Been busy... you know...

Wow, it seems ages since i last blogged, it's not because i haven't got anything to blog about it's just a busy time, . We had a little trip to Perth, not for a holiday but for a family matter, it wasn't fun but we did enjoy catching up with family and of course i made most of the opportunity and I picked up some lovely glass balls for the tree... will show you these later :)




I seem to go through colour phases with my latest fetish being red white and red white and blue. The stocking I crocheted for Kitty n Kitsch in Selina's stocking swap was Red & White, I borrowed her picture, i hope that's okay, it's dark in my house but glare and super bright outside, being the wet season it's not a great time of year to take good pictures. Well I'm having loads of trouble taking good pictures :)



I made this Santa sack for a little boy who didn't have one. Apparently this is an Australian thing to have a Santa sack I just found out from an American friend that they only do stockings and have never heard of this sack caper. What does Santa do at your place?



And finally a pretty little Christmas outfit for a gorgeous little girls first Xmas. I have to confess that I have never made baby clothing before and let me tell you it's not as easy as you would think. My mind was telling me that little clothes would be easy but trying to sew around arm and leg holes that don't fit around the sewing machine arm is kind of tricky so I am quite pleased with myself .

Christmas Stocking Swap

This delightful package surprised me today when it arrived on my doorstep...
I wasn't expecting a parcel, so it could only mean one thing! It HAD to be from my swap partner for 'The Great Stocking Swap of 2010'



I opened the parcel to find it bursting with goodies and as i pulled out the pretzels i thought - oh that's okay I'll give them to my husband - but wait... it says gluten free... (loud squeal) ... next thought - hey i didn't even know they made GF pretzeles, wow this lady's done her homework... how lovely - !!!



I seriously love this stocking, it's perfect and will fit right in with our crazy purple christmas tree.
The mixed media work is amazing, i have no clue how this was achieved at all but it's ace.



Pam, thank you so much for all the effort you went to putting my special parcel together. You are one clever lady! I feel very lucky indeed.

Check out Pam's blog Cloth to Creation for everything from chenille xmas angel patterns to yummy looking desert recipies!

It's here it's here it's heeeyer...

Look what arrived today...



So beautifully packaged and wrapped with pattern paper...



The more I unwrapped the more there was to find....

sweet little handmade 100% gluten free cupcake pins & star pins tied up in ribbon.

a needle book, oh my goodness you have no clue what this means to me. i don't have a needle book and it's so soft and the colours are lovely.

then i unwrapped the paper pattern wrapped parcel and inside was the prettiest little teacup pincushion with fabric in my favourite colours. just devine.



Thank you muchly to Selina from Selina's Vintage for being an awesome pincushion swap partner and for all the lovely gifts that came with it. You're the sweetest.

I also want to thank Kate from Foxs Lane. How sweet that she organised this pincushion swap and I just found out she wasn't even in the swap!




Just for fun... I tried to make him look like he was smiling... i get silly when i'm happy!

Check out the pin cushion swap pictures on flickr.

Craft overload

Townsville had the craft expo come to town this weekend and I went on Saturday with a friend then decided to go back Sunday to grab a quilt kit I decided I just couldn't live without. So I took the twins along and they found the craft corner where they could paint a figurine and I was left to do my own thing. Perhaps it was a good thing that the shop had sold out of what I was after because the kids painted for 3 hours and I did laps of the expo while they created their masterpieces.

I got to chat to the lovely Prudence Mapstone and asked her many questions about crochet and picked up some super soft tencel yarn, markers, patterns and even a tunissian crochet hook. Ahh bliss.

Then I found some absolutely divine japanese printed fabric and realised that my new favourite colours are blue & white. I'm going to attemp some Sashiko and make new couch cushions.

And I also couldn't go past a gorgeous Morris & Sons crochet pattern & hand dyed felt to finish off my pin cushion swap gift.

This is my haul from Sunday only!



Feeling utterly inspired and happy now I had some good felt on hand I set to making a needle book to go with the pin cushion for the swap. I'll say good bye to this cute little guy tommorow and cross fingers that his new owner thinks he's alright.