Lookie,Lookie,Lookie......

Look what arrived in my letter box.Lots of pressies all for me :) I just wanted Laurie to know that they arrived and I've only prodded and poked them a couple of times each lol.

Thanks Laurie for being my swap partner,I can't wait till Christmas to be able to open them.

I promise I'll be good!

I'll be sending of my parcel of presents to my swap partner this Friday.I hope she'll have as much fun poking and prodding them as I have with mine.....but remember no peeking till Christmas day!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...tra...la..la..la.la

Just a couple of photo's of the Christmas decorating starting at my home.It's now begining to feel like Christmas is just around the corner here.....better get on with making the rest of my gifts on my list!

Guest designer on the Among The Gum Tree Blog

A little while ago I received an email from Jenny from http://gumtreedesigners.blogspot.com/

asking if I would liketo design a downloadable freebie for their Christmas countdown of gift ideas and off course I had to think about it......for about a nanno second,just while I was jumping up and down for joy and trying to collect myself so I could reply with some sort of coherancy LOL.

Of course I said YES and then quickly started to jot down ideas and hopefully I've come up with something you'll all enjoy making.If you'd like to see the design I've created just for you pop over to their blog at http://gumtreedesigners.blogspot.com/ this Monday the 15th November and download it and then come back and tell me what you think I'd really love some feedback on what you think and if you do get to make it for Christmas this year I'd love to see some photo's.

Oohhh forgot to say that I answered a few questions about my crafting journey so have a read and hopefully my photo won't break your computer screen LOL.

The photo's above are a couple of other designs I've had published in handmade magazine this year.The cushion is in the handmade issue Vol.27 No.11 & the christmas bag is in Handmade Vol.28 No.6 if you want to have a go at making them.

I also want to thank all the Gum Tree designers for giving me the chance to put myself out there in blogland and get my name more known through their generosity in letting me design a freebie for their blog.Thanks girls I really do appreciate it :) Barb.

What to do with hair you no longer want??

Remember a few days ago I had all my hair chopped of well I've decided that instead of chucking my hair in the bin I'll be donating it to a wig maker so they can make a wig out of it for cancer patients who lose their hair through chemo treatments.All I have to do is pop it in a padded envelope with a little note saying it's donated hair and they'll make it into a wig for someone who needs it more than I do.

It feels good to know my hair can still be useful rather than end up in the hairdressers bin :)

15 inches is a lot to carry around......

The new me!!

Still deciding on whether to add a colour but after seeing these photo's and all the grey emerging I think I'll be heading back to the hairdressers in the next couple of weeks to ask their advice lol.

A finish for October....

I finally finished those last 120 squares,stitched them together and added them to my project I've been working on over the last few months.You probably guessed it was a knee rug I was working on and you'd be right! This knee rug is for me,I'm always making things for other people....family,friends,new bubs so I thought it was time I made one for me.I love how the colours work together.

I'm still working on more squares as I thought a cushion or two in these colours would like nice on the couch next winter when I have the knee rug keeping me warm.I'm glad the rug is finished as it's starting to get hotter where I am and soon it will be too hot to crochet....mmmm will have to get back into organising my sewing room now the warmer weather has finally arrived.I'll post some photo's when I get a bit more done on it,at the moment it looks like a herd of elephants have run through it lol :)

I know,I know.....I couldn'd wait till next Friday!

I can hear my sister Anne having a quiet laugh while reading this post today.Anne and I had a gret day yesterday as she came over to my house with her machine and sat and sewed a quilt top together that's been waiting to be put together for two years. While Anne worked on her quilt I cut up the pieces I needed to make up two coin cot quilts ready to sew when she comes back next Friday for another day of sewing with me.

Mmmm Friday certainly arrived quicker than I was expecting lol.

I just couldn't resist making up one of them last night after Anne had headed home and just kept going till it was finished.I've been wanting to make up a coin quilt for a little while now and this one has me wanting to make one for our bed in similar colours ready for summer.....maybe for next year?? Anyway I'm pretty happy with the end result and can't wait to make up the 2nd one next Friday.

Another early Bird Christmas Gift finished....

Well the suspense is over with two of the tea towels made up into this kindergarten bag for my great niece.I didn't have enough of the green to make the lining totally out of it so I duplicated the outer bag minus the applique and voila a bag was made.I'm also planning on making a few other bits for her to fill the bag up.

I made the bag up using only what I had in my stash,some left over green I've been using for curtains that are going to go around my tables in my sewing room and the green and orange fabrics from my scrap box.So total cost of the bag was aound $6 as I bought the DMC threads when they were on special.Not bad for a bag!

Stay tuned for the third and final tea towel to be made into......... well you'll have to keep guessing till I post a photo LOL :)

An update on those squares.....

Remember those crocheted squares I showed you a few posts ago well they've all joined together to start forming this......but you'll have to wait just a bit longer to see them in all their glory.

Sorry for being such a tease but I can only do so much crochet before my hand gives out so you'll just have to wait till I make up some more squares...... only another 120 to see what it will turn into.

More Early Bird Christmas gifts...

I've had these two bags made up ready to be sewn together for about a week now and today they finally got put together....I love how they've come together.

Now to get onto the tea towel secret squirrel projects.