Hermitage

Am supposed to be writing a short article about Lausanne for work, but I don't really know anything about it, and I need to procrastinate, so I'm procrasti-blogging instead. For some reason, the word 'Lausanne' just makes me think of a cheesy country song or something...'Lou's Anne'....with a huge drawl. 

Anyway, I can post this now that the banner pictured above has arrived at its intended destination. I made it for Ari and her manfruit (and 'Hello' to Wally too!) as a housewarming gift...except I took so long to get around to making it that this gift was probably rather tepid when it arrived. Sorry, dudes. 

Why 'Hermitage'? Because that's what they call their place, dummy! Anyway...back to Lausanne...

Edit: Heehee, did you know there's a resort by Lausanne called 'Ouchy'? I know it's not really pronounced 'Ouch-eeeeee' like you're in pain, but I don't care. I'm gonna say it like that anyway. Don't destroy my dreams!

Winner, Not Wiener!

Congratulations, Liesl of Hoppo Bumpo! You're the winner of my giveaway, and I'll be in touch soon for your mailing address. The granny square bunting will be winging its' way to you shortly, along with a selection of other goodies!

Thank you to everyone else who entered, I'm sorry I don't have enough granny square buntings to giveaway to all of you. I'll be holding more giveaways in future, so stay tuned for more exciting prizes!

I Got You A Present!

Did Santa get you what you wanted for Christmas? I hope no one got a lump of coal, but if you did, well, coal is fairly useful.

On my part, I managed to stuff a 12 course dinner into my gut on Christmas Eve, and then spent Christmas Day working it off in a strenuous session of computerised arse-kicking, courtesy of Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Because I'm tough.

Anyway, because this is my 100th post, I've decided to give one reader a late Christmas present, to say 'Thanks' for sticking with me! I''ll be giving away a very colourful granny square bunting, handmade by me! Hang it on your walls or over your windows to brighten a dreary day, or just wear it like a scarf, as I've done in the picture below.

The bunting measures 90 inches in length (that's over 2 metres!) and is made up of 16 granny squares, so you'll have lots to go around. I've also included two loops at the ends so you can hang them on nails.

I'll also be including other goodies in the package, such as vintage postcards, a couple of scrap paper notebooks, and some little handmade notecards with envelopes. If I find any goodies from my trip to Swallow Falls next week, they'l be going in to! So, a rather large package will be winging their way to one lucky blog reader.

To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is tell me your favourite thing about winter. Just leave a comment below, and you'll automatically be entered into the draw for the giveaway. I'll be picking a winner out of a hat on January 4th (eep, that's next year!) and posting the results here soon after that. I'll be happy to post internationally, so anyone can enter. If you haven't got a blog account or anything like that, just email me at: dummyentree@hotmail.com and I'll enter your name into the draw. And if you want to remain anonymous, please leave me some way of contacting you if you do win.

Remember though, you have to tell me what your favourite thing about winter is, or you won't be eligible for the giveaway. Good luck everyone, and Happy New Year!

Edit (02/01/10) - I'm extending the giveaway til 10th Januuary, as I'm fairly busy this weekend. Good luck everybody!

Snow, Socks and Squares

It snowed here late last night/ early this morning, and I woke up to find the view outside covered in a lovely thin veil of white! As you can see, it wasn't a lot, but some snow is still prettier than no snow! Even the cars looked cute, like little snow-covered turtles crawling about.

So I guess it's a good thing that I finally finished the other sock on Monday morning, seeing as it'll be getting rather nippy these days. It took me only two days to finish the first one, and yet, I spent a week trying to finish up the other side! Is this an attack of the dreaded second sock syndrome?

In other news, remember me mentioning the giveaway I'll do doing when I reach my 100th post? Well, here's a sneak preview - a whole bunch of little granny squares. But it's not gonna be a blanket...

Fun At The Fete

Eeek! I've been horribly slow at posting lately (no thanks to visitors from overseas, and some 'top secret' work work). All I really want to do today is hide in a dark corner, but I thought I should post a quick update on how the Urban Village Fair last Saturday turned out anyway. My digital camera got commandeered by my tourists for the day, so I didn't manage to get many pictures of the other stalls at the fair.

I've got this rather pathetic photo of the other stalls beside my table, and it was taken so late in the day that about half of the others had already packed up and left. If you squint, you'll be able to see quite a few umbrellas out there. Despite the horrid weather, the day actually turned out be be a success!

The fair was my first one this year, and had heaps of fun! I made enough to cover the cost of the stall (a first! I usually do so badly that I was considering applying for non-profit charity status), met some very lovely crafters, and ate an awesome brownie!

The brownie came by way of the wonderful Cake Collective crew, who also had cute little chocolate hedgehogs, a yummy looking blueberry bundt cake, and some glittery little cupcakes. I had to limit myself to only buying one brownie so I wouldn't - quite literally - eat into my takings for the day.

Cake Collective (left) and loumms (right)

Jo from Kitschcraft also came up for a chat. She makes the sweetest little dollies, and also had lots of brooches and rings with vintage buttons. Lou and Emm from loumms had their stall directly across from mine, and they are two of the sweetest ladies I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Be sure to check out their Etsy shop for gorgeous convertible aprons and Grow Your Own Soup seed packs.

Urban Village Fete

I've been busy over the last fortnight making up heaps of items that will go on sale at the Urban Village Fete this Saturday. It's happening in Peckham (see flyer above for details) and will start from 2pm onwards.

This is going to be the first time I'm doing a stall this year, so I'm pretty excited about it! So excited, in fact, that I've got a huge box filled with stuff ready to go!

I've made up heart buntings, lots of cute little notecards and greeting cards (blank on the inside so you can fill in your own messages), quite a few tardigrade brooches, and I'm spending today making up lots of brooches using scrap yarn and some of my vintage buttons.

If you're in the area this Saturday, do stop by and say 'hi'.