Archie The Wonder Dog

Thank you so much for all your tips and suggestions on how to 'keep up' (or not!) with blog posts and emails, etc.  I think part of why I was feeling so overwhelmed is because (without wishing to go on and on about it!) I'm so tired and when I'm this tired things tend to feel overwhelming quite quickly.  In order to not get to that point again I'm going to: View the list of new posts in Google Reader as a menu of things I may like to read rather than a list of things I must read before I am allowed off the computer. Give myself permission to completely skip a blog post if I'm not in the mood to read it. Give myself permission to only read one post if I have more than one unread item from that blog. Remember that I do not have to leave a comment on every post I read, particularly if I'm reading several posts from the same blog back to back. Try setting a timer so that I don't end up spending far longer than I'd planned on the computer.  And s...

Well, I think it's time for my first post of 2012! Sorry I've been absent for so long but I've been so exhausted that I just haven't had the energy to write a new post.  (I hope this doesn't come across as whinging, apologies if it does!)  I'm slowly catching up on the rest (and sleep) I need but I think it's going to be quite a while before I get back to where I was before Christmas.  Not to worry, this is quite usual for me.  Every Christmas leaves me absolutely shattered (even if, like this year, it was very relaxed and didn't feel overly demanding) and it usually takes me until somewhere around the end of March to get back to where I was at the beginning of December.  I just have to accept that there are things that won't get done for a while so I do the things that are important and a bit of sewing to keep me sane (usually hand sewing as I find it much less tiring than machine sewing) and everything else has to wait until I'm ready to ta...

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas?  I'm sorry I haven't been around much (at all!) but I've been enjoying meeting friends (some of whom I only get to see once a year), doing a little sewing and a lot of sleeping and spending time with my family.  I wasn't planning on posting for a while yet (I feel like I'm really out of the loop as I haven't really been online in over a week - I'll reply to all your lovely emails and catch up on your new posts soon, honest!  I'm really missing you all and hope you're all ok?) but I've just had a nudge from a certain someone and I decided to post my response to her recent post on the Fat Quarterly blog - if you haven't read it go and do it now and then come back, it's OK, we'll wait! I loved Lynne's post but couldn't think of a verse to put in the comment section.  I kept thinking about it and spent far too much time a couple of nights ago messing around with this when I should have...

It's been a while (a week?) since my last post (is it just me or does that sounds like the start of confession?!) and I'm not entirely sure where the time has gone or what I've been doing - not a lot, I suspect!  I just thought I'd pop in and catch up with everyone before Christmas...which is rapidly approaching - I just have some mince pies to make and then I'm done.  Thanks for the recipe, Susan , I can't wait to try one! One thing I have done is to sort out my scraps (an aim declared in my winter stitching list ).  Before I started they looked like this... All sorted by colour but then thrown into freezer bags - they were crumpled and sad!  And now they're all ironed and in labelled boxes... Don't they look smart in their new boxes and don't you just love IKEA?! Ahhh...that's better! So there's one thing ticked off my list - several more to go! Another thing I've done is to finish the tree triplets for my mam.  I...

Archie and I would like to say thank you very much for all the wonderful comments about the embroidered hoop and all the very funny captions for his photo - we had a great time reading all your suggestions! (Well, I did, Archie just perked up each time I mentioned biscuit or walk!).  So, Archie has picked a winner but before I do the big reveal (lots of photos and a couple of short videos!) here's a quick catch up... My prize from Kristyne 's giveaway, sponsored by Gigi at Pinks and Needles , arrived at the weekend and it's even more wonderful in person.  Unfortunately my photos can't do justice to the delicate beauty of the pin toppers and the egg cup pincushion but here's my (poor!) effort... I love them so much...they're currently living on my mantelpiece! Thank you, Kristyne and Gigi ! And I have been doing a bit of sewing but nothing I can show you at the moment.  Here's something almost finished that I can share...it just needs stars on the...

What did I promise, you ask?  Well, you're going to have to wait (im)patiently for the end of the post!  (Or you could scroll down to the end, I suppose, but where's the fun in that?!!) A couple of weeks ago I went with a couple of friends to the regional day for the Quilter's Guild of the British Isles and listened to Jon MacPherson from Barnyarns talk about thread (he gave us a great handout and said we could distribute it so if anyone is interested please let me know and I'll scan and email it!).  After we'd helped set up the hall for the afternoon (mini) workshops, a spot of lunch and a spot of shopping.  I didn't buy much but I did get a great book for a bargain price. £4!! It gives you a diagram and name(s) of the blocks and is divided into four patch, nine patch, curves, etc. (Sorry about the odd angle - it was the only way to not get a shadow and I keep forgetting to get a photo in daylight!)  I think it's going to live on my co...