Good morning

..............ty.

Sunday.

I know this is supposed to be a sewing blog so I'll start with a bit of sewing related news. One of my Marrakech felt pieces has been accepted for an open exhibition. More in a later post.

I have been to the teabag paper mines and am now in possession of a sore back and enough plain teabag paper to last me, you, and probably all out neighbours for the rest of our lives.
Its available in both my Folksy and Etsy shops. If you look and its gone, I will relist over and over again..
Its very versatile and is now in packs of 10 x 60 inch long, foot wide strips, so even more versatile.
Free P&P to UK buyers.
Lovely stuff.

Now I must tell you about my Birthday.
On Friday and Saturday I worked hard to get a clean tidy house, and all ironing DONE!

Lovely presents from friends and family, surprises in the post, but my boys have heard neither of the Royal Mail nor the early morning, so I am supposed to be getting a visit today.

We planned to go on an Ullswater Steamer, but steam was what appeared to be over the moors when I looked out of the bedroom window yesterday morning..and torrential rain.
Besides that I was convinced I had swine flu...runny nose...sneezing..feeling a bit poorly, but with hindsight I can put that down to dusting as an extreme sport the previous day, and a 'night off' from the diet on Saturday night.
After mulling it over we decided to go out anyway and set off at the crack of 1.30pm ..and where do you think we were?
Look at these trees and that sky...


It looks positively tropical,
but there were clues here to other weather conditions; look closely at the blackboard...

I think those ponchoes are plastic.....rain forest?


Is this a monkey? No ..its a Herdwick lamb.



This isn't the rain forest, nor even Ullswater..its Keswick,


Beautiful Derwentwater,

Don't those clouds remind you of the Fellpainter?

Here's the view from Friars Crag


If we'd known the weather was going to be as good as this we would have set out earlier and done the steamer thing.


But instead we had a very late lunch here, in the two chairs on the right of the picture, and (I'm so sorry and so guilty in the presence of vegetarians ) the most exquisite lamb I have ever tasted




with a view to make you gasp.


But it seemed a bit insensitive..eating with the bleating.


Please forgive me dear lambs.
We drove home via Ullswater, Glenriddings and over the spectacular Kirkstone Pass, had a late evening snack at The Queens head, Troutbeck and arrived home about 10.30 pm.

I've had another lovely birthday, but so totally different from last years.

By the way what do you think of the blog makeover?

A year for every heinz.

Guess what yesterday was?

I was 57....(Hoo b***** ray!)
Oh well.
I had an absolutely lovely day. Lots of cards, flowers and gifts, and,as you can see, even a card from Porky and Blodwen. I wonder who lifted them up to the letter box?

I got a new chair for my sewing room from my husband, and this amazing book, which was a complete surprise. One of the advantages of leaving the 'Embroidery' magazine in the bathroom.
A big bag of goodies from my friend Denise and some lovely Kit Heath earrings from my friend Anne
I had a visit and another beautiful book from my favourite cousin.
My sons bought me this..and I'm sure one day they'll come and show me how to use it!
This was from my lovely Mum, who knows how much I like fine dining!
We had booked a meal at that particular restaurant for my Birthday treat by coincidence, so the vouchers came in handy. It was a shame my Mum couldn't come.

But the best bit of my Birthday was being with my nearest and dearest. I apologise for the atrocious photo, and for chopping my husband out altogether. I blame the wine and the lovely food. And I was overcome with emotion at the goings on at the next table ...a proposal with a ring in the dessert and everything.

The 'This is' game this week is 'what makes me happy'
Lots of things make me happy.
This fits the bill exactly.
Thank you friends and family for giving me a lovely, happy, birthday.