Saturday, January 8, 2011

Holders of the stakes

Dear Holders of the Stakes,
I hope the start of 2011 finds you all happy, refreshed and ready for a big year ahead.
Unfortunately our sometimes employee, has definitely 'left the building' so to speak. Her Teenage Grumpiness can no longer be bribed cajoled or wheedled into folding patterns as she is no longer here at the warehouse, preferring , it would seem to share a new home with other fruity Lexia drinking people. We wish her well, whilst sniggering at the shock of 'real life'.

That of course means that an exciting career opportunity has opened up for the youngest member of Ric-Rac team. The terms and condition have been explained and the obvious benefits pointed out. The generous salary and frankly sumptuous conditions were offered in writing. The resulting two word response was a little surprising ....one of the words was "off"

2010 saw the hawking of my wares and talking the ears of anyone who would listen - mostly about blogging and crafting but occasionally about International Toilet Paper Month and my propensity to let a little bit of wee out if I get too excited. Apart from the Great Whooping cough debacle , 2010 was pretty great. (She says, conveniently forgetting the times she wanted to stab strangers in the head with her quick-unpick)
What can the holders of stakes expect to see in 2011.... new patterns, including Baxter and Milligan and maybe the Knights of the Sewing table ( undecided there). I also have a new friend who just needs some clothes, and some sweet little un-named girls at the bottom of this post.
I'll be flying to Sydney in June to have a chat the Australian sewing Guild. I'll be guest Designer at Daylesford Craft Experience also in June with Kristen and Melly.... (cannot wait for that but holding in the wee for now)

2011 will also see something a bit new - teaching !
I'll be teaching at Ballarat Patchwork, Drapers of Mt. Macedon , Amitie and also at the New swanky studio of Nicole Mallalieu, during 2011. I shall be teaching my soon-to-be-patented sewing method of close your eyes, move your fingers and ram it through the machine. Actually I'll be teaching Parsely and Beet at Ballarat Patchwork but no idea about the other places - any ideas ?
You know, Its all a little bit exciting from where I am sitting. Yep, its also scary and intimidating in parts - but I'm happy to take that as part of the deal.


So to every single holder of the stakes, whether you are an always-commenter, a sometimes-commenter or a never-commenter, If I really know you, blog know you, might meet you , or will never likely meet you, I just want to say thanks for popping in, joining in , and making all this happen.
You guys have a lot to answer for.....

81 comments:

  1. I do love those little girls, no embroidery I see :o)
    Popping in is always an absolute pleasure (very entertaining too!), have a great week..
    Lizzie
    xxx

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  2. Man I wish I lived closer, I would love to do one of your classes!
    The person with the rude 2 word response doesn't understand the opportunity they are flippantly passing up!

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  3. Thanks very much! Snorted coffee once on computer but good news I kept my wee in a little bit reading this ! All the best for 2011 it sounds like you are going to busy and having lots of fun , yay !

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  4. those little girls are the cutest!
    they should definitely have some lovely japanese names i think, akiko, amaya, hanako, hisako or keiko are nice ones that spring to mind...
    sounds like you'll be having a lovely and productive year! all the best!

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  5. Sorry you got such a frosty reception to the job offer. I love your little unnamed girls - very sweet.

    I would live to come to Daylesford again, not sure if I could sell the idea two years in a row though....

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  6. Are you quite sure you'll be able to fit in your day job??? Sounds just the most wonderful year ahead and I'm glad to be in Senior Management! LOVE LOVE LOVE one for each of those gorgeous dollies.

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  7. Where can I pick up the job description and application?

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  8. You know it's hard to get good help these days...lurve the new girlies...enjoy every craft filled minute of your jam packed 2011, what a blast! See you at Daylesford...yay!!!!

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  9. love those little cuties!

    Shame about the job applicant....I seem to receive the same 2 word response in my house too....shame really, they don't know what they are missing out on....

    Good luck with the teaching...
    cheers Julz

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  10. Hi Jodie,

    I love popping into your blog...your are marvelous :)
    Good luck with your new ventures...wonder if I can sell Daylesford....hmmmm( abit ticky as himself has major birthday then too)
    Hugs, Sharon

    PS love the unnamed girls...something asian sounds good to me too

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  11. What adorable dollies, Jodie. Sounds like a great year for you; just say eff off to whooping cough and tooth troubles and you'll be right. And remember I'm up for a bit of pattern folding, hand holding, whatever, if you need help (and I won't say the off word, either. unlike your youngest.)

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  12. 2011 is going to be great. I love your girls too :)

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  13. Happy new year, Jodie! Those three little Asian girls are too sweet!

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  14. Wow that is really exciting news all round. It would be lovely to be close enough to attend one of your classes I hope local people make the most of it.
    I think our kids are like boomerangs and always seem to come back just as we have converted their room into something far more useful.
    I love the dolls they look like they know some interesting stuff.

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  15. Waaahoo.... sounds like you're going to have an awesome and busy 2011!! Love your new Japanesey Girls!

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  16. Hello from a devoted reader and occasional commenter! Best wishes for 2011 and LOVE the new dolls!!

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  17. Sounds like a super year ahead! All the very best for 2011!

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  18. if 2010 was tops 2011 is going to blow your mind..........


    your joint executive director..........lol

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  19. I'm about to lose a DD to another state and there's no one to take up the lag.

    I enjoyed every post on your blog, even the homicidal ones, but of course your creations the best. Good luck with the teaching and I hope your other employee comes around. Maybe food witholding will convince?

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  20. Fantastic, the ASG Industry Day in June has just turned into a brillaint day (sorry no pressure here, just do what you did at Ballarat and we will be extremely happy). I hope they told you to dress warm as this day is held in a very large shed with no heating :)

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  21. Stunning little girls at the end but i would love the Knights of the Sewing Table, oh boy, too much fun. We could do with a Fisk & Husq here for the boy. Have fun teaching, tee hee, lucky students. Oh & anything with Kristen Doran is wonderful, love her to pieces. Enjoy your pretty special 2011 plan, love Posie
    PS can't imagine what a teenage boy would say to pattern folding or helping his mummy's craft business, um . . . 'something' OFF, trying to guess, love your cryptic puzzles!!

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  22. Bring on the Knights!
    Hippy hoppy happy new year!

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  23. So how does one get adopted/apply for the role? I even have a 6year old who would work for one of your dolls :)

    Have a great year.

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  24. Love those little girls. Are they going to be a pattern?

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  25. Congratulations on the teaching yay yay. Love just Love the unnamed girls can not wait to see there names and if there is a pattern hint hint. Don't worry about the employee that has left the building as i have had two of them and they both came back with there big tails well and truly between there legs and have been sweet angles ever since. Just enjoy the wait as the wide world is a very scary place hahahaha.
    Hugs
    Narelle

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  26. Love your blog - and hope that things go well in 2011, even without 'almost grown up and will one day but not as soon as they think be independent' help!
    Happy New Year!

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  27. SOunds like 2011 is going to be a wonderful and busy year! Congratulations on the teaching gigs. I think you'll be ace.

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  28. Excellent line up for twenty eleven - hope to catch up with you at one of those great events. Nic x

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  29. Best of luck from an almost-never-commenter. Your skill and your wit are a constant source of inspiration for me. :)

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  30. As a commenter of only a few months I can take none of the glory for your rise to fame...but as the end commenter at present I am totally bedazzled by your world wide blue dots...each representing an admirer of yours...and deserving you are! Have a wonderful time this year with all your teaching engagements etc.{I was going to add a few more exclamation marks but have realised lately that I use them the most of any blogger I know!!!}

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  31. Always a pleasure never a chore. Thanks for setting me up for a day of mostly cleaning, probably, at work after very little sleep due to bag making.
    Kathie
    p.s. willing to pay own flight, be paid in food and live under the stairs if you can't get the new employee on board :)

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  32. Hello from Finland!
    I recently found you blog and I just love it!

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  33. Guilty as charged of following you and occasionally commenting (sometimes out loud, sometimes in print..). I don't care what you do in 2011, as long as it is as funny, insightful and amazing as 2010 ♥ (although the small people want Baxters apparently..so you will have to get that pattern out..)

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  34. You lucky little ducky. Enjoy every minute of it. By the way, the word before 'off' wasn't 'going', as in very excited about helping his talented mother in exchange for a roof over his head and food in his belly?

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  35. Was it "thanks-I'll-never-take-a-day off"?

    I'll have the job. I'm very handy for getting to work. Obviously.

    WooHoo, another Ric-Rac year.

    Cheers,
    AJ

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  36. "one of the words was off" Heh, heh, heh...

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  37. What an amazing year you have in store Jodie. I wish you all the best with the new teaching gig - you'll do it standing on your head (which of course would keep the said wee IN too!!) LOL.
    Happy New Year.
    Hugs ~ Kerryanne

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  38. Happy New Year, Jodi. Your delightful little maidens really made me smile. They made me think of the Mikado and the "Three little maids".

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  39. Thanks for keeping it real! Would love to see you in Wellington, New Zealand teching some classes. Fancy a trip?

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  40. Oh how I do love reading your blog! Always makes me whoop with laughter (which of course does lead to holding in the wee issues)If I lived nearer I would definitely be applying to be your folderer! Happy New Year to you...it all sounds dead exciting! Lots of love, Amanda xxx

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  41. Ahem.... I think we were going to talk about some classes, non?

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  42. Not sure we'll ever meet because of that whole 'half way round the world' thing but cheers to you (holding up a cuppa).

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  43. Sounds like it's shaping up to be a very exciting year!

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  44. Happy New Year Jod! Love those little girls - their hair just kills me! Love it :o)

    Looks like 2011 is going to be very very exciting indeed. Hope you've stocked up on the TenaLady!

    I think a RicRac Teapot would make for an interesting lesson. Id be so excited to go home from a workshop with one of those - in fact I'd be THAT excited...if you know what I mean ;o)

    Moogs xxx

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  45. If you need a new employee/family member I'm currently unemployed... I apparently am quite small, quiet and have a nack for coming and going without a sound. you w
    Visiting you blog is always one of the joys of life, but One of the wee in the pants highlights of this last year for me was when we met, and then remet again later.
    ( that sounds rather scary and weird but it's meant totally not to sound that way)
    You're the ants pants xo

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  46. aahhh, whooping cough! How delightful - I too was struck over a year ago now.

    Love your blog, am new to the blogging world and have began my own. Thanks for sharing!

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  47. Love your patented sewing method.
    Andi xx

    PS Connor is a crack up! Apple doesn't fall far ...

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  48. Ahhh JOdie.........you have to know.........we all live for your blog posts!! LOL
    Glad 2010 was kind to you may 2011 be even better!!

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  49. Tee hee. Next-in-line for the job needs an expensive hobby (like driving) - then he'll be begging for the job. :0}

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  50. Love the dolls and can't wait for some more of your patterns. My son loves your racing snail.
    How about naming the girls after Aussie icons - Pavlova, etc.
    places - Sydney, etc
    or just traditional names like Matilda etc.

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  51. always glad to visit! and maybe will wangle my way into a class too, sometime, somewhere!

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  52. Sounds like another exciting year coming up. Shame we won't get to catch up at Sew It Together

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  53. I'll take the job. The library saw fit to lay me off two days ago,so I'm ready for something new.

    I'd call one of the dollies Annora, after my Asian friend from high school.

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  54. Looking forward to another year of giggling until I wee. Wishing you a fantastic 2011. I pay my pattern folders/stuffers in cookies, otherwise I try to guilt them into it. As for the darling little girls...Yumi, Rumi, and Fumi. Just sayin'.

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  55. Thats great news, lot's to keep you busy in 2011. I came and saw your little talky at Stitches in Melbourne - you were a bit exited, you had lots of friends sitting in on the session - if some wee did escape - don't worry, it was not noticed from where I was perched :)
    Good luck with the new ventures!

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  56. I hope you are aware of how many lives you touch with your humor and creative talent. You have a very special gift. Good luck in the coming year from "another devoted reader and sometimes commentator."

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  57. So ... what are the chances of getting you to come teach a session at CraftoberFest this year?
    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

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  58. You always make me smile Jodie! Happy New Year!

    Arabella

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  59. Sounds like an exciting year ahead for you! Can't wait to watch from the sidelines!!

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  60. Baaaah! Those little girls at the end are so cute!

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  61. You go girl!!
    A big exciting year for you!!
    Cheering you on from my spot on the map xx :-)

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  62. Excitement all round:) Does this mean you can leave your day job!!:) Happy Happy New year to you-thanks for all the laughs , inspiration and good cheer:)

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  63. Congratulations and all the best for a creative 2011....just don't celebrate by jumping on the trampoline ;-)

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  64. Ah, but that I could apparate across the globe and attend your class. Hope your students appreciate their luck!! You'll be brilliant!!

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  65. My son loves your racing snail. All the best this 2011! Love your blog.

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  66. sounds like a wonderful 2011 Jodie!
    you know what I love about you, the fact that you are exactly like the way you write, LOVE it!
    stay awesome ♥

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  67. your blog always makes me laugh, thanks Jodie. Can't wait for you to get the gorgeous girls into a pattern!

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  68. Do you have a pattern for the sweet japanese dolls? also wanted to mention that I have found the suggestion of using pet bedding (hampster nesting) as a stuffing material to be very functional. It works well with fiberfill to add weight to items. I look forward to your blog - it brightens my day!! Thanks.

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  69. Some employees don't know how lucky they are to be able to work with you...vbg. At least you got a reply though even if it was in just two words....lol. Ohh teaching. Now can I manage a trip to Ballarat I wonder?

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  70. sounds like its going to be a great year. Love the little girls.

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  71. So much to look forward to. Ohhh I remember fruity Lexia LOL. Teenagers!!!!! one would thing pattern folding would be very appealing to the youngest Ric Rac, but then there is the occ health and safety issue of paper cuts to think about.

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  72. Thank you for always being here, and letting me slip into your hilarious life, and wish for little moments that I too could create something just the teensiest bit beautiful, and witty and technically amazing and just simply friendly and lovely like all the little treasures you share with us.
    Thanks for being honest, and open, and real and super super YOU! I so enjoy having this place to visit.

    {And I'm still waiting for your stories to be published in real life (recycled) paper books for me to read as bedtime stories to my kids, or just for myself}.

    E xx

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  73. I read this post three times and didn't see anywhere that you'll be coming to the US for quilt market this year. You need to update your post....

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  74. 2011 sounds like it is going to be fun Jod! Just keep your legs crossed!!! Locket xx

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  75. Well, reading your blog in 2010 was a highlight, so I'm looking forward to what 2011 brings!

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  76. what an exciting year for you!!! I'm excited for you!!!! I bet your classes will include non stop laughter - you should include that in the ticket price

    corrie:)

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  77. Can't wait for the pattern for the 3 little asian girls. They are so delightful.

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  78. wow all that and a day job .. you really are superwomn.

    Your applicant has no idea what he/she is missing out on. If only I lived in Vic I would send my 12 year old over.
    Another reason I wish I lived in Vic is to be able to attend all your classes.

    Loving your adorable namless girls.
    Enjoy 2011, look forward to reading many more of your blog posts.

    Rebecca.

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Hellloooooo !!!!