Quilting

My number one priority project is to finish the quilt I had started for Mum - it is the Curio Quilt in a selection of glorious Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  Mum and I had made pretty good progress when she was here late last year.  After she left I continue to plug away and finished all the component squares.  All I needed to do was seam it up; the end was in sight.  Or so I thought...



Ahem, if only!  I stitched the first row of squares together - a row of 3" square 9 patches.  I then stitched the next row together which comprised of a mix of the 3" square 9 patches and larger squares.  Aww man!  :(  This 2nd row was noticeably shorter due to a rookie mistake:  I had not cut the squares as precisely as I should (thinking that a teeny tiny bit of wiggle room on each square would work in my favour).  Except that even the tiniest bit of wiggle room causes the row with more squares to be significantly longer than the row with fewer squares.  You can see in this picture how quickly they started to misalign:



It lay like that for a good while:  I couldn't bear to look at it, never mind start taking a seam ripper to it.  Until it was time to get my big girl pants on, arm myself with a seam ripper, and start dissecting then reassembling those 2 rows.  I am pleased to say that this is now done.  I'm hoping that's the last time I'll need to make use of the seam ripper in this project.



I have decided to take a different approach to piecing this together - making big blocks out of the component squares (vs long rows).  This is allowing me to make sure the pieces are lining up better.  I feel much more confident with this approach.  More to come on this soon.  Like I say, number one priority...  I need, and want, to get this all finished up and gifted to Mum.

That doesn't mean to say that I won't get distracted.  First distraction is a bunch of addictive Hexies.  When I met up with some of my crafty friends recently, Stacey was showing us these lovely Tula Pink Hexie kits.  (Stacey is one of my biggest enablers sources of inspiration, and I love her for it :)



I picked up a box and wanted to just give one a go to see if I could do it.  You can't just do one though - these things are addictive!  I really enjoy working on them. 





And I have had help...  yes, this is a typical day at our hone with my little helper, furry friends, and crafts close by.  (Yes, I look like a goof... that's typical too :o)))



Finally I joined Denver's modern quilt guild group this week to see what that was all about (Stacey's influence again :o)))  What a lovely informal and welcoming meetup group.  They just kicked off a quilting bee project that I'll be joining.  Essentially each participant provides guidance on the quilt that they want to create, and provides the fabrics to work from.  Then this box of goodies visits with a different participant each month who creates one of the squares.  Sounds like fun, right?

For my quilt, my guiding design is the Stained glass quilt from Narcoleptic in a Cupboard, and my selection of fabrics primarily Sarah Jane at play with some Crafty Chloe thrown in.  I think this quilt allows each participant to build their own unique stained glass window square.  And some of the fabrics can be fussy cut to give them an almost cartoon strip feel.  I'd also like each participant to add in a little bit of their own fabric, from their scraps bin, to add an additional bit of individuality to each of the squares.  I think this is going to be fun, and look forward to providing updates here.



Here are few versions that I love in blogland, that truly inspired me to choose this design:

• Canadian abroad
• Fairy Face Designs
• Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle

OK, time to rejoin my family.  I've spent a good deal of time fixing this blog, the Bertie's blanket blog, and my ravelry page, after a recent glitch when flickr reset the status of some of my photos to private.  Which means they didn't show on these public pages.  Even when I reset the privacy to 'public' they still remained hidden and required to be manually updated.  6 months worth of blog posts people.  :(  Can you hear the sobs from there?  Apologies for the 'under construction' appearance of the blog while I worked to make these fixes.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Much love,
Sam xxx

Love is in the air

It is quickly approaching Valentines Day.  Hubby and I have a date night... wahhoooo!  Date nights are few and far between and therefore highly cherished.  Naomi will be celebrating with her friends at school; they are having a Valentines party.  At any mention of Valentines, Naomi tells me she is going to be a princess.  With a beauuuuutiful dress.  Apparently I can be a princess too.  And Daddy?  Well she tells me he is the Queen.  :)



This last weekend we worked on some little party favours for the Valentines party.  Pinspiration strikes again:  I found this great idea for Valentines bubbles on the Simply Modern Mom blog while searching for children's Valentine gifts.  This was perfect because it wasn't a food item (there can be quite a few restrictions about what can/can't be brought into school and what other parents do/don't want their kiddos eating).  I get it, and therefore steering clear of food items always seems to be a good way to go.



Plus, the project is super easy.  There are complete instructions and free printables on the Simply Modern Mom blog.  You just need to pick up some bubbles (I got mine from Target, but I'm told craft stores also have them in the wedding section), some paper, ribbon and glue.
 


Naomi was super excited about helping me and came armed with her glue stick and a bucket full of enthusiasm.  That is until she saw the bubbles and then decided it would be much more fun for us to play with those instead :)  So all in all a great project to work on together and then to have fun catching bubbles afterwards. (Dear sweet girl has inherited her mother's under eye bags when she hasnt had enough sleep... and this particular morning she'd had us both up at 4am)




On the theme of Love, I was also able to finish a couple of charity/Project Love hats with the leftover yarn from the Polka dot cardigan.  Neither follow a pattern as such - I just made it up as I went along.  They were looking a little 'meh' until I added thee crochet rosettes, with the button centers.  Hats with flair! :))) 



I also like that a little girl has a matching mini hat for her favourite doll or teddy.



Sending you lots of love,
Sam xxx

Polka Dot

Last night I had this desire to finish a project... do you ever feel that way?  That you want to work on something where you'll have a real sense of accomplishment at the end of it.  Most days I'm quite happy to plug away at something that I know is far from being completed.  But yesterday I had the need to get something done.  So I rummaged through my WIP pile and found this polka dot sweater that I started for Naomi some time ago.  It was only 1 and a half sleeves away from completion.  It was the perfect project to meet the need.  I'd put this aside some time ago because I was unimpressed with it.  In my mind's eye it was going to be super cute.  But in reality it was turning out a little, erm, shall we say, "odd"?  :o)))



I searched out a couple of Rom Coms on TV and plugged away on the cardigan.  By the end of the evening it was done.  I still wasn't loving the cardigan, but was quite content for having completed it.

In the morning Naomi was excited to see the new cardigan:
"Mommy, you made that?"
"For me?"
"I love it!"
Dear sweet girl :o)))  She put it on, and, you know, I think it's growing on me.  Yes it is weird, ahem, I mean whimsical.  But she looks soo darn cute in it.  In a wacky sort of way.  I was joking that she looks like she should be a wizard.  Joe countered that it needed a top hat to complement the look.  Naomi on the other hand believes it is her super hero cardigan!  (I guess it does have a cape vibe to it).  My little girl is happy, then I'm happy.  :)




FYI:
Pattern:  Polka Dot by Berroco
Yarn:  Plymouth Yarn Kudo
Modifications:  The pattern is for 4 years and up, so I had to downsize it for my soon-to-be-3 girly.  Also the pattern is written for the sleeves to be worked from wrist to shoulder and then sewn in.  Instead I picked up the stitches around the shoulder and worked down to the wrist.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend and staying warm.
Hugs,
Sam
xxx

Catching up

How are you doing?  It feels like I've been away from blogland a little too long, and I miss connecting with you.

Where to begin...  I'll start with what's in my heart and on my mind:
Last week I went back to the UK to visit family.  It was an unplanned trip at short notice - we recently discovered that my Grandma has stage 4 breast cancer.  Yes, this nasty disease is rearing it's ugly head in our family once again.  And with the same upsetting prognosis.  I am thankful that I got to go back and spend time with my Grandma, and the rest of my family, but it was an extremely hard trip.  I adore my Grandma and saying goodbye was soo difficult.

My Gran is an amazing knitter and used to create beautifully intricate and complex garments that were shipped to the US and Japan.  It used to tickle her that the company she worked for would deliver the yarn, and pick up the completed sweaters, in an armored vehicle.  She smiled at the thought of what the neighbours must think she was up to :)))

I was glad to see that one day she was covered in a handmade blanket at her palliative care nursing home.  It was really pretty pastels and added a cosy touch as well as helping keep the chill off.  Of course all this spurred me on to make additional squares for Bertie's Blankets.  You can see the latest progress over on the Bertie's Blankets blog (try saying that quickly 3 times ;o) 

It was a low key visit so there was lots of down time for knitting (which Grandma would like to hear about and then shake her head jokingly asking where I found the time :).  Aside from the blanket squares I worked on a novelty purse for my Mum using some t-shirt yarn - Zpaghetti.  Man, that was like knitting with exercise bands - I felt like I'd had quite the workout after knitting a few rows on it!  (If only it burned the calories like a workout would).   But it was nice to have something to work on that was straightforward and a temporary distraction.

Here's the finished object.  It's cute and fun for summer.  My Mum is into blue at the moment and so I think she liked it well enough.  There won't be any repeats though... I was happy to get back to knitting sock yarn on skinny needles!


I'll be catching up on your blogs over the coming days and looking forward to seeing what you've been up to. 
Big hugs,
Sam xxx

Pinspiration: Key Chains

Are you hooked on Pinterest?  I have to get a daily fix!  So very many cool things out there, and perhaps my 'search engine' of choice when it comes to looking for crafty inspiration.  My latest search has been for a thank you gift for folks who are participating in Bertie's Blankets.  Just a little something, something that communicates my gratitude for the support.  At first I found some little charms that were essentially a combination of a hand, heart and angel.  What could be more perfect - handmade items, that are made with love by dear sweet angels!  So I ordered a bunch of them thinking I'd figure out something to do with them when they arrived. 

They arrived, they are lovely, but I drew a blank!  I wracked my brain for something that could be useful for all... I know, a key chain.  So I added a charm to a key ring... boring! Added beads to it... meh! Harrumph, it was time to call Pinterest to the rescue!  Sure enough, I found a link via Pinterest to a fun project on the blog Craftiness is not an option: Fabric key chains.  Excited about this discovery I jumped into my car and headed over to Joann's to pick up supplies.  Returned home and started up the production machine, with my trusty creative director (Joe) kindly agreeing to come check out each and every step!  (Ha ha, I married a good patient and supportive man :)))



I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.  This is a fabulously easy project that makes great use out of small leftover pieces of fabric.  I followed the directions step by step, with one exception - I added an extra layer of batting in the middle.  Which made the trimming with the pinking shears a little more difficult, but was well worth it for the extra padding.



I need to reach out to a couple of you for addresses so that I can get yours in the mail.  I'll be in touch :)
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Sam
xxx

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year?
Ours was lovely - the first year where Naomi really started to get excited about Santa coming to visit, and enjoying all the attention from visitors.  We've been busy here with family visiting and also a couple of little get togethers.  But the last set of folks left yesterday and so I'm starting to get caught up here and on all of your blogs.  I can't wait to read what you've all been up to.

I thought I'd start the New Year with a re-cap of 2012 projects.  In pulling the pictures together, I was a little stunned at how many projects I'd cranked out in 2012.  Granted most of these are smaller projects... but still... It was a good crafty year:

There were the gift knits:

 

As you can see, I worked up a couple more of the Phydeaux Twist Cowls for some of the ladies at daycare. What I left off this piccie are the 8 pairs of plitters (felted clogs) that were requested and completed this year - everything from Santa Slippers, Miami Dolphins slippers and UCF Team Spirit slippers. All good fun and keeping loved ones' toes toasty and warm!

And of course there were the charity knits - a couple of Project Love hats for kids. But closest to my heart is the beginning of Bertie's Blankets. I've already started to receive a couple of squares from you (Thank you soo much), and have added to this 6 sock yarn and 4 aran weight squares of my own. I'll be dedicating a lot of my crafty time in these first few months of the year to completing the 3 Bertie's Blankets that we have started.

In addition to gift and charity knits, I'd also created a few little things for the 3 of us. Not surprisingly Naomi has been the main recipient :)



Then there is the sewing... I really got stuck into sewing, quilting and needlepoint this last year:

 


I finished a Sherbet Pips quilt for Naomi. My 2nd quilt ever. And started 3 more - Swoon, Farmers wife, and a quilt for Mum. The quilt for Mum is my other area of focus over the next few months. I was hoping to have it completed by now, but hit a little roadbump that caused me to put it aside for a few weeks.

  

Whew!  Lets see what 2013 brings.  I'm thinking Berties Blankets, Mum's quilt and then perhaps some sweaters.  Certainly those that have been laying around in the WIP pile for far too long.
What crafty plans do you have for 2013?

Wishing you the very best for this New Year,
Big hugs,
Sam
xxx

Merry Christmas!

HI,
It is so very close now...  are you excited?  I love Christmas, and there's a lot of excitement in this house.  Naomi is as giddy as a kipper and yet she's not entirely sure why :)  I think it's the first year that Christmas is starting to mean something to her:  'Mommy, Santa's coming to our house', 'Mommy, we've got to be nice to the presents'  (for the last one I think something got lost in translation from 'you've got to be nice to receive presents'!)

I'm still cranking out a few last minute gifts.  Here's a another cowl that was a nice one-evening-knit.  Yes, it's that Malabrigo Rasta again.  It really is divine!  Essentially it is this handspun scarf pattern from Phydeaux designs.  I knit until I ran out of yarn, and it turned out a great length for a cowl. 



I was hoping it would be a good shawl... but I think it is just a bit too short on me.  Although the recipient is a teeny tiny sweet lady and I think it might work well that way on her.



I did make some little stocking stuffer gifts, using this 'Pinspiration': 'For your mistletoes' by Supreme Courtney.  I really like that she picked names of nail polish that featured something about the recipient.  For my version I made these little boxes (using a template and cutting machine from stampin' up) and popped a sparkly bottle of nail polish in each.  I'm super happy with how these turned out!



Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and all good things for the New Year.
Love,
Sam xxx





(Erm, and that is not a blue boobie as one of my friends pointed out... it's a Christmas birdie :)))  But now you've read this, if you are like me, you'll see nothing but a blue boobie every time you look at this picture. ha ha.  Oh yes, and that is Naomi channeling Jake and the Neverland Pirates 'Yo ho ho'.  Not quite Ho ho ho, but I'll take it :o)))

Christmas Gifts

Yesterday I was trying to get this little beauty (that would be the cowl) all finished and wrapped for gifting today.  Which also explains the dreadful late-night lighting in the shots.



The cowl is a fabulous pattern from Phydeaux designs - the Phydeaux Twist Cowl.  It is worked on size 19 needles with a super bulky yarn.  Perfect for those last minute gifts :).  The yarn is Malabrigo Rasta in colourway Piedras.  Good grief this yarn is wonderfully soft and smooshy.  Oh, and this work in progress picture is a much better representation of the actual colourway.



The recipient is a very dear lady from daycare that has known, and cared for, Naomi since she was 3 months old.  It was a Happy Birthday, Congratulations, Merry Christmas, Fond Farewell and Thank you gift.  This sweet lady is moving out of state and will be dearly missed by our whole family, but mostly Naomi who would run to class each day and give this lady a big cuddle.  (The congratulations piece - she got married, on her birthday, which happened to be 12/12/12. Very cool!)

The other little gifties that I put together since my last blog update were a handful of Christmas gifts for some local friends.  I found these chocolate fondue pots, and packaged them with mini marshmallows and some decorated forks from Tulle and Twig.  I was really pleased with how this all came together.

Have you been Christmas crafting too?  I'd love to hear what you are working on.

Ok, I've got to run... more gifts to complete and the clock is ticking!
Have a wonderful weekend,
Hugs, Sam xxx

Christmas Preparations

You may have guessed this about me already:  I think Christmas is wonderful!  I love everything about it, but mostly the heartwarming, uplifting feeling at this time of year.  I also love the preparations:  Seeking out the special gifts, decorating the tree and crafting! 

First to be completed on the crafting front is another pair of felted slippers for my brother - he wanted them in classic red and white Santa colours :)))  They were completed while he was visiting this last week.  He's probably the #1 (and yet most unlikely) fan of these felted slippers, or what we call 'plitters' - a name I used as a toddler because I couldn't pronounce slippers.

Then there is Naomi's santa hat.  I'd made this for her last year, but one day came home to find Bruno - who was a brand new pup at the time - had taken a shine to it and decided it would make a great chew toy! Tsk tsk tsk.


Thankfully the areas that took the brunt were the pom pom and the white band at the bottom (he must have a thing for the bulky weight alpaca yarn!).  When Joe pulled his Santa hat out of the closet the other day, Naomi was asking me where her's was... so that became the next priority for completion :)  Look how tickled she is with her reworked hat!



Well worth the effort. And of course her best friend is forgiven :)

This evening we also worked on paper chains together.  Remember those - 1" wide strips of paper that you'd glue into circles and string together.  Naomi really enjoyed helping out with these.  She was armed with the glue stick, while I was chief assembler of the chain.  We now have garlands draped over various pictures in the house.  I wouldn't have thought about making the paper chains - it was my sister that gifted me a book with patterned paper and guidelines for paper chains, snowflakes, woven hearts and angels!  Such a great idea!



Hope you are having fun on the run up to Christmas too.
Hugs,
Sam

PS - We are making great progress on Bertie's Blankets, thank to you, my lovely friends. Big hugs to you xxx

Daphne and Delilah

I had quite the shock last week to find out that the baby knit I was working on - the Daphne and Delilah monsters - needed to be complete this week.  I have no idea how these things sneak up on me so quickly.  It was time to get cracking this weekend.  The Colorado weather helped - it was cooooold with a little snow.  Truly a lock yourself indoors with the fire on type of a weekend.  Hmm perfect.  (Well, not entirely perfect - seems some bug is working its way around the family so we've all been a little ugh!)

But, in the words of Dora the Explorer "I did it!"  (Erm, yes this was the type of show that was on the box.  Not in my top 10 choices, but an under-the-weather girly was soothed by this, so who am I to complain :)

Proudly presenting the quite festive Daphne and Delilah pair:



I'm learning that my choice in colour can often be influenced by the season.  I hadn't intentionally picked the colours, but I am pleased that it does feel a little Christmassy.

Pattern:  Daphne and Delilah by Rebecca Danger
Yarn:  Lion Brand Cotton Ease  (I did not use the yarn doubled as the pattern suggests, but did go down 2 needle sizes)
Needles:  US 6 dpns
Mods:  I use felt for the eyes and teeth, and blanket stitch these onto the monsters.



I had some yarn left and was able to whip out another hat for Project Love.



But now I shift my attention to Bertie's Blankets:  the 3 blankets that I'd like to put together for Trinity Hospice in memory of my Dad.  Thanks to all who offered to help.  You can follow the progress over at http://BertiesBlankets.blogspot.com.  I started the coastal-coloured afghan:



Mum, if you are reading this, I am still working on your quilt too :)))  All the squares have been made for the quilt top, I'm now in the process of assembling them (while trying to ensure that I keep the layout intact).  Getting close now xxx



Hope you had a lovely weekend,
Sam
xxx

Get crafty to help the hospice

Hello my dear crafty Friends,

I received the following article from my mum this morning:  Trinity hospice is in need of blankets to bring comfort and warmth to the folks that they are caring for.  This is where my Dad was looked after in his final days, and I can tell you wholeheartedly that these blankets do make a difference and are thoroughly appreciated.  The only requirement is that the blankets need to be machine washable. 

I would like to put together 3 blankets for Trinity Hospice.  Would you be willing to contribute a square, or 2, to this very worthwhile cause?

I've suggested patterns and colours below for folks looking for guidance.  But I'll take any square that you would be willing to donate.  Thank you.

Option 1:  Afghan Sampler Blanket

• Knit using afghan/worsted weight yarn
• US8 needles
• Final square to measure 9" x 9"
• Use a stitch pattern of your choosing, or if you'd like to follow a published pattern, please check out this Lion Brand sampler blanket pattern L0563 (you can login to the site for free)
• A great way to use those 40-60% off vouchers at the big box yarn stores... and looking at the pattern it looks like you can get 2 squares out of one skein of a lion brand ball of yarn
• Since Trinity Hospice is located in a coastal town, lets use the colours of the sea on this one (throw in some white for the 'surf' and this would be a really soothing colour scheme of shades of blue and white):

Image courtesey of design seeds:  http://design-seeds.com/index.php/home/entry/crashing-tones1

Option 2:  Scrappy Sock Yarn Blanket

• Do you have lots of leftover scraps of sock yarn.  A lot of this stuff is machine washable!  Let's put it to good use with this really simple pattern: Kraft-Tanken-Patches (free Ravelry download)
• The squares are 15cm x 15 cm (6" x 6") and are a simple knit on the diagonal
• The pattern recommends a US1-3 needle, depending upon gauge
• As for colour scheme, anything goes - let's send a bright happy rainbow of colours with this one :)

Option 3:  Wonky log cabin Quilt

• There are some wonderful wonky log cabin quilts out in blogland.  Another great way to put your leftover bits and pieces of fabric to good use. 
• I'll be making squares that are 9" by 9" out of my fabric scraps
• My thoughts are to use brights or pastels that are complimented with soothing neutrals like beige and cream
• Here's a great tutorial for the type of wonky log cabin block that I was thinking about: http://www.quiltdad.com/2009/09/quilt-along-3-wonky-log-cabin-block.html 
• The colours are also similar to what I had in mind, with brights + pastels + some cream/neutral (I'll be adding a cream border to each of the 9"x9" wonky squares that you send me, so that this will help tie them altogether into one coordinated blanket)

I can't tell you how much this means to me.  I've been thinking about doing something like this since the day Dad was admitted.  Could this be the beginning of Bertie's Blankets?  :)  I'm glad that this article gave me the push, and the wonderful response I got from my fb knitter friends spurred me on.  Thank you.
I'll collect the squares and assemble them, and then ship to Trinity.

Much love and big hugs,
Sam xxx

White Tornado Weekend: My new craft room

Did you have a good weekend?

Mine was very rewarding.  I'd been toying with the idea of carving out some space at home that could be my craft room, or 'The Creation station' as we jokingly call it.  This weekend I put a lot of time and effort into organizing my new space in our loft.  It's not completely finished yet, but it is orderly.  And as you can tell from my previous post, this makes me a happy girl. 



The shelving unit is an old metal swim locker.  Unfortunately it didn't come with a full complement of baskets and so this weekend I picked up those brown boxes from Ikea and I think they work perfectly, and at an affordable price point too.  Everything now has a home.  Aaah :)   But erm, ahem, yes, 2013 could be the year for some serious stashbusting.

I'll be popping the lids on the basket, but for the photo it was fun to see all the colours of the yarn poking out.  (Reminds me of standing on the ground floor of the Guggenheim and looking up to see glimpses of the colorful artwork between the swirling white walls).

I'm trying to find a site where I can print cute or funky labels for each of the boxes.  I really wish I had nicer handwriting, but alas no.  So printing the labels in an interesting font seems like the best way to go.  Any suggestions?



I was able use the rocker from Naomi's nursery as a knitting and reading chair.  I think it works really well in here.  She now has a princess room with her own hidey hole tent and reading chair so no longer had need for this... more on this below.



And because the room is in our loft, I am close to Naomi's room in the evening, but still near Joe if he is on the computer, or able to chat if he is downstairs watching TV.  (Oh and you can see on the first piccie that my furry entourage approve of the new space :)

Hope you had a lovely, and productive, weekend too,
Sam

Beautiful Blogger Award

I was tickled pink to receive a Beautiful Blogger Award from Ginx Craft.  Thank you so much :)

The condition of the award is that you nominate 7 blogs that you enjoy, and share 7 random facts.

Here goes, for 7 lovely blogs:

1. My Sister's Knitter:  Love socks and shawls?  This is the blog for you.  In addition to great projects there are also links to other fabulous blogs, fun videos and tempting new purchases from Indie dyers.
2. Short Story Long:  Check out these photos - stunning!  Ooh yes, and she's a wizard with the needles. 
3. Yarny Days:  Some of the prettiest crochet blankets I have laid my eyes on. 
4. Knitspiring Odyssey:  Frequently updated, fun and friendly - a blog where you feel like family, or "Ohana"
5. Oiyi's Crafts:  A talented designer who shares her creations, latest crafty endeavours and links to useful resources
6. Joli House:  Home of Lily Kate designs, a fabulous and beautiful young designer from my part of the world.  Everything is beautifully photographed and makes me think of 'home'
7. Savannah Chik Knits, Sews and Cooks:  A very talented knitter who provides details and resource links for her projects.

As for the 7 random facts, here goes:

1.  My husband calls me the 'White Tornado':  Occasionally I get the urge to whip through the house clearing out everything in sight.

2.  Following from #1, I do not like clutter or too much stuff.  But you'd never know that by looking at my yarn and fabric stash.
3.  My favourite colour is red.  Bright happy postbox red.  Although all bright colours make me happy
4.  Being productive also lifts my spirits.  If I'm in a funk, I find nothing picks me up better than feeling like I have accomplished something e.g. clearing out the kitchen.  Erm yes, back to #1 again!
5.  I come from a coastal tourist town called Blackpool.  I love going back and being close to the sea.  I also love that the town is a stone's throw from the country.

6.  Ik spreek een beetje Nederlands.  I spent 5-6 wonderful years living in Amsterdam.
7.  I came to the US on a business trip.  I met my husband and never left :)  He is my best friend.  (Aww :)))
 


Hope you are having a wonderful weekend,
Sam
xxx