Productive Procrastination!

Yes ... The Queen Of Procrastination has been holding court again here at the Meares' Madhouse. I have a sample to finish and instructions to write, so what have I been doing ... NEITHER of those things! Tee! Hee! Hee! Yesterday was to be my 'big' sewing catch up day ... day off work, nothing planned, no other commitments ... lots of sewing would be achieved. THEN ... my buddy Lynda asked if I wanted to head to Spotlight with her. Well ... it would have been RUDE not to go to keep her company, right?! :0) And since Spotlight is on the opposite side of town to where we both live and both of us rarely visit that part of town, we decided to make the most of the trek and hit a couple of other shops along the way home.

OK ... so ... no worries ... all afternoon to stitch in front of some of my favourite 80's television programs (have discovered "Knight Rider" and "The A Team" on new digital channel! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and the whole night in front of yet more fave viewing ... "Escape To The Country" and "60 Minute Makeover". Are you guessing where I'm heading with my story?? My Beloved Geek Boy finally made it home from work at about 6:15pm and immediately asked how I felt about taking a ride in the country. Huh?!?!? It seems he'd received a call from his parents whose car had broken down an hour and a half from home and needed a tow. SIGH! No stitching ... helped mount the rescue effort and since the return trip had to be done at 50km/hour it was a LOOOOOOOOONG night! We finally tumbled into bed just after 2am! Who said it was KIDS who cause your headaches as you get older?!?! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So ... today the ol' concentration hasn't been what it should be when attempting to write instructions ... that make sense!! ... so I've been procrastinating, but in a productive way. Three more tea wallets finished to add to the Christmas basket ...

A couple are earmarked for specific recipients and the other is a 'just in case' giftie that I usually try to have on hand around Christmas to add to other gifties or to reciprocate unexpected gifties. Now, I can't show you the other stitching I've been working on ... YET! But, do you remember these delicious fabrics I bought from Marion a little while ago?

They're from the latest "Pure" range and I've come up with a new pattern design using them and I am SOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED about it!!! I'm loving how it's coming up ... the more I stitch, the happier I am with it! I know, I'm a meanie teasing you with how happy I am with it and then telling you I'm not gonna show you ... yet ... but I will share a sneaky peek with you to make up for it ... ready??

Yep ... to quote a favourite childhood TV show ... "There's a bear in there ..."! :0) Do you love that pretty blue fabric with white hearts and daisies as much as I do?? I think it's my absolute FAVE of this range ... I wish they'd done it in LOTS of colours! :0)

OK ... so that's what I've been up to as I put off finishing the sample and instructions for the project I'll be teaching next weekend at the Creative Craft Retreat. Yes ... I am a BAD girl ... but it's been FUN! :0) And it's not as if I've WASTED the time ... right?! SIGH! OK ... I promise to be good tomorrow and get back to what I SHOULD be doing. Hope you're all having a lovely weekend, whether you're following through your planned itinerary, or like me, procrastinating and puddling your way through the weekend! :0) Don't forget OPAMer's ... it's the end of the month tomorrow, so make sure you update your sidebar finishes lists and email Peg or me with the number of finishes you've had this month. Ooh ... and watch out for faeries, cos October 31st is one of their travelling days! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

How Does Your Garden Grow?!

This last weekend, we had a minor miracle here on top of our hill ... it was mostly SUNNY for the WHOLE weekend!! YAY!! Washing was dried on the line - nothing quite like that 'sunny' smell to clean clothes and towels - and my Beloved Geek Boy and I headed out into the yard to bravely hack through the jungle of weeds and unearth our poor neglected garden ... which we did in spades! :0)

You might remember a while ago I showed you where GB had started to give our pond a makeover ...

Well it's all finished and looking rather schmicko ... if I do say so myself! :0) We have a system in our garden ... I design them, Scott does the heavy digging and lifting to get the structure in place, I plant, mulch and maintain them ... it's a pretty good system! :0) So here's what the pond looks like now ...

Bit different, hey! Here's a bit closer look ...

The waterfall has been re-configured, the new poly pond has been disguised with some great bluestone rocks that were in the yard when we bought the house (about the only part of the original yard we've kept besides the gum tree!!) some gorgeous sandstone rocks are now keeping the garden where it should be, there are some pretty new plants, the existing plants have been thinned, trimmed and everything has been mulched with sugarcane mulch. I even managed to find a spot for my terracotta pot that got broken when GB was heaving logs around after trimming the gum tree earlier in the year. :0) Best of all, Bertie the Bunyip has a new seat near the waterfall where he can sit and watch the goldfish swimming around. (for non-Aussies, a Bunyip is a mythical creature who lives in billabongs ... er ... waterholes ... and munches on the occasional unsuspecting tourist! Tee! Hee! Hee!) I'll show you a photo of this area as the plants take off and fill in the gaps a bit, but I'm pretty happy with how it looks now. In another corner of the garden, we also gave some new rock edging to this little garden ...

You will notice there's chicken wire in front of this garden ... no, we're not afraid of the garden taking over the world and trying to cage it in (it was the snowpeas that were trying to take over the world ... you have to try to keep up with our backyard alien infestations! Tee! Hee! Hee!) it's because this garden had become a favourite 'lookout' perch for our inherited dog, Lily, when people walk past our house and she had managed to trample EVERYTHING in this garden. The plan is that she will get used to not being able to stampede through it and we can eventually take the mesh down and put a smaller, prettier barricade up ... that's the plan, anyways .. it's always good to at least START with a plan! :0) And we've done the same thing with this garden ...

You can see that the daisies and alyssum I planted a few weeks ago are really taking off nicely ... and will do even better now, I'm sure, since the mesh stops the mutts wandering through and sitting on the plants. SIGH! I was NOT happy when I saw that happening. The nasturtiums are starting to head for the sky and looking bright and cheerful along the way. This is a self-seeded plant, so it's pretty tough. :0) Let's see ... in other parts of the garden we have ...

Some VERY happy zucchini plants ... like this one. This is the biggest zucchini so far. Another day or so and he's going to be dinner! :0) And while we're in the vege patch ...

The marigolds are flowering, the tomato plants are thriving with some fruit already forming and the poor lemon tree is finally getting some fresh new shoots after it was attacked by militant caterpillars at the start of spring. I've also planted some beetroot and spring onions, but didn't take a photo of those, as they're a bit hard to pick out in the photos yet ... but small! :0) Then, beside the vege garden I have a few pots ...

Don't these colours look great together! Gorgeous deep blue lobelia, vibrant green lemon balm and lemon thyme in the strawberry pot (why be normal and actually put STRAWBERRIES in the strawberry pot! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and at the back is a pot that I sprinkled some Heartsease seeds into, then when they hadn't done anything for over a month, I stuck in a sickly little parsley plant that someone gave me. Then we had a bit of rain and suddenly, my pot is brimming over with cheerful purple and gold Heartsease and masses of dark green parsley.

After watering everything up yesterday, I decided I really should put some of the fresh produce to use, so took a little stroll with the kitchen scissors ... a bit of this, a bit of that, a sprig of this, some stalks of that ... felt a little bit like Witchipoo gathering ingredients for a magical brew ... it IS almost Halloween after all! Tee! Hee! Hee!

A big mound of mint at the back (did I mention that the mint also has world-domination delusions of grandeur?!) some of the lemon balm to the left, some parsley beside it, a fist-full of garlic chives to the right and some lovely long sprigs of rosemary. So what brew did these create? Well ... I brewed a jug of mint tea with the mint (funnily enough!!), which I then poured into ice-cube trays ready for refreshing drinks, the lemon balm was added to a pot of tea and was very tasty indeed, while the parsley, chives and rosemary were blitzed to be added to one of the YUMMIEST quiches I've ever made! :0) See ... KITCHEN MAGIC! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So there you have it ... the reason I'm behind on answering emails and didn't get much stitching done this weekend ... I was too busy pottering around in the garden. Oh! I DID, however, remember to take a photo of the goodies that followed me home from the craft show that Lynette and I toddled off to on Friday. I was really very good and didn't buy much - GB was impressed with my self-control ... told him I was just balancing out what I'd spent on line taking advantage of the higher-than-usual Aussie dollar last week! Tee! Hee! Hee! Here's what I bought ..

The bag was from the "Better Homes & Garden" stand and inside was a big-girl's version of a kid's show bag ... product samples and a couple of issues of the mag, including the current Christmas ideas issue, which will come in VERY handy and the bag is a great size, as well as being waterproof. And some fabrics followed me home ... as they do! :0) The ones on the left are fat 1/8ths that will probably become gifties and I just couldn't walk past these ruby red beauties - I use a lot of red, so they'll be used quick-smart, I'd say.

So there we have my round up of the weekend. PHEW! I'm exhausted all over again just thinking about it, so I think I shall go brew myself a witchy pot of lavender tea! :0) Hope you had a fabulous weekend and that your week is off to a great start.

Don't forget to pop across to see was "Simply Christmas" goodies Kerryanne has in store for you today ... ooooh! And she's having a crazy sale all this week, too, to celebrate her birthday, so pop on over, say HAPPY BIRTHDAY KERRYANNE! and stock up on her fab patterns!!

And just before I sign off and go boil that kettle ... one of our OPAM gals, Kiwifruit Shiree, has not only opened the doors to her very own quilting shop, The Rowan Tree, across the waves in New Zealand, she has also launched her on-line store, so pop in to say 'G'day' to Shiree (don't know the New Zealand equivalent! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and check out her great range.

That kettle is calling my name, so to quote (MIS-quote?!) Shakespeare ... "double, double, toil and trouble, kettle boil and teapot bubble!" :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

The Case Of The Disappearing week!!

It was an ordinary kind of Thursday when I found myself sitting at my desk, watching the world pass by my window. It had been quiet all day and I was just contemplating closing the office early when suddenly, the door burst open and SHE walked in. She was a frantic-looking woman, a pencil tucked behind her right ear, a tape measure draped around her neck, pins carelessly attached to her shirt-front and computer glasses shoved on top of her head. I could tell right away that she needed help ... DESPERATELY!!

As she collapsed into the client chair opposite me, she gave a very unladylike yelp and sprang back to her feet. I did likewise (without the unladylike yelp!), drawing my trusty revolver from my shoulder-holster, searching the shadows for the cause of her alarm. She pulled a needle out of her skirt and gave me a sheepish smile. We both resumed our seats.

"So, doll, what seems to be your problem?" I asked. She leaned forward in her chair, gazed earnestly into my face and said, "Somebody has stolen my week and I need you to find it, Sam Spade! I need you to solve the case of the disappearing week!"


OK ... back from la-la-land now! Tee! Hee! Hee! So ... I DIDN'T actually resort to hiring ol' Sam to search for my lost week, but maybe I should, cos it's disappeared without leaving much of a trace behind it! :0) It's been one of those weeks where I seem to have been constantly doing SOMETHING, but I don't actually have much to show for it ... if you know what I mean!! I've been writing pattern instructions that need to be sent off to "Handmade" next week, I've been stitching on a pattern sample that has to be finished and written up by the end of next week, I've done some work on a few Christmas gifties, started my SSCS giftie, even did a little bit of stitching on my Gardeners Journal blocks ... but nothing is FINISHED to show you photos of. SIGH!!! I'm sure that when all of these things are suddenly finished, I'll feel really good, but right now, I feel like I'm running on the spot ... hmmm ... no that sounds too energetic ... chasing my tail!! Ah .. you get the picture!! :0) I promise to share some photos once some of these things that are keeping me busy are actually FINISHED.

But something that I CAN show you a photo of is a surprise that appeared in my mailbox today ... a VERY pleasant change from the myriad of bills that have arrived in the last little while ... GROAN!! Being a grown up isn't much fun some days! :0) So I was rather excited to see this ...

Oooohh!! How wonderful! And do you see that CUTE little Christmas ted there!! I knew the parcel was DEFINITELY for me! Oh ... and of course the fact that my NAME was written on the front was a bit of a clue, too! Tee! Hee! Hee! Now, it isn't my birthday ... have already had one of those this year ... it isn't Christmas ... YET! And don't REMIND me how close it is!! ... Hmmm ... what could it be? The return address told me it was from my lovely blogging buddy Kerryanne. Now what could she be sending me??? So I opened it up and found ...

Ooohh!! Red dotty paper ... my favourite!! :0) And a cute little card with the "Simply Christmas" logo ... and inside THAT layer was ...

A GROOVY covered notebook that is tailor-made for me ... red dotty fabric and a cute stitchery of a slightly crazed looking bear (I think it's a portrait of ME first thing in the morning! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and a very pretty-and-handy Cath Kidston emery board and handcream ... ALSO featuring spotty dots!

THANK YOU KERRYANNE!

What a sweetie! The card told me it was a little thank you gifty for doing a couple of guest blogposts for Kerryanne a little while ago when her internet wasn't playing nicely. I sure am spoilt ... and LOVING IT! Tee! Hee! Hee! The emery board and handcream will help keep my hands soft and nails neat so there's no catching on threads when I'm stitching and the notebook is just right for taking down design notes when I'm working on new projects!! Of course ... that really means I should go and work a bit harder on just that, doesn't it. Ah well ... no rest for the wicked and I must have been VERY wicked somewhere along the track ... I hope I enjoyed it! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Off for a drive down the hill tomorrow to head to the big craft fair with my bestest-buddy-since-we-were-nine Lynette. Anyone else in Brisbane heading for the craft show tomorrow??? If you are, drop me a line, it would be great to meet up for a chat and maybe a cuppa. I'll be back to show you what follows me home from the craft fair! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

A Productive Day!

Friday is my day off and in THEORY, it's my main time for designing and all that entails. In REALITY, it doesn't always work out that way, as it is often the only day I have to run errands, make appointments or catch up with friends! :0) But ... today it DID work out that way and I have had an EXTREMELY productive Friday!! :0)

Firstly, I finished a very special quilt top ... my sort-of-sister Tiffy's 21st quilt. Remember these fluttery butterflies ...

... and their assorted colourful friends? Well, they now all have a home to flutter around on ...

Ta da!! Tiffy's as-yet unnamed quilt! I'm pretty happy with how it's come together and how the colours work together ... how can you help but smile when you look at the pretty butterflies! :0) To give the butterflies somewhere to rest when they get tired of fluttering, I added some cheerful flowers in the four corners ...

I love the yellow of green ... it looks so fresh! :0) I will be taking these butterflies off to my magical quilter next week so she has plenty of time to quilt it before Tiffy's birthday. Not sure what to name this one and I've also been asked whether I will release it as a pattern, but I'm not sure yet ... still thinking! :0)

The rest of my productive Friday was spent catching up with the mountain of washing that always seems to accumulate when you go away AND when the weather is wet. Since both of those boxes were ticked this week, you can imagine I needed my climbing shoes on to scale Mt Dirty Washing today! :0) The dogs like wet weather washing, though. You see, their beds are in the laundry and when it's wet weather washing, I have to pop everything through the drier rather than line dry them. And when I do that ... their 'bedroom' is lovely and warm thanks to the drier's tumbling, heated drying process! :0)

While the clothes were getting dizzy and dry in the dryer and the dogs were basking in the resulting warmth on a cold, wet day, I finally tied myself to the office chair to start writing pattern instructions. I have three lots to write and proof before the end of the month ... which is approaching at warp speed, it seems!!! And my rare show of self-discipline paid off ... one set of instructions, pattern pieces etc is completely ready to go and another is half done. Kerryanne will be VERY proud of me! Tee! Hee! Hee! So all in all ... Friday October 15 was a VERY productive day! :0) So ... I think I've earned a rest with some Gardeners' Journal stitching in front of "Escape To The Country" and "60 Minute Make-Over" tonight.

I hope your Friday was as productive as mine and that you have a fabulous, fun weekend planned. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

PS. Have you been over to visit Kerryanne in the last couple of days to see what she's up to with her "Simply Christmas" campaign? There's a fabulous hessian shopping bag to make as well as a tour through her creative space, so pop over and say "G'day!". :0) BH! KRIS

Stormy Weather Friends!

One of the songs the "After Five" vocal ensemble I'm a member of sang at our recent concert was "Stormy Weather", whose lyrics include the lines ...

"Don't know why ... there's no sun up in the sky, stormy weather ... keeps raining all the time."

That could have been the theme song for our weekend away, as south-east Queensland was drenched with bucketing rain and buffeted with gale force winds. (though someone else is probably still humming "Windy"! Tee! Hee! Hee!) But did that spoil our fun???

NO WAY! :0)

We set out Friday afternoon, after my Beloved Geek Boy finished work, to meet up with none other than the Lovely Lilly Linda and her beloved Tim at Mt Tamborine, about two hours south-east of us. They usually live on an island, but they had 'headed for the hills' for the weekend so Linda could have a stand at a big Christmas Craft Fair. (And a gorgeous, shabbily chic stand of loveliness it was, too! Tee! Hee! Hee!) It rained all the way to the foothills of the mountains making navigating a bit tricky ... then the weather decided that we needed ANOTHER challenge and the clouds descended ... or the fog came up, we weren't sure which ... they may very well have met in the middle! :0) Suffice to say visibility was VERY low. So low, in fact, that we were having trouble spotting the house numbers ... crawling along, peering at mail boxes, til GB decided to pull over and get out to have a close up look at numbers. And just as he reached for the door handle .. my phone rang  ... it was Lilly Linda saying dinner had arrived, why hadn't we?? :0) On hearing our dilemma, Tim braved the elements to turn on the hazard lights of their van to help us find them ... it was about 20m down the road from where we'd stopped! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So, then in quick time we had the car unpacked and were sharing a warm spot by the fire. Actually, we decided that it was GB's and Tim's fault that the weather was icky - they had both said they didn't care if they had to put the air conditioner on to cope with the heat ... they were going to light the fire to enjoy the AMBIENCE ... apparently no mountain get-away is complete without a fire! :0) So then, the weather CO-OPERATED!!! EEK!

After enjoying an evening of chatting in front of the aforementioned fire, we woke Saturday morning to a view that looked something like this ...

In fact, it looked EXACTLY like this, cos this is our view out the back door ... there was a nice wide deck out there that we had planned to relax on for a BBQ, but since the smudges in the foreground of the photo are raindrops that have been blown in ... we decided it was a bit too DAMP out there for BBQ's! And through that thick cloud/fog bank, you can usually see the Gold Coast ... APPARENTLY!! :0) Not that this stopped us from getting out and about, mind you! We piled in the van and set out to check out the craft extravaganza (uh oh to the budget!!! Tee! Hee! Hee!), we visited a lavender barn gift shop (more pain inflicted on the budget!!), checked out some vintage wares/antique shops and played a game of "Spot The Inside-Out Umbrella" ... we had quite a high count by the end of the day! Tee! Hee! Hee!

After all that gadding about, it was back to the cottage to forage for indoor picnic fare ...

As you can see, we were REALLY suffering ... NOT!! Tee! Hee! Hee! Cheese ball, dips, olives, crackers, some bubbles in a glass, candlelight, cheery crackling fire ... what more could you want to help pass a rainy evening? Apart from great company of course, which we ALSO had! :0) (We won't mention that we almost had to call the fire brigade to deal with the candle later on!! Tee! Hee! Hee!)

After packing up Sunday morning, we decided to head out to find a cosy coffee shop for brekkie, but ran into a bit of a problem. You see, we only have a LITTLE car and we had to get up a fairly steep driveway to the main road. THAT wasn't the problem! The problem came from the one metre  wide stretch of grassy verge between the footpath and the road. After all that rain, it was VERY wet and soggy and SOFT!! Uh! Oh!! The wheels spun, the clutch stuck, the motor chugged, the wheels spun some more until finally (after much positive thinking and a few recitals of "I THINK I can, I THINK I can!!) ... ZING!! We slingshot out onto the road, timing it neatly to miss oncoming traffic! WHEW! I think GB is thinking of taking up rally car driving! Tee! Hee! Hee! When we reached the coffee shop, GB checked out our little car ...

OH NO!! Look at the poor little Baby car!! Mud splattered all along!! Guess she'll be going through the car wash this week ... bet you didn't guess that a little two-door hatch-back Festiva was an adventurous mountain vehicle! Tee! Hee! Hee!

After spending a very pleasant morning over a leisurely eggs Benedict brekkie and an extra mug of hot chocolate to warm up, it was time to say our farewells. Lilly Linda and I braved the inclement mountain elements one last time to get a photo taken ...

Here we are, all rugged up ... layer, upon layer, upon layer! :0) See the foggy background?! It really was ICKY weather!! Still ... we managed to have a BALL!! Thanks for inviting us to join you in the mountains, Lilly Linda and Tim!! It was fabulous to catch up again. Maybe next time we'll make the boys wish for mild, sunny weather! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And since today here on top of our hill has been more of the same icky weather ... with even HEAVIER rain periods ... I'm off to pop the kettle on to have a warming cup of lavender tea. Hope your weekend was full of wonderful adventures too! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS