Apologies - I was meant to post up the winner of the giveaway yesterday but was completely sidetracked by two little girls :-)  Thanks so much for your willingness to share your happy moments from last week - as corny as it sounds, I read through them all and found myself laughing at some and getting all teary at others.  According to random number generator, the winner of the giveaway is comment #20:

“20. Comment by Kelly — March 27, 2009 @ 7:45 am
Congrats on your 3rd Blogiversary! My happy moment of the week, was receiving an invite to attend a special achievement assembly, to watch my 6yr old receive an award, huge proud mummy moment!”

I hope to have another giveaway in April, which is my favourite month of the year :-)

I completed a few new bunnies (which I think I will call Ze Bun-buns :-)) over the weekend and will be popping these little ones into the post for the Toy Society’s Bushfire Appeal:

I’m thinking the next week or two will be all about making more Ze Bun-buns for me - I really enjoyed putting these little fellas together and there are many gifts to be made for celebrations in April.

If all goes well (meaning if hubby doesn’t have to stay back at work this evening), I am hoping to go to the Book Launch for Meet At Mike’s: Th Book tonight in the city. So excited for Pip - it is always inspiring to see someone’s dream come true, especially when they have worked so hard and have been so (infectiously) passionate about it. You can buy the book here.

My creative space this evening: the couch and footstool -

Not much actual creating but more soaking in the inspiration from the Meet Me At Mikes book (which I will blog more about next week after the official launch - exciting!) and the latest (and in full-colour) Mix Tape zine. Plus chenille cupcake by Jodie, postcards by Genki (sadly closing soon!) and crocheted blanket by Michelle.

Thank you for all your kind comments on my last post :-)

This week has certainly been much better. The girls are over the worst of their colds. I met my deadline at work after 2+ months of working to a crazy schedule. My Dad is already talking about getting a new sweet little puppy. I received this striking painting by Rebecca Murphy that I won from the Art Fights Fire fundraiser a few weeks ago (just looking for the perfect frame). And I enjoyed a most delicious flour-less lemon cake with cream frosting today for afternoon tea :-)

And the sewing mojo has decided to return. I have had bunnies on the mind - perhaps it is because Easter is around the corner and I am seeing bunnies everywhere I look. Perhaps it is also because my 3rd blogiversary just sailed by and I was reminded of the first softie I designed and sold - a Bunny Chibi :-) So I have cut out a few new bunnies and hope to put them together over the next few days. Nice and easy. With no deadlines. Sweet.

To celebrate my 3rd blogiversary, I will be giving away a Cheery Chimp pattern + Woodland Doll-head Brooch Kit + fat quarter of my Woodland Girl cotton print (which I have printed via Spoonflower but is not for sale).

To join, please leave a comment about the happiest thing that has happened to you this week :-) I am sure that even if you have had a relatively off week, you can find something in amongst it to be happy about. Comments will be accepted up until midnight Saturday 28th AEST and Mr Random Number Generator will pick a winner on Sunday :-)

My etsy shoppe has been updated!

You will find:

>> Softies and Dolls, including a new Matryoshka doll (more photos of her are in my flickr)

>> Woodland doll-head brooch kits

>> Limited Edition Fabric packs (see the cute purse super-lovely Ann-Marie made with my “Wandering Birds” fabric!)

>> Cushions

>> Cheery Chimp patterns

And . . . I’m still trying to get caught up on emails :-) It’s been a week of overtime at work, sick kiddies and sadly our beloved family dog, Indi, had to be put down. She was a Labrador Retriever and was always so gentle and sweet, especially around the girls. I bought her from a breeder when she was 6 months old and that was 11 years ago. She sustained some spinal damage that couldn’t be corrected due to her old age and so we had to make the hard decision to put her down. I never thought I would cry over the death of a pet (in fact I used to be petrified of dogs as a child) but Indi was such a wonderful and loyal dog, and I held her in my arms and cried as she passed away. She will be truly missed.

So I seem to be in a funk at the moment and haven’t been inspired to do much sewing (or making). I hope to say hello again to craft room sometime this week :-)

P.S. Did you see the fantastic article craft making a comeback in the Age yesterday (many familiar names and faces!)

Hubby was able to take the girls along to the show yesterday and managed to take a few photos - I thought I’d share some of them with you. My girls had a blast and were excited to see “Mama’s toys” on display - so you will see them in many of the photos too :-)

The entrance to the show - it was a huge venue meaning lots of room to move (and good for parents with prams too!) The indie crafters were on the row you can see on the right in a section called “the Incubator”:

On display, sewing machines atop a turf covered table-and-chairs set:

Me giving the girls a pretzel for afternoon tea (which was chocolate filled - so yum!). On the left, you can catch a glimpse of Louise and Jodie at Audrey & Maude’s stand, and on the right you can catch a glimpse of Nikki’s stand (which was packed with people ALL. THE. TIME):

The girls striking a pose next to the mannequin:

Sand sculpture by Sandstorm Events:

The girls hanging out by the giant knitting needles:

In this area, you could rummage through some discarded clothes and refashion them into something else (sewing machines and over-lockers were provided). Such a great idea! I think this area was provided by Wardrobe Refashion:

A glimpes of Jodie’s, Fii’s, and Justine’s stands:

The girls on the steps, enjoying the sweet little softie ice-creams and cupcakes Jodie gave them (thanks Jodie!):

Tired but happy girls :-)

Some of you asked about the cuckoo fabric panel I mentioned in the previous post - you can see the full panel over on Kirsten’s blog here (amongst other lovely things!).

I’m back at work today and it has been hard to change gears after such a wonderful time at the show. One thing I am definitely missing is hanging out with like-minded people and talking about all things crafty. So it’s a good thing I am going to the Brown Owls meet tomorrow night (yippee!) - looking forward to it!

I won’t be sewing for a while - I may be absent from here for the next few days but I do hope to re-open the little shoppe with goodies from the show on the weekend. Have a most wonderful week!

(P.S. I’m working on the emails - hope to be fully caught up by the end of the week!)

Mama mia, my feet and body are aching!!! Me thinks I am not cut out for shows like these :-) Day 3 of the Stitches & Craft show is over with 2 more days to go. I’ve had the opportunity to get to know some really crafty ladies (with such diverse backgrounds) at my brooch classes - the turnout has been small but it has meant that we can do a lot more chatting during the class :-)

The other upside of this show? Getting to see a lot of beautiful work in person. Here’s what has come home with me so far:

A gorgeous sunshine yellow dress (for my youngest) from Dana; an amazing fabric panel featuring a cuckoo clock and birds from Kristen; delicious fat quarters from Ink and Spindle; an applique canvas kit (for my eldest) from Audrey and Maude (such a great idea!); super cute pin cushion and note card set from Dear Fii; and an irresistible owl brooch from Liz (for me!). I’ve got my eye on a few more things - fortunately there are still 2 more days to go! :-)

Thank you for all your nice comments on the last post :-) I certainly wouldn’t assume that my softies appeal to everyone but it was just surprising that some people were very vocal about their opinions. But really, it’s all good and I am having a great time at the show.

Silly me forgot to add in the previous post that the lovely Cindy also dropped by, and I met Stacey and Leisl for the first time. Yesterday Sharon popped by to say hello and I met Suzie this morning. It’s been such a treat meeting all of these talented women who I have only ever interacted with online.

I’m still behind on emails and comments but I am sure I will have heaps of time next week to catch up on them all - thanks for your patience if you are waiting for a response from me.

Wow, I am exhausted! Who knew standing around all day in one spot could make one so tired? :-)

I forgot to bring my camera so here is a slighty dodgy photo of my stand taken from my phone:

On the left of my stand is Audrey & Maude’s gorgeous stand - and what wonderful ladies Cathy and Louise are - so friendly, bubbly, funny and very helpful. I am so happy to be their neighbour. On the right of my stand is Nicole’s stand bursting at the seams with an amazing range of bags and hats. She is so lovely too - I am indeed quite giddy to have such great neighbours :-)

This is the first market that I have done and it has been an interesting experience - both good and bad. The bad - well, people walking by your stand and saying some nasty stuff about your work as if you are not right there standing in front of them! When you normally operate through a blog and online shop, you do have a buffer from that kind of feedback - so yes, that was surprising! But as the experienced market stall-holders have told me, it is just part and parcel of selling in a market environment.

The good, however, most certainly outweighs the bad and that is meeting up with so many crafty people. How humbling it was to meet readers of the blog - thank you to those of you who stopped by and said hello :-) What a wonderful surprise to finally meet Angela and Allison in person. It was lovely to see the Ink & Spindle girls, Leslie, Dana, Nikki, Justine, and Kirsty once again. It was also a thrill to meet for the first time, Fii, Jodie (who is so hilarious and a joy to be around), Holly, Monique, Cathy, Liz, and Kirsten.

If you are coming to the show you should not miss out on visiting the stands of all of the ladies I have mentioned above - you will be so inspired, though be warned you will most likely leave with a much, much lighter wallet :-) Fabric stands not to miss are Amitie’s and Kelani’s.

Angela and the Living Creatively team have done an spectacular job organising and putting together this show.

Now I’m off to have an early night (the first in months) and hopefully I’ll have a whole lot more energy for tomorrow :-)

The chorus of this song has been buzzing around in my head a lot over the last week - because that’s exactly how I’ve been feeling! :-)

But the feelings of zombie-ness are fading quickly as excitement takes over. In a few hours I will be off to the Melbourne Showgrounds to set up my little stand for the show. The nerves are starting to swirl around but I am making a concerted effort to ignore them for now ;-)

Five little Peg Bunnies (with bells) are finally ready:

(Individual pics are over in my flickr).

And a batch of fabric packs (2 fat-quarters each) have been packaged up:

Now off to pick up the eldest from school. Hope to be back tomorrow with some pics of the stand. My apologies to those who have emailed or commented lately - I am running behind on getting back to emails and comments but I do hope to respond by the end of the week.

If you have stumbled over here from the Stitches & Craft website, welcome! Thought I’d provide some details on the Woodland doll-head brooch craft labs I’ll be running this week at the show.

These are what the brooches will look like all made up:

In the kit you will find wool felt, a cute little face, ribbon, button, thread, stuffing and a gold-plated pin-back. The bottom 3 brooches are examples of what you can make using the kit provided in the craft lab. The top three brooches are examples of what you can do with the kit plus a few extra crafty supplies from your stash :-)

You can fancy them up as much as you like! They are also nice and easy to make and are good little projects for the young ones - basically if you know how to do a running stitch, you are all set!

Here are the class details:

Wednesday 3.00-4.00pm (Craft Lab 8)

Thursday 9.30-10.30am (Craft Lab 3)

Friday 12.00-1.00pm (Craft Lab 3)

Saturday 9.30-10.30am (Craft Lab 8)

Sunday 12.30-1.30pm (Craft Lab 8)

And if you are wondering how to book a spot for the class, here’s what you need to do:

“Please visit the Learning Centre Booking Desk, at the entrance to the centre, or book through Ticketek Telephone Bookings or any Ticketek Outlet. Bookings must be made at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the session and you should arrive five minutes before your session starts.”

Check out the fabulous line-up of class labs and seminars over here.

. . . since I have been cutting up fabric:

And packaging up Woodland doll-head brooch kits:

Thanks to a wonderful friend who offered to help me out with putting the kits together (and shared a delicious morning tea of donuts and coffee :-)), I think it’s about half-way there. Just waiting on more supplies to arrive.

I’ll also be selling some of my sewing patterns including the new Cheery Chimp pattern (now available for wholesale here).

The show is only a week away (gulp!). I am very excited about meeting lots of crafty bloggers, hopefully catching the exclusive Australian premiere  of “Handmade Nation“, and being inspired by the work of all the fantastic designers and crafters who will be participating this year. I can’t wait!!!

By the way, the schedule of classes/craft labs for the Melbourne show is now up over here and if you scroll down to the bottom you will find the dates and times for my Woodland Doll-head Brooch classes :-) Hope to publish more details next week.

Before I log off for tonight, I wanted to point you in the direction of another great fundraiser for the Bushfire victims called ‘Street Art for Ashes‘. There will be a live and an online auction of artwork from local and international street artists and funds raised will go both to the Red Cross and Help for Wildlife. More info here.

I’m listening to the rain pour down outside - what a wonderful sound!