I'm Back!!!!

O.K... You're probably thinking - 'Where The Hell Have You Been?'... Right????

Well, there really is no 'good' explanation for my blogg-y absence. Things just got on top of me and blogging, unfortunately, was the thing that fell be the way-side... But, I'm back now!!!!

I'm so thrilled with all of the great feedback from my 'Video-Blog #1' that I've finally made '#2'...

(if this doesn't work, again, follow this link) There's 25% off some gorgeous yarn and another great Give-Away so be sure to check it out and let me know what you think...

Debbie Bliss Give-Away......

My first FO (finished object/project) for 2011 is this cute little Spring Tee by Alana for my Mil-Mil. It was her b'day present and I made it using a gorgeous Sky Blue shade of yarn by Debbie Bliss from her Eco-baby range...

You see, I'm very excited to be stocking a large range of Alana's patterns this year in my shop, Jellywares on Marshall....
Alana is the very talented lady behind the podcasts that I told you all about back here. Yes, those very same podcasts that I became totally A D D I C T E D to that kept me glued to my computer for weeks... Well, that was until DH found my 8 year old 'MP3 player' (I can't believe that baby still worked). Now I'm mobile and my 'Knitting Pod-casts' are mobile with me....
O.K... Back to the patterns, this little Tee comes in such a large size range, 3month to girls size 14. That means that I can make one for each of my girls every year for many, many years, now that sure is great value for 1 pattern, right????

This Tee is knit from the top down which means NO SEAMING, my favourite type of knitting... It has the cutest little lace-y caped sleeves and the trickiest part of the whole garment is the neckband which is a series of picked up stitches worked in the round in garter stitch, now that's not hard now is it???

O.K... Because I love the yarn that I made this Tee out of so much I thought it would be fun to have a little give-away....

So for your chance to WIN 1 x 5og ball of Debbie Bliss Eco-baby, a gorgeous 5ply 100% cotton (valued at $9.50), in the same shade that I've used in the pictures above, just leave a comment on this post letting me know what's inspiring you at the moment.... Is it knitting podcasts like me (if so which one) or have you found a book (I'd love to hear about it) that you just can't seem to put down.....

I'll draw the Winner at the end of the month so you have 3 weeks to enter....

Silk-y Goodness........ *winner*

When I first saw Debbie Bliss Pure Silk I knew it wouldn't be long before I'd have to have some of my very own..... Well, guess what??? I now do!!!!! *squeel*

So with all of this Silk-y goodness I just couldn't resist playing around a bit and came up with this little bookmark.... I just love this stuff!!! It's delicious to use and drapes so beautifully when crocheted up into lace... Have you ever used silk fibre/yarn before??? I'd love to hear what YOU thought of it...

Thanks to everyone who entered my give-away... There are so many great stories which makes it so hard to choose just 1 winner so I put my 6 favourite into a hat and Miss Connie drew out the winner..... So, Congratulations....... Knitter Sue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email me your snail mail and I'll pop your Noro in the post asap...

If you had to choose..... *giveaway*

If I had to choose between crochet and knitting for a favourite I think I'd have to pick 'crochet'.....

(new hat for my shop)

I don't know what it is, maybe the fact that it was the first yarn-y craft I learnt all those years ago...... Or, it could be all the memories that come flowing in every time I hold a hook in my hand and start creating, those gorgeous memories of my late Nanna peering down her nose through her square framed glasses hooking away at yet another 'granny rug'.... That woman was amazing!!! A blanket in a day was nothing for her in her 'hey day'.....

You know, I often laugh with my Mum about how things have turned out... Who would of thought when I was never able to start any of my own projects (let alone sew them together) that I would have a knitting/crochet shop of my very own... And you know what, I'm actually teaching people too, who would of thought..... LOL!!!!!!! *^_^*

So what about you, what's your favourite, knitting or crochet??? I even have a super delicious yarn-y prize in store for my favourite story as to why you love your craft......

It feels like for-ever since I posted some garden pics..... The broccoli are flowering..... And some blood oranges are almost ready to be picked, destined for a batch of delicious 'blood orange butter/curd' : : YUMM-O.........

What's in season where you are????

For My Readers...

I'm lucky enough to have some of these little leather coin purses to give away to 2 of my readers....

It's simple to make one of them yours, just tell me a story about 'bunk beds'. The two stories that make me laugh/cry the most will win, easy hey...

Looking forward to hearing your stories.... Hugs...... Jodie :)

p.s.... thanks to buyster for this great giveaway offer....

Today I'm....

SIGN-UPS ARE NOW CLOSED..

....organising an Xmas Washcloth Swap.

Can you believe that it's only 4 weeks til Xmas??? I've been dying to do an Xmas round of my Washcloth Swap but really wanted to wait for the start of December before posting about it, whoops.... :)

For this round of the swap you will make one Xmas themed washcloth for a secret partner as well as 1 little Xmas ornament, and I mean little, lets keep it nice and simple here to help keep the postage costs down.... We'll plan to post our washer's out by the 18th of Dec, so that's just under 3 weeks to whip them up.

Sign-ups start today and will close when we have 10 swappers registered (lets keep this one nice and small)....

So if you'd like to join in on this round of the swap just leave me a comment and within the week I'll be in contact with you regarding the rest of the details...

Take Care..... Jodie.....

BTW... Thanks for all of the great feedback on my washers and the fantastic shop ideas... It was so hard to pick 2 winners so I drew them out of a hat... Sue and Maria you are the lucky ladies and have one of my new washers headed your way, thanks for your comments...

Also, I forgot to mention that the winner of my 2nd giveaway from back here was Meagan. So if you could all forward me your snail mail addresses that would be great (except you Sue, I already have yours)........ :)

Giveaway #2....

I know that I was supposed to wait until tomorrow to announce the winner of Giveaway #1 but I just can't help myself!!! So after hooking up to random.org to get my number this morning the winner of the potholder is comment #9 Becky....

Now on to Giveaway #2.... This giveaway is for 2 crochet coasters. I made them using some locally made fibre that a girlfriend produced on her farm down the road...

I love the simplicity of these little coasters, so rustic yet so classy....

Anyone can enter, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me what you most favourite locally made product is (if you have one)....

Take Care :)

Giveaway #1

I can't believe that my last post was my 200th.... To celebrate I thought it would be fun to host a couple of little handmade giveaway's.....I've been so inspired by lots of different people through blog-land over the past couple of years and recently I stumbled across this gorgeous blogger who's blog has inspired me to crochet a potholder for the 1st of my 2 giveaways....

All you have to do to is leave a comment and it could be yours. I'd love to hear what kind of potholders you use at your home, if any that is. I've always just used a tea towel but am seriously thinking that 1/2 a dozen or more little crochet/knitted ones are definitely on the to do list before the year is out...

Take Care :)

I'll draw the winner next Fri, 6th Nov....

That Extra Mile....

There are so many very special people out there in blog-land and this week has seen me busily knitting away for one in particular....

She's been a regular visitor to my blog since I started way back in May 2007 and over the past couple of years has offered great support through her comments as well as numerous emails along the way....

Without giving out too many clues she's a huge chook fan and loves the colour blue. She has an amazing blog of her own that's a constant source of inspiration to myself and many other bloggers. So if you've been reading this blog for a while and think this may be you, a little parcel like this one,should be in your mail box very soon... :)

I have a huge list of goodies I'm planning on making up over the next couple of months to thank those extra special bloggers out there who go that little extra mile to make other people like me feel special....

(Washcloth patterns are both freebies from here... rooster, diagonal.)

To answer Michelle's question from this post... I like to use cotton for all of my washcloths. Bamboo is also lovely and I have found myself using an acrylic blend at times especially if the cloth is destined for the kitchen sink as it's better on the dishes than straight cotton... I use 8ply cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mills for a lot of my washcloths but I also like to use 10 and 12 ply cottons and I just find them at Spotlight, not in the yarn isle though it's usually in the isle where all the needles and hooks are... Hope this helps... :)

And the winner is......

First of all I'd like to send out a big thank-you to everyone for all of the lovely comments I received on my last post..... The winner's of my big fabric bundle giveaway's are.......Email me through your snail mail address ladies and I'll get your prizes in the post.....

I'm still keeping busy with the end of lambing.... Hopefully this little treasure will be my last bottle feeder...She's the runt from a set of triplets that just couldn't get a feed. I've had her for a couple of days now and she's really coming out of her shell... Before long I'll be putting her back in the paddock with all of the other lambs where she belongs...

I stumbled across this fantastic gardening club the other day that I just had to join 'The Digger's Club'... Has anyone out there heard of it before???? Well, for those of you that haven't let me tell you a little bit about it......

It began in 1978 as a gardening club for Aussie's looking for interesting plants usually unavailable at nurseries. They fight to preserve the best plants from the past, particularly heirloom veggies, fruit trees and ornamental plants. They provide seeds, plants and produce, along with advice for gardeners who want to garden for the environment rather than against it.

Where has this gardening club been hiding all of my life... LOL!!! I've been searching for something like this ever since I bought my first house almost 10 years ago. It was owned by a lovely lady in her 80's. Her husband had built the house for her and she established the garden. It was the most amazing heirloom garden I'd ever seen...

This garden inspired me to learn more about heirloom gardening. Every avenue I turned down I seemed to get blocked, was this gardening style a thing of the past?? After many failed attempts at trying to find info I finally came to the realisation that you just must not be able to purchase these kinds of seeds/plants anymore....

Boy was I wrong...... Very wrong indeed!!!! I'm so glad that I found 'The Digger's Club' and am now a member. I received my first magazine yesterday..... With 1 years subscription you get 6 of these wonderful magazines full of great gardening advice and the latest heirloom plants available to plant at that time of year, all of which they sell themselves.... I also got some free seeds in my package and couldn't help but purchase this book too while I was at it....I've already started designing my new and improved farm garden as we speak and can't wait to plant some of these gorgeous dwarf citrus.... Oh.... The possibilities are endless and I can't wait to take you on this journey with me.....

Take Care :)

How did I miss that?????

My last post came and went without me even noticing that it was my 100th... Can you believe it???

I can still remember when I first started blogging, the thought of reaching this milestone got me so excited... I would dream about the mega giveaway that I'd do!!! Thanking all of the wonderful and inspirational people that had hung in with me for that long... Well in true 'Jodie' style I totally missed it... LOL!!!

Don't worry I still have that mega giveaway planned.... Since moving to the new house I've realised just how much fabric I've actually been hording over the years (shhh don't tell DH)...... I have a bit of this fabric left and loads of other gorgeous cuts that I just had to have, you know what it's like, right???? So I've decided to give a BIG wad of it away to 1 maybe 2 lucky bloggers who comment on this post.... I'll draw the winner at the end of next week....

Now I can't do a post without at least 1 pic, silly I know..... These, I guess you could say, are our typical dry dusty conditions.....This pic was taken a couple of weeks back. DH was lucky enough to get the last of the crop in before we got some much needed rain... 52mm fell the night he finished this paddock, couldn't of timed it better if we'd of tried.... So the Dust has settled for the time being and fingers crossed the next pic of this paddock I'll be showing you will be luscious and green, and not from weeds either... LOL!!!

Take care... :)

And the WINNERS are.....

After thinking really hard about all of the lovely comments that everybody left me I've finally decided on the 3 winners. We have......

JODIE from Ric-Rac,

JADE from My art is my outlet, &

BIANCA from Hollabee

Thankyou all so very much for your wonderful advice!!!!!

Good karma has definately come my way after my blog giveaway.... I recieved this gorgeous bundle of fabric for the very generous Corrie over at Retromummy. Isn't she just a doll??? I love it all, especially the sweet strawberry one!!

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by! Christmas is literally just around the corner and I really do need to get my AR#@ into gear. I've joined the 'Pledge to buy Handmade' this year which I'm really excited about. I read all about it on this post at Ric-Rac. Thanks Jodie!!! Just like Jodie, I will include a note in each present explaining why I've opted for handmade this year and as much info about the crafter/artist as possible.

I bought a beautiful shirt on Tuesday with some of the money I made at the markets. It's such a simple design I decided to have a go at reproducing it myself. I've got it all cut out and ready to sew up so hopefully in the next couple of days I'll have some pics to share with everyone. It hasn't even used 1/2 a metre of fabric, that means if the top turns out it will only cost me a 10th of what it did to buy the original, now that's pretty good!! Wish me luck......

To Market We Go....And a FREEBIE for 1 lucky reader!!!!

Yes.... You read it right!! I'm packing up all of the goodies that I've made over the last month and heading off to my very first local market day. It's this Saturday from 10am to 3pm so if your in the area pop on down to Drumond Park. I'm SO NERVOUS!!!! But as I keep telling myself 'everything will be just fine and everybody will just love my stuff.... I hope'.

Here's a pic of my latest creation...

It's a hair clip, obviously, with a crochet flower sewn to it. I'm was thinking of selling them as a pair on a little card for either $2.50 or $3.00.... What do you all think????? I think that I've looked at them too long, as you do when you create something new, and now I can't decide. What would you pay???My sister and I are doing the stall together which is great. We're baking buiscuits on Friday to sell and I've also made some big jars of tomato relish which is always a big hit!! I will definitely post a pic of our table all set up at the markets for everybody next week.

Anyone out there that might have some pointers for a pair of first time market goers please do leave me a comment as any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated, that greatly appreciated that I might even have to give the best comment a freebie!!!! To the most helpful comment that I receive about the markets I'll mail out the very pair of clips that feature in this post... So everybody put those thinking caps on and give a nervous girl some help (LOL)...