Image found here.
Wow! What a year! Way back in January when I started this little blog, I christened 2009 the Year of Me. I tried to live up to that. I believe I did pretty well. But 2010, for me, feels like it is going to hold so much more for me than 2009 did. Maybe I should make this the Decade of Me.
I came to some pretty important realisations this year about where my husband and I wanted to be in 10 years time and we decided to give up the great Aussie Dream of owning our own home. It felt good. Freeing somehow. From there everything else fell into place. We bought a boat. We started saving for me to make a long dreamed of trip to France next year. I started to make my quilts for sale, not just family gifts, and actually started to make some money out of it. I put a submission into the local show and came second place in my category. I ventured into the crazy world of retail selling my handmade goods. I closed the ebay shop that for sometime had been a bit of a thorn in my side. I pattern tested for my crafty idol. I made things for charities that I really cared about. I even learnt to crochet (well...a little bit!).
2010 holds so much excitement for me, for the first time ever I'm actually looking forward to the year ahead and to growing older. Thanks for all the support you have all shown me over this last year. Thanks for the encouraging words and the community spirit. Thanks for the freebies and the good times. It's been a blast!
I hope that 2010 holds as much for you all as it does for me! Happy New Year!
Homemade mixed berry sorbet anyone?!
Hope you're all having fun with your new Christmas toys like I am!
Merry Christmas everyone!
I hope you all have a very happy and safe Christmas.
My poor baby doesn't like storms. And she doesn't like being photographed in them either!
And on a completely unrelated topic, Happy Birthday Mr Vintage! Love you heaps, hope you're enjoying your day!
Seems that once again I dropped the ball there on the advent blog-a-long. Only 3 more sleeps to go now!
I participated in the ornament swap that was organised by Daisy Quilts but as my first ornament got lost in the mail, I only just received my ornament from the lovely Roz. She was so worried that I wasn't going to have my package before Christmas that she got stuck in and made me another one, and this time Aussie Post came through! Roz went to such trouble and packed in extra goodies (naughty girl!!) but I am very grateful, thank you so much Roz!Here is my gorgeous ornament on the tree, next to the beautiful owl ornament bought from this fabulous etsy seller.
And because you asked so nicely Teresa, here is the dinosaur.
And here is Max just clarifying that this is indeed not yet another animal that we've brought into his house!
Note for future reference, when you read on the pattern envelope that you require over 500 grams of stuffing for a project, take note, this probably means that it's big! 26 inches long and 9 inches high as a matter of fact! I hope my cousins little boy doesn't run screaming from the room when he sees this monstrosity! Ah, live and learn people, live and learn.
Christmas stockings were $25 now $18 at Handmade Heaven.
If you need that last minute tissy up of your Christmas tree my vintage chenille Christmas Tree skirt was $89 now only $65 at Handmade Heaven. Get in quick!
Oh, and thanks to Sarah for becoming my 100th follower!
Oh go on, do it! I'm sitting on 99 followers, be the 100th, I dare you!
Two Kinder girls ready to be gifted to my nieces.
I ♥
Kinder Girls!
Thanks so much for the kind and comforting words yesterday, they meant a lot. I've decided to pull down the post from yesterday, today is a new day and I'm going to just suck it up and move forward.
Oh, and thanks to those offering bodily harm on my behalf, it was much appreciated :)
Meet Dresden. He's my favourite bear ever. He's going to be very hard to part with. Hopefully he sells quickly, or I might change my mind.
It's amazing how much can be achieved when you lose your phoneline (and internet) for a day isn't it!
Too. Hot. To. Blog.
Oops! Missed a day of the advent blog-a-long. Oh well!
Today is all about the Christmas baking. I'm baking mini Gingerbreadmen for all of Miss 12's past teachers. Tomorrow is her last day of primary school and I wanted to make a little thank you gift for all involved in the wonderful years she has had at her school. Must be the teachers daughter coming out in me.
Merry Christmas to all the creative spacers, see you next year!
Two lanes of traffic. One headed to my intended destination, heavily conjested, the other headed past the op shop, smooth sailing. Which lane do you think I took?
Two skirts. $4 each. One of them a Jag.
Yes, the op shop gods were calling me my friends. And I listened.
"Zing", all finished and ready to head off express post to Pip for Softies for Mirabel. I hope someone loves him!
Quirky traditions. Do you have any? Earlier this year I had been craving this topping that my Grandfather used to put on pikelets, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what this stuff was. The best I could do to describe it was "it's like a golden-syrupy-buttery-stuff". I finally asked my Mum what this stuff was, and she informed me it was indeed a golden-syrupy-buttery-stuff. My Grandfather would mix his Golden Syrup and butter together to form a paste and would smear it all over his pikelets.
And so a new tradition was formed in my household. Every time I make pikelets (which is quite often!) we now have golden-syrupy-buttery-stuff. I love that even though my daughter never got the chance to meet this most wonderful man, she knows a little quirky something about him. Oh, and he also liked cheese and jam sandwiches. Not quite going there.
After the success of finishing Marshmallow I have found my sewjo once again.
Whipped up my Softie for Mirabel, using Jhoanna's fabulous pattern in the Mikes book, just have to finish the stuffing and Zing is ready to go.
I've got all my planned pressies on the go for the littlies in my life. Can't wait to make that dino softie in chenille, he should be cute!
Got little stocking fillers in mind for some of the bigger people in my life.
This weekend is all freed up to get cracking with all this. I think the pressure I put on myself with the Advent blog-a-long was a good idea to bring back the sewjo.
Check out the creative spaces here.
Meet Marshmallow. Or Marsha, for short.
The other Elephants know she is different, but they still love her all the same.
Elephants are nice like that.
Some gorgeous Christmassy prints from Micheal Miller.
