birthday contest

On the 21st August it’ll be two years since I started this online diary. I’ve made some good friends, and have been inspired and encouraged by many talented women, and I’ve had a lot of fun too. So to celebrate I’m going to host my first giveaway!



I feel its high time I discovered some more great blogs, so to enter the giveaway just leave a comment with a link to your favourite blog. You can leave a comment on this or any other post until midnight on the 20th August. On the 21st I’ll pick a number out of a hat, and the person who left that comment will receive a yummy* prize. I’ll also post a list of all the favourite blogs.

Good luck!

*will include delicious new yarn...

a finished quilt

I actually finished my quilt about a month ago, it took weeks to sew that binding on, and since then I've been waiting for a dry sunny day to photograph the quilt in the park. I've finally given up on that occuring on one of my days off, so here it is at last.

Its quite creased because I've been using it. Obviously its far from perfect, barely any straight sewing, as my mum pointed out! Its very soft though, and I managed to do the corners properly.

My favourite fabrics in the quilt are the pink roses on green, the stars on cream, the pink roses on white, and the white fabric with yellow images of 18th century country life...

you know that day when your childhood is delivered in boxes

...that was today. Mum is finally moving out of the old family home, and today she delivered 12 boxes of toys, photos, diaries, schoolwork, books, clothes, and assorted junk. Decided to skip finding room for it all, and dressed up the old barbies for a photoshoot. Ended up with a catalogue of 36 photos. Also found a textiles project where I seriously presented the teacher with designs for a rubber hot water bottle tie, all my old bus passes, and a black lipstick.

swap goodies from amywashere

Oh Amy, thank you for your fantastic swap parcel! I love every single thing. My absolute favourites are...

the apron kit (brilliant idea, can't wait to make mine) and the cutlery ribbon (great colours)

the Betsy McCall pages (especially the girl scout pages) and the hand-written recipe cards (whiskey chocolate cake? Oh yes!)

the fabric bundle (especially the blue check and the nautical fabric)

The handmade purses (unspeakably awesome, seriously, free style sewing!?)

Oh, and the cake ribbon, and the buttons, and the seeds, and everything else. This was such a great swap!

books books books

Ah, time for another quarterly review in my year-long book diary. I haven't read as many books in this period, not sure why. Anyway here is my list of books, picking up where the last list left off ~

1. Rendezvous with Rama Arthur C. Clarke
2. Vile Bodies Evelyn Waugh
3. Fiery Cross (gave up half way through) Diana Gabaldon
4. Under Enemy Colours (surprisingly good, hope the sequel is out soon) Sean Thomas Russell
5. Drums of Autumn Diana Gabaldon
6. Voyager Diana Gabaldon
7. Dragonfly in Amber Diana Gabaldon
8. Mr Midshipman Fury G. S. Beard
9. Wish Me Luck Margaret Dickinson
10. A Town Like Alice (stayed up till 5am reading this) Nevil Shute
11. A Promise to Keep Lilian Harry

And the books I want to read next ~



Scoop Evelyn Waugh

Lieutenant Fury G. S. Beard
Sharpe’s Eagle Bernard Cornwell
Submariner Alexander Fullerton
Butterfield 8 John O'Hara

The Light Years Elizabeth Howard
Star of the Sea Joseph O'Connor
Kydd Julian Stockwin
Put Out More Flags Evelyn Waugh
Decline and Fall Evelyn Waugh
The Mammoth Book of Men O War various
Bright Young People D. J. Taylor
The Hidden Dance Susan Wooldridge
The Great Lover Jill Dawson

Beyond the Blue Event Horizon and sequels Frederik Pohl

Sylvia’s Lovers Elizabeth Gaskell

Everard Mariner of England v1 Alexander Fullerton

green indicates books I might buy as a treat on payday

But, this isn't all, oh no, this is barely the beginning. I've decided I want to read every book on the SF Masterworks list. Yes, all 73 books. And, all the books on the Fantasy Masterworks list. That would be 50. This is inspired by my latest read, the brilliant Rendezvous with Rama, and time spent working in my favourite section within my department at work. No clues, its the SciFi and Fantasy section. (History is unfortunately on a different floor, as is creative textiles) So, that's at least 140 books, but, I have not set myself a deadline, which I think is a good idea.

So some basic statistical analysis. Well I seem to favour three broad genres:

1. Age of Sail/Royal Navy/Ships fiction and non-fiction
2. 1920s-1940s set fiction and non-fiction
3. SciFi/Fantasy fiction

I've read 33 books in the past 6 months, averaging 5.5 a month, or 1.2 a week. But I've read only 18 authors.