what do you mean I didn't win?!

No, sis, you didn't - but - there is a bag of yarn heading your way as I write this - OK? :)
Sheesh! the pressure you can get from family!! Only joking.
As for everyone else, I won't keep you in suspense for much longer, but even if you didn't win this time I will be having another giveaway next month - craft books- and I know you all love them, so keep your eye out for it. So, the winners for this month are:


Please ladies send your snail mail details to whizzme(at)bigpond(dot)net(dot)au so I can pop these gifts in the post.
I was going to have a shop update to tempt those of you who weren't so lucky this round, but the light hasn't been great for photo sessions this week. My main task now for next week is to update the shop - I have a few things up my sleeves and um, clogging up the crafting area so I will let you ASAP.

Otherwise, Miss L this week has been keeping me busy with science. Yes, we have been donning our lab coats after school and playing with fire - literally! (all under supervision of course) In fact our experimentation has been so successful Miss L got to show a couple to her class - and suitable ooh's and aah's were given.

Which, reminds of me of this morning's little soiree where there was an abundance of oohing and aahing. I had a Tupperware party. Yes, I have always loved the plastic fantastic, and am now hocking everything to afford all the pieces i need want. Excited about the little hostess gift I received (shown below - egg separator, small sieve and funnel) Mostly, though I am trying not to eat all the leftover cake and biccies.

Speaking of which, Miss L is being quite insistent about my attendance at her tea party, so must go find my gloves and hat. And, so the school holiday's begin! Below are some things that have cheered my week. Hope yours has been a good one too.

-eating pizza at a new restaurant with Miss L and telling really dumb jokes.
-finding the latest little fabric mail out from Amitie in the mail.
-lying next to Miss L at bedtime and reading The Folk from the Faraway Tree
-having dinner with bestfriends as their leaving date gets closer (the dinner cheered me not the leaving date!)
-having an old friend from school email me about joining them on facebook
-watching a great off the wall movie (Thank you for not smoking) in the middle of the day while,
-knitting up odd's and end's into little finished projects
-applying to volunteer at panda

and a few links too
-admiring Jen Corace's artwork
-amazement at the Dirty Car artwork
-loving Bill Wadman's 365 portrait project
-spending too much time browsing on sk*rt

fresh cut

Recently, my favourite fabric store, sent out some samples of Heather Bailey's Freshcut fabric range, with a challenge to make something with them. I always loved a challenge, and so have spent the past week happily sewing. Please meet Flower who is modelling the latest fabrics!

You can see what some others have made here. Have a great Easter break everyone. We are off to Phillip Island again, so will catch up when we get back.

embracing

I found this quote a while okay, but it occured to me yesterday that it fits right in with my word for this year - embrace. And I've been trying to do this every day. (not just with my book reading bonanza!) So, my word helped me to brave my nervousness about meeting 15 other bloggers last weekend. It is quite overwhelming to meet so many new people at once, especially when they all seem such capable, confident women - suddenly it's like I'm 13 again and having to meet my peers. Justine did such a wonderful job bringing us all together, and she was such a warm, welcoming face. I took a few pics, which you can see here. Admire that lovely, yummy spread, including champagne bubbles of course.

We recieved a hoard of lovely gifts, and you can see them all on Justine's site. Of course, being held in a fabric shop meant there also had to be some purchasing.

Really, as Leisl said to me, it is just all a bit overwhelming there is so much choice. She made the beautiful purse that I'm in love with, but so far can't use because I just like staring at it! And here are the other girls I met, Suse, Nichola, Bianca of yummy relish fame, Di, Alison, Nicole, KittyB, Sooz, Susannah, Jo, Kylie, and of course Shannon. I feel very lucky to have been included, and keep looking at all my gifts in awe - much better than Christmas!

So, with the blog meet over it was time to find something else to do while watching desperate housewives, brothers & sisters and dancing with the stars! not that i'm a tv addict or anything.
I started these patchwork stips last night, part of my embracing new things this year, but I'm not going to share just what the project is just yet. Maybe you can guess?

phew just made it

well finally my 15 little gifts are ready for tomorrow's blog meet at Amitie. I'm excited yet very nervous about meeting all these talented girls. Especially since I seemed to have lost my creativity mojo at the moment. No, new projects here - nup, not one. Of course it could be because I have joined the gym (thanks Jo) and am now slogging my guts out most days, even twice a week with a personal trainer. Which means by the time Miss L is in bed, I'm just about ready to join her. But, I am feeling healthier and much fitter, even after only 6 weeks, however, I think it is zapping all my energy for anything else! Which isn't boding well for our sewing group in another week's time - must find something next week. Maybe one of those cool bath mats I saw here. Or maybe a version of one of these beautiful wall pockets? But for now I am going to relax knowing this weeks tasks are done. I'll let you know how the blog meet goes in a few days time.

he's making a list, he's checking it twice

which is exactly what I should be doing instead of catching up on you all in my bloglines. Because, only two more sleeps and we are off for two weeks at a beach house. Everytime I think about it I get a silly grin on my face, and often even do a little dance which luckily you won't have to witness! Phew! But what have I done in preparation? zilch, zero, nothing. Oh, wait I bought two new books last night to take with me.... So, I am quite sure I will be in a flap tomorrow about what I should or shouldn't be taking, how many books will I need, what will we have for lunch christmas day? or even dinner on Christmas eve? um, not sure yet! But I am so excited, more excited than I have been in ages - I really do feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas morning. And, I'm even looking forward to starting a brand new year, with new challenges etc. I wish I could show you how I've achieved so much this year like my much revered and talented pal, aunty cookie. But the truth is I've never been very good with resolutions, and much of this year quite frankly was sh*t. Yet, I can see how it's making me stronger and I have lots of faith that good out weighs the bad, so maybe I will get around to making a resolution or two. It might depend on how much champagne I've had, and whether U2 are playing in the background... actually that probably will be exactly my new year's eve, so I better start making resolutions soon! Finally, if you have been able to read all this dribble I want to say thank you for reading. And thank you to all of you who have left comments and made me feel part of the blogoshpere. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays etc to all of you. I look forward to catching up again in 2007. And pyglet if you read this, good luck with the new baby. And Amitie, thanks heaps for my little Chrissy present too.

Camping

I'd like to be able to say this is a photo of us on our recent camping trip - don't we just look super organised - but alas it is a photo from my book Cooking for Campers that I picked up recently at the op shop for $2. We have just been camping, but being the newbies we are didn't manage to cook anything over the fire except the requisite marshmellows. All other meals were made in the camp kitchen or take away. Looking at the photo I guess this family must of been packing a trailer, because our Subaru Outback was packed to the hilt and we wouldn't have been able to fit in all that food and extra gear. But no matter, we had fun, and relaxed. I managed to knit a little bit more of Lucy's sock which at this rate will be finished sometime in 2008 if I'm lucky!

I have managed to get a little bit more organised and finished Miss Z's black lamb from the pictured japanese book - she has been appropriately named 'Wooly' (ps. it is hard to photograph black softies)

Another top for me - with the bad self photograph


And I signed up to Amitie's blog membership and these lovely fabric sample's arrived in the mail. Click on the button to the right if you would like to see more about them. They have a great range of fabrics.

And thanks Justine for getting me involved.