A Hug For The Soul!

That sounds very Zen, doesn't it?!?! :0) Actually ... it's my way of NOT banging my head against a wall in frustration!

You see ... I had taken photos of a couple of projects I'd finished over the weekend, a sweet prize I'd won from Lisa a Button Bliss a while ago and the yummy fabrics that followed me home from Marion's sale last week, ready to share with you, my blogging buddies. I sat down at the computer, loaded them onto the computer, copied them to the appropriate folder from my camera memory card, then ... as I always do, deleted them from the camera card to free up space for new photos ... cos they were now safe and sound, saved on my computer ... right?!?!?! WRONG!!! Somewhere along the track, something went horribly wrong and the computer swallowed the pictures, then spat them back out into cyber-space somewhere, never to be seen again! GRRRRRRRR!!!

So I shall have to go and dig out the finished projects, prize and new fabrics from where I had very diligently put them away (don't fall over in shock at that! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and take new photos ... but I don't have time this afternoon, so that will have to be a TOMORROW job. SIGH!

So, there I was feeling frustrated at our 'wonderful' computer technology when I decided to use my computer time to look up Google for something. Now, I don't know about you, but when I sign into my iGoogle page, it has personalised settings and backgrounds etc and somehow (more of that 'wonderful' technology!!) I ended up with a horoscope in the bottom corner of my page. Usually I find it a mix of the vague and incomprehensible, but I really liked today's horoscope and thought I'd share it with you. Now, although this was officially the review for the day for Pisces (that's me, two fish swimming around aimlessly ... could explain my 'goldfish' memory! Tee! Hee! Hee!) I really feel it applies to ALL of us for EVERY day, so here's a 'hug for the soul' from Rick Levine.

"This is truly a magical day, if you remember that you can create a positive atmosphere wherever you go by virtue of your attitude. Your spiritual orientation is capable of turning a boring chore into a sacred act of gratitude. But, what others perceive now isn't important. Honour the richness of your imagination and aspire to experience beauty, even if it cannot be put into words."

I hope you are warmed by my 'hug' sent out to all of my blogging buddies. So as I wish on my rainbow ...

I hope you have a week where you can 'experience beauty' in whatever life throws your way ... and I'll be back soon with some photos ... providing the computer doesn't get hungry again!!! :0) Til next time ...

RAINBOW BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

PS. OPAM gals ... don't forget to update your sidebar lists and email me or Birthday Girl Sweet Peg with your list of finishes for November. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET PEG!!! :0) BH!

How Does Santa Do It?!?!

Here I am ... back again after a bit of a blog absence ... did you miss me??? I've been snowed under working on some swap gifties that HAD to be in the mail this week ... and after having my Friday off at home ... I made it!!! WOO! HOO! :0) And let me tell you, I have a whole new appreciation for the Podgy Dude in the red suit. How he manages to organise ALL the gifties on that list of his AND stay JOLLY ... is beyond me! Tee! Hee! Hee!

After a few last stitches were stitched, it was time to get wrapping ...

Out came the paper, sticky tape, scissors, the stereo was cranked up so ABBA blasted out to keep me company and I got BUSY! :0) Hmmm ... did I mention that I HATE wrapping!!!! So ... it was quite some time later that the results could be seen! First on the list to wrap was my SSCS gifties that are heading to ... a galaxy far, far away! Tee! Hee! Hee! OK ... a COUNTRY far, far away ... couldn't resist a little Star Wars reference there! :0)

One ornament package for immediate opening upon arrival and one main giftie package for Christmas day ... CHECK!! Can't tell you any more or Swap Mama Chookyblue will come after me with her whip! :0) Hope my swap partner likes her gifties ... I think she will.

Next to be wrapped in the frenzy of paper, scissors and sticky tape (hmmm ... wonder why 'stickytape' was never added to the ol' game of 'rock, paper, scissors'?? It could catch on! Tee! Hee! Hee!) were the gifties for a direct Advent Swap organised by the Fabulous Fee. Now when Fee sent the name of my swap partner, I just about fell off my chair laughing ... and so did my partner ... CHOOKYBLUE! Tee! Hee! Hee! It did make it a lot of fun to buy little gifties for her, though, especially since we've 'known' each other for a few years now through blogging and have even met up for a coffee date. So from amongst the flying paper and sticky tape, there emerged ...

... a pile of shiny, glittery parcels for my blogging buddy/swap partner Chookyblue. These have now been popped on Santa's sleigh along with my SSCS gifties. Santa's reindeer must have been working overtime today ... two parcels picked up from Toowoomba and one delivered ...

Chookyblue tells me that her gorgeous daughter Fairygirl helped by decorating my parcel with Christmas stickers ... looks like she had a ball! :0) Open up the lid and inside ...

... sparkly silver packages!! Chookyblue and I were obviously on the same page when we were picking wrapping paper! :0) Can't wait til next week when I can start unwrapping these little gifties ... who says Christmas is just for kids ... unless they mean us BIG kids too! Tee! Hee! Hee! Thanks for organising this fun swap, Fee!!

And after all that wrapping, tagging and posting ... I'm EXHAUSTED!!!!! No wonder Santa only does this once a year! :0) I think I shall have a cuppa and then keep an overdue appointment with my pillow. I'll be back soon to show you some pretty new fabrics that followed me home this week! :0) Hope your week has been fabulous and that your weekend includes some time to relax, some time to create and some wonderful people to share it with! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

The Pipes Are Calling!!

Here I am again, wondering where the last week went. And then I think back over what's been happening and I remember where it went! :0)

Before I tell you what I've been up to I need to apologise ... you see ... we've been experiencing some "Technical Difficulties" here ... the server my email travels through has been having a few hiccups and so I've ended up WAY behind on answering my emails. I started to try to catch up with answering them but ... I need to sleep SOMETIME! :0) So ... with apologies, I'll wipe the slate clean and start fresh. If you emailed me during the last three weeks or so and haven't heard back from me... OPAM gals especially ... I'm sorry about that! The 'issues' seem to be sorted, so I should be able to keep up now ... I hope! :0)


OK ... so ... on to what's been happening and why I have such a strange post title. Most of you will be familiar with the well-loved folk tune "Oh Danny Boy" ... one of the lines is ... "The pipes, the pipes are calling from glen to glen and down the mountainside". Well ... today at the retirement village where I work mornings, the pipes were indeed calling across the mountainside. We had a visit from the Queensland Police Pipes and Drums ... bagpipes and drums, that is! Aaaaaaahhhhh!! It was enough to make a Scottish-descended lass's heart warm and fluttery! My Dad's side of the family includes so many Scottish connections that it's a wonder we don't bleed tartan! :0) Kippen, Menzies, Duncan, McLean, McGreggor ... see what I mean! Tee! Hee! Hee! So it's no wonder the squirl of bagpipes makes my heart go pitty-pat!! :0)

Here are the QPPD in action.We had about 80 village residents, family members and friends on hand to clap and dance a reel or two! OK ... maybe not, but there sure were some toes tapping! :0) Then, it was time for a cuppa and a chat with the band.

And look what I found ... a couple of burly Scotsmen in kilts! :0) Pat and Mark had the lovely rolling Scottish burr and had spent time with the Royal Scots Dragoons. Did I mention that sometimes I LOVE my job! Tee! Hee! Hee! Oh ... yes, I am short, yes Pat was over six foot! :0)

OK ... apart from chatting up men in kilts, I've been spending some time in my sewing room ...

This is as much as I can show you, cos it's one of my Secret Santa swap gifties for ... a certain SOMEONE! Tee! Hee! Hee! Still need to finish my SSCS gifties for ???? so that will be this coming weekend's task, I think.

Apart from that ... we've FINALLY been enjoying some fabulous warm weather (some people say hot, but I'm a hot-weather gal, so to me it's WARM! Tee! Hee! Hee!) my Beloved Geek Boy and I have spent some time out in the garden. A bit of weeding, a bit of pruning, some planting up for gifts and some harvesting of herbs and veges from my vege patch ...

Some fresh beetroots that have since been boiled up and stored in their special mixture ... YUMMO! The last of my mega-spring onions that were previously taking over the world, the first of my snowpea crop to the right there and some rosemary, chives and parsley from my herb garden ... those herbs and the spring onion made their way into a DELICIOUS home-cooked quiche. Did I mention I REALLY love this time of year! :0) Warm weather, fresh produce from my garden ... life is good! :0) What's your favourite time of year?? Are you a summer gal like me, or a winter bear?

Well, I can hear my pillow calling my name, so I'm gonna sign off for now. Hope you're all having a great week so far and managing to squeeze some creative time into the busy pre-Christmas timetable. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

At Last!! Retreat Pics!

At LAST ... I'm FINALLY getting around to sharing the photos with you that I took two weekends ago when I taught at the annual Creative Craft Retreat at Lake Perseverance ... some of us are a bit slow! :0) This was the fifth year the retreat was held and the fifth that I've been involved. As usual, a lot of fun was had ... especially in the "Naughty Corner"!  And you can just guess which class group was in that corner, right?! :0) I don't know how I always end up in "THAT" corner ... really I don't! Tee! Hee! Hee! However ... I was in fine company. I had six of the most GAWJUS (as my blogging buddy Joy would say!) gals in my class ...

... Lindsay, who had driven up from the Gold Coast to play with us for the weekend. (That's Olive Bear supervising Lindsay. She and Finnegan were the two patterns the gals had to choose from to make their very own bear) ...

... Cynthia and Allison ...

... Margaret and Ann (these two ladies were like Laurel and Hardy ... had us in stitches all weekend!!) and Pat finished off our group ... but obviously I didn't manage to snap a pic or her hard at work.

Now, from the pics, you can see that the gals were hard workers ... heads down and bums up without me ever having to borrow Chookyblue's whip! ;0) And while there was a LOT of stitching going on in our "Naughty Corner" there was also an AWFUL LOT of laughing going on too! :0) I actually think I can say this was the BEST class I have ever taught! Not only did they get their bears finished in record time (before lunch on the last day with two sessions remaining), their finished bears were FABULOUS and they worked beautifully in a group (the ladies, that is, not the bears! Though the bears behaved themselves too! Tee! Hee! Hee!), helping and encouraging each other and everyone chatted with everyone ... if you see what I mean! It really did make my job as teacher so much easier and more enjoyable! :0) Now you're probably wanting to see the finished bears??? OK ... roll call ...

Here's Cynthia with her boy bear ...

... Pam with her sweet girly bear ...

... Allison with her cute girly bear ...

... Margaret with her mischievous looking boy bear ... and he's already made a new furry friend there! :0)

And last but definitely not least ... Anne shows off her pink girly girl bear. Lindsay had to leave early, so I didn't get a photo of her finished bearbie. WELL DONE GIRLS!!! You'd never know this was the first time they'd made bears! Must have been the excellent teacher they had!! :0) Modest too! Tee! Hee! Hee! Here's our group ...

What a GAWJUS bunch of gals! :0) And on the other end of the table ...

... our HUG of bears ... that's what you call a group of bears. Rather appropriate, don't you think! :0) And in amongst all that chatting, stitching and laughing, there was just enough time for a group shot of all crafty ladies attending ...

If you look closely, you can see me to the left of the group ... about third or fourth from the left, depending how you look at it and how you count! :0) And even though it's pretty hard to see, if you enlarge the picture and peer up the back of the group from me and slightly to the right, you'll see the lovely ... but obviously shy!! ... Val Laird. Val is Mum to Janelle, who is the instigator of this crafting weekend and it was lovely to catch up again. :0)

There you go ... finally caught up ... and now you know why I was exhausted afterwards and still feel like I'm catching up! :0) Hope you've enjoyed a peek at our bear making fun ... it sure kept us off the streets for the two and a half days! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And speaking of keeping busy and off the streets ... if you're looking for quick, simple but effective craft projects to help you stock up your Santa sacks this Christmas, don't forget to pop across to visit Kerryanne at Shabby Art Boutique blog. She's started her "Simply Christmas" fun and clever-clogs Clare from Clare's Craftroom has shared a great tutorial on making Christmas bunting, so don't miss out. There's also a FABULOUS prize to be won that sure would help make your Christmas merry, so pop across to find out the details.

Right now, though, I'm off to let the dogs out of the laundry ... the flick man has been here chasing off all the creepy crawlies for me and Lily wasn't overly impressed. Poor ol' Wombat probably slept through most of it! He's getting old and misses a lot these days while he take a grandpa nap ... or two or three! Tee! Hee! Hee! Hope your week is going along nicely so far and that you're managing to find some time to sit, stitch and daydream! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Simply Christmas!!! EEK!!

EEK!!! There are just 49 days until Santa hitches up Dancer, Prancer, Vixon, Blitzon and their friends  (who the heck named these reindeer, anyways!!! What's wrong with good solid names like Bruce, Kevin, Bob or the ever-popular Spot?!?!) and packs up his bag of gifties to hit the road/skies/rooftops. Personally ... I am FIRMLY in denial about how close "C Day" is but if you are ready to dive into the flurry and fun of Christmas preparations then you'll want to stay tuned to the Shabby Art Boutique blog from now on, cos Kerryanne has launched her second annual ...

"Simply Christmas", where she will be encouraging and helping people to put the 'homemade' and 'home-baked' back into the Christmas experience.

Kerryanne and a select group of guest posters (Yep ... I'm on the list again this year to share the creative Christmas fun!!) will be sharing all sorts of tutorials and links to help you get into the Christmas spirit and STAY there without getting stressed. There'll be recipes, craft tutorials, gift ideas, shared special Christmas memories and I dare say there'll be some prizes and giveaways along the way, too. So hop across and see what Kerryanne is up to ... she's already shared a tutorial for a Christmas planner to help get you organised and on the right track to enjoy a stress-free, homemade Christmas ... though she and I agree that perhaps I am a write-off when it comes to 'getting organised'!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Right now, I'm off to start making my Christmas list ... who's been NAUGHTY and who's been NICE?!?!?! :0) Til next time ...

JINGLE-BELL BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

An Odd Week & Winners!

G'day all!! I know I promised to be back much earlier in the week to tell you about my craft retreat exploits last weekend ... sorry about that! It's been a really odd week that seemed to flash by before I knew it! I think the biggest problem was, because I spent all last Friday preparing for the craft retreat (and answering the phone that rang off the hook all day!!!), then taught at the retreat from Friday night right through to Sunday afternoon, before heading straight back into the work week ... my poor brain registered an EXTRA-long week and kept waiting for the weekend! :0) Add in a lot of interruptions, a bit of upsetting news and a "To Do" list that seems to multiply like a warren of rabbits every time I turn around and you start to get the picture! :0) I know you'll forgive my tardiness, cos we all have "THOSE" sorts of weeks from time to time, don't we?! :0)

So, that was my odd week and my "Friday off" this week was filled, too, as it was a Quilting Angels get-together day ... but filled in a FUN way!! :0) A number of us who formed the group at the start of the year to take part in Marion's Quilt Drive for flood victims challenge, are continuing to meet twice a month in the work room of The Quilters Angel. Sometimes we'll be working on more quilts that will be ready to present to people in times of difficulty as a comfort gift and sometimes we'll be working on other items for charity/community programs. At the moment, we're being Santa's little helpers and making Santa sacks to give to our local newspaper who run an "Adopt A family" program in the lead up to Christmas. Give us some calico and pretty fabric scraps and we can turn out Santa sacks decorated with Christmas appliques! :0)

Here's a pic of the girls hard at work ...

OOPS! Must be the wrong pic, cos this is a shot taken when we were on our lunch break! Tee! Hee! Hee! And you thought we just got together to sew!!! :0) Bev and Fiona are enjoying some DELICIOUS apple dumplings that Marion is serving up in the background ... YUMMO!!! Oh ... and do you see the whiteboard in the background? If you look VERY closely, you can see our flood drive quilt tally written up there ... 242 finished quilts! :0) Most of those have now been distributed and we've had some lovely feedback from recipients who have appreciated not only the beautiful quilts that everyone worked so hard to create, but also for the thoughts and care that accompanied them.

And here's Helen showing what was in our bowls ... MMMMMMM!!! The only thing better than Marion's apple dumplings is ... Marion's apple dumplings with creamy vanilla ice-cream! Tee! Hee! Hee! Oh .. and we DID do some sewing too!! :0) And do you see those lovely, TEMPTING jelly rolls of fabricy gooness in the background?? That can be a VERY tempting sight indeed for a fabric adict such as myself! But the girls are very helpful and give me jobs to keep me busy so I don't follow my fabric-collecting instincts ... TOO often! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So ... after I got home and curled up on the couch with a cuppa to rest my tired tootsies (I was elected ironer-of-the-fold-downs so was standing at the ironing board most of the day!!) I finalised the tally for October's OPAM projects. Sweet Peg had done quite a lot of the blog-hopping and finish recording a day or two before, so I just had to add the few late email finish lists that I received before doing the random draw for prize winners. And this month's winners are ...

SATU

MICHE'LE

JOY-BELLE

CONGRATULATIONS gals!!! And we have a special treat for you as your prize this month. The gorgeous and creative clever-clogs Kerryanne from over at Shabby Art Boutique has very generously offered three copies of her FABULOUS new e-book "The Creative Mumpreneur ... How To Take Your Craft Addiction From Your Kitchen Table To Creative Business" for each of our winners! WOO! HOO! This is a wonderful book to read through, with lots of helpful tips for starting/expanding a craft-related business ... even if you've only ever dreamed of it before or only want to do something that fits into your 'spare' time. Well worth a read! A huge THANK YOU!!!! To Kerryanne for sharing her book with our OPAM winners. Peg and I sure have been blessed with some wonderfully generous blogging buddies this year who have helped provide prizes for you lovely OPAMers ... I won't start listing them here cos I'm bound to forget someone by doing so in a hurry and that would be BAD, cos you are all so very much appreciated ... THANK YOU to you gals ... you know who you are! :0)

OK ... that's about it for today. I'm still playing catch up this weekend ... missing out on last weekend has left me with an overflowing email 'in' box, an overflowing dirty clothes basket, an overflowing "To Do" list and only two days to try to catch up - EEK! Don't like my chances, do you? So, since it's all too hard, I might just treat myself to a cup of tea and half an hour to start to deal with my email ... Whatever YOU are up to, I hope you're having a great weekend and that you manage to find some time to put your feet up with a cuppa and enjoy some creative time. I still have those craft retreat photos to share, so I promise to try to get back here soon to show them to you. In the meantime, have fun! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS