Mixed Up, Muddled Up Week!!

That's what I've had!! Not BAD, just mixed up and muddled up and I'm not at all sure it should be Wednesday again, cos I'm pretty sure we skipped a few days in there somewhere! :0) Oh dear ... time just seems to keep scooting away from me. Not that I've been idle, mind you, it's been all go here at the Meares' Madhouse, but it may take a little bit to catch you up, so grab a cuppa and get comfy.

The biggest spanner thrown into my well-ordered life (OK ... all of you who know me can stop laughing at the 'well-ordered' part now before you hurt yourselves!!) was a quick visit by my brother and sister-in-law from interstate. Not only was this a great chance to catch up with them, it was also a chance for Mum and I (our boys had to work!) to scoot down the hill to meet up and see the new grandson/nephew in person. Since Mum doesn't drive, I was elected chief chauffeur ... and navigator as we have some doubts as to whether Mum could navigate her way home! Tee! Hee! Hee!

We had a lovely catch up and let me tell you, the newest member of our family is SERIOUSLY CUTE!!! :0) Not that I'm at all biased of course! Tee! Hee! Hee! It also meant my "Moon Dance" quilt could be handed over in person, so it's now winged its way off to its new home to provide snuggly warmth and comfort. I hope it brings my nephew 'beary' special dreams. :0)

Now ... while this trip was wonderful, it DID throw my designing/stitching schedule into disarray. which has meant the last few days have been spent frantically stitching and undertaking my FAVOURITE designing task ...

... writing instructions! Aaaaarrrgghhh!!! However, Kerryanne will be proud of me, cos the instructions are actually all finished BEFORE the project itself is!! Just a bit of hand stitching left to do tonight. This is a Christmas project for "Handmade" in answer to the SOS I received a few weeks ago. It was a bit of a panic, cos it had to be posted off this week, but it's almost done. I can't show you the project, of course, as it's all still Secret Squirrel til November/December when it's published, but I'll share a little sneaky peek with you ...

I know ... not much of a clue, but you'll just have to be kept in suspenders til later in the year ... I promise to tell you when the issue of "Handmade" that it's in is published.

And while I've been playing with instructions, patterns etc, I've been toying with some new ideas to re-vamp my pattern covers and have finally hit upon one I like. Wanna see???

Ta Da! A fresh new look, with some new graphics designed just for me by a good friend who is a graphic designer. She's used some of my sketches as the basis for the designs and worked her magic on them. This is the new cover for the already released "Fairy Bears And Butterflies" quilt ... which is fairly obvious, I guess, as that's what's written on the bottom there!!! :0) I also have two more quilts that have their new cover design finalised and I will be releasing them next month, so stay tuned, cos you KNOW there'll be a give-away!! :0)

Let's see ... what else do I need to share with you???? Oh ... this week's garden update. Well ... I made a rather alarming discovery in the garden on the weekend ... there are ALIENS living in my garden! Really, there are! I took a photo cos I knew you wouldn't believe me. Ready??

EEEK!! The Mutant Alien Carrots That Ate Toowoomba!! Tee! Hee! Hee! OK, so maybe NOT aliens, but certainly mutants. Mum tells me they've grown like this cos they were too close together ... NOW she tells me!! I'm hoping that by picking a few the others will grow a bit longer, but perhaps they'll just mutate into something even more bizzarre ... stay tuned for the gardening horror story! :0) On the other side of the garden, there are MORE aliens ...

TRIFFOD SNOWEAS!!!

These babies are going BERZERK!! They're so heavy that they've made the little trellis sag, and you can't really see the poor lemon tree much any more from this side of the garden, but look at all those flowers! And those flowers are starting to develop into ...

SNOWPEAS! I know, what a shock ... fancy snowpeas actually growing on a snowpea bush! :0) You can see a few in the background there, but I just had to pick the one on the garden edge to taste ... and it was DELICIOUS!! So lovely and crunchy, straight from the garden. THAT'S what I've been looking forward to! :0) You can bet that when we get back from our beach break there'll be HEAPS of yummy snowpeas waiting to be crunched.

Oh ... did I forget to tell you we're leaving on a two week beach break this weekend? You must be the only ones I HAVEN'T told!! :0) I think I've just about driven my workmates around the bend counting down! Tee! Hee! Hee! The house-sitter is booked, the dogs are sulking at being left behind, the plans are made and I'll be tracing off lots of Gardener's Journal blocks to take with me. (I am falling so far behind that Chookyblue will be getting out her whip to hurry me along soon! Tee! Hee! Hee!) I also picked up a few holiday supplies ...

I had to go to Office Works to get the heavy paper for the new pattern covers the other day and while I was there, I decided to take a leaf out of the lovely Kerryanne's book and try to keep all my designs, sketches, doodles, notes and ideas in one book. (Do you have trouble going past all the lovely supplies when you visit a stationary shop ... or is that just me?!?!) Now, my sketchbook isn't nearly as pretty as some of the lovely notebooks and journals I've been seeing in blogland, but it has a nice bright green cover to make it easy to find (in theory!!) until I can find the time to make a fabric cover for it. I also picked up some new pencils cos mine are always going walk-about (I think the faeries borrow them and don't return them!!) and a couple of new erasers, cos I think the faeries take them too! :0) Add a bright, cheery red folder to the pile to keep everything in and I'm set for holiday sketching. I always have lots of new ideas floating around in my head for stitcheries, applique, bears, quilts ... all sorts of things, but never seem to have the time to put them on paper, so I'm looking forward to doing just that. I'm also hoping to post a few times while we're away and I'll still be contactable by email, so you won't get rid of me completely ... as much as you might like to!! :0)

And now that I've written enough to make your eyes bleed if you've made it to the end ... I'm off to organise some dinner, then afterwards, it's stitching in front of TV to get everything done ready for the start of holidays ... YIPPEE!!!! :0) Hope you're all having a great week so far and even if you're not as lucky as me and heading off on holidays, I hope you're managing to find a little time to yourself to create. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS