Blogoversary and Giveaway

Well, it is one whole year since I started this little blog, not really knowing what to expect. I'd been a lurker for a while and decided I might as well give it a try.

Some of the highlights of the year have been:

*Meeting a lovely group of girls from Tasmania who I now call friends .... I didn't really know many other crafters before .... well not as addicted as we all are! Already looking forward to our next Tassie bloggers get-together.

*Meeting and 'talking' to lovely bloggers all around Australia and overseas.

*Participating in swaps. I received some lovely gifts and had fun making things for my swap partners.

*Finishing far more projects than I would have pre-blog ... blogging is such a great motivator.

*Giving and receiving comments ... it is nice to know other people like your work.

*Winning a few giveaways .... everyone likes to win sometimes.

*Improving my computer skills dramatically and learning to use a digital camera.

*And of course reading and being inspired by all the fantastic blogs in blogland.

Well, now to the part you've all been waiting for! As I love Christmas decorating so much I thought my blogoversary giveaway would have a Christmas flavour. This is what I'm giving away.

A heart from my favourite local shop Spoil Me Gifts and Flowers.

A Christmas sachet.

A fat quarter of Roman Holiday and two skeins of DMC threads.

A stocking made by me. I think they are Robyn Pandolph fabrics.

And a little angel hanging also made by me.

To be in the running, just leave a comment on this post by midnight Monday 5th January. You might like to tell me one of your favourite things about blogging .... but you'll still be in the draw if you choose not to! Good luck and thanks for stopping by.

P.S. Overseas bloggers are welcome to enter ... I am happy to post anywhere in the world.

Pretty Things

This afternoon I popped into the Penguin Market and was lucky enough to find these little beauties. The stall was having a closing down sale so they were a real bargain. My kind of shopping!

Treated myself to the latest Tilda book for Christmas .... it actually arrived in the post on Christmas Eve.

These little pixie dolls are one of my favourite projects.

Thought you might like to see these decorations from my cross-stitch days.

As it says on this one, they were stitched for Christmas 2001.

I can remember being very pleased with them at the time ... always enjoyed stitching on linen ...

... and they still look nice on the tree.

Tomorrow is my blogoversary and the start of my giveaway. It will have a Christmassy flavour! I like to keep my decorations up 'til the end of January so Christmas goes on and on in our house!

SSCS Goodies

As promised, here are some pictures of the other SSCS gifts I received from the very generous Donna. Oliver was as excited as I was and had to get a good close look!

No wonder the parcel was so big ... cookbooks and cute measuring spoons, chocolates in a cute tin, lovely decorations for the tree and some Mary Engelbreit stationary. I feel very spoilt.

I especially love these silver Christmas decorations and the Peppermint Crunch would have to be the yummiest mints I've ever tasted. Thanks again, Donna. Also, thanks to Chookyblue for all your hard work organising this years SSCS.

Here's another shot of Oliver posing on my gorgeous new quilt. That cat sure has style!

I have been doing some blog reading today ... though still plenty to catch up on. Pop back soon for my 1 year blogoversary giveaway.

Merry Christmas

Christmas has arrived in Tasmania ... Santa has been.

I just had to show the glorious quilt that Donna from Quilt Escape made me for Chookyblue's Secret Santa Christmas Swap. This is how it came out of the parcel. I love it already ....

and this is just the backing fabric!

Ta da! Aren't I spoilt and these photos certainly don't do it justice! The colours are much more vibrant in real-life.

For someone who doesn't make/finish a lot of large quilts, it is so exciting to receive this.

And for someone who tends to quilt with straight lines these swirls are the stuff of dreams!

Thank you so much Donna. I absolutely adore your gift. Donna was extremely generous and next post I will show you my other gifts. Enjoy your day.

2 Days to Go

Only 2 days to go now. Is everyone ready for the big day?

Not much to show on the sewing front ... still haven't quilted my angel hanging but here you can see the braided borders made from Roman Holiday fabrics. Rose's patterns are so easy to follow ... I had no trouble with the braids which was something new to me.

This is a little angel decoration I found yesterday at Spoil Me Gifts and Flowers in Burnie. Couldn't resist it!

And here is my wire tree ... this came from the same store last year. It was a bit tricky to photograph ... I had to take it outside and had a bit of trouble with the light!

A couple of close-ups ...

In case, I don't get back before Christmas, I hope everyone has a very happy day. Still trying to catch up on my blog reading ... I was so far behind!

P.S. My blogoversary is coming up right after Christmas and there will be a giveaway.

Christmas Ornaments

Last Tuesday evening, I went out for dinner with the Material Girls for our Christmas breakup. The meal we had at Oz Rock Inn in Ulverstone was superb ... prawn and avocado platter, asian chicken with salad and vegies and raspberry cheesecake. Yum yum!

A highlight was our Christmas ornament swap ... the ornaments had to fit into a small box about 4 in square. This is what I made initially before deciding it was too fat/overstuffed and not quite Christmassy enough!

My second attempt was this little angel hanging .... I was much happier with this one. It was quite hard to part with in the end, although there's another couple on the way now.

I found the design in this book which I've had for years but never made anything from before. Not sure why because it has lots of lovely prim-style projects.

The ornament I received, made by Bev, is below. I was very impressed with the little carol singers .... rather appropriate in light of all the performances my school choirs did this Christmas season.

It is also stitched on the back with this festive greeting. Thanks Bev.

Last week, I got a very nice surprise when the lovely Rose from Threadbare sent me her Guiding Angel pattern. I have wanted to make this ever since Rose first showed it on her blog. Pleased to say I added the borders today and just have the quilting to go.

Now that I'm on holidays I hope to post more regularly ... my sister calls me 'the holiday blogger'! (How rude! Lol) Have caught up on my emails so now just have heaps of blogs to catch up on.

Thrift Shopping

On Friday, Kathy and I visited some thrift and antique shops in Latrobe and Devonport. I found these vintage threads at the Devonport Antique Emporium.

Very cool!

These doilies were $1.00 each at the City Mission shop.

At first glance, it's difficult to tell which side is the front on this one.

The stitching is just as neat on the back.

Although this one doesn't lie flat, I love the stitching and the shades of green.

This would have to be the smallest button hole stitch I've ever seen! Click on the picture for a closer look.

This last one was only 30c.

Not sure that I like the blue, but the centre is rather sweet.

Finally, I found this square frame for a few dollars which will be good for framing a stitchery or quilt block. It's often difficult to find larger square frames, especially at a reasonable price, so I had to have it. (The block shown is just a print.)

Kathy got some good stuff too that I'm sure she will blog about soon.

Next time, we're going to head to the other end of the coast to see what we can find in Wynyard and Burnie.