Three days of fun and friendship!

That's what I've just enjoyed! I have been visiting my best friend Lynette in Brisbane for the last three days and we had a blast!! Now before going any further, I'll warn you that we packed a LOT into three days, so perhaps you'll need to make yourself a cuppa and get comfy before reading on!!

Now to continue ... I'm very pleased (and VERY proud!!!) to report back that after slaving over a hot sewing machine ...


Lynette finished her goal of making two bears - Duncan and Danae! Since this was her first attempt at making bears, I think she did a BRILLIANT job!! And I'm not just saying that cos I know she'll read this! Tee! Hee! Hee! See for yourself!


Don't they look great! I love the bright, funky colour combo of Danae's dance outfit. Lynette was (justifiably!) very pleased with herself, and she has a new appreciation for what I do, as she had sore fingers and hands by the end of two days stuffing bears and thread-jointing with a large doll needle that sometimes had a homing beacon for her fingertips! Lots of 'Ouch!' yelps! It led to her striking a dramatic pose and claiming she was suffering for her art! Tee! Hee! Hee! Yep, she's as silly as I am, how do you think we've stayed friends for almost 30 years!!

Now, you may recall in my last post I lamented the fact I had not completed my "To Do" list, which included finishing a couple of dolls. While Lynette was busy on the sewing machine, I was also hard at work - between issuing orders and instructions! I finished two more Cupcake Katie dolls - one as a surprise for Lynette (she knew I was giving them both away, just didn't realise one was to her!!) and the other to be delivered the next day - more about that in a moment! Here are the completed dollies.


The pink and green clad Katie is now living with Lynette, while the blue and pink Katie joined us for an adventure!

For a while now, I've been chatting via email and blogs with the Lovely Linda and Laura of Lilly Cottage and I was VERY excited to find their shop is in Brisbane - the opposite side of town to Lynette! However, being intrepid explorers and having come 2nd in our year 7 orienteering challenge (we'd have been first if a team of boys hadn't run the entire course!!!) Lynette and I decided to set out on a mission of exploration to visit Lilly Cottage. Step one: consult the refedex.


With directions in hand, off we went! The hour's drive went quickly, full of chatting and laughing, though anyone listening would have needed an interpreter for our shorthand conversations! We've known each other so long and are SOOOOO on the same wavelength, that we don't always finish sentences or fill in names because the other just KNOWS what is being said! And it's not unusual for one of us to say somthing out loud just as the other has opened their mouth to say the same thing! We joke about sharing a brain!! So ... an hour in the car - more opportunity for chats!

After a couple of 'scenic detours', we found Old Petrie Town, home of Lilly Cottage - and what a wonderful place!! There's a lovely, atmosphere in this little 'village' and though we didn't get to explore it all, we enjoyed the old buildings, gogeous tall trees - and managed to avoid troublesome wildlife! (You'll have to browse through the Lilly Cottage blog archives to find the stories behind that comment!!)

We soon spotted a sea of pink - Lilly Cottage! So out we hopped and were greeted with an enthusiastic hug from Linda!! How lovely!! And Laura made us feel just as welcome! While Linda popped the kettle on and Laura found some hot cross buns for morning tea (it is almost Easter, after all!!) Lynette and I had our first browse around Lilly Cottage. Lots of 'oohs' and 'aaahhs' and 'look at this!'. So many pretties!!!! Some were DEFINITELY going home with me - after morning tea!

The four of us found a nice spot in front of the shop and spent a very pleasant 2 1/2 hours chatting, laughing and drinking tea, with Lynda's Mum popping in and out to see what we were up to. I just love meeting people you immediately feel comfortable with and that's how both Lynette and I felt meeting Linda and Laura - similar interests, similar tastes, similar senses of humour and a taste for tea and buns - a sure recipe for new friendships!! Here we are enjoying morning tea.


You can see some of the pretties in the background! There were just tooooooo many items I wanted to take home with me. However, I did keep my promise of trying to be good and only bought a few goodies.


While this cupcake isn't to eat, it's so pretty I had to bring it home! It now has a home with my green and white Ashdene tea set, where it looks just right. And ...


I loved the delicate roses on this set, even though the cup had a little crack in it and I knew I didn't want to drink tea out of it because I wanted to sit my new little bear friend in it! Meet Pippin. I saw him on Linda and Laura's blog badly outnumbered by Easter bunnies, so thought I would adopt him and bring him home to live amongst the numerous others of his kind who live in every room of our house!!

We had the most WONDERFUL time with Linda and Laura at Lilly Cottage and I will definitely pop back whenever I can, not to mention continuing the online chatting with them both and enjoying updates on their blog! Thanks heaps, Linda and Laura - and Linda's Mum! - for your wonderful, warm hospitality and growing friendship!!! It will be even more fun to read Linda's blog entries and emails now that I can put personality and picture with the fun writing!!

I also left a little bit of myself behind (almost my bag of goodies when I visited the shop next door for a look!!) as I left the second Cupcake Katie shown earlier to keep Linda and Laura company at Lilly Cottage. While I didn't get a photo, Linda did, so I'm sure it will soon be on the her blog! Katie is a friendly dolly so I'm sure she'll settle in quickly and feel right at home amongst all of the prettties at Lilly Cottage!

So, then it was time to hit the road again, back to Lynette's place, where she surprised me with an early birthday present (birthday's next week!! Uh, oh another year older and a new age to try to remember!!)!!


It's such a pretty set - and I AM a green girl!! Lynette has been buying me the trio sets and the tea pot for my birthday and Christmas presents for the last couple of years - aren't I lucky!!! She also bought my lovely (and very handy!) plate stand that appears in lots of my photos. Yep, I'm spoilt!!! Thanks, Lynette!!!

But all good things must come to an end - so they tell me, though that seems very unfair!! And it was time to pack my port (bag, suitcase!!!) and head back up the range to my OTHER best friend (see "Two Best Friends For Valentine's Day"!), Scott and catch up on some sleep!! A household with three kids gets going MUCH earlier in the morning than I'm used to! Tee! Hee! Hee! Lynette and I agreed we had so much fun with this mini craft retreat that we will DEFINITELY have to plan more - Lynette is already starting to write a list of projects she'd like to tackle so stay tuned for the continuing adventures!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

See, I told you it would be a long post and you'd need a cuppa! However, it's me who needs a cup of tea now, so I shall sign off and go and admire my new pretties! Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Why do I do this to myself!!

I don't know about you, but I ask myself this question a LOT!! My mind says, "Yes, I'll have PLENTY of time to do that, so I'll just do this first!!" And of course, reality interferes and it all comes crashing down!! That's what I've done to myself today.

You see, I'm packing my bag and leaving Scott - for three days! Tee! Hee! Hee! Lynette's hubbie is off on a work trip and I'm heading off to Brisbane to keep her company and help even up the odds - it'll be two adults against three kids, instead of one against three!! (Still feeling a little like Custer at the Little Bighorn!!!)

The exciting part of this trip, is that we've planned it as a mini craft retreat. With three kids aged from 7-11 and all the associated after-school and weekend activities, not to mention working several shifts a week as a midwife working with premmie babies, plus all the house 'have-to-dos', Lynette doesn't really get a lot of time to tackle craft projects. Her last project was a cute primitive style stuffed pony who, due to lack of time, took almost a year to complete. He was known as the blind albino horse, as he was put together, but she hadn't got back to give him his eyes and Parisian essence colouring for ages! Tee! Hee! Hee! So, she's chosen a project (Duncan and Danae, one of my towelling bear patterns!!) and I'll help her get them finished over the two days - that's the plan!!

As a result, I made myself a mental list of things I needed to do before being away for three days. There were a couple of dolls to finish, a load of washing to be taken care of, a bag to be packed, requirements for our project to be rounded up and packed (along with most of my fabric stash - just in case inspiration strikes!!) an entry on my blog and the sewing room to be tidied. At the end of a day that seems to have gone past very quickly, I can only cross one thing off the list - the washing!!! Aaaaaaarrrrrgghhhh! Why do I DO this to myself!!

I'm not the neatest person in the world (did you just hear my mother hurting herself laughing at that understatement!!) but when I go away for a few days, I like to tidy up a bit before I leave, so I can come home and not have to worry about unexpected visitors disappearing should they venture off the basic track from door to chair. So, this is what my sewing room should have looked like by now.


And this ...


Instead, after a day of interruptions and side-tracking myself, this is what it still looks like ...


And this ...


Three explorers of the unknown ventured in and haven't been seen since!!! SIGH!! My mother says that somehow her 'tidy gene' skipped over me - she may be right, but I don't really see it as 'mess', more as 'Creative Clutter'! It's my story and I'm sticking with it!! Although I do feel sometimes that perhaps I should get one of those "Beware! Construction in Progress!" signs to put on the door.

The washing was successfully completed (no dramas in the laundry this time!! See "A Day of Little Surprises" if you want to know what I mean!!), the dolls are half made, so I'll take them with me to work on while Lynette creates her bears and I have done a new blog entry!! I guess fifty-fifty isn't a bad result - just don't tell my mother!!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Now those of you who are very observant (or now scroll back up to check what I mean!!) will have noticed that I said I was going away for THREE days, but said Lynette and I hoped to complete her project in TWO. This still leaves a day unaccounted for. Well, let me tell you what that day will involve - I will get to meet one of my new blogging friends IN PERSON!! Linda from Lilly Cottage and I have been chatting back and forth, reading each other's blogs and admiring each other's taste in craft and decorating (we've discovered similar taste in most things!!) for a few weeks now and I was excited to find that she and HER best mate run their shop in Brisbane. So ... can you fill in the blanks?!?! I'm taking MY best buddy to meet Linda and HER best buddy on day number three and we're planning lots of tea and talk or coffee and chats!! I'm very excited about meeting Linda and Laura and drooling over the goodies in their shop that have been teasing me from my computer screen! Oops! That thump was Scott fainting of shock - again!! Tee! Hee! Hee! He's always a little scared when Lynette and I organise our 'play dates' and the news that we were hitting Lilly Cottage made him shudder harder, as he's decided it sounds very dangerous to our budget! I'll try to be good - promise!! But even if I can't be good, I'll definitely report back on our visit when I get back.

Well, I'd best be away before I get even further behind - if that's possible! Hope your day has been a little more productive than mine! Til next time, Bear Hugs!!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Kerryanne made me cry!!

That's right, Kerryanne English of Shabby Art Boutique made me cry today - but they were happy tears! You see, I had popped out to Quilters' World (Scott says I should just move in there and be done with it!!) to get some fabric that I'll need for projects I'm intending to work on over the weekend. When I got back, I opened the front door to let in some fresh autumn air - and there was a box on my front verandah. With my birthday in just under two weeks, I thought one of my family members or friends had got REALLY organised and sent a gift early, so happily picked it up and took it inside. It was only then that I noticed the "Fragile" sticker, along with a Woodberry Designs label.


"That's funny!" I thought to myself, "I don't think I've indulged myself with more of Kerryanne's goodies recently." So, being the inquisative sort, I opened the box.


As Alice in Wonderland would say, "Curiouser and curiouser!" It looked far too pretty to unwrap! Then I found the note. It was from Kerryanne to say she had sent me a 'just because' gift!! What a wonderful person!!! Oooohhhh! I LOVE surprises!! So, I carefully unwrapped the pressie to find ...


Three of Kerryanne's GORGEOUS full size cupcakes!! And THAT'S when I cried!! You see, when I ordered my sweet mini cupcakes from Kerryanne, I confessed to her that I was also lusting after her full size cupcakes, but the play money just wouldn't stretch far enough at the moment, so I was putting them on my "Wish List". Not only did she remember, she sent colours that match perfectly with the mini cupcakes I bought! Uh oh!! Where's a tissue! What a wonderful, thoughtful gesture! Thank you Kerryanne - you're as sweet as a cupcake!!!

After I got through my sentimental sniffling, I had to rearrange a corner of my lounge room to best display my new sweeties! I found a pretty rose decorated cake plate (how appropriate!) that fits perfectly onto my plate stand. Take a peek at the result!


This is now my little shrine to Kerryanne's talent! Tee! Hee! Hee! Actually, this corner of the lounge room sums up most of my addictions - bears, pretty tea cups, craft and cupcakes!! And lets not forget friendship!! Though Kerryanne and I have never met in person, we're growing a friendship via the internet and emails and she has been a fantastic encouragement to me. Uh Oh! Need more tissues!!! While I get a tissue, enjoy a close up look at my lovely collection of Kerryanne's faux cupcakes! Don't they just look good enough to eat!!!


I also had a giggle at the notepaper Kerryanne had used. It shows a rather curvaceous lady (Like me, the sand in her hourglass figure has all sunk to the bottom!!) who looks like she's having one of my 'bad hair' days and she is surrounded by cupcakes with the wording, "I need cupcakes NOW!" Tee! Hee! Hee! I'm with her!! It reminds me of a funny saying I saw a while back that said, "Somewhere inside me there is a skinny woman trying to get out - but I can usually subdue her with 6 cupcakes, a block of chocolate and a Latte!"

So ... today, I am thankful for new friends - even when they make me cry! Thank you so much, Kerryanne, for your generous, thoughtful gift! I can see I'm going to spend even more time curled up in the lounge room, stitching and gazing at my goodies from Shabby Art Boutique! And she probably won't even get my 'thank-you' for a little while, because she's taking a well-earned holiday!! Think of all the new creative ideas she'll come home with! If you haven't already popped into Kerryanne's sweet on-line world, you really should and prepare to drool!!

Kerryanne also sent a 'Hello!' from Cupcake Katie who recently went to live with her. Kerryanne said that she has a place picked out in her shabby chic attic room for Katie to move into - just as soon as her folk art students will let her take Katie out of the studio! Tee! Hee! Hee! She's a very friendly doll and likes to chat - a bit like her creator!! Oops!!

Anyways, I hope your day has been as full of 'sweet surprises' as mine has!! Hmmm, I suddenly feel the need for a cup of tea - must be all the talk about cupcakes! Tee! Hee! Hee! Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Uh Oh!!!

Those who've read the previous post will know I spent the weekend catching up with my cousin and meeting her little boy for the first time. Well, one of his most-used sayings was, "Uh oh!". This could mean he'd been caught doing something wrong, or knocked something over, or lost something, or fell over when his feet got ahead of him or ... are you getting the feeling we heard this saying rather frequently over the weekend?!?! It was very cute and funny.

Well, like Blake I have to say, "Uh Oh!". You see, I did something I said I wouldn't do - I started a new quilt before finishing one of my UFO's!!! "Uh Oh!!!" Tee! Hee! Hee! It's all Lynette Anderson's fault! I regularly pop in to catch up with her via her blog and this week saw her start a free Block of the Month (BOM to those in the know!!) through her blog. Each month, she will have the next block available for free download, along with instructions and stitch guides - all you need to get stitching. Now, usually, I could even have passed that up because I have promised myself I wouldn't start any more quilts, but she found one of my weaknesses - a Noah's Ark theme! Lynette has already shown a few sneaky peeks of some of the blocks on her blog and I'm hooked! Plus, they are a nice small block, so easily achieved. In fact, after deciding to be bad and go for it, I traced, stitched and attached borders easily in an afternoon. Here is the first Block.


I've made a few little changes to Lynette's original suggestions for borders (I wanted the finished quilt to be a bit bigger!) and colours (at 5.30pm when the shops are all shut you use whatever coloured threads you already have in your stash!!), but you get the idea. My biggest dilemma now is that I have to wait a whole nother month before I get the next block! Oh no!!!

So, if you're looking for a nice, quick, simple, portable project to tackle that will also help you use up some of the smaller fabric scraps and off-cuts in your stash, why not pop in to Lynette's blog to say g'day and get your copy of her wonderful BOM - tell her Kris sent you!!! It will have no special effect, but I've always wanted to say that!!! Tee! Hee! Hee! Uh Oh!!

Hope you've had a "Yay!" rather than an "Uh Oh!" kind of day! Til next time,

CHEERS!
KRIS

On the road again ...

Well, after a rather busy weekend, I feel like I should have been singing Willy Nelson's song "On the road again..." cos it feels like that's where I spent most of my weekend! You know how you have really quiet periods where you don't see many people and don't have any social events on - and then all of a sudden you have a week where you have at least two or three things on every day? Well, that was our weekend!

We began the weekend with pretty good intentions - Saturday morning was to be spent doing a few chores around the house before throwing a few things in a port (bag or suitcase for all non-Queenslanders!!) to leave home by 3.30pm to travel half an hour to Crows Nest where there was to be a surprise party for Scott's youngest sister, Kylie. We were also staying there the night before heading further north the next morning - but more about that in a moment! So ... here we were with all our good intentions, until we decided (read "Kris decided!") that Scott needed a haircut before a weekend of family festivities, so off we toddled to the closest shopping centre. Scott dutifully headed for the hairdresser while I went in search of shoes. Well ... I found a gorgeous pair of shoes.


Scott's haircut? Not quite so successful! Oh, it was CUT alright!!! Way shorter than I like ... but I digress! And so did we! Instead of heading home to finish the chores and pack, we kept bumping into people (and apologising! Tee! Hee! Hee!) who we hadn't seen for ages, so went from chat to chat. And then it was lunch time ... so we decided to eat at the food court. Oh dear! Time's ticking away!

We finally made it home and I finished my list of chores and packing (my bag AND Scott's!) and my beloved was still working his way through the much shorter list he had! Of course, one of the tasks was bathing Wombat (the brainless-but-loveable Border Collie, not the native marsupial!) and that is always a long process because although Wombat loves chasing the water from the hose or swimming, he doesn't like getting a bath!! I can only put it down to male logic! So the bath process has to be interrupted by frequent water games to keep him happy. (Note to all wondering about us wasting water to bath the dog - we have a rain water tank - so Wombat's coat is lovely and soft and shiny now! Tee! Hee! Hee!)

Finally, however, we hit the road and drove the half hour to Crows Nest, where we booked into our caravan park cabin - discovering as we drove to our spot that Scott's sister and husband were just two cabins down from us! That may sound like a good thing until you remember this was to be a surprise party - it could seriously blow the surprise if Kylie decided to go for a walk and recognised our car!! However, her hubby kept her away from our end of the cabins and she was completely surprised when an hour later she was confronted by a couple of dozen family members and friends singing happy birthday to her. She cried - and I chose to believe they were happy tears and not a commentary on our singing!! Tee! Hee! Hee! A lovely night was had by all and I would include a photo of Kylie with her birthday cake - or doing anything birthday-related, except I gave Scott the camera and he takes a little more abstract view of photography than me ... so there are no close-up, not-fuzzy photos of Kylie!! He did however, take a great photo of his nephew, Kylie's oldest son, Rohan, with a party sparkler.


The next morning saw us rise and shine (well, one out of two ain't bad!!) and hit the road again to head for Bargara, near Bundaberg (the town, not the rum!) to my Grandmother's place - no Little Red Riding Hood jokes please!! You see, one of my cousins from Western Australia was in QLD to show off her almost-two year old son, Blake, who is the first (and to date, only!) great-grandchild in our family. Mum and Dad travelled from Mundubbera and we headed north so we all converged for a couple of days of catching up. Although she was very pleased to see us all, at 85 Grandma is quite used to her quiet life and was frequently heard counting down the hours until we all left so she could take a little nap to recover from all the excitement!

We all had a wonderful time, chatting, eating, laughing at Blake's antics, chatting, eating ... I think you can see the pattern of the weekend's activities! Blake is a real cutie, but he's like the Energiser Bunny - he just goes flat out until the batteries go flat, has a power nap, then gets up and goes again! He reminded me of a cartoon, where the character's little feet and legs are going 100 miles an hour and they're staying on the spot - even if he wasn't actually moving forward, Blake was on the move. To demonstrate, check out this photo.


This was the clearest photo we could get of Blake and Grandma together - the camera wasn't quick enough to catch him! Tee! Hee! Hee! Although, we did manage to get him to stay a little bit still for this group photo.


That's me, Grandma (who was looking at the other camera!) Tara and Blake when we hit the local tavern for a yummy lunch. Then, it was time for goodbyes and we hit the road - again!! We had a wonderful weekend, but boy were we pleased to get home and crawl into our very own bed last night!

I'd like to say we're now going to settle in for some of the quiet weeks that should be the buffer between the busy bits - but looking at my calendar, I don't think that's going to be the case!! Oh dear, better go have a cup of tea to re-charge my batteries! It's as good an excuse as any! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Whether your weekend involved as many kilometers travelled as ours did or was a nice, quiet, stay-at-home one, I hope it was enjoyable! Til next time,

CHEERS!
KRIS