I love a good challenge !!!!

I do love blog challenges - They make me think outside the square. I am working on (mostly thinking at this stage) entries for whiplash and the Pincushion challenge at the moment and then....... HOLD the Press.

Ballarat Patchwork have just started a fantastic blog challenge.

It involves Gorgeous fabric (they give you a 6 inch square FREE) and a great prize. I saw it on Scrapbag last night and am proud to say I was number one in the list this morning, picking up my entry form and free piece of fabric......

The fabric is the beautiful Chocolate Lollipop range and the prize is 5.8mtrs of that fabric - yep 5.8 metres !!!!!! Even better they want us to incorporate yo -yo's ..........

Ever seen someone designing cushions while at the gym.....that's what I'll be doing in about 15 Minutes.

Now, I am not usually a kiss and tell kinda girl .......but me and Mr Gocco ........I think it's going to work !

Afternoon Tea???

Anyone for afternoon tea? The kettle is boiling and

they are completely fat free .

Crafty week

The week in craft

Using up some of the huge amount of fabric I bought for the original Dick and Jane - I made

some more (just need to hand sew the covered bases in)

Zipper practise - just like exercise - I hate it but feel better afterwards

A bit of hooping - new bags . stay tuned

and me casting flirty wistful glances at Mr Gocco every five minutes !

Is this love?

I promised myself I wouldn't fall into another relationship.

I figured I had enough on my plate already and I didn't need the fuss or the worry. I should just be happy with what I already have and stop looking for more.

But you know slowly the feelings crept in until now I feel like a schoolgirl again.

My stomach has butterflies and I don't feel the need to eat. I have a stupid half grin on my face all the time. The kids have noticed and keep rolling their eyes at me.

But I can't help thinking what if it all goes wrong? Will I lose my confidence, what about my faith in myself?

It's just that there is so much potential...........I'll try to take it slow and not set my standards too high, keep my expectations reasonable but at the same time I want so much.

Secretly I am petrified but I know you guys won't judge me, won't snicker behind my back about the age difference or the slightly dishevelled appearance, or even the fact that that there were others before me. Ok so other times I have felt this way it didn't work out...yes I have made bad choices and yes I have suffered severe blows to the self esteem but this time will be different won't it, with this new love.........surely.

Wish us luck !!!!!!

Its all True !

On Monday, after I had almost forgotten about it . This gorgeous Japanese embroidery book dropped into my letter box.

I had a little look right away and then last night had a longer drooling look and a quick rustle through the embroidery threads (purchased last week in anticipation) and then.........................

I put it aside - for I am the type of girl who finishes each project to the letter. I am the type of girl who sews on the last button , irons the project and immediately puts it to use. I am the type of girl whose sewing room is clean and sparse and minimalist. I am the type of girl who has folders of projects she may like to attempt in the future, colour coded and catalogued according to genre and sub genre. I am the kind of girl who sees the joy and wisdom in taking a project slowly and thoughtfully and enjoying every stitch right to the last final stitch where she can sigh a little self-satisfied sigh before she starts the next project.

I am the type of girl who lies through her back teeth.

Poppy !!!

Hello ........

I'm Poppy and I am still full of pins. Jodie went Op-shopping all morning and left me like this. She came home with some new shelves and had to rearrange the whole sewing room to fit them in.

Then she went to buy fabric for my dress.......buy fabric? Have you seen this sewing room-she could clothe a nation with the fabric in this place.

I may never get finished....she has unfinshed things everywhere. Remember Beaker ? Well his wife still has no face and no front legs. I'm gettin' worried...................................

and the good bits......

The good things week include.................

Finishing off the baby quilt before the baby has even arrived (I am usually months and months behind). I consider this to be my first ever "real" quilt, in as much as it is not just squares sewn together. It is in fact only squares with circles on them sewn together but still a little more complex for me than normal. Much better as a quilt than an apron I think! I quilted every second square with different coloured thread.

Also got some great news from Emma of Ballarat Patchwork . She tells me they will be stocking the Dick and Jane range (in about July). I get first dibs so the rest of you will have to be quick !

Today I drafted a number of patterns for a little monkey - to go along with the quilt. I have a monkey obsession and have had for many years. I have made loads of sock monkeys of all persuasions but wanted to make something a little more substantial. Of course a monkey has been in my brain long enough for me to purchase exactly how many monkey suitable fabrics......

Only the top lot are really bought, all the rest is thrifted so surely they don't count...

Gearing up.

This weekend has been a sort of quiet one . I have done lots of cooking and sitting quietly (a rare event for me).

I have a funeral to go to tomorrow that is going to be very hard and the whole week ahead feels oppressive right now. I have been slowly sewing the binding on the babies quilt and thinking and being in turn, both sad and angry at the loss of a friend.

I worked a little umbrella on a new bag - this one will be my bag. It is kind of wintery and sparse, I really like it and I have really fallen for the art of embroidery. (I have never done any before).

Things will get better I know and I also know that lifes sucks sometimes. Right now I am off to the quiet couch with my hoop and thread and memories.

TO DO !

TO DO LIST :

(as tagged by Cottage magpie)

1. Invent an exercise that does not require a sports bra, or in fact, any sweating, exertion or discomfort at all. This program will enable us to lose weight according to kilometres sewn.
2. Abolish any clothing sized in single figures unless it is in the children's department.
3. LEAVE Paris Hilton in jail until everyone has forgotten who she is.
4. Develop truth vaccine for staff meetings - now that would be funny !!!
5. Forget polyester, matching sister outfits, fleuro orange, that strange obsession with inappropriate boys at Uni and The Culture Club.
6. Ban puffed sleeves on any garment intended for a female over the age of 8.
7. Remove the word "whatever" from functional use.
8. Become a pirate (helloooooo Mr Depp)
9. Remember where I hid "my Style". I mean I last had it just before Jem was born but the minute I hit maternity trousers I decided to put it away somewhere safe so it wouldn't get damaged. 15 yrs and a number of house moves on I still can't remember where I put it.
10. Learn not to keep every important piece of paper pertaining to my life in my underpants drawer.

Oh I am not sure about this whole tagging thing but I checked out wikipedia and it seems I will be in dire trouble if I don't.

I mean, can I tag people I don't even know? It seems a bit weird so I shall just tag Annie and Emma then jump on over and tell them all about it. (I told you I take this stuff too seriously.)

Too much thinking !!!

Parcels, Presents, People

How much do you love getting parcels in the mail? Even if they are things I have bought and paid for they still feel like presents. This week I got an extremely presenty feeling parcel from Samantha of Whizzme. I popped into her Etsy shop to grab a bag of papery goodness for my mum's birthday (today) and while there just happened to buy some delicious fabric scraps.

Gorgeous greens with a little hand painted ribbon and beautiful card. My favourite is the one on the extreme left !
I also grabbed these great pieces of Japanese fabric and they came beautifully wrapped and presented with the sweetest little fishy ribbon. My mother adored all her paper bits and pieces and cannot wait to show them off to her scrap booking friends. Thanks so much Samantha !!!!

Yesterday afternoon I played ladies with the fat quarters and we headed off to the local scarf festival. Held inside the huge glasshouse in the botanical gardens, the festival has scarves, handbags and shawls.

There was lots of great stuff on display and they kindly let me take a few pics. This has strengthened our resolve to crack open the wet felting in the next school holidays and get started !

I have to say I have been tagged by the very funny Angela of Cottage Magpie - this is my first ever tag and I am taking it far too seriously (as expected). More on that (I promise) tomorrow.

My blog conscience or Jimminy cricket is not a crafter !

Dear Diary,

This week I promise to finish things off and not start any new projects until the THREE UFO baskets are empty and I have put the binding on the baby quilt.

Monday ...... Dear Diary, I finished off this little baglet. Yes I know I had cut out and partially sewn four of them but this is like totally finished -the base is covered and stitched and and the button is on - like totally finished.

Tuesday .......Dear Diary - Hows this? I finally machine embroidered the scarf that I started last winter ! Yes I know there are two others rolled up ready to be done ...I know . OK ?

Wednesday.......Dear Diary -

• Went op-shopping and bought a coathanger. Came home and hung it up on the wall. This is not a new project diary but rather an ongoing collection so it doesn't count ! NER ! (wish I could find nicer hooks)
• Bought fabric to make binding for baby quilt.
• Tweaked ongoing pattern (first started about 2yrs ago so it does count.)
• Fiddled with, but did not ACTUALLY start new handbag.

Thursday...........Dear Diary -

• Bought fabric for binding baby quilt.
• Googled embroidery stitching instructions (googling doesn't count).
• May have almost quite by accident kind of started the new bag a little bit.

Friday ................. Dear Diary

• Worked on new bag
• blogged
• threw away diary.
  

Dick and Jane !

Annie and I were recently chatting and she had the idea to upgrade those green bags we use at the supermarkets. Her final results were amazing.

I decided to make something similar for work. At the moment I carry a tub in and out of work each day - I call it the guilt tub. I toss all sorts of stuff in there, promising myself "I'll read that when I get home, I'll go through that catalogue properly on the weekend etc etc."

I dutifully carry the tub into the car then into my house every night where I ignore it until I throw my lunch on top of it in the morning and carry it back to work !

So now I have a bag for work to carry all that stuff in. It is not as big as a supermarket green bag - I narrowed the base and sides to a more manageable 6 1/2 ".

Of course, being a library chick meant it was the perfect excuse to use a bit of the Dick and Jane fabric - totally appropriate !

And in my usual style how much fabric did I buy for one bag? Well the dick and Jane I already had and the green canvas weight was originally intended for the apron.

Bargain you think? Well I had first intended it to have different coloured base and sides so off I went and bought 1m of red canvas but then at another shop bought 1/2 m each of pink and blue as well. I also needed a bit of wadding so grabbed 2m from the patchwork shop where I fell in love with two other fabric (1/2 m of each of those too please madam and could I also have 5 magnetic closures ?).

I first made it up with pink sides (check out that free motion quilting) and hated it so had to unpick my triple stitching, so it ended up all green anyway.



So even though I had all the fabrics that eventually went into this bag , including a vintage cotton for the lining, that I thrifted last week, it would seem I purchased an additional 3m of fabric, 2m of wadding and 5 magnetic handbag closures........ (oh and a metre of unrelated but extremely gorgeous fabric from Aunty Cookie as well)

Its not that I am saying its a bad thing ...................

Crafty week

It's not that I don't craft through the week (some people would say it is ALL I do) but getting photos just proves to be beyond me. Ballarat has the deserved reputation of being somewhat cold and gloomy so by the time I get home from work there is usually no light left at all. Certainly no photo-taking light left in the day.

Monday / Tuesday

Those ball animals are still rockin around inside my head but I think I have nearly exhausted all options now. This little hedgie is my newest love. His name is Edgar !

Wednesday

A quick trip to the localist of op-shops revealed this little haul.

• A glass buckle



• a set of Brand new Japanese hankies (coming to handbag pattern near you soon)



• Some little spring loaded button studs



• a little brooch handmade by someone with more patience than I


• a purse frame that did have a daggy pink plastic purse attached but I removed it for an experiment.

I have also been working on a few bags through the week and will be able to post those tomorrow. I even had a go at a bit of free-motion quilting and I didn't totally suck at it so that was a bonus.

Here is a fuller picture of little whiplash quilt. for those who asked. Now I am off to Spotty for some canvas !!!!