Winter Is Coming!!

Actually ... Winter well & truly arrived last weekend. The temperatures stayed in single digits & the "feels like" temps would have made a penguin feel at home! BRRRRRR! I didn't poke my nose outside all weekend & the fire was kept tended so we didn't turn into human Popsicles. Yes ... GB & I are spooky-la-las when it comes to cold weather! 😜 And that was still technically Autumn! 😱 Thankfully, by Tuesday it had warmed up a bit & we've thawed out ... Though with the calendar ticking over to the first month of winter next week, I suspect our reprieve will be short lived ... SIGH!

I DID manage to squeak in a play date with my Bestest-Buddy-Since-We-Were-Nine Lynette before the weather reached Antarctic levels. I drove down the 'hill' & we decided to have an outdoor outing. Lynette had been playing in the kitchen, so we took a yummy picnic lunch & off we went to Mt Coot Tha botanic gardens. It was so pretty, even on a grey overcast day ...

This was in the Japanese Garden. Worth a visit if you're in Bris. We found ourselves a grassy spot with the occasional splash of sun & set up ...

Here's the chef with mini frittatas, fresh salads & a glass of kombucha. NICE! 😁 It was fantastic to catch up for the first time since my birthday afternoon tea ...we had a LOT of chatting & giggles to catch up on! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And then the REALLY nasty weather hit & I went into hibernation! 😜 However ... The bright side is, it's great stitching weather & my needle has been busy. Would you like a sneaky-peeky at what I've been working on? ...

I can't give too much away. 😜 I'm loving working with Cottage Garden Threads & pretty aqua & raspberry Tilda fabrics. 😍 And that's a finish for my tally, too. Which reminds me ... OPAMers ... Now is the time to update your sidebar tallies & email me your finishes. The year is just flying by, isn't it?! It's been a strange one, that's for sure & we're not likely to forget 2020 in a hurry. 😳

That's about it from me for now. Wherever you are in the world & whatever your government guidelines may be, please stay safe & be wise as things start to return to "normal". Take care of yourself & each other. Keep stitching & keep smiling. 😁 Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

What Can You Do?!

When you start the day with a weather update like this ...

And it's not even officially winter yet! 😱 What can you do. Since hibernating til spring is out (DARN IT!) the next best thing is ...

... Play with some pretty fabric & threads! I popped into The Quilters Angel this week ... So lovely to catch up with Marion & Steph after missing them through the zombie apocalypse! 😉 ... And these pretty Tilda fabrics & Cottage Garden Threads followed me home. Well ... That's my story & I'm sticking to it! 😂 I'm playing with a new design ... Yes ... It's the third one I currently have in progress! 😜 ... And I'm gonna snuggle down & stitch today, I think. 

What's your cold-icky-day pass time? Whatever you're up to today, I hope you get a chance to stop, take a breath ... & appreciate the many blessings in your life ... Like pretty fabric, lovely friends ... & warm blankies on a nasty cold day. 😜 Enjoy your weekend, stay safe, stay well ... Keep stitching & keep smiling! 😁 Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

OOPS! I Did It Again!

Actually ... There are a COUPLE of "OOPS!" that I've done again! 😝 "OOPS!" ... It's taken me a week to get back here with the OPAM prize draw. I'm pretty sure that time-thief has been here again, because although I'm GLAD it's Friday ... Day off ... Sleep in ... Wearing daggy-comfy houseclothes ... It's Friday & I'm not sure where this week went, because I sure didn't have time to cross things off my "To Do" list for the week! 😝

Oh well ... In the meantime, congrats to all of you creative dynamos out there who have been using this strange stay-at-home-whenever-possible, zombie apocalypse time to play in your creative space. For the month of April there were ...

146 FINISHES!

WOW! Well done everyone! And that doesn't take into account the progress I know some of you have made on long term projects. While it's a strange & unsettling time in our world at the moment, I hope the time you're spending stitching, sewing, knitting, crocheting & creating in general is a soothing balm for you. And someone who I know loves their creative time is this month's random draw winner ...

TONE!

Congrats Tone  Tone has been joining me for OPAM for nine years! Thanks for stitching along with me, lovely lady! 😘 Drop me an email, Tone, & I'll send you a PDF copy of one of my patterns.

Now ... The next "OOPS!" That I'm guilty of this week ... Well ... One that I'm admitting to! 😂 ... is sidetracking my designing time. 😜 So now instead of working on TWO designs in various stages of the process, I'm working on THREE! 😂 I can't show you anything yet, but here's a hint ...

That big THUD you just heard was my lovely Bloggy Buddy Kerryanne falling over in shock! 😂 She is the Queen of Christmas & knows I'm usually in denial about the "C" word until late December! 😜 Stay tuned ... You won't have to wait too long to find out why I'm thinking about trees & twinkle lights. 😉

But right now, I hear the seductive siren's call of the kettle, so shall sign off to make a cup of tea. I hope you're all staying safe, staying well & taking care of yourselves. Keep stitching & keep smiling! 😁 Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

PS Apologies to all who now have the Britney Spears song stuck in their heads because of my blog title! 😂 K xx

A Friday Confession!

Hello everyone! It's Friday again (where did that week go??!) & I thought I'd better pop in to let you know I'm still here, it's just been a short week full of work, pattern design editing ... & a realisation. I have a confession to make about the realisation I came to this week. My name is Kris ... & I'm addicted to Cottage Garden Threads! 😝😂 

Have you 'discovered' the Cottage Garden Threads range of beautiful, hand-dyed embroidery threads? They have been gracing the best quilt stores for a few years now, but I had resisted using too many of them because I had a suspicion they'd be like kettle potato chips ... I wouldn't be able to stop at just one! 😂 But last year after meeting the Mother/Daughter duo behind the pretty threads, I began to use the odd CG colour.

Pam & Katie, the team behind Cottage Garden Threads at last year's Stitchers' Dream Day Out. For the last little while, whenever I buy threads or fabric for new designs I'm working on (that's my story & I'm sticking to it! 😝), I'll add a CG thread ... Or two! 😜 ... to my purchase. Well, this morning when I was looking for something in my sewing pouch, I thought I'd lay out my collection so far ...

Uh oh! I think my addiction is growing! Tee! Hee! Hee! I love the range & vibrancy of the colours. My favourites are ...

I especially love the "Lyrebird Walk" & I can see I need to design a project especially to show it off! 😜 I find the CG threads especially nice to stitch single-colour projects, because you get more than one colour, in reality, but projects stitch up quickly when you don't have to swap threads as often ...

I used "Granny Bonnet" for my "Vintage Diva" backpack & 

... & I used "China Doll" for my "Vintage Market Bag". Kits & patterns for both of these projects are available from The Quilters Angel website, along with the full range of Cottage Garden Threads .. WOO! HOO! Online shopping is a great antidote for the zombie apocalypse! 😝 Oh ... I might add that this is in no way a paid endorsement for Cottage Garden Threads ... I just thought I'd share my addiction with you. 😜 Mind you ... If I WAS being paid ... I'd gratefully accept payment in CG threads! 😂 Keep your chocolate, I'll have pretty threads ... & they're fat-free! Tee! Hee! Hee!

All right ... That's enough TALK about threads, I think it's time I shuffled off to actually STITCH with them ... After I make a cup of Mango Madness tea, of course! 😝 Oh ... OPAMERS ... If you haven't yet updated your sidebar lists & emailed me your tally for April, I'll be doing the final tallying over the weekend, so get hopping! 😜 And don't forget to pop over to the Love & Hugs From Australia Stitchalong page  on Facebook ... There are lots of lovely pics of blocks & quilt tops to inspire you & if you click on the "Announcements" button on the top line you'll find interesting (& in my case, slightly long-winded & chatty! 😝) biographies for the 17 designers who have designed blocks for this world-wide Stitchalong. It's interesting to see how similar so many of our stories, of how we came to design, really are. 😁 Make a cuppa & get comfy, though. 😜 Right ... The kettle is playing my song, so I'm signing off. Happy Mother's Day to all Mums (& I reckon to those of us who are aunties & fairy-godmothers, too! 😉) for this Sunday. Stay safe, stay well, keep stitching & keep smiling. 😁 Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Chilly Check In!

BRRRRRRRR! Hello lovely Bloggy peeps! I'm doing a chilly check in today after Autumn fastforwarded through May & winter arrived early ... EEP! 😱 You know how much I hate the cold, right?! Well ... We had been enjoying lovely autumn weather & temperatures of 15-27 degrees Celsius over the past few weeks when yesterday, a nasty cold front blew north from Antarctica to drop our day time max of 28 degrees to an overnight of 8 degrees!! It was a double doona night! And although the thermometer crept up to 14 today, the icy gale force winds created a 'feels like' temperature of 7 degrees. SIGH! I think it's time for this little teddy bear to go into hibernation. 😝

On the up side, the icky weather made it perfect to stay inside to do some design sketching, some social media catching up & some reading. Over on the Love & Hugs From Australia FB page you'll find that I'm the focus of today's "Meet The Designers" series, so if you haven't caught up with it yet, make yourself a cuppa (or an adult beverage since the sun is over the yardarm! 😜) & pop over for a read. You might learn something new about me. 😜 There are also photos starting to appear over there of finished LAHFA quilt tops that are well worth a peek. And if you're late to the Stitchalong party tap the files button at the top of the page & you should find the 17 blocks that have been gifted to the worldwide stitching community by our clever clogs group of designers.

Of course ... Most of us already have lots of projects on the go ... And it's that time of month when the lovely OPAMers need to update sidebar lists & email me tallies. With so many people self isolating, there should be a record number of finishes, shouldn't there?! 😜 How many finishes have you added to your list during lockdown? I've still been working at my grown up job as usual, but was happy to have a couple of finishes ...

Yep ... My Tilda versions of my "Feelin' Groovy" bags. There are still a couple of kits available for these at The Quilters Angel if you want to make your own. Steph & Marion have added HEAPS of patterns, fabrics, pre-cuts, kits & sewing supplies to their website  so make sure you check it out to keep stitching through the zombie apocalypse. 😜

And speaking of Steph & Marion, tomorrow (Saturday May 2) they have something exciting happening through their Quilters Angel Tribe, so hop across to their FB page HERE to join the tribe & join the fun.

But right now, I think it's time for me to play Polly & put the kettle on for a warming cuppa before I light the first fire for the year. Whatever you're up to this weekend, please stay safe, follow the government guidelines so we can end the zombie apocalypse sooner rather than later, keep stitching & keep smiling. 😁 Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS