Goodbye 2008!

Christmas is done and dusted for another year. Family, friends and good food and a bit of laughter, what more could anyone want?

MIL received a new tabletopper.....
into this

finished putting this together about 6pm on Christmas Eve...why do I always leave stuff like this to last??????Talk about putting yourself under pressure.....

and then on Friday I had to finish one for my sister......
into this..... left even less time for this one to be put together, so it was slightly modified from the original!!!! My sis didn't mind, as it still looked great. Leftover blocks are going into a table runner for my table.

And, as the year draws to a close, it's time to think about what we are going to do in 2009......any plans?


HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve, and a great start to 2009.......

See you all in 2009 somewhere, sometime..............................

cheers Julz

Wonderful Giveaway...

There is a wonderful giveaway until December 31st at Daisy Quilts.....

cheers Julz

To All.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS.....

Hope you all have a very Merry one in your part of the world.
May all your wishes come true......


cheers Julz

Christmas Spirit Award....

Ok, Suzie has awarded me the Christmas Spirit Award....
Here are the rules for Christmas award.
You must be a true Christmas lover to receive this award.
The person to whom you give the award must also be in love with Christmas.
You must link back to the person who gave you the award.
You must list 5 things that you love about Christmas.
If you can't limit it to 5 things, then keep going till you run out of space!
Pass the award along to as many people as you like.
That can be 1 or 45; it's up to you.


5 things I love about Christmas:

1. giving to someone that might not have anyone else to give to them.

2. the kids faces on Christmas morning, opening pressies.

3. dorky Christmas carols.

4. receiving beautiful Christmas cards, especially those from family and friends you haven't seen for a while

5. the smell of Christmas baking

I'm not going to pass this award to anyone in particular as there are so many wonderful blogs out there, getting into the Christmas spirit, so consider yourselves all awarded.

Thanks Suzie for the award, it is very much appreciated.

cheers Julz

Another Market....

Ok, yesterday, I did another market. See previous post here....
It was a glorious summer day, not too hot, slight breeze, lovely....

And it went very well. I sold quite a few things, which was very pleasing. There were only 2 stalls, myself and a lady that bakes beautiful biscuits and cakes....yes we did get samples! Yummy.
Didn't notice how yuck that wall behind was until after I had taken the pic, I hung up a couple of table throws and forgot to take another photo, (so you will just have to imagine them).

So after all of this, I think I will continue to do the markets, but will try to pick them a bit more carefully. This one I think I might only do once or twice a month, do our big community market, that's only held once a month, and see how I go..

so on a happier note,
cheers Julz

Feeling better

Today, I am definitely almost back to my old self, not feeling "blue" anymore. Thanks to Simone for your lovely email, and also thanks to Suzie. Suzie was my swap partner in Darlene's HoneyPot Swap, she has received her gift, so now I can show you what I sent......
and sitting on the table when I got home from work was this parcel.....
and inside were these beautiful things from Paula.....
The cutest little cross stitch ornie (Paula you have the most amazing small stitches, they are just so neat and tiny!), a gorgeous handmade card and a little zip up bag with heaps of DMCs inside, they will be used very shortly.....I love DMCs...all wrapped up in some beautiful fabric......

So a BIG BIG THANK YOU to these lovely ladies for cheering up my week!!!! It is very much appreciated and I promise not to bore you with such little trivial things again....well at least not for quite a while I hope.

cheers Julz

Sighhhhhhh......................

Do you ever have one of those days, where you just feel "blue"?

For no reason at all, life's great, busy, but great and one day you just want to crawl under the bedcovers and stay there......cos you're feeling "blue".......


That was my yesterday.


Didn't want to do anything even though I have heaps to do, Christmas cards to write (haven't even started them yet!), presents to wrap, baking to do, end of school stuff to do, work, sewing, the list goes on......and on.....and on....


And today, nothing will get done either, it's off to work!!!!! Can't win, can I?


Well, that's my little whinge for now....
Julz

Honey Pot Swap

My partner in Germany, Suzie, has just emailed that her parcel has arrived, so now I can show you what was in the box!


A candle mat, a cute little star ornie, and a packet of giant freckles (my favourites) and my card.

I'm still waiting on my little parcel....waiting in ernest......hope it will be here soon......

off to work now,

cheers Julz

My first market...

I've been thinking about this for a while and decided that just before Christmas....do or die, this year I was going to do it.

One of the local shops has a great laneway between it and the next shop....great spot for small stalls to be set up off the street, but still highly visible and accessible to all.

The car was packed last night, everything in order, sure to forget something (always do, but never mind), last minute things trimmed and decorated, deciding what to take, what not to take, float money all organised, well you get the idea....

we set everything up, I think it looked great, the other stall holders all said the same, then a few people looking, asking questions, then................nothing!

well, that left a little to be desired....sales....

Our local community market was on across the road (held once a month), but a lot of people come into the main street for food or just looking at the shops, so I thought "Yeah, this might be OK."

But boy was I mistaken... and being a tourist town also, I thought that they at least would be on the lookout for local handmade items.....

live and learn I suppose

Question is: Do I go back next Saturday and try again?

well bye for now from a disappointed and disheartened

Julz

PS Thought I would share a pic of my latest Snowman Advent Calender

Christmas Decorating

Hi everyone,
as promised here are some pics of what I do for Christmas decorating.....
this gorgeous guy is in the entrance hall near the front door, just waiting to tell everyone how much longer we have to go....
the kids fill this up to overflowing every year! It was made in 2001, maybe time for a new one....
my little collection of snowmen....yes they are becoming a little additive!!!! but they are so cute...


well, that's a little look at what I do for Christmas.

Would love to see what everyone else does????

happy decorating......

Julz

HoneyPot Swap

Well,
two posts in one day, wonders will never cease I'm sure!!!!

If you're in Darlene's HoneyPot Swap this year, be on the lookout, cos I've just posted my parcel to ***** in ******.
Here's a look at what I've sent.....
and into the box.....
and off on it's long journey to.....

You didn't really think I was going to show you what was INSIDE the box did you?????

Well you will just have to wait and see....HO HO HO!!!!

And on another note, this is a quilt I'm putting together for one of my SIL's who is fighting leukaemia (she was only diagnosed in early November, and has undergone one lot of chemo so far) fingers and toes and everything crossed that when she has her first lot of results back, that she will be OK....
Well now I'm off to start decorating the house with Christmas things......I'll show you some pics later.....
cheers Julz

Good News!!!!

Hi all,

well, December 1st....you all know what that means.......out with the Christmas tree and decorations! My kids are so excited....after school today, it will be time to put the tree up and decorate it.

But that's not the only good news, my Secret Stitchers Angel in Holland has FINALLY received my last package to her......only took about 6 weeks to get there.......we think it took the scenic route.....

so now I can show you what else I sent her.......
and I also sent her these (from 2 previous posts)



So there they all are finally in their new home in Holland.
Now, I must say thanks to Helen for organising this swap, it must of been a massive job. I enjoyed the giving and receiving and here's hoping that we see another one next year.......

take care until next time,
Julz

New Website....

please check out this new website by Jackie. She is one of the artisans on TCCT, and has branched out into the cyberspace. I think her site is wonderful, full of gorgeous handmades etc.

The Back Shed.

So pop on over and say Hi! Jackie would love to hear from you.

and something else I have just finished....

Well, that's it for today....off to work.....grrrroooaaannn....so many things to get done here....work is just interfering with it.....what to do?????

Go to work, I suppose....like everyone else...ok that's enough ...I'm off!

cheers Julz

Two Posts in One Day....

mmmm....just thought you might like to see what I have on TCCT this month....
and.....

plus these...and I decided to make some more of these, cos I have actually sold the ones above.....

and here are the finished stars that are in a post below.....

So if any one is interested, these are all for sale. Please email me for prices and sizes etc.

The Advent Snowman and the little stars on cotton reels all have German Glitter Glass (sparkly stuff) on them, they look great!

enjoy Julz

Fabulous Giveaway...

Hi all,

the lovely Lenna Green is having a giveaway, check it out here.

Sorry can't get the pic to load, will keep trying until I do, but in the mean time, go have a look at it, it's just gorgeous! (Having a bit of a blonde day!!!!)

Update!!!!!!
4 hours later......(no joke)
I finally worked it out....it's not perfect....but at least the pic is here!!!!!!

Oh der!!!!! I'm just so dumb sometimes.....here is Lenna's beautiful quilt as mentioned above....


Julz

Shh!!!! Don't tell DH

Hi out there in blogland....
today I had to go on a bit of a road trip to visit one of those government agencies that we all love so much (hate dealing with them!!!! very frustrating to say the least!) anyway, I waffle

.....paint store for the paint that of course is no longer available!!!! more frustrastion......

.....the lighting shop, kitchen fluro decided to quit on Thursday night.....doing things in the kitchen by the light from the rangehood...quite entertaining at times....

decided to make a little side trip for myself to Mrs Martins, and this is my little parcel (all nicely hidden now, so no telling!!!!!)
A cute little selection of wool felts, $3 per little scrap bag, a great way to add to the collection with colours that you may not use a great deal of, some gorgeous wide ric rac and a DMC thread.
And that's not to mention what I bought home last Friday after a visit to Sandlyn House (no blog)......2 new books that I have been looking at for a long while, a 60 degree ruler, and some lovely FQ's, all at 40% off. Justified as being for my birthday in a couple of weeks...how good is that!

And lastly I have been sewing, here are some things that I have been playing around with....
and these....
well, that's it for now,
take care until next time....
Julz

Inspiration....

just went outside to take some pics of my gorgeous roses, as I was very inspired by the beautiful pics of Linda's garden here.
this is Pegasus (above) and below is Just Joey and Whiskey

and some of Grannies Bonnets, just love these!



and my favourite rose of all is this one, Julia's Rose, just adore the beautiful colour and shape of the flowers, smells gorgeous too!
And as I finish this post, it's starting to rain! Just as well that I took these photos when I did, cos all the blooms will be spoilt soon. Not complaining about the rain though....we need heaps of it, so rain, rain, rain, all the day and night.
Hope you enjoyed a little look around my garden.

cheers Julz

Surprise!

Hi everyone,
another post, 2 in 2 days, whatever is going on!!!!
Well, today I went down the street to do some shopping and when I got back the parcel delivery guy had left me some much anticipated parcels.

This one is from my Secret Stitchers Angel, you know who you are....
this is what I got....very lucky me!
and then I started to unpack the box.....and then unwrapped all the blue tissue paper pressies, and inside was this gorgeous collection of items.....
inside was a thread catcher (Sue Daley's design), a scissor keeper (Lynette Andersons), a covered tape measure, a pincushion (I'm starting to get a really good collection of these!), a little project bag (Natalie Lymer), an armchair caddy (Hugs from Helen), Halloween marshmallows, 2 lots of Ferrero chocolate, another small block of chocolate, a very cute little box and finally some needles inside a needle keeper! Don't think I forgot anything...

aren't I the lucky one!!!

Thank you to my Secret Stitcher Angel, you are definitely an ANGEL!!!! I was totally speechless as I unpacked everything from this box. All I can say is that crafty people are just so generous with their time and their giving and to my swap partner a big big

THANK YOU!

With that all said and done, see you next time and take care,
Julz