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!