another catch up post!

I got into trouble yesterday when we went to see Debbie, Jason, Molly & baby bump for not blogging. Debbie told me in no uncertain terms she was fed up refreshing the page only to see the same photo of hyacinths again and again. Okay, next time you refresh, you'll see a photo of my sale jammies. Happy now? :oP

Yes, I bought some jammies in the sales - you just can't make jammies for £8 these days. Crumbs, a dressmaking pattern costs more than that! Anyway, I wore them for one night and *had* to do something about the buttons. They were so small that they kept coming out of the buttonholes - not good in this chilly weather! So, I went to replace the buttons and didn't have enough of the right size. Isn't that always the way? I have thousands of buttons - no word of a lie - and it's crazy how many times I don't have enough for what I want to do! Then I had a bit of a brainwave - why do they need to be the same? They don't! So the replacement buttons don't match and I don't care one hoot. I love these jammies. They are so comfy and cosy - especially now that they stay shut!

I made a couple of lemon cakes. I doubled the quantity as I had a lot of lemons to use up. They're all gone now but they were delicious! My mouth's watering just thinking about them!

I decided to stop crocheting the ripple blankie I was making for the new baby - blogged about here. I've not ripped it out, just put it away for now. Instead I've made the same kind of blankie I made for both our girls when they were babies - your good old traditional granny squares.

When we found out Debbie was pregnant, my next door neighbour asked me if Debbie would like a traditional shawl. Debbie was delighted at the idea and C gave it to us last week to give to Debbie. Oh. My. Goodness. It is absolutely gorgeous. What a lot of time and effort she's put into it! Debbie - having been brought up well ;o) - has already written a thank you note. She just loves it!

When Debbie and Jason went on holiday to Canada last year, a friend took her to the quilting shop we'd gone to in 2011 - blogged about here - and bought her fabric to make a quilt for the baby. At that time, Debbie didn't know what sex the baby was so the fabrics are non-gender-specific. I've spent the last week or so making them into a quilt top.

It's now pinned on to a fleece for the backing so I hope to get it quilted together this week.

One of Joanna's work colleagues was admiring her diary cover (blogged about here) and oohing and aahing and drooling over it. Maybe the last bit isn't quite true but it was a close thing! Joanna asked me if I'd make a cover for Gail. Of course, I said yes.

Here's the front:

The back:

The inside front cover showing part of the quote Joanna chose:

The inside back cover with the rest of the quote - I did the quote using my embroidery machine. So easy peasy!

I hope Gail likes it - I'm sure she will!

You might have noticed some wee paws in the photo showing the back cover. That's because Tilly decided she wanted in on the act. Butter wouldn't melt! :o)

bulbs and the one that got away

I bought some hyacinth bulbs last year and this is how they've done. (Please ignore the filthy windows!) These are the pink ones.

These are the purple ones - not much difference between them, is there?

These are the red ones.

And these are the white ones - they're a wee bitty further on than this now (I took these photos last Friday).

I was a bit worried that all those hyacinths would be really powerful together scent-wise but they're not. The smell is absolutely glorious!

We've also had success with an amaryllis plant that I got out of Aldi's for half price - all of £1.49.

I'm not really much of a plant person - I like them well enough but I'm not that good at looking after them. I'm obviously not bad at looking after hyacinths and amaryllises! Go me. :o)

Around this time every year, I seem to post a similar photo. This is Christmas decoration that wins "the one that got away" prize this year.

This is the dining room door out to the garden. We're in this room every single day - in fact, we eat all our meals in here! I don't know how we didn't spot it earlier! There's always one! LOL

this year

• This year I'm going to really try and not let what other people do bother me. Actually, it's more them *not* doing something that I get bothered about. Well, no more! I'm fed up expecting people to do what they should do and being hurt when they don't. I know that sounds like Double Dutch but I know what I'm talking about and writing it down will hopefully remind me to stop bothering.

• This year I'm going to be kinder to myself. I have voices in my head - not in the "she needs help" kind of way, honest! 😜 These voices will not let up with the "why are you doing that?" or "are you happy with that?" or "isn't that a waste of money?" questions which have always made me doubt myself. Well, no more! If I want to make something just for the hell of it, I'm going to do it and the voices in my head can just shut up because I am NOT going to be listening any more!

• This year I'm going to live by these words which I saw on a poster in the bookshop in Alnwick when we were there in 2015.

• This year I'm going to be living without my mobile phone. It died on me in December - and I didn't even notice! There's no shame to it as it's the second version of the iPhone so is very old - as mobiles go. Not quite the size of a car battery as Douglas's first mobile phone was but not far off it! Anyway, we had a look at new iPhones and, yeah, at £370, that's just not going to be happening any time soon. It would be different if I actually used my phone but I don't. Many times I've gone to switch it to silent when I go to Singers' rehearsal only to find it's still on silent from the week before. Woops! So no texting or phoning for me in 2017. And, you know what? I couldn't care less about that! There's a certain freedom there and I'm looking forward to it!

• This year, there are a few things we're looking forward - a new baby being the most important one. Debbie is keeping well - just over 7 weeks to go now. I'll keep you updated!

• This year is going to be a good year. Bring it on!