Read on ......

 

Its a brand new day but only just - Its just 12.03am as I start to blog:) Must be getting in early and no I haven't had coffee since this afternoon.

Got that when I was handing out brochures on how to vote - yep again. No more for me now though.  I have voted early because I will be busy on Saturday and there are plenty of other volunteers that are willing and able (though some complaining about doing so, so I  wonder why they volunteered in the first place) to carry on through till Saturday. But that's as much about politics as you'll get from me. I like having friends you see. And of course the old saying runs so true - Politics and Religion ruin friendships.

Now on keeping myself busy ..........

I have made some more stock for my Market Stall. Funnily enough, I have so much more girl baby/toddler things than boys and all I have is grandsons aged 1, almost 3 and 7!!

So there is Eco Nappies and matching hairbands with cute flowers - can use the naps as swimmers as well, cute bunny ear styled hair bands, guipere lace embellished rompers - butterflies and gorgeous lace. Made up some more baby gift baskets and just have to wrap in cellophane to keep them pristine. I will write more on all this when I download my photos to the computer.

Swap.......

My Friendship Swap presies are burning a hole in their box!!! Still can't send/deliver then to my partner till she comes backs from holidays.

Holidays..........sigh........

This brings me to remember what a holiday is about. It's that time when phones are not supposed to ring  with children on the other end begging you to come home because some type of emergency is happening ( yes this did happen and my kids were all working age!), parents can cope without you visiting, jobs can still run without your input, pets can live without your undivided attention because they can love others who feed them the same diets and treats, markets don't need you every month and my doctor doesn't need her monthly allowance from me.

So to plan a holiday? Once again I can plan though that does not mean it will actually happen.

Ask my friend Jo. We plan, we delay - either way something crops up for me and vice-versa. BUT we do get together and when we do we make the best of the short time. That's the problem when we now live hundreds of miles apart. Hey Jo! Did you know there's a Quilt Market in November in Melbourne?

I joked only yesterday to Jo that I could run away, make sure I had money so no-one could track my whereabouts, leave my mobile phone off  and have a break away from the myriad of going's on at the moment Jo and I agree we could do with a break - big time LOL.

And now ............

This alas my friends is the point I should shut both the computer down and my brain to give it a rest. Heaps to do tomorrow, still have some new signs to write and three bibs to complete, help someone move some stuff before getting back home in time for dinner. Saturday is a catch up day before the Market on Sunday, Newcastle on Monday and heading down to visit my girl then relatives. A very special birthday event for my daughter - her hubby is away till November and he is missing this event for the second year in a row. That's the job he has as one of our defence personnel and something she signed up for - we all know how much he wanted to be with her for this birthday.  Her Dad and I will make sure she has a fantastic 30th :)

Adieu and Good night. Hope you're all sleeping well

Dee

Friendship Swap

How exciting to be able to join the Friendship Swap with Kristina McCarthy again this year !

Today I received a parcel from Cheryll - my partner .

On arriving home this morning I saw the postal van parked across the road on the grass verge. Ooo yeah I thought - some little bits and pieces I've been purchasing on line have arrived and maybe my Friendship Swap parcel has arrived.

I know the mail can be slow up here but I was getting a little worried as Cheryll let me know the parcel was on its way prior to going on her holiday. And there was a reminder from Kristina about sending and noting receipt of our parcels via emails. I had a couple of other parcels overdue but put in a claim to eBay for one and received a credit only yesterday.

The postal gent waved to me and I crossed the road to retrieve the parcels only to be told - 'Sorry about the late delivery luv". I didn't understand his comment when he added that he had a couple of letters for me as well.  Now this is the parcel delivery man not the postperson who delivers around 2pm.

I said to him that I thought the parcel went missing because when I saw that he number of the house was one digit out it was my fault. He then asked me to read the letter prior to opening the parcels. And he said it twice. Now this was an odd thing to be told so perplexed I took the letters and the parcels inside the house.

I spoke to my Mum as I walked in about what the parcel delivery man said. I then opened the  first of the letters only to find an apology letter from Australia Post, the second letter read the same. Apparently both these parcels had been allegedly stolen and luckily retrieved and the matter was still in the hands of the police.

I sat stunned.

Both parcels were unopened - thank goodness for that. Only the larger of the boxes had ripped brown paper. I quickly opened the smaller to find that it was the parcel Id just got a credit for and I which I had also left neutral feedback for as this was the second parcel I had paid for from this particular seller.

I called eBay and had my comment rescinded immediately and then contacted PayPal to resend the money back to the seller. After all I had received the goods.

I was a little worried about the second parcel as I recognised Cherylls name and address on the back of it. I opened the box to find all the bits and pieces still in there. I will upload pictures and make comments on that later.

I think I am still stunned as only two years ago I sent out a parcel that went missing from the local post office I lived near at the time. This was never found and I had to put in a claim for things I had bought and made for another friendship swap. Difficult to put a value on things like these. It took months to get the claim finalised and I felt like the person to whom it was being sent and the organiser of the swap may have thought I hadn't sent it. I can't believe I'm on the other side of it this time. That's twice in three years!

So I'm not sure if the parcels went missing from the front door or otherwise, though I did speak to Australia Post who assured me it wasn't from the house - I was almost in the car to go apply for a P.O. box if it was!

So a topsy turvy day it has been with me not even able to access my Blog for hours. There seemed to be a block to me accessing this tonight as well.....note the late hour of this authors notes LOL

Wishing us all a better day tomorrow - I will be volunteering some time in handing out how to votes for the weekends election before heading home to complete the last few items for my market stall on the weekend. And if my dogs are lucky ( or otherwise as they may think)  - they will have major haircuts when I get out the clippers out.

Yours in craft and life - Dee

Bags from Fat Quarters or Fabric Scraps

My friend D and I had some left over strips we had cut to make something or rather for and D decided to give me a quick and easy idea for a lovely bag.. What do you think of this one?
I have another almost completed that my friend Jo and I started together in peach colouring :))
I love all types of bags, have designed a couple and just sold my very first KIT !!!!

September is Spring in Australia

And Spring starts an onslaught of birthdays.. My daughter has her birthday next Wednesday 14th - Happy Birthday KB. My adopted 'granddaughter' Stephanie is 5 two days later and I have made the little lap quilt in the picture for her. I was to have finished it ages ago - but she had a thing for Dora Explorer so my quilt idea didnt fit in at the time. The red and white theme came about because thats one of her favourite colours. The little Redwork ladies where done by a lady named Maureen from eBay. I should have asked my Mum Anne to do them I suppose because she has embroidery sewing machines that would have done these. She is so busy making things for her market stall , ahe doesnt have much time. I hope she will soon complete some so I can sell them on http://www.ebay.com.au/ or http://www.oztion.com.au/.for her. As you can see they are so appropriate for a little girl. She has had a party every year - as an only child her Mum spoils her so much lol - so I will give it to her on the 18th, If you have an queries on how to obtain the pre embroidered machine stitcheries - please dont hesitate to contact me.. Again I did some stippling at the Quilting Mouse at Worrigee Nowra.

Until tomorrow - nite all Hugs from Dee

My Quilt Diva Wall Hanging

This is m,y beautiful Quilt DIva made in my image LOL. Made with purple hair, pink glasses and many add ons not originally on the pattern - thats poetic licence for me :) Found some wonderful charms in the shape of hands with Hand Made wrtten on them, these can be bought from me on http://www.ebay.com.au/ under my.hummingbird.   I managed to track down some extremely small cotton reels too from http://www.oztion.com.au/ for the necklace, the smallest buckles ever from a quilt shop in Nowra, NSW for the shoes and a gorgeous badge stating I Love Quilting which I found on eBay too. I did all the stipple quilting at The Quilting Mouse in Worrigee, NSW. You can contact Di via http://www.facebook.com/ under the Quilting Mouse for costs.
The designer of this ecletic wall hanging is the wonderfully talented Amy Bradley at http://www.amybradleydesigns.com/. There are many quirky and fun projects for you to enjoy, so please have a look on her website for more. You can follow Amy's pages for photos of the same hanging in other quilters interpretations. Amy would love to see what you have come up with.       
Chat again  soon - Hugs Dee

One Day Dry the Next its a Wet Spring Day

Can you believe it was a sunny two days ago in NSW, and yesterday was overcast. Tonight its wet wet wet and we certainly need it up here in the Blue Mountains. We havent had a decent pour for a while. Unlike our city neighbours we are on tankwater and look forward to the rain. Our tanks were down quite a bit and our neighbours main tank was empty. Thank goodness they have two smaller spare ones. My hubby - Steve - picked up a new pump and installed it last night for them. They were very happy not to have to go without showers for long. He got a couple of our spare water containers and filled them for them as they are elderley and couldnt climb up to the top of the spare to get water out. At the picture left is two of my very nosey chickens - who normally do chicken like things and amaze our visitors when I call them to go into their pen area like I would my dogs. Here, we were taking some pictures of metalwork that my hubby had made for a nursery. We had to hold the items in front of the white board so they would show up in the photos. Then Mrs Nosey and Henny Penny decided they should have their pic taken as well. They really are amazing creatures, even following the horses around to pick through their poop without getting crushed underfoot. I would have thought the horses would be annoyed by they weren't. So you can see no sewing was done today, but I did manage to knit three pair of boottees whilst sitting as a passenger for the delivery. I shall put up some photos of them once I have sewn them up. Hopefully you are enjoying the weather that you need and creating something that gives you pleasure - Hugs Dee



A New Beginning

The very first blog for Quilt n Craft Diva starts today - a glorious Spring day in the mountains of NSW. Hello and welcome. My name is Dee (Diane) and I love crafts of many kinds. I have so enjoyed reading some wonderful Blogs by amazing Craftswomen on the internet and wanted to be able to share some great links, ideas and craft that I have found by sharing what I have learnt and I am learning all the time! I have wonderful friends who love their crafts and have great creative abilities, and hope they will add their tidbits to this blog as we go along, I love to learn and believe we can all learn more each day. I have resurrected my knitting skills and am currently knitting Boottees and Beanies for our two local hospitals premature 'Premmie Babies' wards. My current patchwork creation is for a 9 month old boy's cot - a quilt and cot liner in stars, stripes and dots in a lime green base. As I go along I will take photos of the fabrics I am using and share the design with you as well. My Bead work is fairly new as I have only used this medium as an add-on my wall hangings so far. I also do stitcheries too and love the idea of a single colour being used as an emphasis. Freebies are another fav and I hope to offer them from time to time.