Blooming Butterflies At Craft Retreat!

Do you remember last month when I said I had finished the sample for a project I'm teaching at a craft retreat in November? Well ... even if you CAN'T remember, I DID tell you ... so there! Hmmm ... this is like a conversation with my Beloved Geek Boy! Tee! Hee! Hee! But back on track ... This will be the fourth year I've headed 45 minutes north of Toowoomba to Lake Perseverance to take part in the Creative Craft Retreat and the third time I will be teaching a class ... if anyone books into it! :0)

Janelle is chief organiser of the retreat and she has just posted the information brochure and sign up form on the Creative Craft Retreat blog, so now I can show you what I will be teaching ... if anyone books into my class! :0) Ready ...

TA! DA! Introducing "Blooming Butterflies". Yep - more of my yummy "Aviary" stash was used to make this pretty bag. :0) This is a fairly large tote bag with a quilted base, 'quilt-as-you-go' strip piecing, a drawstring closure, nice wide strap and an inside pocket for your mobile phone, keys etc. It's 'gussied up' with some blanket-stitch appliqué featuring some cheerful yellow daisies in bloom and some brightly coloured butterflies fluttering around. This is the project I will TEACH at the retreat, but the pattern will also include instructions for ...

A covered journal/sketch pad to match, which also has a blooming daisy and a flutterby. These are quick, simple projects that are pretty, practical and make great gift ideas.

The Creative Craft Retreat is on the weekend of November 5-7 (arriving Friday night and heading off after lunch Sunday) so if you'd like to come along and join in the fun (and there is ALWAYS plenty of fun, chatting and laughter happening!!) then pop across to the Creative Craft Retreat blog and download the registration form. You've got until October 8 to register ... If you want to come play too! :0)

And for you gals who live too far away to come and play (though I'm not sure that living in Norway or Sweden is a good enough excuse for missing out! Tee! Hee! Hee!) but have fallen in love with my newest design, NEVER FEAR! I'll be releasing "Blooming Butterflies" as a pattern packet after the retreat is over, so stay tuned. :0)

Right now, though ... I'm off to play in the sewing room to do a bit more on Tiffy's quilt. The clock is ticking and starting to alarm me somewhat - EEK! :0) November isn't that far away!! Hope you're having a fabulous week! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

Huge Weekend!!

PHEW!!! Who knew you could pack SO MUCH into one weekend! :0) I think my poor eyes are just about hanging out of their sockets on stalks today, but it really was a fabulous weekend. I'll see if I can condense my adventures so poor Chookyblue doesn't need TWO cuppas to get to the end of it! Tee! Hee! Hee!

OK ... so ... Mum and Dad arrived Friday morning so my Beloved Geek Boy and I could travel down the hill with them to my cousin's wedding so we only had to worry about parking and toll payments for one vehicle. We managed to get to the winery where the wedding was held without taking the 'scenic route' (our code for 'where the heck are we?!?!' Tee! Hee! Hee!) and as well as witnessing the beautiful wedding of my Cousin Samantha, we got to catch up with some of my mad rellies who had converged from all over Australia and another cousin had even flown in from New Zealand where she is currently studying. Talk about INSANITY!!! :0) I'm the shy quiet one of my family ... so that will give you all a little bit of an idea just how crazy the rest of the clan are! Tee! Hee! Hee! We piled ourselves back into the car to drive home after the reception, tumbling into bed well after midnight.

Saturday saw a frenetic round of shopping with Mum and Dad, who usually catch up on grocery shopping and errand running when they hit the 'big smoke' of Toowoomba. Then it was time to wave good-bye to them, re-make the guest bed, have a cup of tea and welcome my bestest-buddy-since-we-were-nine Lynette. We had dinner (Moroccan lamb  done in the slow cooker - YUMMO!) and enjoyed a short chat ... only about three hours without drawing breath! Tee! Hee! Hee! Then we hit the sack to get our beauty sleep before heading out to the Village Green at Highfields on Sunday morning to once again enjoy ...

YAY!! This annual event is hosted by the lovely Marion and her troop of hard-working elves at Quilters Angel and it is always FABULOUS!! This was the third year Lynette and I had booked ourselves in for a day of stitching, chatting and spoiling and we were NOT disappointed! In fact, we had a BLAST! :0)

This year's SDDO theme was "Christmas Wishes" and the guest designers were Lynette Anderson of 'Lynette Anderson Designs', Anni Downs of 'Hatched and Patched' and Natalie Bird of 'The Birdhouse'. Each of these lovely and clever ladies had designed two projects especially for SDDO participants and we started the day off with a welcome and a 'show and tell' from the designers ...

There's Anni, Natalie, Lynette telling us about her fabulous new fabric range and the lovely Maid Marion herself. And the projects we were treated to??? You're going to be jealous! :0)

This is the "Happy Christmas Cushion" designed by Natalie ...

"Dear Santa ... Table Runner" designed by Lynette ...

"Here Comes Santa Christmas Stocking" designed by Natalie and made up in some of Lynette's yummy Christmas fabric range ...

"Little Stockings" designed by Lynette ... also made from her yummy Christmas fabrics ...

"Christmas Stamp Pockets" designed by Anni ... aren't these just too cute?!?! This is the project both Lynette and I found in our goodies bag to work on for the day and the little stitcheries are not only fun to stitch, but quick to finish. Of course ... that doesn't mean I actually FINISHED one of mine, cos there was lots of chatting, looking, admiring and munching to do, too! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And last but not least was Anni's second design,  "Tree Of Christmas Cheer". See?? I TOLD you you'd be jealous! :0)

Once show and tell was over, Marion FINALLY let us delve into our goodies bags. Here's Lynette discovering her treats ...

We had some lovely ladies at our table to chat to, some stitching to do, so off we went. Here's everyone hard-a-stitchin' ...

As always, Marion and her merry band of hard-working elves had done a beautiful job of setting the scene for us. Each table had a stylised patchwork Christmas tree with our table number and there were festive decorations galore around the marquee, as well as displays of gorgeous project samples from our three clever-clogs guest designers. With an atmosphere like that, we couldn't help but be creative! :0)

Of course, throughout the day as well as enjoying a yummy morning tea, lunch and plum pudding and custard afternoon tea, Marion had organised HEAPS of lucky door prizes and competitions. It was during one of these ... sing a Christmas carol ... that we discovered I have Christmas-Carol-Lyric-itus ... put on the spot, I could not for the life of me remember ALL of the words to ONE single carol - just snippets from a whole lot of them!!! In the end, Anni nominated I sing "O Christmas Tree" ... let's just say I'm pretty sure the author of said song did NOT include "La, la, la, la, la, la, la" in the original version of the song! Tee! Hee! Hee! However, giggling fits and terminal embarrassment aside, it won me something rather special ...

A jelly roll of gorgeous "Flag Day" fabrics ... the same faded blue and red tones I'll be playing with when I make my "Rural Jardin" quilt! How spoilt was I?!?! :0) Thanks Marion!!

It was lovely to chat to Lynette, Anni and Natalie throughout the day as they wandered around the tables chatting and giving mini demonstrations and it was especially great to catch up with Lynette again, having enjoyed a dinner date with her and her beloved, Vince, during our beach holiday. Oh wait ... I now have a COLLECTION of Lynettes - which they both assured me was the NICEST sort of collection to have! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Lynette, Lynette and yours truly. Hmmm ... Lynette and I make Lynette look like an Amazon! OK ... THAT was a little confusing! Tee! Hee! Hee!

All in all, it was a FANTASTIC day as always. Thanks Marion, Steph and your team of exceptionally hard-working elves!! We had a HOOT! About the only complaint we had for the day was that it went by WAY too quickly! :0) Lynette and I have already decided we'll be back again next year for more stitching - maybe some of you would like to join us! The details are all on Marion's web site, so pop across and check it out. Next year's theme is "Down The Garden Path" ... should be GREAT!

There you have it - my HUGE weekend. I think it will take me a little while to catch up on some sleep, but having kicked my cold (thank you all for your well-wishes!!) and the onset of some warmer spring weather, I'm actually feeling pretty energetic, so who knows what I might manage to tackle this week. Hope your weekend was as enjoyable as mine ... even if it wasn't QUITE as action-packed! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

PS. The seven gals who won prizes at the start of September ... your prizes will be going in tomorrow's mail, so you can start stalking your posties! Tee! Hee! Hee! BH! KRIS

PPS. Hi Debbie! Couldn't email you cos you're a no-reply blogger, but thanks for sharing the table and lots of laughs with us! BH! KRIS

What Has Taken Up My Week?!

Wow! It's a week since I last posted - once again someone seems to be pinching a few hours out of every day, so by the end of the week I've lost a few days, by the end of the month I've lost a couple of weeks and by the end of the year ... I'm REALLY going to be in trouble! :0) Not a lot going on this week ... hence no posting ... but I thought I'd catch you up on what HAS been going on in the Meares' Madhouse this week.

Yep ... another head cold ambushed me after a really busy few weeks, followed by a heavy rehearsal schedule last week for "After Five", the vocal ensemble I'm part of. We had some performances with a couple of long dress rehearsals, plus a change of weather and all combined to freshen up the cold I thought I'd shaken. RATS! So, I didn't operate on all 6 cylinders most of the week ... everything seemed to take so much more energy than usual. However, I DID manage to do a bit.

Remember last month I told you I'd finished the top of another stacked coin quilt ... the photo of which I accidentally deleted? Well, I picked it up from my quilting magician, the lovely Rosalie, this week and attached and stitched down the binding so it was ready to give as a wedding gift to one of my cousins ... TODAY! Yep, a Friday wedding that has thrown us into a bit of organisational chaos, but, HEY ... we're fairly used to chaos in this house! Tee! Hee! Hee! Here's the finished quilt ...

I've used some charm packs I bought from Sarah last year ... "Oddysea" ... and the binding is the yummy chocolate spotty dotty fabric I bought during my holiday patchwork shop-hopping. See ... I TOLD you I'd find a use for it all ... eventually! Tee! Hee! Hee! Here's a bit closer look at Rosalie's lovely quilting ...

Hope you can see it OK ... lots of lovely swirly curls and soft curves. I was really pleased with how it came up and I hope my cousin and her new hubby love it, too.

The only other sewing for the week (in between trips to the tissue box to blow my poor dripping nose!!!) was making a start on a quilt for my sort-of-sister, Tiffy. She turns 21 in November and asked ... VERY nicely!! ... if I could please make her a quilt ... sort of like my "Fairy Bears And Butterflies" design ... but without the bears! WHAT THE?!?!?! No bears!!! I nearly disowned her, but decided not to after all! :0) Oh ... a few of you have asked why Tiffy is my "sort-of-sister". Well ... she began boarding with Mum and Dad about 5 years ago while she finished senior, wanting to finish her senior certificate with her friends though her parents had moved away from Mundubbera. And ... well ... she's still there! Tee! Hee! Hee! So, we've sort of  'absorbed' Tiffy into our family, making her my 'sort-of-sister'. See? All makes sense ... sort of! Tee! Hee! Hee! However ... I digress ... Here's the start of her quilt ...

Some more charm squares I bought from Sarah ... I think these are from the "Frenzy" range. I was originally going to be putting some appliqué features on this central patchwork section, too, as I did in my "Fairy Bears" quilt, but the fabrics are so bright that I think the appliqué would be lost, so I've actually decided to put a lighter border on the outside of this section and appliqué the butterflies that Tiffy liked onto that lighter background ... a bit like in "Butterfly Hunt" ... to give you a vague mental picture ... which is about all I have when I start projects! Tee! Hee! Hee! Will show you my progress on this quilt as I make some. By the way ... My Beloved Geek Boy keeps going mad at me for not remembering to tell you all that a number of my patterns are now available as e-patterns, or downloadable patterns on my web site ... just in case you can't wait for the postie or just want to save a bit on the postage costs ... so you can buy more patterns! Tee! Hee! Hee! Pop over HERE if you'd like to take a peek at my downloadable patterns. Eventually, ALL of my patterns will be available in the downloadable format, it will just take a little bit of time to do some scanning etc. Will let you know! :0)

Anyways ... I'd better go get myself all kitted out for this wedding ... driving down the hill to attend ... in the rain ... that was supposed to show up yesterday ... typical!! Big weekend here, but no time to tell you about it now - I promise to report back ... with photos! :0) Hope you all have a fabulous weekend and manage to set aside a little time to be creative. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

OOPS!!! I Forgot!!!

Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear!!

What a slack blogger I am!!! I announce a pattern launch giveaway and then forget to announce the winners!!! All I can say is ... "OOPS!" it's been a busy week! :0)

So here I am, back to remedy the situation. Firstly, can I say a big "Thank You!" to you all for sharing your teddy tales. I so loved reading about everyone's favourite teddy! Some stories made me giggle, some brought tears to my eyes and some were just cute. And they made me realise that I don't really HAVE a favourite bear story! Shocking, I know!! For one thing ... in a house with as many bears as ours, I can't really play favourites, or the others would sulk. :0) But secondly, like Julia, I didn't actually have a bear as my childhood companion ... I had Sam the brown corduroy sausage dog ...

Here's Sam in his retirement splendour. He's been home-made and was bought from a street stall for me when I was only a few weeks old, so he's been with me for around 40 years. As a child, I did EVERYTHING with Sam. If I had a needle, so did Sam and he has a couple of bald spots now where his corduroy fur was pulled away by the bandaids. :0) Poor Sam is looking a little worse-for-wear these days, cos as my favourite Indiana Jones quote says,

"It's not the YEARS, Honey, it's the MILEAGE!!"

And BOY, did Sam cover some miles with me obviously!! Tee! Hee! Hee! His neck is a bit wobbly and he lost his tail in a car-door incident during a family trip to Alice Springs (he doesn't like to talk about is!!!), but he's still enjoying life and lording it over the bears and dolls in the spare room! :0)

So ... to the winners of the pattern giveaway. I put the random generator to work and we have some winners ... drum roll please ...

GAIL

BARBARA

(couldn't find a blog address)

ASTRID

TONI

Congratulations gals! I hope you enjoy playing with your new patterns when they arrive and I'd love to see photos of your finished quilts. If you can all send me your snail mail addresses, I'll pop your prizes in the mail next week ... when I'll also post the OPAM end of month winners. Gee ... my little mate Raymond at the post office is going to fascinated by all the different places I'm posting things off to this week! I'm sure I'm his entertainment for the week whenever I go in, cos I post things off to so many places in the world ... I think he's always a little disappointed if I'm ONLY posting within Australia! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And now I'm off to pop some washing in while the spring sunshine is shining. Wishing you all a sunshiny weekend full of fun and relaxing! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

Fabric Frenzy & Some Winners!

After leaving almost a week between posts, I'm now back for the second day in a row ... bet you're surprised! :0) Peg and I have finished our blog-hopping in record time to collect OPAM end of month finishes, so I thought I'd put you all out of your suspenders quickly ... after I tell you about my fabric-frenzy kind of day! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Today was the Quilters Angel's 6th birthday celebrations and Marion and Steph celebrated in style with a HUGE store-wide sale. Sorry I didn't let you know about it, but I was keeping all the fabricy goodness for myself completely unaware that the day had rolled round so quickly! :0) I was actually pretty well behaved, but a few pieces of yummy fabric DID follow me home ... you just KNEW they would, right?! :0) Here's what joined my stash ...

Yes ... some more of the DELICIOUS "Aviary" range followed me home AGAIN ... I'm finding this smallish floral print is fabulous to mix and match in lots of different projects, so re-stocked my stash of it. I don't know what I'm going to make out of the third piece, but it was just so darn CUTE that I grabbed half a metre and am sure I'll find a way to use it sooner or later ... what with the 9 nephews and 3 nieces always seeming to have birthdays looming! :0) I also bought a couple of other pieces, but they were a 'just because' surprise for a friend and I forgot to photograph them before I dropped them into her ... just couldn't wait to hand them over! Tee! Hee! Hee! Thanks for a VERY generous sale, Marion and Steph and may the next six years bring even bigger and brighter adventures your way!! :0)

Now, the other fabric that added to my frenzy today was delivered (in the usual GENTLE - NOT! way) by the postie. After many hours of drooling over a layer cake of "Rural Jardin" yumminess, moaning over how my second favourite range was fast disappearing from shops and wishing I could justify stretching the budget to add some to my stash for a 'just for me' quilt,  my Beloved Geek Boy said, "Go ahead and buy it." Aaaaawww isn't he a SWEETIE! :0) So I hopped on the Fat Quarter Shop web site and today, this arrived ...

MMMMMMMM!!!! Rural Jardin!!!! :0) I know just what I'm going to do with this fabricy yumminess (after I've admired, stroked and played with it for a while of course!!) I'm going to make a simple 5"square quilt that simply shows off the delicious colours and patterns in this range. I love that the soft reds and blues look like they were once-upon-a-time vibrant and bright and have since become faded and slightly worn with age, love and lots of use. Not sure when I'll actually get to do this, but ... I will have my "Rural Jardin" all ready to play with when I manage it. :0)

OK ... I think I've kept you all in suspense long enough ... now to the August end-of-month winners for OPAM. This month, there were 535 projects finished by all you clever gals! How GREAT is THAT!!! :0) Obviously, lots of you were far more productive than me this month! :0) WELL DONE! And another WELL DONE to the gals who, like me, have been stitching away on bigger projects and have made some good progress, even if you can't record any finishes just yet. Remember ... OPAM is meant to be a low-stress challenge and the main thing is to ENJOY your creating. Alrighty then ... drumroll please ... the randomly chosen winners this month are ...

Oddbjørg

Clare

Annette

CONGRATULATIONS! If you three lovely ladies would like to email me with your snail mail addresses, I shall post your prizes to you early next week. A big thanks again to all of you who emailed the number of your finishes to Peg or I ... it is so much appreciated and keeps us from going completely cross-eyed! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And now that I've shared my Fabric Frenzy and the August OPAM winners with you ... I'm off to do something about dinner. I hope you're all having a great week so far. Spring has sprung here in Australia and even our fickle 'top of the hill' weather turned on a warm sunny day today to celebrate - AAAAHHHH!! I can feel myself thawing out and the batteries recharging already! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS