Busy Busy ...

I have 2 really good friends
who were Christmas eve
& eve of: babies!
"Happy Birthday" WS & NH!! xx
I've been working on more
handmade gifts ... you'll have to wait!
&
The table has now been painted red ...
&
Here's my boy!
Oscar 'posted' a un-opened Christmas card
through under our deck yesterday
... it will never be opened!
Cheeky!

Binding bliss ...

So I think after many small projects to practice on ... I think I've go the hang of both using a little metal binding gadget to make the folded binding & the sewing of on the machine! So much faster ... Yay ... face cloths & a table runner .... "Yes" they are gifts! Would you like one? You could always ask me!?

More of what I've been up to ....

With so many lovely spectrum colours ....
(& you know I love my Tups!
This is the perfect storage container for these little beauties)

How could I not get my fingers working??

You might know this little book
brought out by some local talent?
'Melly&Me' ... check them out
I really love their Kokeshi Stitchery design & is was the perfect gift for my niece who talented Mommy (they live in Pennsylvania) painted lovely Japanese flowers all over one wall in her new bedroom! I didn't know that last year when I sent a little Japanese inspired gift!
&
so my handy work ...

(Yes - it will still get there for Christmas!
My precious husband ... is an FC with Toll ...)
&
the end result . . .
stretched per usual over a canvas frame!
I hope she likes?????
Cute huh!... I don't think they read my blog so I'm feeling safe about posting!

OWN hanging out with the girls!

A Tups Pink Plastic Picnic ...
(say that x3 times fast!)
yesterday after a morning swim
we all retreated inside!
.... escaping the wind & heat!

What I've been working on ...

• (just some of) Yesterday's "Thrifty Haul" .... I always love the thrill & mystery of what I might find! Funky, orange detail plates for the Cabin, speckled tea bowl ... pedestal dish & best of all a set of 6 mini wooden skittles . . . with 2 balls . . . I had to hunt for all the separate pieces! These will go in Oscar's Christmas stocking! I love the thought of an item's journey being re-invented with us! & I wonder what's its story has been so far ...??
• More thrifty business with lots of clothing for me & also for my toddler who was in tow & survived my marathon effort ... another fabulous hand knitted jumper for when Oscar is a little older . . . paid less for my entire haul of 20+ items than the 'bought new' wool would have cost the maker! Jumper only looks likes its been worn a hand-full of times.
• Had extended family over for a sunny Sunday afternoon tea; This has meant that the last week or so has been spent 'going-over' every square cm of our plot called 'Home'! There is nothing like a deadline looming for this household to spring-to-action ... windows cleaned, spider webs demolished, cupboard handles attached, pictures up, WC painted & new curtain to boot, wall hanging secured, baking made, Christmas decs finally in place, the garden has had the 'once-over' big time!

• ... was a lovely day & now the conveyor belt of projects to be done rolls on! How's your project list going? Mine never ends as I'm dreaming up new things all the time ... I also bought a groovy table on ebay yesterday .... which will probably become our new computer table once its painted ???? Red - I think!
• & now .... to get on with more Christmas gift making!
  

Summer Colour Eye-Candy!

Ginger Blossom . . . waiting patiently for 2010!
&
the new owner!

...for Olivia & a few words on friendship

1,000's of little stitches for you sweet little baby girl! .... I have something to say .... bit preachy so if you're not in the mood then I wouldn't be offended if you didn't read on ...

There is that saying that you know ... but you can choose your friends!
I've always had the attitude that 'my friends are your friends'
... I love the way that this works out ... especially when you have a crowd for an event ... the party mix 'works' then !
I also believe that friendships have 'seasons'.
Some friendships can last through life & ride with the bumps, turns, sunny days & devastations ... and some just aren't meant to!
Being ok with that & the friends that have moved on in other directions is important to your self image & how you continue to forge new meaningful relationships.
Often however there is hurt linked with these partings!
Hurt takes time to heal ... finding grace can take even longer!
Be content & happy within yourself for no one else can do this for you ...

So to all my friends .... some that are more recent,
to the established ones,
those that are a little disconnected but still about,
or those that I have reconnected with
or even those that are long gone but not from my memories
& even new bloggy ones
... I cherish you!
You are my village!
Be kind to those you love & care about for life is too short to do otherwise!
Its all part of the journey ... enJOY it ...
Show &/or tell them you love & care in whatever love language you speak!
For it 'tis the season ...
... another handmade Christmas gift ... one for a guy!

Alphabet I-Spy Quiet Book!

I just had to share!
This Alphabet I-Spy Quiet Book! is made by Care of
'Obsessively Stitching'
Care organised the sensational 'I-Spy' fabric swap that I participated in a little while back .... which as yet I haven't sewn together ... I am planning to perhaps after Christmas ... as I can't see I will have much of a chance before then .... I have a long list of Christmas gifts to make!
... Care is such a kind friendly person & I regularly check out what she's up to & she does me too! All this fun in our crafty blog-land!
This is a give-away ... read up but let me win!!! heheeehe
She has fabulous ideas to make for or with little hands ...
Have a great day!

Weekend Rendezvous ...

Can you believe it!
I had another Oscar-free weekend!
Went 'up the river' with a few girl friends
... partly for my Birthday!
I'd organised a workshop at
Echuca's 'Hobbysew'
making "Bucket Buddies!"
What fun was had!
A huge thank you to Linda for her
guidance, tips, advice & patience!The "Bucket Buddy" is Linda's design
& I believe that they are now going
to run this as one of their Friday workshops!These are our finished products ... Made by ...
Top Row L-R: Sam's Christmas theme
Wendy S's Think Pink!
My Wonderland for Olivia
Front Row L-R: Louey's Pink Delight
Naden's Batik style ... ... they show off of our personalities ...
Sam & I added little handles,
Louey & Wendy S made YoYo's ...
Naden went for a simple collar look!
So thanks for the fun everyone ...
.... I laughed so much this weekend ...
"enJOY the journey" xxx

Thanksgiving Baby

One of my closest, longest friends
had a baby girl yesterday.
(who the nappy cake was for!)
Welcome to the world'Olivia Margaret'
I can hardly wait to give you a cuddle!
She was born on Oscar's half birthday, exactly 1.5 years difference!
Born 4 weeks early due to
pregnancy complications
but arrived safely last night . . .
. . . weighing in at 6lbs 11oz
We won't be able to visit for a little bit as she is in the special care nursery but . . . got some little goodies for her!I've never sworn that any expectant mother I have known was going to have a certain gender baby but with Meags I have said from the start she was having a girl! So lucky for me my gift making was on the right track!
Little boots above &
a bassinet sized mini quilt for now ... a cot sized one to come ...
all in one of my favourite fabric ranges ... oh I love you 'Wonderland'
I had better get all those little stitches hooked in so I can give this one over to the new owner!We had our Thanksgiving turkey on Wed night
... since I have x2 American SIL's it is a regular Celebration on our yearly calendar!
I really missed your pumpkin pie this year Bets
... so I'm putting in my request now for one on Christmas day ... xx

What I've been working on ...

... working on something
I can't quite declare the whole story
as this is a gift & just in case!
... We had a family Wedding a year ago on the 22nd(l-r:my husband,his sister the bride & their other sister
with the bride's x3 nephews)
... the whole gift idea was a struggle
... so this was made in time
for the 1st Anniversary but we
haven't caught up with them as yet!
The Recipe: One layer cake in Camille's
"Simple Abundance" sewn into
half square triangles & then quartered!
Layered with cotton & wool
add another decadent 'Sky' layer of floral
finished with diagonal quilting stitching in red thread
& knotting in all corners
'Earth' Bound with more floral
I hope they like!!?

Miss me?

We went away for the weekend ...
My first "Oscar-free" over night x2!
(That means x2 sleep-ins!Yay!)
I'm not so sure he missed me!??
Here he is having a great time at Rhoma & K Pa's!
(I think my Mum now needs the rest after the weekend!)
& ... how good it is to come home!

Red all around ... & aqua too!

I have spent some time this morning working out
who I have already organised Christmas gifts for
& who I still need to!
I'm giving myself the goal
to make this a "Mostly - Handmade Christmas"
Its the guys that I'm having trouble
thinking of ideas for?
Anyone?

&
Look my Red & Aqua Disappearing Nine Patch Block Swap arrived!
Thankyou Jane!
So excited about this but ....
....I have a few things still to complete
& the gifts list to work on before
I'm going to put this one together ....
It may well turn out to be a 'twenty-ten' project

& .... I've got a couple more R&A swaps in store!
Let me know if you'd like to join in a local Melb one
where we make the blocks in our own time at home,
& then meet once a month to swap them & socialize!

In the Pink ....

Another finished item from my time 'up the river'
Is a girlie version of the cot sized quilt I made for Oscar.Now this is not announcing anything
but you might say a quiet little prayer for us!
boy or girl no matter ...

Soule sought after!

Do you remember back in August
I mentioned about a wonderful blog I check regularly?
Well,
since then I have acquired Amanda's
second book "Handmade Home"
which I adore & will over the years ahead
make many of these great ideas!
I've been slowly changing our 'study'
into a work & play space!
It will be an evolving space . . .
. . working in with current needs!
Well now I'd love to own her first book
........ I've entered a give-away put on by
Rachel of Euphoria
(thanks for the tip off Rachel!)
& she is offering to gift someone
Amanda's book "The Creative Family"You can enter too ....!
I would be so excited to win this!
I've never really won anything!
Edit - Well actually a few years ago I won the Australian section
of a Tupperware Art competition
& my work went on show in NYC & traveled around the USA!
But that wasn't having my named pulled out of a hat kind of thing!
Please Please Please ....
Enjoy your day

Give-Away Draw & Time to Celebrate!

GIVE-AWAY DRAWWOW = 87 entries!
Lots of love sent my way ....
.... so thank you kindly!
1st name drawn - Katherine (blog-less fan!)
Katherine you can choose which gift you
would like to have??
2nd name drawn - Andi
.... so Andi I will have great pleasure
sending you the other gift!
Thanks everyone for 'playing'
Enjoy

A TIME TO CELEBRATEYesterday I helped to host a Baby Shower
for a very dear friend
that I have grown up with.
Neither of us have sisters so
we've kind of been each others!
This little baby that we are eagerly awaiting
is going to be a pre-Christmas baby
so we had a subtle Christmas theme of
'Snowflakes'
Do you like the Nappy Cake I made her?
All great fun!
Happy Birthday
for later this week Meags!

little stitches

Do you like all my little perle stitches?
This quilt was pieced & quilted a while back . . .
Now it is a finished item . . with binding . . .
one result from time spent at 'the river'i am so pleased with this one

Celebrating all good things in small packages!

"I SPY with my little eye something beginning with "P"!
. . . Pencils
. . . . Pear
. . . . Parcel
A little while ago I posted about
a swap I joined: "I Spy" fabric swap!
(Thankyou Care)
Contents of small package No.1
200 4" squares . . .
I'm very excited about receiving these!
How else could you put your hands on so many
different fabrics without buying the whole store!?
I haven't decided yet whether I create a
layout in terms of the alphabet or using the idea of a rainbow?
I need to have a play!

Contents of small package No.2
A few weeks ago I met with a great group of girls
who all blog & are dead-set keen on their quilting!
While chatting I told them all about my goal to make a
King sized Value Quilt . . .
& so Andi & now Rita have both sent me some extra squares
so that I can have as many different fabrics as possible!
"Thankyou Rita" (Red Pepper Quilts) . . . if you haven't seen her work/ blog you must check her out!
Rita is very talented at piecing simple quilt top designs with fabulous fabrics!
Thankyou for always sharing Rita!

Have you joined in for my Give-Away yet?
It ends on Monday!
Small package No.3 = My little Blondie!

Give-Away

Hello . . . I'm back from 10 days away
& now am catching up on washing!
This is my 71st post = my 1st give-away!
Now 1971 was a great year . . . . . I'm obviously not a new born in this pic
so not quite circa 1971 . . .
Its not far off my Birthday so I thought I'd celebrate early!
&
that means that I will do a draw for x2 gifts on Monday 16th 8am!

Every comment ever left so far on my blog
will have x1 entry in for these draws . . .
&/or if you are a follower or become
one then you will have another x2 entries . . .
&/or if you leave a comment on this post
you will also have x2 entries . . .
&/or if you cc me on an email where you tell
some friends about my blog and giveaway
then there's another x2 entries!
&/or you tell people all about it and direct them
to my blog via facebook (make sure you're my friend!)
then there's another x2 entries!
Go for it!
What gifts you say?
The 1st name drawn has the choice
between this patchwork themed bag
Double sided & lined
(23 x 29cm)or
This patch worked Christmas gift bag with 'wonky star' front panel & lining!
(29 x28cm)

The River . . .

Just one more sleep & I'm planning to sit & look at this view for a bit!
And this one too!So giving you the 'heads up' that
you won't be hearing
from me for a little while
but
the next time you do . . .
I have a great surprise in store!
:For anyone who has left comments in the past
&/or does leave a lovely comment for me soon . . .
&/or is one of my followers!
So if you haven't as yet, now is your chance!
Check back soon!

17 & 2

17 Months old yesterday!
I have been embellishing some clothes for Oscar . . .
since I can't find things I like!
A mixture of machine & hand sewing
with those raw edges left to tell the story!

2 exciting parcels arrived today!
x3 Copies of "Stitch"&
a stack of wonderful fabric off-cuts from
Andi
for my King Size Value Quilt!
Thanks Andi!