When Blogging Buddies Meet!!

When I began my blogging journey some four years ago (WOW! Time sure flies when you're having fun!!) little did I realise that not only would I 'meet' some fantastic, like-minded people from all around the world, but that I would also make two of my closest friends. The first blog I began to follow was Kerryanne's gorgeous blog Shabby Art Boutique.

I had bought some decorative art patterns from Kerryanne previously and when someone suggested I should promote my design business via a blog, hers was the blog I turned to for inspiration. Then, through visiting some of the other blogs on Kerryanne's sidebar, I discovered the vintage treasures and pretties on the Lilly Cottage blog and 'met' the Lovely Lilly Linda.

These, my first two 'blogging buddies', have since become wonderful, supportive and encouraging friends. We've chatted via blog comments, emails and phone calls. I was then able to meet up with the Lovely Linda who lived not-too-far-away in Brisbane, then on her island. We've enjoyed many play dates now and the friendship has only grown. So you can see why both Linda and I were keen to have a 'real-life' play date with the gorgeous Kerryanne, too ... after all ... we often joke that we three have SOOOOOO much in common that we are obviously triplets separated at birth! :0)

Now ... with that back-story in mind, imagine how excited the three of us have been in the last few weeks as we FINALLY got to plan our collective play date!!! WOO! HOO!! The date was set, the house rental organised at the picturesque Mt Tambourine, plans made, stitching prepared, bags packed, husbands told to be on their best behaviour (just kidding ... they're all pretty well-behaved to start with! Tee! Hee! Hee!) ... and we were ON OUR WAY!! We all set off on Thursday and since my Beloved Geek Boy and I had both taken the day off work and only had a couple of hours to travel, we were first to arrive.

Here is the lovely holiday home we'd rented ... plenty of room for three couples ... and all of our sewing paraphernalia! Tee! Hee! Hee! And the views ...

Those white dots are the highrise buildings of the Gold Coast and the blue smudgy bit just above them is the ocean. A little closer look ...

You can see the skyscrapers a little better in this one ... shame about those power lines, but at night it didn't matter ... you couldn't see the wires and the lights of the coast sparkled like a Christmas tree ... my poor little point-and-shoot camera just wasn't able to capture that part of the view! :0)

Couple by couple, we arrived and there were big hugs, squooshy bear hugs and kiss noises all round ... I think the husbands were a bit overwhelmed by it all, but they were very good sports about it! :0) After claiming our rooms ... this was where GB and I camped ...

... we rustled up some drinks and nibbles and settled in on the huge front deck to enjoy the cool-but-not-cold evening and the fabulous views of the Gold Coast. Of course ... being good bloggers, there were also some photos to be taken ...

... it was dueling cameras at five paces! Tee! Hee! Hee! OK ... so ... we were all just a LITTLE bit excited to finally be meeting up! :0) Then we kicked back and chatted for a while ...

And chatted ... and laughed ... and chatted ... you get the picture!! How lovely to find that we all enjoy each others company in person as much as we do online! :0) With the sparkling lights of the coast and ...

... a pile of gifties on the table (great minds think alike!! Tee! Hee! Hee!) ... along with the good food and good company, it was almost like Christmas ... though we decided it must be like Christmas in some European country, since it was cool enough for jumpers and our Aussie Christmas is usually singlet and shorts weather. Tee! Hee! Hee!

So ... that's how my weekend began ... I'll be back soon to share more of our blogging buddy play date and what mischief ... er ... ADVENTURES!! ... we got up to ... gotta keep you in suspenders a LITTLE bit! :0) Hope your weekend was fantastic and that your week is off to a great start. Til next time ...

BLOGGING BUDDY BEAR HUGS!!
CHEERS!
KRIS

P.S. OPAM gals ... it's that time of the month again! Don't forget to update your sidebar lists with your finishes for August and/or email Peg or I with your tally!!

Rainbows Come After Storms ... Right?!?!

That's what I'm hoping anyways!! I've been a bit absent again from blogland, I'm afraid. I've been having a bit of a crappy time at work. So ... what's a girl to do?

Step 1.Curl up in bed for a good sulk and cry, right? CHECK!
Step 2. Build a bridge and get over herself. Hmmm ... yes ... well ... bridge still under construction ... work is occassionally interrupted by flooding of tearducts. SIGH!!

Still ... this storm will be followed by a rainbow ... I'm sure of it.

You see ... when I haven't been working on bridge construction, I've been busily preparing for a VERY special weekend event ... a play date with my two oldest (as in ... I've known them the longest, not their AGE!!!) blogging buddies!!! WOO! HOO!!!! This play date has been planned and rearranged, written off, re-planned, cancelled, re-planned ... you get the idea!! The process has been going on for about three years now ... and it's FINALLY happening!! I am so excited ... it is the RAINBOW on my horizon after a deluge of doo-doo! :0) I promise I'll TRY to remember not to get so excited that I forget to take photos. In the meantime, I hope YOUR week is a little less stormy than mine. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Christmas May Arrive First!!

EEK!!!! How did it get to be half way through AUGUST already?!?! It really is scaring me how quickly this year is whizzing on by. More and more people are starting to freak me out by saying HORRIBLE!! ... GHASTLY!! ... UNTHINKABLE!! ... things like ...

"It'll be Christmas before you know it."

Bite your tongue, is my standard response! :0) BUT ... I do have to pay some attention to that frightening thought and so I have been doing some more work on a new Christmas design ... all the while chanting to myself ...

"It is NOT almost Christmas! It is NOT almost Christmas!!" :0)

Although ... I do have a bit of a confession to make about this Christmas design ... I had actually intended for it to be released as a "Christmas In July" project, but like one of our much-used family sayings ...

... Christmas May Arrive First!!!!

I've played a little more with it this weekend, so thought that since I didn't actually get to release it when I intended, I'd give you some peeks to let you know it will be worth waiting for. :0) Ready???

Here we have two of three projects that will be included in this pattern ... a small drawstring bag and a Christmas stocking. The idea is ... I've designed three cute "Christmas Wishes" stitcheries that can be mixed and matched with the three projects ... third one in progress! :0)

Here's a bit closer look at the stitcheries ... a Gingerbread Girl and Gingerbread Man ... offering you "Sweet Christmas Wishes". These projects were designed so they can either be made just as the item, or ... as a pretty, creative way to 'wrap' other gifties. You could pop some sewing goodies into the little bag, or a Christmas coffee mug with some special flavoured coffee sachets ... and the stocking is large enough to hold some small gifties or treats too ...

Here is the third project in progress ... it will hold slightly larger items again. So stay tuned for the launch of this pattern ... who knows ... I may get it finished in time for you all to stitch some of these projects up BEFORE Christmas arrives! Tee! Hee! Hee! Oh ... and do you recognise these yummy fabrics I'm using for my Christmas Wishes projects??? I'll give you a hint ... you can see the range and designer printed on the selvage to the right of the photo! :0) These are the wonderful Christmas fabrics sent to me earlier in the year by the lovely and talented Lynette Anderson. They are from her "Scandinavian Christmas" range. Thanks again, Lynette ... I'm having a blast playing with them! :0) And I've been super impressed with the fabric quality, I have to say. :0)

So ... apart from the inevitable weekly merry-go-round of household chores, that's about it from the Meares' Madhouse this weekend. As well as the ongoing Secret Squirrel stitching, that is. :0)  Hope you've all had a great weekend that included some time to put your feet up and relax a bit ... whether it was with a craft magazine, a good book, some stitching ... or a calming, cooling adult beverage! Tee! Hee! Hee! Have a fantastic week ... Oops!! Do I hear sleigh bells?!?!? EEK!! I think I need one of those adult beverages! Tee! Hee! Hee! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS



The Mother Of Invention!!

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. Well ... I'd have to agree this week! :0) And to help explain what I mean, I thought I'd share a little peek into my design process with you. I'm sure people have different mental pictures of how craft designers actually DESIGN. Some may see designers as stitching wizards spinning their web of thread and fabric magic in a crystal sewing cave, brewing up ideas in a giant creative cauldron ...

Some may imagine designers work only with the purpose-designed quilting tools and gadgets while sitting at ruthlessly tidy desks where everything has a place and they work logically through the steps of design ...

And some people may picture a tornado of pins, fabric, pencils and creative chaos ... A bit like the Disney Tassie Devil ... but with stitching stuff! :0)



I confess to being more like that LAST version of a designer! Tee! Hee! Hee! What you probably DON'T envisage is something like this ...

A Dodgy-Brothers-&-Co. lightbox on an ironing board drawing board! :0) You see ... I don't usually use a lightbox to trace stitchery designs ... I can either see through the fabric well enough to trace, or if the background fabric is a little darker, I'll tape everything to the window and  let the light shine in. However ... with my latest Secret Squirrel project, I was struggling to see the stitchery design through the pretty-but-busy toile fabric and the border strips were too long to stick to the window. Despite some REALLY heavy hints to my Beloved Geek Boy/Handyman, a lightbox was not forthcoming (I've been putting off buying one for quite some time because GB keeps promising to make me one!!) ... so I had to think a little outside the box ... or should I say INSIDE the box! Tee! Hee! Hee! We all know these clear plastic tubs have 101 uses around the home ... well now I've discovered use number 102! :0) Lay a box on its side, manipulate a bendy desk lamp, set the ironing board to a comfy height and  ET VOILA!! A work station and lightbox good enough to get the job done ... for now! I might add that GB has been asked to please bump making me a lightbox a little higher up HIS "To Do" list ... but I'm not holding my breath! :0)

Now ... as I've said, I'm still working on my Secret Squirrel French quilt, so I can't show it to you, but I'll give you a couple of sneaky peekies at what I needed to trace ...

Bonjour!! Hello is always a good way to start a conversation. :0)

Je T'aime! You can never tell your loved ones too often that "I Love You!" :0)

So there you go ... now you've had a little peek in the back door of a designer's workshop ... sorry to all who are now completely disillusioned! Tee! Hee! Hee! Hope you're all having a lovely start to the week ... may the rest of your days be filled with FRIENDS, FABRIC and FUN! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS





Pretty Bags & Blooming Bottles!!

Well ... it seems like quite a while since I've been back here to chat to my blogging buddies properly ... where DOES the time go to?!?! I bet if someone ever answers that question and works out how to get that lost time back ... they'll be MILLIONAIRES! Tee! Hee! Hee! As usual, life seems to have been moving at break-neck speed and I'm struggling to catch up ... but if one more person cheerfully tells me "It'll be Christmas before you know it" I just might staple their lips shut, cos I still have lots of BIRTHDAYS to cope with, never mind CHRISTMAS! :0)

However ... in amongst the crazy busy-ness that is my life, I've managed to get a few things accomplished, one of which was FINALLY completing the editing and working out requirements for my newest pattern. Now, I DID show you a sneaky peek some time back, but it's been so long you may have forgotten, so here it is ...

"French Shopping Spree"!!

I know I am a little biased, but I LOVE how these bags came up!! :0) They're made using yummy Pom Pom de Paris charm squares, so VERY quick to piece together, then they have a silhouette applique of the Eiffel Tower ... you can't get much more French than that, right! :0) Add some cute pom-pom braid and shoulder straps with rich red rick-rack set in and you're on a winner. I've added the pattern to my website, so if you're looking to make a pretty gift for someone ... or to spoil yourself!! ... pop across and get your order in. In fact ... I managed to track down another charm pack of "Rural Jardin" fabrics and intend to make myself a version of the larger bag ... it's a great size and has a handy LARGE inner pocket to help keep track of the keys, mobile phone and sunnies ... something my current bag DOESN'T have!!

*****

On to the second part of my odd title ... I was having a little browse through some of my favourite giftie shops today, on the hunt for some birthday gifties (I am NOT thinking about Christmas yet!!!) when I came across some cute glass bottles that just HAD to come home wtih me! I was in such a hurry to decorate them and fill them with flowers ... trying to hurry spring along, don't you know!! Tee! Hee! Hee! ... that I forgot to take a photo of the bottles 'before' I played. So ... this is what they look like now ...

You can't see it very well in this photo, but the bottles are kind of like mini milk bottles ... heavy glass, wide-ish openings and a logo imprinted in the glass. they had some cutesy bows on them when I bought them, but I wanted a more rustic look, so wrapped some strands of raffia around the necks and just tied them in a knot. Then, I raided my poor, sad looking garden ... lavender and daisies were the sum total of colour out there ... see? ... Roll on spring, I say! :0) Here's a slightly closer look at my "blooming bottles" ...

The flash really does wash out the impressed logo, but they still look pretty so I don't really mind! :0) And after enjoying several wonderful warm, sunny days, we're bracing ourselves for some predicted rain, followed by another cold winter snap ... BRRRRR!!! ... so any hint of spring that I can grab onto is on my agenda! :0)

*****

Well ... that's about it from me ... still working on a couple of Secret Squirrel projects, one of which I hope to show you soon ... so I guess it's time to rustle up a cup of tea and get back to stitching. Before I sign off, though, I'd like to encourage you all to pop over to visit the very talented Rosalie Quinlan. Rosie has just been told that her breast cancer is recurring and she's facing a pretty tough battle in coming months, so why don't you all pop over to her blog and leave some encouraging words for her ... along with a BIG SQUOOSHY BEAR HUG or two ... or three ... or four!!! One can never have too many positive thoughts or too many bear hugs from friends!! :0) Right ... I'm off! Enjoy the end of your week and remember to hug someone you love!! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

Busy Stitching & OPAM!

Just a quick note to say ...

"G'DAY!!" :0)

The last week seems to have whizzed by again. I've been stitching away on this project ...

... which is destined for an issue of "Homespun" next year ... but since magazines work so far in advance, the September deadline is starting to snap at my heals ... remember ... there's all that wonderful "instruction writing" to be done before then too ... GROAN!!! So ... I only had one project to add to my July OPAM list ... and it's ...

... a Secret Squirrel project for now, so I can't show it to you ... soon, I promise! :0) However ... a lot of you OPAMers have been busy stitching bees in the month of July ... I know ... cos you've either told me or Peg how many finishes you've had! :0) Thanks for your emails - it really makes our job easier at the end of each month. For those of you who missed the changing of July into August ... Peg will be doing the prize draw in the next day or two, so if you're licketty-split-quick and email your finishes to one of us, they can still make it in time for the prize draw. As always, there are some FABULOUS projects being completed out there in blogland ... if you're in need of a bit of inspiration, I can recommend a blog-hop through the OPAM list on my sidebar. :0)

In the meantime ... I'm off to do a bit more Secret Squirrel stitching, but hope to be able to show you something soon. In the meantime, I hope your week is off to a fantastic start and that you're able to steal some time to stitch this week. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS