a peek at The Craftroom

Come along I'll show you where I work .

Firstly block your nose .

Now pop on your gumboots .

I'm sure you want a closer look at under my desk .

Had enough ?

So have I !

Don't forget my giveaway in the post below

before that gets rained away too .

300 posts! Do you think Oprah would like to interview me ?

Who would have thought I would have so much to say ,

thanks for putting up with me !

300 posts is a good enough reason for a giveaway

but this one is a little different as I am

going to ask you to do a few things .

Visit my shop and choose your favourite pattern .

Come back here and tell me which one it is .

Also tell me what you would like to

 see in my shop next .

After all that effort , phew , I'll give a few prizes .

One lucky winner will receive a copy of Sew a Metre .

Another will win a metre of fabric in 4 fat quarters .

Another will win a pattern of their choice from my shop .

That really isn't so hard is it ?

Open to all , good luck !

I'll draw the winners on Wednesday night

Australian time .

P.S. Thankyou for all your kind wishes 

when I was crook , I'm much better now . 

This giveaway is now closed .

Thankyou for your interest .

Another giveaway next year !

crook

Yep that's me ,  crook !

Absolutely nothing going on here .

I've had that 24 hour bug for,

mmm let me see ,

72 HOURS!!

Just like me to get a bit carried away .

The housework and cooking and running

around for kids hasn't stopped but

the crafting has .

Really , really bad time of the year to slack off .

I took my first day off work in 9 months and

you'd have thought I murdered someone

the way they carried on .

I have stuff to show you ,

giveaways to organise and crafting

to be done .

For now I'll just enjoy the cricket .

My Creative Space

My creative space smells very pretty this week .

I very rarely get to any markets but when I do

I try and support local makers and so I buy

handmade soap .

I put the soap away and throughout the year

I crochet some facewashers and

then package them together for

just in case gifts .

Just in case I forget a birthday or

need an extra teacher gift .

This time of year these just in case

 gifts are very handy !

Wrapped simply in brown paper

with a paper doily and some coloured string

they do make a pretty gift , just in case !

Lots more creative spaces here .

at my house

At my house I am wondering about lists .

I like lists .

I make shopping lists , I always leave them at home

when I go to the shops but I do make them .

I make lists for the kids when I go to work for

chores that need to be done before I get home , 

they don't get done but I still make the lists .

I knew I had a small gap in my day on Sunday

that I could manage some crafting so

because I wanted to use my time wisely

I made a list .

Looking at my list I wondered when

I had become so scattered that I needed

to allocate time to think about my kid's

Christmas presents and why was it

less a priority than pattern writing but

more important than ironing doilies

for a new project ?

Do I now need a list to remind me I have kids ?

Thank goodness the doilies got ironed ,

that's one thing off my list .

Now back to the pattern writing .

Just throwing this teenage book in because I loved it !

I actually didn't read it , I listened to it on tape .

Maybe I was too busy making lists to read .

Lots more lovely houses to visit at Lou Lous .

now I'm really off my face

Brain snap !

I gave in and signed up with facebook .

All of a sudden I feel I'm back at primary school .

Will you be my friend ?

So and so says these people are ok , you

can be friends with them too .

Not too sure if I like you ...

How about a poke !!?

I even got a message on my wall

(in the olden days we used to call that graffiti)

from one of my sisters that I declined as

a friend because I didn't realise it was her .

There goes my Christmas present .

I really don't feel facebook and I are going to be friends .

This may be the best photo I've ever seen of me .

bucket tutorial (buckets of fun!)

Thanks so much to Kerryanne for organising

Simply Christmas and inviting me to be a part of it .

Just in case you missed this tutorial last week

at Kerryannes I thought I'd replay it for you

besides it was sitting in my blogger dashboard

with draft written beside it taunting me !

I really don't like loose ends .

I use these buckets all year round and they make great gifts

filled with the recipients favourite things .

I call mine Honey Pots as I have made mine

so that a 1.5kg (empty) honey pot fits inside .

This make the whole thing stand up firmly

and you are then able to prop things up in them

even flowers !

I hope you enjoy making these .

First of all you will need - fabric

Upper band = 3 1/2 " x 18"

Lower band =3 1/2 x 18"

Lining = 6 1/4 x18"

Prairie points 24" x 3"

ric rac x 18"

12" ribbon

2 co-ordinating fabric circles with 6" diameter

interfacing for base and lining

Cut your prairie point fabric into 8 x 3 inch squares .

Fold over point to point to form a triangle .

Fold over again until all raw edges are at the long edge of the triangle .

Press and starch as you go for nice sharp points .

Pin the points to the top edge of the

 lower band of the main fabric

starting and ending a little before the edges.

Slip the top corner of each point into the one before .

Tack the points on to secure .

Stitch ric rac along the middle of the upper band .

With right sides facing and using a 1/4" seam

stitch the top and bottom band together .

Adhere the interfacing to the lining and lining circle .

With right sides facing stitch the completed outer

at the short ends forming a tube .

Repeat for the lining .

Cut your ribbon piece into 2 x 6" pieces .

Pin each piece of ribbon to the top of the main fabric

each at the halfway point .

Slip the lining tube over the outer tube with

right sides facing and stitch all around

catching the ribbon handles .

Pin and stitch one fabric circle to the main fabric .

Pin and stitch remaining circle to lining

leaving a gap about 3" for turning through .

Trim with pinking shears .

Pull fabric gently through gap and stitch closed .

You can also topstitch along the top too .

Fill your pots with baubles or tinsel and use as

a decoration or fill with wrapped lollies

to give as a gift .

The one made here was the giveaway prize

at Shabby Art Boutique

and the winner was

Brianna at Rolling in Fabric !

Congratulations Brianna and thankyou

to Kerryanne for having me

at your place , I hope I didn't make too much mess .

I think I may have because she has cleaning

for Christmas tips today , oops! 

                                     



                                       
                                               
                                      
                                            
                  
         
        

my creative space

My creative space is a bit like my brain this

week a bit here , a bit there .

 Buttons were pinned onto a styrofoam cone this week

for another Christmas tree .....

I hope the excitement isn't too much for you .

More spaces here .

bored

A customer left behind an old

 Better Homes and Gardens.

I read the crafty bits .

I tore out the recipes I liked .

What else was there for me to do ?

My job is boring sometimes .

tuesday treasures

As this is my last Tuesday Treasures ,

as hostess anyway , I thought I'd 

 show you a couple of things that are

very , very important to me .

The poetry book is inscribed inside

by my parents for my 4th birthday .

My dictionary was given to me by my mum

for my 18th birthday .

The most important thing I was given was

a love of reading .

I am a huge reader and although I rarely

read much of great literary value

I don't really care as long as I get to read .

I read to my children a lot and they have

seen me with my head in a book forever

and thank goodness it has rubbed off on them

and they too have become great readers .

Although funnily enough I can't seem

to get them very interested in Henry Lawson

my favourite bush poet/storyteller .

Surprise !

Tuesday Treasures is not finished !

Melody from The house on the side of the hill

has generously offered to take over for me

as of next Tuesday , thanks so much Melody .

We'd love to see your link to your treasures

here this week and next week at Melodys .

oh crochet tree , oh crochet tree ....

Love , love , love my new Christmas tree !

Crochet circles from left over cottons.

Pretty bottle .

Small branch from yard .

Satisfied smirk .

goodbye old mate

I commented on someones blog the other night

about how my dog had been run over by our ute .

I was a bit flippant as I never expected it

to be serious as anyone can tell you

cattle dogs are tough !

Our poor old dog died this morning and

we are all shattered .

We have a habit here of getting dogs

that no one else wants and we have always

been so lucky to have these dogs as

part of our family .

This dog was named Blox as he was x blue

cattle dog and foxie and he was a great little dog .

Our other dog is now pining and is confused .

Dear old Blox , I hope there are cats bums galore

in heaven for you to sniff all day .

Love you mate xxxx

I am Simply a guest .

Just a little excited I am .

Kerryanne from Shabby Art Boutique

invited me to be a guest poster for

her Simply Christmas theme .

Me!

Yes I squealed , I really did !

Of course I said yes but then the doubts crept in .

Have you seen the lineup of guests she has

organised to do posts , oh my !

The ones who have already done

their posts are also a big act to follow .

The project I finally decided on was Honey Pots .

You will need to go to Kerryannes to find the tutorial

and to enter the giveaway .

Leave a comment with the answer to this question -

What would you fill the Honey Pots with ?

You could win this Honey Pot full of

Christmas goodies .

Better hurry though Christmas is coming .

tuesdays treasure

Recycling twice .

I know some of you may have seen this before

but it is still a treasure .

My box began as this daggy , dull piece .

A coat of white paint really freshened it up .

I then lined the lid inside and fitted my

 embroidery cottons in.

Why is it a treasure ?

Because my husband bought the box for me

from a garage sale many years ago

and because every time I'm looking for

threads I smile at my pretty new box .

Join in we'd love to see your treasure .

just so you know about Tuesdays on a Monday

As the silly season is racing towards us

I thought now might be a good time to wind up

Tuesday Treasures .

You have all made it so much fun and interesting

but I think what spare moments I have would

be better spent creating new treasures

instead of dusting off the old ones .

My last Tuesday as hostess will be

November 16th .

There are still two Tuesdays until then

so I'd love for you to play .

I couldn't do a post without a photo

and I thought I'd show off some of

my pretty crockery .

Gosh I love that word , crockery ....

I do use my pretty crockery all the time

it doesn't live in the cupboard .

I hope you join in tomorrow .

a winner and a star (in my eyes anyway)

I have the winner of the Vignette magazine

but while I have you here (captive) I'd like to tell you

about a winner in my family .

My beautiful daughter was invited

to sing at one of the local vineyards .

The vineyard was once a shearing shed

and still has the old floorboards and rustic charm .

Just another one of the many reasons

I love living in country Australia .

My daughter sang like an angel .

Besides the fact that I cannot hold a tune , really,

cats have run howling from my singing ,

I think it takes great courage to get up in

front of a crowd of people and speak

let alone sing .

Proud mother is a little understated for how I feel .

I think I've probably held you here long enough with

my family tale so here is the winner ......

Monika from Homemade Home .

Monika is from Ireland would

you like to hear about my Irish heritage ?

Thought not !

Thanks to all who entered there will be

another giveaway very soon .

Monika would you please email me

with your details .

Vignette Giveaway

I ordered Vignette by Leanne Beasley from Sandy

at Cookies and Cream Craft and as always

my order came very quickly .

Just as quick was one of my sisters who

saw the magazine and thought I would like it,

she sent it to me and both copies arrived today !

Now it really is a beautiful magazine with

lots of lovely ideas but do I really need two copies !

I'm a sharing kind of girl so I'd like to give

one away to you .

If you would like a copy of Vignette please

just leave a comment on this post .

Overseas bloggers are welcome too .

I'll let you know who gets the spare copy on

Sunday evening Australian time .

P.S . Sandy from Cookies and Cream Craft will 

have my patterns in her shop next week , yay ! 

This giveaway is now closed .

Thankyou for your interest,

there will be another giveaway

very soon .

colourful friday

I'm really sorry to be flaunting more beautiful canisters

for Colourful Fridays at Robyns .

Do I sound sorry , ha !

If it's any consolation some of these are

so old and faded that it is quite hard to call them pink .

my creative space

This was a makeover I mentioned a while back .

I scored two of these stands with cubby holes and wanted

to paint them and use them to store fabric in The Craftroom.

You'd think they would have been painted ages ago

especially as I am married to a painter but

my whining fell on deaf ears and I had to paint

them myself which is why it has taken so long .

They aren't really finished , just blog finished .

 I couldn't resist filling the spaces with fabric

 and craft stuff and I think they have all settled

in so nicely it would really be a shame

to pull it all out and disturb them .

So I'm going to say one is finished now .

More creative spaces at kootoyoo .

tuesday treasures

Another odd little treasure today .

I found this one day when my dad and I

were sorting some old coins .

I'll just bet I was a great help at 11years old !

Anyway my dad said I could have this gold brooch ,

I was very excited and felt very special

for all of about 10 minutes until I remembered

that my dad's birthday was coming up .

So what was I to do but sell it back to him ,

really I had some nerve even then !

With the princely sum of 40c I took myself off

and bought my dad a bottle of ink for his birthday .

I even remember I wrote so proudly in my diary

"I brought dad a bottle of Quink Ink for his birthday "

On the day of his birthday, after the excitement

of his new ink had worn off of course,

he handed me back this brooch and asked me

to mind it for him forever .

The ink was the last present I gave my dad

as he died 2 months later .

I am still minding his brooch forever .

Join in and show us your treasure .

at my house

At my house today I am admiring my new little tea set .

I am in love !

My kids don't want to play tea parties

with me anymore .

They used to though , about 10 years ago .

We all have dentists appointments

this morning so we are taking our time

and just hanging out a bit .

We won't be going for a walk along one

of our favourite tracks .

It's still just a bit wet .

Thanks for coming for a cuppa at my house.

See more houses at Lou's .