Hug Swap has arrived!!!

I was so excited when the mailman came today ... look what he brought me!!! I just love the gorgeous rosy paper :o)!!.......... Thank you so much to Narelle .... she made these gorgeous items just for me!! These are just beautiful ... Narelle's stitches are so neat and even!!!Thank you so much Narelle I love them and as you can see they are just perfect with my favourite mug :o)!!!

I've managed to get my new 'puter to make friends with my printer and scanner now, so hopefully very soon there will be more PDF patterns from JoyPatch coming on my website and onto my blog. As you can clearly see from my dear Sophie's expression ... she's had enough of my yelling at the new 'puter LOL. Oh well, one more battle won ..... still a lot more to fight I fear though :o/.

DH and I managed to get out in our little boat the other day and I took a few pics of the "Dawn Treader". Parts of the new Narnia movie "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" are being filmed about 10min from where I live - so when we were out on the bay I took these pics of the ship for you to see!!! Isn't it impressive!!!I can't wait to see the movie ..... I love the 'Chronicles of Narnia' ;o).

There's not much time left for you to enter our "Among the Gumtrees" giveaways!!!! Fiona from Mother's Cupboard is offering a kit to make her gorgeous 'Family Love' Wallhanging!! The kit includes :- stitchery fabric, border and binding fabric, backing fabric plus easy to follow instructions and a pack of Madeira Variegated Rayon Thread. And don't forget to visit Jenny of Elefantz blog too .... you could win all of these goodies.....
1. A pattern pack for "Shabby Roses Beaded Cushion", complete with gorgeous Gutermann beads! (The giveaway is for a paper pattern, but if you would like to own this pattern now you can purchase it as a pdf download today through her Etsy Shop!)

2. A copy of her favourite quilt book, the newly released (and not released yet in some countries!) "Material Obsession Two"!
3. Two fat quarters from the gorgeous new "Birdie" range from Me and My Sister!

4. A huge Sandy Gervais panel from her Celebrate Spring range, complete with 3 pretty quilt labels!!

Irresistable .... I'm sure you'll agree :o).

So go on then .... pop on over to these blogs and get your entries in before it's too late!!! We'll be closing all the giveaways tomorrow and drawing it on 1st October ... not long now :o)!!!!

Woohoo ... PDFs at last :o)!!!

I don't know if you noticed the new button on my sidebar on the right - the Paypal "buy now" button??? Well sorting all of that has taken me all day ......yep, ALL day to do!!! Actually, it wasn't really the 'buy now' bit that was such a problem, it was more the pdf download for the pattern. As you'd be aware from my past blogging, I have a new 'puter and we're not getting on that well at the moment. I've still got 'old faithful' on standby which is just as well cos I'm still totally baffled by 'Vista'.
BUT ..... I DID IT!!!!! Woohoo and a little happy dance - oh I haven't done that for ages he he he :o). So ..... presenting .... drumroll ......................... the very first JoyPatch pattern available for PDF download is .................DIAMONDS AND BRAIDS!!!!!!! This has been my most popular pattern by far so I thought I'd do this one for you first. So a quick reminder for those of you that aren't familiar with it .... this is the one I did for my DS and DIL for their wedding pressie...... This one is done in one of my very favourite ranges - Aviary by Moda ... mmmmmm :o)......

and lastly this is the original quilt that I made from this pattern ... I think the ranges I used were 'Laurel' for the braids and 'Dominique' for the diamonds.

The finished quilt is about 61" x 63" and is quilt-as-you-go. I used 1 jelly roll and 45 charm squares but you could make it from scraps too if you prefer!!! I'll still be selling my paper patterns on my website but this way you save $$$$ as there is no postage because I simply email the pattern to you - and so the price is lower as it costs me less too :o)!!! Perfect for buyers outside of Australia ;o).

I'll be doing more PDFs in the future so if there are any you'd like just give me a yell :o).

PS ..... I've also managed to add the "Dragonflight" pattern too :o). These patterns can be emailed to you after payment is received so there are no postage costs!!!

Dawn's "Among the Gumtrees" Giveaway

I do hope you're enjoying all the fun we're having "Among the Gumtrees"!!! I wanted to tell you about Dawn's giveaway, look at all these fabulous goodies ......
There's a 'Millies Market Day Bag' pattern by Janelle Wind, 1/2 mt (.45yd) of blue floral fabric, 2 fat quarters 1pink spots, 1 blue allover paisley, 3 skeins of DMC vareigated thread, 1/2 doz vintage wooden pegs, 2mt (1.8yd) of blue ricrac + a few little surprises too!!!
Pop on over to Dawns blog - Dawn Hay Designs and get yourself an entry or 3 :o)!!!!

I've been shopping!!!!

Oh it's been a lovely day!!! The dust has all settled, mostly on my car he he he, and I drove out to Ipswich today to have lunch with some fellow bloggers. Khris is in town for a retreat with Cath, Naomi, Sharon and Jeanette ...... and today I got to meet up with 4 out of 5 of them :o) (Cath couldn't make it today ....... HI CATH :o)!!!!!). We had a fabulous time together in quilting and fabric shops then off for a really yummy lunch - believe me - I didn't need much dinner tonight ;o). You're not going to believe this though ..... I forgot to take piccies!!!! Yes I did - grrr!!!
I did however manage to take a piccy of what I bought. Not a lot today but all delish :o). I bought these gorgeous keys and thread from Country Quilt Co ... a fave shop of mine. I seem to have a 'thing' about keys lately don't I LOL?? But aren't they cute. The thread is from threadworx, lovely to work with ...and I also found some sandcastle fabric for stitcheries ... that's what my goodies are resting on ;o). And all of this arrived in the mail yesterday!!!!! I'm in love with these gorgeous Simple Abundance fabrics from Moda. I bought a honeybun and a charm pack .......

Also a honeybun and charm pack in the new Fig Tree Quilts range "Mill House Inn" .... it's simply devine!!!! Oh I LOVE it, I can't wait to play with this one :o).....

And of course I've been shopping at my local patchwork shop Bayside Stitchcraft (love it!!). These gorgeous dotty prints and the pretty yellow check behind them were just $9.95 a metre!! Of course you just KNOW I'm going to be going back for more :o)!!!

Here's a little reminder for you!! Don't forget Cheryl's giveaway for our "Among the Gumtrees" launch ... she's got some absolutely fabulous goodies there up for grabs ... go and have a peek, you won't be disappointed........ and don't forget to leave a comment to be in the draw!!!

Talk soon .........

*$&^#%@ Computers!!!

I'm throwing my hands in the air!! Oh I wish I was computer savvy!!! Don't get me wrong, I can do the stuff I have to do no problem, but when it comes to the real technical stuff ... well not a chance. Fortunately for me my DH is home on holidays at the moment so I'm handing it all over to him. You see we've bought a new 'puter ... but the new one runs on Vista and the old one runs on XP ... the hassle is transferring the (MANY) files over {{{{sigh}}}} - think we need some of this LOL ..........perhaps I should be baking this for my DH to show him how grateful I am that he's tearing his hair out over this instead of me!!!! Bless you my darling .... love you ;o)!!
On a brighter note though .... I want to THANK each and EVERY ONE of you for the comments you've left on my giveaway!!! Oh my goodness you stitchers have just blown me away. I'm so pleased that you're enjoying what my gorgeous Nutter friends and I have been doing, we're having such fun too :o)!! So even though I haven't been able to reply to you all personally ... please know that I'm absolutely chuffed to bits - in fact we all are - by the fabulous response from everyone in blogland :o)!!!

Don't forget the fabulous giveaway over on Vik's blog Sew Useful Designs. Vik is giving away these fabulous prizes ..... EVERYONE knows I'm a HUGE fan of Bronwyn Hayes - oh how I love her work :o)!! Well looky here stitchers ..... Vikki is actually going to giveaway this gorgeous BH pattern "Gingham Girls Carryall"!!!

Oh I want it so bad ..... do you think she'd know if I changed my name and entered under a secret ID???? Perhaps I could call myself 'Ethel Fleabite' lol???? Waddyathink????

But look, there's more .... (no, don't go searching for the ' free steak knives' he he he). You could also receive "Shabby Stitches" by Tracy North - I have this book and it's gorgeous so I know you'll love it too :o)!! AND ... the "Simple Stitches needlecase" pattern by the fabulous Lynette Anderson WITH the house button too!!!

Oh you just HAVE to enter .... go on over there now ;o). Hopefully I'll get my 'puter sorted before my next post.

Talk soon ................

Our "Mid Week Weekend" :o)

My darling husband and I managed to getaway for a couple of days last week - just the two of us to celebrate our 20th anniversary (which was actually a couple of weeks ago). We chose the most gorgeous B&B at Laidly called Branell Homestead . We had the most relaxing time, you can see that on the piccy below, that's my beloved having a quiet read on the lovely breezy verandah .......

There were cows grazing in the paddocks in front of the homestead and these delightful ladies in a chookhouse up the back :o) .........

I couldn't resist taking this arty type piccy of these gorgeous silk roses that were on the dresser, they were scented and they smelt delicious!!!

Here's the brekky hamper that arrived the first morning ... how yummy does that all look??!?! We had muffins, scones, pastries, cereal, croissants, fruit, yoghurt, juice ... there was enough food there for a family of 5 he he he ......

We visited the local shops while we were there and I simply couldn't resist this lovely fridge magnet ... what a lovely sentiment!!!Here's us playing "Tommy Tourist" at the lookout at Laidly ;o) .....

And here's the rest of the trinkets that 'followed me home' he he ... Don't you just love those keys??!!! Irresistable!!!!! We found the little antique iron at a huge antique store in Esk, and I just had to buy some pretty silk roses to remind me of our lovely getaway :o). We also managed to catch up with gorgeous Kris from Tagalong Teddies for lunch at the Chocolate Cottage Cafe in Highfield but I forgot to get a piccy of the 3 of us ..... grrr!! Nevermind, that just means we'll have to go back and do it again he he ... that ok with you Kris???

Don't forget our fabulous "Among the Gumtrees" giveaways!!! Look at the gorgeous goodies our lovely Vicki is offering ..... hmmm, what name can I come up with so that I can enter too he he he??? Don't you love that table mat, Vicki made it herself and it has cinnamon in it so that when you put a warm pot on it it will smell delicious .... how clever is that!!??!
So off you go ... straight over to Vicki's at Tozz's Corner and enter her giveaway!!!!!

Talk soon .......

Paula's fabulous"Among the Gumtrees" Giveaway!!!

Look at these gorgeous patterns from Annie Downs - Hatched and Patched!!! Paula is offering these as prizes in her giveaway on her blog for the Among The Gumtrees giveaway. First we have this adorable Chickadee pincushion - you could win the kit to make this delightful little treasure ......and this gorgeous pattern is also from Annie Downs ... it's her Christmas Strippy Quilt, you could win this pattern too!!! Just pop on over to Sew Much Fabric, Sew Little Time and see for yourself!!

By the way, I just thought I'd mention .........

It seems that some of you wonderful commenters are "Non- Reply" bloggers..... This means that when you make a comment to a blog we can't reply to your comment through email...
OR if you enter my Giveaway I can not add your comment to it unless you have written your email address in your comment.
SO................

If you want to make sure you can receive a reply to your comment, or be recognised by me ;o) then follow the steps below ........
1. go to your Dashboard of your blog or your Account
2. then go to Edit Profile
3. click on this... then...you will be in Edit User Profile
4.Go down to where there is a box called 'Show my Email address' make sure there is a tick in this box when you comment so you can then receive replies :o).

5. Hit SAVE.

Have fun Among the Gumtrees!!!!

Gumtrees Giveaway!!

Oh how exciting is this??!!? 9 giveaways from 9 Aussie designers!!

The giveaway prize from my little (Joy)Patch is this bundle of goodies ;o) .....

You'll get 4 of my quilt-as-you-go patterns - "Diamonds and Braids", "Dragonflight", "Jelly Charm" and "Slice and Dice" ........ I'll also be including these gorgeous charm squares to get you started from the Moda Fig Tree Quilts range - "Gypsy Rose"!!! I love these fabrics!!!LOL ....... I love all of the fabrics from the Fig Tree Quilts range .... I think they're soooo pretty :o)...SO ... if you'd like to win these items all you have to do is visit our blog by clicking the pic below and there you will find all 9 of the Gum Tree Designers. From there you can visit all of our blogs and see all the fabulous giveaways we are offering.

To enter all 9 of the giveaways all you have to do is ...........

1) Leave a comment here - then put the "Among the Gum Trees" blog button (above) on your blog sidebar and link it back to our "Among the Gum Trees" Blog.

2) Become a follower of Among the Gum Trees blog.

and - if you.....

3) Become a follower of JoyPatch and leave a comment here on this blog to let me know you've done all of that you'll get your 3rd entry in the giveaways.

You only have to add the button once to get that 1 extra entry in all the giveaways, but you must let me know in your comment here that you've done all of these things.

There are 9 Gum Tree Designers and we'll be popping in to check your blogs to see if you have added our "Gum Trees" button to your sidebar :o).

So go on then .... check out all of the other fabulous giveaways by going the the "Among The Gumtrees" blog and clicking on each designer's button to visit their blog. You can also find out a little more about each of these lovely ladies by clicking on their picture :o).

Have fun!!!!!!

Creative Studios Giveaway!!!

Don't forget to visit Judith at Creative Studios so that you can enter her fabulous giveaway too!!!Can you believe it ...... all those fabulous prizes to be won on 9 different blogs!!!

I told you it would be worth the wait ;o)!!!!!!!

Exciting Launch of "Among The Gumtrees"!!!!!

I can't believe it ... the waiting is over! The day when *our* big secret is revealed and *we* can finally share with you our fantastic new blog entitled Among the Gum Trees.



In a (gum) nut-shell, this it’s what we’re all about:

A merry band of Australian designers sharing a few of their original and varied designs freely for your personal use

"Among the Gum Trees" is the brainchild of Jenny of ELEFANTZ, who has brought together nine established and emerging designers to offer something new and exciting to the world - their own original designs – to download free of charge!

Free of charge?! Are we mad?! Well, no we’re not insane, but we do affectionately refer to each other as “the nutters”, and we look forward to sharing our designs, our news, and our ‘nutty’ journey with you along the way, and among the gum trees!

Here's how it will all happen..........

Starting on Monday 5th October and thereafter on each subsequent Monday of the following eight weeks, there will be a FREE Christmas-themed DESIGN for you to download.

Then after Christmas, on the 7th day of each month starting 7th January 2010, there will be one free design offered to you from each designer, in turn. So, one free design every month for you to use for your personal use.

So without further ado, let me introduce you to the rest of my gorgeous fellow ‘nutters’!

Creative Studios – Judith
Dawn Hay Designs – Dawn
ELEFANTZ – Jenny
JoyPatch - Joy
Mothers Cupboard – Fiona
Sew Much Time, Sew Little Fabric – Paula
Sew Useful Designs – Vikki
Tozz’s Corner - Vicki
Willowberry Designs - Cheryl

If you haven't already visited them please do, and say Hi to them, I know they'll all love to hear from you :o)!!! As well as the free designs, you will also receive monthly news from our editor and notification of all new for-sale pattern launches. The only thing we ask of YOU… is to please spread the word! Let’s see how far those gum nuts can fall from the trees ;o)!

Because we are a generous bunch of nuts, we are EACH HAVING A GIVEAWAY to celebrate the launch of Among the Gum Trees. And you can enter them all- yep, all 9 giveaways!!! But because we have become so good at teasing… we will be launching our giveaways tomorrow he he he!!!

So in the meantime please start spreading the word and add our ‘Among the Gum Trees’ button to your blog! With a free Christmas design offered to you weekly you will have your handmade Christmas all wrapped up with time to spare! I look forward to launching my giveaway tomorrow; and if you become a follower of my blog I will give you an extra entry!

Until then… embrace the gumnuts!

Stitchers Dream Day Out

Oh what fun we had!!! It's the first time I've ever been to a 'stitch in' :o). I went with 3 friends to the Quilters Angel "Stitchers Dream Day Out" in Highfields just outside Toowoomba and we had such a wonderful time!! The theme of the weekend was "Sweet Treats" and this is the first sweet treat we got ... Mmmmmm, yummy :o) And here's the next treat ... this is what was at each place setting .... Full of fabulous goodies, too many to list :o) ........ We each got 8 patterns - 2 from each of the guest designers - Debbie Magee "Always Stitchin", Bronwyn Hayes "Red Brolly", Ella from "Ella and Skysie and a new and very talented designer Shelley Anne .... plus a kit so that we could start on one right away .....

Aren't they all just stunning!!??! This is me with Bronwyn Hayes ... I'm chuffed to bits to have met her 'cos I've loved her designs ever since I started stitching!!!!

And who else should I find there but the gorgeous Kris from Tagalong Teddies!!! Kris and I hit it off famously and had lots of laughs - I knew we would ;o). We've even arranged to catch up for a coffee again soon!!! Looking forward to it Kris :o)!!!

Here's Lynn and Gwen working hard on their stitcheries .... That big green and red thing in the front was a giant cupcake, isn't it adorable??!! There was one in the centre of each table!!

and here's Valerie deep in concentration ......

Of course at the end of the day we were facing quite a long drive home, so we all made a mad dash to 'where ladies go' and poor Gwen was left holding the bags and the boxes and ... well, everything ;o) LOL!!!

Don't worry, we did eventually unload her ;o)!!

I was also very excited to meet up with another fellow blogger on Saturday ..... Cheryl from Willowberry Designs (thanks for the piccy Cheryl :o) )!!! I'm so glad we got the chance to meet face to face - I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of each other in the future too ;o). Keep an eye on the countdown widget, not long now and all will be revealed!!!
How EXCITING :o)!!!!!!!!