Summer!!!!!   Yaaaaay can you feel it?  It’s finally here and it’s fabulous!!!!

Further proof of it’s arrival

the beautiful blooms on my balcony.  I decided to go for an Alice in wonderland themed floral display this year,  I absolutely fell in love with the Canterbury bells (in the large white pot) at the Madison’s farmers market and I am pleased that they appear to be happy with their new location……they are  just so beautiful,  look for yourself

They make me want to sip tea from them in an imaginary tea cup kind of way.

Also hooray for Hollywood,  or well my piccie of the Hollywood sign at least as it made the schmap guide for LA ( check out the little box with the images in the right hand corner).   I am so excited about that I can’t even tell you,  I always try and take good photos when I am out and about and on vacation but to have verification that I am alright at it just makes me beam from ear to ear.

So that’s all my news for now I am off to enjoy my balcony blooms.

I’ve been trying to come up with new critters for the critter boxes,  when it struck me…….

The ultimate low maintanance pet………goldfish.  They’re kinda fun to make with the big eyes and lips.

This weekend is going to be great,  we are going to Madison to stay for the weekend.  Staying at the fancy schmancy  Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club to boot.  We decided to stay as The Detroit Cobra’s are playing the High Noon late Friday night,  and there is nothing worse than driving the hour drive back to Rockford when all you want to do is sleep.   Plus it will be great to just  get up and walk to the farmer’s market (our first one of this year…..kinda shocking).

So eek I can’t wait roll on Friday………yippppppeeeeee

nah not really.  It’s just I’m in a little bit of a potter frenzy these days,  you see we finally made it to the Harry Potter exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago  this past weekend…….and eeeeeeeek it was great

The museum really did a top notch job at presenting all the film props,  they even hired a whole bunch of British people to tell the stories of the artifacts which definitely added to the fun.  We managed to illicit a few stolen iphone pics inside the exhibit but my hubby still hasn’t downloaded them…..haruuuuumph,  I think he’s afraid I’ll post the piccie of him and buckbeak.

And more proof I have been good really?  hmmmm,  well then let me share my 2 newest critters.

Tommy the little torro and

Winston the bulldog,  both inspired by my recent vacation.   I guess i want to make a critter for my Scottish trip but I need to order wool………dontcha just hate when that happens?  i just know he’s going to be rattling around in my brain till I finally do make him.

And other than that all has been quiet in critter land……..I have been thinking about boring things like  a new sofa and possibly a bed but it’s very hard to persuade my hubby to spend money on such things especially seeing as how he could buy a bigger tv instead……….honestly how dumb are men?

cos I missed you!!!

But I have had the most fantastic 6 weeks……….ever!!!!    First of all I was in the UK  for Easter so I got to see the new Wallace and Gromit special on the telly……yippppeee (which was a completley happenstance incident as I had no idea at the time) and then I saw lots of awesomeness in the shops

How cool is the toast rack?  I mean it’s just a shame it was all so fragile looking.  Although I did manage to procure some less breakable goodies……yaaaaaaaay.

and then my 2 weeks in Spain flew by in a whirl of beautiful sunshine,  great food (god how I love anchovies in vinagre)  and fun day trips with the folks.

above is one of the Mijas taxis a little burro than you can ride around town,  I did this when I was a kid but I’d feel a little sorry for the donkey that had to cart me around now…..

Then a week in London

where (takes deep breath here)  I saw James Mcavoy in  3 days of rain

at the Apollo theatre on Shaftesburry Avenue.   We had fantastic seats and I swear I was so close to him I thought I even caught a whiff of his aftershave……….sigh how I adore him.  We also were lucky enough to get to see Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theatre…..I have always wanted to see a performance in there since it has been built,  as it’s kind of cool to think that it is pretty much how it would have looked in Shakespeare’s day.   The night of the play was a gloriously beautiful warm night (so rare for the UK) so it made it extra nice to be sitting in the open air theatre….

I don’t think I could have managed to stand for the entire performance so I was very grateful to be in the seated balconies.  The rest of the time in London was spent enjoying the Tate and strolling around the Thames and drinking warm flat beer in fantastic pubs (although to be honest I’m still not really into the warm flat beer thing).   I also made sure to see platform 9 and 3/4 at King’s cross station (an homage to the fact that it’s the station that the Hogwart’s express leaves from…….

Then finally we had four  days in  Edinburgh

……….sigh how I miss Edinburgh and Scottish folk (but it’s a good miss and it makes you appreciate it more when you go back to it )  It was fantastic to walk up the Royal Mile admire the beauty of Auld Reekie and visit  Mary King’s close (spooky)….. We also enjoyed the much nicer colder Scottish beer in various locations…..(if you are heading to Scotland I highly recommend the Mcewan’s 80….yum) But of course like all Scot’s who have left Scotland permanently I have become so Scottish it’s scary………new tartan blanket throw for the sofa…….tartan scarves for winter……and the sound of bagpipes brings a tear to my eye……..

and although the new Scottish parliament building might be one of the ugliest buildings I’ve seen in my life…….I will tell you this boy,  I will defend it to all ney sayers!!!

So yeah,  I’m back and enjoying the full on hot temperatures of an Illinois summer (finally,  I mean was this the longest winter ever or what?)  and starting the critter making……..I can’t wait to show you my new guy,  he’s a little memento of my holidays……….

For now,  yup I’m heading off to London on Monday………..how exciting is that?  Got a few matters to take care of at “home” of the legal persuassion.  So I will be gone for a month or so,  and I can’t tell you how much I can’t wait to go to the nearest chipper for a bag of chips………mmmmmmmmm chips.

So I’ll try and keep the blog updated with my news and pics and crafting overseas………I doubt I will be able to not pick up the needles for a whole month, but we will see.  It has been a long time since I’ve been back and there is a ton of schtuff I want to see and do there.

See you when I get back………..lots of love

xx

Yup so here it is my 2 year blog aversary,  which means I’m giving you guys the chance to win a little gift from me

A cute little peeper,  a rose and a pair of hairclips………you likeeeee?

Anyway my blogaversary  set my mind to thinking of birthday parties, high teas and all things fun.  You know if I could pick the perfect dining/party guests living or dead  I’d pick Lewis Carrol (writer of Alice in wonderland),  L. Frank Baum (he of Oz fame)  and J. M Barrie (peter pan creator) can you imagine the stories and party games these guys would come up with………eeeeeek it gives me goosebumps just thinking about how brilliant it would be.

So anyway wanna win the schwag?   Then tell me who would be your perfect party guests (living or dead) and why and I’ll pick my favourite selection to win……..contest is closed April 4th and winner will be announced April 6th.    So put your thinking caps on……

sometimes comes from peculiar places,  take these lil’ guys…..

I got the idea to make little mice hair clips because (as you know) I adore mice and so I started browsing around etsy for some unique and unusual micey goodies……and then it occured to me what I hoped to find, something for my hair…….but alas it was not to be found.  After first being a little disappointed it hit me……doh!!!! make ’em myself so here we go…..I love ’em they look completely wacky in my hair

I also got a most excellent cheshire cat ceramic on ebay for cheap (yaaaaaaaaaay gotta love ebay) but it got my mind to thinking of all things Alice….. and as you know we can learn a lot of things from the flowers which is how these came about

And no need to paint them red as they already are,  although I will probably make them in lots of other colours too (sorry Queen of hearts).

So in a few days (5 to be exact) it will be Stabbies blogaversary and I’m thinking of doing a little giveway to my loyal readers (i.e you) so stay tuned to find out what’s in store.  And speaking of birthdays today is my mum’s birthday,  so Happy Birthday mum!!!!!!  hope the champers is on ice.

Happy St. Patrick’s day everyone………anyone have fun plans for the holiday?  Green beer in your future?  All the parades and green river  happened in Chicago last weekend and I of course realised this to late to go,  which is probably just as well as I can only imagine what traffic must be like to get anywhere close to Chicago for the holiday.

So this week was lots of fun with cats and vets (insert sarcastic roll eyes here).  I just had to share this image with you though

My brave boys………..honestly these two are hilarious when they are in the vet’s office……..Floyd’s self defense mechanism is to pretty much play dead,  and Lewis’s is to stay as close to Floyd as possible…….dummies.   Oh and in case you were wondering about Floyd’s mould he has cat acne,  yup you heard right acne……..who the heck knew cat’s got acne………pretty gross but not life threatning, phew.

So I’m off to wear something green and make hairclips……..

slainte mhath

Last Saturday we headed into Madison and I got some fantastic hand painted roving from the knitting tree.  Now I am notorious for falling in love with wacky roving then either not using it for fear of not having enough to finish a project (it’s near impossible to get the same colours ever again) or just not having a clue how to use it to its advantage…… and so it sits unused in my rather large collection of wool a rather expensive testament at my serious lack of imagination.  But can you blame me for having to purchase this time?

How pretty is that?  I think the woman in the store was rather disappointed to hear I wasn’t going to spin it and instead turn it into Easter Peepers

I really love how he turned out…. every time you turn him he’s a different composition of colours just like a real birdie,  although he may not be that Easter(ie)  oh well.

I was hoping to go to Madison today to go crafting at Anthology.  I really want to make the brass stamp charms that they do but Floyd (middle cat)  has been having mold issues (it’s the weirdest thing he’s like a peach) so I had to cancel my plans to tend to his chin instead (does anyone know anything about moldy cats? )

Speaking of Anthology it’s their one year birthday on the 14th,  so if you are in Madison head on over there for some cake and crafting details can be found on their blog.

This weekend we drove to Indianapolis to attend the North American Handmade Bike show (which means I win the wife of the year award).  Mark was in heaven and spent the 3 plus hours walking around with a huge nerd grin on his face,  I mostly walked around remarking that bike guys certainly know how to cultivate the funkiest of bodily odors (pooooooo)

It was kinda fun for me to see the similarities between a bike show and a craft show though… I suppose it just depends on what you are into,  chrome bags and handmade bikes or screen printed tee shirts and handmade 2d toys.

This week was mostly spent on making  Easter Bun Buns…..

I love Easter,  it’s the promise of Spring and warmer weather and budding flowers and more importantly it is the holiday that has the best chocolate………..mmmmmmm cadbury’s creme eggs.  I guess we got a while to wait for Easter but fortunatly the choccies have already started appearing in the shops (and in my refridgerator)  yaaaaaaaaay.