Not sure where to start with this post. Lots of pics to show..... and a welcome to a few more new followers :)Time just seems to slip by so quickly and I never quite know where it has all gone.
I guess I should start with my good luck :) I won a cute little Moda charm pack from Joy's Finishing Stitches challenge...which I forgot to take a photo of before I started cutting it all up...I also discovered that Joy lives very near to me when I was giving her my snail mail address for my winnings to be sent:) so we are going to organise a get together after her hospital visit.
When my prize arrived little Miss D decided to knock it off and was cuddling the charm pack! She is SUCH a cuddly kid and is always giving out hugs :)
So I had started to make a table runner for her room using this tutorial at the Moda Bakeshop...but I thought it just looked too busy with the bright fabrics that were in my charm pack and as Danae kept running off with the blocks I was doing as I put them aside it took on a life of its own and became a little blanket for her instead. I will definately make this runner with different fabrics though. I love it!
As Danae's blankie started to take shape and I took a quick break from it I came back to find this...

Danae's best friend Dipsy was cold! As you can see in the top photo she joined him on the couch checking out all the bright fabrics...making it hard for me to finish! Once she finally let it out of her site and went to bed for me to work on it again it was too late and I couldn't be bothered so this morning I set to work on it again...fighting Danae for it. She sat next to me as I sewed overseeing the process!

Once she went to sleep for the afternoon I was able to get it finished for her. It gave me a chance to use a design style I hadn't tried before using free motion on the machine. It doesn't look too bad but I'm not totally happy with the end result.



No matter how much I pin, baste, glue, tack, spit, cry and curse I can never make the back of my quilts sit entirely flat and no matter how much I play around with thread tension you can always see some of the top stitch on the back. The front looks fine but turn it over...... :( I don't know whether it's my machine and a more expensive specialist one would fix the problem or if (as I suspect) it's just me!

My gorgeous baby girl was happy with it though..even if mum knows where the faults are she doesn't ;)



I also made a start on a quilt for my first born who will be *sob* 18 in March! She has a love of vampires and reads all the Vampire Academy and Twilight series over and over... Some of her favourite shows are Buffy and Charmed (hmmmm wonder who introduced her to those shows) She loves fantasy and medieval stuff, dragons etc (more influence from unknown parties ;)...)SO I am trying to incorporate all the things she likes into a unique quilt for her as an 18th birthday gift.



And I'm having fun playing with the free motion on my machine. I'm quilting as I go with this one as I don't wan't my lack of quilting skills to destroy the end result!

Yesterday my darling husband FINALLY put a flue in the wood heater in my shed/studio so now I can use it without freezing! The last of my craft items will be moved in there over the next couple of days and that is where they will stay. YAY..my dining room table will be used for eating again! The small tv will be set up for the kids too and they can watch dvd's, draw and play while mummy plays too.
Then for some serious decorating! I have started to decorate some large mdf letter cutouts to hang on the wall in there over my table...can you guess what it might spell? 4 letters still to decorate.




I have been communing with nature and the fairies and was directed to my large pampas grass bush out the front of our house(thank you to Dina for telling me what this plant was) and made myself a bessom to use for my magickal work.


I did already have a bessom but I never really liked it much and am slowly replacing my wiccan tools with hand made ones for a more personal connection.

I also finished a fairy for my lovely friend Dina in Queensland.....

and she will be shipping off to her new home this week :)
I have made SO many of these fairies...one of my favourites to make and decorate...and I have yet to keep one for myself. My neighbour bought 6 off me last Christmas for gifts and I have sold a few more between friends and Uncle Festers where I sell my more gothy design dolls.


This time I am working on another Winter fairy, similar to the one above but a little different and this one I am being selfish with and KEEPING for myself!
I'm still working on a table runner...which is turning out to be a huge job...and a cutlery roll I started a couple of years back to finish of with Joys challenge before the end of the month. Always lots of wickedly divine creations to work on...and more dreamt up to come....I wish I was an octopus

till next time take care