Filling in some background......

Hello all my little darlings! I hope you're all enjoying the sunshine! Personally, i'm not keen on the heat. Neither do I enjoy the fact that every good looking, tanned, toned, gym addicted Adonis finds it necessary to strip down to the waist as soon as the sun comes out! I mean, it's not that they're not attractive to look at (though, it is somewhat distracting when driving! I've had some very close calls with lampposts/post boxes/cars/the elderly in the past!)) but they make me feel so bad about myself! When you have an arse that looks like two dogs fighting in a blanket it is expected that it remains covered. Well, why can the opposite not be true?!

Speaking of dogs, I've received a few requests to fill in a little background with regards the animals in my life, so i'm going to give you a little look at my babies.

These pictures were taken in May when Nathan and I took a trip to Devon with my Sister and her fiance. Denny, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, is about 3 years old now. We've had her since she was about nine months. Strictly speaking, Denny is my dog and Bruce is Nathan's. She's a complete softy and I swear she believes she is human. Indeed, at night, Denny sleeps beside me in the crook of my neck. I can't say it does much in the way of encouraging.....shall we say.....passion in the boudoir. But then after four years, two full time jobs and a lifetime of hoovering, I think Nathan and I are beyond that anyway! Often reminds me of that Victoria Wood song 'Let's do it tonight'.... if you haven't heard it, search on 'you tube'. A very amusing caricature! Anyway....here she is:

And again!

And again, this time snoozing away a sunny afternoon with Archie....

Now for the big fella. Nathan and I rescued Bruce about a year ago. He was, and still is to some degree, a stressed dog. But after tonnes of training, mopping up a million little accidents and losing more knitting needles and pattern books to his jaws than I care to mention, I think he is finally settling into a more relaxed maturity. Bruce is coming up five now and consistently behaves as if he's just taken a hit of marijuana. I've never known such a soppy hound! He is forever walking into walls!

Just last night I was merrily (I say merrily, I was actually cursing with every movement)bouncing around on my wii fit console ('bouncing' is definitely the appropriate word) and my little cyber instructor ( I hate her, the smug cow) ordered me to drop and do ten repeats of the 'Jack Knife'. Well, as I flailed around on my back trying to hoist my own body weight more than an inch off of the ground ("keep in time to the beeps now", "did you just lift your foot off of the board?", " your muscles wont train themselves, you know" Arrrggghhhh I hate her!) the doggies thought it was great fun and that Daddy Mark was having a game. Have you tried doing a 'jack knife' (why doesn't she just call them sit ups?!) with a 35kg Dobermann plonking his horse-like body on top of your stomach and a Staffy who is determined to sit on your face????

***Incidentally, I hope that my dear readers don't find my over-use of parenthesis distracting. In case anybody is wondering, I do actually often talk like that!***

Nonetheless, I was pleased to complete an hour of exercise (all the while Nathan kindly called support from the kitchen like "have you seen the bread knife?" and "we're nearly out of milk"........ ) before giving up and I had actually worked up quite a sweat. I've yet to decide whether that was due to the heat or actually exerting myself.

I had a great result last night too! After reading Sukhi's post on http://artisticsukhi.blogspot.com/ I dashed straight into my local LIDL and picked up a real bargain! 40 spools of sewing thread in assorted colours (100M EACH SPOOL) for £3.99!!! LOVE to get myself a bargain and this will be a great back up stash to have in my workshop! Furthermore, having finally got my hands on some red thread I was able to dig out my deep red cotton fabric and start work on a basic shopping tote. This is going to be the first thing that I've made for myself in ages and, while not particularly exciting or adventurous, it'll get used loads and will go perfectly with my new summer shoes! Wahoo!

Yesterday I made a fantastic discovery on the Folksy shop 'ClaraBows'. She makes wonderfully scented soy candles and pours them into vintage teacup and saucer sets, giftwraps them and offers them for sale! What a brilliant idea! I have a real thing about vintage crockery and have loads of tea/coffee services, teapots and cake stands etc. I love making a real 'event' out of having tea. Plus, it can be a great distraction when you have unexpected guests but little to no idea how you are going to entertain them. If you can produce a big pot of tea, a wacky tea-cosy and a cake stand stuffed with little delights, you are bound to get the conversation flowing and send your guests home feeling content and indulged! Here is my favourite tea service (sadly without a matching teapot) and a tea cosy I hand knitted from a pattern by The Natural Dye Studio.

Pretty, huh? I'm thinking of completely copying my good friend Hotdog and having a competition on my blog. The only problem is, I have very little idea what anyone would like to win. Does anybody have any suggestions? I can make something new, or use something from my existing stock.... Your wish is my command. Just my way of saying thank you to all the lovely people that have joined me and supported me thus far.

I'll close here as nothing much else to report. I should be back tomorrow or over the weekend to update on the progress of my makes. I really must get down to something creative instead of blogging all the time! Much as I enjoy it, soon i'll be blogging about blogging which wont be interesting for either party.... OH! And i'll scan in my sketches for a new design that i'm working on for a ladies summer top. This one won't be knitted but run up on the sewing machine! Very exciting stuff!

Love and light

M xxx