Contented

Lovely mail

Who doesn't love getting lovely things in the mail?! This morning the postman delivered a parcel from my other seaside swap partner Marie of Protect the Cookie.  Yes, I know the swap was AGES ago!  but I had pre-agreed with Marie that she could have longer to complete her part of the swap, so this felt like a wonderful bonus.

 

Inside the box...

lots of goodies wrapped in pretty pink tissue paper, which contained...

 

 

 

the most beautiful, turquoisey blue jewellery set - necklace, bracelet and earrings - which SHE MADE HERSELF!  I LOVE them!  But that's not all....

 

some gorgeous turquoisey-blue yarn,

 

plus a very cute notebook, three sticks of Southport rock and some gorgeous smelling bubble bath.  Thank you so much Marie, I love all my goodies!   Joe did start eyeing the rock but I have told him he will have to share!

While we're on the subject of swaps, don't forget there is still time to sign up for the paperbag swap - full details in the post below.

Have a great week!

 R x

 

Paper bag swap!

Thanks to those who left comments about the paper bag swap idea - I'm going to go ahead with it so sign-ups are now open!  Here's how it's going to work:

This swap is open to UK based bloggers only.

Sign up will be open from now until Sunday 4th October.

I will post the list of partners here on Monday 5th October.

You then have two weeks to get in touch with your partner, make friends and put together your bag of supplies.

Bags should be sent out no later than Monday 19th October.

When you receive the package from your partner, make them something lovely with the supplies they've sent you and send it back to them no later than Monday 16th November - that gives you 4 weeks making time which should be plenty I think.

Here are the rules regarding what you should send:

Please send 2 fat quarters of fabric plus one spool coordinating cotton thread.

Optional extras could include: a couple of skeins of embroidery thread, some ribbon or rickrack, or some buttons etc

Your supplies should be packaged in a nice bag - it doesn't have to be paper but I think we could really have a lot of fun making and/or decorating our own paper bags, but fabric would be nice too - just NO PLASTIC BAGS PLEASE!

When you come to make your items, you may add extra fabric or other supplies from your own stash but you must use the supplies that your partner has sent you.

If you want to send any little extra gifts then I would suggest you do that when you send back your finished items. 

I hope that all makes sense!  Any queries just let me know, and I'll go over it all again when I post the list of partners.

Jennyflower, A Bun Can Dance, Tiny White Daisies and DollyDollop - you're already on my list.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

R x

Another swap anyone?

I recently signed up for a Letter Writing Swap which is being hosted by Denise at A Bun Can Dance, and yesterday found out that my partner is Susan Ashman, who runs her own Interior Design business.  I immediately loved the idea for this swap - to simply write a letter to our partners - as I used to love writing to my various penpals as a teenager.  I am still in contact with one of them (hello Catherine!), but nowadays we correspond by email.  I couldn't tell you the last time I actually sat down and wrote a proper letter!  So I am really looking forward to choosing some lovely notepapers and maybe a new pen too!

This obviously got me thinking about doing another swap.  Despite me having said how keen I am to get back into some fun sewing, I am in knitting mode at the moment and am having a hard time finding my sewing groove again.  So what better way to give myself a kick start than to arrange another swap?  Some time ago I read about something called a "Paperbag" swap (I think it was here) and thought it sounded like a really fun idea.  Basically, you send your partner a pre-set amount of supplies eg. some fabric, ribbon, buttons, embroidery thread etc) in a paper bag (although it really doesn't have to be paper!), then your partner makes something using the supplies you've sent, and sends it back to you (and vice-versa).  What a brilliant idea!  You still get a surprise in the post but, because you've chosen the materials, you can almost guarantee that you'll love it!  This might be a great way to make use of some fabric that you've been holding on to but can't decide what to do with?  What do you reckon?  Is anyone interested?  Let me know and if there's enough interest then I'll set it up.  I think though, that because it obviously involves posting out twice, I'm going to limit this one to UK bloggers only, in order to keep the costs down. Sorry!  But do let me know what you think.

R x

Look me in the eye

I've just finished reading this book from the library.  Here's what it says on the back cover:-

"From the age of three or four years old, John Elder Robison realised that he was different from other people.

Unable to make eye contact or connect with other children, by the time John was a teenager his odd habits and eccentric pranks had earned him the label "social deviant".  It didn't help that his mother conversed with light fixtures and his father spent most evenings nursing a bottle of sherry.

Look Me in the Eye is John's remarkable story of growing up with Asperger's syndrome at a time when the diagnosis simply didn't exist.  From a dysfuncional childhood, to his years touring with rocks bands as a sound engineer, to then settling down with his wife and child, this book is a rare fusion on inspiration, dark comedy and insight into the workings of the human mind."

I found this a really positive read.  Many of the things he described from his early childhood I could recognise in Joe.  Also, as an adult he has been able to explain the reasons why he behaved in a certain way, such as not being able to make eye contact, and it really has given me a better insight into why Joe might have those same behaviours.   Also, despite the fact that he dropped out of school without any qualifications, he went on to build up his own successful business and got married and had kids.  Reading about that has given me even more optimism that Joe will be ok.

Even if you are not affected by Asperger's I would recommend this book as it was extremely well written and I think it could really help raise awareness about the condition. 

Have a great weekend!

R x

Kerrymaid Giveaway

My lovely blog pal Emma is having a giveaway on her reviews blog here- this fantastic hamper is up for grabs, to help promote the launch of a new garlic butter product.   Click on over and take a look. 

Now, I don't have a particular garlic butter recipe to share, but you really can't beat it, spread on some toasted French bread and topped with grated cheese, then melted under the grill - yum! 

Good luck if you do enter! (And tell Emma I sent you!!)

R x

Still here!

Hello!  Sorry for disappearing there, can't believe I didn't manage to blog at all last week (although I did at least manage a post for TLBG Wednesday).  I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things now that the kids are back at school.  Last week Peter was off work, so it was lovely to be able to spend some time together, but it did mean I couldn't quite get back into my term-time routine!  My to-do list is filling up like you wouldn't believe, and it's mostly really boring but essential stuff (filing, lots of boring paperwork stuff, renewing house insurance, trying to get the house into a reasonably tidy state etc)  Hopefully, if I can get my arse into gear, I'll be able to get back on top of things this week and then I'll be able to start some fun stuff.

I can at least show you now the little secret something I was making back here. 

 

I used the "Little Pink House" tutorial, (found here), but instead of framing it in an embroidery hoop I decided to make it into a little mini-quilt for my Mum's birthday.

 

She was thrilled to bits with it, it was such a sweet, fun thing to make that I'm sure I'll be making some more in the future.  I'm going to make her something else that she can choose the fabrics for, like a bag or a quilt,  so this was just a little something to open on the day.

Right, must go and have some lunch now and then maybe I can tick another job off the list before the school run!

Have a great week!

R x

September

All over blogland I have seen people writing about how they are feeling the change in season and, I must admit, I am kind of feeling it too.  The boys both went back to school on Friday, Will to his new secondary school and Joe back to the primary to start year 2.  Will has been so laid back about starting secondary that I've been pretty chilled out about it too, but I do feel a little anxious about Joe still.  He was fine on Friday - his TA was waiting outside for us so that I wouldn't have to go in with him and they're going to continue to do that next week, to try and get him used to going in on his own, but I'm not sure how he'll be with that.  We'll see.  

September marks the start of peak birthday season in our family - all four of our birthdays fall within an 8 week window, starting with Peter's 40th this coming week (and my own 40th a month later - eek! how did that happen?  I could have sworn I only just turned 30!).  Unfortunately, the boys aren't so keen on the idea of lots of handmade gifts so some shopping has to be done, and as soon as all the birthdays are out of the way we are straight into Christmas!  Ack, I hate Christmas shopping!  (and I can't believe I'm even talking about the C word now either!  Sorry, I'll stop now)

I haven't been up to anything very much this last week or so.  I have a couple of rather big and tedious jobs on the to-do list (Peter's tax return and a pile of 15 curtain panels to be hemmed for the school's Santa's Grotto) which are kind of putting me off starting anything else until they are out of the way.  You'd think I would just get on with them wouldn't you?  But no, I've been reading instead, two very absorbing books that had been sitting in the to-read pile for ages.

 

Both very good books.  I'll warn you though, When Will There be Good News? is not a happy book.  It sort of works out ok in the end, but it really does seem like just one bad thing happening after another - I think that's what kept me reading it, I just wanted to know if anything good was ever going to happen?

Hopefully next time I'll have something crafty to show you.

Have a great week!

R x

Wordplay

 

Regular readers of my blog might have noticed that, whilst I blogged about joining the wordplay project several months ago, I have yet to actually produce anything for it!  I've got to admit, after failing to come up with anything for the first two words (sugar & sunday) I was starting to worry that I just wasn't creative/imaginitive/good enough.  And I did feel this even more so when I first saw what the word for September was.  However, I gave myself a bit of a talking to - it's not a competition, there's no right or wrong, it's just meant to be a bit of fun, I should just chill out about it and enjoy it!  After that, when I thought about the word again, two images came immediately to mind - colour (as in, awash with..) and water.  And from there, it actually became rather obvious to me what I should do. 

 

 

 

I used Fossil Fern fabrics, by Benartex.  I absolutely love these.  The colours are so vibrant, but at the same time have a very watery quality about them.  I only had four fat quarters of it in my stash, so decided to use just those to put together a little mini quilt, pretty much just making it up as I went along.  I did the little bit of embroidery first, then quilted it by hand before finishing with dark navy binding.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out, it's very me, although the colours are much brighter in real life. 

Now, just have to wait another 3 weeks to find out what the next word will be!

R x