I tried to post this yesterday, but the silly site refused to let me upload a picture instead of just linking to Flickr as I usually do.  It turned out to be a linux problem, and I struggle with those, so it took me until today to fix it.

This was the view from the front of the house yesterday. I’d post a photo from today but it still looks very much the same.  “They” are still saying don’t drive unless your journey is essential, so DH’s office was closed today, but he walked into town to buy a power lead for his work laptop so he can work at home tomorrow if necessary.

Spurred on by the example of some of my friends on swap-bot, I’m trying to resurrect this blog again. I’ve done a bit of experimenting with the picture placement on an earlier post and, while I can’t say I’ve cracked it, I seem to be doing better than I was, so I think I’m going to keep the blog here and try to post fairly regularly.

[Yes, I've written that before, but ...]

Just to get it (re-)started, and since it is still technically within the 12 Days of Christmas, here are pictures of some ornaments I made for Christmas 2009  These ones were for some swappers whose partners hadn’t sent to them, but I also made some for friends.

They are made from felt padded with cotton batting and embellished with gold sequin waste, gold thread and gold beads.  The tree is 2.5″ (6.5cm) tall, and the red hexagon is 2.15″ (5.5cm) across.  They were inspired by an article by Karen Wise in Stitch magazine, issue 61.

I stumbled across some beautiful pictures this morning, and an amazing giveaway. Bespoke Press has given 10 young illustrators a chance by producing a set of limited edition prints, and they are giving away a set of all 10 prints here. It was so difficult to pick a favourite to enter the giveaway. I love “The Sugar in your tea, …” and “Treasures untold” but I eventually decided on “The smell of the sea”.

I’ve been too busy to spend much time doing so, though, so I still haven’t decided whether to move the blog or stay here, or worked out why I can’t place photos where I want on this blog when I used to be able to do that. Oh well, in the meantime I’ve been making more mini-books, but I’ve also made a couple of notebooks – a small one with polymer clay covers for myself and a bigger one for a swap. I need to write them up here too.

I keep referring to my swaps at swap-bot, but I don’t have a link to the site on my sidebars. I really ought to put one there, but there is no point until I decide where I am going to continue blogging. Swap-bot is a great site, with something for almost everybody. I usually swap handmade items and craft supplies, but there are also swaps for bought items and various types of ‘writing’ swaps. I host a monthly series of quotecard swaps (just a favourite quote on a postcard) and I have received a lot of interesting chocolate from other countries through tag games, in which you tag someone who is offering something you want, and then offer items you can send to the person who posts after you. I’d never have known how good Scandinavian chocolate is without those tags, and I’ve also fallen for some US chocolate I can’t get here.

I also spend a lot of (too much?) time on the swap-bot forums. The ‘public’ forums are open to any member and can get a bit rough at times, like any public forum, but there are a lot of fun and/or informative threads too. There are also group forums for particular topics and many which are just for groups or friends (or friends-to-be), and those are usually peaceful places and very supportive. I’ve learnt a huge amount from the forums, and I also blame them for seducing me into new crafts like bookbinding.

I’m pondering what to do about this incarnation of my blog. I haven’t really got comfortable with WordPress, and there would be advantages to switching to Blogger. On the other hand, I like having it here under my own control.

Meantime, here’s a fun contest with a prize of a pair of ugg boots, no less. Just visit the Whooga Boots website.

… for a friend’s Etsy shop and a giveaway.  Melanie (wiccked on Etsy) makes really beautiful things.  I have some of her ATCs but, until I looked at her Etsy, I hadn’t realised she did PMC – check out the Sun Pot, Bugs on a Screen door and By The Rivers of Babylon in particular.  This week, she has donated the prize for The Aussie Handmade Giveaway, so check that out too.

Before I get on to what I am doing today, I want to mention that a friend from Swap-bot, lisajhoney, is doing a blog giveaway. She makes wonderful felt food and other felt items.  The giveaway runs till September 2nd, but if you are reading this too late, please visit her blog and Etsy shop anyway.

So, back to me … today I am making mini-book charms for a series of charm swaps on Swap-bot.  I made the first one a few weeks ago using traditional sewn signatures (groups of folded pages), but cutting the pages accurately enough for such a small book is a slow process, so now I am experimenting with mini accordion books.  If this works out, I’ll post pictures soon.

I’ve been interested in quilting for a long time, but my previous attempts to get started have faded away.  I still have a half-finished lap quilt top from too many years ago to remember.  Then I joined Swap-bot and discovered fabric ATCs and postcards, and I’ve been having fun ever since.

Last year I finished my first quilt, also for a swap. It is only a doll-sized quilt, but it was a start. I chickened out of quilting that one and just used buttons to ‘tie’ it, but …

… as far as blogging is concerned.  Part of the problem was that most of what I have been making lately has been for swaps on Swap-bot and I’ve been reluctant to post pictures or details here in case my partners saw them and it spoiled the surprise.  I’ve decided to put a spoiler warning on my Swap-bot profile and leave it up to my partners to decide whether or not to look.  I’m still leaving my Flickr pictures as private until I know the items have been received, though.  So, I’ll try to get some pictures of some of my latest projects uploaded soon.

In the meantime, kitty eye-candy …

I was going to relaunch this blog on my 60th birthday a few days ago, but  I didn’t meet that deadline.  I have been working on it, though, with a new layout which still needs some tweaking.  In the time I’ve been ‘away’, I’ve broadened my art/craft interests a lot, so I will be including art, paper crafts and quilting along with my fibre crafts, but it will still be primarily a craft blog.

I am unlikely to post every day, perhaps not even every week, but I will try not to leave too long between posts, so I hope I will eventually get some fairly regular visitors.