It seems the phrase work in progress applies to so many of my ideas and areas of my life. Hell, I even have a painting with that title! Unfortunately my brain seems to equate it as a negative thing but on closer inspection I guess the key point is that it is ‘in progress’, it’s developing, growing, changing and hopefully improving through time.

I’ll save the navel-gazing about how WiP applies to areas of my life and personality and instead show you the first in a series of sneak peaks into my WiP box. This is a tapestry that’s been gathering dust in the box for a while. I have no pattern so have instead been playing with colours and textures (believe me chennille is not made for canvas work!) and will most likely turn it into a cushion cover or do you have any other ideas for it?

Posted: December 18th, 2008 under My Projects.
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..to be jolly (apparently!). Unfortunately no one thought to tell the bad luck fairy this and we’ve been hit with a few knocks the past few days.

Still, I did a rush job on the tree last night and managed to get the majority of these decorations stuffed and tied so got a wee kick of achievement at seeing them there on our new tree.  As with all things it was a case of trial and error and by the time I had learned from my mistakes we were all out of the fabric but we love them and their flaws. I really liked the heart ones and think I’ll be having a bash at bigger ones in the future (lavander filled or embroidered ones I think).  Hmmm, now if only I had time to make them as wedding favours. Mind in overdrive…

Posted: December 15th, 2008 under My Projects.
Comments: 1

hehehehe, I love it.

http://www.markushofer.at/html/arbeiten/markus-hofer-geeignetzurzucht.html

Unfortunately I doubt it’s for sale. The best things never are.

Posted: December 12th, 2008 under Inspiration.
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I have been planning on having a giveaway for ages but at last I have sat down and gathered a pile of items for the prize.( I will also add a few other crafty goodies in the package and try to tailor them to the winner’s interests/crafts.) At the moment there’s a print, letterpress card, pins/badges, silver necklace charm and other items looking for a good home. There’s no particular reason for the giveaway but at a push we’ll say 1) today marks 100 days till the wedding. Yup, tomorrow I hit double figures!! and 2) it’s the season of goodwill.

That said, I don’t want to stand in a Post Office queue over the festive season and everybody needs a pick me up after Christmas so I’m leaving this one open till Midnight GMT on January 4th.  All you need to do is leave a comment on this entry telling me what the best gift you ever got was. Those who post about this giveaway on their own blog will get an extra entry (just leave a comment to let me know).

Good luck (Note you must register to leave a comment – see here)

Posted: December 11th, 2008 under Competitions, Freebies.
Comments: 12

So, I hyped it up for long enough and worried about it just as long, but a couple of weeks ago I picked up my birthday painting. It was my present from my parents and was painted by my oldest friend Adam Kerr. Adam has been an amazing friend to me over the years and that made me all the more nervous about how it would turn out. Not that I doubt his talents, you can see how amazing he is, just that part of the picture was to include a photograph of me and I HATE pictures of myself.

Why have me in there then? Well, I didn’t want a traditional portrait but liked the idea of a painting of ‘me’ to live on after me (sounds a bit ego-centric when I see it written down like that). So in the end we decided on the idea of 30 things to represent me but that seemed to busy and too much like a plain still life so went for the composition below. I’m quite annoyed my camera/the web doesn’t convey the staggering detail of the piece but if you click on my flickr you can see the larger pics.

The items in it include: pin cushion (to represent my crafty side), flyers and badges from my old website rise-and-shine.com, the logo Adam designed for the site before that called Boarderland, a U2 ticket from the first gig I went to of theirs, various badges including the Kwik Save staff badges from my first ever job, a small Eiffel tower as that’s where Matt proposed, a photograph of me, a wristband from the gig that was me and Matt’s first ‘proper’ date, my favourite book (Name The Baby), the watch I got for my 21st, my eyebrow ring, various rings that mean different things to me, my sheep jar (to represent my sheep thing) and Alan (a toy Matt and I bought which we take photos of on our travels to make a book for any kids we may have one day).

Posted: December 10th, 2008 under Art/Illustration, Life stuff.
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Been a while since I took part in one of these but given that I actually left the house this time I thought I’d give it a go. This was my Saturday:

9am – Am mega tired but really want to get the flat tidy so promise myself another half hour before commencing the tidy.

10am – Have also dragged Him Indoors out of bed to help me on my mission but he seems to think a fry up is the best way to tackle the kitchen and I fear I may explode if I see him sitting on his arse once more.

11.30am – I’ve lost all momentum and realise I should really begin getting ready to go out to Made In The Shade so think about making lunch. A quick peak into the kitchen shows me that the tidy is yet to commence in there so bite my tongue and make do with a cup of tea.

12.00pm – Get distracted by (eventually) remembering to take photographs of my birthday painting and various site things while there is daylight (up soon!!).

12.30pm – Leave the flat, grab a yum-yum (the lunch of champions!) and start my walk. Any festive spirit I had completely evaporates as I make my way along Argyle Street and I think I may well have to punch someone (I don’t deal well with the city centre on weekends). Meet my friend Shona outside the Lighthouse and head in.

1.00pm – Spend more time catching up on our respective job situations and crafty ideas than actually checking out the goods and completely fail in 1) getting any Christmas presents or 2) realising the bulk of stands are up on the 5^th floor (d-oh!)

1.30pm – After a whirlwind browse of MITS (I so wanted the little ceramic bird on a peg but can’t remember the maker – the stand that also had the floral grenades) we head out and over to Vivienne Westwood where I daydream about being brave/rich enough to get an outfit from there.

2.00pm – Pop up to Remnant Kings to help Shona get some last minute supplies for her Christmas Card making marathon and realise they have what I’ve been looking for to attempt to make so kind of veil/headdress thing for wedding but decide not to buy anything.

2.30pm – Stand freezing my arse off in the throngs having a rushed catch up outside the underground before we go our separate ways and I brave Tesco on way home to get something for lunch and dinner.

3.00pm – Come home to find Him Indoors in his usual spot in front of the laptop, guitar in hand, room like a pigsty. Have a little outburst and then calm myself with tea and bung a pizza in the oven.

5.30pm – Wave goodbye to HI as he heads out to his friend’s birthday pub crawl and settle down in front of the telly.

8.30pm – Lose the night to X-Factor, pudding and sewing tree decorations.

9.30pm – Decide to make the most of having the bed to myself so retire with a good book and the intention of going back to MITS on Sunday.

Posted: December 8th, 2008 under Life stuff.
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For the knitters out there (no, I still haven’t got round to learning!), you can download a free festive santa and snowman pattern from knitting pattern resource Knit Pat. Simply register for their newsletter to get your free download.

Posted: December 3rd, 2008 under Freebies, Knitting/Crochet.
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So it’s the final month of 2008! Already?! What a year! I turned 30 and got engaged, both of which were enough to turn my stressometer up to 10+. I can only imagine how I’ll handle 2009 with the actual wedding and other big changes afoot!

I’ve already started thinking about what my resolutions will be and am sure I’ll have to try and incorporate all the things I didn’t tick off my birthday list in there somewhere. My problem is I’m a girl of great intentions. Plenty of great ideas and big dreams but somewhat lacking in the discipline and effort front.

My other issue has been the Wedding. There’s so much to sort out and decide that all my effort (and money) has gone into trying to get it on track and that makes me a bit sad, as I don’t think since we got engaged I’ve had one minute to be ‘excited’ and instead have just been harassed and stressed out with it all. I feel like all the fun stuff (even fun crafting) has been put on hold till we get back from our honeymoon.

Even Christmas crafting has fallen by the wayside as I need to assemble all our invites over the next few weeks so we can get them in the post in early January. Still, I refuse to let another year go by with my various half-finished Christmas things gathering dust so this week I’m dividing my time between invites and finishing off some mistletoe. Any excuse for extra kissing!

Posted: December 1st, 2008 under Life stuff, My Projects.
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There’s nothing like an overload of choices to help you work out your priorities. Take my Google Reader for example… It’d be fine if I had a spare evening to curl up on the couch and trawl through the mounting hundreds of posts in there but the chances of an evening like that in the near future are slim to none. My reader has been packed full since my recent (I say recent but it feels like a million years ago now) break down in London. So, since then, any time I’ve had a spare moment to read through blogs I’ve concentrated only on my favourites. You know what I mean. The ones that without fail say something that makes you smile, tells you about something you must check out or just posts an image that sparks an idea.  This filter has certainly helped me identify what are my favourite blogs and I thought I’d share some of them with you over the coming weeks (what with the lack of COTW posts these days!).

So, step up to the plate, Edward & Lilly! I have no idea what/who the Edward & Lilly in the blog name refer to but this great little blog from Brisbane, Australia, never fails to cheer me up. I’m fascinated by Australia (and used to be heavily into the music scene over there) so love seeing what the crafting world has to offer from that side of the world. The great little projects on the site aren’t overly fussy and complicated but are instead executed with such an eye for detail and colour you can’t help but want them for yourself.  (I’ve never been that into softies but Edward & Lilly’s bears and cats are absolutely adorable). However, it’s her latest project that has really grabbed my attention. The grogeous bird decorations are not only perfect for the festive season but, thanks to the floral embroidery, could brighten any room all year round (perfect for any of you too lazy to take down your Christmas decorations!). What’s even more exciting is that Edward & Lilly are offering blog readers the chance to win one in a giveaway to mark the 150th post on the blog.

Posted: December 1st, 2008 under Competitions, Crafter of the Week, Inspiration.
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