Goodies, Gifties & Still Going!

Well, here we are again at "Sunday". How on earth does Sunday roll around so darn QUICKLY?!?!? This week sure has flown by with barely enough time for me to blink, so I thought I'd better catch you up on what I've been doing.

Firstly ... I popped into my Home-away-from-home on Thursday after I finished work to lend a helping hand with Marion and Steph's ongoing Flood Appeal Quilt Drive. There may not have been many people there, but there sure was evidence that they HAD been there ... Marion told me there are now 132 quilts completely finished, with quite a few more scattered around with people working on them at home! WOW! Well done to everyone who's been involved in any way at all! What a HUGE effort! I also got to catch up with Marcia (she of the 'Girls' Stitch In' karaoke!!) and met the lovely Helen, who had travelled up from Ipswich specially to help out with the quilt drive, even though she said she still had her patchwork/quilting "L" plate! :0) I was designated "Go-fer" and did more ironing of seams and backing fabric than I ever do of clothes at home! I'm smart enough to have a LOT of non-iron clothes! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Friday then saw me jump in the car and toodle off down the hill to Brisbane to spend the day with my bestest-buddy-since-we-were-nine Lynette. She had texted me earlier in the week to ask if I'd like to go down to check out the CraftExpo. We decided it was the perfect way for both of us to avoid housework for a day, so off we went. Things with this craft show have been shuffled about somewhat. It used to be at the end of April and it used to be a lot bigger and combined with a bear/doll display, as well as a sizeable display by Queensland Quilters. Well ... I have to say, this year's event was a bit disappointing for me. It was only about half the size it usually is, with less exhibitors and less room to move, a number of classes were held in the middle of the rows, rather than off to the side to free up space and the quilt display was limited to one challenge. Not sure if this was due to the aftermath of the flooding, or whether exhibitors are just finding it all a bit too pricey to attend as many shows at a time when our quilting stores carry a much larger range of sewing accessories as well as fabric, not to mention online stores offering the convenience of shoping at home. Who knows ...

On the upside, Lynette and I still managed to have fun looking at what WAS there ... AND ... we bumped into the Lovely Lilly Linda and her Mum who were also scooting around for a look-see!! It was quite funny ... I'd read the night before on Linda's blog that she was heading off to the craft fair, but I hadn't got around to telling her I was going too. So, there Lynette and I were, in the middle of isle two and I said to Lynette ... "Lilly Linda is here today somewhere, too ..." was about to add ... " ... though it will be virtually impossible to see her in this crowd ..." ... when I looked ahead in the crowded isle ... and who should I see standing three people away from me ... LOVELY LILLY LINDA! :0) Obviously we were meant to catch up ... which we did over lunch! Now, I was PRETTY good and didn't buy TOO much ... but a few things DID follow me home ...

Here are my GOODIES from the day ... two pieces of yellow fabric ... nice yellows are hard to find, so I grab them when I can and these were in 30cm strips, rather than fat quarters, which I find more useful for what I tend to use them for. Two pretty beady bracelets ... the beads were so pretty and since I'm too lazy to make some for myself, these were just the ticket ... the green one has a dragonfly charm hanging from it and the red one has a leaf and a rose. I popped the red one on straight away, as it matched my outfit! :0) And lastly, I shouted myself a pretty new pair of stitching scissors. The blades are quite sharp and pointy, which will be great for getting into small spots to snip threads and I liked the idea of the blade guard so I don't poke myself when the scissors are in my sewing pouch ... and the little beaded chain hooking the guard to the scissors means it will be harder for me to lose it ... not IMPOSSIBLE, you understand, just HARDER! Tee! Hee! Hee! So, all in all, I lovely day out ... and housework was successfully avoided by both Lynette and I! Tee! Hee! Hee!

OK ... I thought I'd show you a few of the gifties I've been spoiled with for my birthday ... gifties are the payoff for turning another year older, right?! :0)

This isn't my usual style, but such a pretty colour green that I'm sure I'll find something it will go with. My parents-in-law gave me this flowery necklace and earrings.

This GORGEOUS hatbox was given to me on Thursday by the lovely Marion and Steph ... I LOVE it!!! :0) It will look so nice in my sewing room ... once it's finished ... !!! I have been thinking of adding a few "Paris-y" touches to my sewing room, so this is just perfect! And ... USEFUL!! In fact, I'm already putting it to use ...

As I work my way through the LOOOOOOOOOOONG process of sorting, ironing and folding my stash, I'm using it to store pieces of fabric that are still big enough to be useful for applique` or smaller patchwork projects, but not big enough to be able to fold and fit in my stash baskets. Thanks Marion and Steph!! :0) Steph and I always remember each other's birthdays, cos they're just two days apart! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And lastly ... the work in the sewing room is STILL GOING! SIGH!! It really is turning into a longer-term project than we'd hoped, mostly due to interrupted work time and things beyond our control ... like a 'quick' trip to Bunnings turning into a three hour epic exercise due to the lack of helpful staff!! GRRRRR!! My poor Beloved Geek Boy was ready to hit his head against a wall just to get some attention ... and perhaps to vent a bit of his frustration! :0) Some progress has been made, though. I'll wait til the end of today to take some update shots to share with you in the next day or so. Meanwhile ... back in the lounge room ... I spent time yesterday sorting through my non-patchwork/quilting fabric stash and managed to cull it by more then HALF! I was pretty impressed with how ruthless I was being ... Mum would be proud! She's the de-clutterer of our family! :0) The fabric I culled will go do my dancing Buddy Lynda, with some going to my Goddaughter Erin (Lynette's youngest) who has just discovered the joys of making Suffolk Puffs ... or "Sucky Puffs" as Bronwyn Hayes calls them!! ... and she is happily decorating hair clips and ties for herself and friends. Yep ... corrupt ... oops! ... TEACH ... 'em young! :0) And I've done a bit more stash sorting, ironing and folding ...

As you can see ... I've moved on from green to blue ... though I am still finding the odd green fabric mixed in with other colours. I may still be doing this at Christmas!!! EEK!!!

So ... there you go ... a round-up of the end of my week. It sure has been a busy one and I'm hoping by the end of today, I'll feel like it's been a bit more productive too. Starting to stress a bit cos there's been NO sewing happening here for the last couple of weeks ... not even any hand stitching, since the time I usually do hand stitching has been highjacked by the stash sorting. SIGH!!! I hate to admit it, but this may be the first time since May Britt and I started OPAM in 2009 that I will have ZERO finishes to report for a month!!! What a bad example I am!! Still ... Peg is such a Super-Stitcher that she makes up for my slackness! :0) Don't forget OPAM gals ... it's almost that time of the month again, so be sure to update your sidebar finishes lists and drop Peg or I an email ... remembering that the lovely Peg does NOT have an "H" in her surname.

And now ... I'm off to toss some washing in the machine and go back to sorting, ironing and folding ... GROAN!!!! Hope you're having a productive weekend, whatever you may be doing! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS