Every village needs an idiot....

Yes I know there is still stuff to do, but with every blogger saying "see you next week" and every email talking about what day people will be visiting and what classes they have booked in for and who they are excited to meet or catch up with, I can't help but get increasingly excited. Heaps of people are taking advantage of the two day ticket offer for $15 so they can fit in everything they want to do...
Can I ask a favour ?
If you do come to the show , please come and say hi. Please don't do that freaky weird thing where you email me a week later and tell me you came and hung out and visited me but didn't say hi 'cause you were too scared to talk to me....


I mean look, yes I seem to be smiling in a weird lop-sided village idiot kind of way....but I won't bite you and won't try and sell you stuff , I might ask you to play shopkeeper while I run off to the toilet, I may hug you , I may already know you through your blog, or I might have no idea who you are and will need your card so I can look up your blog after the show....

For me, the meeting-people-bit was one of the very best things about last years show, and lets be honest is also one of the great bits about this community, so come on just walk right up and say Hi there Jod !


I promise I'll be on my very best non-freaky behavior!

I know you guys will get it....

Boxes are being packed, things are getting ticked off the list and it is all starting to get a wee bit exciting. A week from tomorrow I'll be setting up my stall...

I can't help but think back to last year , I had no idea what I was in for at all.

(pocket -bot kits complete with little windows so you can choose your own colour- I love packaging)

You know, it occurred to me that there is one big change this year - I feel less like a "fraud" than I did last year. It was the invitation to join Stitches and Craft last year that set me off on this whole pattern-writing thing.......and now, even though writing patterns is not my favourite thing in the world to do, I feel like I am getting OK at it...like no-one is going to point and laugh and say "OMG what are you doing here?" - "what is this crap?"
Does that make sense?

At this point it about 50/50 excitement and stress (good stress) but as time moves on the excitement will take over for sure. And of course, because I am so busy , the old brain is once again having trouble shutting off and I am being haunted by a new softie and fun tutorial...and of course Milligan is still waiting patiently...

and after the show......yes I'm sure you guys are getting sick of all this show talk - well, there's Sew- it-Together, followed by a weekend at Sewjourn.....

Beware exploding heads!!

I am old !

Here at the squeezy end, things are slowly coming together.

This stuff just kills me. It's 100% hand over dyed wool.

It is spectacular, and soft and sews like a dream....and yes I may have had to sell a few internal organs to buy it.....but look at those colours.

Today I was finally brave enough to start cutting it. The wools became packs for making disco-bots , three colours per pack for bodies, legs and arms.

Cutting and folding and picking colours was a bit of therapy this afternoon after a day of clothes shopping - I went shopping with Miss 18 for new clothes...lets just say its not exactly a boost to ones self-esteem to go shopping with a teeny tiny drop-dead gorgeous teenager.

You know if you have to read the tag on a garment to figure out where on your body it should be worn, I say , leave it on the rack....

The world wide web

Did anyone else get a buzz out of that last post...Can you believe people visit from Africa and Israel and Belgium and Warsaw ? That's head-explosion material folks..

The winner, as chosen by Master 15 and the patented-close your eyes and stick a pin in the page method...is Susan of flossieblossoms . clap clap clap....

and a funny thing happened on the way to the show... I bought this little cart from Aldi remember? with a view to giving it a bit of a make over...

well I did that, and on the weekend when I did a mock-setup of the stall, complete with the measurements of the stall taped out on the floor

well...quite simply it didn't fit...no way no how.....

now..how to just slip it into the decor of the house so no-one notices....

inter galactic giveaway or blogging from a life raft

So we come to the third and final Stitches and Craft related giveaway. This one is for all the international people.... (as in...NOT in australia)
You know, I have one of those little maps right down at the bottom of my blog and it puts little dots on where people are visiting from. Its quite fascinating. But it can be quite worrying- I've had this conversation with a few friends...you see, two people visit my blog from the middle of the ocean. Yep, two little red dots in the middle of the ocean. I can't help but imagine two lonely castaways on their wooden raft, with their laptops...you know, just catching up on some craft blogs... (edited to add - there is only one dot today - oh dear, I hope the other person didn't get washed overboard)So if you would like to be entered to win a show-bag of patterns and stuff from me, Just leave a comment - and if you like, tell me where you are from, your town and country or just your country - whatever rocks your life raft!

(The winner of the previous giveaway that had no fancy title was "sewing the seeds of love")

Stitches and craft Giveaway 2

I don't mean to rub it in - but have you guys been over and checked out the show guide?

Far out there is some stuff going on .........

Anyway at the show I will be talking about blogging. I won't be getting technical at all. Basically I am going to talk about my experience of blogging and why I do it. I will definitely go off tangent, I may drop in a few swear words (I am worse when I am nervous) and if Annie keeps me to time , then there will be lots of opportunity for people to ask me questions of the non-technical variety. Its completely free, (as all useless information should be) and I'll be talking the talk on Friday Saturday and Sunday while my mum runs the stall.

Without further ado, the ticket winners are Linda of Gum Valley Patchwork

and Kate of One flew Over . )

Now for those of you in Australia who cannot get to the show- I have another giveaway but you'll have to be patient. At this stage it looks like I will have 3 new patterns to release at the show (maybe more but I'm not promising) so I'll give a copy of each new pattern to someone plus I'll buy them a little present from the show as well....So knock yourselves out in the comment box below and I'll be back with an international giveaway as soon as soon.

And my wisdom after 4 days back at work?

(and I am not ignoring you, blogger is no longer forwarding comments to my inbox , this means replying has become a bloody eighty step process....If you need me just email through my profile)

Call me Elastic woman

OK, so although I am the first to say that I am no superwoman - I have decided that I am in fact ...."elastic woman".

I just keep on stretching, and fitting in more stuff. The list is keeping me in line, if not quite up-to-date. There is so very much to do between now and May 5th and of course I have just performed the biggest stretch of all, and gone back to the day job.

(sheesh it takes up some time).

But you know, all the busyness is fun in that kind of crazy way - I don't do so well with nothing to do -and the librarian in me revels in the lists and checklists, and ticking boxes nature of it all.

and now I am ticking the give away box.

I have two tickets to the show in Melbourne to give away.

The Stitches and Craft show is in Caulfield may 5 - 9th, so if you are planning on going or if a free ticket will help you make up your mind-please leave a comment(and make sure I can reply to you). I think I'll give two people one ticket each...

(I'll be doing another giveaway for people who can't make the show soon as well I promise)

Give-away one ....... Tick !

and when the thinks won't stop........

sometimes you just have to give up and let them out.................

its growing......

My last post got me thinking about Stitches and Craft last year and how much fun it was. I remember Eleanor dancing in the restaurant at a dinner that Sooz organised. (I met half the blog nation at that dinner)

I remember being so intimidated by the Ink and Spindle team that I didn't speak to them until about day three and I broke the ice by feeding them muesli bars and cheesey dippers. (and yes I was a total dickhead - they are awesome!)

This year I am going to catch up with Kristen, she was my neighbour last year and is a super favourite friend.

- her screen prints are delicious ! and she is one of the most unflappable people I think I have ever met.

I'm also keen to grab me goodies from Lisa who I met at Sydney Stitches last year.

have you seen anything cuter?

My own spending might just re-boost the whole economy...

and you know that think that I thunk this morning at 3.27am.... well obviously , the answer is darts !!!

I'll keep you posted.

Can you feel it....

You guys know that I don't speak knitting or paper craft, but Corrie does ! She also speaks crochet !

and has the cutest shop ever !
Right now she is looking for helpers for the Melbourne Stitches and Craft show.

Even thought I am flat out and quite possibly boring you all rigid... The excitement level is beginning to rise.

I can't wait to catch up with all the Melbourne crafters again as well as hopefully spending some time with Kate and Mr Banshee.

Kate's awesome platypi
I have promised toilet breaks and chocolate for Claire .....

(and I am getting first dibs on one of the pull-along dogs kits I tell you.....)

I have booked some accommodation for myself and my best-ever helper and I'm trying to wiggle to get to see a talk by Kate Vandermeer of iSpyStyle .

I really do hope all of you are coming along ( OK with the exception of those folk living in other countries....)

and I promise to stop boring you all with my plans .... I am working on a tutorial......and a wee giveaway cause I passed a humungously outrageous anniversary type thingo...and completely missed it...just give me a day or two.

Oh and the derriere is much improved (kind of) - thanks for asking !

doing the bum dance...

I am making progress.

I bought a shelving unit to use at the show,

which I promptly managed to almost fill with junk from the floor

I have made a zipper mouth monster from the new pattern that I have written (just not had tested yet)
and I did some painting....This will all get a second coat tomorrow.

and in a feat only possible by the most uncoordinated crafter on the planet, I managed to mangle my own bum while taking a photo in the sewing room.
My not-at-all- small-or-pointy butt collided with a small pointy edge of cupboard...... The cupboard won.

and I thought Edna caused pain....I knew nothing!

samples

Yesterday I packaged (not very creatively) the dyed doctors flannel for elephants.

and then I finished some new "goodies" for samples

and a new tea-set sample as well. I love this fabric ! I was one teensy little tea-cup handle short but Annie saved the day and gave me a bit from her stash.

I gave this robot a face (He is particularly excited, not having been to a Stitches and Craft show before)

and half-started a bazillion or more other things as well.

According to the list, Today is display day and its nice and sunny so I am cracking out the paintbrush.

on the same evolutionary branch....

Hi ! this is Ms Pocket-bot.....

a very close cousin to the message-bots.....

her little pocket can hold, fallen-out teeth, wedding rings, outrageous hopes, and broken hearts.