I Do!

At about this time, 17 years ago, I was having my make up done and hair touched up for one of the most exciting days of my life ...

In a shady corner beside a trickling waterfall in a park in Dalby, Scott and I exchanged our wedding vows on a gorgeous spring day, September 19th, 1992.



I walked down the 'isle' to Brian Adams' song "Everything I do, I do it for you", after arriving in an open, horse-drawn carriage/dray. And after a very simple (and a little teary!) ceremony, we headed off to the reception via horse-drawn vehicle again.



The waistlines and the number of grey hairs (Scott, not me - yet!) may have grown over the 17 years, but so has the foundation of friendship and love on which our marriage is built, so all in all - I wouldn't change a thing! Well, OK, maybe I'd prefer my waistline to be more like these photos, but other than that...!! :0)

He's my best friend, confidante, cheer squad, lover, changer-of-lightbulbs, tech-support, handy-man, shopping-trip-pack-horse ... my husband!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, SWEETIE!!

Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Pics, Lunch & A Challenge!

As you can see from the title of this post, I've managed to fit a bit in today! :0) It's that warmer weather, see - suddenly I'm coming out of hibernation and getting stuff done! Tee! Hee! Hee!

OK, since you all enjoyed the photos from Stitchers Dream Day Out so much, I thought I'd tease you with a few more - that's just the kind of friend I am! :0) But I promise it won't be as long a post as last one. (I don't think!!) Alrighty ... first photo for today ...

This is the Sweet Treats Needle Case designed by Ella & Skysie - just look at all those stitching goodies!


This is the cute Recipe Keeper designed by Shelley Anne. This is all spread out, it actually folds in on itself so that lovely stitchery is the front of the folder and inside there's groovy pockets to pop recipes in.


When a friend hands you a piece of paper with that recipe you've asked for, now you can just slot it into the appropriate pocket. Isn't this a great idea - giftie suggestion here gals!!


This pretty table runner is almost too pretty to risk getting coffee spilled on it! This is another of Ella and Skysie's designs.


This is the gorgeous apron designed by Bronwyn to wear while stitching - put all those bits and bobs so necessary to stitchers in the little pockets and no more wasting valuable stitching time looking for the scissors!

Now some of you have been asking whether the patterns will be released as stand-alone patterns ... that's up to the designers, but the talented Shelley Anne has been quick off the mark and the patterns and samples for her cake holder (shown last post) and the recipe keeper are now at Quilters Angel, so you can certainly get stitching on those projects! I think I'm going to make a couple of recipe folders to give as Christmas gifties and slip a few fave recipes in the pockets. I'll keep an eye out during my visits to my home-away-from-home and as the patterns appear for sale, I'll let you all know. Of course ... that will mean making REGULAR visits to visit Marion and Steph so I stay up to date ... see what a dedicated friend I am! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And the reason I know Shelley Anne's patterns are at Quilters Angel already ... you guessed it ... I was there today after work - but it wasn't REALLY my fault! It's all Joy's fault! Tee! Hee! Hee! My blogging buddy and her beloved (another long-suffering, patient stitcher's husband for MY Beloved to sympathise with!!) were enjoying a little exploratory expedition in the area and climbed the hill to meet me for lunch at the Chocolate Cottage on the Village Green ... which just HAPPENS to be where Quilters Angel is! Isn't that amazing! :0) Did you just hear two husbands roll their eyes!! It was lovely to meet up with Joy again and meet Daryl in person after reading about some of his adventures on Joy's blog. The only problem was, we all had SUCH a good time chatting and laughing ... that I forgot to take a photo. Oops! I think I probably lose blogger brownie points for that. Ah well, I'll just have to convince Joy and Daryl to come up the hill again sometime for a re-run and a photo! :0) Thanks Joy and Daryl for a VERY enjoyable lunch date!!

And, as I pointed out (perhaps unnecessarily for those of you who visit me regularly!!) my home-away-from-home is RIGHT there at the Village Green, so I popped in to see how Marion and Steph had pulled up after the busy weekend. And would you believe it ... they were STILL running around like busy bees, because this coming weekend is Toowoomba's annual Carnival of Flowers and that means LOTS of bus groups visiting the Village Green and keeping the gals hopping! While I was there, Marion showed me some new fabrics that had just come in and been cut up into fat quarters. The range features several different print fabrics with sewing notions all over them. Now, I don't usually work much with these types of designed fabrics, but Marion gave me a little challenge to see what I could come up with using these three fabrics ...


Hmmm ... not my usual colours, though there IS some green in there. I've already got my thinking cap on, so I'll let you know what I come up with!

Before I go, if you haven't already caught up with an exciting new blog, go and check out ...

Nine clever-clogs designers have collaborated to offer bloggers some great give aways and a series of free patterns ... but you'll have to go and visit to find out all about it! Some of the designers are some of my blogging buddies, like Joy, Jenny, Vikki and Cheryl, but I'm looking forward to getting to know the rest at the gals, too. Pop across and congratulate them on their new venture and enjoy their generous offerings!

Well, that's about it for now - oh! Except to put out a call to ChrisS who was one of the winners of my "Fairy Bears & Butterflies" quilt pattern give away - please email me your snail mail, Chris, so I can pop your prize in the mail. And THAT'S it! Hmmm ... don't think it's QUITE as long as last post! :0) And now I'm off to have a cuppa before deciding what to cook for dinner! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Stitchers Dream Day Out '09!

Here I am, back to give you my report on the 2009 Stitchers' Dream Day Out ... well ... half of it, anyways, as it was a two day event and I only attended the first day! But I'm warning you now, this is going to be a LOOOOOONG post to cover all the fun - and make up for yesterday's shorty (hey, Chookyblue! Tee! Hee! Hee!) so grab yourself a cuppa and get comfy.

I spent a bit of time late last week sitting in the back room of my home-away-from-home helping Marion, Steph and the gals get ready for this year's SDDO - and even though we all worked hard, it was fun, too, to sit and chat while our hands were busy. OK, so SOME of our MOUTHS were busier than our HANDS ... but everything got done, right!! It was great to catch up with Linda, Cristina and Megan as they worked busily behind the scenes. And I just couldn't resist taking this photo of Marion's beloved helping transport the many, MANY balloons from the back room of the shop to the marquee ...

This was actually the second trip - on the first trip, Col took one too many balloons and needed help to get unstuck from the doorway! :0)

Now, after enjoying last year's event so much, my bestest buddy Lynette has been counting down with me almost since last September to be ready for SDDO '09 and she drove up the hill on Friday arvo so she could be up ready bright and early to head to the Village Green ... which we were!! Someone write this down ... For the first time in living memory, Kris and Lynette were ready ON TIME! YAY!! Tee! Hee! Hee! In case you hadn't guessed, we usually run a LITTLE behind ... not because we get caught up chatting ... oh no, not that! :0)

We arrived at the designated car park and found Col had put on his chauffeur's cap and was on hand to ferry ladies the couple of blocks back to the Village Green AND give us all a little adrenaline jolt for the morning with a ride in his classic V8 Kingswood. Aaaaahhhh ... the rumble of a well-tuned engine! Sorry, no photo of the Kingswood - too busy enjoying the ride! :0) Once we'd signed in, we were confronted with a dilemma ... should we choose one of these ...

... or one of these ...

... OR one of THESE ...

The most GORGEOUS chocolate, raspberry and white chocolate or sticky date flavoured cupcakes! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!! After much deliberation, I chose the raspberry and white chocolate while Lynette chose ...


... the sticky date flavour. Being the good buddies we are, we swapped a little taste of each, so we started the morning with a delicious sugar rush. We were READY TO STITCH!!!! The Stitching Angel herself, the Marvellous Marion, introduced our four designers for this year's SDDO ...


Ella from "Ella & Skysie", talented local designer Shelley Anne, my stitching hero Bronwyn Hayes of "Red Brolly Designs" and Debbie Magee of "Always Stitchin'". Is this photo a little fuzzy? It's no wonder, cos I was so excited I could hardly sit still!!

The theme for this year's SDDO was "Sweet Treats" (hence the yummy cupcakes for morning tea on arrival!) and the gorgeous projects designed by the four clever guest designers were certainly SWEET! Here are just a few ...


Isn't this cute!! It's a "Sweet Treats Sewing Case" designed by Debbie. All folded up like this, it looks like a little handbag, but it folds out flat into a wonderful sewing caddy.


This cutie is the "Sweet Treats Book Cover" designed by Ella & Skysie - you slip in an A5 notebook and it can either just be a pretty cover, or can turn a notebook into a recipe book for all those recipes you collect from friends.


This is a little sewing project bag designed by Bronwyn - it also has a cute bow and button on the other side.


This is the second of Debbie's designs and this 'sweetie' is called "Cupcake".


This isn't the most flattering photo of this clever design by Shelley - I was just a bit pushed for time and space to tie it up! This is a cake cover - it's large enough to sit a plate with a cake in the centre circle panel and the 'petals' all fold up and tie together in the middle (if you're not all thumbs and in a hurry!!) to protect the cake from being bumped when you're taking morning tea to a friend's place. Once you get there, you untie the top, lift the cake out, flip the flattened holder over and it looks like a flower in the middle of the table, where you once again sit the cake in the centre - told you it was clever!! Now these are just five of the ten designs these clever-clogs designers came up with for SDDO (Ella & Bronwyn got a little enthusiastic and each designed three!)

Then it was time to open our goody-boxes to see not only what goodies were in there (too many to list and all wonderful!) , but also which project kit we had received ...


Here's Lynette delving into her box! She really is a very good sport about being photographed whenever we go anywhere together! :0)

Now, for most people, this signalled the start of their STITCHING, but being a bit of a non-conformist (or just a big chatterbox!!!) I decided this was the time to SOCIALISE! Tee! Hee! Hee! And the first person I found to chat to was ...


None other than my blogging buddy Joy! It was SOOOOOOOOOOOO wonderful to get to meet up with Joy in person - and she's JUST like she seems on her blog - fun, chatty, GORGEOUS, with a great sense of humour - we did a LOT of giggling!!! I just KNEW we'd hit it off quickly as we had in blogland! And the best part is, it won't be long before Joy comes back up the hill for a playdate - YAY!!

The next person I met up with to chat with was the fabulous Rosalie who has done such a MAGNIFICENT job of machine quilting my "Fairy Bears & Butterflies" and "Butterfly Hunt" quilts for me - but I didn't get a photo of her! Oops, slipping there!! However, I DID get a photo of the next person I chatted with ... another Joy. My SDDO was just FILLED with JOY ...s!! :0) Joy was one of the fun ladies at the Girls' Getaway weekend Marion ran earlier in the year where I taught my "Girls Stuff Bags" design. Joy was the clever lady who was colouring her stitchery ... and she was using her finished bag to carry her sewing gear!!


Didn't she do a WONDERFUL job!! It was great to see that not only had she finished the bag begun at the Girls' Getaway, but that she was finding it useful - thanks Joy!!

Now ... the NEXT person I chatted to was a bit like me meeting the stitching equivalent of Jon Bon Jovi ... no she wasn't wearing tight leather pants and playing a guitar!! But she's my absolute FAVOURITE craft designer!!


Here's me, grinning like a star-struck groupie, with Bronwyn Hayes! She's such a lovely lady and explained things wonderfully in the little tutorials she gave us.

I did manage to sit down and do a bit of stitching after I'd finished my socialising - I received the kit to make "Cupcake" in my goody box, so you can be sure this is a project that WILL be finished - and then I can hang her in the lounge room beside MY cupcake dolly design - "Cupcake Katie". Actually, my "To Do" list is squealing at me today, cos I added ALL TEN of these wonderful projects to it! Tee! Hee! Hee! Here's a photo of everyone hard at chat ... I mean WORK!!

See where Col was taking the balloons?! :0)

All in all, Lynette and I had a FABULOUS time being part of the 2009 Stitchers' Dream Day Out! A huge

CONGRATULATIONS & THANK YOU!!

To Marion, Steph and their merry band of helpers (and even when things were busy and pushing deadlines, everyone WAS merry and working together as a team!!) for the MAGNIFICENT stitching event that was Stitchers' Dream Day Out for 2009!! And if you missed out on being part of this year's SDDO - make sure you get in nice and early with your booking and deposit for NEXT YEAR, cos it's going to be a beauty, too - we were given the heads up on the theme and the designers and Lynette and I will DEFINITELY be booking in again!!!!

PHEW!! Well, there you go, my report as promised and if you made it to the end, you probably need another cuppa, so go and put the kettle on! In the meantime, I'm off to work out what we're having for dinner. Til next time -

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Fairy Bears At The Bottom Of Your Gardens!

Now I know this will shock some of my regular visitors, but this will just be a quick post tonight to announce the winners of my "Fairy Bears & Butterflies Quilt" give away - it's been a BIG weekend here at the Meares' Madhouse and I'm starting to flag!!

Firstly, let me say a big

THANK YOU!!

to all of you who stopped by to leave a comment and join in the Fairy Fun - your positive feedback and the fact that you love my Fairy Bears as much as I do has been a wonderful encouragement to me. So ... without further ado, I'll announce the names of the two winners chosen by the random number generator thingy. The first winner is ...

CHOOKYBLUE!!

Congratulations! I bet your very own Fairy Girl will love having Fairy Bears to join her to play at the bottom of your garden!

And the second winner is ...

CHRISS

Congratulations to you, too! So if you gals would like to email me your snail mail addresses, I shall pop your prize patterns in the mail in the next couple of days so you can get stitching on them. Thank you all again for joining in the give away fun and telling me about your favourite fairy/fantasy stories - so much fun to hear from you all! And for those of you who weren't one of the lucky winners but would love to make your very own version of "Fairy Bears & Butterflies", you can buy it online now from my website or if you're in the Toowoomba area, you can pop in to Quilters Angel at Highfields to get your copy, as Marion has patterns and my original quilt on display.

And now, I'm a tired little teddy bear and am off to make myself a cuppa before heading off to bed. I'll be back tomorrow to tell you about my FABULOUS day at Stitchers Dream Day Out yesterday and share some photos - I just know you'll all be jealous you weren't there!! Tee! Hee! Hee! Til next time -

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Applique Hints From An Expert!

No, no, no ... NOT ME!! I am FAR from being an expert on ANYTHING (unless you go with my father's definition of 'Ex' the unknown quantity and 'spurt' a drip under pressure! Tee! Hee! Hee!) Lynette Anderson has started posting some VERY handy hints on blanket stitch applique on her blog and I thought I'd give you the heads up ... for those who haven't already discovered her wonderful blog!

Lynette has already shared two handy hints - a slight variation on the process of the blanket stitch that give smoother results and today's tip was how to get neater corners and curves. Now, I've been doing a bit of blanket stitch applique in the last few months working on shapes like this ...

This is, of course one of the Fairy Bears on my "Fairy Bears & Butterflies" quilt. I haven't tried Lynette's two-step stitch yet (but I intend to give it a whirl!) but after experimenting a bit myself, for the last few years I HAVE been stitching my corners and curves the same way Lynette does - which was a bit encouraging to me!! You see, I've always felt that by not doing it 'properly', I was fudging a bit, but instead, I find I'm on the same wavelength as one of Australia's best known and loved designers - YAY!! So if you're going to be blanket stitching, make sure you pop across and check our Lynette's tutorials - great step by step explanations and photos, really easy to follow!!

And don't forget, if you haven't already left a comment two posts ago, you have until Sunday night, Queensland time (Australian Eastern Standard) to tell me about your fave fantastical adventure book to go in the give away draw to win one of two copies of my "Fairy Bears & Butterflies" quilt. The lucky winners will be able to test out Lynette's tutorials when they make it! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And now, I'm off to cross off another sleep in my count-down to Saturday's Stitchers Dream Day Out at Quilters Angel! Oooooohhhh!! It's very exciting - I popped in to visit Marion today and preparations are in full swing, the marquee is up and last minute details are being seen to -

CAN'T WAIT!!! Just THREE sleeps, Joy!! Til next time,

Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS