I woke up to winter this morning, which is mightily disappointing. Especially since we'd been teased with a bit of warmth yesterday and even managed to sit on the deck. Albeit momentarily, but a presence none-the-less.

I had to make my own sunshine today as a consequence and have added another colour to the peg bag range. It sure is bright and summery!

It seems to have done the trick, however, as now the sun has got it's happy little hat on. Long may it stay.

Drum roll please...time to announce the give-away winners...

The first winner and recipient of the £20 Saints and Pinners' Voucher is...

Number 48...Aimee from Live, Lush, Laugh...Congratulations Aimee!

The second winner and recipient of Scribble Mug and Wash Mitt from Illustrated Living is...

Number 16...Pauline...Congratulations Pauline!

And finally, winner of a Peg Bag by moi is...

Number 16...is Kirsty from Me Plus Molly...congratulations Molly!

Oscar-style thank yous...thank you all so much for entering and showing your support for my blog. I really do appreciate it.

An equally big thank you to Jo and Fran from Saints and Pinners and Rosie and Chris from Illustrated Living for your generous prizes.

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I just want to leave you with this...it will soon be turned into something BIG...think you know what? All will be revealed soon...

I love red. I love a red and aqua combo. Having redecorated the house in greys/teals/mustards red doesn't seem to fit in too well now.

However I do bring it into the kitchen. On last week's Ikea trip I picked up this fab piece of oilcloth. At first I had in mind that it was going to be a mucky activity protector, but having put it out yesterday for Noah's birthday tea I've decided it's far too nice for that.

With a few blooms picked from the garden and the most perfect napkins to accompany it, I am very happy to find a place where red works in my home.

Thank you so much for taking the time out to enter my give-away and writing such lovely things. It's fab to meet some of you that have obviously been reading for some time but never commented before. So great to hear from you.

Please do make sure tho that, should you win, I have a way of letting you know. If you haven't already done so, please can you make sure I have an email you so I can get in touch? I'd hate to not be able to let you know!

I'll be drawing on Friday 12pm GMT so if you haven't already done so, you've still got time... It's right here.

In the meantime...some pretty fabric to show you.

I'd been meaning to buy some of V & A's stunning limited edition fabrics for a while and just got around to it last week. I think you will agree that I have been quite restraint by just buying 4. Well, it gives me an excuse to go back for more...

If you haven't already bought some for yourself, you really must have some of these in your stash. Go on. It's easy...just click here.

2 Year Giveaway

Apparently it was 2 years ago that I stepped out into the world of blogging. I can't remember how long before that I had been obsessed with all the amazing blogs out there that now become part of my daily read. But like most of us it took a while to go from the step of reading to doing.

As we all know it seems a scary step to take at the time, but words can not describe the fulfilment and enjoyment one gets from blogging. You do it. You know what I mean!

As a celebration of reaching this 2 year milestone, I have an amazing giveaway for you. In fact I have not one, not 2 but 3 prizes to offer you. All you have to do is leave a comment sometime between now and next Friday May 7th to say you would like to be entered into the giveaway. Names will be drawn at random, using a random generator or cheap child unpaid labour if one insists.

My first giveaway prize is a £20 voucher from Saints and Pinners. As you know Saints and Pinners has fast become my favourite UK based online fabric store. It is run by Mother and Daughter-in-law team Jo and Fran, who together have selected a beautiful collection of fabrics and patterns. Thank you Jo and Fran for donating your generous prize and for making buying fabric oh too easy!

If you have been following me recently you will be aware of my current Orla obsession. This obsession has been fuelled by the array of goodies that Rosie and Chris from Illustrated Living teasingly offer on their amazing website. Did you know you can accessorise your entire house in Orla? Ok you did. I've told you before. Well, Rosie and Chris, as founding members of the Orla Self-Help Group have kindly offered my next prize of a Scribble Multi Stem Mug, along with a matching Wash Mitt. See, you'll already have Orla in 2 rooms if you win this!

Finally, number 3. A little something from me. I produced these yesterday after being completely inspired on an Ikea visit this week. I knew as soon as I saw them what I wanted to make out of them. Some very sweet people have already got their mitts on them, before they even made it into the shop, but I'm wanting to give one as part of my big Give-away too.

It's been an amazing 2 years and I never imagined where I'd be when I started. How many wonderful, helpful, inspiring, funny people I'd meet on the way. Thank you all who stop by and comment. Thank you all who read behind closed doors. And here's to the next 2 years, with your help and support xx

Oh, and good luck ;-)

I was rather green when I saw my buddy's post the other day and her recent blue and red purchase from Ikea.

I needn't have been as when the lovely lady brought my linen stash over that she picked up for me when she was there, there was a gift of a set of the afore-coveted bowls...for me!

Aren't they just perfect?

The linen is side hemmed table runner width and is a really lovely quality and weave. We've both been struggling to find good linen in the UK at the mo, so when Ikea got stock back in, Manda was straight on the phone and asked how much I needed.

Phew. I can breathe again knowing my linen stash is replenished.

Oh and if all this wasn't enough, Manda also brought over my birthday pressie of this divine Rob Ryan print. I absolutely love it and can't wait to get it up on my new walls. It's going to be just perfect.

Thanks for ALL of it, Manda...you are a gem xx

(P.S. Friday is my 2 year Blog Anniversary...I can't quite believe it! Come by for a FANTASTIC birthday giveaway...you won't be disappointed ;-))

I've been working on Ruby's quilt this weekend and would have finished it if the sun hadn't been shining quite so much (I know, such an inconvenience).

We had one of those weekends where everyone was just chilling and doing what they wanted. Our kids and the kids next door spent the weekend hopping from our garden to theirs and back again. We were never quite sure whether we had 6 kids about or none!

Because everyone was happily doing their own thing, I snuck some guiltless time in the attic and pieced together the quilt. I actually thought Ruby would be able to take it to bed last night but that didn't quite happen. It was one of those gorgeous evenings so all activities were temporarily halted when we decided to stroll up the road to our local Pizza Express.

A shared bottle of wine later and children not in bed at a decent hour stopped any further progress being made last night. Since I had nothing pressing to be done this morning I decided to finish what was almost completed so at least tonight Ruby would have it.

Translate that to mean a bribery to get one overtired little girl into bed at a reasonable hour, after her galavanting about far too late the night before.