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