Here is my latest make, done in 3 days and will be soon winging its way to a dear friend as a little gift to thank her for her kindness of spirit. In the past few chaotic months my band of online buddies have kept me upright and I will never forget that.

Here is my darling boy in his car. He is smiling at his reflection in the door panel. I cannot believe he has started school today and immeadiately took to his carer. 

I lost a lot of pictures when my Pc dies but am hoping to have them all back soon, meanwhile am off to take lots more.

Where did April go?

I seemed to spend a great deal of April run off me feet, finishing projects, starting new ones and of course ignoring a few I should have got on with. Then Jenni announced that her and the boys ( partner and son that is) had booked a cheap holiday in Spain and were away for a week. I did no more than jump on the pc and book us a break in Lincolnshire at a fishing place that catered for disabled people. I had my heart in my mouth as I did it as Hubby was quite fragile after a suspected mini stroke. I told him I had booked but it didnt actually register that we were going the next week until he heard me on the phone to Mum then he got excited and started packing...fishing gear..and more fishing gear..began to wonder if I could actually get in the car.

We spent 4 days in total peace and quiet and barely spent a penny. Hubby had to walk a few yards to where his fishing gear was set up at the lakeside so he enjoyed every minute of it. I sat in the cottage with the door open, stitching away or sat on a stone bench outside the cottage listening to the birds. Unfortunatly on the Wednesday hubby took ill and we had planned to go out and meet Ilona from Life After Money blog but hubby spent all day in bed. Of course the lovely lady understood that circumstances being as they are with Hubby it was amazing we got as far as we did. I still think the 4 days was worth it just to recharge my batteries if not his as it makes me able to keep on keeping on.

 Here is our little cottage and my stone bench refuge.

This was the beginning of my newest project when I got back, a patchwork quilt for my Grandson made from his tiny shirts and his Uncle Gareths man sized shirts. I had been waiting till gareth wore out a very nice blue check one so I could get started.

Here we have the first panel. I used to do very technical quilts by hand and all paper pieced but lifes too short so I ran this one up on the machine. It may not be perfect but theres love in every stitch and thats all that matters. maybe with my next one I will have a look at Froogs way of doing it and make it neater but for this one Im very happy. Im now on my 6th panel so just 2 more to go and I will back it etc.

I made this for little mans birthday and he was so pleased with it when he opened it that he gave it a squishy hug! Success! 

A lovely nomination!

I have been lucky to have been nominated for this award by my friend Jacquline at http://jaquelinef1.blogspot.co.uk/

What was the last book you read? - Yet another James Patterson, I Alex Cross

Do you have any "hidden" talents that you would like to share? - not really all my talents are pretty well known! 

What is your favourite smell? - natural scents like vanilla, orange.

If you wanted to escape would it be cottage by the sea or log cabin up a mountain?- Definately a cottage near the sea, not too close as its hard to grow veggies.

What item do you seem to knit the most of?

Can you knit with double pins? - no my feeble mind cannot manage more than 2

If you could spend a day with someone famous who would it be? - not famous in the real world but some of my online friends on MSE who are famous ther

In cooking would you choose Mary Berry or Delia Smith? - Mary cos she makes more cakes than Delia

Do you have a favourite sweetie? - midget gems

Do you have anything stashed away that your husband/partner doesnt know about? - Apart from wool you mean ? £8 in 5ps

Do you write a shopping list or do you shop as you go along? Bit of both but as I get older I write more lists.

Thank you Jacqueline I feel immensley honoured. My online friends keep me sane as I am mainly homebound with Hubby. I went from running myself ragged as a Charity shop manager - yes it is very physical work as well as juggling volunteers, keeping the weekly targets and all those other tasks behind the scenes - to looking after hubby and getting to craft for many hours a day. Some days other than talking to Hubs, daughter and son the only other person I speak to is the checkout lady at the supermarket and you know, I dont mind a bit. 

keeping busy...

I have spent a few months making squares and the last 2 weeks decided it was time to start joining. this is number one, coffee and cream.

Number 2 is a gift for a friends grandson down south after he kept borrowing the Christmas one I made for his grandma - can't have that he needs one of his own.

This is a larger one made from leftovers of my favourite yarns. Im hoping to sell numbers 1 and 3 so cross your fingers for me.

The last one is a 36" square for my dear friend Mrs Twins (Sue) from SIBOL http://sunshineinternationalblanketsoflove.blogspot.co.uk/ Please visit her beautiful blog and see the wonderful blankets she collects from all over the world. They are mainly for elderley people in the Uk but some are auctioned so she can carry on helping as many people as possible.

Paisley packages tied up with thread...

...as opposed to brown paper packages tied up with string...here are a few of my favourite things, all from my dear fellow blogger Linda http://chalkygilbert.blogspot.co.uk/. I won her giveaway and my goodness what a wonderful parcel I recieved. Every item beautifully wrapped and tied, It was like Christmas. Even handmade gift tags - soooo pretty. Handmade notelets, earrings, note pads, stitch markers - just what I need - crochet doileys and a sweet little owl. Also a handbag/phone charm, lavender heart, a very useful shoebag, cookery books- yummy - and some crochet hearts. It was just what I needed to cheer me up. My daughter and her daddy were going to a friends funeral but Hubby was too poorly to attend after all so I have been running up and downstairs all day tending to him. I left all the gifts on the table so every time I went past it they made me smile. Thank you Linda.

I sold my vintage sewing box and 3 vintage shopping baskets of Fleabay last month and netted £25 for the lot, so much space now its quite addictive. However boxing them was another matter. Luckily Hubby is quite gifted in that area and created some sturdy if slightly deformed boxes. Im now popping upstairs to the 'bedroom of doom' and hunting out more things to de-clutter. having to do 10 minutes at a time as I have run out of painkillers - idiot I am.

I also have a box full of video's to dispose of, we came to the momentous decision they should go when we discovered we didnt even have a video player to watch them on. 

Christmas came and went quietly with a quick visit to see little man and give out gifts there. 

Christmas lunch was low key and served up when I felt like it, turkey and the trimmings, pud and cream with a rather nice beer shandy for 3 came to £4.70 and there were leftovers for Boxing day fry up tea and turkey wraps for lunch - that pleased me. OH has just returned from searching for painkillers for me, Mr T didnt ope n the pharmacy today but he found a local chemist open thank goodness. He also scored 2 bottles of milk for 49p each and double cream for 79p - thats destined for the freezer in tubs to enrich quiches or currys.

Michael decided grandads funny hat and baggy jumper were just the thing for a chilly day! 

Further to my No-spend-vember I decided to put lots of the goodies we found whilst clearing the loft out to E bay. Usually I dont do very well with it and stuff remains unsold. Seems I have found my niche now, I really only hoped to make minimum price for stuff which would have slowly filled our money pot but amazingly things have done really well. 

1. knitting patterns on Amazon sold for £11

2. OH's old Dinky toys have sold for £10 - !6 which was a shock as they are very well played with, no boxes and some have no wheels.

3. Lace making bobbins that Mum picked up for me ages ago in a charity shop sold from 99p a bundle to £8

Have boxes of things that I would have liked to keep but really are filling the house to bursting so am popping a few things on E bay every few days so in about 4 months will have lots of room and be able to pay off a couple of small debts thus saving us money every month. there are some pieces of Speedway memorabilia and Games belonging to Son that could potentially make (to me) a lot of money. Son has agreed to split the money with me so onwards and upwards!