCITING!!! My quilt-baby arrived home last week - probably the first of my exciting things, really! I know a few of you have already commented and emailed that you had discovered me lurking in your magazine - thanks for your lovely comments! And as if THAT wasn't exciting enough ... my very first quilt design is in the SAME issue as a project by my fave designer ... Bronwyn Hayes!! More Happy Dancing!! Oh ... and if you haven't already heard the buzz, Bronwyn now has her own blog, so you can pop in to see what she's up to. I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to Catherine and her team at "Homespun" for inviting me to share my quilt design with their readers and for being so encouraging and helpful to work with throughout the process.

There have been a couple of other exciting things happen this week, too, but my Beloved Geek Boy has just come home from work and I'm going to go have a cup of tea and see how his day was. I promise I'll be back soon to share the rest of my excitement. And who knows ... with two more days left in the working week even MORE exciting things may happen! Oh dear ... I'm not sure I can take much more! Tee! Hee! Hee! I hope that whatever you're up to today, you find a little bit of excitement to keep your day interesting. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS