blog giveaway : )

ok, so i have been feeling a bit sorry for myself lately...i am totally hooked on sewing, quilting in particular, but it just seems to be a massive expense....especially when you are not working. i look at fabric stores here in oz, and it just blows my mind how expensive the designer fabrics are...so i look online in the states, and see that it is much cheaper...but then postage is a killer. so to make it more economical, you really have to fill the whole package...which means i am blowing my budget out. so i had a big whinge, a little cry and now i have moved on! i have decided that, especially while i am still learning, i am going to op-shop it for a while. i headed down to a couple of my local ones, and i did manage to find a couple of old sheets. but my fave find were some old pillowcases...they are all linen, which i have never sewn with before, but i wanted to make a bit of a retro, florally picnic rug (yes, i know its winter!) and i thought maybe linen would be a little tougher? so then i thought, well why cant i use tea towells- you know, just the cotton ones...so today i am off to ikea to find some el cheapo's! i guess the whole reason people started quilting was to use up any old bits of fabric, clothes, bed linen, whatever they had...it was born from necessity, not fashion...so i too am heading back old school : )

my thrifty finds- aren't they sweet

then, to top off my thrift extravaganza, i entered the coolest blog giveaway over at imagingermonkey. as she lives in the UK, i could only enter the giveaway for her scrap bag...but i WON!!! YAY FOR ME!!!! WOO HOO!!!! do you know, i am totally in love with the thought of someones old scraps...it may sound scabby, but i think its cool...someone has lovingly picked out these fabrics to make who knows what awesome creations....now its my turn! hopefully some of the creative juices are still running hot through these goodies! How awesome is that bag of goodness!?!?

when i checked through my blog roll look what i saw!! YAY : )

i have my eye on making a fabric basket and maybe a drawstring bag, like these...
you can find tutorials here.

This is an awesome blog- her creations are fantastic and her fabric is to DIE for!

But for now i will have to wait and see what exactly is in the bag!
so, there you go...my lesson: be patient, have faith, and enter ALL blog giveaway's...you never know your luck ; )

Thanks Ginger Monkey x