What's been occupying my time of late (Warning, contains a photo of some of my fabric!)

This is our new house, prior to us moving in...the windows now have curtains up at them....and the window on the left in this pic has some of the suncatchers I've made hanging on the left side of that window. I just noticed how funny our T.V. antennae looks in this pic....it looks huge, but it's not, so it just must be the angle of the dangle or the way I was holding my tongue when I took the pic! Moving here has been rather hectic, as we did it all ourselves, with the help of a few good friends. It's taken a few weeks to get the place to the stage we're at, but I'm really HAPPY to announce that I'm now back sewing....YAY.

This photo has been uploaded in the wrong order, as the description for it kind of merges with the one after the next photo....so scroll down a bit more to read where it is....but suffice to say, this is about half of the vine!

Between our front garden & the neighbour around the corners' back garden there is a huge passion fruit vine & we have been blessed with heaps of fruit on our side of the fence! But not only is it full of fruit, it has some really pretty flowers on it, which I managed to capture.

See the passion fruits peaking through the leaves? NOM NOM NOM!

OMG, fabric, fabric everywhere....I'm sure it multiplys when your back is turned....mind you, that could be a money saving thing if it did......I'm going to try and use alot of this fabric up this year.....am going to be trying to make a few quilts with it.....and I've talked one of my friends into letting me use her quilting frame and she'll show me how to quilt them.....not sure how good I'll be at it....but one can only but try hey?

Thought I'd better put another pic up of more of my fabric.....Yes yes, I know, I really need to use some up don't I? I plan on it, don't you worry.

A good friend of ours potted a couple of roses for us, and this one is doing way better than the other one...this one even flowered...I'm glad I took a pic of it, coz all the heat we had before the rain made sure it didn't last long. It smelt lovely....I tried to get everyone to have a sniff of it....guess I shouldn't have as only me and Raelene had the pleasure of smelling how nice it was. I can't wait for more flowers on it now.....I'm not sure, but I think it might be called Little Joey or something like that....will have to ask Mr Handsome (who was an absolute legend when he helped us move house just before Christmas) the next time I see or speak to him.

Just a small amount of my fabric collection.....I still haven't decided how I'm going to be sorting it, so at the moment it's just all on shelves, spread out between two rooms, but hey, it's nearly all out....so my fabric addiction isn't so bad is it? Oh ok, you win, hi everyone, I'm Naomi, and I'm addicted to fabric.....and it shows, doesn't it? lmao I've actually had to put shelving up in another room to accomodate my large collection.....some of which is in the photos above! I think there's still some in yet another room....not game enough to go searching though...not now I'm back sewing...maybe if I hurry up and use what's in the craft room, I can go on a search mission and see if there's more to replace it.

This is Scruffy at the new house.....he had a bit of female company that day.....but she's a bit camera shy, and asked that she wasn't put on my blog for everyone to see! Don't ya just love my left arm shadow in the right hand side of the photo? lol Scruffy handled the drive up here alot better than I thought he would....I thought I was going to have to fork out for Doggy Valium for him, but it all turned out well, and apart from learning how to bark off the neighbours yappers, he's settled in quite well...even comes out in the front yard with us, and touch wood, he hasn't run off yet....which reminds me, I need to go to the council to get him registered.

I haven't taken a photo of our cat, Blackie at the new house yet...but he has a fascination with jumping over the side gate and setting the neighbours yappers off at all hours of the day and night, the little booger head! He too has settled in reasonably well.....we didn't keep him inside for a couple of weeks like you're supposed to (apparently) and he hasn't run off....must know who feeds him and loves him hey?

Raelene took a pic of me yesterday....my first day back at sewing, didn't I look happy to be doing something that I enjoy immensely? And hasn't my hair gotten long? I'm soooo overdue for a cut and colour, but that'll come....all in good time my lovelies!



Just have to hand stitch the binding down on the back, and my first EVER mug rug will be complete. This is my first full project that I've made in the new place.....yesterdays sewing was just scraps to see if my sewing machine handled the move ok or not!

Hmmmm I'd done a signature for my blog and my emails, but for some reason neither are working right now....GRRRRRR I'm also not getting any emails from any of the groups I'm in, so I figure something must be up with the internet...here's hoping this post will publish or y'all will hear me scream and throw a full blown tantrum if it doesn't.

Well it's after midnight and I want to get up early as my friends' brother is bringing back our starter motor for the car early....the dang thing (starter motor) decided to play up on Wednesday, and luckily he lives in the next town over, and is an auto electrician by trade so has hopefully fixed it...not that he found anything wrong....hopefully it's not the solonoid...or else we'll be up for over $200, which is about $200 more than we've got at the moment....too close to moving!

Night night everyone/anyone reading this.

Until my siggy is all fixed up....Hugs Naomi

Signature test

I've just recently signed up at OurCraftForum and whilst I was sticky beaking around in the posts, I found one about signatures, and thought I could use one of those on my blog, and tah-dah, here it is. I even worked out how to put it into my dashboard so it automatically comes up with each new post...woo hoo go me!

If you'd like to make your own signature up, you can do so by clicking here and I suggest using the wizard, by clicking on Start Now! which should be near the top of the homepage. Good Luck and I look forward to all your signatures in the future.

I'd like to say thanks to Vicki of this blog as that's who gave such great instructions in the forum for us to get our signatures happening. Now all I have to do is find the post in there about putting their button on your blog and I'll be a happy little camper.

Happy New Year and I've added a page

I want to wish all my readers/followers a safe, happy and prosperous year in 2011. Just before Christmas last year, I moved about 213km's away to a place called Berri, South Australia. It's been very hot here the last few days, with NYE being stifling....was 110'f in the kitchen...and no cooking was done! The only other downside so far (apart from me not knowing where the fabric shops are) is the Mosquitoes...they're having a good attempt at eating me alive! I am having some kind of allergic reaction to them, but nothing is gonna convince me to pack up and move back to Adelaide...hee hee hee

Some of you may have noticed, some may not, but I've added another page to my blog....GIVEAWAYS....I thought it would make it easier for finding them...rather than having to scroll though piles of long winded messages of my rambling! Good luck if you go enter any of them....there's one in there already!

Hugs
Naomi

P.S. I've done a couple of sightseeing trips, and when I've edited the pics, I'll pop some up for you to see.

O lookie here.....a giveaway on my first full day back on the net!

Hi honey's I'm home! And a new home at that.....I've just (along with the help of some lovely friends.....Raelene, Grant, Yvonne & Phoebie) packed up all my fabric into several (and boy, do I mean several...lol) plastic tubs, hired a truck, and moved about a 2 hour drive from where I used to live. The internet just got hooked back up today, and look at me having a break from settling in to find y'all a great giveaway....who could resist all that yummy fabric...thanks Retro Mummy for giving me the chance to win it. If you too would like the chance to win it, head on over (by clicking on the photo above....let's see if we can push the comments to over the 600 mark before it's drawn...which is taking place on New Years Eve....don't stress though, there's two names/numbers being drawn....hopefully they'll be you and me! Good luck

Hugs
Naomi

Holly Holly Blog Bingo

 

CLICK HERE to go read about the Holly Jolly Blog Bingo

Just thought I'd spread the word about this, for anyone still reading my blog!  Deadline to enter is Midnight tomorrow, sorry about the rush notice, but I do post about anything I find within time!  Click the above link to head on over and read about how to enter.

Also....whilst I have your attention, I've been a bit quiet with posts lately, because a few weeks ago, I discovered that we're moving house.....it's to a nice 5 bedroomed house about a 2 - 2 & 1/2 hour drive away....but if you could see how much 'crap' I've accumulated over the years, you'd know why I haven't been blogging much.  I still have alot left to pack, but some rooms are now done and I can't wait to get unpacked at the other end and start sewing again, I'm already having withdrawal symptoms!

If I don't manage to get packed & unpacked, and the internet sorted out in time, I want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and an even happier new year for 2011 and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Hugs
Naomi

Accuquilts Black Friday Sale

Click Here to go to the Accuquilt Sale

AccuQuilt’s Black Friday Sale – Lowest Prices Ever!

AccuQuilt is giving its blogger friends a sneak peek of their upcoming Black Friday sale!  As you all know, Black Friday has become a great shopping tradition among Americans everywhere.  However, a majority of consumers now prefer to shop online to escape the dangers of stampede and the hassles of long lines at stores.  If you can’t find the items you want, it’s easy to hop from one store website to the next without being disappointed.  Savvy online shoppers know how to get the most out of Black Friday sales by utilizing blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other websites to get the inside track on tremendous sales.

AccuQuilt is offering the lowest prices ever on some of their most popular items plus special Daily Deals you don’t want to miss!  AccuQuilt’s Black Friday sale begins on Wednesday, November 24^th and ends on Cyber Monday, November 29^th!  Don’t miss out – visit accuquilt.com starting Wednesday to place your order!

Just click on the link above (just below the picture) to go visit their sale page.

Hugs Naomi

Talk about skating close to the wind for this deadline....it's today!

http://lavenderridge.blogspot.com/2010/11/go-giveaway.html

I can't believe I almost missed this GO! giveaway.....I think I've just made it in by the skin of my teeth, or butt, whichever tickles your fancy....if you happen to read this today, then you'll still have time to click on the photo above to enter to win a GO! and three dies.  Good Luck

Hugs
Naomi

Not wanting to bore you with another post so soon, but I wanted to share pics!

It was my friend Taz's birthday on 29th October, and her favourite colour is purple....so I based her zippered pouch/wristlet on a tutorial that you can find here. Taz loved it.....and she very kindly supplied me with the photos to share with you all....seens as though I forgot to take pics of it (ssssh don't tell Marilyn though, as I tell her off for not taking pics).

I have been making other things....some owls, some more hexagon keyrings and a patchwork coin purse....but haven't taken pics yet....will do that early this coming week though.

Hugs
Naomi

Fixing Vliesofix back to it's backing paper.

Have you ever wanted to do some applique, and when you went to use your Vliesofix...it had separated from the backing paper? I've been reading some blogs/forums this morning, and found a method to fix it back on! WOO HOO paaaaar-tay!

To read for yourself how to do it, click here.

Once I've used up the vliesofix I have here, I'm going to be getting some of the more expensive one, of which there appears to be 2 brands of, which doesn't come off the backing paper....so I'm told!

Hugs
Naomi

Today would've been....

my Mums' 87th birthday. I miss her more and more each day, sometimes more than once a day. Everytime I make something, I wish she was still alive so I could ring her and brag about it....she was probably my biggest fan!

Hopefully, she, my Dad and all my other relatives are having a HUGE party for her....coz she did love parties.

I love you Mum
Hugs
Naomi

Input.....need input....please!

Hi guys and gals (if you're about my age from England, you'd remember that from tv!),

I'm hoping you'll be able to give me some help.....I'm wanting to know, what you think I should make as 'new' stock for the craft markets? Preferably nothing too fiddly and time consuming, but eye catching is good!

Is there a tutorial you've seen somewhere and thought you'd buy one (if you couldn't be bothered making it yourself that is, or don't have the time to!)....please share the link with me.

For those in the U.S. that may or may not have attended the recent market in Houston....what are the new trends in fabrics.....ie are owls still playing an important role (as they should *winks*) in designs.....are dots and stripes in or out? You get the picture....just want to try and get in ahead of trends falling down to Australia...lol What colours were on the agenda too?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.....and I look forward to hearing from you.

Hugs
Naomi

Who loves Strawberries????

No, not the edible kind, although they are yummy, but I digress...as usual....Inspired quilter is hosting a giveaway of some yummy strawberry fabric, or some pear fabric....how healthy is that? lol Entries close on November 2nd so don't delay heading on over by clicking on the photo above.

Hugs
Naomi

P.S. You still have a day or so to enter, as I just went across to congratulate the winner, and noticed the date now says November 6th!

Awwwww I'm never gonna get there

Sorry but this post won't have any pics, it's mainly just a sook post, and I didn't think a pic of me crying would look interesting anyway....lol

Why am I crying? A while ago, I read on someone's blog (sorry, can't remember whose blog though) that if she got 100 followers, she could sign up with Accuquilts Blog friends programme, and maybe get to host a GO! giveaway.....and win one of her own. So of course, I went and emailed Accuquilt to ask them about whether I, living in Australia, would be eligible as I had 175 followers.

I finally got an email back from them.....and the proverbial carrot has been moved, you now need 300+ followers....so my reason for crying is because once I get to (if I ever get there) 300, they'll have raised the carrot up to 500, and so on.

I think I've come to the conclusion that I'll never own one....so that's my excuse for not making another quilt yet....it's disappointment....at having to cut out manually with the spoils of a rotary cutter, still, I suppose that's still better than before rotary cutters were invented hey? lol

On a much, much brighter note though, my friend Melissa in Ohio won an Accuquilt GO! in Gene Black's giveaway....WTG Melissa. When I read that she'd won, I did a happy dance for her...it was almost as exciting as if I'd won a GO! myself.

Hugs from a grizzleguts
Naomi

P.S. After having my grizzle earlier, my bloggy friend Barb, very kindly gave me a head up about Micki's GO! giveaway....so I've been and entered...and if you'd like to win a GO! then head on off over to enter, by clicking here. Thanks for giving me the nod in Micki's direction Barb, and we'll talk turkey about the other thing in a few days hun.

Aren't these cutie pies?

Above is the Little Wallet all closed up.

A short while ago, Vicki won the "Hot Potato" pattern that is doing the rounds. The condition of winning it, is that you get it for a month, then you have to host a giveaway on your blog for the pattern. Well I missed out, and didn't want to chance stalking the pattern to not win it, so I broke down and bought the pattern...lol. I love this pattern, they're so easy to make.


Above shows the Little Wallet, opened up....gotta love the blatant show of self promotion, by putting one of my business cards inside hey? lol

Have made more, but haven't taken pics of those yet.....this one has already gone to it's new home...a dental student, Justine M, at the Adelaide Dental Hospital, to say thank you for all the gentleness she's displayed when working on Raelenes' teeth 'n' gums.

If you'd like a chance to win the "hot potato", then any day now, at least I think it's any day now, Joy will be hosting her own giveaway...so click here to go stalk her blog. Good luck

Hugs
Naomi

GO! giveaways happening at Alderwood Quilts & Badland Quilts blogs plus a fabric giveaway at Joystudios' blog

Hurry, and I mean you only have another day or so to enter....so rush rush rush on over, by clicking the photo above to enter to win some great fabric. Ends 13th October 2010. Good Luck.


Karen over at Badlands Quilts blog, is having a GO! giveaway....woo hoo, another chance for us to win one of these babies....click on the photo above to GO! directly to her giveaway post....BUT, don't forget to come back and enter the GO! giveaway at Alderwood Quilts. Karens' GO! giveaway ends on October 13th so hurry on over and get your entry in.

Sue over at Alderwood Quilts is hosting a GO! giveaway, and it's open until Nov 1st. Click on the above pic to go and enter your name in for this fantastic opportunity....and if you win, and by some crazy stroke of insanity, you find you don't end up wanting this nifty cutter....please feel free to send it to me! Sues' GO! giveaway is open to international entries....YAY. Good luck if you enter the GO! giveaway.

Hugs
Naomi

Want the chance to win a Bliss Layer Cake?

As part of the Fall Into Fall blog hop giveaway, click on the link above to go enter Crazy Quilt Girls' Blissful (!) giveaway....make sure to tell her you saw it here first. Then once you've entered her giveaway, click on the scarecrow in her sidebar, and go enter all the other blog giveaways that are part of the blog hop. Good luck

Hugs
Naomi

Hi honeys', I'm home.....with news of another GO! giveaway!

I had a wonderful time at the retreat. We ate, we talked, we laughed and we even managed to find some time to do some crafting too! What more could a gal want? An Accuquilt Go! would be on my list, that's for sure! And as luck would have it, I just found out about a Go! giveaway that I think I am eligible for.

Millie's Quilting has a giveaway on her blog for a GO! and 3 dies.....whoop whoop.....which 3 would you pick? I have decided on the 2 & 1/2 " strip, the 5" square, and I used to want the Dresden plate die, but think I'll have a change of heart this time, and see if greediness (for an expensive die) is what's prevented the giveaway fairies from taking pity on me thus far! So my third choice is the GO! circle.

Click on the above pic to head on over to Millie's blog and enter the comp for yourself.....I know that whilst I'd be jealous and GO! as green as the GO! with envy if you won, I'd be cheering at the same time, that one of my lovely readers won it. You have until October 2nd to enter.....so good luck, I'm back off over to her blog now, to complete my entries!

Hugs
Naomi

P.S. For those who are able to pick up on sarcasm in it's written form, that comment above about this GO! giveaway being one I'm eligible for, is because I'd been madly entering the GO! giveaway in Accuquilt's Friday Fun, only to find that I'm not eligible to win, as I'm not a legal U.S. Resident......SO, to win my GO! I'm making sure I keep an eye out for blog giveaways, as I believe they are open worldwide.....fingers crossed or I'll be upset again!

I'll be AWOL for almost a week!

Why? I hear you say...well that's because it's my annual retreat with Khristina and some of the other gals from her Yahoo Craft group. We'll try not to have TOO much fun, but I'll have lots of pics when I come back.

Until then, stay safe and sew lots.

Hugs
Naomi

And the winner is.........

Obviously the excitement of it being a "mystery" giveaway prize put alot of people off, but I'm sure that the winner will enjoy what I send her....yes, I'm still keeping it a mystery right up until the time that I know it's arrived at it's destination.

Oh, what's that I hear you say? Was it stop waffling Naomi and tell us who won? I thought so, and here I was thinking y'all might be patient with me...just in case you were the winner.

Ok, the winner was between commenter Number 1 and commenter Number 22..hee hee hee. Alrighty, I'll tell you now......I used the trusty random number generator over at random.org and here's a screen capture of whose number the generator drew out the hat for me...well actually not for me, for all you lovely people who entered my giveaway.
Now, if you care to look below, you would see that Kaye only entered an hour or so before I closed off the comments....talk about sailing close to the wind hey? Just goes to show, that sometimes first and last past the post do get called out!

So, as I'm in a generous mood, I drew 4 more numbers out of the hat, and they were 1, 21, 15 & 4......the four of you will be getting a wee package in the mail also. Congratulations to you all, I wish I could afford to mail out gifts to you all, maybe next time I'll put more prizes into the mix, or make it a bumper prize.....who knows, check back from time to time, and you may just catch hold of my next giveaway.

I've now emailed everyone to let them know they've won something.....so now I can publish this and go to bed....lol

Hugs
Naomi

Folded Hexagon Video Tute

If you've been reading my blog lately, you would have seen the hexagon keyring I made, well I now have VERY blurry eyes this morning after sitting up late, scouting You Tube to see if I could find a video that someone had already done on how to make the origami hexagons.....and YAY, I found one. Although it's not in English, it's an easy to follow video. I'll take pics of what to do once you have 2 of them made to turn them into keyrings, although once you've got them made, it's fairly easy to see how I made mine....lol

Also, for those who were waiting for me to do my 'own' video, I cheated...lol

Please feel free to send me links to your blog if you make any of these.

Also, don't forget, today is your last chance to sign up for my giveaway....not many people have entered, so the odds of one of you winning, are pretty good! Click here to enter, if the comments are closed off, then sorry, you missed out. I'll have another giveaway soon, but for now, good luck to anyone who's entered.

Hugs
Naomi

P.S. Apologies for no warning about the dog barking in the background of the video...lol I didn't actually have my speakers on at the time I viewed it....lol It was only thanks to Aunty Sharon pointing it out and me watching the video again with my speakers on, that I realise how annoying the little yapper is...lol So, sorry about that, but if it's too annoying, and you don't speak Spanish/Portuguese anyway....just watch it with no sound...Big Hugs Naomi

A few things I've made in the last couple of days

A friend of mine....Sandy, mentioned at Marion Markets once, that she wanted her friend Lois to make her one of these.....Lois told her where to go (but in a nice way) as they looked like alot of work. The other day, I found a blog that had instructions on it for making them, so on Monday, I made one.....think this one's a little big, especially if Sandy wanted it for a pin cushion....it's approximately the size of a soccer ball..lol Oh well, she's getting it whether it's the right size or not......I've already started a smaller one, but it's also not a Goldilocks one.....the 2nd one is too small, so once I've bought some more stuffing (the 1st one and the tree below have put paid to my stock of stuffing!) and finished the 2nd one off, I'll have a go at one in between the two sizes!

Remember the wee tree I made a few weeks ago? If not, see the post here. It was my entry for a challenge I'm in. Anyway, Raelene decided she'd like to try and make it in a bigger version.....so the above pic is what we came up with.....it's about 23" from tip to the bottom of the container it sits on...which was an old plastic container I'd gotten with flowers in a while ago...and I just made a black fabric (gotta love Homespun) cover and tied gold ribbon around it. We're going to use it on our table Christmas day....incidentally, the fabric we used for the tree is the same as the Tablerunner (backing fabric, that is) that I made here, not that I showed it in the pic of the runner...lol Can you believe that the tree took 500gm of stuffing, which is approx 1 lb of stuffing....alot huh?

I saw a tutorial on a site (I won't name it because the person has been known to 'steal' tutorials and claim them as her own....so if you happen to know where this technique originated from, please tell me, so I can link to that instead of where I saw it) for making folded hexagon flowers, and thought they'd be interesting to make. Once I made one, I decided to make a second one and turn them into a keyring. I made this side of the keyring (above pic), and then ironed it flat....but I'm thinking that wasn't such a wise move...see next pic!

This side I didn't iron it flat, and I think it looks way better, don't you? They're a quick and easy gift to make.

What have y'all been making? I've had a quick look around some of my regular blog haunts, but I'm sure you look and don't comment too, but I'd love to hear what you've been up to.

Hugs
Naomi

Mug pouch giveaway

Rush on over to Susans' Blog as she's having a giveaway for a mug pouch just like those in the pic above.....giveaway ends on September 10th, so don't delay and go enter today! Either click on the photo to go directly to her giveaway, or where I mentioned her blog to go to her homepage. Good luck.

Hugs
Naomi

New BOM starting today

To help celebrate Spring here in Australia, Fiona or Fee as she is known to most, has a wonderful FREE BOM on the first of the month.....this months download is available right now. If you're interested in completing the BOM, she even has a giveaway for one lucky person (will it be you? will it be me? Who knows, but you have to be in it to win it..lol) I'm going to try and make this up as I think it will be a nice gift and something that I have a month to complete a block before the next one comes out....in between ALL my other want to's! Hope you'll come join us.

Hugs
Naomi

Thought I'd try out a Blog Hop just for fun!

I visited Robins blog earlier today, and saw she's having a mini giveaway, to be drawn this Friday (3rd Sept) and I thought it looked like fun, so I had to get in on the act....and tah-dah, I'm in...lol If you go to this post, you can enter my giveaway whilst you're here. Thanks for visiting me, I hope you either leave a comment on this post to let me know you dropped by, or you go enter my giveaway.

Also, please consider becoming part of the blog hop.



Hugs
Naomi

My August Challenge Item

I signed up for Amanda's Christmas in July challenge, and here's my entry for August. I'm pretty happy with it, and it was relatively quick and easy, once I'd decided on what decorations I was putting on the tree! I kinda like working under pressure, as I only started to make my entry for August this afternoon, but managed to finish it with 1 day, 21 hours to go...lol

The decorations are just rose beads and tubular beads, with a hematite star adorning the top.

If you'd like to read a bit more about Amanda's challenge, please click here.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway.....by clicking here first though!

Hugs
Naomi

Celebrating my DGD's 3rd Birthday

Firstly, Happy Birthday Chubba, Nanny & Auntie Raels love you lots. As I missed my 200th post giveaway opportunity.....I thought I'd find a date this month that represented something to me.....and what better date, than the above little darlings' birthday. (Sorry to disappoint anyone, but the above pictured cutie, is not the prize!)

I know a while back I said I'd have a 'just coz I can' giveaway, and have gone back on my word.....but the just coz I can part, is the actual prize....I'm going to make it a mystery prize.....or even prizes, if I have enough people comment, perhaps I'll throw another 'item' in for every 30 comments.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment saying you'd like to be entered....no hoops to jump through, no crocodile infested waters to swim across, just leave a comment, and please, make sure I have a way to contact you in case you win.......I will close the comments off on September 10th and announce the winner on September 11th.

It won't earn you an extra entry, but feel free to promote my giveaway on your blog....remember the more entries, the more prizes I'll be giving away....lol It's entirely up to you if you want to or not though, so don't feel pressured...that's not what this giveaway is about.

Good luck and I look forward to reading all your comments.
Hugs
Naomi

P.S. A big thank you to my friend in Qld, Diana, for sending me the cute pic of TaShie. Didn't she do a great job? You should see the others that she's done....they're soooo cute.

Just made this

I was looking around blogs....well what a surprise that must be to you all hey? lol....and stumbled across a pincushion tutorial here....near the end of the tutorial, I saw coaster mentioned, and thought "I can do that" and VOILA one pizza coaster! I call it that because the segments of the circle, remind me of how a pizza gets cut. What do you think? Should I try and make a matching set? If so, do you think I should follow a colour scheme - 2 or 3 colours.....OR, should I do 6 different colours? Tell me, tell me, tell me...please!

Hugs
Naomi

Day out to the Whispering Wall

Maz (my self adopted sister) came to stay at our place for the weekend, and yesterday I took her for a drive out to see the Whispering Wall as she'd never been there. Raelene couldn't come as she is still feeling pretty lousy with the flu.....I'm still trying, or rather my immune system, is still fighting it...fingers crossed I don't catch it.

The Whispering Wall is in fact the retaining wall of the Barossa Reservoir. Built between 1899 and 1903, the dam was a revolutionary engineering feat for its day and attracted attention from all over the world, even making its way into the pages of the journal Scientific American.

But what draws visitors to the Whispering Wall is its unique acoustic effects: words whispered at one side can be clearly heard at the other, more than 100 metres away. Children in particular love visiting the wall and testing its abilities.

Besides trying out the Whispering Wall, visitors can also learn about the history of the construction of the dam, take in the scenery of the water reserve and enjoy the colours and sounds of the peaceful bush setting. The information in italics is taken from this website

As we headed into Gawler, I noticed a sign at one of the roundabouts, advertising a LIONS club market.....and a slight detour down the next side street, voila, we were at said market (see above pic). It's a nice little market...more plants & Trash 'n' treasure than hand made goodies, but I did manage to score a big bag of poly stuffing that I can use in softies, and a basket I originally bought with the mind of using it on the stall, but Maz liked it so much, I gave it to her. I also bought Maz a sage plant from one of the stall holders.

Maz eating some hot donuts....I've read every page in the diet manual, and apparently if you buy hot donuts and only take photos of others eating them, then yours have no calories.....well I thought it was worth a try...lol I paid for it though....had a plus of 1.4kg on the scales this morning when I got on them, but my weight loss/gain yo-yo saga is a completely different story, and one I won't bore you with. (P.S. Maz will probably kill me for putting this photo on the blog, but I how could I resist...especially when there's no photographic evidence that I ate any? lol)

After our stop at the market, and once we'd eaten our yummy hot donuts, we finally made our way through Gawler, and off to the Whispering Wall.




The above three signs show information about the Whispering Wall and reservoir...unfortunately vandals and/or weather have obscured most of the information, but if you followed to above links, you will have been able to read about this ever so interesting landmark here in South Australia.

Anyone who knows Maz will know that she's just a little bit well known for her love of a bubbly called "Whispers".....how bizarre that of the three information signs, she just 'happened' to pose in front of the one with the word WHISPER on it...lol

This was taken from just near the carpark, to show the actual reservoir that the dam holds back.

This pic shows the view from the carpark end of the dam to the right.

This is a location marker that I was standing near, whilst I waited for Marion or Maz, to walk back around.

You may need to click on the above pic to enlarge it, but in case you don't have time, I told Maz to "wave for the camera" which she did...and you can just make her out waving at me.....bear in mind, that I told her this into the wall and it sounded to her like I was just near her....amazing!

If you look closely, you can just make Maz out as she walks around to the other side of the wall to give the acoustics a test. Hint....she's looking over the railing down the dam wall.

This was as Maz was walking back around to me. Notice I was kind and made her do the walk around the top of the dam??? lol

This was taken as we headed back to the car, to go back to Gawler, where we had a very filling lunch at Cafe Nova.

Had a quick trip to Spotlight on the way home, but alas they didn't have what I was after.....should've gone sooner to get the Minky fabric to make my DGD a pillow buddy that I saw on Elizabeth of twelvecraftstillchristmas blog.....I'll find the link for you so you can see what I wanted to make her.

Ah-ha, you can find part 1 of the tutorial here and part 2 of the tutorial here. Isn't it sooooo cute? So, as disappointed as I was to not have made it there in time to get the fabric to make her one of these, I did however get her some cute to hoot owl flanellete fabric to make her some pj's, some pretty brown pink and purple flowery cord fabric to make her a skirt and some folky owl chrissy fabric to make something for me! I'll edit this post a bit later today to add pics of the fabrics I got.

Hugs
Naomi

HURRY HURRY HURRY...GO! GO! GO!

Jackie, and the fantastic people over at Accuquilt have got together to offer one lucky person the chance to win their own GO! I know I'd love to win it, and I'm sure at least one of you would too. So GO! on over to Jackies' blog to enter. The giveaway ends on August 26th so GO! GO! GO!

GOod luck

Hugs
Naomi

Jaybird quilts is having a sponsored giveaway from/by the FQS

OMG how cool would it be to win the above FQ bundle? I know I would be having a "pure"ly joyous time playing with them all. The giveaway is sponsored by the FAT QUARTER SHOP, but hosted by Jaybird Quilts. You have up to 5 chances of winning....this is my last task to get my 5th entry.....good luck, you have a couple more days to enter, as it closes on Thursday 19th August to enter...hurry though, I'd hate you to miss out, that would just be a PURE shame. Just click on the FQ bundle above to be whisked off to Jaybird quilts to enter.

Hugs
Naomi

Ott Light special offer for Aussie crafters

I'm doing a friend a favour and putting these lights for sale on my blog.....these retail for $130+ and as a special offer, Sandy has agreed to offer them for $65.00 AUD + Postage....or if you're in Adelaide, a pick up/drop off is a possibility. The ones I have here for sale are all grey, however, if you're quick, she may still have a pink and a blue one. If you're interested, please email me to arrange payment/postage.

***Please note, there's only one light left.....hurry so you don't miss out***

Hugs
Naomi

Melissa is hosting a Q.A.T.B swap

Morning peoples, just thought I'd share with you about a swap my DQ (Dag Quad...long story!) pal in USA is hosting. I, yes wittle old me, was the inspiration for the name of the swap, so how could I not go sign up hey? I'm sure it'll be a fun swap....and you get to choose what theme your blocks are. Anyway, I won't prattle on about it here, Melissa explains it very well on her blog, so click here to GO! over and read about it and decide if you too would like to sign up. GO! on, you know you really want to...lol Sign ups are until 22nd August 2010.



As I once read it wasn't good blog-etiquette to have a post without pictures, I popped in the gratuitous cute kitty shot...lol Only to show that I do as I'm told.....some of the time...hee hee hee

Hugs
Naomi

Custom order #1 completed

Above are two Owlie shelf sitters I made for Anita P in NSW.....she saw some others I made when I posted them in Facebook, and wanted one for each of her kiddlies. These will be flying off to their new home during this coming week.

I have another order for two more, one from stock (yay, I don't have to make all of them!) and one custom one.....as many greens as I could use, so I've managed to use 5 different ones, and will post a pic of it in this post a bit later today.....gotta go finish sewing it now!

I also have 2 more orders to do......my daughter rang me yesterday and ordered 10 zippered wallets, two of which she'd like asap, and it just so happened I had two made up that she's having and the other 8 are required soon-ish...hee hee hee.

My other customer, Lizzie, plays golf with Raelene, and she needs a quilt block made up for a friends birthday, so guess who gets to make it???? Yeppers, me. I'll take pics and post it when it's done. Am just waiting for a response as to any changes I need to make to the design and then it'll be stitching station to the ready....lol

Hope y'all are having a great day/night, it's cold, wet and windy here today.....brrrrrrrrrr.

Hugs
Naomi