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!
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.
Oh go on, do it! I'm sitting on 99 followers, be the 100th, I dare you!
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 :)
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.
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.
Just thought I'd try and get in the Christmas spirit. What do you think?
This photo is very indicative of how my head is at the moment! I'm finding it really hard to focus on one thing at a time, and with Christmas looming, that's probably not a good idea!
This isn't even all of what I have on the go, it's just all I could fit into the photo. Clockwise from left to right: Opped top I hope to refashion, the start of my Christmas ornament swap project (trying to not give too much away!), Finki penholder/scissorholder I picked up from Handmade Heaven (just thrown into the pic because it's so darn cute!!), cute little Christmas stocking I just finished off from my Moda bakeshop honeybuns, vintage chenille wanting to be turned into Christmas stockings (these ones I think I may put into my etsy shop), denim and selvedge to become some needlecases (also to put into my etsy shop).
I'm also thinking about presents for all the littlies in my life, and there are a few. Stay tuned for those posts, I'm sure they'll be funny watching me freak out that it's so close to Christmas and I haven't finished everything that needs to get done. Please tell me I'm not the only one who procrastinates with these things?!
Head over to Kirsty's to see what everyone else is up to this week.
Well, after the high of blogtoberfest, I kind of fell in a blogging slump there didn't I.
This has been a bit of a sh*t week for me, but today after a morning of terribly boring appointments, I came home to 2 wonderful packages from 2 wonderful bloggers. That's right, during blogtoberfest I happened to win not 1 but 2 giveaways. And highly coveted ones at that!
First up was these gorgeous cupcake papers from Cathie at m.e. She also chucked in a little bag of sprinkles with all those beautiful papers. I don't think I'll ever need to buy any cupcake papers again!
Then I also won the giveaway at Lino Forest. I got to choose a brooch or pendant from Liz, and you know I went Owl brooch! I have wanted one of these for ages! I did try to take a photo with me wearing it, but it's too difficult, trust me, it rocks.
Thanks so much ladies, you really made my week!
I had a bit of a score at the local patchwork shop too yesterday. I have been wanting the Christmas Honey Buns for awhile too, and at 25% off, I was putty in Tereasa's hands! That's the plan for tomorrow, make up some of the very cute little Christmas stockings using the honeybuns. They are going to be so sweet! (see what I did there!!)
For spaces that are going to be way more creative than mine today, head over to Kirsty's.
Wow. I made it. 31 days of blogging. I'm quite proud that I managed to blog every one of those days. Some days were easier than others, but I guess that's just how life is anyway isn't it? I actually think I got a lot out of this. It seems weird, to learn something about yourself just by daily blogging, but I did. I found that I really like this blogging thing. More than I thought I would. I admit, when I first started, I thought it would be a little fun, but would be a great promotional tool as well. I didn't think you would make relationships with other bloggers in that way that I feel I have. I feel part of a community. I have felt for awhile that I didn't really belong anywhere. I have been through quite a lot in my life, and have always felt older than my 34 years. It's sometimes hard to relate to other people. But here in blogland, none of that matters. Age, location, background, it's all irrelevant. Anyway, it's nice. I'll stop blathering on now and get to what you're all here to read anyway, the winner of my giveaway.
The random number generator has come up with number 21..... and that is Jan from pass the slipped stitch over. Congratulations Jan, I'll send you an email and you can send me your details for me to post your prize.
I hope that everyone enjoyed blogtoberfest as much as I did, and I hope that Cathy organises it again next year. Maybe this will keep me on track for more regular blogging in the future.
The new addition to the household.
This week has seen me with more hours at work. More hours at work = less time for creating.
So this week I'll show you what I have been obsessing about for about a month now. I have been searching ebay both morning and night for a dressmakers dummy. I thought of trying out what Gina at clutterpunk had done to make herself a dressmakers dummy, but my weight fluctuates quite a bit, so it's really not something that would work for me. Oh well, if I keep looking I'm bound to find one I can afford...right??
More creative types over here.
And don't forget to enter my blogtoberfest giveaway here.
Recipe found here.
I omitted the hazelnuts and sultanas ( I didn't have any on hand). They taste yummy and are great to freeze individually and pack in the school lunch's.
Don't forget to enter my giveaway here.
