Good afternoon fellow bloggers. I hope you all had a lovely relaxing weekend. I had a great time at my parent's house, and the Singstar night was a success as ever. Rachel (Sis) and I were still battling it out at 2am despite everyone else having sloped off to bed at about 1! Her poor boyfriend fell asleep on the sofa, and how he managed to sleep through our beautiful rendition of Alannah Myles' 'Black Velvet' I'll never know! No photos of the singing (or You Tube clips), but here is a photo of the second most enjoyable spectacle of the weekend - my sister shaving my parent's dog, Millie! It made us laugh lots, I can tell you. I couldn't get an after shot as it took her so long we left when she was only half shaved. Not a pretty sight. I should just point out here that it is not for our enjoyment that Millie is shaved regularly, but because she ends up with terrible knots and bits of twig wound into her coat.

We drove back from Leicestershire on Sunday afternoon in order for me to go to the Lit Fest at 4.30. Unfortunately due to a closed road and someone in a flat cap driving at 40mph for most of the way after Stratford, we missed it by 10 minutes. Still, my friend and I had 2 very nice cups of coffee whilst waiting for the next event which was Esther Freud and Sophie Dahl talking about their new books, although we thought it was meant to be about childhood. Esther Freud was fantastic - really eloquent and sharp. Sophie Dahl should probably stick to modelling!

I had an unexpected day off yesterday and spent it cleaning and tidying. It took me 4 solid hours to restore order to the whole house, but I am feeling very smug for having done the whole lot, plus 3 loads of washing and ironing for 2 hours in the evening. Today I have had a hectic day at school and then heaps of sewing. Unfortunately I have been so busy sewing I haven't had chance to take any photos of it, but will do so later in the week. Here is a photo of something I made for one of my sister's friends as a request, and I like it so much I think I will be making more for my stalls. What do you think?

Also, check back later in the week for my birthday give-away. It's my birthday on Sunday and to celebrate I will be giving away one of my wares to the lucky person picked at random by my sophisticated Random Number Selector (ie Grace). More details to follow....

I shall leave you with a photo of my beloved Bodie, who in the words of my father was "not endearing himself to anyone" at the weekend. This was largely due to the fact he stole my Dad's piece of chocolate cake from right under his nose, and then knocked over his coffee. Bodie also got fed up of asking everyone to let him out and being ignored, so he peed on the newspaper that was conveniently on the floor. Fortunately it was our Guardian and not my Dad's Telegraph, otherwise that really would have finished him off! Despite his bad behaviour he always endears himself to me, and we all love him to bits. As my Grandma keeps saying "He's no age, you know"!

By the way, sorry if I have been tardy in leaving comments for anyone. I am struggling to fit everything in at the moment, but will try to get round you all in the next few days and catch up.  I am still trying to work out how Bloglines works. If anyone knows and can help, please do!!

Cathy X