Hello World.

Hi there!  How are you?  What have you been up to lately?
Me? Well, I've been a little 'over' everything and haven't been doing much lately.
I think making Universal Craft Blog Directory sapped all of my energy!
The UCBD is going great guns! Yes it is, in fact right now, that is Friday 28th Oct 2011 at 2.40pm there are 155 on the directory list - how awesome is that!!!

I have received so many positive comments out there - thank you to each & every one of them! I love your feedback!

In crafty news, I've been making lists but not doing anything - and that has been really bugging me.......  So I just bought a crochet baby boot pattern via Etsy.. and I've dived right on in there & started it. So now I've already completed the first row on the first boot and have not let any distractions stop me!    So we'll wait to see how long this spurt of craftiness lasts... will bubba Joe have 2 boots to learn how to walk around in ... or will he have to learn how to hop?   Ha... hmm, I just realised that I indeed stopped the crochet on the boots to write this post......

I've also signed up to 2 swaps.
The first is a fabric swap, I've already done my bit with that... just waiting for the postie to arrive now!  
The second swap is via The Haby Goddess, it's a Red n White Kris Kringle hand made goody swap... I've got to screw my brain together to come up for something with this... but I will, I will.

In personal news... we just signed the paperwork for our mortgage yesterday... eek!  Roll on to the last day of November & that's when the 'new' house becomes ours, then we have to pack, move, unpack and on the 15th December it'll be bubba Joe's very 1st birthday and then we have to think about Xmas!     Oh, and how can I forget... bubba started to crawl, in fact he took his first wibbly wobbly steps 2 days before my birthday.. oh and yes it was my birthday - I turned the big... 37!!!

Busy, busy, busy (& tired).

So, what have you been doing & what are you planning?

Web find... paper art!

OMG, check these out, beaut art from White Papers Press.

  

more images via White Papers Press

Up to my ears in HTML... and it hurts!

I've been turning this:

                   into this:  

So I can make a button for my blog.

Phew, 3 hours later I managed to make it. I hope it works!!

What is the button for????  

Well, I had been thinking, I wonder how many craft blogs there are in the world now.

And.. how does one connect with them all?

And then WHAMMO... and idea strikes me,

"make a Universal Craft Blog Directory" 

So, yep.

I've started the ball rolling.

Why don't you join in here & add your craft blog and lets get the Crafty World connected!

more creative spaces over here.

Universal Craft Blog Directory

Welcome to the Universal Craft Blog Directory.

It's easy to join....
 All you have to do is add your blog to the link below and then
invite all your blog readers to join as well, 
they will invite their blog readers etc etc
Hopefully it will keep being sent forward & all the crafty bloggers
will come back here to the directory & add their name! 

Cool huh!

And to make it easy to remember where the Universal Craft Blog Directory is...
here is a button to add to your blog:

Copy & past this button to your blog & link back to this post
to help spread the word to help the directory grow! OR copy & paste the code (over in my sidebar under the button pic).

Rules:  There are no rules... Well, I guess there is one, no two rules ... 

1.)  It's for Crafty blogs (you can determine if your blog is crafty - do you make, create or buy lots of crafty stuff?)  
2.)  You need to promote this on your blog for the Directory to work!

Step 1:  Add your craft blog name to the linky list below - to find the linky button, scroll down past all the other craft links & at the bottom there is a blue box saying "Add your link" - click this.
The easiest & best way to do add your link to avoid any errors is to copy & paste the link direct from your website into the linky box below.
Step 2: Create your own blog post, letting everyone know that you have added your blog to the huge Craft blog directory & invite them to pop on over here to add their crafty blog & then to do the same with their bloggy readers.
Step 3: Add the button to your blog so you remember to pop back & peruse the fab Universal Craft Blog Directory!

Join now!

Do you wonder how many??

Do you ever wonder...... how many crafty blogs are out there on the web?
I do.
I wonder all the time.
One of my favourite past-times is visiting someone's blog & then visiting all the other blogs they recommend.


So I was wondering.
If you are just as curious as I am, at just how many crafty blogs there are... would you be willing to help me to figure this out?


I was thinking of a massive link party, where we invite all people to pop by & add their link... 
What do you think, do you think it's worth a shot?    It'd be like a big directory of crafty goodness!


I'll start to work on a format for one, if you have any ideas just let me know in the comments below!   

Why did I????

Hmm. 

Ever found something in your stash & wonder why you bought it?
What project you had in mind for it?

So... what was I going to do with this bunch of zips??

Yellow, Aqua & Grey

I just signed up for my very first colour-themed fabric swap being hosted by CraftBuds!

You know the ones, where you purchase a length of fabric, in my case a yard of fabric (yep, it's not an Aussie swap!!) and then you cut the fabric into 5inch charm squares, send off and then you receive a bundle of fabric in the post of all sorts of different patterns exactly the same size! Cool huh!

The fabric that I have chosen as my swap choice is this: 

The colour theme is Yellow, Aqua & Grey - and my fav colour at the moment is ... grey!!! Yay for me!

Have you joined this swap?  Have you joined a similar swap - how did it go, what did you make with your squares??

My new skirt..

I wish I could sew like this.

But I can't, so I ordered a skirt - a tailored skirt - yes tailored!

And I LOVE it!  

Do you want one too?  

Pearl & Elspeth makes them & sells them on Georgie Love.

Oh & I 'borrowed' P&E's photo of my skirt, I couldn't do the skirt justice with my own photos!!

Visit Pearl & Elspeth here.

Visit Georgie Love here.

Hexy love

So (or sew) I had made a Hexy Flower... but what do I do with it now??

I ask Mr... he just laughed. 

Hmph, that didn't help.

Then I spotted a plain fabric bag.....

Hmm...

I'll let you know how it turns out!!

More creative people here...

Wordless Wednesday: Can't resist...

more images here

A little piecing....

Today finds me totally engrossed in something completely new.

... I'm paper piecing...

... and it's so much fun....

... and so incredibly easy...

... and so fast...

I love it!

I adore it!

Have you ever tried Paper Piecing?  
What is it? Well, it's where you take a paper piece(!), in my case a hexagon, fold over the fabric, baste the fabric in place then join to another piece using a simple whip stitch. Once they are all joined, you take out the basting & the paper and you end up with a very cute hexagon flower (in my case). You can then make lots more and join them together to make a quilt or use it as an applique - which is what I'll think I'll do with mine.

Like it, well stay tuned as I'm going to have some sample kits to giveaway in about a month or so, then you can try it for yourself!!

Web find: Cute Sock Patterns

Check out these socks...  how cute are they!

And you can buy the patterns from here!

and the winner is....

The winners of the cute Kangaro Xmas Fabric are:

Australian Winner:  

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: 

Result:

52Powered by RANDOM.ORG

TLN - a Canadian in Australia! 

International Winner:

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: 

Result:

1Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Larissa from the USA

Congratulations, I'll be sending you both an email for your postal details.

Ranch love

So... I um, recently read a soppy girlie book that was about Cowboys and they lived in Wyoming.

So... I um, I had to Google Wyoming & Cowboys.

So... um... I then fell in love with the look of these ranches and the scenery!!!!!!

Red Rock Ranch

7D Ranch

There were stacks of sites but the list was getting too big!

Or.. there are some ranches for sale in Wyoming...

Buckeye Ranch

Sheep Rock Ranch

Miner Ranch

Schaffer Ranch

All photos are via the ranches website.

Forgot to mention

Ooops, I forgot to mention that I popped the cushion onto Ravelry here.   

Thanks for all the brilliant comments - very inspiring!

A lesson learned.

I interupt this very serious crafty blog with a lesson learned.

... I've learned to NOT check a nappy with my finger ...

No photos included as you can imagine.. ickky!

Taa daaaaaa!

I've finally finished it!

I originally started it as a gift for someone (whilst I was pregnant) but decided the colours were to bright for them, so then I thought it should a cot blanket for my baby but bubba is now 9mths old and he uses a sleeping bag so there are no blankets on his bed so a cot blanket is kinda redundant.  

So, hmm, what to make with it then and then I remembered after sitting on the floor with bubba the other day thinking it would be great to have a new cushion, so the transformation from blanket to cushion was made!  

I think it looks awesome and it makes me feel cheery.

Whatchya think?

And of course, there had to be a model shot with bubba!

more creative people here

Wordless Wednesday: Ends.

more images here

Learning to Knit animation

Here's are great stop-motion animation on knitting. 

Thought it was so sweet that I had to share it with you.

Video via maxsworld

This video & more & a great shop & lots of other fun stuff here.

More lil granny squares...

Yep, started another project.

Making more cushions.

My Aunty Jan!

So you may remember this post... when I went off in search of my sewing machine?

Well, I found her! I found my Aunty Jan!!

She was hiding in a box from our big move (that was cleverly packed by my Mr).

 

Taa Daa, my Aunty Jan!  Now I wonder if she is cranky with me?

Progress....

Whatchya think?

Is it looking ok?

It's going to be a cushion.