Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Giveaway!

Hello all my favourite Lovelies out there.  How are you all?  I hope you are all safe and sound after the wild weather we are experiencing.  On Wednesday a tornado hit us here in North Wales, yes a tornado, who could believe it!  I have the greatest respect for all the people in countries who have to suffer tornados, floods and freak storms as part of their natural weather pattern, you are all so brave in coping with such natural events of Mother Nature.  Thankfully our home is fairly ok and we didn't have any lasting damage, although a few bits and pieces seem to have flown away out of the back garden.  Yesterday very few students from my groups were in as they had been badly hit by the winds and a lot of schools had closed down.  I walked to work as I knew that many roads had been closed in order to remove the trees and debris.  Many people were without electricity for many many hours.  We are the lucky ones and our prayers continue with the poor souls down south where they are still really struggling with the awful conditions brought about by the flooding.  We take things so much for granted such as a safe environment but then when things happen we realise just how vulnerable and tiny we are in this beautiful world of ours.
Do come in out of the cold Everyone, it is wonderful to see you all again, make yourself at home and have a cup of tea and some chocolates?  After all it is St Valentine's Day - sending you all good wishes and hopes that you have enjoyed lots of happiness and smiles today.

 

I was very lucky and received two St Valentine's Day cards - one was from my gorgeous hubby, left on the doormat this morning as I was leaving for work, such a nice surprise.

 

 

 

My second card came from some of my lovely students from the Philippines who are such a delight to work with.  They are all about to enter university and are a joy in our classroom sessions.  It was a great surprise and made me smile as they obviously have taken note of my love of red and pink and glitter! 

 

Unfortunately it has been a really cold and rainy day, this photograph was taken just after I arrived home today.  It is very sleety now and the forecast is snow later tonight, so we shall wait and see.

My lovely Hubby surprised me with a crochet book for St Valentine's Day which was pretty amazing.  You could have knocked me down with a feather as it was the last thing I thought he would buy but after my amazing day with Lucy from Attic24 he obviously noticed that I had fallen in love with crochet.  It was such a great surprise and I felt happy setting off to work this morning.

 

I love these little titles and have the sewing and baking books from this series.  They are only small so you can pop them in your bag and are stuffed with information, very clear pictures and so really nice little projects to get you going.  Obviously anyone with a lot of experience in crochet would find them too easy but for novices like me they are perfect.

 

I haven't had time to really look at the book yet as I have only just got in from work but I am really looking forward to reading it later.  I have a quick flip through and liked this cover for a coffee maker, looks really classy.

After much waiting I also got my hands on some of Aneela Hoey's new fabric which is just delicious.  It is quite expensive so I just got a small piece and will use it for something for the little Peeps.  The whole range of Hello Petal is just divine so do have a look when you can.  It is freely available in the United States and should be available here in the UK now.

Now my gorgeous Friends - the St Valentine's Day Giveaway.  I have two prizes, both the same pattern but made with different tea towels.  I have enjoyed making these but hope the winners like them too, taking into account that I am new to sewing.  I have taken some photographs of the two of them to give you a little sneak preview of them.

They are both made with lots of love and affection.  I asked Rachel, my sewing teacher if she thought they were good enough to give as prizes as they were home made.   She laughed saying not homemade but handmade which is something totally different.

Although I have used two sets of tea towels, one from Sainsbury's and the other from John Lewis, I did put in some extra little bits and pieces.  The photograph below shows a small piece of vintage embroidery taken from an old tray cloth which was fraying quite badly but I loved the work on it.

As you can see one is a pink spotty one!  This is from Sainsbury's and the fabric was just so easy to sew.

The photograph below is the tea towel from John Lewis, again such great fabric to sew.

This tiny flower is fussy cut from the John Lewis set and it was so cute I couldn't resist using it.

I hope you like the patches, they are from a fat quarter I bought ages ago.  I love them and cannot for the life of me remember where I got them from.  The crochet flower is one of my new found skills in crochet - I am really proud of this.

Do you like the cute pattern? My new machine is perfect for all these little extras which I love using.

 

There we are Folks, some little glimpses of the two giveaways.  If  you like the look of them please send me a message telling me what your favourite love is in crafting.  I will put all the names in a hat next Friday and we will have two lovely winners. 

 

Well my Lovelies I have to go and prepare tea now and sort out the house.  I have an interview next week for a charity and am hoping that I will be able to start this soon.  I made a promise to myself in January that I would try and do some charity work with the elderly so am hopefully going to become a volunteer visitor for someone who lives on their own without any family.  I am really excited about this and know that it will be so rewarding for me and hopefully for my nominated person.  Wish me luck with my interview!  I will hopefully be chatting with you all very soon.  Do take care and look after yourselves and enjoy the rest of the day/night depending on where you are in our wonderful world. Sending you all lots of kisses and hugs, please leave a comment if you have time as I so love to hear from you all :-)xxxxxxxxxxxx