Really Random Thursday - Reasons to be Cheerful

My daughter designed and sewed this while I wasn't paying attention. I don't take any credit for it at all - it just makes me really happy that she did this all by herself!

Other reasons to be cheerful this week: sunny weather!  The flowers are coming out,

and so are the creatures.  I really love stripey snails.

Things are always interesting close up and I love that my camera can show the flowers on this tiny grass/sedge(?).

This satellite picture of a strange planet is actually a huge lichen.

Of course things aren't always sweetness and light and we are not the Walton family!  This always cheers me up though.

Really Random Thursday

Reasons to be cheerful and random bits and pieces from this week:

While the children were being spoiled rotten at aunty's, we got to go off  hill-walking!   Striding along unencumbered is something I sometimes miss from pre-children days so it felt a bit like that moment of liberation at the airport when you've checked in all your baggage - both baggages in my case:-) - and are free to wander around knowing that it's all taken care of.

There was some of this:

and quite a lot of this:

I love these beautiful textures on a fallen tree:

...and this rock with its signs of the amazing heating, heaving and folding that went on millions of years ago:

Amazing colours reminded me I haven't seen many butterflies this year:

Peacock butterfly

There was a little building in the woods:

with a magic door:

It appeared much bigger inside than outside:

and led, quite unexpectedly, to a balcony:

with a view over a waterfall!

It was like something in Narnia.

Then there was this - can you guess what it is?

It's an ell! This one dates from 1706, and would have been used for measuring fabric, among other things.

Flippin' ell (Sorry. Appalling British pun.)

There was quite a lot of photographing of a finished quilt - a big thanks for some really helpful suggestions and supportive comments while I was dithering about this one:

How to photograph a quilt is an art in itself and Amanda Fabric Engineer's post made me laugh.

And...there was some of this:

Hooray for triple ace cake!

I'm linking up to Live a Colorful Life.   I love this feature - full of glimpses of different lives in different parts of the world.

Latest stops on the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop are great, as always.  Please check out:

Sep 4
      Lorelei from Mermaid Sews
      Leoni from Strandkorbtraum

Sep 6
       Tessa from The Sewing Chick
       Bethany from Make Me A Quilt

Sep 11
        Anne from SpringLeaf Studios
         Kristy from Cotton Addiction

Sep 13
         Julie from That's Sew Julie
         Chelsea from Pins and Bobbins

Really Random Thursday

Reasons to be cheerful this week:

Fun:  The weather this summer has not been great but at the weekend we were able to make a rare and lovely trip to the seaside.

If you had the whole of this enormous beach to choose from, would you have sat just here, right in front of the only other people enjoying the view?  It made me laugh anyway.

Sometimes the adults in this family seem to have more fun building sandcastles than the children.

Finds: this flower (isn't it lovely? I haven't identified it yet)...

...and this spider, in the garden, which looks so amazing close up:

and finally: while we were shopping we surprised a couple, who I would guess were in their sixties, enjoying a really passionate clinch in the local multi-storey car park.  No pictures of that one obviously, but it made me feel so optimistic for the future!

Linking up to:

Sunshine at last!

Finally we got to do a proper test run for the hooded quilt/wrap/picnic blanket I made for my Let's Get Acquainted bloghop tutorial.  My daughter seems to love it, and although she knows what side her bread is buttered on I don't think that it's just that she wants to keep me sweet! She and her sibling spent all day running in and out of the sea, and in between times she would wrap up and get warm again for a while. The sea was freezing (well, this is Scotland...) but it was a beautiful day.

Marketing Win

Marmite and bad puns - the best.


PS, this is how I found it later:

I think you'll find that's my Marmite

Reasons to be Cheerful

I'm so grateful to have met some really nice bloggers.

After I posted yesterday about my sashing loss of confidence, Diane, who is always so positive, commented that if I liked it, that was the main thing. Fiona hit the nail on the head when she said that actually it didn't look too brown,  it didn't look much of anything! - so I made two more strips and joined them minus sashing, the way they had been hanging on the line the day before and I think they just look so much happier. 

Cynthia got in touch and told me about monofilament thread, which I had not heard of before and this information is going to be so useful.

Chrissie has very, very kindly awarded me my second Liebster which resulted in an exchange of emails that made me laugh - you can read her Liebster stories here and here.

Thank you everyone.  I really do appreciate it.

Catherine

Reasons to be Cheerful

Blue skies, flowers, and wildlife.  Happy day.

Sunny Sunday

Hope it's been nice for you too.