Hello From The Hug!

(December 2007)

G’day all! Well, another month has whizzed on by and even though I feel like I’ve been ‘busy, busy, busy!’, I’m not sure I’ve achieved half the things on my ‘To Do’ list! I have a theory that someone is taking a few hours out of every day, so by the end of the week I’ve lost a day or two, by the end of the month I’m missing a week or so and by the end of the year …! You get the picture! Suddenly, I’m looking at a calendar that tells me I only have 20 days til Christmas!! Uh oh! I think it’s time to update the ol’ Christmas list and hit the shops. Oops! Did you hear that loud thump as Scott hit the floor in a dread faint!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

One person who received an early Christmas present from Tag Along Teddies this week was Leanne of Toowoomba, who won the “My Favourite Craft Project” competition. Leanne’s favourite projects was … a Tag Along Teddies pattern! Olive! Leanne made Olive at the craft retreat I taught at just after the last newsletter went out. Due to such a busy time of year, Leanne was the only bear maker in my class, so we had a lovely time chatting and stitching. Leanne is a very clever folk artist who thought she’s like to try something different and her version of “Olive”, who she named “Matilda”, came out beautifully! To explain why Matilda was her favourite craft project, Leanne wrote: “I made Matilda at a Craft Retreat over the weekend 9 – 11 November 2007. She’s my favourite project to date because she’s the first bear I’ve ever made. I’m not very good at sewing but I decided to take on the challenge at the craft retreat of doing something completely different to what I usually do. I honestly didn’t think that she would turn out very well and so I was very excited when she came to life on Sunday as the very loveable and delightful Matilda (no doubt due in large part to my wonderful teacher!) Always believe in yourself and take time to enjoy the simple pleasures like crafting with friends!”

You can see Leanne’s gorgeous country bear, Matilda, by clicking on the competition button on the home page of the Tag Along Teddies web site – she really is a cutey! Thanks to all who took the time to send photos and explanations for the competition – I had a REALLY tough time deciding on a winner! In fact, I ended up not being able to choose between three equally wonderful projects and explanations, so put them into a hat to draw out a winner! Watch out for future competitions on the web site and of course, newsletter recipients will always be the first to hear about them!

On the subject of craft retreats and classes – last ‘Hello From The Hug’ I told you I had the retreat and a class in my home town on the agenda. Because this end of the year gets so busy and hectic with Christmas parties and break-ups, numbers for both were down. As I’ve already said, Leanne was the only student at the craft retreat, but we had a brilliant time! The retreat itself went very smoothly and around 35 ladies enjoyed over 10 hours of craft time, meals cooked for them, a guest chat by one of Australia’s premier quilters and inspirational speakers, Robyn Ginn, as well as lots of fun and laughs. Held at Lake Perseverance on Queensland’s Darling Downs, this retreat is set to become an annual event, though it will be a little earlier in the year next year and I think bookings will fill up quick! The class in my home town of Mundubbera had to be cancelled due to low numbers, which was disappointing, but understandable. Alicea, who owns Lemon Jo’s Patchwork where the workshop was to be held, said she hopes to reschedule the class sometime next year, when people have  a little less on their plates. I’ll look forward to it!

For some time now, I’ve been telling you all of my plans to add a “Brag Book” page to the Tag Along Teddies site, and now my clever, techo husband had done that for me! You know how grandmas carry little photo albums of their new grandchild and new parents have a folder full of photos to show off their bundle of joy? Well, this is where the clever crafters in the Tag Along Teddies’ extended family get to ‘brag’ a little about how clever they are. All you have to do is email photos of your completed craft projects to me with a little snippet about when you made the project, what you like about it, if it was made for a special occasion – whatever you’d like to share with everyone as a caption for your craft ‘baby’. I’m also hoping it will inspire visitors to the Tag Along Teddies site! Let’s face it, we all need a little encouragement from time to time to motivate ourselves to tackle projects we’ve been ‘thinking about’ for a while. By admiring the work of other crafters, I hope you’ll all be inspired to go on creating hand-made magic with needle, thread, paint, wool – whatever! Remember, your projects don’t have to just be ones you’ve made from Tag Along Teddies patterns, they can be any medium, as long as you made them and would like to show them off to an appreciative audience! Just email photos and captions to me at: kris@tagalongteddies.com and I’ll have my clever husband add them to our “Brag Book”!

While there are no new patterns being added to the site this month, rest assured I’m still working on a number of new designs to tempt you to spend your ‘play money’, which should be making their appearance early in the New Year. In fact, we’re heading home to my folks at Mundubbera for a quiet Christmas (having had lots of family excitement already this year!) and I’m hoping to have some quiet sewing and stitching time then, so keep an eye on the web site in the new year for some new patterns and projects to add to your ‘to do’ list. In the meantime, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and New Year. It’s so easy to allow ourselves to become overwhelmed with the busy-ness of this time of year, with parties, preparations, shopping, wrapping, planning … the list goes on! I’ve decided that this year, I’m following the advice seen in many country craft projects and plan to “Simplify”. After feeling pressured by some family decisions about gifts this year, I decided to throw out my gift suggestion list and do lots of home cooking. I hope that those receiving my gifts will appreciate them because they’re yummy, but also because I’ve given a precious gift – time! I know that for myself, I love to receive gifts that people have made for me, because each time I look at the gift, I think of that person and the time they put aside to spoil me! Maybe your budget is small or stretched to the limit this year. (who’s isn’t!)  Why not give your loved ones the gift of your time rather than spending heaps of bought gifts. Follow my lead and hit the kitchen, or why not give someone an “IOU” for a lawn mow, evening’s babysitting, home-cooked meal, an hour’s worth of ironing – use your imagination! I hope you have a ‘simplified’ Christmas season!

From the Tag Along Teddies team of Scott and me, I wish you health, happiness, safety and good times with family this festive season, because family is at the heart of Christmas. Remember the Reason for the Season and I’ll see you in the New Year!! Til next “Hello From The Hug”,

CHEERS!
KRIS