Happy Birthday to me and to you too!

Purple baloons.....check

Purple, owly birthday cake.....check

I didn't have this on my list for today, but I couldn't resist sharing it anyway lol  It just about sums it up how I feel about my age....they're only numbers really....I doubt I'll ever act my age anyway, so maybe I should stop counting....until my 50th that is....I hope to have a party for that.

I guess you must be wondering if I'm going to leave enough space for the giveaway....well here it is now, in all it's glory.  (I've set this to publish at 2.30am, because I was born at 2.20am, and I figure that by 2.30am, 45 years ago, the cord would've been but and my darling Mum (RIP Jannyman) was probably running around the hospital darning peoples socks or making cups of tea lol....so in honour of the time of my birth, I set it to publish around the same time!)  Please note, that as I was still hand sewing the binding down on the tablerunner at 2.30am, then I had to take pics of the giveaway goodies, I had to postpone the uploading of this post until 3am.

How would you like to win one of the following presents?  There's 3 to choose from

Gift 1 An owl tablerunner

Gift 2 An owl pincushion

Gift 3 An owl key ring/bag tag

(All three gifts were made by me.)

• I'm trying to keep this as simple as I can....all you need to do, is leave a comment saying which of the gifts you'd be happy to receive.  If you don't mind which, then feel free to say so, and you'll get a surprise.

• Please make sure I have a way to contact you if you're one of the 3 lucky winners

• This is not a condition of entry to the giveaway, but if you'd like to share it on your blog, or Facebook wall, then please do so.

I'll draw the winners on Friday, March 1st using random.org.  Good luck

Edit: Forgot to mention, this giveaway is open worldwide!

I got another early present today

As some of you may already know, Sharina and Wayne, my next door neighbours often pop over for coffee, and when Wayne, or Mr B as I usually call him, is away at work, Sharina aka Polly, quite often comes over and we either do sewing or watch 'our' shows together.  As Mr B is heading back up to work (he works at Roxby Downs at the mines on a 12 on 6 off roster) tomorrow, they called in today for a coffee...and BONUS, they came bearing gifts.....donuts....YUMMMM and a Hooty bag of pressies.

Check it all out....so much Hooty stuff hey?  Apologies for sounding corny, but I'll 'owlways' love my goodies....so thank you Mr & Mrs B....love ya's xxx

While they were here, I didn't notice that it's a singing owl (in the green box), I don't know what would've given it away....probably the big white words that say "SINGING OWL", but I didn't notice them....I was too excited....and I thought the batteries were to make the eyes light up (which they do incidentally), so I didn't actually set it up until after they went home.  I did ring them, so they could hear it hoot hooting.  It's a sensor owl and will alert me when people sneek in our front door....if I set it up near there!

Now a close up of the purple ceramic owl, which is actually a hook....it's just perfect...and owl, and in my favourite colour too.

You can't quite make it out in the group shot above, but there's also one of those nylon fold up shopping bags, and you guessed it, it's got "OWLS" all over it....so here's a closer up pic of it.  It's now hanging from my handbag strap!

Thank you again my lovely neighbours.  I'm scoring big time for my birthday this year aren't I?  And it's not even here yet....I doubt I'll get many more pressies, but I'm already spoilt rotten with what I've received so far.

Giveaway happening soon

Yep, it's that time of year again, where I age by 12 months over night lol  On Friday 22nd February, I'll be turning 45, so, like most people, I thought what's a birthday, without a giveaway......so pop back on Friday to see what you can win, just to help me celebrate my special day.

I will just hint and say it'll be something 'Owlie'!

Valentines Tablerunner Swap gift received

Just recently on Facebook, I hosted a Valentines Tablerunner swap, and this is my runner, that I received all the way from USA, from Brooke Gross.  It sure brightens up the kitchen.  Thanks for being my partner Brooke.

I posted a sneak peek at the back of the tablerunner I sent last week, and now I'll show you a pic of the front of it.

Ya gotta love D9P as it's easy to achieve an interesting look, with minimal piecing effort!

Happy Valentines Day

Just wishing you all a Happy Valentines Day.

I hope you have a wonderful day and for those with partners, make sure to tell them you love them, and those who are single....I love ya!

Recently in Facebook, I hosted a swap for a Valentines Tablerunner...and here's a sneak peek at part of the back of the one I've sent to "a recipient" lol

I haven't received mine yet, but will pop a pic up as soon as it arrives.

I do have some show 'n' tell for you....in Vicki T's Craft Forum (link in my side bar) there was a table runner swap, and I participated.  Here's a pic of what I sent to my partner (Lyn-B)

Now, I hope you don't all get jealous (especially any fellow purple people eater fans!) as here's the yummy runner she sent me.

 Isn't it stunning?  I love it, thanks heaps Lyn-B.

OMG OMG OMG!

I got home from quilting today and there was a package awaiting my homecoming......check out the contents.....

I was allowed to open it up early....phew....I think the suspense would've killed me having to wait until next week to open it.  I have kept the cards to open on my birthday....See I can be good at times!

Here's a close up of the major part of the present......

A couple of weeks ago, I caught up with my daughter, and I mentioned to her that if she was thinking of getting me something for my birthday....could she get me a Big W (Similar to Walmart) gift card, so I could put it towards a Galaxy Tab2......well, she went one better, and bought me my 'touch screen' lol

Am I a spoilt tart or what Chris (Diet Coke Rocks)? lol

Hayley (DD) is a very sneaky girl....and was planning it since I mentioned it to her.....and then when she went out shopping for it, they also got me a flash leather 'cinema' case for it and some touch screen protectors...you know, for when you have kids around....she figured that as it was for me, I'd need them....I would be upset, but when you're so excited, it's hard to get upset!

Thank you Hayley, Nic and TaShie, I love my pressie, and now Nanny will be able to walk around and Skype with her gorgeous grand daughter.

I know I've been absent for a while, but I'm planning on being a more regular poster again....and have some craft stuff planned for you soon, such as tutorials that I owe some of you and other show and tell.
 

Till next time, keep smiling

Craft Forum Advent Swap 2012

Well I didn't mean to quite leave it so long between posts...but here I am, here you are and it's now been almost a month since I last bored you to tears!

Some how, somewhere, I've managed to lose the following things, if you see them, please kick their butts and send them back to me please:

1. My get up and go....got up and went a few weeks ago, and hasn't come home since
2. About 3 or 4 weeks of sewing time...few reasons this occurred, but now am soooo far behind it's just not funny
3. My elusive lottery win....29th December is a good return date (Our next big lottery in Australia....would be so nice to win even a share, not greedy enough to want it all.....although...hmmmmm, no Naomi, greed is not good)

Thanks to anyone able to help me with any of the above......muchly appreciated if you can help me!

Moving along, I signed up for an Advent swap this year, my first one, so hopefully my swap partner isn't too disappointed with what I sent her....and I'll have to wait for a pic from her, because I sent mine late, and she had to play catch up yesterday of opening up the first 5 days....and as I wasn't feeling very well yesterday...I didn't actually start opening mine till today.  So, here's what was inside the Express Post bag she sent to me.

Now my dear Mum always used to tell me that if I guessed what one of my presents was, I wasn't allowed to have it....but with #25 from Kaz....all I'll say is, I believe we both had the same idea for that gift, just I had to re-think mine almost at the last minute, so didn't do one!  You'll have to wait for Christmas Day to find out what it was though as I'm a good girl (hey, don't knock it, or mock me, I'm usually evil!)

So, today I got to open not one, not two, but 6 packages....oh what fun I had trying to pace myself so I could stop and take pics of each one before unwrapping the next lol

Day 1. Coffee mug and an assortment of tea bags....yummmm

Day 2. A packet of Dark Choccy Tim Tams...oh oh, she said everything edible was healthy and good for me....although the Tim Tams are Dark Chocolate ones, but I think the healthy part is only if you eat one....who eats just one Tim Tam? lol

Day 3.  Reel of red ribbon

Day 4. A Cute Rabbit phone charm, bag dangle, nawww, it's soooo cute hey?

Day 5. Some trimmings and some Hersheys Kisses....is it sad that I never tried these when I went to USA, yet I knew what they were, straight away, without reading the little tags on them? lol

Day 6.  The last one I could legally open today.....A great Cross Stitch Book...there's heaps and heaps in here to stitch!

Thank you so much thus far Kaz., hope you like your gifts.

Come back tomorrow to see what Day 7 is.

Dear Santa...a Craft Fair outcome!

Dear Santa,

Yesterday I went to the Adelaide Craft Fair and fell in love, and was wondering if you could help me out?  It'll only cost about $25,000 all up, but think of how much fun I could have lol

Yes people, I saw and fell in love with this little baby.....it's a LA Quilting machine (Long Arm) and even though I'd need another room on the house, that's just a small detail right??? lol

It's approx $14,000 for the machine and the quilting frame, and another $12,500 for the computerised bit (sorry, can't remember the technical term for it!) but with the add on computer, it becomes automated and you can load it up and it'll quilt whilst you start sewing the next quilt top...how cool is that?  I think it's just what a girl could want....so if anyone has a lazy $50,000 lying around the place and want it put to good use, please email me lol

Now, for what purchases found their way into my bag yesterday.  I shopped around and bought a few things here, and a few things there....handing out Aussie Hero Quilts business cards as I went.

A nice selection of fat quarters, some destined to become parts of Aussie Hero Quilts, some are for quilts I hope to sell and some are going to become Owl Softies.  I got some great Nurse themed fabric by Loralie Designs from this seller.  All their FQ's are $3.50 each and they had a fantastic array to choose from....and I thought to ask if they were show special prices or if they're the same price in store...and guess what peoples, that's the regular price....all their bolted fabrics are $14 a metre, and I think she said they had over 2,000 bolts to choose from...Quilters Nirvana huh?  They are situated on Canterbury Road, Bayswater VIC so if you're passing by, I recommend you drop in and have a look....feel free to buy me pressies lol

You didn't think I'd just bought fabric did you?  Ha ha, tricked you, I got other 'stuff' as well, some retractable tape measures, some tape measure ribbon, a 28mm rotary cutter with 3 blades, and some nifty little embroidery (very sharp and pointed) scissors...in purple of course (1 pair is mine!), which you can see below

But wait, there's more, I also got 3 patterns.  Gotta love the Owl Parliament one hey?

I had to take a 2nd pic of this one, not just because it's owly, but because you couldn't see it because of flash glare in the top pic.....how cool, and it's by an Aussie Designer from over on Kangaroo Island....cool huh?  I've got to get me a roll or a few packages of Applique stuff (vliesofix or similar) and I want to make one of these.....maybe not in those colours, but you'll have to wait and see what colours I decide on.

My feet and back are still sore today, but I thoroughly enjoyed my day out, but might wait a couple of years before attending again (gotta use up some of what I've got, to make room for more right?).  Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

Sue's block from my tutorial

A few weeks ago, I popped up a tutorial for a Gothic Weathervane Block, and one of my bloggy friends, Sue Niven, successfully attempted it....and here's her block, didn't she do a great job????

Thanks for sending me a pic of your block Sue, sorry it took so long for me to pop it up on my blog (better late than never right?)  If you'd like to try the block out, you can click HERE or where the name of it is underlined above.

Sue does lots and lots of charity work, both knitting and sewing, and even obtains fabric and cuts it up and mails it off to quilters all over Australia.  A little birdie has even let me know that Sue is going to be showcased on Aussie Hero Quilts blog tonight, so be sure to go read more about Sue there, and maybe also take a look at what Aussie Hero Quilts & Laundry bags do, if you haven't already....like my block of the month for instance (gotta love the subliminal plug for my BOM huh? lol)

I've just linked up...will you be next?

I've just linked one of my recent posts up over at Designed by Dawn Nicole, will you be next to link up???

Leave me a comment if you link up too, so I know to go check yours out.

Belated Happy Halloween Humour

I know this is late, but I only just saw it on someone elses' blog and had to share it on my blog as it's so funny.  Pretty amazing cartoonist for back then hey?  Alot more skill than the computerised ones, as this would have been done with hours, and hours of drawing...blows me away...much like the owl at the beginning...hoot hoot

Word Verification

I don't know about you, but I get mighty annoyed with the latest format of word verification on some blogs.....mainly Blogger ones.....I mean, how 'freaking' hard is leaving a comment supposed to be?

I'm thinking I'm not the only one, as I found the button I have over on the right sidebar (up the top) and had to share it.  If you want to read more about it, click on the button below and it will take you to the post by Lucy @ Charm About You and you can also grab your own button to put on your blog AFTER you've made sure word verification is off.

Latest quilt for an Aussie Hero

I made a few of these JRR quilt tops a wee while ago, and wanted to get some made up into quilts, so tah-dah, here's #1.  I decided to make another quilt top for the backing, to make the quilt reversible....to give the recipient a different look for his/her bunk.

This is the label, which makes up part of the D9P side of the quilt.

Here's the JRR side of the quilt.

Here's the D9P side....so both sides are quite bright and scrappy looking.....next time I'll make an extra couple of rows on the D9P so there's not so much 'black border' space happening....and maybe even adjust the size so no borders are required at all....what's the verdict????

How exciting, I've never linked any of my posts up (at least I don't remember doing it, apart for FNSI but that's a bit different) but I've linked this one up here.....TGIFF (Thank God It's Finished Friday)  I'm sure you've got a few minutes to spare, so take a couple of them and check out what everyone else has finished this week.