Ooh, I wonder what this could be...

Only my, I mean our, belated Anniversary present from my Mum and Dad. Mum knows my love for Orla, along with my love for a red and blue combo, so was lovely enough to give them to me, I mean us.

Are they not the most beautiful tableware that you have ever seen? I adore the usual simplistic design we know and love from Orla. And the retro design of the pieces themselves are oozing with charm.

I love the teapot and I know I, sorry, sorry, WE will use it and get pleasure from it every day, but it's the butter dish that I am truly in love with. The retro shape is just delightful and the chunkiness of the lid is such a joy to hold (Karen, for goodness sake it's a butter dish).

All that's missing now is a couple of these to complete the look...

wordless Wednesday

relaxing, unwinding and taking it easy...

...well almost wordless...

As promised, we have the winner of my "Guiltless Sewing in Order to Avoid doing my Taxes" Giveaway...

...and the winner is...

...Tara of Aquamarine Art! The pouch will wend it's way to you asap.

Thank you all for entering. I really appreciate all your comments of support. It really does mean a lot and here's to happier times x

I started designing a new tote last night with the wool felt I picked up form Fabworks that I'm rather pleased with. I haven't worked with this wool felt before and it is a joy. It obviously doesn't fray like cotton fabric, so just a cut and an overlapping sew and it's sorted.

Since I couldn't decide which of the delectable felts that I bought to use, I went for using all 3 - 2 shades of grey and a teal.

I like that there is unity with the teal on both sides, but with the 2 shades of grey making it less perfectly matching.

I lined the tote with my favourite stripy linen and made coordinating handles with it too.

Some sashiko stitching to finish it off and we have a useful seasonal tote. This one is in the shop now and I'm hoping to get to Fabworks this week to get different coloured felt, so if you have any requests give me a shout...

I am delighted to report that taxes are all done and dusted...until next year. I can't believe I say the same thing every year about being organised and every year the same happens. To think I could actually do them 8 months earlier never seems to compute.

But then where's the fun in that?

As a result of feeling a massive weight of relief, I've taken today off and am treating myself to doing a few projects that have been on the wish list for quite some time.

This first one - Bunny Pencil Case from Zakka Sewing - has been on the list since I bought the book for my birthday last March and fell in love with it then. It's been on Ruby's wish list too and since today she was reluctantly piled off to school whilst the boys lazied in bed, as it's Entrance Exam Day at their school, so closed for pupils, I thought it was only fair she comes home to a little special treat.

This was a lovely project to do. Firstly, working in linen is so pleasurable. It is soft to the touch, but holds its shape well. I also love the utilitarian look and feel of linen.

Whilst the project was classed as a 3 - challenging - the most challenging thing I found about it was having enough hands to pull in the bunny tail! I think if you are adept at zippers, then this really isn't too tricky a project.

The only other challenge I found was hand drawing out the template, as I don't have a photocopier to enlarge the patterns 200%, hence a rather 'unique' looking bunny...

I'm so pleased to have found time to start embarking on some projects that I've been wanting to do for a while now and delving back into this gorgeous book has inspired me in several ideas to use that lovely wool I picked up a couple of weeks ago.

Watch this space...;-)

Guess what? I started my tax today!

I have had an entire day of finding, sorting and collating receipts, invoices, bank statements, bills etc etc and even though I'm not quite finished I feel giddy with excitement with the thought that it is almost over.

I'm so excited about what I'm going to do next week without this hanging over me.

And also, I have not done an iota of sewing today. And there's a certain someone out there (you know who you are...!) who couldn't quite believe that this was going to be possible. But it was. I did it. Not out of choice, I hasten to add. More out of necessary concentration and focus.

Maybe I got it out of my system yesterday by allowing myself to slowly recuperate and not put pressure on myself by insisting I start my taxes yesterday. Maybe when push comes to shove, I am actually quite capable of focussing and prioritising.

Who'd have thought...

I did however sneak in a little more sewing last night before the dawn broke on my new found commitment to the cause. Having given away the pencil pouch that was sewn with the intention of being mine, I realised that if this one wasn't mine, then I'd better make one that was.

So here, we have Patchwork Pencil pouch Number 2...and sorry folks...this one is mine ;-)

Thank you so much for all your lovely well-wishes you left yesterday. It really does mean a lot...thank you, thank you, thank you xx

Question: What do you do when you are supposed to be...

a) doing your tax forms? and

b) doing lesson plans for Maths classes?

Answer: Sew, of course!

Having been on rather a zipper pouch roll of late (what, you hadn't noticed?) I was really in the mood for making one for me for a pencil case. As I was saying earlier, I have far more pressing things than make myself a new pencil case, but due to the rather emotional week we've had, I couldn't focus on anything today. So in order for the day to not be a complete wash-out I figured I may as well sew.

For those of you that follow me on Twitter, you'll know that Matthew's Nan passed away late Saturday night, after fighting a losing battle this last week. It's been an exhausting week emotionally and physically, but at least now she is at peace. At 98 it's inevitable that your days are numbered, but when the time comes, it doesn't matter how old, it is still the loss of a loved one.

Hence the lack of desire or energy today to do anything but sew. But in order for me not to feel totally guilty about this, I've decided to make this a giveaway and thank you all for all your comments and support of my blog. I don't always manage to reply to your comments, but I love reading them and in my mind I have replied!

So as a proper thank you I'm giving away this zipper pouch and it will be filled with a whole host of surprise goodies too ;-)

To enter all you have to do is be a follower of my blog and leave a comment to say hi...easy as that!

I'll be making the draw AFTER I have registered my tax next Monday...there, if that's not driving me into action, I'm not sure what is.

Thanks again for following and being there x