Some Sad News

We received some very sad news today. Do you remember me sharing last year about making a very special quilt for one of my Mum's friends?

A stacked con quilt that the Fabulous Fiona quilted exquisitely for me. It was special because it was to be a comfort quilt for a special lady, Pauline, diagnosed with terminal cancer at just 46 years of age.

We made a trip to Mundubbera specially to deliver the quilt in time for members of the church to write messages of support and encouragement in the light blocks you can see in the coin stacks, so that when her chemo started, this gorgeous lady (second from the left ... my Mum is on the far right) would be wrapped in the love and prayers of her family and friends.

That was just over 12 months ago. Today I received an email from Mum to say that Pauline had finally lost her battle and gone home to be with her Lord. There are tears running down my face again as I type this. Tears for a life ended too soon, mixed with tears of joy that I'll get to hug her again one day in heaven. 

When I shared the story of this special quilt last year, so many of you passed on beautiful messages of support and well-wishes for me to pass along to Pauline with the quilt ... which I did and which she appreciated. So I wanted to let you know that the quilt wrapped her in love and support for a over a year and I hope it will continue to comfort her family.

Life's not always fair, the future doesn't always pan out the way we think/want it to, so EVERY DAY, we need to ...

* Appreciate another day to be enjoyed and used to its fullest potential 

* Choose to see the positive in every situation ... and the humour!

* Spend as much time with family and friends as we can

* Choose not to stay angry with those who are important to us

* Take EVERY opportunity to say I LOVE YOU to the people who matter the most to you!

Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

KRIS

A Stitching Buzz & OPAM!!

Here I am!! I'm feeling a little bit like a human popsicle here on top of our 'hill' at the moment ... our temperatures for the last three days have been around 2 or 3 degrees overnight and only climbing to around 13-15 during the day ... THEN ... add in horrible south-westerly and westerly winds and this turkey is feeling pretty frozen ... BRRRRRR!!! Winter is well and truly here ... SIGH!! 

In amidst trying to keep warm, my Beloved Geek Boy and I are still trying to stay tidy ... our cosy cottage is on the market ready for a big move (fingers crossed!!) and so there are open house sessions and inspections by prospective buyers happening throughout the week. We really are not naturally tidy people ... just ask my neat-nut Mum! Tee! Hee! Hee! And although I can't play in my sewing room in case I make a fabricky, thready mess, I was suffering withdrawal symptoms, so HAD to find some hand stitching to sooth my stitcher's soul. I left it until too late in the day to take a good photo, but this will give you a sneaky-peeky preview of what I'm playing with ...

"A bee! A bee ... is after me! And that is why, I flee, I flee! This bee, this bee, appears to be very, VERY an-ger-y!" A Spike Milligan poem I helped teach to a year 1 class for eisteddfods some years ago when I was working as a Teacher's Aid. Aaah ... the peculiar things you find lurking in your memory! :0)

That's about all the stitchy stuff happening here at the Meares' Madhouse at the moment ... but I know all of you OPAM gals have been slaving over your machines and have had needles flying during June ... BUT ... you need to tell me and my Sweet Partner In Crime, Sweet Peg, just what you've managed to finish. It's time to update your sidebar lists and email your tallies to Sweet Peg or me to go in the random prize draw. Remember ... your project has to be FINISHED ... individual blocks don't count and neither do flimsies ... quilts must be quilted and bound and stitcheries/cross-stitches have to have been made into something or framed. Are you all having fun playing along with Sweet Peg and me this year for OPAM? I hope so, cos we sure LOVE to see what you've all been creating! :0)

Well ... that's about it for an update from the Meares' Madhouse ... I'll keep you updated on our house adventure as things progress ... and it seems they progress much slower than my nerves would prefer ... EEP!! In the meantime, my visits may continue to be a bit sporadic ... but I'm thinking of you all. :0) Enjoy the rest of your week ... and stay warm if you're in the southern hemisphere ... and cool if you're up north, of course. :0) Til next time ...

BRRRRRRRRR ... BEAR HUGS!!!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Dreaming Is Hard Work!

G'day everyone! I'm still here and have been missing catching up with you all, but life here at the Meares' Madhouse has been manic, frantic, stressful, chaotic and at times a complete shambles ... which has left no time for stitching and little time for catching up with my blogging buddies. You see, we've been reaching for a dream ... and can I just tell you a little secret? Dreaming is HARD WORK! :0)

I know I've been dropping hints and not telling you what we've been up to, but I was waiting for a few ducks to be in their rows before sharing too much. It all started about a month ago when I was cruising around real estate sites looking for our 'dream house'. You see, we live very close to the centre of Toowoomba ... very handy to everything, but my Beloved Geek Boy and I really are country kids at heart and have dreamt of a little bit of acreage to retreat to.

So there I was, surfing the real estate sites, admiring some houses, sniggering at a few (shame on me! :0) ) and wincing at prices when ... HOLD THE PHONE!! I stumbled on the PERFECT house ... for us. It was a historic house that had been moved onto an acre block and renovated to perfection ... SQUEEEEAAALL!!! So I showed GB. He was quiet for a long time, then said ... "You've found our dream house." And it was open house the next day ... and it turned out I knew the real estate agent handling the sale ... it felt RIGHT!

There followed a wild and whirling carousel ride of meetings with financial advisors, mortgage brokers, real estate agents ... EEK! It was really happening!! So then it was the madness of preparing our crazy cottage for sale ... you know ... finishing off all those half done projects and finally finishing those 'one day' jobs ... DOUBLE EEK! ... de-cluttering, packing, CLEANING ... TRIPLE EEK!!! :0)

So this Federation cottage ...

... is now on the market and we're a step closer to reaching a long-held dream. It's exciting, it's scary ... it's been bl#$%y hard work!! And we couldn't have done it without the INCREDIBLE support, encouragement and practical assistance of our wonderful family and friends. GB and I have been blown away by the way people have stepped up to help us ... we are BLESSED!!

So ... now you know what's been keeping me away from my designing, stitching and blogging ... I told you it was a good reason! :0) I'm hoping to pop in a little more often now that the biggest chunk of work has been done, but since  a lot of my sewing paraphernalia has been packed up, there may not be much stitching happening ... SIGH! Hopefully all of you in blogland are stitching lots so I can stitch vicariously. :0)

In the meantime, we're still catching up on sleep after an exhausting month, so I think I'll play Polly and put the kettle on for a cuppa, then head for bed. Hope you are all keeping well and enjoying some creative time. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Winners & White Light!

G'day all! Hope your week has been super-fantastic! :0) The chaos continues at the Meares' Madhouse ... we're getting closer to a time when I can share a bit more with you about what the fuss is all about ... trust me, we'll be happy to get to that point too! :0)

So ... still no stitching happening here, but there's been plenty of flying needles in blogland and Sweet Peg and I have enjoyed seeing the OPAM tallies coming in for May. There was a grand total of 409 projects finished in May ... WOW!! Well done to you all! And to those of you who didn't get to add finishes to your list, but took time out to make some progress ... well done to you, too. It really does amaze me every month that you clever gals are creating so many wonderful and varied projects. Pat yourselves on the back! :0)

OK, so it's my turn to announce the winners of our random prize draw ... drumroll please ...

SIMONE

BRENDA K

Congratulations gals!! If you'd like to email me with your snail mail addresses, I'll pop a little something in the mail for you next week. As always, thank you to all of you who took time to email your tallies through to me or my Sweet Partner-In-Crime ... and a HUGE thank you to my P-I-C Sweet Peg for co-hosting OPAM with me. What would I do without you, Gorgeous Friend!! :0)

Now, even though there hasn't been time to stitch in amongst the craziness of our household at the moment, I did gather with some stitching buddies today in the workroom of the Quilters Angel. Our Quilting Angels group has been helping Sue Cook and the gals behind the White Light organisation. 

White Light is a not-for-profit group that seeks to support victims of domestic violence. So often, women who are courageous enough to get themselves out of domestic violence situations have to leave EVERYTHING behind to escape.  The White Light gals create pretty toiletry bags, which are then filled with some bathroom necessities and work through women's shelters to distribute them as a practical way of supporting these brave women and let them know that they aren't on their own.

We had "Sue's Sweatshop" happening today in the workroom, with the Fabulous Fiona, Jo, Kylie, Sue and Sue's lovely Mum all zooming away on their machines while I tried hard to keep up with cutting out more bags and linings ... boy was I outnumbered! :0) Would you like to see some of the pretty bags?

(photo borrowed from White Light Facebook page)

The toiletry bags are made from pretty, feminine fabrics, lined, paper-bag corners and fold-over tops. The fold over is secured with a sweetly-shabby-chic flower that can also be worn as a brooch. 

Are you interested in helping Sue and the other White Light gals to support victims of domestic violence? Well ... there's a few ways you can do that.

Firstly, you can visit their Facebook page HERE and read more about what the gals are doing. 

Secondly, you could donate some pretty fabrics for bags OR, very importantly, plain fabrics for linings so more bags can be made. You can also donate money so lining fabric can be purchased, if you prefer.

Thirdly, you might like to make some bags in your very own sewing cave and send them to Sue to help out. If you contact Sue through the White Light Facebook page, she will be only too happy to give you measurements and instructions. (she was cracking the whip today, let me tell you! Tee! Hee! Hee!) 

Fourthly ... are you keeping up?! ... you can donate toiletry items to go into the  bags ... toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, talcum powder, deodorant, hairspray, nail polish ... whatever YOU might like to find in your toiletry bag. If you pop an item in your shopping trolley each week, it won't add too much to your shopping bill and will be a big help when added to other donations.

The Quilting Angels came together in 2011 to make quilts to assist flood victims, but we are very pleased to be helping Sue and the White Light gals with these pretty and practical toiletry bags. We'll be gathering again next month for another stitching bee, so if you're local to the Toowoomba area and would like to help, drop Sue a message on Facebook and she'll let you know dates, times etc. Oh ... and we always have a BLAST when we gather together! :0)

Right ... I'm off to play Polly and make myself a cuppa while I watch the north QLD Cowboys get a hiding ... sadly!!! Hope you have a fantastic weekend. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

End Of Month ... Start Of Winter!

G'day to all of you in blogland! The Meares' Madhouse is even more manic than the last time I popped in, so I'm afraid I don't have any sewing to share with you ... but lots of you have been busily stitching away and adding to your list of finishes, so this is a little reminder to all of you ...

... OPAMers. It's the end of another month and time to update your sidebar lists and email me or my Gorgeous Partner-In-Crime Sweet Peg with your May tally. We always have so much fun seeing what you lovely gals have been creating. :0) We'll be blog-hopping in the next few days, so stay tuned for the random prize draw

And that means today is the first day of winter ... EEEEEEEKK!!!! You all KNOW how much I DON'T like winter ... SIGH!!! If I was a bear I could go into hibernation mode about now. :0)

If only I didn't have to be a grown up and go to work. :0)

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend ... lots of action around the Madhouse ... I promise to share a little more soon about what's keeping me busy and away from my blog. Have a FANTASTIC weekend! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS