Blogtoberfest #31 This is the end...

Well the final day of Blogtoberfest has arrived! I made it bar 2 days, so feeling pretty happy about that considering I was sick for a lot of the month!

Today has been spent taking the pooch to the vet ~ you would think after 13 years of vet visits... 1) I would learn to NOT wear a black shirt (I am covered in white dog hair) and 2) wear long sleeves, my arms are scratched to pieces. He does not like the vet very much :(    

Today has been spent in the craft room, cutting pretty stripes working on my Doll Quilt and tidying up (yes, it's a scary thought!)   



Today has been spent glueing. A lot. Secret squirrel business is going on here and I'm running out of free days!!!   



Today I have been admiring pretty blooms from my best friend - awww!

Today has been the perfect end to Blogtoberfest 2011 - thanks for having me Cathy!

Now you would THINK that I am going to ground after such a big month of blogging? Well I'm not. November marks the start of NaNoWriMo and unlike last year, I am prepared to actually have a go of it and produce something by the end of the month. Gosh knows how I am hoping to achieve that when I'm going away for 3 days (I will be writing late into the night hee hee hee) and tomorrow which is normally a daycare day is our interview at the local school for Miss K, as it's the middle of the day we are taking her out of daycare for the day so I will have her to write around tomorrow and the next day. I'm under no disillusions as to how bloody tough this will be. So I probably won't be hanging out here much over the next month (you can find me at the other blog, I am going to attempt a daily check in as well as writing prompts / groups etc) I will have a heap of crafty stuff to share over the coming months, so stay tuned ~ the Advent Blog~a~long will most probably be making an appearance again this year... I have been on pinterest and OMG... after resisting for so long, I am now finding myself staying up till late pinning to my hearts content. Thank god for Pinterest App on the iphone!

Blogtoberfest #30 Sunday Snippets

~ Eating Cookies (not real ones!!!) ~



~ Growing Avocados (real ones) ~

~ Photography Play (no {gumnut} babies were discovered by Miss 4) ~

~ Yellow / Orange Crochet (MIL creation) ~

~ Dyeing (note to self: do not stick hands in mix... they will turn blue ;) ~

~ Reflections in the dye pot ~



~ Seeing Circles (finally getting to the Doll Quilt) ~



How was your Sunday? Linking up with Miss Tinnie Girl herself for Sunday Snippets!

Blogtoberfest #29 two to go (after this one)

Wow. Cannot believe that Blogtoberfest is about to end for another year. Today I thought I would have some lovely photos to share, but I have nothing. My friend came to visit and while we did have every intention to pop over to the Island for a coffee and picnic lunch with the girls, we decided since the girls were happily playing that we would stay and have a good old gasbag. So I'm pretty much all talked out. Nothing to say and nothing to share.

My friend gave me some inspiration on the Doll Quilt that I have been struggling with the last few days. While I had tentatively settled on a design last night, she had a few other ideas so I'm raring to go and filled with ideas! Cannot wait to get started on it! Which I should do NOW. Especially if this crazy person has every intention of joining NaNoWriMo again this year. And yes I do remember how I totally bombed at it last year... this year I am aiming to do better and hey - even if I wrote one piece of 200 words it's more than I managed last year right? It's a win-win!

See you tomorrow!

Blogtoberfest #28 Halloween Prepping

This post is NOT for Skip (sorry lovely ~ Christmas crafting will resume shortly ;) LOL)   

It is NO surprise that Miss K would eventually get around to loving Halloween with a father who practically idolises Tim Burton (think Nightmare Before Christmas or for those of you later comers Willy Wonker and Alice in Wonderland!) Big J decided that this year, since Miss K finally 'gets' Halloween that he would carve her a Pumpkin... $13 later (OMG :o ) we have a pumpkin that has been carved to a likeness of Jack Skellington.

     

See the creativity runs vast in our family!!!

Today I have been pottering around & decorating Miss K's room - on a budget!

A lalaloopsie dolly - Candy Broomsticks, complete with potion book, black cat and cauldron!   



A cheap pumpkin pot (for trick or treating, though we will only be 'trick or treating at Nanna's house!)

A $2 witches hat to match her $3 witches costume for Daycare on Monday!!!

   

Do you do Halloween?

Blogtoberfest #27 not long now...

We are on the final countdown till the end of Blogtoberfest... and to be honest I don't think I'm ready for it to end! Even though I have missed a day or two with extreme fatigue and sickness, I really do enjoy daily blogging and I don't usually find it that much of a stretch to find something to blog about - I'm always doing something with my time. This week I haven't had the energy to do much at all, the house has fallen apart and tomorrow it needs a good running about folding, tidying, putting away etc. The washing I'm finally on top of, but it was touch and go with some rain earlier in the week.

I've spent the week pottering. From one craft to another. There has been some behind the scenes work done on my EBDQ Swap which I can't show as the design is a dead giveaway LOL ;)

There's been some colourful crochet - an order from Tangled Yarns of 5 balls of Biggan. OMG. Where have I been, the colours of these are absolutely glorious & oh so bright! I have been happily hooking away since Monday afternoon (yes I did mention I was somewhat slow!) if I had the money, I would be buying some of each colour way and making a big glorious Bette like blanket ~ alas with my S.L.O.W. skills I cannot hope to justify something so brazen to my dear husband!

There's a new ironing board cover that doesn't fit *sob* lucky it is store bought. Perhaps tomorrow I will attempt to cut something funky out and use this as the insert? I also bought 2 new books tonight from Target. 2 for $25 I couldn't very well leave them there could I now?

And a little play with the cuttlebug... three little owls doth make a parliament (am I right?) and a couple of giraffes! I can see this new crafty endeavour will be FUN!

So that's a little of what's been happening around these parts.

Blogtoberfest #26 the hills are alive!

I decided to introduce Miss 4 to this today....


Ten minutes and two songs in, she fell asleep :o she woke up this morning at the ungodly hour of 5:30am; making it a rather long day for all!!!

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Blogtoberfest #25 Back on Track

Thank you very much for all the well wishes yesterday! I am all better today, though taking it easy still and am ready to get busy messing up the (already messy) craft room once more! I thought I'd share with you some of my buys from the craft show - surprisingly, I didn't do too badly and was quite restrained throughout the day. I didn't come anywhere near my budget and I'm not sure if that was because I had

a) purchased a wooly order from tangled yarns the day prior and felt a little guilty

b) realised that I have far too many ~WIP~ and not enough (wo)man hours to do them all in

Either way - I was relatively well behaved! First up was a (slightly belated) birthday present from Mum & Dad. She promised me a cuttlebug machine and got me one they did! It was a show special and they also got me a couple of embossing folders + a couple of dies as well. Christmas of course ;) Now there is no excuse NOT to make my own Christmas cards this year.   

Next up was a stop at Voodoo Rabbit... Had I not been on a relatively firm budget, I could have gone a little crazy there! Such beautiful retro type fabrics but i restrained myself and walked away with 2 x 1/2m fabrics plus the Nicole Mallalieu Design A-Line Skirt (after seeing it on Ms Curly Pops blog, I was smitten)

On the Prudence Mapstone / Yarn Glorious Yarn Stall, I found this gorgeous cushion cover kit. The colours are gloriously bright and I will most probably take this one away with me on our quilting retreat in 3 weeks time :o YAY!   

At the same stall - I also decided on a whim to buy this Knitted Bracelets kit. They are very Whimsical and I loved that the buttons and flowers were all included. A perfect gift for upcoming birthdays I think!

  

I also bought a cute little Christmas Tree Ornament "dove" that I didn't photograph, but it's very cute in blue and cream - perfect colours for my tree!

And lastly - My mum was very naughty and bought me this Sashiko Christmas Hanging as I've always wanted to try one (thanks mum) she also got me the hanging star kit as well. She's a little naughty!!!

  

Blogtoberfest #24 sick

A break in transmission here, I've been struck down with the blasted gastro bug :( knocked me flat for 2 days... Now I am really behind *sigh*



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Blogtoberfest #22 Craft fair

Please excuse Car from today's Blogtoberfest celebrations; she has been at the annual craft fair and is right now trying to work out how they will eat in the week ahead. She may or may not have broken the budget and needs to hide certain items from the big boss-man ;)



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Blogtoberfest #21 Organised *pfft*

OMG. I can't believe I missed posting yesterday. While you are probably thinking 'so, everyone else has missed a post here or there too' this is ME we are talking about. Last year I did 31+1, the year before right on 31. I Love Blogtoberfest! But yesterday just felt it was gone in a blink of an eye. I had to work all day which meant an earlier drop off for my daughter at Daycare. A rush all day to get the BAS finalised - which I STILL didn't get done due to waiting on info for ONE transaction *sigh* then I started the filing. Oh dear god. I knew I was behind on my filing, having worked outside of the home for 18 months & having very limited time to do our bookwork meant filing was a lowly priority. I had done a day earlier in the year to catch up, but everywhere I turned yesterday was more and more paperwork. I then realised I hadn't done ANY archiving since BEFORE my daughter was born :o I know I'm not the most organised person around, but I am generally far better than this dismal effort. So I spent the day filing away as much as possible, we then knocked off half an hour earlier and picked up the girl from daycare and raced over to the shops to buy some office supplies (archive boxes... funny that!) then a stop for Macca's for dinner (shoot me now - Bad Mumma Moment) Home in time for baths and bed, before I myself collapsed in a heap in bed and read my book.

It's gone from a wee bit crazy to downright madness here at the moment. There is so much to remember, to do, places to be. I'm getting stuck trying to find enough spots to write things down let alone actually get things done. Just today I have managed 5 loads of washing (yes I was behind in my washing pile... I blame the crappy weather) I still need to race to the shops to buy some essentials AND I would like to sew a bit. It's now 2:30pm... I'm not liking my chances there!

My husband says to me last night - you can't possibly have THAT much to have to write it all down? And he's probably right. Except someone has gone a little crazy with ONLINE shopping! I'm going mad. A little from here, a little from there. It's madness I tell ya! Madness!!! I told the parcel man this morning that we WILL be on first name basis by the time Christmas rolls around!

My poor OTI (On To It) Organiser for 2011 has taken a battering, every week it is being completely scrawled over with lists of to-do's and appointments, playdates etc. Thankfully my brand spanking new OTI - purple for 2012 is ready to go with blank pages aplenty!   

YET... even those seem to be filling up. (YES, I have started marking holidays / school terms in for next year... I maybe a little excited about this BIG change in our lives as well as scared witless!)

  

And of course with Christmas just around the corner... comes more lists. More ideas. More, more, more...

Lucky for me I purchased this ultra, super duper cool Christmas Planner from the Organised Housewife. Honestly - if you have a spare 10 bucks, get yourself one! 45 pages - in colour of Christmassy' goodness. There are list for budgets, lists for presents hidden, lists for presents received. Lists for foods, shopping lists. Calendars. Need I go on - get yourself over and check it out for yourself!



All printed out and placed in a folder on my desk, ready to be inked and stained with my thoughts and ideas for Christmas.    

And with a cute little Santa - how could I resist! What are you doing to organise for Christmas this year? Have you started thinking about it yet?     

Blogtoberfest #19 Crafty Stuff

Last week, inspired by how much my girl loved her new skirt. I decided to cut out another 4... I should have learnt from my past track record how notoriously SLOW I am at making things and perhaps 4 was biting off more than I could chew. Plans were to make them on Sunday. I started a production line and got as far as gathering each panel (that's 8 panels in total) when visitors arrived, then we went out, Miss K got sick. Too tired. It's a myriad of reasons as to why they continued to sit, still in their gathered state until I finally finished one of them yesterday.

Skirt Number 1 - Pink homespun from local quilt shop, left over panel of linen with Matroshkas (?) and a teeny panel of left over light pink Fairy Frost (from a quilt finished last year) It felt really good to use up the little bits of fabrics that I hold onto 'just because' I played around on the overlocker with this one and decided to not hem it and just leave an overlocker trim. I quite like the way this has finished, perhaps not for everyone but for me - just right.   

And here is the gorgeous girl herself modelling her new skirt that we wore to the playcentre (does this count as What I wore Wednesday?)

This afternoon after setting up the girl with a little crafty project of her own. I escaped to the sewing room and 20mins later - skirt number 2 is now (nearly) finished!

I just need to add the elastic in the waistband than she is all done! Blue flowers from the stash and green gingham from the odds and ends bin at lincraft.

Again I have just overlocked the bottoms rather than hemming. Tell me what do you think - honestly? Would you hem or leave as is? These are predominantly at home / daycare skirts!

And a cheap quick craft to keep the little ones amused. Blue Bowl from Ikea (?) some strips of blue celephane crushed up and a cheap $2 kewpie mermaid doll from the Reject Shop. Makes a pretty cute little bath tub with (fake) water. My girl is still out there after an hour playing with the celephane. Awww!

Tomorrow IF I have time, I want to finish another skirt and have just realised I have ONE Week to complete a quilt - eeek... don't think it's going to be doable. But we shall see!!!

Blogtoberfest #18 The new girl!

Meet Snow!

  

Nude straight out of the box!

  

The seller even included 2 dresses that she thought suited her. I was so appreciative of this!



I'll try and explain more about how she came about and how she got her name... too darn tired to get to it today :(

Blogtoberfest #17 seeing squares

This Blogtoberfest is not being very kind to us in the sickness stakes :( I've had what I can only assume was a sinus infection, complete with daily headaches that only eased off after starting a course of antibiotics. It has been a struggle to think of good blog fodder when feeling so darn crappy!
Yesterday, feeling vastly better I got busy behind the machine and
stupidly thought I could show off some new skirts today! Big plans that were pushed aside when my little girl started spewing at 5pm. 2am she finally stopped and I stumbled to bed exhausted (in hindsight I should have stayed awake until 2am instead of catching 2x 20min catnaps from midnight. Waking at 6am to a happy and spew free girl and NO coffee decided that today is an official lounge and movie day!

Not wanting to waste precious lounge time, I have been busy adding more squares to my growing piles for the Bette.

Choosing pretty colours, they have grown on me!


Watching the piles grow higher!



Pretty squares laid out beside me!


Hoping I don't get the bug too, that's all I need right now!!!

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Blogtoberfest #16 Self Portrait

Today {Sunday Snippets} has been replaced with {Self Portrait} we did this last year and after attempting 500+ shots, I gave up and posted up a very scary, very wrinkly portrait of myself. Anyone who has been following my adventures of Self Portraiture during What I wore Wednesday, will know I suck at it. So a little twist on my Self Portrait post today...

  

My husband reckons I have wrinkly hands. He's just a big meanie! Anyone who can read palms is welcome to giving me a FREE reading - just make it a good one.

See more Blogtoberfest Celebrations over here. & Stay tuned, I've been sewing - might even have some finished products to show off tomorrow!   

Blogtoberfest #15 A little more blythe

Last night, my hubby and I headed out minus the child to meet up with our good friends. We don't often get to catch up, but it's aways fun when we do as us girls get to chat crafty chit chat most of the night. Comparing progress on projects and sharing new stuff we find. My friend C arrived last night bearing a little gift for me - she had knitted up this dress for my Blythes in an hour :o she did a great job on it & since she hasn't got a Blythe doll (YET... a little bit of #blytheenabling there, perhaps hubby might get the hint since he's been reading ;P ) here is Ally modelling her new knitted halter neck mini dress! It is so sweet & adorable - thanks Heaps C!

A little close up of the detail! Aren't those ruffles just to die for?

Now with news of a new girl arriving, I was a bit sad to realise that I STILL haven't attempted to wash Ally's hair since I received her in May for my Birthday. I have been putting it off as it's been a scary prospect but today I decided it was time. Stripping down and wrapping her in plastic... I kept hearing & seeing visions of Laura Palmer 'wrapped in plastic' running through my senses! I don't think you really do need to do the whole plastic thing, but I was taking no chances, plastic and masking tape over her pull string hole - just incase!

Here she is with the conditioner applied and waiting, waiting, waiting. I've since rinsed the conditioner and combed it up and am now waiting for it to dry to see if I need to re-do the mini spa treatment again. You see some Blythe girls who are NRFB (I think that means still in box?) have a weird residue through their hair and you need to wash it to make it sit right. Since my other girl was adopted, the washing / spa process was already done for me, so I didn't need to worry and her hair is so silky compared to Ally. Crossing fingers Ally will be soft and silky after her day spa!

We've also been busy cutting out fabric for more skirts. I have another 4 skirts cut and ready to sew. Just tossing up whether I now escape to the sewing room and start sewing the first sections of each, or curl up and do some more crochet? Decisions, decisions!

Blogtoberfest #14 nothing to see here

I mean literally, nothing to see here!!! A busy day of swimming, cleaning, morning tea, shopping and dinner with good friends :)

Its 11:15pm, I'm tired and I nearly forgot todays post - whoops, lucky I didnt! Hopefully more interesting blogging will resume tomorrow!

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Blogtoberfest #13 - Shopping

I've been shopping!!! Little miss us on her way to me today, now to think of a name...


Regular blogging to resume shortly - as soon as I purge this blasted sinus headache :( feel like crap and it is now a daily occurrence :(

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Blogtoberfest #12 Our day + WIWW

Today we hit the park beachside. I remembered my hat & slathered ourselves with suncream too! Shame I forgot to do my feet... I now have a thong mark :(

The best part of THIS park is that across the road is an op shop and a second hand toy shop - I had my fingers crossed to find a Vintage Blythe, no such luck I'm afraid... I did see a Kewpie doll if that counts though? It's probably a good thing that I didn't find any Blythes today ~ I may or may not have inadvertently adopted a new girl last night on the WPWD forums. Now I just need to remember the shop is there and pop past every few weeks - you just never know your luck if you don't try!

And speaking of LUCK! The op shop gods were good to us today! Remember SPOKIE DOKIES? A packet for the bargain price of $1, my girls bike is SO COOL, just like my bike was when I was a kid!   



Next we checked out the book section and came away with EIGHT (that's 8) kids books for only $3.40



My All time favourite Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree, a copule of Berenstain Bears, An early reader and a Winnie the Pooh Christmas book & a Barbie book! What a treasure trove of books - have I mentioned how much I love Berenstain Bears???   

And today is What I wore Wednesday - I tasked Miss K (4yo) to take today's shot and first one she missed my head, but she nailed it on the second shot! Perhaps this is the way to get my self portraits done for the future!

  

Today - White Tee ($7 Kmart) Stripey Singlet ($12 Kmart, I bought three of these, this is navy / cream) and denim skirt Target.