Santa's Naughty List!!

See this list? It's Santa's "Naughty" list and I think I'm now on it ... cos I was a WEE bit naughty yesterday!! If I told you that Marian at Quilters' Angel has been having a three-day, 20% off fabric sale that ends today, can you guess HOW I've been naughty?! Bet you can!!


I've been eyeing off the "Oh Cherry Oh" charm square packs since they appeared at Quilters' Angel, and drooled over Nat's collection of them on her blog a few posts back, so when I walked in yesterday and saw the layer cake ... what can I say? It was love at first bite ... I mean SIGHT! Tee! Hee! Hee! Then, whilst wandering around Marian's Aladdin's Treasure Cave of quilting goodies, I came back to another range I've been drooling over for a while ...


Now, I know I'm usually a green girl, but I'm thinkin' these yummy blues will make a great quilt for the day bed in my sewing room - when we paint the walls a cornflower blue! I bought a little piece of the pattern on the bottom left when I played in Brisbane last week - what I call my "don't know what I'll do with it, but it sure is pretty!' amount - but stocked up enough this time to make a quilt. In fact, what you see here is really two quilts - the fabrics just don't know it yet! Tee! Hee! Hee! I'm thinking of designing a few small cherry-themed stitcheries to intersperse with the "Oh Cherry Oh" fabrics, but will have to see what inspiration strikes at the time. As for the blue, I think I want to do a fairly basic pieced quilt (has to be basic, cos that describes my patchwork skills!!) that isn't too fussy and lets the fabrics to the shining. I've seen lots of these type of quilts on my bloggy buddy, Peg's, blog, so I may have to pick her brains!!

However ... these yummy fabrics will have to go into the stash for the moment while I put the finishing editing touches on my bear for Australian Bear Creations and then tackle the Christmas list. SIGH!! I hate being a responsible grown up!! Mind you, there are times where my mother would debate whether I AM one! Tee! Hee! Hee! Whatever you're doing, I hope you're enjoying your weekend. I'm now off to trace pattern pieces, scan, edit ......!! Til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

SSCS Gifty On The Sleigh!!

YAY!!! HAPPY DANCE!!Skippity! Hoppity! Shimmy, shimmy!! Not only have I finished my SSCS gifty for Chookyblue's swap - this morning my friendly neighbourhood post office man (who, just quiety, I think, thinks I'm a little strange due to my frequent appearances in his little post office!!) stuck that Air Mail sticker on my package, stamped it and popped it into his sack ready to wing it's way off to ??????????!! Hmmm ... wonder if the postie is really Santa in disguise??? Think about it .... he puts parcels into a big sack for delivery ...!!!! Sure hope he can't tell who's been naughty or nice or I'm in BIIIIIIIIIIIIG trouble! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So, that's one thing crossed of my "To Do" list. If I keep going at this rate, I'll have finally finished LAST week's list by the time I get to the end of THIS week! SIGH! Never enough hours in the day or days in the week!! Big thank you again to Elf Chookyblue for hosting the Secret Santa Christmas Swap!! In between stressing about meeting the deadline, I thoroughly enjoyed making something special for someone who I know will appreciate a hand-made gifty. Hope my swap partner likes their gifty - if not, I hope she'll post it back cos I grew quite attached to it! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Now I'm off to cross the last urgent, deadline-dependant task off my list, then I can get stuck into Christmas preparations. At the rate I'm going I should definitely be ready for Christmas .... in about MARCH! Tee! Hee! Hee! Til next time - deck the halls and Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Spoilt! ... And LOVING it!!

Yessiree!! Today I am feeling SPOILT, SPOILT, SPOILT!! And LOVING every minute of it!! Tee! Hee! Hee! You know sometimes you just have one of those days where numerous wonderful things happen? That's my day today!!

First of all, I came home to find a parcel on my front verandah from my gorgeous bloggy buddy, Kerryanne. Hmmm ... I had been expecting a smaller parcel from her, cos she very generously offered to paint a rose on my plate to match my bickie tin, but this was a BIG box! Oh, wait, I remember she was going to send my yummy cupcake tray that I bought from her Vintage Art for sale page with the newly painted tin plate - that must be it. Yes ... it was, but there was also ANOTHER treasure - a SURPRISE! When I opened the box I found ...


Not only had Kerryanne sent my two expected treasures - she had popped in a sifter she had painted a matching pink rose on as a surprise gift! It is GORGEOUS! And the wonderful note with it said that after seeing my bickie tin with my mixing bowls and since I'd soon have a matching tin plate, Kerryanne decided the sifter really belonged with it's matching rosey friends!! What a SWEETIE!! Thank you SOOOOOO much, Kerryanne!! I LOVE how they all look together!! Now, I had to rearrange a little, but here they all are in their new home.


I know they look a little crowded, but I just had to put them all together! And when we renovate the kitchen (a little way down the house 'to do' list!) there will be more display room for my treasures!!


Here's a closer look at my pretties in situ. I just LOVE them!!

And while I was still feeling rather chuffed about my treasures from Kerryanne, I popped in to look at my email and found a note from Lisa at Button Bliss. A week or so ago, Lisa celebrated the return of her laser machine that she uses to create fantastic laser-cut timber buttons - it had been to the laser machine 'doctors' for revival and 'laser surgery'! Sorry, couldn't resist!! As a way of celebrating (and so she could personalise her swearing if it breaks down again perhaps?!?! Tee! Hee! Hee!) Lisa ran a competition to come up with a suitable name for her laser cutter. I suggested LAZARUS - because he'd been resurrected from the 'dead'! Tee! Hee! Hee! And guess what - Lisa liked my suggestion best and she and Laz (it's Australia, after all, so of COURSE his name was going to be shortened!!) has sent me a Button Bliss voucher for a $100 button buying spree! Woo! Hoo! Thank you Lisa and Laz!! Now I've told you about Lisa's yummy timber buttons before and she's specially made some for a couple of my stitchery designs, so you can just IMAGINE how much fun I'm gonna have picking buttons!! Think I'd better make myself a cuppa and put a plastic cover over the computer keyboard to protect it when I drool over all the pretty buttons! Tee! Hee! Hee! What a generous prize that will give me hours of fun picking AND creating with them afterwards - THANKS LISA!!

And the THIRD thing that happened to spoil me actually happened on Sunday, but I hadn't got round to taking a photo. My friend Miss Mary from Fresh Hope Patterns popped in to conduct a photo shoot in my spare bedroom for the covers of the latest two designs to be donated to Fresh Hope Patterns - some GORGEOUS quilts!! After all, I have my newly restored brass bed as well as lots of knick knacks to use as background and props for photos!! Not only was it lovely to catch up with Miss Mary, she also delivered an early Christmas gifty, as she and her hubby are off on a caravanning trip for a while. I opened the bag (I know, I'm very bad!!!) and I found ...


A wonderful and oh-so-pretty cupcake notebook and a FABULOUS teacup teaspoon! WOW! I really AM spoilt this week! Thanks Miss Mary! The funniest part of her gift was, I had contemplated buying myself a cupcake notebook, but couldn't quite justify spending the extra play money this week (see last post and fabric purchased while playing in Brisbane!!) and I'd bought some pretty teaspoons to give to people as gifts for the same reason! Now I can enjoy my pretties guilt-free, cos Miss Mary knows my taste in pretties!! What wonderful friends I have!!

So ... here I am, feeling VERY spoilt - and LOVING it!! But now I have to come back to earth and roll up my sleeves to work hard to try to get my Secret Santa gift finished for Chookyblue's swap!! After life interfered yesterday with various interruptions, I'm running behind. Will try to get it done, but may have to confess to Chookyblue that it will be posted tomorrow rather than today. Will see how I go. Hope you're having a spoilt-rotten kind of day too!! Til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Playing Ladies!

I had a day of playing ladies on Friday - and it was LOTS of fun! Most of you will have read about my best friend-since-grade-four, Lynette. Well, it was her birthday on Wednesday and although we couldn't get together on the day, we both had Friday free, so it was quickly 'pencilled in' as a play date! We try to get together every six to eight weeks (Lynette lives just over an hour away from me in a western suburb of Brisbane!) but due to work and other commitments for us both, it had been a bit longer, so we were overdue for a day of fun and frivolity - LOOK OUT BRISBANE HERE WE COME! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Now, when we get together, we have a variety of mischief - oops! I mean ACTIVITIES - that we get up to. We might explore a boutique-ee little area (like Paddington), hit a coffee shop or two, or even hole up at Lynette's place and work on a craft project that's been 'on the list' for a while. This time, it was Lynette's choice of mischief and she decided we'd play ladies for the day - go to a nice restaurant she'd been meaning to visit for lunch, then hit a favourite coffee shop for desert and coffee. Sounds like a plan!! And so we were off!! If real life came with a sound track like the movies, I suspect Cyndi Lauper would have been singing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" in the background! Tee! Hee! Hee!

OK - the first stop actually ended up being my choice, as we had to drive right by a shop I've been wanting to visit - Patches at Indooroopilly. While a little tricky to find and get to, we decided it was worth the stop, as there was lots of yummy fabric to admire. While Lynette was very disciplined and decided to finish the couple of projects she has half done before starting a new one, I wasn't so disciplined - some fabric followed me home! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Oooohhh!! Lots of pretties!! And before any of you smarty-pants's point out the VERY pink piece of fabric, let me just say it's to make up a new pattern in an alternative colourway, NOT because I've crossed to the dark (pink!) side!! You'll notice I also managed to find myself some more dotty fabric - love my dots and spots!! The cornflower blue spotty fabric is actually the colour I want to eventually paint my sewing room, so this piece will probably get put away for cushions or something for when that happens .... But I digress!! Back to our Playing Ladies Day!

Having satisfied my fabric cravings (it had been a whole three days since I'd last bought fabric!!) we went on to the restaurant where Lynette wanted to have lunch - Lilyfields. Sorry - forgot to get a photo. Lunch was rather yummy and Lynette's curiosity was satisfied along with her tummy, so it was then off to our next stop - Gardenway, our favourite coffee shop/gift shop/nursery.

After browsing through the gift shop (they have soooooooo many yummy things!!) we decided we'd settled lunch enough to enjoy coffee and desert.


I had a slice of sinfully rich white chocolate cheesecake with my latte, while Lynette opted for the brulle` - MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!! YUMMO! We then waddled off for one more quick look around before heading back to Lynette's place to collect her monsters .... I mean CHILDREN! .... from school! Tee! Hee! Hee! Once they were all fed and watered, they hit the pool to cool down, while we played ladies once more and ensconced ourselves in the lounge room with cuppas and the air conditioning!! (Friday was VERY humid in Brisbane as it was building up for storms again!)

So ... after a day of playing ladies, I hopped in my little Baby car and toddled back up the range, having successfully and thoroughly enjoyed celebrating Lynette's birthday and our 29 years of friendship - it was this time of year when we first met in year four! Think we'll have to organise a major celebration for Lynette's birthday and our 30th year of friendship celebrations next year - any suggestions? We've got a whole year to plan, so it should be a DOOZY by the time we get around to it! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And speaking of playing ladies ... that's the name of a new beary nice quilt designed by Liz at Teddlywinks. Pop on over and take a peek - it's a beauty!! Have to say, though, her bears look a bit more lady-like than Lynette and I usually manage! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And now, I'm off to play some more in my sewing room - would like to say I'm going to lay with my new fabrics, but I really need to keep working on my Secret Santa gifty for Chookyblue's swap. I'm about half done and since it needs to go in the mail this week, I'd better get crackin'! Hope you're all having a great weekend - very blustery and blowy here today, so I'm happy to be hiding inside in my sewing room! Til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Pinwheels & Pretties!

Here I am, back again! No, I haven't been blown away by the recent Queensland storms as some people have asked - just somehow lost track of what day it was and how quickly time is scooting past! I popped into Carin's blog yesterday and was horrified to find the "Countdown to Christmas" is in the 30's - EEK! Not at all ready for that - too much to do, too many things to make, too many deadlines to meet!! I should be ready for Christmas by ... say ... March?!?

Having said that, I have managed to make a bit of progress in the last few days. I've completed the bear I'm submitting to Bear Creations (YAY!) and now I just have to write the instructions. (GROAN!) And on the weekend, I made a start on my Secret Santa Swap that Chookyblue is hosting. Now, it's a secret, but I can show you what I've done so far, because it really bears little resemblance to what the finished product will look like. (I hope!!) OK, I started with ...


Spotty squares!! You know I'm just dotty about spotties!! Tee! Hee! Hee! Hmmm ... what will happen to them next?


Here's an action shot - me trying to take the photo left handed without shaking and making the photo blurry!! Tee! Hee! Hee! I drew some diagonal lines through half my blocks, put two together and sewed either side of the line. Hey Stina - see where my machine is made?? Next ...


They were chopped down the middle ("Don't chop the dinosaur Daddy!!" Sorry - Australian ad reference!!) and folded out to look like ...


I know some of you have guessed what I'm doing with my dotty, spotty squares! Because then I put four together ...


I think most of you know what I'm making now ...


Ta Da!! Pinwheel blocks!! Ahhhhhhh ... but you'll NEVER guess what I'm going to turn the pinwheel blocks into, so I'm going to keep you in suspenders! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So that was how I spent some of my time on the weekend. Now, my beloved Geek Boy was away for a few days, so I convinced him (with encouragement from Jo!!)that he really should take me to a couple of the local antique shops for a little look - something we haven't done for quite a while. Now ... mostly, I was good and did just LOOK, but one thing did follow me home ...


A very cute tin plate that is the same colour and about the same vintage as the bickie tin I bought from Kerryanne's yummy selection of Art For Sale on her Shabby Art Boutique site. It's pictured with a few cute little felt cupcakes I bought on a visit to Linda and Laura's pretty shop, Lilly Cottage. So where is my plate now? On it's way to Kerryanne's studio because she's kindly offered to paint a pretty pink rose on it so it matches my bickie tin! Isn't she a sweetie!!! Thanks Kerryanne!! Can't wait to find a spot to display the two 'face-lifted' vintage pretties!!

And the other pretty I picked up last week when shopping with my dancing buddy Deb (on that shopping trip that saw my poor Baby car so badly treated!!) was ...


A Ladybird bag!! Isn't is great!! It's the perfect size for me to fit all my bear making paraphernalia when I teach a workshop, and I have a few of them planned already for the new year, so I'll be able to test it out! There was a matching overnight bag, too, that I would have loved to get, but since GB and I only got our overnight bags for Christmas last year, I couldn't quite justify it! SIGH! I hate it when that practical streak rears it's ugly head!! It doesn't happen too often, but when it does, its a voice that sounds remarkably like my mother's! Tee! Hee! Hee!

The last pretty I'll share with you before I toddle off to play with my spotty pinwheels is a little treasure I discovered in my front yard yesterday.


I planted four agapanthus clumps about five years ago. Last year for the first time, I had two flowers and yesterday, I discovered there are four flowers - YAY! Obviously they're happy and settled. Hmmm ... just noticed I've only caught three of the four flowers in the photo. Oh well, you'll just have to take my word for it that there's another!! I'm trustworthy ... really, I am!!!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Well, I'm off to play with spots and dots in the sewing room to try meeting one of those deadlines that's looming closer and closer. Hope you're all having a good week - we've had almost 300pts (75mm) of rain in the last few days, so everything's looking fresh and green. Here's hoping at least some of it ran into our dams, as they are at a low 9% of their capacity. Apparently there's more rain on the way, too, so - fingers crossed! Sorry to all you wheat farmers who don't want it to rain while you're harvesting - we've waited a loooooooooong time for good rain, though!! Til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS