Christmas Denial!!!

I am in complete denial about how close Christmas is creeping ... I'm not certain that I'm ready for LAST Christmas yet! :0) In fact ... if one more person cheerfully (why are people always cheerful about telling you something you probably don't want to know?! ) says to me, "It'll be Christmas before you know it, not long now!" I may just commit an indictable offence! :0)

So why am I actually mentioning the impending holiday season if I'm in denial? Well ... once again I've signed up to be part of Chookyblue's Secret Santa Christmas Swap ... SSCS for short ...

Being somewhat (OK ... VERY!!) time-poor, as I know many of you are, too, I made the decision a couple of years ago to only do one swap a year, and since the lovely Chookyblue is the bestest ever swap mama, I picked SSCS. Plus, when I first joined blogland's fun, this was the first swap I ever took part in, so it's a bit of a sentimental fave, too ... or was that 'semi-mental' fave, as a family friend says. :0)

Whichever seems most appropriate ... thanks for once again hosting SSCS, Chooky ...  know you're a busy, busy lady, so your time and effort is appreciated. Hmmm ... who will be sending me a Christmas surprise this year? Will my partner like her gift? I've already made a bit of a start on my main giftie ... bit of a shock for the queen of procrastination, I know! :0)

Righto ... the clock has just ticked over to tomorrow ... which now means it's today, but I thought I had a 'today' yesterday!! Oh I'm so confused! I think that's a sign that it's time to keep an appointment with my neglected pillow! Tee! Hee! Hee! Hope you're all having a lovely start to your weekend and that you manage to find time to be creative ... I have! :0) Til next time ...

SLEEPY BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Long Weekend & OPAM Winners

It's a long weekend here and I'm rather happy to say, my Beloved Geek Boy and I have spent the entire weekend at home ... AAAAH ... BLISS! :0) Life has just been so hectic in the last month or so that a couple of weekends at home is just what the doctor ordered.

I had BIG plans for the sewing I was going to get done this weekend and when I was at my Home-Away-From-Home on Friday for our Quilting Angels gathering, I stocked up on some yummy fabric to help me on my way. I had two specific projects in mind to work on this weekend, the first being a stacked coin quilt for my Mum's neighbour's daughter. Did you follow that?! :0) She saw the quilt I made earlier this year for Mum's friend who is undergoing cancer treatment ...

The last update I heard on Pauline's condition (the sweet blond lady and quilt recipient) was that the treatment was going well enough that she should be able to take a hoped-for trip to the UK soon, so that's good news, though she's not out of the woods.

So ... Mum's friend said her daughter's favourite colours are purple and yellow. Hmmm ... I struggle a bit with yellow, so suggested I just run with the purple theme. After getting the nod, these are the fabrics I stocked up on this week to get started ...

Some yummy batiks and a nice strong, royal purple for the sashings. I've also added a few other purples to this pile, after I took the photo, that I had in my stash left over from where I made this ...

My favourite skirt! It is just so comfy to wear ... which is why I bought some fabric to make another one ... my second batch of stocking up this week. :0)

Some yummy, warm browns. I absolutely fell in love with the range the top row of fabrics comes from ... 'Eclectic Elements' by Tim Holtz that arrived at Quilters Angel this week. They are in various sepia/brown/black shades and have a bit of a steampunk/industrial feel about them. It's quite a big range, so lots more fabrics to choose from ... I had to limit myself or the budget would have squealed! Tee! Hee! Hee! They'd be perfect for making quilts for teenage boys and men ... or patchwork skirts for some gals who aren't pink, frilly frou-frou gals! :0) I am going to team them with some warm chocolate and malt toned batiks to bring out the rich colours. Hmm ... doesn't that just make you want to rush out and find a chocolate flavoured malted milkshake ... or is that just me?! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So my plan for the weekend was to get both of these projects done. Hmmm ... yes ... well ... the best laid plans of mice and men etc!!! After realising I had a couple of deadlines looming to put together some bits and bobs for two lovely friends publishing e-zines, I have spent quite a lot of the weekend on the computer. And while I was going, decided to finally get myself organised and add a long-overdue pattern to my website ...

"Life Is Good" ... the bag set I designed for Girls' Stitch In in march this year is finally up on my website. It's been available from Quilters Angel since March, but somehow adding it to the website kept getting moved down my list of jobs ... Oops! The pattern includes instructions for the large tote bag pictured ... it's 19"x18 1/2" so you can fit a LOT of stitching stuff in there to run away for a retreat! :0) ... a large drawstring pouch, a tiny drawstring pouch and two sizes of snap-closure phone/glasses cases. All have garden themed stitcheries and the stitchery panel on the front of the tote bag says,

"Bees buzz, birds sing, butterflies flutter on rainbow wings ... Life is good!"

When I designed it, I thought of my absolute DREAM spot to sit and stitch ... a gorgeous cottage garden with birds, bees, butterflies, flowers, a comfy chair, a cup of tea, some stitching ... and of course some stitching friends would complete the picture! :0) This pattern is available as a paper pattern or as a downloadable PDF format. I hope you all enjoy stitching it ... I sure did! :0)

And of course the other thing that has taken some of my stitching time this weekend was finishing off the round-up for OPAM for September. Sweet Peg and I ... as always!! ... have been blown away by the GORGEOUS projects you clever-clogs gals have been creating with needle, thread, knitting needles, crochet hooks and wool. It is always amazing to see the variety of projects people are working on. Thanks to those gals who emailed Sweet Peg or me ... it's much appreciated and enables us to get back to our own stitching a bit quicker ... in theory! Tee! Hee! Hee! The final tally for September was ...

368 Finishes!

WOW!! Well done everyone who finished some projects on their "To Do" list. And even if you didn't actually have finishes to add, but made some good progress on some long-term projects ... congratulations to you too. OPAM really isn't about who has the biggest tally, it's about taking some time out from your busy day-to-day schedule to enjoy some 'time out' being creative, whether you use needle and thread, sewing machine, knitting needles or crochet hook. Being creative feeds our soul, calms our mind and recharges the batteries ... so we can keep being the busy gals we all are. :0) OK ... this month's random draw winners are ...

SHEZ

&

KATHERINE McW

Congrats, gals! Please email your snail mail addresses to me and I'll pop a little something in the mail for you soon.

OK ... that's enough from me for today ... sewing time's a-wastin'! Whatever you've been up to this weekend, I hope you've managed to grab at least a little time to yourself to be creative and recharge your batteries. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Weekend Stitching & OPAM!!

Hellooooooooooo!! How are you all coping with the start of another week? Did you have a great weekend? Here at the Meares' Madhouse we had an incredibly rare event on the weekend ... we actually STAYED HOME! :0) I know ... radical behaviour, right?! Tee! Hee! Hee! As a result, my OPAM finishes list is looking a bit healthier.

The last month or so has been so busy here that I really haven't been doing a lot of stitching, so when I had not ONE... not TWO ... but THREE days at home ... in a ROW!! I hurried up and got the 'grown up' jobs out of the way, then hit the sewing room. The result of our stay-at-home weekend ... we caught up on more than half a season of "Arrow" episodes. :0) And ...

Ta Da! Four mini stitchery hangers FINISHED!! :0)

I had a little play with some variegated thread, a simple stitchery design and a few different embroidery stitches.

I love this rich rusty red/brown colour ... must remember to buy some more. :0)

A purple version ...

... and  a pink version ... with an added sucky puff. :0)

I had a lot of fun stitching these simple, but cute hangers ... the finished hangers are only 4 1/2 inches square. They'll be going in my gift basket ready to splash some "LOVE" around to friends. In fact ... I think I'll be making a few more of these ... although I did have a few issues with the self-binding technique ... will be trying something different next time. What's that saying ... "Live and learn". :0)

So .. that's four finishes to add to my OPAM list ... and the calendar is telling me that it's that time of month when you  lovely, clever-clogs OPAMers need to update your sidebar list of finishes and email my gorgeous partner-in-crime Sweet Peg or me with your final tally for September. Have you had a good month? Have you got lots of finishes? Have you not got any finishes ... but you made some progress on some of your WISPier WISPS?? :0) We wanna know about it, so drop us an email. Due to all the crazy busy-ness of the Meares' Madhouse in the last month or so, I still haven't sent the prizes from a couple of draws back ... EEK! Sorry gals! You know who you are and I have your parcels on the list to be posted this week. Thank you for being patient!! :0)

Okey doke ... I'm off to enjoy sipping a cup of Sleepy Time tea and watch "The Amazing 80's" on the box. Talk about de ja vu! :0) I'm an 80's gal, so it's pretty funny to watch this flashback. So many historic events, so much fantastic music ... SOOOOOO many tragic fashion bloopers! Tee! Hee! Hee! Hope your week is off to a great start. Til next time ...

GROOVY BEAR HUGS!!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Oops! Absentee Checking In!

OOPS! It's somehow been almost two weeks since I popped in to catch up with you all ... not sure how THAT happened!! My only excuse is that the Meares' Madhouse has been living up to its moniker. :0) There've been visitors coming and going, quilt shows to help with (and admire!!), busy stuff at my 'day job' work ... and I think someone has also been flicking through my calendar days at a much quicker speed than I'm ready for. :0) Mind you ... if one more person says ... "it'll soon be Christmas." I may have to commit an indictable offence! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So ... I won't catch you up on all the to-ings and fro-ings right now ... but I promise to be back with some pics in the next day or so. I really just popped in to quickly share a photo my Mum emailed me this morning. Now ... that very statement would not have been typed just 12 months ago! You see ... Mum used to send me emails by writing her 'email' out in longhand with paper and pen, hand it to Dad to type and send ... which led to some VERY funny 'editorial comments' in the midst of Mum's messages from Dad. Very amusing! :0) But then ... my Beloved Geek Boy helped Mum and Dad buy an iPad and lo and behold ... Mum has learned how to take photos on it and email. But I digress ...

Some of you may remember last year when Mum fell in love with my "Aaah ... Paris!" quilt which featured in "Homespun" magazine ...

Well ... Mum decided she needed a few cushions to match her quilt. So when they were visiting, I dug out a couple of French-inspired appliqué shapes and the remaining stash of "Pom Pom De Paris" fabrics that I had in my sewing cupboard and sent her home to play. Now, Mum's never done any patchworking, but she has played with machine appliqué over the years. This morning's photo will show you how well she did ...

Ta Da! A plethora of French-inspired pillows! :0) Obviously my creativity comes from my clever Mum. :0) I keep telling her that when she moves closer, I'll corrupt encourage her to do some more patchwork, appliqué etc ... I'm sure I can get her hooked too! :0)

Okey doke ... I'm off to play Polly and enjoy some lovely stitching time. I can't remember the last time I had some time at home just to sit, stitch and enjoy some Midsomer Murders and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. I'm looking forward to it! :0) Whatever you're doing, I hope your weekend includes some fun stuff and I promise to be back soon to share pics of the last couple of weeks. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

A Dream Weekend!!

WHAT a weekend!! I'm absolutely exhausticated, footsore and sleep-deprived ... but BOY! did we have fun! Tee! Hee! Hee!

As I've been telling you for a little while, this weekend was the annual Stitchers' Dream Day Out hosted by Marion and Steph of The Quilter's Angel ... and it IS a stitcher's DREAM day out. :0) It was a busy, busy weekend, all in all ... you know ... getting the grown-up chores done early so I could play for the whole weekend, tidying the house to welcome visitors ... and of course, playing with all those other keen stitchers! :0) I was fortunate enough to have two good friends travel from Brisbane to join me ... my Bestest-Buddy-Since-We-Were-Nine Lynette and fellow-designer Toni Alexander of the Red Boot Quilt Co. YAY!! :0) Things were all set for FUN!!

Now ... there are quite a lot of photos to follow, so perhaps you need to grab a cuppa and a little snackie, get comfy and settle in for a read and a peek at our weekend of fun. Sorry Chooky ... no way to make this a short post! Tee! Hee! Hee!

The hall was decorated beautifully as always, in keeping with this year's theme, "LOVE". Do you see those helium filled heart balloons? I spent a lot of the weekend feeling a bit like a navy warship dodging mines! They seemed to jump out at me as I went past! :0)

This is a photo of all the ladies ... taking photos! :0) Before the stampede began, everyone was keen to get photos of how gorgeous the room looked ... and look at those lovely giftie bags!! Oh yeah ... we were SPOILT! :0) The guest designers for this year's event were Rosalie Quinlan, Debbie McGee and Ella Madsen ...

Look at these GORGEOUS and inspiring women!! Ella, Deb, Rosie and Marion. It was wonderful to catch up with Deb again ... she's such a sweetie! :0) And lovely to chat with Ella and Rosie, too, as they are both designers whose work I have admired for many years. Each of the girls were given two bundles of fabrics and asked to design two projects for the weekend ...

Deb's first project was this SUPER cute handbag-shaped pincushion. This was so darn cute!! It's a great size so you can't misplace it on your sewing table, has a handy pocket on each end for pencils, rotary cutters, scissors and needles, the front flap lifts to store needles and the handle makes it very handy to transport for those sewing days with friends.

Deb's second project was a sweet sewing pouch in funky black, red, brown and pink with a stitchery on the front.

This was one of Ella's designs ... a knitting bag featuring one of her crinoline ladies. Ella loves to research the history and stories of these ladies of yesteryear ... and some of them were just a little bit RACY if you know what I mean! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Ella's second project was an elegant iPad pouch with the theme of this year's event stitched on the front ... this is the project I started stitching ... and no I'm not going to show you how much I didn't ... er ... did get stitched for the day! :0) I was severely sleep-deprived ... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! :0)

This is one of Rosie's projects ... a pretty stitchery which has been combined with a stitcher's hoop to make a wall hanger. Rosie's other project was a sweet bag featuring half Dresden plate paper-piecing ... but I forgot to take a pic of it ... Oops!! Check out the Quilters Angel blog to see it.

Here's some of the gals from the Friday night stitching group I meet up with once a fortnight. There were LOTS of goodies in the giftie bags! :0)

And speaking of gifties ... Donna and Ruth (Friday night gals) attend one of the Stitcher's Dream Day Out days each year together and they exchange gifts that carry the theme of the day. Ruth made this GORGEOUS framed scrap-booking project ... and the pretty matching card you can see on the table. Donna's gift to Ruth was a set of three little boxes filled with pretty bits and pieces that featured 'love'. What lovely friends to have! :0) There were lots of other friends enjoying the weekend ... as well as some Mother/Daughter combos ...

This lovely Mum travelled from north of Cairns to join her Brissie-based daughter to come and play. This was the first stitching for our dotty-dress-wearing-daughter ... and she FINISHED the stitchery for her project! WOW!! She was showing us all up! :0)

Another Mother/Daughter team ... we nick-named them the 'Overachievers'! :0) Miss Daughter on the left travels from Mt Isa each year to play with us and she ALWAYS has projects from the previous year all finished ... plus a few extras! ... to share during show and tell. I didn't get a good pic of their shirts, but they showed the swaps and changes that we had with the date for this stitching event thanks to our 'wonderful' past prime ministers.

Throughout the weekend, the lovely designers shared lots of tips, tricks and mini-demonstrations. Everyone was enthralled and listening closely ... or were they?!?!?

The Fabulous Fiona of Bubz Rugz ... it's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for! :0 There's one on every table, isn't there?! :0) ) Or in our case ...

... perhaps there were TWO!!! :0) My Bestest-Buddy-Since-We-Were-Nine Lynette decided her stitched swirls looked a little like a moustache. Are you guessing which table we're talking about here??

Yep ... Table Two AKA "The Naughty Table!" :0) Here we are in all our glory ... though, to be fair ... Lyn on the left was lovely and quiet, stitching away while the mayhem went on around her! :0) That's Toni holding our table number. We had a wonderful time of catching up, chatting, being spoilt and LAUGHING!! Oh ... and apparently some people STITCHED! :0)

A HUGE thank you to Marion and Steph and their band of merry helpers, the clever-clogs designers Rosie, Deb and Ella, to all the lovely ladies who joined in the chatting and laughing. It was so much fun to catch up with some of the gals I'd met at previous Stitchers Dream Days and Girls' Stitch In, not to mention blogging buddies ... Hi Cheryl and Lynda! :0) If you haven't managed to attend one of the Quilters Angel's special stitching events, I would HIGHLY recommend that you do!! You not only enjoy a relaxing day with great company, you get SPOILT!!! :0) I can give you a little whisper about next year ... Christmas is coming early next year ... in April!! I'll share more details with you once they're finalised ... promise!! :0)

And now ... we're all catching up on some sleep and getting ready for this coming weekend when Creative Fields kicks off ... pop over to the Quilters Angel to get the details. Anyone would think Marion and Steph have way too much free time! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Hope you've all had a fabulous weekend and that your week is off to a wonderful start. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS