YIKES! Like Gets Crazy-Busy!

Here I am ... quickly popping in to tell you I'm still here (I think?!?!?!) and that I haven't forgotten my blogging buddies. Life just seems to be even more crazy-busy than usual just at the moment and I'm like a little duck ... calm on the surface, but paddling madly under the water!! ... trying to keep up with everything and fit everything in. EEP!

We've got two big sewing/stitching/fabric-appreciation weekends happening here on top of our 'hill' that I'm in the middle of ... this weekend is ...

Julie from Calico Farms and one of my quilting heroes Bronwyn Hayes of Red Brolly are the two guest designers this year, which is super exciting. This is the 10th year that the Marvelous Marion and the Stupendous Steph have run Stitchers Dream Day Out and they do a fantastic job every year. I'm about to head off to help with some set up (the Fabulous Fiona and I are champs at tying chair bows! Tee! Hee! Hee!) Then I'll be playing at SDDO over the weekend, with my Bestest-Buddy-Since-We-Were-Nine Lynette coming to join me on Sunday, along with my buddy Lynda and a lot of the Friday Night Gals ... did I mention that we've had to set up MULTIPLE Naughty Tables this year?! Tee! Hee! Hee! I promise to share some pics next week.

Then ... NEXT weekend sees the fourth annual Creative Fields Quilt Exhibition and Boutique Marketplace kick off in conjunction with the Carnival of Flowers activities. 

Marion and Steph decided four years ago that they wanted to give local artists and craftspeople a forum to display their gorgeous handmade goodies so that folks visiting the top of our 'hill' for the Carnival would have a chance to admire the talent and creativity mountain air breeds. :0) The exhibition includes not only quilts, bags, wall hangings, dolls and bears made from fabric, it incorporates cross stitch, crochet, knitting and just about any other art or craft form you can think of. The exhibition is open from 9am-5pm from Saturday September 19 to Wednesday September 23 at the SmART Space Hall on the New England Highway at Highfields and a gold coin donation is well worth it to come and admire the enormous creativity on display. There will also be a range of boutique handmade market stalls offering goodies for sale ... in case you want to get in early to buy Christmas gifts! :0)

So ... in the middle of all of this preparation ... we crossed the line into a new month and I am now WAY behind in doing the August OPAM prize draw - OOPS! A HUGE thank you to my GORGEOUS Partner-In-Crime Sweet Peg for doing the majority of the blog-hopping this month ... she is a CHAMPION!! :0)

Well done to all OPAM gals who have been stitching, knitting or crocheting away to contribute to our total of 245 finishes for August. WOW! I reckon there must be some sewing rooms with bare shelves as WISPs are finished off around the world ... which of course means we can start NEW projects and buy more fabric ... right?!?! I guess those shelves won't be bare for long! Tee! Hee! Hee! Congrats also to the gals like me who have been plugging away at some long-term projects ... while you don't have actual finishes to show, well done on your dedication to getting a bit done here and there ... remember that turtle in Aesop's fable?! :0) Taking some time out of our crazy-busy schedules to be creative and recharge our batteries is what OPAM is all about, so if you were able to do that this month, you're a winner even if you didn't get to add to your tally. As Dory the fish from "Finding Nemo" would say ... Just keep stitching ...! (Well ... she would if she had fingers instead of fins and was a quilter/stitcher!! :0)

And without further ado ... the winners are ...

Maria W

&

Anne Marie

Well done girls! Email me your snail mail addresses and I'll pop a little something in the mail for you. And to my two winners from June ... SORRRRRRRRY!!!!! Your prizes are sitting staring at me from the dining room table waiting for me to be home long enough to wrap and parcel them up. I promise they're coming ... SOON! It's hard to get good challenge hosts these days! :0)

Right ... I'm off to throw a few bits in my bag before I head off to help Fiona tie chair bows, but before I do, I'll share a sneaky-peeky with you of a little something I've been working on ... and keeping secret!! ... for the last little while in the lead up to SDDO. I'm not one of the guest designers, but Marion let me have a little play with some of the fabric for this year's projects ... wanna see?? OK ...

I had so much fun with this and even though purple isn't a colour I work with often, I LOVE how it turned out. :0)

Righto ... I'm off to get ready for a weekend of play-dating. :0) If you're coming up to join the fun of Stitchers Dream Day Out or Creative Fields ... let me know and we'll say g'day. And if you're up here and see me wandering around looking confused and bewildered ... that's NORMAL! Tee! Hee! Hee! Say g'day and point me back in the right direction! :0) Whatever you're up to this weekend, I hope you have a blast!! Til next time ...

BEWILDERED BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS