I will admit, not being woken at 5am with mewing for breakfast has put me in a more creative mood... although I suspect David Austin can take more credit than me for the roses.

First, I need to say some thank yous for wonderful things that arrived last week.

I really like Annie's artwork and admired some cards she made.

The wonderful person sent me some in exchange for a copy of one of DH's books.

I feel like I did nothing on that swap!


And then by some miracle (I never win anything), I won a competition at Erin's A Dress A Day blog. I'm looking forward to cosy beach reading of this (if I can find an appropriate dress to do it in).

If you don't know either of those two blogs, get over there and enjoy.



Then, the recent creative blackspot when I just didn't feel like sitting down to make anything seems to be over.

Sandra, if you're reading this, look away now!

I have an uncertain relationship with magazines as I feel I should keep them but then they clutter up the place endlessly. Recently, however, DH bought me back some magazines from a book signing in France and I had a revelation! I really just like looking at the pictures! It's OK to cut out the best bits! So I joined Cotton Strudel's magazine swap and I can't wait to see what Sandra has sent me from Belgium.


I made a quick bag to send the ones I bought and really it was an excuse to try and see if I could back fabric with freezer paper and send it through the ink jet printer. It worked absolutely brilliantly, I will definitely be doing this again (the picture is DH's, I wish I could draw like that).


And last but not least...

My copy of One Skein finally arrived.

Here's the felted bowl drying out.

I hate dpns with a passion and managed to avoid them by using a shorter circular needle and then ending with a three-needle bindoff instead of doing the last decrease row.

The wool is Twilley's Freedom Wool which actually doesn't felt quite as well as I expected but feels great to knit with.