GIVEAWAY CLOSED. NO MORE ENTRIES NOW. LET THE DRAW COMMENCE Rather later in the day than planned, I am here to mark the fifth(not fourth as I initially reported) anniversary of my blog. I can't believe that five years have passed since I first tiptoed into this part of cyberspace from the pages of Flickr. I predicted my blog would last 4 years before I filled up allowance of space, but it seems to be going on. I've made some lovely friends and was very good at reading blogs for at least three years but lately its all got too much. I'm grateful to everyone who reads and comments still. Anyhow lets get on to the customary giveaway to celebrate. Two brooches. Comment below and add the word pink or green (for obvious reasons) and you can go into the draw for one of these brooches. I will choose one from each colour. The giveaway will be closed on Thursday afternoon. Hope you like them. Today I have mostly been ironing. You know what its like....the ironing basket gets filled up and every time you iron you leave a bit behind. Well today I was determined to iron everything. HUGE Damask tablecloth; Egyptian cotton sheets; small embroidered table covers. And this is where it got a bit weird.I was ironing this familiar object when I suddenly spotted...... is it 'the scream' in cutwork? The leaf at the other end has only one hole. And suddenly all the motifs took on lives of their own. Look at this cute little bear popping out of a box in the middle of a flower. Or is it just me? When I'd finished the ironing I promised myself I'd clean the bedroom, (such fun!) change the bed, put away all the clothes, dust and hoover. ...er....Dyson. But the drive belt had snapped on the dyson. No problem according to Sam from Unifit: watch with what ease he removes the sole plate. I'm with him there. Removing the old belt..easy ours had snapped; removing the brush roll...yes I managed that but then...if you look carefully you can see that Sam from Unifit grimaces...grits his teeth, his arm trembles but still asserts 'Thats how easy it is'. At least Matt from espares has the good grace to admit its a 'little tricky. ' Hetty and Jules are as baffled as I am. After an hour and a half with the aid of a knife and the handle of a washing up brush I conceded. You need long fingers like ET and biceps like Arnie (Schwarzenegger) to stretch the rubber band whilst niftily hooking it round the spindle of the motor. My husband came home and we fixed it together but I have to admit..its twisted. Never mind ..it works. I will ignore the heat and the slight smell of hot rubber. Its taken me a few days to recover from my wedding flower escapades at the weekend. A young woman who I used to teach asked me ages ago to do her wedding flowers. She wanted mainly 'gyp'. In her original email she asked me to do pew ends. I did buttonholes. I did bigger 'ladies' buttonholes I did corsages for the mothers I did a wrist corsage for the bridesmaid. I did the bouquet. I did an arrangement on the altar and several bunches in jam jars for the top table at the reception BUT I COMPLETELY FORGOT THE PEW ENDS. I discovered this omission on Friday afternoon so after a sleepless night I made an early saturday morning trip to the wholesalers 25 miles away for some more 'gyp' and managed to tie 10 little bunches to the ends of the pews. Just in time. It looked very pretty but I was so embarrassed that I'd just not taken it on board that I had to do them in the first place, and quite worrying. I slept for the rest of the afternoon. Hetty news. She's had a drastic haircut. She's not happy. When we were protecting the flowers from wilting by not putting on the heating, she was sitting shivering so we had to put her coat on. But I like how we can see her eyes now. (Just a note...I have just found a whole lot of comments in my spam folder. I don't know why or how but I am sorry if I haven't replied, They all had addresses as 'no reply' . If you would like a direct reply you have to comment with a google account id.)