Birthday Flowers and Giveaways.

Today is my Birthday ,

I won't tell you how old,

 but Mr T and I have also celebrated 31 years of marriage this week

so that should give you some idea, 

although of course I was a child bride (Lol).

So my house is full of beautiful flowers from my children

and we have had a lovely lunch at Holkham Hall

with our some great friends where Mr T was 

drooling over this beauty.

The big Norfolk skies were a brilliant blue

and I should have put sun cream on.

Our friend Martin Wall is a fantastic artist and

 I have shown some of his work before 

in Februarys scavenger hunt

but this is his latest gorilla.

Wiggo a go go is currently at Holkham Hall for a large cycling event

over the weekend and as he is Mr. T's  hero he just had

to have his photo taken with him.

These Gorillas are for a trail around Norwich during the summer

called Gorilla a go go which I'm really looking forward to and 

 which Martin has painted 3 gorillas for.

After the trail finishes they are all auctioned off for charity,

I only wish I could afford one.

I got an e-mail this morning to say I had 

won 

one of the fantastic  brooches in the

Giveaway over at Dog Daisychains.

What a great day I'm having sooooo

to include you all in my celebrations, to 

say thank you for being such great people

and helping me through what has been a difficult

start to the year for me and my family

I'm having my own giveaway.

The prize is a set of pins from

 Just Another Button Company,

a pin cushion made by me to put them in

and one of their needle threaders.

  

There are no hoops to jump through, just be a follower and leave a comment below. 

 Although please make sure

you  either have a blog or leave an e-mail address so I can get in touch with you

if you win.

Entry will be open until the 10th May

and 

Good Luck.

I'm off for a glass of bubbly before my dinner

so see you soon.

Gillxx

Do You Know a Worthy Charity?

Before I start can I say a huge Thank You for the comments I had received

for my last 2 posts, they were very much appreciated and really help me

get back on my feet again.

Now I need your help.

Those of you who have followed me for a little while will know that my Mother-in-Law

has been passing on all her crafting supplies to me-

well the reason she has been doing this is that she is very poorly

and wants to get her things sorted so it isn't left for us to do.

She has always been a prolific knitter and 

her cupboards are full of unused balls of wool.

There is a mixture of odd left over balls but also dozens of balls bought for projects 

that were either never started, not finished or just because she liked the wool.

It ranges from Mohair to 100% cotton.

The problem I have is that 

I DON'T KNIT.

So Mum and I wondered if any of you know a charity that would make use of all this wool.

I am prepared to parcel it up and send it off to them as long as we know it is going to a good home.

 I know we could give it to a charity shop but we feel that on the whole they don't appreciate

bundles of wool and it is usually found pushed under a shelf in the corner which annoys MiL.

So if you know of somewhere or maybe could ask your followers and then send me 

a message it would help greatly and put her mind at rest.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Gillxx

Giveaway winner

After such a busy weekend I nearly forgot to do the draw for my Birthday Giveaway

but this after noon I found a random number generator, entered the numbers and got a winner.

I would show you but my technical abilities aren't that good.

So

 (pause for dramatic effect)

-

-

-

Tracy at Mad about Bags 

is the winner.

so Tracy Please e-mail me your details and I will send you off 

your present ASAP.

I'm off now to get an idea of what to send you.

Enjoy the sunshine everyone.

Gillx

Birthday Giveaway.

I have had such a busy week

not only has it been our wedding anniversary and my birthday

but we went to the opening of a local art exhibition 

and a wedding.

which means this post is a few days later than I wanted 

but better late than never. 

 First though let me show you what Mr T got me.

Isn't it beautiful and colour co-ordinates with my kitchen

although my friend thinks it's wasted on me as I don't make many cakes.

I have told her she can borrow it.(lol)

I got loads of other bits including a new Pandora bead from my girls

and a fabulous antique book on lace from my son.

This is another book I received which I love.

 It was inspired 

by a lady called Mary Brookes Picken and 

news letters of the American Women's institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences.

Click here for the Amazon page as it

 does the book far more justice than I ever could.

Anyway I promised a birthday giveaway so you could all help me 

celebrate and because it occurred to me that I past my 2nd blog birthday

some months ago without even noticing.

The prize will be a present for you to open

just as though it's your birthday. 

So you must have a blog

 then, if you are the winner,

 I will go  and have a good look at your blog to see what you like

and hopefully send you an appropriate gift.

So all you have to do is be a follower and leave me a comment below.

Easy.

It is open until  the 18th May.

Good luck and I'll see you soon.

Gillxx

Monthly makes and other stuff.

This is one of the things entered for my Monthly Make but just for fun.

It's my bra decorated ready for the Moon Walk in London on the 12th,

I've done 2 more the same for 2 of my girls who are keeping me company.

They are not very professional but as I said it's just for fun.

This is one done by another girl in our group. they are pieces of felt sewn on to her bra,

I think it looks amazing.

we had a fundraising morning selling cupcakes and breast cancer badges

as well as raffling this fantastic cake made by my friend Carol.

We also borrowed a treadmill and walked the 26.2 miles 

in relays.  We needed to in order to keep warm

It was very cold and wet

 but at last count we had raised nearly £300 which in a small village is pretty good going.  

The girls that did the same thing last year said they had got sunburnt doing it

 but didn't raise as much.

We even had the local paper come down to take photos,

they had doing an exaggerated walk waving our bras in the air,

I can't wait to see the photos.

Heres the link again if anyone wants to sponsor us.

My other monthly make ( alongside the 50 metres of bunting for the wedding on the 19th)

is a new journal cover made with damaged lace and doilies from Lavender Linen and Lace.

I have used old buttons and a laundry mark as well.

Some pieces are machine stitch in place while other are hand stitched.

I got the idea from Pinterest and I'm really pleased with he result.

My week this week has been taken over with painting.

As regular readers know 2 of my children are involved with Beach Lifeguarding 

and surfing.

A couple of years ago my son set up the North Norfolk Surf Lifesaving Club and 

it has really taken off. So they have managed to get some backing from the council

and leased a club house from them.

The building has been recently converted from what used to be 

Victorian Public Toilets.

So all this week my little one and I have been 

dancing round to the Script while holding a paintbrush.

I love the bright red doors and skirting 

although they don't really show up in this photo.

This is how it used to look in the 1900's 

but the shop had been demolished many years ago and the toilets had been 

shut for along time.

So I think it's nice to see it put to good use again.

Next month I'm joint administrator with Annie for the Monthly Make

So if you haven't joined us yet go along to Annies blog and join in.

It's my birthday this week as well as my 30th wedding anniversary

so I'm going to be doing a giveaway I think 

although

I haven't decided what it will be yet so watch this space.

See you soon

Gillxx

I've won a giveaway from the lovely Sue at Harts corner  

and it arrived this week all wrapped up in silver tissue.

The giveaway was rose themed 

and there was loads of lovely things with some pink lace ,

rose scented candles, pink trim fabric hearts and a lovely little basket.

These tissues are really good fun

 and are safely tucked up in my handbag.

And 3 pieces beautiful rose fabrics

Thanks very much Sue.

I love blog hopping and while I was bouncing around recently I discovered

a few blogs talking about "Inchies".

I'd never heard of them have you?

Anyway having had a good look around blogland, Pinterest and you tube ( I spend far too much time on the internet) before I decided to have a go

at some.

My little "works of art" are just 1 inch square, were great fun and 

don't take up much room when finished.

A bit like art journals there doesn't seem to be any rules and you don't have to be 

any good with a paint brush, which I'm most certainly not.

and as you can tell I'm hooked.

Whats got you hooked at the moment?

Gillx

My Giveaway win

I Won a Giveaway :-)

Just before Christmas  Gillyflower had a giveaway where you could  choose between 3 great Tea Towels.  I love giveaways, they give me that little bit of hope that I might win something, like the tombola at the school fete or a raffle at a Dinner and Dance.

 Do they still have them? We haven't been to one for years and I love getting all dressed up.

Anyway I digress.

A couple of weeks ago I found out I'd won and this week my parcel arrived beautifully wrapped.

I love Angels and have quite a collection that come out every Christmas 

so this was the perfect tea towel for me.

But there was more

3 hearts--the wooden one looks great in my new kitchen.

3 packets of seeds, 3 of my favourites, which will be planted up in the greenhouse when I get back from Wales.

They will push me into clearing out the greenhouse as well which I've been meaning to do for weeks.

And 3 sheets of felt (the white one is hiding). These patterned ones are unusual I will have to find something to use them for.

So a big Thank you to Gill for a fabulous prize.

Also this week I took my sewing machine in to be mended, only to find it wasn't broken.

Talk about wanting the ground to open up! 

The lady in the shop was so condescending, she spoke to me like a child and I wanted to snap back "I know how to use a sewing machine"-- but obviously I don't else I wouldn't have made the mistake.

Big lesson to myself, check everything is in place before assuming the worst.

Still while I was in Norwich I had a wander around.

I went through this arch which I've meaning to explore for years and found this square at the back.

I thought my eyesight was going wonky looking back at the arch.

But it really is that crooked.

A couple of other things I found on my wander.

A Norwich Lanes memorial plaque for the old bakers, these are all over the city but I thought this one was great.

Then to 'Country and Eastern' which used to be the old Ice skating Rink.

This is it now 

But this is apparently how it used to look

I don't think they have quite got the scale right but its nice to know it's still there.

I love the "thrice daily"

Lastly, a Good Luck message to the England Rugby team this afternoon

I think they might need it.

I'm off to the Mumbles for a couple of days

 so see you when I get back and I'll tell you all about it.

Gillxx

And the winner is……...

Before I announce the winner of my giveaway I would like to say thank you for all the words of encouragement over my kitchen which should be finished by the end of the week. Not that I will be able to make much use of it as I'm going to Exeter for the weekend to see my daughter before going to a family wedding in Somerset. Should be fun.

Then I would like to say a very warm welcome to my all new followers.

So I got Mr T to make the draw while he was watching the Rugby this morning,

The winner is Memmens from Handmade by Mary Emmens

who wants the Stash and Dash bag pattern.

So if you can contact me with your details I'll pop that into the post to you.

Hope you all have a great week.

Gillxx

Makes and swap goodies

Before I start I just want to get one thing off my chest. BLOODY BLOGGER.  

I'm sure I don't need to explain.

Anyway I received my swap goodies from Shirl at The White House

for the Autumn swap.

I love these felted acorns with real tops, so clever, and the pumpkin mould is great fun.

 And a collection of buttons and Owls in fantastic Autumn colours.

Thank you Shirl

This is what I sent her.

I had an urge to return to needle felting and used it mixed with some wet felted leaves.

I was pleased with the result and hope she liked it.

So what else have I been up to 

Well I'm doing an online workshop with Madness and Mess called the "road to my house.

This is my first attempt at a machine embroidered house which will be on my road.

Good job it's not real it would be condemned. 

Then my little one chose some fabric for a zipped pouch for her gadget charges on her travels.

Then finally, Last week I went to the fantastic 15th century   Dragon Hall in Norwich 

for a workshop with the very talented Teena Vallerine.

We started with a huge pile of fabric scraps and a background fabric.

Were shown some fabulous samplers to give some an idea of what different stitches looked like

 and how to do them.

Before being let loose with scissors, bondaweb, an iron and our imagination.

Then you embroider as and where you like.

Needs a different frame but you get the idea.

It's great fun.

My house is going to be in chaos for a while now as I'm having a kitchen fitted this week.

Makeover photos next weekend hopefully.

Don't forget my Giveaway, you have until the 15th to enter.

Have a great day.

Gillxx