Mail Call

I really must try to get to the post office more often but since Australia Post work actual business hours and since (mostly ) I do too , that means getting into my local PO is a real pain some days.  At the moment having the postie drop my parcels off at my front door would be a real time saver for me. As it is,  I often don't get to the post office for a week or more at a time. (The whiny , pity party part of this post is now officially over )

Monday marked about 10 days since my last PO foray and my postage dude had a plethora of parcels and mail for me. He likes to guess what's in each parcel before he forks them over. It's become a ritual.  

From the wonderful Susan at Canadian Abroad.

A closer look at her stiffy snowflakes (sorry that's an in joke ) Aren't they gorgeous ? I have coveted these from the very first second I saw them weeks ago and now I own some!

I adore hand made ornaments and these look gorgeous on my tree. 

And from the delectable Sara over at Lone Sock Productions who knows about my fondness for all things Babushka. 

My own little gym bag (that will never see the inside of a gym ) Hopefully the bag will be appeased if I drive past one occasionally. 

This is what vacuum packed selvages look like when you unpack them. A mountain of selvages. 

After these two parcels I'm officially in selvage heaven. A BIG thank you to Susan, Sara, Thea, Char, Michelle, P, and Kat  who kindly donated their selvages to my cause. I'm going to get cracking on that quilt while I'm on holidays. I cant wait !

And finally but not least -From Becks over at Sarcastic Quilter. Quilting Software so I can get creative while still sitting on my patootie. This may help me avoid future design disasters. 

Thank you ladies. You made my week. 

I now haven't officially cooked dinner for 7 days. Some one call the Guinness book of world records. I'm in the running for the title of slackest person on the planet.  Work is totally kicking my butt at the moment and I just don't have the reserves to cook when I get home. I'll be back on Friday (hopefully with my sanity intact -sort of ) for the final FTF for 2011. Hope to see you all there ! 

Time for a Giveaway

Almost two years ago I tentatively dipped my toe into the world of blogging after reading some quilting blogs by accident. I'd only been playing with quilting for about a year and wasn't  a hardcore quilting addict. 

In my early posts when nobody was reading I struggled with showing my actual personality. In real life I'm the kind of person you either really really like or really really don't. And because I wanted to be liked in the great kingdom of Blogland all  of my early  posts are about as exciting as watching paint dry. I worried that I might offend people by being me, which is sometimes a problem I also have in real life because I say what I think in the very moment I think it and often have to pull my own foot out of my mouth. I swear sometimes. I'm not always very rational. I have an unusual way of looking at things. I have strong convictions and opinions and sometimes I share them without being asked.  Some people call that refreshing and entertaining and others roll their eyes a lot and run to avoid me when I walk in their general direction.

At some point I put on my big girl panties and decided  I was just going to be me. So I started ranting on bad days, and saying crap and bugger if I felt like it and thinking out loud on my keyboard and people started to show me they liked what I had to say. And, unlike Vincent Van Gogh I didn't have to cut my ear off or wait until I was dead to get some positive feedback. 

Blogging has opened up a whole new world for me. I've made friends , real friends, and I love conversing with each and every one of you. I love to pop over to your place with a cup of tea or coffee and have a sticky at what you're getting up to . You inspire me , you lift me up, you make me laugh , and you touch my heart. 

This week I reached the magical milestone of 200 followers (!!!)  so it's time to send out some bloggy love of my own.  I'm offering this fat quarter pack of Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow in the Berry Palate as a way of saying "Thankyou". 

I'm going to put some guidelines around this giveaway to keep it fair. To enter all you have to do is leave a comment but you must be an existing follower at the time this post was published because it's all about celebrating the people who have come and commented, supported and read and generally helped make this blogging experience so much fun for me!

I'll draw this sometime next Saturday 15th October (Australian Central Time ) so you have a week to enter and I'm happy to post internationally. Good luck !

You guys rock my socks. 

Moving Right Along ...

It's officially the first day of Spring Down Under. Get ready to hand over the sun Northern Hemisphere-ites!


Thank you to everyone who commented on the Flying Dutchman quilt. At 80 x 80 inches it was the biggest quilt I've ever made. It was a real challenge to push that quilt through this space on my little sewing machine. I bet you're all even more impressed now that you know I sew on a very basic sewing machine aren't you?

Mental note to self: Always send massive (by my standards) quilts out to be  quilted by my quilting Yoda in the future. 

Since the Flying Dutchman quilt had been taking up so much space (both figuratively and literally ) I decided it was high time to concentrate on one of the other four quilting projects that are  lurking round here laughing at me.  And since the sewing room looked like it had been ransacked by marauding goats I decided that needed to be my first order of business because seriously people I can't find a damn thing in there when it looks like this. 

I feel much more creative now that I can see my grubby carpet. 

In other news, I've had very exciting mail in the last week from amazing people. 

Melissa from clothwork did this post a while back about some prototype purses she made.  I fell in love with the linen and lace one and following my comment and series of emails, during which I promised her my next born child, cried, pleaded , begged and cajoled, she sent me the purse as a gift. 

But that wasn't all...the parcel was a mite bigger than I was expecting because it also contained a pincushion (with Babushka's - I love Babushkas!) . And can you see that little pin that looks like cake? I wanted to eat it up. Thank you Melissa. It's all so beautiful. I really need to find a talent so I can swap pretty gifts with people instead of copping out and sending them Haigh's chocolate.  

And from Helen(who doesn't have a blog) who I met through Nanci , this gorgeous hand knitted mohair hat all the way from Canada. Check out that colour!  She also thought of Mr. P  and sent him a black Fisherman's cap which I am going to have to prise off his head come wash day. I really wanted to get a picture of me wearing my hat but I'm having a bad hair day and I'm not wearing any make up. I don't want to scare anyone. Thank you Helen. I love it. 

And a fabric delivery this week. I have been looking at Soul Blossoms FOREVER and finally jumped on the bandwagon and got some. This is not my "usual" type of fabric and now that it's here I have no idea what to do with it. I just didn't want to want some in 6 months and not be able to get any. That's addiction for you.

Lastly, I have officially turned my Mother In Law over to the crafty side. We went shopping for a sewing machine for her yesterday. Sadly, she now has a better machine than I do. And I've already told her she needs to leave it to me in her will. 

The Thankyou Post

I've had about 10 cracks at doing this post and Blogger keeps eating my photos and words. Arghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! Why does Blogger hate me?

So many nice things have happened to me in the last couple of weeks. As you know it's been kind of crazy here so these sunshiny things that have  happened have really given me a lift in spirits during what has been a very busy time. So, I wanted to do some special thankyou's.

Cynthia over at Home Matters 1st did a post a while back about a gift she knitted for her cousin Helga. You can see her post here . I commented on it  and Cynthia surprised me by knitting one and sending it Down Under. I can't show it in it's glorious entirety here  because my blog isn't R rated.  (Just a tip if you go to Cynthia's blog she has a link to this project - but don't go there if you're faint hearted or easily offended )

Thanks Cynthia. This will making wiping my  benches endless fun instead of a dreary chore. I just hope Mr. P doesn't feel his manhood is being  threatened.

A while back Jenni at Baa Me Kniits, had a giveaway on her blog. I was the lucky winner. My gorgeous shawl arrived last week . It was accompanied by two pairs of crochet slippers (one for me and one for SOP- who is still freezing here in Adelaide after living in Darwin ) which I haven't taken off since they arrived. I'm getting weird looks when I wear them to work. Perhaps they would look "righter" with pyjamas? I cannot tell you how much I adore these slippers. And Jenni also sent me this cute needle case. ( I needed a needle case too, because everyone knows that a needle case makes you look like a serious sewing type person ) Thank you Jenni. It's all so beautiful.

P over at The Way I Sew It graced me with a versatile blogger award recently. Awwwwwwwww thanks P. I think you rock too. I don't think I'm in a place right now where I can commit to handing the award on and telling previously  untold stuff about moi-self so my effusive thanks will have to suffice. And for those of you who haven't made P's acquaintance she is practically royalty having had one of her quilts recently featured at Quilt Story. So hop on over to P's blog for a sticky beak at her featured quilt.

And lastly, Shruti at 13 Woodhouse Road had a giveaway for a silk sari bedspread recently and I was the lucky winner. I can't wait for it to arrive! Shruti is the coordinator of the Spread the Cheer project that I'm part of. Thanks Shruti. It looks so beautiful.

And, to everyone who emailed or left comments during my recent enforced absence -thanks - it's so great to know people actually notice when I'm not here ! I felt very cut off from this community for a while there. I think I'm addicted to you all. Do you think that's a problem?

P.S. As far as the room that must not be named thing  goes,  it's going slowly, with the inevitable delays beyond my control.  But we're getting there and I'm determined not to grizzle (too loudly)  Hopefully I'll have something to show you in the next few days. I have started unpacking around all the things that still need doing, but still don't have a functional kitchen. (insert grizzly kind of eye roll and deep sighing here )