confused about google reader....

....are you as confused as I am about google reader disappearing tomorrow???

I've read lots of different blog posts, articles and more about what I should or shouldn't do before tomorrow and I'm still none the wiser.

I use the blogger dashboard on my mac to read your posts and I use the feeddler app on my iPhone and iPad to read them when I'm away from the computer.

From what I had read the loss of google reader wouldn't affect me but when I opened feedler this morning I received a warning notice.

I've read some more articles and seen some more blogposts and have decided to use feedly to read your blog posts on my mac, iPhone and iPad.

I'm still not sure how it is all going to affect us tomorrow but at least I will be able to see what you are all up to.

Joining Feedly and transferring all my blogs over was super easy - just a click of a button and there you all were.

As for following me well that is something I'm not sure about, I have heard rumours that Google Friends Connect either doesn't work or will being heading the same way as google reader very shortly but it appears that you if you too transfer your blog list over to feedly or bloglovin you should still be able to see my posts, alternatively you can subscribe by email.

Thanks for reading this slightly confusing post by a very confused blogger........

Pay It Forward - better late than never!

Back in April last year I posted about a pay it forward, I had a year in which to make a gift for three lucky readers of my blog. I fairly quickly made an apron for Claire and then ummed and arhhed over what to make Jille. I just couldn't find quite the right project or fabric so like most of these things it got put on the back burner with me every so often stalking Jille's Pinterest page and blog! Then suddenly at the beginning of the month after seeing Jille's doll pins I decided to make a Tilda doll and dress her in traditional welsh clothes to make it personal to Jille.




I've never made a Tilda doll before and have sometimes been put off anything too fiddly but I have to say I can completely understand how addictive these dolls are. She isn't perfect as a first attempt but never am I!
They have a way of taking on a personality all of their own especially if the evolve like my doll did.




I made the doll itself using the pattern from a Tone Finnegar book but made up the patterns for the clothes and accessories as I went along. And here she is


I'm pleased to say that Jille loves her as much as I loved making her which is the icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned.
I've just realised the photo above is before I stitched her a mouth so here she is mouth and all.



I have one for pay it forward gift to make - for Callie - so if you're reading this Callie would you leave a comment so I can contact you as I can't find your address!
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Out to lunch....

Paul and I popped out this morning to run a few errands and visit a couple of charity shops. As there were no bargains to be had we decided to go to our local pub for lunch.


The Crown at Sandon dates back to the 18th century so is steeped in history. It sits on the village green and has suffered several fires in its lifetime with the last one almost destroying the building in 2004. It lay empty for some time and was then rebuilt it has had several landlords since then so hasn't quite re-established itself. But if our warm welcome and lunch today was anything to go by its on the right path.
Paul decided to have the ploughmans and what a ploughmans it was.


How tasty does that look?
And I decided to have the goats cheese and red onion tart with onion rings which I have to say was delicious!


The onion rings were so tasty Paul kept pinching them so it was a good job we had some fries to share.
I have a feeling we will be back to sample some more of what The Crown has to offer.

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Bagel with jam or jam with bagel?

For breakfast the other day Paul asked me if I would like a bagel, "yes please" I said "with jam".
This is what I got!


Even after scraping off some jam I still couldn't decide if it was a bagel with jam or jam with bagel.


What do you think?


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Charity shop buys

Last week I met up with a friend and we headed off to Brentwood high street to see what the charity shops had to offer. Brentwood has become synonymous with the glitz and glamour of TOWIE but we did not venture into any of those shops or salons. The high street is a traditional long street which still has traffic driving up and down but the paths are nice and wide so you don't feel to close to the cars and buses. We parked behind the high street and walked through one of the alleyways and headed off to find the shops. After finding one charity shop and buying a few bargains we decided that a coffee was in order and found a Cafe Nero.


I don't normally drink coffee but my daughter is always going on about frappacinos and chocha mochas so i decided to try one. I also couldn't resist a pecan danish too nom! nom!
After our short coffee break we hit the charity shops again picking up a bargain or two. Here is what I bought.


A diet plate for £1.50 I'm hoping this will help me cut down on my portion size, although Tomas seems to think it's his plate!


A summery plastic jug for those summer BBQ 's (If we get a summer that is). This was £2.75


A picture frame for 75p


And a few Christmas stocking fillers a rugby book for 50p, a DVD and book for £2.50 and some sanctuary goodies for £5.99
Please excuse this next photo I like to keep behind the camera but its very difficult to take a picture of the dress you are wearing without showing your face (I could have smiled though I suppose) and please excuse my daughters bedroom!


This is a monsoon dress which I picked up for £4.50 I'm thinking of taking it up so its more of a tunic top so I can wear it with jeans or trousers.

So not a bad days shopping at all and it was lively to spend time with my friend too.

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Father's Day

Paul has to be one of the hardest people to buy for, he does have hobbies but not the kind that you can buy things for (he keeps canaries and has the dogs) and if he does want something he is usually straight on eBay and buys it himself, which leaves the rest of us scratching our heads for ideas. Initially this Father's Day was going to be no different but then on Friday Paul decided that he would quite like some Stella Artois Cidre ( he isn't a big drinker but does enjoy a refreshing cider in the summer). I then had the idea that he should have the appropriate glass to enjoy his beverage so a quick look on eBay and I found someone selling some Cidre glasses in Maldon a couple of emails later and I had made arrangements to collect to glasses for the princely sum of £3!


Now I don't know what your house is like but keeping secrets is nigh on impossible and although I thought I had done a good job of keeping the glasses a secret apparently Paul knew!
These weren't Paul's only gifts Rachel made him a lovely piece if subway art using the saying "anyone can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a Dad"
Jack wrote a wonderful message in Paul's card that was really appreciated and Tomas made a special Dad medal and card at school.


I also bought Paul a ice-cream/potato scoop and a potato masher (I know they're not very exciting but Paul does keep asking for school mash in rounds and our potato masher lost its handle and this new one has a soft grip which should be easier on his hands (he has arthritis).
We also decided on a last minute meal out to one if our local Indian restaurant where all had a delicious meal.


so all in all not bad considering Paul didn't want anything!

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Secret Present Ta Dah!

I can now show you the secret present I was working on last week.


This was for one of my daughter Rachel's friends whose birthday it is today (Happy Birthday Roisin x)


I previously used this guitar fabric when I made a bag for Roisin last year so with the piece that was left over this is what I came up with.


There was just enough fabric for the letters and a small panel on the back which I teamed with a super soft velvety purple fabric.


I chose a fancy font and went BIG for the R


and used a less fancy font from the same font group for the lowercase letters.


It was Rachel's idea to use the guitar cutout as an exclamation mark!


I'm really pleased with how it turned out and I hope Roisin likes it too.