I love the Royal Mail (sometimes)

I don't want to give the impression that I'm always buying stuff, but it just so happens that recently I've gone flippin' mental with Paypal and bought ALL THE THINGS! Brace yourself.

Are you braced?

Feast your eyes on THIS:

You tell me if that is not the most beautiful fabric you have ever seen in your entire trouble and strife! Isn't it wonderful?! It's a Michael Miller what I bought from Etsy, and it is going to maybe bayby turn into one of these bad boys:

also from Etsy. It probably won't though, I think that fabric is too nice to cut. Is it just me who has this problem? Anyhoo, I've never made anything from a proper pattern before, but Len Goodman (my mum) (not her real name (obviously), see explanation below*) said she'd show me. Len is a proper maker - she's made loads of stuff and most weddings in the entire, gigantic extended Bumbaleerie family have at least one Len Goodman original on show, usually a bridesmaid dress.

*Len Goodman's real name is Eileen, but she gets called Leenie. I started calling my parents by their first names for a hilarious laugh but it turns out that it's really difficult to go back once you've started doing that.I was texting her a rude picture one day and predictive text changed 'Leen' to 'Len'. And I was quite literally over the moon to have a new nickname for her. (ASIDE: I thought I'd invented the name myself but it turns out he's some kind of dancing judge. Whod've thunkit?)

Similarly, we were playing that game with my Dad when you work out your 'adult entertainment name' by putting your first pet's name with your mother's maiden name. My sister introduced my parents to this game and said it was to get their 'stage name' but I put them right as I am the daughter that DOESN'T lie to them, and that makes me their FAVOURITE. Turns out my dad's first dog was called..........wait for it........ ROY! ROY PRATT! True story. So he gets called Roy now, which I think you'll agree is a marvellous name.

People say I must be unbearable to live with, but I'm not sure why.

Anyway, anyway, anyway. One last parcel that I've been waiting AGES and AGES for is this:

Stamps! Stamps that I am turning into artwork! OoooooooOOOooooooh! I do like a good stamp.


And that's all today's news. Glad to say Farewell to Monday though. Why is it ALWAYS Monday and NEVER Friday? Someone should look into that.

Sunshine!

Today, Scotland has been lovely! There really is nowhere nicer to be than Scotland in the sunshine. It was so nice that I took my makey materials outside:

And I made a whole heap of stuff! I made a neck cushion, to send away for injured troops:

You can find more information on this here. I also made this flower, all by myself!

All right, FINE, my sister had to give me a step-by-step-by-back-a-step-by-back-again read through on how to do it. My sister is truly a magnificent person, although she's a bit annoying. Here is a list of things she does that are annoying:

- she grows her eyelashes really long. 

- she has lovely long, thick blonde hair and she is a very slim beautiful person, the polar opposite of me (I'm a curly brunette, who could at best be described as dumpy)

- she is good at jewellery making. Her blog can be found here, go and say hello

- she's doing FORENSIC BIOLOGY at uni, and she's very clever.

- she's an exceptionally patient person. As proved by this conversation we had recently:

Me: Teach me how to make that flower.

Her: OK. *hands me wool and a hook*. Right, first you make a slip loop...

Me: WHAT'S A SLIP LOOP?!

Her: I'll show you. *she shows me*

Me: I CAN'T DO IT! I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO DO IT! I'M RUBBISH AT EVERYTHING!!!!

Her: No! You can do it! Come on!!

Me: *suddenly motivated because she's so good at motivating folk* Ok-doke, maybe I CAN do it!

Her: Right. Right, you're doing really well . It's just...you're not really making a loop....but it still looks nice, what you're doing!

Me: *throwing the whole lot across the room* This is RUBBISH! I HATE THIS!

Her: No, it's fine, I'll start it for you...

Me: I DON'T EVEN WANT TO LEARN IT ANYMORE! DON'T SPEAK TO ME!

(I should point out that she recently turned twenty, and I'm six and a half years older than her but I'll leave the maths to you. In my defense, I'm only thirteen in my head.)

Anyway, after a lot of gentle guidance (her) and stomping about (me), I finally learned! Or rather, she finally taught me! She's wonderful, even if she does smell.

Right, parcels! Oh, so many lovely parcels! First, fabric for myfriendsnephewsquilt, which I love very much. It's a combination of cloud9 and Michael Miller, which is the best combination in the world if you ask me:

although after a lot of deliberation, I decided not to use the starry one. Instead I ordered more red and I am happy with the way it's all coming together. I got a very, very exciting other package too:

tied up with string and everything! And inside it was:

Her Maj!! Well, a jelly mold of her head, for the Jubilee. Isn't it WONDERFUL? Husband was so thrilled* by this, he had to lie down for several minutes** before coming downstairs to shake my hand*** and thank me profusely**** for introducing such a magnificent item into our house******

* frightened
** run upstairs to check the joint account, to see how much I'd paid
*** yell 'you paid TEN SCOTTISH YEN FOR THIS?!'
**** shake his head in disbelief
***** 'bringing even more junk in here' sez he, which I found a tad unkind. Luckily, I was too busy pretending to be Betty the Second to pay attention to him properly.

And that's this week! Whatever will arrive in the post next week...?

Technology

Lads. The technology in Bumbaleerie Mansions has gone mental, I was lucky to escape WITH MY LIFE.

The computer started making a weird noise - you know that sort of noise that makes you go AHHUSBANDTHESKYISFALLINGDOWN ? Well, that.

I have taken refuge. Husband is trying to fix the motherboard. I don't know what this is, because it really is spectacularly boring talking about motherboards and my brain miserably sloped off while husband was talking about it. As I understand it, it's a sort of magic plate. Possibly made up of electric and internet.

Anyhoo, the long and short of it is THIS. I can write. But never a picture can be uploaded.

Hopefully the problem will be fixed tomorrow so I can write about all the parcels I'm waiting on, all the making I've been doing and just exactly what's in THE SPECIAL BOX.

See you then.