gardening and giveaway result

I've had some help in the garden this week, never known a cat have so much fun with a dried grass stalk....



it's been lovely to get outside and find some signs of spring, these are by the front door to make it look welcoming to all the hundreds of house viewers we're sure to get now we've changed estate agents...... well maybe not, but I'm appreciating them anyway.



first signs of poppy growth, oh how I loved photographing the stages of my poppies last year, you may have to resign yourself to a repeat performance this year....



and some of last years wallflowers clearly self seeded/got left behind so we have a little expanse of colour, it amazes me that they are such vibrant rich shades, when I so expect spring to be soft and pastel like........



and this is the update on the veg garden to be, I've edged the front of the border with alpine strawberries, and the wiggly sticks are just for fun for now, but will be for french beans, and the snakes - well they are to frighten the cats, and hopefully to keep them off - if nothing else they entertain the children who think it's hilarious that we are growing snakes!



and now to the giveaway, with the help of random number the winner is commenter no.2 which was Nancy, congrats (I think -
you may yet be getting wonky flower crochet, they are taking over the house.........), send me an email with your address. xx

it's a miracle

thank you Lucy.

ok so my flower has 6 petals and Lucy's have 5, there's obviously still improvement to be made......... but so much better than the last efforts!

I can't include it in my giveaway though (you still have till Friday to enter)- this one's mine!

200

this is my 200th post, which seems impossible, and to celebrate I thought a little giveaway was required. I really liked Lynn's idea that for a 200th post everyone sends the author chocolate, but I know she didn't quite work out how to make it happen.............. so instead I shall send a little something including chocolate - but of course I can't photograph it, because I haven't bought it yet, because if I buy it to far in advance it might go mouldy (get eaten..............)

I've seen so much lovely crochet around blogland I thought it would be nice to make a few little crochet flowers as a giveaway - it doesn't look that hard............

mmm, have spent all weekend scowling a LOT, the wrinkles in my brow will need industrial strength straighteners to remove them, there has been swearing (shocking I know), crying almost, throwing of wool on the floor, and much muttering.

there will not be any crochet flowers included in the giveaway, but to make you laugh you can see my delightful "creations"

I'm thinking of piling them into a tower, and exhibiting them at the Tate Modern, sale price 2.3 million pounds...........



this is better in that it's bigger, but why it got wider and wider is beyond me.........

and I really like what's going on in this corner, but as I didn't plan it, and it doesn't look like that in my library book I know not what I did, and therefore won't be able to do it again..............

so if you don't want a tangled crochet mess but instead a felt flower perhaps and some other goodies leave me a comment (that I can contact you from), and if anyone knows what's going on with my crochet I'd love to know..............

I'll draw a name on Friday 27th


tess x

things that are making me smile

valentines carrot cakes - recipe from Lucy at Attic 24, try it, it's heavenly. thank you Lucy. xx



daffodils in a vase, I'm not usually a fan of yellow, but these can't help but make me smile.




daffodils, carrot cake, and a pretty mug, a quiet moment stolen away from the half term mayhem.



my winter jasmine flowering, it hadn't flowered for 4 years, and last summer I dumped the pot out on the deck and gave it a strong talking to, and then left it out till at least November when I felt sorry for it, and brought in back in. and lo and behold, we have flowers, not many, but the scent is heady, and intense.



and finally a stack of shiny new cake tins, all ready to be filled with cake.

bushfire quilt project

wonky star blocks for Tia's bushfire quilt project. more info here

let there be cake

last year I made a resolution to start using all my recipe books (I have an awful lot) and somehow it just didn't happen.

this year I have an accomplice - Miss K!

last night it was music to my ears when a little voice said

"mummy you know next week is half term"

"yes........"

"can we make banana bread like Auntie C and ginger cake, and can we bake every day?"

that's my girl!

to celebrate I made marmalade buns from Cherry cake and ginger beer, well I made 6 buns, and one loaf - typically it wasn't cooked when it was time to go to E's swimming lesson, so I turned the oven off and left it in, and now it's a bit dark - I just put extra icing on.

and because they have marmalade in I had some for breakfast. so much better than cornflakes!

Miss K is holding out for Grandpa's birthday cake, because tradition dictates chocolate!

100 things list

I found this list whilst blog hopping, and now I can't remember where from..........
the idea is to highlight the things you've done in bold, and the things you want to do in italics.
have a go it's quite fun, although some of the items are a bit odd...
I found it interesting that I hadn't done the only UK related item.

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Helped a child you didn't know

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (well half way up - I was very pregnant....)

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France - got as far as standing outside the Louvre, but was interrailing on very tight budget, and decided to buy food not museum ticket - what was I thinking.....

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - how much is enough? to eat to live ???????

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa - it really leans - like my snowman!

39. Gone rock climbing (thought I should conquer my fear of heights - crazy idea)

40. Seen Michelangelo's David

41. Sung karoke - never again..............

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - never again.......

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (a fish....)

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life (well I've given blood, so maybe........)

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a lawsuit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Read an entire book in one day

oh and I didn't get the job, but apparently I did very well in the interview ??? so that was a suprise. will have more time to try and finish the list now - and get some quilting done!

well I think that went astonishingly badly, oh well, perhaps they're looking for someone who can freeze with great ease at the impossibly obscure questions, if not, well then I'm going to save a lot in childcare costs...........

onwards to important things, collect Miss K from brownies, collect E from cubs, go to my swimming lesson, and then wine and chocolate................

feeling somewhat wobbly

I'm feeling somewhat wobbly, I've got a job interview tomorrow, at the quilt museum.
wish me luck, I still haven't organized who will pick the children up from school tomorrow, let alone thought about what to wear - or say...............

project improv

Jacquie of Tallgrass Prairie Studio has started a quilting challenge called project improv. The idea is that you don't follow a pattern, or a strict fabric collection, but make it up as you go along...........

Everyone in the group committed to make one block each which will go to make as many charity quilts as possible, each block would be log cabinish, this one is mine for the blue/green quilts.



after years of trying to keep straight it's both strangely liberating, and incredibly hard to be wonky!


but fun.

the mystery of the leaning snowman of pisa

there's a snow man in the garden, nothing so unusual about that.



except this one appeared in the night whilst the children were sleeping.................

I can't imagine what the neighbours thought as J and I messed about in the dark giggling furiously, looks like our snowman has been at the wine, he's a bit lopsided, my excuse is that it was dark!

there has been much discussion this morning as to where he came from, and who made him. our footprints from the night before we totally covered by more snow, the only tracks were those of the cats.......................