Swaps

Here is a wrap up of some of the swaps I have been involved in over the last few months.

These blocks were for the Quilting Divas Bee - I had to make 6 blocks of my own choice - I choose a string block, and they had to be made in the colours of the other Bee members choosing. I think they all turned out really well, the string block in my opinion is always very effective.

These are the blocks that I have received back so far (still waiting on one, and I haven't made one for myself) I asked for blocks in yellow, gray and white and they were to match this cushion that I received in the last Pillow Talk Swap. I am going to make a quilt to co-ordinate with the cushion from these blocks and others that I will need to make to add to them.

These are the blocks that I have made for my Bee Scrappy group :

And these were for my Beehive Group:

I also participated in another Urban Home Goods Swap and this is what I made,

and these are the most wonderful items that I received from Laura!

Look at all that FMF!! In heaven.

Then I participated in the Doll Quilt Swap No.10, the DQS was the first swap I ever particpated in back in 2009 so I thought it was time to give it another go.

This is what I made for my partner Jill and I really loved this one and didn't really want to send it away! But is was well received so I am happy it has gone to someone that loves it equally as much as I do.

This is the gorgeous quilt that I received from Lauree who had made me the cushion above (Imagine getting the same person in two separate swaps when you could have gotten the pick of 150 odd people from all corners of the earth! Lucky for me though, because he work is beautiful and we have very similar style).

Next was the MMM - Make Mine Modern Swap, this was the first time I had ever participated in this swap and it was a great one! The guidelines were you had to send 1 handmade item, 1 item to decorate your sewing space with and 1.5yards of fabric, which could be made up with your choice of fabric cuts or pre-cuts.

This is what I made my partner Kat (also the mosaic picture above is taken from Kat's blog)- I was pretty happy with the selection that I sent her and I was super happy with what I received from Liz! I was spoilt rotten. (Included Market Apron, Pincushion Caddy, Coin Purse, Fabric Basket, another Pincushion, Lotta Jansdotter Post it Notes - so cute and gorgeous fabrics including Denyse Schmidt, Echino and Sherbet Pips)

Such a great swap, think I will have to be in this one again!

There were a couple of other swaps as well which I were for SIT so I will put them in that post.

And finally I have signed up for the Brooch swap over at Flowerpress, (you too can join, sign ups are open till May 10) this should be heaps of fun, and I am hoping that I will get some inspiration when I visit Bowerbird Bazaar tomorrow :)

Hello my name is Megan and I am a blogger????

Thought I had better introduce myself again seen as though it has been 3 months since I last blogged. I am sick of making excuses and every post being an apology, so I will just say that I really want to keep blogging more regularly but if it just doesn't happen then I will see you when I see you. I think this is a better mindset to have and at least that way I don't feel so guilty all the time.

Wow, the last 3 months have been busy busy busy! The following few posts will document some of the more exciting things that have happened, but basically there has been a lot of every day things happening, throw that in with a few interstate trips, some sewing, some markets, a sewing workshop and lots of school activities, holidays, Kindy and Day-care.

Everyone is doing really well, Willow is growing up so quickly, India has started going to Day-care one day a week and absolutely loves going to Sandi's house, Oscar has started Full time Kindy - 4 sessions a week and Stella is loving School which is great! PK is going well, hoping for a move with work relatively soon, so we will see what comes of that, and me well I am overwhelmingly busy all the time, which often results in less getting done than I would hope for. I'm sure alot of Mums can relate to this though. I hate taking about weight and so I will never really say much about it anywhere, but I am proud to say that I have lost 11+kg in the last 3 months and my goal is to have lost the rest in the next 6 months. Paul and I are starting Michelle Bridges (The Biggest Loser) 12 week Body Transformation which starts later in the month so hopefully combined with what I have already been doing this will bring more success in the weight loss department.

Ok, so there is the first post - well done me for just doing it and getting back into blogging again! Stay tuned for the next installment :)

Is this really as close as we are going to get to a nice shot of all 4 kids??

Sunday Stash #1

Decided that this might be a good way for me to get into the habit of being a regular blogger, so I have taken Bianca's lead and I am going to start a weekly Sunday Stash Post.

This week courtesy of my iphone seen as though Paul is away and has the camera, I present you with my latest bargains! I got these 2 from The Haby Godess who isn't selling fabric yardage anymore so she was getting rid of all that she had left super cheap, and I got these 2 prints. Unfortunately it is all gone now, and I would say with the prices as low as they were they would have gone in minutes.

On the left is Trefle by Kokka and the other is Arcadia Geometrics in Orange. I have an Arcadia Layer cake and so this will be used for the backing of a quilt once I get around to using the layer cake.

And secondly this is was in one of the boxes that my "dealer" sent over during the week. It is some precuts from It's a Hoot by Moma for Moda and some yardage from the same line, which will also turn into some more quilts.

Ok, well that is the first Sunday Stash, hopefully there will be many more!

The Week in Photos

Trying to keep up with my recent increase in blog posts, and often the best way to jog the old memory about what has been happening is to look at my photos, so this post is pretty much going to be driven by what I have recently taken photos of.

I have had some good mail lately which has seen the need for the fabric cupboard to be re-organised and tidied to make way for the 70 odd yards of fabric plus a stack of pre-cuts that arrived at various stages over the week. I only took photos before the last 2 boxes arrived so you will just have to imagine them stacked in there too. It is always like christmas when I open my boxes because often it is lines that had to be pre-ordered months before they arrived and you almost forget what you have coming - I have tried to make my "dealer" cut me off, but she is an enabler and just won't let me out! Some of the treasures in the latest boxes were Soul Blossoms by Amy Butler, Central Park, Hoopla, Sugar Pop, It's a Hoot by Moda, some Sandi Henderson, Dr Suess prints, June Bugs, Teeny Tiny Zoo and couple of books that I have been hanging out for - Handamde Beginnings by Anna Maria Horner and Elizabeth Hartman's The Practical Guide to Patchwork.

I also had a win on a blog recently which I will blog about once the prize arrives, but can I just say I am so excited - 11.75 yards of Heather Ross Fabrics!!! And not FFA2 which I already had, I'm taking hard to find, jump up and down for joy ones!! So I will let you drool over that one at a later date.

In terms of actual sewing there has been a lot of Market Preparation happening for the upcoming Lollipop and Mathilda Markets, and I have just received the application to the latest Gallery One CraftART Market which I will do again too. I have made the first Bee block for one of the Quilting Bees that I have joined - it was a liberated Churn dash block (I don't even know what an unliberated churn dash looks like - so this was strictly from the tutorial!), but it was actually super easy. Shayla requested only black and white fabrics and I think it will look really effective when it is finished. I also made a library bag for a friend whose daughter started Kindy this week in Brisbane, it turned out really well and was super easy - think I might make them available via my facebook page.

Speaking of Kindy Oscar started Kindy this week too! Which was very exciting, he loved it which I knew he would and it means a few more hours of him out of the house which is great and I can get a few errands done in the time he is away with just the two little girls which is much more manageable.

Stella also started back at school this week, and I was just as glad as she was to go back - man School Holidays drag on and on and on.... never thought I would complain about that!

She has her little bestie Teegan in the same class as her which is really nice and her teacher is new and seems very nice, so all is good on that front.

I started Zumba this week too, which was actually quite fun and very funny - talk about feeling un-co! They have a creche so it is fantastic to be able to do this in the day, and my is it a work out, I was completely buggered by the end. Hoping this will benefit the weight loss goals for this year. I have started Weight Watchers and so far am going quite well - 3.4kg in 3 weigh ins so that is not bad, my aim is to be at goal by September when I am going to Malaysia with my bestie for a girls only week of sun, fun, cocktails and massages - bring it on!

Anyway, Paul is in Queensland at the moment for a conference so I am flying solo till tuesday night - yuk! but it does mean that the nights are mine and I am really hoping to get some more market prep done, so I will sign off for now and go and get on to it!

::WINNERS::

Firstly, thank you everyone who entered my giveaway I was super excited to have the opportunity to bring you this giveaway and hopefully there might me more in the future!

So, I decided that the old hand in the bowl would be a fun way to draw the winners, so here you go:

And the First Prize Winner of $200 Gift Voucher goes to.............

Yay Cherry!!!

And now on to the second draw...

And the Second Prize of a $50 Gift Voucher goes to............

Yay Posie!!!!

I will be in contact with both winners by email!

Big thanks to Quantum Finish Dishwashing Tablets and Soup (Don't forget to join up to become a Soup Mama too!)

Last Chance for $250.00!!!!!!

Later tonight I will be drawing the winners from my Soup/Quantum Finish Dishwashing Tablets giveaway so be sure to get an entry in!!! There are very good odds at the moment and who wouldn't want $250 worth of gift vouchers to spend on themselves - I know I would - pity I can't enter :(

So scroll on down (or click here)and read the post, answer an easy question and then get your entry in!

Winners will be revealed tomorrow!

The Outcome - and do you want to win $250?????

My oh my doesn't time just get away from you? I was spose to post this days ago, but low and behold life got in the way and it just never happened. But fear not here it is.

Now, I know you all must be sitting on the edge of your seats to see if this dish got clean? (ok, so you probably aren't but you can humour me can't you?)

Well, the outcome is this.......

Yes, it is clean! Yay! Needless to say Finish Quantum is a pretty nifty little dishwashing tablet, and it is true what they say (Finish and FatMumSlim, if you read her blog), the inside of the dishwasher really does sparkle after using these tablets, so of course that only means good things for your glassware and cutlery. All in all, I think it is pretty good, and would buy it again.

Now for the exciting stuff!!! So my friends at Soup and Finish have given me $250 to give away to you my readers! And the way that I have decided to distribute it is in two prizes as follows:

• First prize is a $200 Voucher of your choice (please make it somewhere that the voucher can be purchased ONLINE)
• Second prize is a $50 Voucher of your choice (again ONLINE please)

How cool is that! You could use it to get that bag that you wanted at Myer or that gorgeous dress from Witchery, Or perhaps a Body Treatment at Endota? Going on holiday? would a voucher from Flight Centre be a big help? or perhaps you need a late night shop in your pj's at your favourite online store? Well as long as they have vouchers available online then it's yours!!

So, what do you have to do?

1. Become a Follower of my blog
2. Leave a comment on this post telling me "What is amazing for you... every single time?" (Finish Quantum thinks their product is amazing every time, but wants to know what you find amazing? Paul thinks diving into the ocean is amazing every time. I think going to the toilet ALONE is amazing every time - cause it doesn't happen often!)
3. Tell me where you would want your voucher from (you can change your mind at a later date, if you win, I am just curious where everyone would choose)

The Boring Bits:

Only one entry per person

You must be an Australian Resident - sorry to all my international readers :(

Competition is open until next Saturday 29 January at 9pm

Winner will be drawn randomly either via that random number computer thingo or by a little hand out of a big bowl!

Winner must leave an email address or must check back to see if they are the winner and make contact within 7 days or the prize will be re-drawn

Ok, so that is it! Good Luck and make sure you enter and leave your comment, I can't wait to see who the lucky winners will be!