The dog ate my button

Yes, the b****y dog ate my button. Or to be more specific chewed it up into little pieces.



On Thursday night I was gaily sewing away making a little red purse. Each of us going to my aunt's 60th birthday girly weekend had been asked to bring a red present up to the value of £3 to be used in a game. I selected my one and only, very pretty and just right, red button for the purse. Got distracted, lost the button, wondered what the crunching noise was and realised that was the button mid-desruction. So....I had to use another button - one of several lovely handmade buttons mum brough back from South Africa for my Christmas - and its fine, technically a nicer button, but actually not as good for this project.



I have learnt something from this rather frustrating experience. Yes, there's the obvious lesson of not knocking buttons on the floor (actually not usually a problem as I don't generally let the dogs anywhere near my sewing area especially when I am sewing). But there's another equally important lesson, or so I like to think, I obviously need some more buttons. Yippeee!



The purse went down very well and the lady who won it says she'll use it for jewellery. So I'm quite chuffed about that. I lined it in a South African fabric with a pretty little bird print and the strawberry fabric is Japanese. I think it was on sale at Superbuzzy (I have given up trying to buy from the USA though as the import tax is so restrictive and I do also like to support UK business). I think I'll need to do a post about my fabrics from South Africa. Mum gave me a lovely little bundle and a couple are quite fascinating....at least to someone who likes fabric and patterns, not John, obviously!

The weekend away was fabby and much needed ( I still haven't completely shaken off my cold and my Mighty Deerstalker training schedule is going very pear-shaped). We all met up in a huge house near Alnwick (North East England) that my aunt had hired. There was 16 of us with ages ranging from 15 to 60. We had lovely beach walks, window shopping in Alnwick and lots of good food, wine and company.



Each of us contributed food. I was requested to make a gluten-free pudding. I spent a good few days thinking about it and couldn't get any further than fruit salad. I spoke to mum and she instantly came up with several suggestions (when do mum's get this uncanny knack of being able to solve any problem? I'm waiting for the day this happens to me but I have a suspicion I may be waiting a while and my poor kids may have to make-do with a mum who's good at other stuff!). I made a chocolate roulade which seemed to get eaten in record time. It should have rolled around the filling but mine just kind of flopped in half and broke into bits. The recipe said not to worry about cracks but didn't actually mention gaping chasms.



I was a bit worried about going away as Islay was up all of Thursday night with a very sore ear. But after a trip to the doctor on Friday morning and some antibiotics for an ear infection I didn't feel quite so bad about going away. And she does seem to have survived very well in John's capable hands.

I made my deadline of listing on folksy by Thursday and have had a sale too. The boys were very excited and kept saying 'well done mummy'! In celebration of getting stuff listed I treated myself to a coffe at the lovely little gallery and cafe at the end of our street. Its just beside the river and I couldn't resist taking a picture of the view I had while I enjoyed my coffee. What a great place to relax for half an hour or so.



Well, I think its time I tried to put the house in a bit of order.