iMoby V2.0

Do you remember little Moby?

I adopted him in January, and he's been happily living with his friends in the bookcase ever since (he really likes reading craft books I hear).

Lately he's been receiving a bit of attention from a little visitor who seems to have fallen in love with him.....

I couldn't bear (pardon the pun) to give him away, so instead, I asked Jess if I could possibly order Moby a twin brother.

So this is iMoby V2.0....

He arrived in a gorgeous little box (notice the postie even stuck the postage stickers right over to the side so that they didn't interfere with the lovely packaging), and with a batch of super cute bear stickers and my favourite type of chocolate (peppermint).

Now that he's had a bit of a stopover at my place, I'd better deliver him to his new home fairly soon.... or he might just have to stay!

To cut a long story short

Have you ever thought about what would happen if you needed a certain type of medication and it just wasn't available anymore? Unfortunately, this is the scenario that I've been dealing with lately. The one and only supplier decided to stop manufacturing without any warning, leaving patients like me with absolutely no equivalent alternative.


I've been without it for a couple of months now, which has led to a further decline in my lung function. After some online research, I finally managed to find some details on a new Australian manufacturer just this week (which my pharmacist and doctors didn't even know about). The drug has not yet been added to the PBS, but I was able to order it in. From the information that I found, it is scheduled to be listed from July 1st 2010.

The good news is that I'm looking forward to being back on track again after my slight hiccup..... and I can finally start to breathe again.

My advice to everyone is to always do your own research. Doctors will never be able to know everything about the latest and the greatest treatments, or the manufacturing plans of the various drug companies, and your health is far too important to just leave it to someone else to manage.

I'm adding some keywords to the bottom of this post just in case someone out there is googling looking for help just as I was Monday night, when I stumbled across just what I needed..... thankyou to the WWW.

Mucomyst alternative
Acetylcysteine Solution
Omegapharm
Mucolytic Agent
Bronchiectasis

Suburban Shopping

The weirdest thing happened on Wednesday afternoon...... after reading this post earlier in the day, I had to head down the main street of my local suburban shopping strip to visit the newsagent and the beauty therapist.

Just two doors down I found this.

Is it a Messages from the Universe......

PS - I'm apologising in advance to everyone attending Sew It Together. Just like Andi, I am truly terrrible at remembering names, so sorry!

My Creative Space

My creative space is all about the works in progress at the moment....

I have a custom order currently in progress for another camera bag. I love being able to take the initial drawing, and sit down at my desk to work out the cutting dimensions (including seam allowances) and decide how to cut the fabric so that the construction goes smoothly (or sometimes not so smoothly).

Even though I've only had one semester of formal design training many many moons ago, I'm still really interested in construction, and the way that things fit together. Maybe that's where my interest in manufacturing came from all those years ago?

So far, this one is going right to plan..... it has nice sturdy interfacing all over, some extra in the base, and medium heavy fusible wadding over the top of that. I just need to work on sewing on half of the closure, so that I can then begin constructing the outer (the extra fun bit where I get to see if it works)!

For much more of this weeks creativity, pop on over and visit Kirsty!

Parliament

A Parliament arrived in the letterbox yesterday.... but thankfully not that sort of parliament!

I'm doing a little swap with Amanda, and my gift is these super-gorgeous teeny-tiny little owl pins. The detail is truly amazing to see up close. They're far too beautiful to use as sewing implements, so I'm thinking that they're going to herald the official beginning of my collection of beautiful tiny things to fill out my printers tray.


Thanks for all the lovely messages yesterday - I'm hoping to get some answers later today.... fingers crossed.

PS - If you like my little owlie pins, then pop on over to Krafty Panda, because you could win some yourself!

Room to Breathe

I'm in the midst of a health hiccup at the moment, and feeling a little blue.

A chauffeur driven trip to the country, filled with green grass and fresh air and giggly nephews was just the medicine I needed yesterday.....

.....along with lots of billycart rides

Belated

We don't really celebrate Mothers Day with presents in my family. In fact, when I called mum yesterday, I asked her when we were going to celebrate Daughters Day.

I know that she needs a new handbag, so I spent a couple of hours of my lazy day yesterday whipping this one up.

Mum likes quite plain handbags..... but I don't really do plain!

Hopefully this one fit the bill.

Lazy

It's what Sundays are all about.....

Lazing about on the couch with the granny blankets....

While wearing moccasins.

The one where I show off my loot

Fabric from Kelani, Tea Towel by Yardage Design, Fabric from Ink and Spindle

Fabric from Kristen Doran Design

Shower Cap Kit by Pippijoe and Hoppo Bumpo

Craft Happy Hour Prize

Hmmm anyone might think that I have a bit of a penchant for red!

Stitchy Crafty Blurry* Fun

Nikki and Nikki

I had such a wonderful day out at the Stitches and Craft show today. It was blog central - I bumped into Andi and Kirsty as soon as I walked in the door.

My first stop was the Notebook stand on the lower level to catch up with Cathy. I hadn't actually seen Notebook before, but it looked quite interesting, so I bought myself a subscription to check it out, and picked up a fab goodie bag to go with it.

I then headed straight for the incubator section to catch up with all the crafty bloggy girls who were also visiting.   I found the perfect piece of fabric to finish a certain project, with a bit of help from Lara.

Next stop, Tania and I headed for Jodie's superfabulous (and free) talk about craft blogging (where we also found Gillian). Jodie was absolutely hilarious - I didn't stop smiling or laughing the whole way through..... if you're visiting tomorrow, then you should definitely go along - it's scheduled for 1.30PM. (By the way, that's a very blurry Jodie waving in the photo)!

Liesl and Caitlyn

I met up with Liesl and Argy and Bargy and we wandered around and looked and shopped and chatted for the rest of the afternoon.
 

Holly

I also got to meet Kristen, who is absolutely lovely, and had a chat to Cathy at the Kelani stand, and also bumped into fellow NCB'er Angela, and fellow Daylesford marketeer Michelle.

.

Sandra and Nic

We ended up staying right until the end which was just lovely, and I even managed to win a free random craft happy hour prize (a DVD, and some scrapbooking supplies) !


To top off such a wonderful day, I arrived home to find that my Magical Fairy Godsister had been to visit while I was out socialising and shopping, and cleaned my kitchen, unloaded and re-loaded the dishwasher, and made my bed.....

Thankyou Fairy Godsister!

* Sorry my photos are quite blurry - point and shoot camera / flash / shaky hands are to blame!

I'll be back tomorrow to show off my loot.... including fabric that I promised not to buy -HAH!

Edit: I knew I wouldn't remember everything and everyone - I also met Stompergirl, and Jodie's mum too!

Hands Free

I've been meaning to make myself a backpack bag for the looooooongest time. When I'm out shopping, it's really quite difficult to drag my little trolley with one hand, sling my handbag over my shoulder, and then shop with my other hand.

I also wanted it to be large enough to fit my mini laptop inside its mini laptop sleeve bag.

On Wednesday night I measured up my laptop, drew a quick sketch, and started whipping it up, and only realised after I'd completed the outer bag section, that I'd completely forgotten to sew in the straps.... aaaaggghhh!
That's what I get for sewing by the seat of my pants!

After a little bit of unpicking, I sewed in some nice long comfy adjustable straps. I'm wishing now that I'd used some interfacing on the denim so that it wasn't quite as unstructured as it is, but oh well....too late now.

I had to avoid magnetic closures, so I used Velcro on the inner bag, and a D-ring and a Swivel Hook on the outer.

It'll be heading out for it's first test run today!

My Creative Space

Beautiful Hand Dyed wool felt from Me and Ewe

There hasn't been much happening in my creative space this week, apart from a bit of knitting on the couch..... although I did make a start on a super secret birthday pressie (which of course I can't reveal just yet).
 I'm currently searching for the perfect piece of something to finish it off. It's one of those things where I'll know it's perfect just as soon as I see it.

Instead, I'm going to reveal snippets of another super secret pressie. Mr X had a list of around twenty things to choose from for this weeks homework assignment. Luckily for us, there was a topic that involved a bit of creativity, so we decided to choose Mother's Day. He was supposed to create a very intricate Mother's Day card, similar to something that you would find in a shop.

Photo has been deliberately (and quite pathetically) blurred so my sister can't work out what it is!

He found everything he needed (and more of course) in my craft stash, and so we decided that there should be a pressie too. He's getting quite good at sewing now - but not so good with the rotary cutting as he's left handed and I'm right handed, so it just doesn't translate!

I'm packing up my crafty basket thisafternoon, so I can head off to the Northern Craft Bonanza tonight, although it's going to be an early finish for me, so I can get lots of sleep and energy reserves ready for the Stitches and Craft Show tomorrow....

In the meantime, I'll be heading over to visit Kirsty's magical linky list to see who else is playing today.

Hearty Arty

Angels in Love 

I spied this most beautiful painting over at Little Black Crow Studio a couple of weeks ago....

I fell in love immediately, and it was completely stuck in my brain.

I enquired with Grace to find out whether it was for sale, and to my absolute delight, it was!

Now.... where shall I hang it ???

One more sleep peeps!

The excitement has been building all day today. All the fabulous indie crafters have been busy unloading their wonderful goodies at Caulfield racecourse in readiness for the Stitches and Craft Show.

I soooooo wish that I could attend every day. I been a busy little bee helping with preparations over the last few weeks - printing, folding, counting, packing, sealing, sticking, boxing, labelling, listing.......... and now it's SHOWTIME!

Jodie posted a wonderful final rant yesterday - we need to support the industry that we love, so that it remains sustainable.

Jennie made this fabulous linky list of the indie stallholders (which I've totally pilfered). Thanks so much Jennie.

Blue Ginger Designs
Craft Schmaft
Edwina Bolger
Funky Friends Factory
Hawthorne Cottage
Heartfelt Australia
IMOK
Ink & Spindle
Itchy Bird
Juicy Roo Designs
Kids With Crayons
Kristen Doran Design
Little Eve
Nicole Mallalieu Design
Oz Handmade
Pepperberry & Co
Pippijoe
Red Parka Designs
Ric Rac
Ruby Rose Designs
The Red Thread
TrishAlan Designs
Two Cheese Please
Two Little Banshees
Winterwood
Wren's Nest Studio
Yardage Designs

I can't wait to come along and visit on Friday!

I've got the bug

The knitting bug that is!

For some unknown reason, the knitting bug completely avoided me last year. I managed to craft right throughout the winter months, without an inkling of wanting to play with yarn. Now, here we are in Autumn, and suddenly all I want to do is just sit on the couch and knit. 

The urge first struck last Thursday night....
I knew that I had a box of leftover random balls of yarn in the garage, but I didn't know if I'd actually be able to find a matching set of knitting needles. Knitting needles are usually only used at my house to poke out corners when I'm sewing.

So now, I'm very happily ensconced in making mini scarves for my little nephews (that's the only idea I could come up with for one ball of random yarn). Let's see how long this current obsession lasts.....

The finale

The festival of Cam continued along yesterday...


Cathy, Bec and I met up and headed off to visit the Made'n'Thornbury market.

As soon as we arrived, we met up with Jay, who had this very cool surprise birthday pressie for me! It has the grooviest pictures inside and some great projects - knitting needle cosy, pincushions, bath slippers, hand puppets.... heaps and heaps of idea (and it was printed in 1974 too).

While we were browsing all of the beautiful stalls, Cathy bought me these gorgeous earrings. Of course, they are just perfect for me!

Next stop was Cathie's stall to buy some goodies for afternoon tea. As we arrived, she pulled out a very large cake box, and as I looked inside I found......

.... this very delicious Red Velvet Cake personalised with gingerbread letters! How sweet.

Now onto the rest of my birthday pressies....

Bec's Little Miss made me a beautiful birthday card (top of photo) with a voucher for anything handmade that I would like them to make me,  and Nikki's wee girl made me a beautiful birthday card (bottom of photo) with a portrait of me on the cover with very long arms, and my age on the back (it's very cute).

My girlfriend gave me this beautiful bangle with a vintage fabric inset, and her little boy drew me a picture on the birthday card....

My sister and BIL gave me this lovely handmade glass wind chime (the photo is a bit dreary today). It makes a lovely little tinkling noise in the wind.

My mum gave me some tea towels and some chocolates...

and my other sister and her family gave me a beautiful big bunch of flowers.

Thankyou so much to everyone who helped to make my birthday so special this year.... that's the festival finale for this year!

Still Going

My birthday (or the Festival of Cam as we named it today), is still going strong...

When I arrived at work yesterday, Nikki and her wee girl had baked me a very delicious chocolate birthday cake with yummy sprinkles on top! I also received a beautiful pressie, some chocolates and a very special handmade card (photo to come tomorrow).

Then on top of that, the other Nikki arrived with a block of yummy Cadbury (now fairtrade) chocolate for me too!

Anyone would think that I might like a bit of chocolate every now and then.....

Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting episode of the Festival of Cam (with tongue firmly planted in cheek)!

What a day!

Wowee! What a lovely birthday I had yesterday.

Thanks so much to everyone who left me a birthday message via text message, on my blog, on my facebook page and on their blogs! You certainly all know how to make a girl feel special on her birthday.

I had a most delicious lunch at the Boathouse with my sister and one of my girlfriends.

Not only was the food delicious, but the atmosphere was completely relaxing. I could have quite happily stayed there all day drinking cappucinos!

There were so many delicious things to choose from on the menu ....... I'm dreaming about what I'm going to eat on my next visit already.

My creative space - the birthday edition

I spent four hours cleaning up my crafty clutter on Monday........

So now there's lots of clear space to get creative again.......

But first, I'm heading to the Boathouse for lunch to celebrate my birthday (let's just say that I've now crossed over the mid-thirties mark).

In the meantime, make sure to check out all of the other lovely spaces at Kootoyoo.