A Prayer for Christchurch

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. (Psalm 46:1-3)

We offer our heartfelt condolences. We are saddened by your loss and weep for you in the devastation. We pray for your safety and for you to find the strength and support you need. Know that we are sending our thoughts and prayers and love to you all. And in the coming days our blogging community with it's overflowing heart will be sending whatever help that you need to recover both emotionally and financially.

My Crochet Heart...

...belongs to Garry

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Doodle Stitching on a Wallet

A little bit of stitchery from one of the new books I bought ( Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection by Aimee Ray)

A little bit of cutting and pinning and sewing and velcro...

A little bit of zippidy doo dah...

A little bit of polka dot action...

Equals a happy cousin on her Birthday.

My Creative Space

In My Creative Space today there is singing!
Spontaneous Way OUT OF TUNE type singing!
The kind that begins with...Brown paper packages tied up with string...
Well the delivery was not quite tied with string, more cardboard and adhesive glue but these are a few of my NEW favourite things!
MY HEART IS FULL and overflowing! Oh how I HEART these beautiful books!

The first book I went to buy on amazon was Scandinavian Stitches by Kajsa Wikman her blog is syko.

She does fabulous, amazing things that I adore. I wanted to buy it around christmas time, but well, I figured I had bought too much already *g*
I think the very first thing I would love to make is "at the summer house" you can see it right there on the front cover of the book. But, I have this enormous frame in my spare room that has just been waiting and waiting for a project. I had hopes of stitching a tree with different fabric leaves, but life got so very complicated last year! Now I am wondering if I can stitch a smaller tree, and the summer house and some of the birds from 13 birds art quilt and maybe some other houses and make it a neighbourhood scene...some flowers and make it fill the enormous  frame. This might be a year long project! I can already hear my husbands reaction in my head "don't you have enough to do already, what with work, and art studies, and crochet and other sewing stuff"...hehehe
So when I went to purchase Scandinavian Stitches amazon had this deal for 3 books so I bought the other 2 as well.
The next book was Scandinavian Needlecraft by Clare Youngs

This book has some beautiful projects in it. Like the Reindeer that I would like to make for Christmas this year and the blue dandelion felted bag and the folk bird garland and felted wool slippers, floral winter scarf, felt baby boots, crested bird chair pad and the lovely, lovely book is full of templates and stitch guides..ahh heaven!
The third book, Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection by Aimee Ray

I vaguely remember I had seen the books around the bloggy traps, but hadn't really taken too much notice. Boy oh boy I should have!!! This books is choc-full of delicious little motifs and sparks off a storm of ideas in your head for what you could stitch them on. It is fantastic! It has a great simple stitch library and instructions for applique and embroidering with beads. Some of the projects I love already are the All weather Draft dodger and the happy day flag banner(I want to make this now), the  fabric basket, hoop framed embroidery art, soft sculpture trio. Oh my! The Motifs section has some gorgeous letters, flowers, garden, trees and leaves, weather, woodland fairytales & animals, space, embellishments and farm animals to name but a few! It even comes with a CD & 17 projects to make! My mind is racing with all the possibilities and..more to the point my fingers are twitching at the thought of stitch-stitch stitching all those lovelies!

Thank you Husband, writers of bookalicious lovelies, Amazon, Aussie Dollar AND delivery man for making this spontaneous outburst concert performance possible.

A New Year Promise for Peace

I know, I know it's a month into the New Year already BUT yesterday was the start of the New School Year, and my husbands school and the school I teach in the most as a casual placed this on their website and I couldn't help but want to take it's message onto my shoulders and spread it around:

I Promise:
To respect myself and others.
To communicate honestly and positively.
To listen carefully to the other, especially to those with whom I disagree.
To forgive others and to apologise and make amends when I hurt another.
To respect God’s creation and treat the environment and all living things with respect and care.
To pursue healthy activities and entertainment which promote a more joyful and less violent society.
To act courageously and to challenge violence in all its forms whenever I encounter it.
And to stand with others who are treated unfairly, even if it means standing alone.