well, fancy that ....

..... despite the fact that I've been positively rubbish at blogging over the past couple of weeks,  I've been nominated for the kreativ blogger award by my friend Callie (you can find her over at MuMu and Squeak's Place and also just down the corridor from me at work!)

so, I have to tell you ten things about me .....

1. I find it incredibly difficult to listen to a music album all the way through without playing my favourite song(s) over and over and over again.
2. My favourite song of all time is Another Girl, Another Planet by The Only Ones, it never fails to make me smile.
3. I have a bit of an obsession when it comes to hanging the washing out.  There has to be something of mine or Mr G's at each end of the line so that everything else is in between.  In the event that I don't have something of ours then something like a towel or bed linen will do ..... it's not uncommon for me to rearrange the washing on the line if somebody else has hung it out.
4. I am really, really squeamish.
5. I love lunch with the girls and shopping trips etc but I am rubbish at planning them ..... that is what my lovely, organised friends are for (and for carrying my train ticket so I don't lose it!)
6. I don't do forms.
7. Meeting new people makes me very nervous.
8. My bra always matches my pants.  Always.
9. I love to be organised, to the point that it annoys Mr G whos likes to live life as it comes.
10. I really, really don't like exercise classes.

and then nominate ten other kreativ bloggers.  Now, I can see that many of those I'd like to nominate for this have already been nominated so I've really just got a couple to add:

1. Jodi at Art from the Hart
2. Rachael from Knitting Snippets

.... and just one more thing, for those that think I'm tidy, I thought I'd share these shots of my desk earlier today:

of course, it doesn't look like that now!

A Monthly Make - 2011 - May

I've been busy making things to make my "practical" house less, well, practical .... and here they are:

Crochet cushions ... well one to be precise, but there is another on the way!  I love this cushion and it was so quick to make!  You can't see it very well in the photo, but it's lined with bright pink cotton so that is matches better with my stripey cushions.

And a lovely, little, buttony curtain for my downstairs toilet ..... nothing too "practical" in this photo eh?  This curtain started off as a shower curtain, I loved the almost dandelion patterns on it ..... and the bargain price of £2.00 from a charity shop!

Please don't forget to have a look at  the Flickr group and see what everyone else is up to this month!

Happy Anniversary .....

..... Mr G!

19 wonderful (!) years .....

Hey Baby .....

..... a book for Joy.

 My friend Joy asked me to make a baby book for her (well, for her DIL, well not quite DIL but almost!) ..... so, here it is!

..... hope you like it!

A Monthly Make - 2011 - April

I really am enjoying the Monthly Makes - not just the making but the looking at what everyone else is making too!  

I've developed a bit of a "thing" for the circus fonts that are everywhere and so I decided to make a picture for my hallway using one of them.

I started off by printing the letter G (for my surname) as large as I could on A4 paper:

 Then I used tracing paper to square it off to make a cross stitch pattern:

Then I did a bit of cross stitch:

And ended up with this:

I just need to get it mounted and framed ... I'm thinking a white mount and a white frame ... rather swish, no?

Anyway, time to upload to the April Album - why not go and have a look at what everyone else has made?

School Fayre .....

..... and catching up.

I had a stall yesterday at Broad Chalke School's Spring Fayre.  I haven't done any stalls since well before Christmas as I've been concentrating on personal projects and custom orders but one of my lovely friends was going to be selling Jamie At Home there along with her sister in law and they thought I'd like to have a stall too ... so I did!

Anyway, this turned into a lovely day out with the chance to catch up with some old friends and work colleagues and (fingers crossed that the interest in my books turns into orders!) a fairly successful event.

Now, no post about a craft fair would be complete without some pictures so here they are:

My stall - ignore all the clutter in the background .....

 A couple of close ups:

Gill's stall - The Perfect Patch:

Gill makes the most wonderful cushions, bags and patchwork, oh and knitted teddies and puppets  .....

And the two beautiful Jamie At Home ladies, Naomi and Mel:

Thanks ladies for a lovely time with lots of laughs .....

Mothers' Day Challenge .....

..... over at Let's Craft and Create.

Here is my make to celebrate Mothers' Day ..... a baby board book:

Slighty too fat to close (just how I like them!):

Full of pockets and folders:

 

 And jam packed with embellishments, stickers and photo mats:

Please pop over to Let's Create and Craft and see all the other makes ..... grab a bit of inspiration while you are there!