And the winner of my giveaway is!!!!>>>>>>>>

Hello!  Gosh, thank you all so much for joining in my giveaway fun, and to my new followers too! (I don't really like the term followers, it makes me feel a bit like some sort of weird sect!!!)  Reading through all of your wonderful comments has been very enjoyable and heart-warming too. One of the pleasures that I get from doing my blog is reading all of the comments.  They make me smile, make me laugh out loud, fill me with happiness, sometimes bring a tear to my eye and my days are enriched by hearing about other peoples lives too. It is like getting letters from friends! My invisible friends!

The Lovely Ralph and Bertram Butterbean Barker (Bertie!) watching over the proceedings!

Now to my giveaway!!!  To make it fair, I allocated everyone a number. We all knew the day would come when we are all just numbers, didn't we?!  The followers got their number put into the hat twice. The hat by the way, was one of my Grandmother's (she adored hats!), rather nice isn't it! No I don't wear it, although it is sometimes quite tempting!
Here is George's hand making it's way into the said hat last night.  He can be quite useful sometimes you know!

DRUM ROLL...........     Well ok then! More like a tap tap on the biscuit tin!

Andthe winner is........

Number 15!!!

Oh, you want to know who number 15 is do you?  Hee hee!  Well it is my pleasure to announce that number 15 is the delightful and very lovely Michela in Italy!  Michela has the blog Little Secrets From My Garden, pop over and visit her, she is so lovely and her blog is wonderful to read!  Congratulations Michela!!!  It must have been a sign, as you were the first one to comment on the first giveaway post! I am quite enjoying myself here, this is fun!

Congratulations! Please let me have your email so that I can get your address, etc.
You will soon be receiving these in the post. There will be a few other bits and bobs too which I haven't shown here!

 

 

 

 

I decided in the end to make it into a little bits and bobs bag to hang in a bedroom or bathroom, or wherever! 

Last week I showed you all what I got from Aunt spicy in her giveaway, well I am just posting about it again for anyone who didn't see last week (I added it after I had published, and then republished again!)  If you would like to see what I wrote then please look at last weeks post here! Here are the photos again for you too see.

Aunt spicy sent this lovely handmade card which was made by Jacky at the Sweetest Petunia.

                                               She also sent this lovely bag!

And these yummy chocs amd cupcake cases with santa a xmas tree signs in a little bag ! Thank you again Aunt spicy!

I love kindness, don't you?  Any act of kindness, and there are many.  If only there was more kindness in the world, it would be such a wonderful place! But despite the awful stories of human selfishness which we are bombarded with on the news daily, I know that there is still so much kindness out there. After all,  good news doesn't get the attention that bad news does. Negative always seems to be noticed more than positive don't you think?!

Kindness, whether recieved or given, for me personally, gives me a lovely warm fuzzy feeling deep down in my soul. Kindness can be as simple as giving a smile, opening a door, giving a car park ticket to someone else, there are just so many ways to make someone feel happier and cared for! There are so many ways to bring out the sunshine on a rainy day!

One of my stitcheries!

So you can imagine how warm and fuzzy my soul felt when I got a parcel through the post from a lovely lady, (who I feel has become a friend) Lynne. I have done a few commissions for her lately and just last week I sent some little fairy christmas hearts off to her.  I opened her parcel and there was this very pretty scarf wrapped up in layers of this gorgeous tissue paper (which has dots of silver sparkle in, and looks like a starry night!).....

And! Remember a few weeks ago in the Cath Kidston party? I said that I wanted one of these?......

Well! Now I have one! Yes there was a Cath Kidston pin tin in my parcel too!

There was also a beautiful card too, with little angels on the front and the most wonderful words from Lynne inside!

Her act of kindness to me has filled me up with happiness and still a few days later I still feel warm and cuddly inside! So generous and kind that lady is!

You see, I feel that kindness is so much more than just an act. To me it is a gift that has a lasting effect. Everytime we give our kindness we are making the world a sunnier and more loving place for us and more importantly, our children to live in.
What act of kindness do you remember which made your life a happier one?

A couple of weeks ago the lovely Pomona asked me for the knitting pattern for this tea cosy.......

Well here it is pomoma! Click here to go to the pattern. I hope I wrote it all down properly! If not just get in touch and I will amend it!

Til next week then, go and spread some happiness! And although we don't actually do thanksgiving in England, everyone who does, have a good one! All the ones who don't, well it doesn't mean we can't all stop and remember all there is to be thankful for!

Love and blessings to you all,
Suzie. xxx

Last chance to enter my giveaway!

Happy Friday everybody! As I am writing this, I am reflecting on the week gone by and hope that you have all had a good one! Don't forget that this is the last chance to enter my giveaway - I will announce the winner in next Fridays post.  For the early birds who commented first thing last week, You may not have seen this patchwork  and stitchery which I added later as I had forgotten to put it on!

 Don't forget there will be a few other goodies in your parcel too besides what I have already shown. Anyone new?  Have a look at my last post to see what I am giving away!

Hey! Look what arrived in the post! I was lucky enough to win this fabulous giveaway from Aunt Spicy. I will use this gorgeous bag to do my bits and bobs of shopping! Anyone living in Lancashire, watch out for me sporting this lovely little number!

Also in my parcel were these......

Yes! a rather yummy selection of chocolates and a cupcake party pack! Now! You are know what I will be doing ... shopping for ingredients for cupcakes, carrying them home in my nifty shopper ( which says on it , the Sur la table - art of cooking!) and displaying my creations in those lovely festive cupcake cases with a delightful santa or xmas tree sign to top them off! And of course, munching on chocolate too! Thank you so much Aunt Spicy, you are a darling! Please go and visit her, she will always make you welcome and her blog is a delight! Spicy had also included and written this lovely little sweet handmade card which I will keep forever and proudly display here where every one can see it!

 

It was so exciting to recieve this in the post Spicy! You really are so kind! A BIG kiss to you!

The post before last I talked about invisible friends and this post is about invisible people!

As I was walking to the post office to post a parcel full of fairies  (I really don't know why they couldn't fly there! What is the point of having those tiny wings?  It was awfully windy though.  so....)

Anyway, as I was walking I was thinking about when I was a teenager. Yes I can just about remember that long ago, just after the wheel had been invented I think! The teens can be a difficult age for some, or many! My early teens were like that a bit, I hadn't wanted to leave Canada, and then I found it hard to settle in high school.

             This was my town in Canada - Port Mulgrave in Nova Scotia!

As a matter of fact I found school excruciatingly painful - I was shy, I was bullied and became a bit of a loner. I felt unable to confide in my Mum for quite some time, as I felt that as she was a teacher, she would march in there and it would become worse than ever, so I suffered in silence, dreaded school each day and cried myself to sleep at night. I remember saying to myself, that I didn't need anyone.

I think I have said before that as a philosophy I really gel well with buddhism. One of the meditations is that all day you focus on every task to the exclusion of anything else, so lets say I am cutting out a piece of lovely fabric, I must meditate on the task, but also be thankful. Thankful and mindful of all the work and all of the people's lives that have gone into that one piece, the cotton being picked, the factory, the dyes, the designer, etc., You get the drift? Then there are the scissors. Who made them and what materials were used, and how many lives were involved in that process?

 

                                 Hi  ho! Hi ho! Its off to work we go!

All around us, every day, we are affected by other people, invisible people. People, without whom we would not have shoes on our feet, food on the table, a roof over our heads.... in fact we would be sat about with not a lot! Even the seat I am sat on, I couldn't make myself. Oh yes I could sit on a rock, but I wouldn't have my computer to write this blog! We rely on so many invisible people!  The point being of course, that each and every one of us really do need each and every one of us!!! So my teenager me was a bit off the mark really! I try to remember to do this now and then. It is humbling and helps to remind myself how even the most simple thing I own is wrapped up with someone elses lives and history, and to appreciate even the smallest thing, because in actuality every small thing is in fact a big thing! We truly are all connected and without sounding too gushing, we all gaze up at the same moon!

My teenage me, you will be pleased to hear, found a really good friend, who is still my friend  - my soul sister! And on a windy cold day on the hockey field, I mustered up the courage to ask one of my bullies why she did it. She was a little taken aback to say the least and there was a silence for a moment as she studied me (like I was a specimen!). Then she told me, she said it was because I was different! Well, I did have a Canadian accent, was very skinny, little, flat chested, a bit of a dreamer, artisitc and had victim stamped to my forehead!
For a second I felt quite hurt, and then like a light bulb coming on, I thought ... well I am glad then, because if I was like you, I would be a spiteful bully of a person! I had desperately wanted to fit in, and then in a moment saw that maybe it was sometimes good not to! A valuble lesson indeed!

 After that, I started building up a good strong sense of humour, and decided that from then on, if there was something to cry over, I would try to see the bright side instead! On the whole I think I have managed to do that! I have no ill feelings toward the perpetrators, after all they must have had problems themselves to act in such a way. Years later one of them asked me out for a drink. Curious, I agreed, and it turned out that she had felt tormented by her actions for all those years, and asked me to forgive her! my heart just melted! How lovely! Of course I had actually forgiven her years before that! But it was a wonderful and brave thing for her to do!

Now I wonder how much work and how many people it took to make these delightful tins in red and white?

These tins were from Laura Ashley, there is a sale on at the moment. I also got this polka dot oversized mug.... .....

And from Lakeland I got this little lady who is also a money box too! .......

Guess what? I like red!!!! It is such a cheery colour and I find that little splashes of it in my home makes everything brighter and happier looking. Maybe red reminds me of childhood - those lovely red shoes!

What ever the reason is for my liking red, I love it and find myself completely drawn towards it! I also love blue, and if a certain shade of blue gets together with a certain shade of red, I can go into a hypnotic gaze of awe and wonder!  Sad I know, but I get a kind of excited feeling in my tum!  What colour/s are you all drawn to the most?

Thats all for this week! Remember to pop back next week to find out who the winner of my giveaway is!

Until then remember to embrace the little things, and have a wonderful weekend and week to come.

Love and joy to you all, Suzie.  :) xxx

I am having my first giveaway!!!

Hello everybody! Hope you have all had a brilliant week since my last post. I know I keep thanking you all for coming here, reading and commenting but again I must say thank you, thank you, thank you all so much! Without you all, well I would be just talking to my self! Thank you to to the people who are following me too! I am absolutely amayonaissed that people do do!

Did everyboby hear this week about the winners of the lottery?

A group of people shared the jackpot, and a couple got 45 million. Have I got my facts right?  That is of no matter though, it was a huge amount either way!  Well anyway, I started to daydream about what I would do with all that money. Quite honestly, the thought of that much money is a tad repugnant to me, and my immediate thought is that I would have to do a lot of good with a great deal of it. Obviously, I would fix my house up and get it just so (lots of Cath Kidston and the like!) and enjoy making my home just as we would like it to be. I would not be at all interested in expensive cars or anything flashy for that matter!  A house and a tree is enough for me!

      I think I have put this one on before in another post, but.....here it is anyway!


I would enjoy making others happy, you know, help out friends who are having hard times, treat people and give lots of it to charities, etc. Just try to do some good and hopefully spread some happiness and smiles on the way too!

I heard on the radio that after six months, winners of big money prizes don't feel particularily any happier than they did before. The euphoria wears off. Yes their lives are easier in some ways, but maybe harder in others. We didn't know we had so many friends, Ha ha!!! One thing I have learnt so far in life is that happiness is an inside job.  If you are not happy deep down, then it is unlikely that money will make you so.

What would you do with a huge lottery win?

Now as I said, I would give a lot away, and because I would like to thank you all, I am having a giveaway. Sorry, its not money though!!! George, my long suffering husband and partner in crime, will draw the winner on  the 26th November and I will announce the winner in my Friday the 27th post.

All you need to do to enter is to leave a comment on this post and/or the next post (20th) and you will have your name put into a hat! If you are a follower and you leave a comment, your name will be entered twice!
Reasonably simple I think/hope!  Oh, and if anyone would like to spread the news! copy and paste this giveaway pic with a link please! That would be lovely! :)

You will win one of these....

                     A Christmas heart, stitched and designed by me.

one of these......

One of my stitchery wall hangings on hessian with two real shell buttons.

                              A closer view -  Sing, dance, laugh!

one of these.....

One of my drawings in pencil and pastels of my Old English Sheepie - Ralph! It is on hand made paper.

And one of these......

  A stitchery with a patchwork border, which my end up as a cushion or a wall hanging, not sure yet!!! It says - what you give , you have. Which is highly appropiate to this giveaway and post too!!!

.......and there may well be other bits and bobs included too! I am quite excited about it!

Do you remember that little tea cosy that I showed you in lasts weeks post? Well Pomona asked if I could share the pattern. Pomona is at Little cottage comforts, and a visit to her blog is well worth it. She writes beautifully and is so talented. Her blog is a delight!  Well if you are reading this Pomona, I will try and root the pattern out and get it to you soon!

So all you lovely people, I hope to be sending a little parcel to one of you soon!  Have a super dooper weekend. Lots of blessings to you all.  Suzie. xxx

Invisible friends and planning a giveaway!

Happy November all!
Can you believe another week has just gone by? I have been mad busy this week and so I haven't had time to keep up with everyone as much as I usually do So if I have left anyone out I am so sorry! I will be catching up hopefully today, when I catch up with myself!

Also, I am seriously considering doing my first giveaway soon so keep checking back! It will probably involve one of my hand sewn designs and maybe a signed drawing. Not sure what I will be giving away yet, but I can feel one coming on! I have the urge! Or should I say the itch 2 stitch! Ha ha!

I must mention again before I go onto this weeks post, I received this lovely award from Tracey at Tracey's -craftyscraps. Please look at my last post for all the details. Thank you again Tracey!

Good news .... At the weekend I took my last pill after five years of Tamoxifen and Aromasin.Yay!  I am mentioning this, as I think it is great encouragement to anyone at the beginning of their journey with breast cancer. I am still here, I have finished my treatment at last and I am almost (!) back to normal! If I ever was!  And the bits that are not normal and never will be, I have at last adjusted to with grace and acceptance. I just wish I had known someone like me 5, nearly six years ago!

                                  Image sourced from the internet.

Yesterday upon the stair

I saw a man who wasn’t there

He wasn’t there again today

Oh, how I wish he’d go away   Hughes Mearns 

This weeks post was inspired by a post from bad penny at The Hen House.  Penny asked if any of us had an invisible friend when we were children.  Well this brought back a memory, of course!

As a child of about the age of 8 years old, I had an invisible friend. A boy.  He was around about the same age as me and he was called Junior. I am not sure if he came ready with that name or I called him such, but that was his name! He was mostly thoughtful and studious, sometimes he would sit and read, but sometimes....he was a little Monkey!

 

One of my doodles!

Now once Junior came to live at our house, life became a little complicated. You see nobody seemed to be able to see him apart from me, and this caused quite a rumpus at times in the Calderbank house!

My brother, who to be completely honest has always thought his Sister to be a bit mad at the best of times, used to be quite peeved as he would go to sit in a chair and be told that he mustn't, as Junior was already occupying it and he wouldn't want to squash him, would he?! To which of course, my brother being a brother, would promptly sit on Junior and squash him!

Ha ha. look at that jazzy 60's decor folks! My brother is probably sat on Junior right at that moment. He does look rather pained the poor chap! Or does he look quietly resigned!!! Notice how my Mum's fluffy slippers match the colour of her dress. Very trendy Shirley!


Gosh my Mum was patient! Perhaps because she was a teacher, or maybe she was just a saint! I hope she has got her reward in heaven! I remember once when she was telling me to hurry up and get ready for school. I explained to her that Junior's cousins had come to stay in the night, and it was really difficult dressing six small boys and getting them all ready to go to school with me! Goodness me Mum, what do you think I am ... an octopus!

               Image sourced from the internet, thank goodness! Phew, thats a lot of children all at once!


I  can't remember what happened to Junior, he just disappeared one day, perhap's Grahame really did squash him! But I never saw him again, or his troublesome cousins!

These days I stick to flesh and bone kind of friends. Real ones that you can have a good conversation with and a lovely hot comforting cup of tea! Although, hmmm it would be nice to have another invisible one!

 This is about the level of my knitting skill! A woolly tea cosy with buttons on it!

Here are some christmas hanging hearts that I have been working on this week. I have done them in bright reds and greens for a cheerful look. They have little shiny hearts and stars on them and are finished off with a natural shell button and jute string. Ignore the bulge on the side of the two that have been made up, I haven't finished sewing up the sides yet!

 

I will  show some more next week, but for now I will show you all another heart I have been busily sewing. This one is going to Ireland to live with the other fairies which are on the stocking I sewed recently. I hope all the fairies will be very happy together in Ireland!

 

Next week she will be sewn up and finished properly!

Well thats all for another week! Now don't forget to treasure you friends, but remember that invisible ones have feelings too! If you don't already have one, go and find one! I hear that they hide behind trees and clouds! My friend's little girl used to say her's was behind the radiator! So If you don't have an invisible friend, you have obviously not been looking in the right places!

What will you all be doing this weekend? My brother is coming around for dinner on saturday,  so perhaps when he goes to sit down I will say, NO! you can't sit there, thats Junior's seat!!!

Bye til next week! Love and happiness to each and everyone of you!

Suzie. xxx