Giveaway reminder!

Don’t forget that the giveaway I am running to celebrate my birthday last week is still running and it isn’t too late to get your entries in! The link to it is on the side bar here, so get clicking and good luck!!

(The prize is a canvas cushion cover appliqued with your choice of image or word/s – customised just for you!)

Hope you are having a great week!

My birthday – and a giveaway

Yes, after all the fanfare, waiting, building excitement and drama, it is, in fact, my birthday. To be honest I have been a little ho hum about it. My chicks aren’t with me, so the real celebrations will happen when they return, and we all celebrate the middle chick’s birthday on Saturday. (Let’s face it, any hope of big celebrations for my birthdays disappeared about 9 years ago when I gave birth to my beautiful girl two days after my birthday!) However the day has started well – a beautiful sunny day, a surprise breakfast with the MIML (who has been MIA for a while so doubly nice), a parcel of the most gorgeous fabric from my sister (the one with the matching fabric addiction),

beautiful messages from my family all over the world (facebook is a gift on days like this!) and a funny card from Miss N telling me that I am not old!!

That is in part because I have realised that I am now officially middle aged. (Sorry Mum and Dad and my various very young Aunts and Uncles who might read this – – but it doesn’t mean that you aren’t middle aged anymore – it just means that we are all middle aged together now!) In an effort to stave off the depression that that phrase brings with it I have fulfilled my plan to re-join the gym (it was lovely to catch up with the owner which means that I will feel good attending too!), I have planned a lovely night out with a dear friend and I have decided to focus on the good things in my life. The list, I am proud to say, is long. And would probably bore you to tears, while making me teary with emotion. Rather than do that (because that is no kind of celebration is it?) I am going to have a giveaway. I want to thank all the people who have supported me this year as I have started my blog, my shop and my journey towards my dream of running my own business (no matter how small!). I have met some great friends online, and some in person, and have enjoyed the sense of community that I feel around me. My sewing and blogging have kept me going when things around me felt like they were crumbling.

I have decided to go all high-tech and use a rafflecopter giveaway plan (to prove that despite my advancing years I am not yet a dinosaur!) so the link is on the right hand side of this page. It opens today and closes in a week’s time, and you can earn more ‘tickets’ in the raffle by answering more questions. The prize? I decided to make the prize, given that I think that a little bit of my love goes into everything I make, so it means that I am including that love in the prize. (Oh okay – and the fact that I am loving appliqueing cushions might have something to do with it too!!) So the prize is a custom appliqued canvas cushion with the word or image of your choosing on it – and I will post internationally as well as within Australia. So – to celebrate my advancing years, get clicking!!
 

An update on my ‘to-do’ list I hear you ask? (Perhaps!) Yesterday was huge – I joined the gym, AND did a workout. I cleaned out the car, unpacked and repacked the camping trailer, made two of the gifts for the middle chick (and one involved using the drill and the saw!!) (the mystery shrouding my efforts is because the cheeky chicks sometimes read the blog while they are away!), vacuumed the house, walked the dog, did some weeding, made a present for my sister and mailed it, and re-photographed a couple of items in better light. Phew!

Today in honour of my birthday I might go a little lighter on the heavy lifting and focus on some toy sorting as my treat (oh yeah, I am partying hard!). Or I might lie in the hammock. With a gin and tonic. The options are endless!  I hope that you are having a wonderful day wherever you are!

A productive weekend – and a facebook giveaway!

Winter has arrived early here in Canberra – the dog’ water bowl, and the chicken’s water dispenser were both frozen this morning for the first time this year. Of course this didn’t stop the children running around the yard in short sleeved shirts and pants. Each time they got cold they would each have a complete change of wardrobe, then return to playing, get hot, and have another new outfit. My washing basket is overflowing!

We have had a lovely quiet weekend. Having finally returned to full strength after my head cold, we have restocked the pantry, cleaned out some cupboards, folded the ever present large pile of clean laundry, had some lovely visitors, attended the children’s sporting fixtures, and I have, finally (it feels like) managed to sew!!

I have finished three custom orders this weekend. The first for a lady who breeds and shows Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (and my first truly new customer – we don’t have a previous direct relationship of any sort.) She requested a bag and an ipad cover.

The second order was for a Dr Who hot water bottle cover. I actually made one last week – but it was about a centimetre (roughly half an inch) too small all round. This week I took a different approach and used polar fleece as the inner lining, as it works so well as insulation. It is still not perfect – but is much better – and has a hot water bottle in it, so I know that it fits! My lesson from all of this? Next time use calico for a mock up before cutting into good Spoonflower fabric!

The final order was for two art folders. I took a box with my current (quite small) stash of ready made items to my office last week for one of my team to look at as he wanted a bag for his mother. I didn’t want to make too big a deal of it, as I don’t want my team to feel obliged to ooh and aah over what is essentially my hobby, nor to feel obliged to buy anything. But one of the guys saw the art folders and decided that his daughter, who is turning 8 next weekend, would love one as she is a budding artist. Then he decided that his younger daughter needs one to avoid fights, so I made two! I even went back to making the pencil pockets pleated – although it is quite fiddly they really do work better…..

As I was updating my facebook page tonight I realised that I have hit 100 ‘likes’. So I am having my first giveaway through facebook. If you ‘like’ my page and comment on the relevant post, you will be in the draw to win this art folder.  I need to thank everyone for supporting me in my crafty adventure this year!

    

I hope that you had a great weekend!