Just wanted to let you know about an opportunity to reach out to the children living in an orphanage in Haiti. As you are aware, back in early January Haiti experienced its worst earthquake in 200 years. It’s capital city has been reduced to rubble and the body count is estimated to be at least 170,000.

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Sarah Hanson, of Dolly Donations, has partnered with the Abundant Ground Foundation, which houses 181 orphaned children in Haiti. Sarah has organised an appeal calling all crafters to make and donate a doll, which will be given to the children in this orphanage. It is a practical and tangible means of showing the children that we are thinking of them, praying for them, and want to help them in any way that we can.

Dolls are required to be at the Abundant Ground Foundation’s office in New York (before they are transferred to Haiti) by March 14. Sarah also provides a free pattern for a sweet little dolly that can be made by all crafters - no matter what your dolly-making experience :-)

Find all the details (and link to free pattern) here: The Abundant Ground Foundation - Haiti Orphanage - Active Dolly Drive

Hope you’ll be able to get involved!

Yes, it’s no surprise that I heart Owls :-)

It makes me giddy when members of my family ‘get it‘ too. A relative in the USA is an owl-lover (in addition to being just a naturally cool chick :-)) and sent me this necklace - a favourite of mine - last year:

I knew I had to send her one of my grumpy owls for her birthday. It’s two months late but Omega the Owl is finally taking flight and is on his way to her home:

I had a lot of fun picking out all the fabric bits - a mix of vintage and designer pieces :-)

In more owly news, I recently released my newest softie sewing pattern through Pattern Press - Bubbly the Owl. He’s currently available through the Haby Goddess, with more stockists to be added very soon (full list of current stockists of my sewing patterns can be found here).

By the way, thank you to those of you who have emailed me to let me know you visited the giant fawn at Sportsgirl - and some have emailed me pics as well. I’ve enjoyed reading your messages and giggled at your photos (in a good way of course!). Your support is really appreciated!!

I’m taking my 3-year-old to her first day at Pre-school today and she is so excited - especially because she gets to have her own backpack and lunch box :-) I’m sure it will be an emotional moment when I drop her off.

Have a wonderful week all!

I finished this Woodland Girl, Diana, this week. She is a very overdue Christmas gift for a woman who has been a mentor to me for some years now and has been a trusted confidant and source of strength during my recent troubles.

Her late husband was a well-respected and much-loved leader in the Aboriginal community. I had some fabric bearing a design by an Aboriginal Artist tucked away and I knew this would be perfect for the doll.

Thank you for all the comments received for the giveaway! Wow, you guys really love some free fabric!! :-)

I really loved reading through the comments - thank you so much for your willingness to share about inspirational people in your life, events, bloggers and crafters, quotes, and personal achievements. I came away feeling incredibly hopeful, grateful and yes - inspired to make every day count! I hope you’ll take some time to read through the comments too.

Oh, and so good to see so many GLEEKS amongst the commenters!

Here are the winners as randomly chosen by this trusty robot :-)

Fabric Pack 1:
35. Comment by Anya — February 1, 2010 @ 3:06 pm
These great purple and green fabric fat squares at the fabric store inspired me…I haven’t broken out the sewing machine in months, and now I have a pillow for my little sister. Shabam! Glee is fabulous, for the record.

Fabric Pack 2:
89. Comment by hollysarah. — February 3, 2010 @ 2:48 pm
Those fat quarters look so cute! I love the prints.
I’ve been inspired by Blythe dolls lately… I’ve been browsing Etsy shops for clothing, and I love this one so much! http://www.etsy.com/shop/dollymolly
thanks for a giveaway! <3

Amy and Holly Sarah, I will be contacting you shortly to ask for your postal addresses.

Thanks to a wonderful new sponsor for the month of February, I will be holding another giveaway next week so please keep an eye out for that one!

I’ve been doing a major clean-up at home. Thankfully my move has been postponed for a few months but it feels good to be going through boxes throwing stuff out/giving stuff away :-)

I’ve got some fat quarters of fabric recently brought back from Japan. I have no need for them so I thought a giveaway would be appropriate! They are novelty cotton prints, measuring 50cm x 35cm each. I have two packs consisting of 3 fat quarters each to giveaway:

Pack 1:

Pack 2:

To be in the running to win either of these, please leave a comment on this post about something (anything - a link, an event, a person, etc) that has inspired you this week. Please leave your comment by midnight (Australian EST) on Thursday, 4th February and I will draw two winners (one for each pack) on Friday.

I’ll leave you with the song I have adopted as my song for this year - a song that inspires me no end (and yes, I am a GLEEK :-)) I love the lyrics (full lyrics here).

Wishing you all a fantastic February!

Becky over at the delightful Patchwork Posse has dedicated January to interviews with some of the crafters that contributed to the recently released book, One Yard Wonders.  As one of the contributors, I was thrilled when she asked me to do an interview for her blog!

You can find my interview with Becky over here.

Thanks Becky!

Hope you will enjoy this Woodland Girl 2010 Calendar!

I was hoping to post this up since just after Christmas but life got in the way. Thankfully I had a quiet night last night (after a fun but tiring day celebrating Australia Day with the girls!) and finished it up. Sorry for the slight wonkiness :-)

It’s scaled to print on A4-size paper and you can download it for free here: Woodland Girl 2010 Calendar

(Thank you for the continued messages of cheer & support I’ve received. I’m moving on, going strong :-))

EDITED 28/01/2010: Thanks for the lovely comments :-) and welcome if you have stumbled over here from WhipUp! Thank you to Wendy for pointing out that there is a day missing in the month of January!! So sorry!! I have fixed this and the calendar is now correct. Please download again if you downloaded the calendar before today. Sorry for the mess up!

Firstly, apologies for the corny title up there  . . . erm, it was the first thing that popped into my mind :-)

The girls and I travelled to the other side of town today to see my latest little collaboration - a giant Fawn!!!

She is currently on display at Sportsgirl’s flagship store at the Chadstone shopping centre and will be there for the next 3 months as part of their current campaign.

The girls were so excited to see her and I am so happy that they were with me to see it for the first time :-) We enjoyed a celebratory lunch after wards . . . and some sweet treats!

The fawn is modelled after Francesca, who was on display at my recent show at Hudson. She has been fully replicated from the bulging eyes and large eyelashes, to the spots on her back and gingham under-ears. It even has a large tag on one of its back legs with my website details.

My sincere thanks to Amanda, Steff and the wonderful team at Gloss Creative for making this happen, and to Sportsgirl for their interest in and support of my work. If you live in Melbourne, I do hope you’ll get a chance to see it :-)

P.S. Thank you so much for the comments and message of support I have been receiving. It’s like my inbox is feeding me with a constant stream of little bits of sunshine :-) I even managed to get behind the machine and do some sewing! Hoping to get a couple of projects done before I start packing everything up and move elsewhere in a few weeks’ time.

Just popping in to say a HUGE THANK YOU for all of your messages of support that I received on my last post. I will not lie - the last few weeks have been painfully tough - and change is still ongoing. But the support and love I have received from family, friends, and blog readers has really been incredible and I thank God for it every day :-) Perhaps I will one day share a little more about what has been happening because it has certainly been a defining moment for me and it marks the beginning of a new journey, but for now I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I also wanted to thank all of you who supported my recent exhibition at Hudson. I am so glad that so many softies/dolls found new homes :-) The exhibition is now over and I thank Nikki Hall from Hudson for her continued support. After 8 years, she is closing down Hudson to pursue new opportunities. There is now 25% off everything in her shop so I hope you will make some time in the next few weeks to visit - SO MUCH COOL STUFF!

There are two Peg Bears left from the show:

Requiem

and Rhapsody

Each Peggy is $75. If you are interested in either of these, please contact me by clicking the Contact button up there on the top menu :-)

I will be back here on the weekend to share with you a collaboration I am very excited about and opens this week!

Hey all, just wanted to let you know that I’m taking a break from blogging and One Red Robin. There are a few significant changes I have to deal with at the moment. So I’ll be away from this space for a while - not sure how long, maybe a few weeks or maybe months - but before I go, I just wanted to wish you all a very happy new year.

Thanks for all the support you have shown me this year (and the last few years). Every encouraging comment and email has meant so much and I am so deeply thankful for the friends I have made through this blog. Thank you for enjoying what I create and I hope that I will be able to get back into making, and sewing, and blogging again soon.

Take care,

Jhoanna

[EDITED 29.12.09: Thanks so, so much for all your comments! Your support and encouragement is deeply appreciated and is a huge comfort beyond words at this time. Thank you :-)]

I was awoken early Christmas morning by Ava’s shouts of “It’s CHRISTMAS!!!”, followed by a very grumpy Rori yelling, “Mama, Ava woke me up!!!” :-)

But all was soon well after the girls ran downstairs and opened their gifts. Then it was out the door into the backyard to enjoy the glorious morning sunshine and make some bubbles.

Hope you are enjoying your post-Christmas weekend!