I've been given an award by the lovely LaaLaa at
Hookin' with LaaLaa She is a lovely lady with a super blog. I just love her crochet and patchworks and her little chats, why not pop over and pay her a visit. Thank you so much LaaLaa.
Now apparently as a receipent of this award I have to disclose 7 interesting facts about myself and nominate 5 of my fellow bloggers as being worthy of an award!
So here goes, after careful, well almost careful consideration, deliberation and desperation here we go (apologies if this is not exciting but hay oh, here we go)
1. I love cats, shocker I know, you never could have guessed this one, lol. Here is Merlin in moody repose. I put it all down to having a cat wallpaper for the first few years of my life, the die was cast. If I won the lottery the first thing I'd do would be to set up a cat shelter.
2. Apparently, according to friends, I have a cushion fetish. Never noticed this in myself but on counting up I do have 30 spread all over the house and 18 in the lounge itself. I've always lived by the phrase, you can never have too many cushions! Is this not what everyone does?!
3. Now I know I'm alittle bit unusual in this pursuit - I love old cemetaries and graveyards - but I know I'm not alone, it's just we're not easy to spot in our everyday lifes but visit a cemetary.... I love the old statues, angels, the symbolism and the human history and stories on the gravestones. They are normally peaceful and serene, and if tattered and overgrown around the edges I love them even more :)
4. Whilst I hate horror movies and books I just love vampires. Can't quite define why but there you go. I love watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Gary Oldman in Dracula and more recently Bill Compton in True Blood (my young cat is named after him because he bites)! I love the True Blood novels by Charlaine Harris so much that I ration myself and have not let myself read them one after the other, they are so much better than the series.
5. No not cats again but charity shops (thrift stores I think in the States)? I love going in them. You never know what treasures you'll find such as the above book on this weeks trawl of the shops near me. It's the thrill of the hunt, the pounce on the treasure and the taking to the cash desk and running away home to gloat over the hoard, or not, and think maybe next time......
6. I'm rather partial to a big cup of tea, but it has to be black and it has to be hot. My favourite teas are Assam, English Breakfast and Lapsang Souchong.
7. Are you still with me? I love christmas. I love the cards, the presents, the decorations and the all round loveliness and goodwill of the season. Here are a selection of cards I've saved from other years that I hope to incorporate into a christmas journal.
Phew, this must be my longest post by far. Now I would like to give this award to the following bloggers. It has been a difficult choice and apologies if it is not you, I love all the blogs I read but there can only be five nominees, so without further ado -
Ta da!
1. Amanda at
Amanda Makes A lovely lady who sews and crochets the most delightful things
2. Kazzy at
A Mermaids Purse who does the most amazing illustrations and has a wonderful eye for charity shop treasures and shabby chic decorating. She has the most relaxing music on her blog as well!
3. Gill at
Bois-Fleurie who is so creative and clever with a needle.
4. Toos at
Chaotic & Creative. Not sure about the chaotic but creative definately. I've had the pleasure of doing some group swaps with Toos.
5. Karen at
Tilly Rose a veritable feast for the eyes, wonderful photos and delightful words.
Ok, off to watch last night's True Blood with a cat on my knee and a cup of tea in my hand!
I've been drawn out of the proverbial hat as follower of the week over on Susie's blog Gathering Up Bits of the World. I'm thrilled to have won the above quiltie, I've never won any draws before. I've long admired Susie's work, she makes the most delightful journals and has a blog that is well worth a visit so do pop over and say hi.
Just thought you should know that Mickey and Bill take their Neighbourhood Watch duties very seriously, lol.
No. not a scarf but a doorshop. I haven't got the right weight yarn so combining a couple of yarns. It's from a lovely new book by Debbie Bliss called The Knitting Year, which has some really lovely projects. Again I got it out of the library, thank goodness for libraries :)
Ahhhh.... Enjoy your Sundays, I'm off to work in the garden, tidying up for winter, then I must knit, knit and maybe some more knitting, why are weekends so short?!
I came across this inspirational home interiors book in my local library, it has so many wonderful photos, evoking different moods and eclectic interiors that I just had to share it. 
I thought the above colour scheme was amazing and the title Travellers and Magicians just conjured up lots of images in my mind that I could use in my artwork.
Collections of scraps and fragments, little treasures, is a passion of mine. I love displays of them together and remembering the stories behind them, or imaging stories around them. 
I found this wonderful knitted cardigan in a book called Power Cables by Lily M Chin, again in my library. This pattern has entered my 'if I ever find the time to knit it' knitting list. Suspect we all have one of these lists. It's ages since I did any cabling and yet I do so love it.
This is my entry in Tike's journal with the theme Unconditional Love. This is one of the journals in our International Journal Swap round robin. I had fun creating this page and got the idea from work on the vintage wedding atcs earlier this week. Hope she likes it :)
I've made these plus two duplicates for a swap on a new group I've joined. I got to thinking about a story around the bride, maybe she's lost her husband, maybe some time ago, Great War? She fell in love with him because of his way with words in the letters he wrote to her from the front. They married when he came back on leave. She's kept buttons and pieces of lace from her dress together with the family locket and charm he brought back from France when he came back on what was to be his final leave.
I've been given an award by the lovely LaaLaa at Hookin' with LaaLaa She is a lovely lady with a super blog. I just love her crochet and patchworks and her little chats, why not pop over and pay her a visit. Thank you so much LaaLaa.
5. No not cats again but charity shops (thrift stores I think in the States)? I love going in them. You never know what treasures you'll find such as the above book on this weeks trawl of the shops near me. It's the thrill of the hunt, the pounce on the treasure and the taking to the cash desk and running away home to gloat over the hoard, or not, and think maybe next time......
7. Are you still with me? I love christmas. I love the cards, the presents, the decorations and the all round loveliness and goodwill of the season. Here are a selection of cards I've saved from other years that I hope to incorporate into a christmas journal.
