This proves that although my posting has been absent from blogland I certainly haven’t been!

I’ve been waiting for a project to take my fancy and when I found the Beekeepers Quilt I knew I’d found it.

Small steps of completion leading to a greater whole, which describes how I’m living at the moment. Small steps getting through each day which since Christmas has been harder than normal.

Mentally I’m doing well, but physically I’m drained. These hexipuffs are getting me through my commute. Giving me a feeling of accomplishment each day.

I’m using leftovers and random balls I’ve bought over the years because they felt nice or were on sale and my basket is filling nicely, full of loveliness.

Yes folks a gym and I am frightened!

I initially mentioned it to Gareth as a cheap showering option whilst the bathroom is being remodelled, sadly he was more keen on the actual working out aspect of it!

So, today is induction day. So far it isn’t full of skinny blonde people in lycra which is a good start! The intimidation factor is still high though people running on machines and looking as though they know what they’re doing!

Is it too late to back out?!?

A few months ago I picked up a sampler kit from a shop, cross stitch, pattern, all silks and colours predetermined. Not a free form project, no imagination required and just what I needed, a complete lack of intimidation and imagination.

I wasn’t going to show it here but I think, once I see some daylight I might!

I often used to feel that my crafting wasn’t always “good enough” for the blogosphere when there are so many talented, original folk out there but, I’ve realised recently it is the taking part that counts.

I don’t have time to sit and cogitate as I would like, to doodle and plan. For me it is the method, the doing, the journey that I love. Not necessarily the end product, although I do enjoy a finished article as much as the next person!

This sampler brought me back to crafting, allowed me to feel the joy of creating something again. The sheer pleasure of sitting quietly and creating. So although imaginative and original it is not, it will always be special to me.

Lately I’ve been feeling I’ve lost the joy of the small, the interest in finding the nugget of my day that was worth waking up for. With this comes the lack of blogging the place where I used to revel in my enjoyment of the small things.

Walking in the park on Sunday I felt it start creeping back. The crunch of leaves under foot, the tingling nose in the cold.

There has also been crafting, crochet, embroidery and a new quilt in the works. A sure sign things are looking up.

Also I don’t want to lose this, my little corner of the Internet quite yet. The longer you go without posting the easier it seems not to and I’m
Not ready to lose that yet. So right now even an update from my phone in the middle of the day is better than nothing. A small joy to revel in.

Many months ago, on the 19th March to be exact Gareth and I finally got married, nine years almost to the day that we got together.

A day that I loved and was worth every single second of stress and panic that preceded it. A day that was perfect apart from the fact that there were important people who couldn’t be there. My Bro walked me down the aisle wearing my Daddy’s cufflinks and the day itself was glorious sunshine, that felt as though he had sent it especially for me.

I got out of the car at the church and heard the bells ringing, in the church M used to attend when she was little, the sun shone down on me and I knew that he was there with us.

It was wonderful.

From the amazing house that we had for the reception

To the napkins and bunting I spent hours over

The amazing cake my Bridesmaid spent hours on

But best of all is that I get to spend the rest of my life with this man, my best friend.

It is a matter of days now until the wedding and I can’t believe that it is almost here. I can’t believe that Gareth and I actually, after nine years of being together and six years of engagement are actually going to be married. That I am going to be a bride, it seems such a strange thing and yet so absolutely meant to be all at the same time.

M arrives tomorrow, I have two more days of work and everything is pretty much done. My last post talked about not going overboard and not getting stressed and well, that so didn’t happen! There were a few weeks that I worried I’d taken on too much, times that I worried it wouldn’t all come together, times were I felt so utterly alone in organising it all. But, people came to the rescue, people helped and in the end it has all been worth while.

My spare room has finished it’s incarnation as wedding craft room! It is nearly tidy ready for family to arrive and I had my final fitting of my dress on Saturday. I stood in front of the mirror and it finally seemed real, it stopped being this strange ethereal someday and became now and the last few days have been lovely. I’m enjoying the anticipation now and I can’t wait for Saturday!

Once he moved out a few weeks ago though it was all systems go! Invitations went out yesterday, the website is built and then it was on to the crafting!

Whilst I was closeted away this evening I noticed this on the selvage of one of the fabrics I am using

A good omen I think!

All the big stuff is done and booked, not necessarily paid for but all in place! Now I’m up against a self-imposed deadline of things to do that won’t matter if they aren’t there but that I want to be done for the day.

I’ve noticed this trend with craft bloggers when they get married, there is a vision of handmade things that they take upon themselves to produce which I think in the end just proves to be source of stress the nearer the Big Day comes. I am determined not to get that way and hope to have it all cleared up in the next couple of weeks so that I don’t end up tearing my hair out! Here’s hoping!

Life has been beyond hectic for the past few months, I can’t believe that the last time I blogged was July! So much has happened in that time and I have thought about blogging so often yet somehow life, events and mental state have conspired against me!

Not long after my new post I found out that the temp job that I had since this time last year wasn’t going to be made permenant. I was distraught, I really enjoyed my job there and the people but the economy being what it was a permenant job just simply wasn’t in the offing and given the lack of stability that a temp has I didn’t feel it would be wise to remain indefinately. So I dusted off the old cv again and put myself back out there. After the rounds of the various agencies and a couple of months of looking someone finally said that my cv was too diverse, which basically meant dumb it down. I got the first job I applied for with what I had termed “the idiot cv”.

I started a week later and my word it has been a learning curve, hectic, stressful and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I’m there for the foreseeable future though. In the main because of a decision G and I made back in August.

As the picture says, Gareth (G) and I are finally getting married! I thought six months was plenty of time to plan a wedding, with just over three months to go I am now wondering if that is in fact true!

The date is set though and March 19th next year, nine years after we first met, six years after we got engaged we will be an old married couple. (Even though to all intents and purposes we have been for years!) A small wedding of forty people, those who are important and who have seen us through the horrid patches of death, two redundancies, a teaching degree and a variety of other traumas. Once everyone we told got over the shock they all seem rather pleased about it too!

G’s family were keen campers when he was little and the mallet that you see there on the table is the family mallet that has been used for years. I on the other hand have never been camping. To say that I am somewhat apprehensive would be understating it by quite a bit!

But the tent has been purchased, the campsite booked and we are off on Sunday, far too late to back out now I think! One thing I did insist upon though was a trial run in the garden. Yes, I know it is probably rather silly but I wanted to make sure the tent had all the bits it was supposed to and just to make sure I could manage to get some sleep !

There is a small amount of excitement beginning to kick in now but it is still over shadowed by the worry! (My fear of creepy crawlies doesn’t help!) I also can’t quite believe the amount of stuff you need to take! I thought packing for two weeks in Spain was a challenge but it is nothing in comparison to this! I am rather concerned it won’t all fit in the car!

I have insisted on a few comforts though. A blow up bed which just fits in one of the bedroom sections and no sleeping bags, I am taking my pillows and quilt. G has drawn the line at taking the pot plants along with us, even though I think they make the outside of the tent look far much more attractive As Ali pointed out when she saw the picture, it is rather more glamping than camping!

I will admit this though, it was rather cozy and I did make it through the night free from frog attack which can only be a good thing. How a night’s survival in the garden in close proximity to a toilet prepares for the great outdoors is another matter though!

Depending on signal whilst we are away I will be updating here and here so if you fancy a laugh pop on by! Wish me luck!

So onward and upward and by way of apology I give you cupcakes!