"This and that"

Hello,

This is going to be a bit of a "this and that" post today - nothing very substantial, nothing

 particularly exciting to report but that is how life has been the last couple of weeks - it's 

been a case of catching up on work and home life.  

So there has been very little crafting, quite a bit of reading and this weekend, a lot of 

lazing around and a long-ish lie in until 9.30 am today which is very unlike me. We have 

had a weekend with no children, still a relatively rare event thankfully despite 2 now being 

at university, and pretty bad timing considering that today is Mother's Day, but husband 

and I enjoyed a very nice meal out yesterday and a light lunch out today and all my plans 

for exercise (walking and cycling) wandered off into thin air!

We didn't even have a football match to attend today, although as husband and I drove past 

a match this lunchtime between 2 teams of teenage boys I did find myself looking 

longingly at the game!

Anyway, "This and that number 1": reading

This week I read 'The Miniaturist' by Jessie Burton in about 5 days - this is pretty good

 going for me but it meant very little else got done, and definitely no crafting.

I enjoyed this book, it wasn't particularly cleverly written but the story was a bit

 different and held my attention. I would recommend it. 

"This and that number 2": smoothie makers!

Daughter loves smoothies and up to now has made them in my food processor, but it does

 create a lot of washing up. She had started to talk about smoothie makers where you make the 

smoothie in the bottle you also drink from, thereby reducing the amount of washing up. And so 

I treated daughter/the family to a smoothie maker and it's great! So easy to use and so little 

washing up - always a winning argument for me!

"This and that number 3": cross stitching

Yes, I said I'd done little crafting this week and this is a sort of cheat because I actually finished

 this little item last weekend, but haven't yet posted a photo so slipped him in here. 

This is another one of my little hanging cross stitch decorations - and I have stitched this

 little sheep before, here. 

However, this one was for elder son to take back to his room at University as I thought it

 looked bare the last time I was there. My sons are very accommodating and humour me 

with my crafts. Son did say he would hang it up - I finished this in a slightly different way to 

the one I made for home, hopefully to make it a little more masculine - I did check that he was

 happy for me to use spotty ribbon and the twig was an integral part of the design too!

"This and that number 4": magazine treats

I don't buy huge numbers of magazines and have never had a subscription to one, but I do

 like to browse the shelves of craft and home style magazines. And for me, a magazine is a

 relatively inexpensive treat (I very rarely pay more than £5 for a magazine, any more and I

 think it's a bit of a rip-off!)

So two treats in the last couple of weeks - firstly an old favourite CrossStitcher. I never

 have time to make many ideas from this magazine but enjoy browsing the photos and I

 like the free gifts - this month a keyring kit in the style of a house. 

The cottage reminds me of a little decoration that I made and posted about here 

taken from Helen Philipp's book Home Sweet Home.

I love this tablet cover in the latest CrossStitcher. 

My second purchase was 'Prima makes'. Now this magazine has a whole host of different 

crafts and I doubt I will make many from it at all, but I am really enjoying browsing through it

 and some fairly quick craft ideas caught my attention. 

I love these simple Easter felt decorations. 

And these decorations made from air-drying clay - these would be so simple to

 make and so much fun!

 I always love heart sachets - and I like the relatively plain, tactile material used here.  

These little containers for bits and pieces are pretty - I could imagine these on my dressing

 table holding cotton wool. 

 And one of my favourite projects has to be this cute bunny knitted in baby cashmerino

 - he would be so soft and snuggly!

Well, that is the end of my "this and that". 

I hope you have all had an enjoyable Mother's Day and wish you all a good week.

I'm off to the Sewing for Pleasure show at the NEC, Birmingham on Friday - it includes

 knitting too. I shall have to be very restrained with my purchases! 

xXx