I'm Back On The Air!!!

Skippity, hoppity, shuffle, shuffle, booty shake!!! Here's me, scaring the neighbours by doing my Happy Dance!!!! Yessiree!!! After three and a half days with no email ...

I'M BACK ON THE AIR! WOO! HOO!

Not all of my web site is back on line yet, but at least I can once again communicate without the complicated back-and-forth system of blog-hopping that I've been doing for the last day or so!! The only BIG drawback is ... Any emails sent during that time have vanished into cyberspace, never to be seen again!!! So ... if you have sent me an email any time after about 5pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time!) on Tuesday, I haven't got it and will NEVER get it. If you haven't already emailed May Britt to help you with Challenge questions or sign ups, please drop me another email and I'll actually get it and be very excited about it! Tee! Hee! Hee!

May Britt and I now have over 180 ladies signed up for our One Project A Month Challenge and a few have already started to notify us of their first finishes - Well done!! I'm hoping to add my own first finish to my side bar list by tomorrow - the binding is almost sewn down on my blue quilt - thanks to no email!! There's that silver lining! Tee! Hee! Hee! Can I just remind ladies who are signing up to give me their FIRST NAME (and surname initial for more popular names!), BLOG ADDRESS and EMAIL ADDRESS. I can see there's some serious stitching going on out there in blogland, which is SOOOOOOOO exciting!! And just think ... the biggest advantage of us finishing some WISP's is that we can then justify buying more fabric and more patterns! Not sure my beloved Geek Boy (my computer hero at the moment!!) agrees with that, but it's worth a shot! Tee! Hee! Hee!

OK ... I'm off to make dinner, then solve a few more "Midsomer Murders" and stitch that binding on. Happy stitching and Bear Hugs to you all!

CHEERS!
KRIS

P.S. Chookyblue will be VERY proud of me for doing a SHORT post! Tee! Hee! Hee! BH! KRIS

Mad, Mad, MAD!!!!

This is me at the moment!!! Sitting in front of the computer, tearing my hair out and wishing I could send a computer butt-kick to the stupid company who still haven't fixed their stupid server so I can have my domain back!! AAAAARRRRRGHHHHH!!! So ... still no web site ... still no email ...only way I can communicate with my blogging buddies is via blogs. Oh! And found out (the hard way of having a comment refused!!) that I can READ blogs on typepad, but because my domain currently doesn't exist, typepad doesn't think I exist either! Huh! Got news for typepad!! Thankfully, blogger still admits I'm here and I can leave comments on blogger blogs. I can also read comments left on mine - just have to reply with a blog visit and comment! Talk about the long way to do things! And the REALLY annoying thing? Unless people who've been trying to send me email in the last couple of days re-send the mail ... I will NEVER see it! There could be important information in those emails!! I might have won a give away! I might have won lotto! I might have forgotten to pay a bill! Hmmm, actually, of the three scenarios, THAT one is probably most likely! Tee! Hee! Hee! SIGH!!

However, during my lunch break today, I decided (since I couldn't read my email!!!) to pop into a few of the blogs of gals who've signed up for May Britt's and my challenge and on one of them (sorry! Can't remember whose - but know it was a name that began with "A" cos I was working my way down the side bar list!!) I found that the lovely blogger finished each post with a list of the day's "Gratitudes" - things she was thankful for that day. Some were big things, some were everyday little things, but she was doing the ol' "Count Your Blessings" thing - and I felt just a little ashamed of myself for spending so much time grumbling about being out of the communication loop!! So ... I made a decision to stop grumbling (well .... cutting down the grumbling a little!!) and use the time in some other way! Instead, I stitched up a storm!!

So ... MY gratitudes for today (I won't steal this lovely lady's idea permanently, just borrowing it for today!) are:

* I could 'lurk' on people's blogs to see what my blogging buddies were up to.
* I have my beloved "Geek Boy" to sort out the stupid computer problem (eventually!)
* And I now have the borders and binding on my blue quilt!!!

Tomorrow is my day at home, so I will be popping on a DVD and stitching down the binding, ready to do my famous "Happy Dance" and add my very first finish to my side bar list!! Hmmm ... the DVD I'm anticipating spending the day in front of is a little different to others I've read bloggers heading off to watch - like "Pride and Prejudice", "Ann of Green Gables", "Sense and Sensibility". No chick flicks for this chick .... murder, mayhem, mystery and some quirky British humour are what I have in mind! I'll be spending the day helping DCI Tom Barnaby and his side kick Sergeant Troy to solve the murders of "Midsomer Murders"!! I like a good who dunnit and mystery! And I'm MUCH better at helping Tom and Gavin solve THEIR mysteries than I am at solving the mystery of "who keeps hiding the TV remotes down the back of the sofa!!" Tee! Hee! Hee!

Well ... if I'm going to be busy detecting tomorrow, I need a good night's sleep, so I'll sign off for now. If any of you have been trying to contact me by email about the challenge, drop May Britt a line for now and she'll be able to help you, or you can leave a comment and I'll take the long way round and visit your blog to answer if you require one - or I'll just enjoy thinking someone found my post interesting and amusing!! Tee! Hee! Hee! Til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

I Just LOOOOOOOVE Technology!!!

NOT!!!! Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!! OK - I've got that out of my system, so I feel marginally better!! Why am I turning the air blue?! Well, it seems the server my Tag Along Teddies domain is registered with went down late this afternoon. No worries, it's usually something small, they tell all customers what the problem is and when they think it should be fixed. Aha, not tonight! They just went off the air and when they DID put a report on their report page that only super geeks like my Beloved Geek Boy know how to access, it said they should be up and running in 20 minutes. That was an hour and a half ago!!

Now those of you who are as technical as I am (read: as technical as a turnip!!!) will be wondering why this is a problem. Well, it means not only is my web site down, but I can't send or receive emails - at a time when my In Box has been so full of emails from super enthusiastic people signing up for our Challenge that May Britt and I are struggling to keep up!! EEEEK!

So ... for those of you who have been trying to reach me by email and getting rude messages from YOUR email server telling you that MY server doesn't exist - SORRY!!! Please be patient and try again tomorrow - or if it's urgent and about the Challenge, drop May Britt a line and she will be able to help you.

In the meantime, I'm off to do something very low-tech ... SLEEP!!! Hopefully when I wake up in the morning it will be all fixed - I can hope, can't I? Til then, low-tech Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

PS. Hope you're feeling better, May Britt!!!

GOBSMACKED!!

That's what I am!!WOW! When May Britt and I decided to invite all you stitching bloggers to join our challenge to tackle WISP's, little did we realise just how many people have been hoarding WISP's in their sewing cupboards, just waiting for some incentive to finish them off!! We have been overwhelmed by the response so far (not to mention tied to our computers for quite some time to process everything!!) and still they keep rollin' in!! Well ... it may be bigger than Ben Hur, but it sure is great to see how excited everyone is getting about tackling some of their longer term projects. Mind you, I have a funny mental picture of sewing cupboards all over the world, ready to burst because they're stuffed full of our WISP's!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

OK ... just a few house keeping things! Now because this challenge HAS grown a lot bigger and quicker than May Britt and I first envisaged, we're still working out a few little details, so I do hope you'll be patient with us (OK, probably mostly ME!!!) as we wrap our heads around things, clarify things and perhaps (though we'll try not to do too much of it!) change things. Firstly: When you're signing up, can you all PLEASE make sure you give us your FIRST NAME (perhaps a surname initial if your name is a popular one!), your BLOG ADDRESS and your EMAIL ADDRESS. This just makes things a bit quicker and simpler for us to add you to our list. At the moment, we're having to track a few people down through blogger to their blogs and this takes a bit of time - time where we could be tackling OUR WISP's! Tee! Hee! Hee! Also, some of you are registering as "No Reply" when you leave comments, so we can't email you back with details, comments, or just a little welcome. If you don't want to change that, please make sure you give us your email address in the comment you leave. Oh! And if you've registered with us, but your name doesn't appear on our lists for a day or so (allow a little bit of time for us to read our emails then add it) please send May Britt or me an email to let us know, cos we don't want anyone to miss our or feel left out! It certainly won't have been missed on purpose, but with over 100 people already signed up, you can understand things might get a little chaotic!!

So ... now you've registered to be part of our Challenge - what now? Please make sure you pop the Challenge Badge on your blog's side bar with a link to either my blog or to May Britt's. Please also add a list of finished projects for each month to your side bar - like both May Britt and I have done. Not only will this be a great encourager to you as you see what you accomplish, this is where we will be checking at the end of each month to pop your name in to the End Of Month Prize Draw. If you could also email May Britt or I as you finish something, that would be great, as we can then tell others about it with links in our posts. If you'd like to email us a couple of days before the end of each month with that month's finishes, that would be great too for us to double check. And don't forget to post about your finishes on YOUR blog and pop photos on - after all, half the fun of finishing a WISP is showing it off! Tee! Hee! Hee!

One final thing (for now, at least, until I remember something that I forgot to tell you that I had remembered I'd forgotten to tell you!!! Tee! Hee! Hee!) the crafts we're including in our challenge will be limited to 'soft' crafts - anything made from fabric, plus knitting and crochet. I know there are a lot of you out there who do other crafts and although we'd LOVE to still hear about them on your blogs as you finish things, they won't count towards our prize draws.

PHEW!! I think that's it ... except for the MOST IMPORTANT THING ...

HAVE FUN!!!

Please don't stress about this, it's just a way for us all to encourage each other to tackle some of our WISP's. And if anyone has any problems at all along the way, please drop an email either to me or May Britt - between us we should be able to come up with a helpful answer!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Now onto the irregularly scheduled craziness of Tag Along Teddies!! :0) In between answering emails, adding to lists, having a little panic attack in the corner!! ... I've actually managed to do a little bit of sewing on MY first WISP to be tackled. It's a quilt for the day bed in my sewing room that's been on the "to do" list for a little while, but it took me some time to find just the right fabrics ... which I finally did before Christmas. I found ...

A bit different to my usual greens, but I fell in love with these ice-blues. Here's what I'm doing with them ...


This is two of five rows that I've put together of the blocks. I'm making this as a quilt-as-you-go quilt so I have a better chance of finishing it for the challenge!! Tee! Hee! Hee! These two rows have had their seam-covering strips sewn down and the others are beside my sewing chair waiting for me to leave the computer and get back to sewing!!!

So ... I think that's what I shall do!! Keep popping in here and over at May Britt's blog so you know what we're up to - and to make sure we're leading by example! Tee! Hee! Hee! And enjoy your stitching challenge journey! Til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

New Year's Action, Excitement & A Challenge!

EDIT: The One Project A Month Challenge (OPAM) CLOSED on January 31!! The number of participants just got too big to keep it open! If you've missed out SORRY! - but why not play along at home and tackle your WISP pile, taking inspiration from the blogs in the partisipants' list in the sidebar. Happy Stitching and Bear Hugs! KRIS


Well, here we are in 2009 - barely! And already there's action and excitement here at Tag Along Teddies!! And YOU are invited to join in the fun! Interested? Read on!!

It all started innocently enough (as these things often do!!) with May Britt and I commenting to each other that we want to finish some of our WISP's (Works In Slow Progress - that sounds so much softer than UFO's, doesn't it? Tee! Hee! Hee!). We decided to have a little challenge between May Britt, her friend Hanne and I to finish at least one project each month. And then ... we thought ... why not invite others to join us? So the result is that May Britt and I are hosting the:



Now, some parts of this, May Britt and I are still sorting and finalising, but here are the basic guidelines for our challenge.

1. Participants will try (we know life interferes sometimes!) to complete at least ONE craft project by the end of each month. This can be something you've had partly done for a while (a WISP!), a pattern you bought ages ago that you finally get around to making, or a completely new project - it's entirely up to you.

Hmmm ... that's actually the main guideline!!! This is meant to be a VERY low pressure, fun, encouraging challenge. The journey of crafting should be as enjoyable and important as the destination of having a finished project! We're hoping that the challenge will just give us all a little motivation, or as May Britt said, a kick in the BUTT! Tee! Hee! Hee!

But wait ... there's more!! If you'd like to join our little challenge, all you have to do is email me at: kris@tagalongteddies.com or May Britt at abyquilt@hotmail.com and let us know so we can add you to our list. Then, pop our little badge (kindly designed by my beloved Geek Boy!) onto your sidebar with a link back to either this blog, or May Britt's blog where we've posted the guidelines for the challenge. Then, each time you finish a project (big or small, all types of craft, it doesn't matter!) post a photo of your completed project on your blog and email either me or May Britt so we can update our list. If you don't have a blog - DON'T WORRY! You can still join in the fun - just email a photo to me or May Britt and we'll pop them on our blogs and add it to our list.

If you DO have a blog, you might like to pop a list of your completed projects for each month on your sidebar - to help May Britt and I keep track, but also so you can see just how much progress you've made throughout the year. Won't it be nice to look back in December (EEK! But it's only January 2!! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and be reminded of your achievements?

Now ... to give us all a little bit of incentive, May Britt and I are also going to hold a prize draw on the last day of each month. Everyone who has registered a completed project with us for THAT MONTH will go into the draw - if you've completed more than one project, you get an entry for EACH finish, so have more chances of winning some yummy gifties!! May Britt and I will take it in turn to do the draw and provide the little prize (I'm up first for January!), so there'll be plenty of surprises and variety to keep us all motivated. Then, on Christmas Eve, we'll have a super-size prize draw where ALL of the entries will go back into the draw for a special prize drawing - but details of this will be worked out closer to the time. After all, it's January and December is a loooooong way off - right?! Tee! Hee! Hee!

There are also other bloggers out there who have decided to challenge themselves, including one at http://crazyforprimitivequiltsandgardens.blogspot.com/ so if you come across more in blogland, let us know so we can all visit and encourage each other - isn't it great to have such a HUGE cheer squad on our side!!

May Britt and I will both put a list of Challenge Participants on our sidebars, with links to people's blogs so we can all visit each other and admire finished projects - not to mention make new friends along the way! OH!! And very importantly ... you can join us at ANY TIME - there is no cut off or deadline, you just have more chances of winning some fun prizes the sooner you join us! May Britt's friend Hanne and our mutual blogging buddy Stina have already signed up, so why not join us for some stitching good fun!! :0)

WHEW!! I think that's it ... at least enough to get us all jump-started!! If you have any questions, just email me or May Britt and we'll try to give you an answer that makes sense! Tee! Hee! Hee! I am SOOOOOOOOO excited by this challenge and co-ordinating with May Britt! So excited, in fact, that I hardly slept last night cos I had so many thoughts and ideas running around in my head! Tee! Hee! Hee! Well, I think that's it from me for now. I'm off to pop the Challenge Badge etc on my sidebar and then lock myself in my sewing room to get going on my first finish for the year! Happy stitching - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS