Stitchin' Away!!

I know ... I've been a bit quiet again blog-wise ... though I HAVE managed to hop around to visit some of my blogging buddies in the last few days, so that should count, right?!?! :0) This week's been a bit busy with my boss back from two weeks' holiday and we're playing catch up ... you know how it goes! :0) I HAVE, however, managed to fit in some stitchin' time. I can't show you ... YET! ... but Lavender Lil is FINISHED!! And if I do say so myself ... she is seriously CUTE!! :0) She'll be making her way to "Handmade" for an issue later in the year ... stay tuned and I'll let you know which issue ... as soon as I know, that is! :0)

The other stitching I've been plugging away at has been on a project I started before Christmas that got interrupted by the Christmas stitching. Do you remember this sneaky peek??

Well ... with a bit more stitching ... quite a LOT more stitching in fact! :0) It now looks like this ...

The quilting has been done, I just have to find time to cut the binding to attach ... maybe on the weekend. I've enjoyed working with the yummy "Pure" fabrics ... not my usual colour palette, but fun to challenge myself a bit and work outside my usual square. :0) I've also been doing some stitching on a companion project for this new pattern ...

Gimme a "T"!! Don't you love the chocolate brown with the icy blue? And ...

Gimme an "O"!! Hmmm ... what do you think I'm cooking up??? I'm going to keep you in suspenders a little longer! Tee! Hee! Hee! I promise all will be revealed soon ... I PROMISE! :0)

But right now, my poor tired little eyeballs are starting to droop out of their sockets, so I'm off to keep a date with my pillow ... we seem to have only a passing relationship these days ... we may need counselling! Tee! Hee! Hee! If I didn't have to sleep, I could get so much more done! Ah well ... off I go to climb into my jim-jams. Hope your week is ticking along as productively as mine is! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

Saturday Swap Meet - Woo! Hoo!!

For the last few years in Toowoomba, February sees a HUGE Swap Meet/Collectibles Fair held at the showgrounds and it's been getting bigger and BIGGER! Last year, I told you how we'd had to walk for over a kilometre ... just to get from the car park to the fair!! This year we ummed and ahhed about whether we'd go. I say "WE" but it's actually a bit like the "Royal WE" cos my Beloved Geek Boy would happily skip it altogether!!! :0) Last year was HOT!! I mean REEEEEEEAAAAAAALLLLLYYYY HOT!!! We baked our little selves and vowed we wouldn't do that again. With our last fortnight of temps hovering around the 30-32C mark (hot for Toowoomba when combined with the icky humidity!!) it didn't look like we'd be heading to the showgrounds, but today dawned cloudy and a little cooler. With a bit of arm-twisting, GB said we'd head out for a look. WOO! HOO! Swap Meet and Collectibles - what's not to like about that!!! :0)

We were ecstatic to find that there were fewer exhibitors this year ... that may sound strange, but it meant we could park in the TOP carpark which didn't involve walking kilometres just to get to the gate - WOO! HOO! We found a park, paid our entry fee and walked in to look down on ...

This was down in the main arena - I couldn't get a very clear shot of the pavilions etc ... too many people to dodge! :0) I'll also add that we didn't go down into the arena cos it was mostly vintage machinery and cars ... which would NOT fit in the hatchback of our little Festiva! (Though Linda will vouch that a cast iron table will!! Tee! Hee! Hee!)

I had a lovely time looking at all the pretties, oohing over lovely china, aahhing over vintage linen, but I was a VERY good girl (by MY standards anyway, though I'm sure my Mother wouldn't agree! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and only bought a few little treasures ...

... a pretty cross-stitched tablecloth on gorgeous ecru linen ... looks so fresh and pretty! I love vintage linens, but especially ones with cross stitch designs in these pretty spring colours. I also bought a couple of pieces of green Depression Glass for my small-but-growing collection and a couple of unusual and harder to find pieces of pink Depression Glass for my bestest-buddy-since-we-were-nine Lynette, who has just started her collection, too. Lynette's pieces are a late birthday gift for her ... from November! :0) She and I have an understanding that we don't just buy each other a gift so it arrives on the day ... we will often take our time to find just the right thing for each other. I think she'll agree it was worth the wait! :0) And here's my little collection in its new home ...

And my Shabby Hearts are back from their photo shoot for an upcoming issue of "Handmade". I've missed the splash of colour there. :0)

Lynette found the little sweets dish on the left and the sandwich plate in the centre for me for Christmas. You can see that my new treasures look just right with them. :0) And you can't have a collection without a bear or two to keep an eye on things, right?! Tee! Hee! Hee! Aren't the Geisha Girl flowers pretty? I have so much trouble with my Geisha Girl plants ... they grow huge amounts and just when I think I'll trim them back so people can get up our front steps ... they flower and I don't have the heart to chop them back! :0) So if you come to visit ... bring a machete! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Well, that's what I've been up to this Saturday and I'm about to head back into the sewing room to play and listen to the sound of rain on the roof ... the storm is finally breaking and hopefully it will decrease the nasty humidity. So ... what are YOU up to this Saturday??? Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

Gone Surfin'!!

WOW! I just realised how long it's been since I popped in to chat to you all ... not sure where the last week has disappeared to! It seems this year is going to fly by in an even quicker blur than last year ... EEK! I'm in TROUBLE! Tee! Hee! Hee!

I do have a really good excuse for being absent for a few days ... well, I'm ALWAYS a little absent, but this time I mean absent from blogland! :0) I've been surfing ... not on the web (way behind with visiting my blogging buddies!!), not at the beach (this podgy body was NOT meant for hangin' ten!!!) ... I've been surfing a CREATIVE WAVE! You know ... one of those lightbulb moments when all of the odd little things you've been mulling over for a while suddenly come together into a clear project? Well, that happened to me this week after weeks of wracking my brain for a project to fit a particular theme for an upcoming issue of "Handmade" magazine ... EUREKA!! I headed for the sewing room ... which is no longer neat! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Here's the creative clutter littering my ironing board at the moment. Some pretty felt, a bit of yummy lace, tape measure to check ... well ... measurements, oddly enough! :0) ... some soft coloured fabric and my rainbow-in-a-box of embroidery threads. Add them all together and you get ...

... a sneaky peek! Tee! Hee! Hee! You didn't REALLY think I was going to show you the finished project, did you??? It's got to stay a Secret Squirrel surprise for a while longer! :0) I CAN tell you that a new Tag Along Teddies teddy has been born ... I'm proud Mama Bear to a little felt cutie whose name is Lavender Lil. And that's all I'm going to tell you for now ... you'll just have to wait til later in the year to see her in all her finished glory. I know ... I'm such a TEASE! :0) But you love me! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Other than playing in the sewing room, I've spent a little bit of time out at Quilters' Angel with Marion and Steph, to see how the quilt drive for the flood victims from our local region is going. Last I heard (there's been another couple of sewing sessions after I chatted to Marion last) there were over 60 tops and finished quilts in the pot! How FANTASTIC is that! Well done to Marion and Steph for the HUGE amount of work and effort they've put into the Quilt Drive (I know all about those after-shop-hours prep sessions they've been having to keep things running along!!) and congrats to all the lovely stitchers who've donated fabric, wadding, quilts, kits and their time to help make this heart-warming initiative possible. I just know that these quilts will mean so much to their eventual new owners.

The other thing that took a bit of my time this week was some behind the scene work on OPAM. If you take a peek at my sidebar, you'll see that I've got the full list of participants up there now, so if you signed up, but your name isn't there, drop me an email and I'll sort it out. Also, if you could check your link to make sure I haven't had a "Space Walk" moment (Mr Squiggle reference for those who grew up in Australia in the 70's! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and that your link works properly. The final sign up tally this year is ...

157!
Woo! Hoo! A few less than last year, but that's OK, cos not only do Peg and I have a few less blogs to hop around at the end of each month, we had a few people last year sign up, but not follow through, so I'm sure that the slightly lower number means all you gals are ready to STITCH and tackle your "To Do" lists with gusto! :0) If you haven't already done so, make sure you pop the OPAM 2011 button on your sidebar with a link back to Peg or me and pop a list on there of your finishes. If you're having any problems with either of those things, just drop me an email and we'll sort it out.

But right now ... I'm grabbin' my figurative surfboard and heading back into the sewing room ...

KOWABUNGA, DUDES!!!

Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

Blogging Buddy Bonanza!!

In the three and a bit years I've been blogging, I've made some wonderful blogging buddies! We comment back and forth on each other's blogs and email, even the odd phone call keeps us in touch. And if we're VERY lucky ... we manage to arrange  'in person' play dates! :0) I've now met quite a few blogging buddies 'in person' and it is always so much fun!! It's fabulous to spend time together (often at the Village Green for coffee and a visit to my home-away-from-home! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and even better to find that after an hour or so, you feel like you've been friends forever. :0)

Well ... last week for me was a BLOGGING BUDDY BONANZA!! In the space of three days, I met up with FOUR blogging buddies! How cool is THAT! :0) Now, this could take a while to recount, so you'd better grab a cuppa, Chookyblue, and maybe come chocolate to tide you over til the end! Tee! Hee! Hee!

 My round of social engagements (sounds a bit posh, doesn't it! Tee! Hee! Hee!) began on Friday. I headed out to see Marion and Steph at the Quilters' Angel (AKA my home-away-from-home!) to see if I could help with the quilt drive they're co-ordinating for victims of the flooding in our local region. Can I say there was a FULL HOUSE of people out there helping! In fact, Marion told me she'd had to start taking bookings for people to come and help because there just wasn't enough room in the work room to fit everyone who wanted to help! Crafters are the BEST, aren't they!! :0) Now it happens that one of those merry crafters playing in the back room was Fiona from Bubzrugz. Fee is a Toowoomba area local too, but somehow we'd managed to not bump into each other until a mutual blogging buddy, the lovely Rosey, clued us in. It was lovely to chat with Fee and she's got some photos of the busy quilting bees on her blog ... including one of yours truly sitting at the naughty table! Tee! Hee! Hee! A position I'm VERY well acquainted with! :0) I on the other hand was busily removing staples from swatch samples and forgot to take a pic - OOPS! :0)

Now, the meet up with Fee was a bit of a happy coincidence ... us both being mad stitchers wanting to help with Marion's Quilt Drive, but I had been emailing back and forth for a week or so with Maree at Farmyard Crafts to line up a time for us to catch up in person for the first time. Talk about a small world ... Maree went to school with one of my Beloved Geek Boy's sisters, recognised my surname when I commented on someone else's blog and we've been chatting back and forth ever since! :0) Maree and her beloved John and their kids were passing through Toowoomba on their way to the beach, so we met up for a lovely lunch ... so lovely in fact, that neither of us remembered to take a photo! BLUSH! What bad bloggers we are! :0) I had a wonderful time chatting with Maree ... it felt like we'd known each other for years and she enjoyed hearing the Meares family news. She also made a very generous donation of a complete quilt kit to Marion's Quilt Drive before she headed off ... Thanks for the catch up and your generous donation, Maree!! :0)

That was Friday ... On Saturday, GB and I threw a few things into an overnight bag and headed off down the range, which had only been re-opened a few days earlier after the flooding. Our main range crossing was down to one lane each direction (when will the silly government work out we really do need that second range crossing!!) due to landslides and washouts, so it was a VERY slow trip down, but we were then able to take a few backroads to head off to visit the Lovely Lilly Linda and her beloved hubby Tim and their kids on their island. What fun! We always enjoy catching up with Linda and Tim!! The boys talk 'boy stuff' and Lilly Linda and I stitch to our hearts' content! Tee! Hee! Hee! That was blogging buddy number three for the weekend ... on Sunday, we headed off to Old Petrie Town where Linda shares a cute cottage shop with two other crafters for the Sunday markets. If you haven't visited Old Petrie Town you really should! It's a lovely spot to visit any time, but the Sunday market was extra fun ... just don't ask the boys ...

They seemed to spend quite a lot of the day like this! Tee! Hee! Hee! Linda and I, on the other hand had a ball! :0) And what did I buy? Well ... an old table and an old table cloth! Tee! Hee! Hee! Doesn't sound very appealing, does it ... let me show you ...

It's definitely seen better days, but I'm going to have it sandblasted and powder coated to spruce it up and then it will live in my garden. Somewhere for the faeries who live there to have picnics. :0) And the tablecloth ...

It's actually a lovely vintage cotton table cloth (bit hard to see the detail cos the flash washed it out) ... a very good sized one that was in good condition - I just LOVE vintage linens and laces! :0) And after browsing the other shops and stalls, we headed back to Coutes Cottage where Linda, Rosey and Renata display and sell their pretties. Renata wasn't there, but, Rosey was ...

Here we are ... three blogging buddies! :0) Rosey also very kindly gave me one of her crafty items to pop into the prize pool for OPAM this year - Thanks Rosey! Don't we all look GAWJUS, as another blogging buddy Joy-Belle would say! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So ... how do you finish a fabulous day when you're on an island? Fish and chips for lunch overlooking the water! :0) Although ... we DID notice a big difference from our last visit. This was the main bridge onto the island on our last visit ...

Look at that blue water! And this time ...

EEEEEEEEWWWW!! Icky brown water! This is from the flood runoff and I think it will probably stay pretty icky for a while to come. Still ... the company was wonderful and we had a fabulous break away. Thanks for a fun weekend visit, Linda and Tim!! Can't wait til we get together again for our next play date! And thanks to Fee, Maree and Rosey for the catch-ups, too.

This weekend has been a quiet one at home and I even managed to spend some time in my sewing room ... and haven't messed it up again TOO much! :0) This is what I was playing with ...

My yummy Rural Jardin layer cake I treated myself to last year. I got very brave and chopped it up, sewed a bit and this is what it looks like now ...

I had originally thought that the fabrics are so pretty that all I would do from this point would be to add a narrow inner border and a wider scalloped outer border ... but my brain has been ticking over and I have an idea for some applique. No wonder I take so long to finish projects ... I can never seem to keep them SIMPLE! Tee! Hee! Hee! Do I do it and take a while longer to finish it, or do I keep it simple and just enjoy the fabrics??? Decisions, decisions! :0) What do you think?? Stay tuned and I'll tell you when I decide! :0)

I also spent some time adding people to the OPAM 2011 sign up spreadsheet ... still a few places left and after chatting to Peg today, we've decided that sign up will close when we reach 200 sign ups or by February 1 ... whichever comes first! :0) Once that happens, Peg and I will both add the full list of OPAM 2011 participants to our sidebars so you can all start popping in to visit and encourage each other - it's a great way to 'meet' new blogging buddies and who knows ... you may end up having a weekend like I had last week! :0) If you've sent either Peg or I an email to sign up to be part of the OPAM fun, but haven't yet received a "Welcome To OPAM 2011" email ... please let Peg or me know and we'll check that you're on the spreadsheet and send a copy of the letter, as it has a few important details for you.

The other decision Peg and I made today was that we won't do a January end of month draw, because we're still adding names and people are getting themselves set up with buttons and lists etc. Instead, we'll have a double-whammy draw at the end of February ... Peg and I will each draw out three prize winners from the finishes for January and February, so get stitching/knitting/crocheting and don't forget to update your sidebar lists of finishes as we go along! :0) Thanks to the lovely ladies who have already started to send their January finish numbers through to me - so very much appreciated! :0)

PHEW!!! I think I'm all caught up again now! How did you go ... did you need TWO cuppas to get through it all?! Like my sewing projects, my blog posts never seem to stay simple ... or SHORT! Tee! Hee! Hee! I just talk too much! :0) But I'll sign off for now and wish you all a very good week. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

AAAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! Technology!!!

Technology is a wonderful thing ... SOMETIMES!! Today, it is NOT my friend!!! SIGH! As those of you who have already signed up for OPAM are no doubt gathering from failed links, several emails from me, Patient Peg or my Beloved Geek Boy ... OPAM has been experiencing some technical issues this afternoon!!! So, hopefully (fingers and toes crossed!) this post will help sort them out. Peg and I had NO troubles adding out new OPAM 2011 logo link the other day ... be something seemed to happen in the meantime!!! EEK! So, here's some step-by-steps from GB to add the button link to your sidebar.

This is partly my mistake, too ... though it did take GB a while to pick it up! :0) You need to add it as a PICTURE and follow the steps below ... NOT as a HTML/JAVA SCRIPT element as I put in the welcome email ... sorry about that! BLUSH!!

1 . Click on "Add a Gadget"

2. Click on "Picture"

 

3. Paste the button link into the "From The Web" box, add a link to my blog or Peg's blog in the link window in this same element and save.

You can then drag and place this gadget anywhere you like in your sidebar as you would for any other buttons. If you're still having problems, email me and GB will be put on the job of solving the problem! :0)

PHEW!!! Hopefully that sorts it out! So very sorry for all the mucking around ... my poor brain is fried and I think I need to go have a cup of tea and a lie down! :0) There are still some places left, so if you're wanting to join the OPAM 2011 craziness and fun ... read the post below and email me or Peg! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

PS. To those bloggers who HAVEN'T signed up for OPAM 2011 but have received emails ... sorry about that! GB started to sent the fix-it email to LAST year's OPAM list rather than THIS year's. Sorry for any confusion. BH! KRIS