Gift Wrap It Postcards finished!

Yep a set of postcards finished and I still have till the 15th for mailout along with four more fronts only - WOW I think that's a first for this girl!!! And they were a little pain in the XXXX as my original idea had to be scrapped as I just could not figure out the tatting pattern for the poinsettia and so I went to plan B. Hope it's OK!



The first three are for swapping, the single one is mine! Now I've had trouble figuring out which is the right and which is the wrong side of these so I went with what appeared to be the nicest side so not sure why the first one I made according to pattern (figured it was too large so reduced the stitches in the others) is opposite!!!

TGIF!!!!!!!!!

Ohhhh boy, I always knew what those letters meant but today I truly know why that phrase came about!!! Yep I truly had a "B" of a day right from the start, knew I should have stayed in bed. Oh well, thems the breaks I'm sure everyone has in their lives also.

At 10:00 am I had to escape for a quick walk and breather and hopefully relax - LOL! So I zipped over to the bank, got some lottery tickets and stopped for my favourite coffee before getting back to the craziness. It did get straightened out and I did get back to my work but at the end of the day I made a quick trip to the LC and bought myself a bottle of wine, stopped at the store and got a frozen pizza and other goodies then home to relax. I hope at least!

Today at work there was a lobby sale of African items and I could not resist this cute little gourd painted as a sort of Victorian looking Santa holding a wreath (sorry no pic) and then I saw the pieces of fabric and could not resist this panel (25.5 X 17.5 inches).



I've decided I will layer it, embellish it with beadery and embroidery and then quilt it for an office wall hanging! I think it will be sort of primitive but yet awesome - at least I hope so.

What a Lucky Day for Me!!!

WOW this was a lucky day for me!!! Along with receiving the last set of Faces blocks - WOW!

See my co-worker asked me if I was still making crafts – ornaments especially – I said not really. Well I was looking for some other ornaments and came across of box of my craft sale ornaments still left over so I brought them in for her to see them. WOW WEEEE, I just sold most of them to her. See she too has lost the box of “special” ornaments at her home and the kids are asking for their angels (from me) and she can’t find them.

Then I found yet in a Lewiscraft bag, probably not even used, a lovely drop decoration for the door and was going to put it up in the office when another co-worker said she LOVED it and wanted to buy it off me. So I asked her if she was serious and she bought it and gave me more than I asked too!!! WOW!!!

So not only did I clean out two storage pieces from my sewing room, but made some spending money too!!! WOW!!! Wonder what else I can find lost in that room???

Well, somehow we had misplaced my "special" ornaments that I kept for the office in our cleanup for painting and reshuffling. Then last year I brought in more from home and this year I could not find them - what gives!!! So late in the day I decided to go through all my filing cabinets and about halfway through I came across this box with my ornaments. So I then spent the last half hour adding some to the tree. Now I'm wondering if it's overdressed!!!

So yes it's been a good day but maybe too much excitement as I've a headache!!!

Another Set of FACES DYB Rec'd

Okay the "last set" of these FACES DYB RR blocks has arrived and I just had to show them off! They are sooo cute, they had coworkers chuckling, even a few of the guys too!



So now I have to do my magic and create a Sugar Plum Fairy too, at least Leslie made the faces - thank goodness or I'd be for sure lost, so I just have to figure out how to attach it and go to town! See I've been researching these creatures for a couple of weeks and have some idea of what I'll be doing. Just to pull it off!!!

Another FACES Block Finished!

Well I’m very impressed with Nicki’s blocks and especially with what the others have done on their chosen blocks for her too!!! VERY LOVELY!!!



Now I must say I thought and thought about my block ahead of time - had my idea set, then last week had to change it as my initial mermaid idea I knew would take too dang long to do. So hopefully this one works for whatever idea Nicki has for these blocks? But who knew embellishing/beading would take me a week of evenings to do!!!

First I started out with trying Ritva’s BAS #40 (build a seam) in the top right, first with little semi drop pearl buttons – not good; then another bead – not good; and finally settled on these beads. Then I went to my trusted NZ JOs postcard booklet and did the trusted but easy fern in feather stitch down the left side. And I also tried a new one and totally love it in Japanese Button-hole Twist in the bottom right, the pink just pops. Naturally I played with beading on the fronds on the right and also for the ferns on the left. Still I had this gaping hole (guess I’m stepping into the well embellished phase???) top left so I found a shell button and did my own thing for it.





And then I noticed a couple of seams still bare so did some simple open cretan with a chain stitch and a fly stitch to mimic leaves and feel that it is ready now for Nicki’s lovely poly clay face I’d chosen.



So I stayed with my original plan of attaching the face with sequin flowers at the base, a larger green bead to anchor and then strings of gold seed beads across and down to the block through a shell teardrop. Yes I think it is just lovely! I thought of adding a row of beads along her face but was undecided so dropped that idea and declared this baby finished. Guess I just missed the cut off by a couple of days but now it’s onto Leslie and then it’ll be coming HOME!!!



Yep this Faces DYB is only one month away from being complete – well except for the block the owners have to embellish for a 6-pack! YEAH!!! I just can’t wait to see my blocks up close and personal like!!! I know first hand that pictures just don’t do the embellishments any justice.

Cathy's Giveway - Check it out!

Yep Cathy from Crazy by Design has a 6 package giveaway announcement. Check it out!

Now I've decided I'd be happy with these two packages and hope my name is in the draw for them. Thank you so much Cathy - what a generous person you are.

Pkg #2

Pkg #5

I FORGOT!!!

This morning after dropping off the the PJs and quilts made by members of our Aurora Quilters I decided on a spur of the moment stop at the Wolseley Wardrobe and found this precious tote for $4.95 that I think would just look LOVELY with some beadwork on it - WOW!!! Well I'm going to try and figure out how first. It is 7" tall, 8" wide and has a 2" bottom - I'm not sure about the handles, might look into maybe removing them.



Then I also picked up my first copy of Piecework (the Nov/Dec 2009 issue) there too and want to try out a couple of patterns in there - but nothing for tatting inside the store.

So thank you Leona (from Ravenesque) for introducing me to this interesting place (lots of yarn in there) - their jewellry is lovely and just might return there another time for a better look see. I did find some AWESOME large MOP buttons but at $3.95 each it was easy to resist buying. And also I dropped into the Prairie Sky Books and what a mistake as I found two pairs of Abalone earrings in there but will have to wait some time before returning for those - but they were lovely!!! (definitely my weakness)

PHEW!!!!!!!!!

I thought I was exhausted yesterday when after work I did some major fabric purging!!! HA!!!

Well I was up my usual time and out the door by 8:30 for quick zip into work as I forgot something and naturally a question from my Manager (grinning) before on the run doing:

-- 10:00 am drop off a large bag of sewn PJs and nightshits with toothpaste n brushes each and a bag of personal care samples a co-worker gave me
-- home to load up 3 boxes and two large bags of fabric odds n ends for the Mennonite Community charity works
-- 10:30 am drop off a large bag of quilts for kids along with a bag of personal care samples too from a fellow quilter
-- 11:00 am met Anne from Morris and made arrangements to drop off the fabric etc
-- headed off to Nygaards on Notre Dame and found a pair of dress pants at a great price - no t-shirts
-- stopped into Economy Textiles and WOW they had buttons for my towels and some awesome trim for my CQing at a great price too
-- stopped into Michaels and used my 50% off coupon on a package of soup mix beads for a project I have to work on this weekend
-- 1:30 pm headed off to meet Anne's hubby and transferred all my boxes n bags into their car
-- 2:00 pm stopped at Tim's for a quick lunch
-- 2:30 pm stopped at Dollarama for a Happy Birthday hellium balloon n card for Ruth from her fellow Aurora Quilters
-- 2:45 pm dropped in on Ruth and visited for an hour - she's doing good
-- 3:45 pm headed off to EyeWear to have my glasses adjusted
-- 4:00 pm headed for Nygaards on Broadway and there found a lovely dressier t-shirt at a good price
-- 4:30 headed for home to relax!!!

SHEESH I swear it's easier to go to work and crunch numbers all day and deal with a headache than all this running around and being totally worn out!!! NOW I totally understand you Sylvia when you say you need the next day to regroup after running into town the day before!!! It's no wonder when you have to plan your day to get everything you want done as it's an hours drive one way to town for you, so you can't forget and zip back to get it!!! LOL!

I'm Exhausted

It was rough today at work as I was still fighting flu/cold symptoms and dealing with cleaning my desk off so I could have tomorrow off for personal errands.

Then I came home and after supper spent like 3.5 hours sorting and packing up various hand me down and bargain buy fabrics I know I won't be using in my CQing and hopefully tomorrow passing them onto a ladies group for their charitable works. Talk about a big difference once these are gone from my hallway. Now just to tackle the various crafts magazines - hopefully of use to someone through Wpg Freecycle and another area of my hallway will be cleared out.

Also being the gopher for our Aurora Quilters I finally contacted two charitable organizations, made appointments and will drop off a large bag of sewn up PJs/nightshirts for one group and another large bag of quilts for kids to another group. I still have a few more PJ sets but also I have two pairs to finish sewing so hopefully another delivery before Christmas from our group.



Then my new year plan is to tackle all the plant pots and plant stand - hopefully get them cleaned up, photographed and then listed with the Orchid and/or Bonsai Society and maybe find a buyer for these soon too! And have my dining room back! That would be just GREAT!!!

Bead Fest Buys!

Yep I spent more tonight - probably shouldn't have but OH WELL!!! Most of the items were 70% off and the seed beads were half price of the store's prices.

See Soul Expressions Beadery here in Winnipeg closed it's store front doors last month and just as she promised had opened up with periodic sales from her home. Yesterday and today were the FIRST of such sales in the works and if you're interested here is her BLOG and EMAIL. The next one is planned for Wednesday Dec. 9th and Thursday Dec 10th from 2-9pm.

So here is my loot (under $25 for the lot)!!!

Hand Dyed Tatting Yarn!!!

OMGG on the Tatlist there was a post about free tatting patterns on Craft Gossip site and well did I have fun checking it out!!!

Then I came across The Yarnplayer's Tatting Blog - awesome patterns and yarns too! Too bad I'm not into tatted jewellry as she does some AWESOME stuff! I could not resist and had to place an order for the A Leaf Falls thread - hope it comes fast so I can play with some of my new patterns from the Craft Gossip!!!

Ain't it pretty!!!
(from The Yarnplayer's Etsy shop)