Mind Control.

Do you remember that I met Miss Marzie at stitches and Craft? That, apparently lovely friendly crafter.....well, It would appear she is an agent of mind control. I know it is hard to believe isn't it?
She is sneaky alright, you hardly even know its happening. But slowly and insidiously she plants thoughts in your mind and then reinforces them until you have no control over your own mind and you bow to her great will. I know you may find this difficult to comprehend , that sweet mild-mannered crafter, but trust me it's true.
I have proof.
Exhibit A : Check out this seemingly innocent comment on this post about the need to make cowboy and Indian dolls. (She comments as Cathy). Seems innocent enough and I discounted the idea as too difficult.
Exhibit B: Whilst chatting at Stitches and appearing to praise my dollies, she again reiterated the need not desire guys but NEED for me to make cowboy and Indian dolls. She poo-pooed my concerns about the level of difficulty and told me they would be so cute.
So the original seed of thought was planted and now it began to grow.
Exhibit C: Not content with leaving me to ignore her advice, she followed up with a comment on this post ,again with the cowboys and Indians.

That was it !!! I would like to say I was strong enough to withstand her brain invading thoughts but I wasn't I succumbed to the pressure and began....................................................................................

From here on in it is all her fault.

• One small forest worth of kitchen towels destroyed in pattern-making - Blame Miss Marzie

• One bottle of red wine drunk - Blame Miss Marzie (and your lucky I stopped at one)



• Two nights of popping out of bed(very late) to quickly scribble things on a bit of paper that just might work - Blame Miss Marzie



• One exasperated visit to Lincraft to wander around aimlessly because I didn't really know what I want - Blame Miss Marzie



• Endless hours of Internet time wasting looking up cowboys and cowboy hats (actually there was some serious eye candy involved in that search which was an unexpected bonus) - Blame Miss Marzie.



• Flying dash to the supermarket to replace the Easter chocolate I may have needed to eat to keep my strength up during hobby horse pole insertion.- Blame Miss Marzie.

So, this is Isak, one of the cheekiest little cowboys you are ever likely to meet. He has a lovely horse called Marzie and he loves to tie things up.

He is not allowed to play with guns so he is just a "chasing-cows" cowboy not a "shooting-things" cowboy.

O.k , apart from his general naughtiness, he is pretty cute, difficult but cute.

If he lassos me , or his horse poops on my carpet I am blaming you Miss Marzie!!!!

Who says love can't be bought?

I hope you don't mind the slow reveal as you read. Today I got the cutest parcel ever ...........and I actually unwrapped it sooo slowly and took some photos so you could share the antici............pation

Firstly I have to say Hi and welcome to anyone who is popping over from Today's Creative Blog.
I was a featured blog a few days ago - well my blog was.
How cool is that? Not only am I honoured but floored ! Today's Creative blog is great and it is a super way to find new blogs. I have added it and at least ten other blogs to bloglines since finding it.
A big thank you to Kim for thinking of me. (and I'll figure out the blinky ASAP).

Yesterday Jemma flew off to France - via Kuala Lumpur. It was a loooong day. Check in took so long (like 3hrs) that the poor girl was starving , so there was very little emotion as she headed for the big silver doors while trying to stuff in as many French fries as possible. Other families hugged and cried but Jem was more interested in her food "do you think I could just stuff in all those nuggets at once and go through?" We are all class at chez ric rac.

Now don't think he is peeping out shyly here guys...he is merely cocking an eyebrow and checking the place out.

See isn't he cute? I saw one of these fellows over at I'm a ginger Monkey and begged Katy to make one for me. He is the start of a new collection. I love him and he is coming to work with me tomorrow for show and tell. Massive massive thanks to Katy for the super speedy construction and post and for the knock-your-socks-off all round excellence.

Don't let that innocent look fool you - he is a very debonair chap. He is a smooth talker and he knows the way to a womans heart is with

selvedges !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, he brought me a present. I think I am in love!

Do you mind if I bang on a bit?

On Friday Flower Garden and I headed off bright and early to Melbourne for the Stitches and Craft show.

We were very excited at the thought of catching up with all the celebrity bloggers on the Living Creatively stand but mostly excited about meeting Chookyblue in the flesh as it were.

On arrival - we were early ! We headed upstairs out of the crowd and began shopping. A little while later we got the phone call from Donna. Flowergarden was thinking , "who is Donna?" Of course it was Chookyblue so we raced downstairs to meet.

We said Hello and then there were hugs and laughter and Tracey of Ozcountryquiltingmum joined us for more hugs and then four women began talking all at once and I don't think any of us drew breath for the whole day. I'm sure Fairy Girl (Chookyblue's daughter) thought we were all mad.

We stood clogging up the Janome stand for so long that eventually we decided we needed coffee to continue our chats. So then we had show and tell and Tracey gave us some great tips on cards- She is the queen of the card. We couldn't get our cameras out fast enough when she headed off to the mens toilet!!!


Actually the only decent photo I got all day was my lunch ! It must be a dead giveaway that you are a blogger when you take out your camera to photograph your lunch!

Off we headed to the Living Creatively stand. They had the cutest set-up !! I met Cathy (Miss Marzie) and Louise (Lululollylegs) of Audrey and Maud soon-to-be-fame (Got their autograph as well, sorry it says Agnes. that was Cathy having a go at the fact that I had written it wrong on my blog ).

They introduced us to Jenny from Amitie (I have a bit of a crush on her, she was sooo nice). We met Fi of Dear Fi, I recognised her gorgeous fabric bowls on the stand and then I looked up and there she was !!! I approached Three Buttons to tell her how much I am enjoying the "This is " meme and I saw a person I was almost sure was Bluebird makes her Nest (as in, she kinda looked like someone whom I am guessing is her on her blog), but i wasn't certain so I smiled but didn't go and accost the poor woman.

I really did have such a great time that I have had to digest it all a bit before I could post about it.





So here is the banging on bit - (feel free to skip to the end).

Collectively the women on the living creatively stand were awesome, They laughed and shared and were so generous with their time and generous with their praise and respect for other crafters.

It was beyond great to spend the day with Tracey and Donna and Annie, it is the best fun, hanging out with people who "get it" or "get us' and craft and blogging and the whole thing.

The girls giggled when I told them how happy I was to be out of the crafting closet but it is so true. I love to craft and always have done , but now sharing it with all you people in blogland and actually meeting some of you makes me so excited. I got such a buzz from the day, seriously we crafty people are quite amazing when you stop and think about it. Just check out anyone's blog for confirmation of freebies and gifts and giveaways and thoughtful kind messages and shared hints and tips and knowledge.


I don't know what any of this means really I just wanted to say that I feel like I am a small part of something so fabulous and exciting and I just wanted to say - thanks for having me!

The "I am so lucky" giveaway

I know I am often a little confused ...................but is it Christmas ? or has there been some strange "Be nice to Jodie" campaign that I don't know about?

Firstly I bought this beautiful little nest from Natasha - Excuse the photo, but I am wearing it and trying to photograph it without taking it off. I wore it to work today and loads of people commented.
Natasha, it is Fantastic and just perfect - I love it. And she sent little gifties as well.

Then the Craft Fairy kissed me and while I still don't think I deserved it I must admit to a little squeal when I got this great parcel. See how teeny tiny that blue Ric Rac is??? Wherever you are Craft fairy I hope many many good things are happening for you .

Rachel of Four Wise Monkeys offered me a free ticket to stitches and Craft after I left a comment on her blog. We are bloggy neighbours (well, the same town). How nice is that? and she dropped it off for me at the local patchwork shop .


I am going tomorrow with Annie and we are meeting ChookyBlue there as well. (ooohhh eeerrr I hope she likes us !) I am also excited to meet all the other crafty girls on the Living creatively stand. (and a little bit nervous) . Can't wait to see Audrey and Maud!!!

Just when the week couldn't get any better, a phone call from Emma of Ballarat Patchwork informed me I had a present there and should pop in to collect it.

Triple EEEEKKKKK .....look at all these selvedges.... I am so getting organised. I am going to sort them by the predominant colour and eventually (like in a number of years) make a quilt - truly! Thank you so Much Em, you have really helped the cause.

I have had a lot of people chatting to me about selvedges since the bag post so I have made a Flickr group called Made with Selvedge but even I can't find it again so I think perhaps I ticked or didn't tick a wrong box somewhere.

So as everyone has conspired to give me such a great week - I am going to add something to someone elses week. . Usually when there is a giveaway , things get a bit crazy and a zillion or so people comment and I have to wait for a week for comments and then print them out and cut them all up....so I have decided to have a retrospective giveaway.

If you popped by and commented on my last post - you are entered. Simple as that

......and the winner is......(thanks again to Mr RicRac and his soon-to-be-patented picking a piece of paper from a bowl technique)........

Blue Mountains Mary !

Hurrah...Applause...Thank you all for entering even though you didn't know you were.

This is......outside my front door

This is outside my front door.

Whilst the hedge and bushy things (I am such a gardener) are still alive, all the grass is totally dead. In fact this was about as close as I got to the outside world yesterday - it has been stinking hot, and I was on the edge of cranky old witch all day.

I read today that local trees are already dropping their leaves, not for the onset of Autumn but because they are under stress from the drought.

Also outside my front door you may find Jemma (protecting her identity from "crazy crafty people"). She is enjoying the oppressive heat, strange creature that she is. Only 8 sleeps till she leaves for France. She has been getting organised and wrote a list of gift ideas for her friends and family in the journal.

Her cousins are up for berets, Her nan, a french scrap booking magazine , I have buttons next to my name. Her singing teacher and orthodontist are both down for chocolate and next to her brothers name .........she wrote ................ junk!

Selvedge bag

You guys know I collect selvedge of course and I have been saving up for a big project.

But after making the notebook cover for Jem I decided to make one for myself using selvedges.

So I started piecing them together and I couldn't stop. I seriously ADORE how they look together so as my piece grew I decided to turn it into a bag.

It occurred to me that a predominantly white bag wouldn't last long so I decided to cover it with PVC.

I really really like it ! It is a super simple construction and I had to hand sew the handles on (that was a bit of a chore and I actually had to dig out the the thimble!)

I would love to make a big quilt out of selvedges - I know , this from a person who has yet to finish the one and only quilt....but hey a girl can dream.

This bag took almost 40 strips of selvedge - can you imagine how many I would need for even a little quilt- and there is almost no fabric at my place with selvedge still attached.

I don't even know why I like them so much, they just appeal to me.

Sounds like an excuse to buy more fabric if ever I heard one!

The pulling out of the finger !

In an effort to live up to my previous rash statement that may have kind of promised some er.....finished projects, I gave myself a good talking to on the weekend.

Jodie ! Pull your finger out ! You have been faffing on about these bloody toys for weeks and the whole Etsy thing. Who cares if you don't know what to charge - just make it up! For god sake, no-one else cares about the packaging that much - or the little postcards. Just sew something and get on with it.

Saturday

• Take Miss 16 and the ric- rac gang shopping for the one or two or seventeen most important , just have to have articles of clothing that are needed for the impending trip.

• Result - lighter wallet and some car craft.

Saturday night

• Distinct lack of social engagements. Result - some couch time and some frock finishing time.

Sunday

• ooops I kind of digressed off into a new bag. I do this all the time. When I am stuck on one thing (packaging) I just have to leave it alone for a while and hope for the best. So a new bag that is almost finished- I love love love it and it involves selvedges (photo tomorrow..fingers crossed).

Monday

• Day off (kind of). Dentist appointments and other domestic hoo ha. New idea ! Do you like it? I think I am dressing these dollies in the clothes I wish I wore as a kid? I could probably keep a therapist in business for years!

Some Gocco..................

and hey presto - with a suggestion or two from friends, I have packaging that I love.

I am busy busy but the output just seems so slow ! I am aiming for Etsy lift-off in about three weeks and I am sorry to tease like this but there is not much else happening craft wise but wee jumpers, and dresses and aprons and capes and scarves and knitting bags!