Arg! and Addresses?

Safiya has a new cute dress that I finally finished. It is grey and yellow, which you cannot see because the camera was left outside during a downpour. I am waiting for it to dry out. Has this ever happened to anyone else? Do digital cameras come back from the dead? Anybody got a second-hand one they want to part with?

Weird. Blogging without pictures is not very satisfactory, and I guess my business is dependent on that little machine. Etsy certainly is, eh? Nobody would buy anything without those cute little pictures...Can you believe catalogues used to be drawn?

Sigh.

And, on a totally different note, it would help if I'm going to mail packages if they actually have addresses to go to :-) And since there are exactly 3 stories of generosity in the comments, I've decided to give a package to each of you. Yay! So, will Rachel, Alexis, and Tracey please stand up and email me your addresses? Thanks!

There now, I feel a bit better.

Also, In Which Lillian Was Generous and so there is a Give-Away with a Package Actually Ready to Give Away

"S" is for swell..


And sweet and sgenerous and sthoughtful....

When I did the Children's Trunk Show, my booth neighbour was the sweet Lillian, who runs Bamboo Lily. Her stuff is adorable and well made and environmentally conscience, so please go and check out what she makes because she is due some awesome karma. She was cleaning out her studio, she had extra fabric, she knew from the show that I use recycled fabric, and next thing you know there's this email asking me if I would like two large garbage bags full of fabric.

My head almost exploded.

And to top it off, she passed on to me some incredible fabrics from her Mom, who had brought them from India in the 60's. That is about the coolest thing I've ever heard, and so to delight your senses, here's a little sampling:


Good quality fabrics; silks, wools, psychedelic polyesters, cottons, just about like falling into fabric heaven.

And I'm really excited about this, which is a ruched chiffon:


Actually, I love the paper in which it is enclosed as well, and my mind is racing, thinking up possibilities...

And to top it all off, some awesome vintage dresses, also from India:


Thanks, Lillian. Generosity like yours is truly kind-hearted. And being the fortunate recipient of such generosity prompts me to pass it on. So, please share a tale of generosity here, in the comments. If not just for the fact that stories like that spread warmth, but for the fact that I've got two identical packages ready to be sent out containing pieces of some of my favourites:


There are some surprise pieces in there as well, and some of that chiffon, just to spread the happiness around.

Now, for the sake of transparency, I have packages from two give-aways....last year, that are still W.I.P. I've been pretty good since then, but if you are someone who is waiting for one of those, do not despair! And please comment again, because these packages are hot to trot and waiting to go :-)

Let's see...leave a story of generosity in the comments for this post by Wednesday, July 30, which is Safiya's birthday (yay!), and we'll randomly draw two numbers and have the packages out by the end of that week.

Thanks Lillian!

Late at Night, with much Hoopla, a Number is drawn...

And no, I did not match the scraps of paper to her little night t-shirt....

First, thank you kind people for the lovely comments and roll-love. Safiya and I are visiting family, so I'm waaaay behind on emails, but I will be getting back to each one of you (yes, yes, I know it's not like 80 people commented, but you know what? it's still more than all my fingers, so :-)

What was I doing? (can you tell it's way to late for me?) Ah yes - #4 - Paige, my dear, you'll have to email me your address (and I have an idea which roll will be flying your way ;-) Congrats!

I will be taking up the good idea suggested in the comments a couple of times of a 2-pocket roll, and I've also decided to make some (of both the 4-pocket and the 2-pocket persuasion) for The Spring Thing trunk show, and I'll post some in my shop within the next two weeks.

And since it's really not that hard to make, when we get back to Toronto next week I promise I'll post a tutorial as well!

That everything? o.k. sleepy Mama needs to go to bed!

Thanks again for taking part!

Tie a String on Your Finger...

Just a reminder that today is the last day to leave a comment to be in the draw for the happy cutlery roll...

On a Roll... (200th Post Love Update)

O.k., so I was thinking yesterday that maybe not everyone is as enamoured of brown as I am.


And also that these are fun to make, so might as well practice...


So, with regards to the draw, if you are selected you may take your pick!


And maybe the birdies will come home with you!
.................................................................................................

Just to be really clear: this is a little update to the 200th post give-away. Please leave a comment on the original post before midnight, Tuesday, April 22nd, and your name will be entered into a random draw. If your name is pulled, you may pick which cutlery roll you would like: brown or birdies. Yay!

A Little 200th Post Love (for a Greener Planet and All You Nice People)

Want to be my cutlery buddy?

I know, that's so not cool....not even not cool enough to be cool. But hey, I'm loving this cutlery roll, and I had so much fun making it that I made two the same! (I'm thinking good craft fair item?) We put ours (the prototype - it's the one with the wonky seams 'cause I forgot to add the pocket at the right time) to a test drive yesterday at Safiya's favourite little sushi place. Very often at restaurants they give you throw-away cutlery and napkins, and this is our little way of cutting down on the garbage. It would also be great for picnics! I suppose you could use real silverware for a little luxe, but I'm not up to lugging the extra weight, so we packed ours with plastic cutlery from our oh-darn-I-forgot-to-tell-the-take-out-guys-not-to-include-cutlery-and-stuff drawer.

When lunch was done, we quickly wrapped up the dirty cutlery, put it back in the roll, and when we got back home popped everything in the washing machine (wait - cutlery in the sink, of course). Easy-peasy! The whole thing's cotton (except the ribbons), so it's durable. It's got 4 cutlery pockets plus one smaller one for extra stuff (more napkins, anyone?) 'cause I'm a Mama and Mamas need nice things that are practical and pretty :-)

I didn't do a give-away for my one year blogiversary, but today is my 200th post! Good grief, that's a lot of babbling! So, if you want to help lessen the burden on this precious earth of ours, leave a comment by midnight Tuesday, April 22 and I'll send you the buddy to our cutlery roll! (including the napkins, which are a cotton/poly blend, but you'll have to add your own cutlery). I'm giving you guys a week! On Wednesday, April 22 Safiya will draw a name randomly out of a hat, and I'll mail it that day! (I'm getting better on the procrastination, even though I still owe the lovely Jen the package she won from too long ago, and there are others but for them I've got a year according to the rules :-)....maybe this is a way of publicly getting myself in gear...however, speaking of babbling, I digress...)

And of course, I'll send you the nice one - no wonky seams for such nice people :-)

A Link in the Chain, and a Pretty Chain it is!

There's a good vibe in this craft community that I find it a privilege to play along with from time to time. Courtesy of Sarah over at cloth.paper.string there was a chance to receive some goodies from her, and I jumped right in, of course :-) Here's the catch:

"I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

hee hee!

Anybody out there?

Surprises

Eeeep! The purse that I won from Jen at chrysanthemum (yes, three references for essentially the same thing - I'm really excited) arrived today! It's too too lovely - the pictures don't do justice to the pink silk inside, and her workmanship is impeccable. When I reminded Safiya that this is Mama's purse, she replied with a bright smile, "well, we can share it, Mama!" And all of the sudden the almost-three-year-old grasps the importance of sharing - ha!

And inside Jen had snuck surprises! Yay! Chocolate (gone), a little pink sewing kit (upon which Safiya said "oh, how lovely" - just like that! and it is now her very first sewing kit - extra thanks, Jen :-), and some delicate little tissue papers that are a mystery to me......Jen?

Here's a little sneak peak at what I've been working on to send back to her, because the weird thing is, she won my little contest!


And you know what? I love sending packages as much as getting them, so this is a whole lot of fun :-)

And the Winner Is...

Jen! Comment and story #3 :-)

Gotta go - babe is not liking sleeping in this sticky weather!

Night night all, and thanks to you guys who came round to say hi - more tomorrow!

Define "A Little While" and I Don't Know About This Whole No Nap Thing....

Yikes! It's Thursday already! How did that happen?
I'll tell you how that happened - no naps. This changes things entirely, especially craft-wise. Nap-time is that sacred hour-ish where I get to doodle (have you ever tried to doodle on your own with an almost-three-year-old? no? really? 'cause once you've been hoodwinked into drawing every baby animal in existence and then their mamas, and then their babos, and then their grannies....so I'll save you the trouble - it's futile. Fun, but futile), peruse a few blogs, write this blog, organise ribbons, move fabric around, daydream about projects, actually do projects, all that stuff that feeds on uninterruptedness and solitary-ness....All the stuff that feeds me.....Now it's Thursday and there have been a million things to say, emails to write, seams to sew, embroidery and....

Well, there's always a way around things, or through, or with, or not, or AND

So, the Good News Round-Up, then (and Some Randomness):

:: I won something! You know how people say they never win things? Well, with me it's actually true, but on Tuesday I won a beautiful purse from chrysanthemum! Just for saying hi! Her blog is full of great writing, great craftiness, and great aesthetic, so I can't wait to see the bag "in person" :-) ::

:: Speaking of winning things, the mistake stories so far are a delight! (See the just previous post.) If you're lurking, please come out of the wood-work or from under the knitting and say hi! If you don't have a story, that's alright, because then we can all gang up on you and get you to tell us how never to make a mistake again, which would be an awesome time-saver, really....o.k., I promise no stories is cool too - we won't bug you - just say hi! ::

:: The Big Carrot (see this post to find out why I'm so happy about this) labelled their bulk section finally, with stickers put on the Canadian-grown items. Yay! It's a start! ::

:: Has it been a little while yet? I may have unwittingly spoken an untruth when I said I wasn't going to do any more craft fairs for "a little while". BECKY, who runs the monthly Good Catch Craft Fair, invited me (!) to have a table at the fair on August 18th. Actually, she invited me last week, I've been holding out....I've been a bit flabbergasted and soooooo verrrry excited I thought if I held out it wouldn't be so lame how unabashedly excited I am to have been invited to this, but lo and behold....nope, didn't work! And it was kind of soon (as in immediately) after I said I wasn't going to do any for a little while.......BECKY's so sweet I couldn't resist :-) ::

i'm soooooo embarassed - i just realised that i called Becky Jen when i originally posted this - oh-good-golly-my-face-is-so-red, especially since she IS really nice and that was just so thoughtless - sorry Becky!

:: It's Safiya's 3rd birthday at the end of the month! Yippee! For some reason this seems like the new year to me. You know how the school year was always really the New Year and New Year's was just an excuse for a party? Well, Safiya's birthday is my New Year. She's already discovered one of the presents I was working on (see the above picture), so naturally I have to make some other surprise presents ;-) ::

:: If you see in the comments below, I had my first comment in another language. Cool, I thought, Spanish! (duh!) Went to Babel Fish, cut and pasted the text....so....not Spanish! My triumphant look at how easy this was vanished into bewilderment.....thank goodness it was Portuguese, but I'm thinking of randomly translating stuff like that 'cause the results are pretty fun and apparently I have not enough things to do in the day.....::

:: Safiya and I watched a thundershower today ::


And that's all for today!