Etsy!

Well I never thought I'd join those of you on Etsy but I'm giving it a go :) It all started when I made myself some buttons to put on a dress and now I've found a new home for the dress the buttons I made are now spare buttons... hence I've joined the Etsy crew.

These are the buttons in question:



Take a look on Etsy where I'll try and add a few more things in the next few weeks:

http://dancinpuffin.etsy.com


I thought I would also update you on some great events from last week - Trev passed his Kennel Club Bronze Award! The tester said he loved Trev and wanted to take him home with him :) Here is Trev with his rosette and certificate:



Here is the latest progress on hubby's tank top too:


I'm really enjoying spending some time doing a few things for me as work is starting to slow down for the summer.

Hope all is well where you are.

Toodlepip!

Back to Blogland

It has been a while, for which I apologise. Life has taken over but I am slowly regaining the work-life balance. The wonderful weather has certainly helped :) We have been having a lot of barbecues with family and friends - this is the summer we've missed!

I guess you're wondering how Trev is doing? He is very well.



He did chew his first shoe the other week (my only work-appropriate sandals...):



But we made up and had a cuddle in front of the TV in the evening:



We've been on lots of country walks - Trev likes to meet the new animals - we saw panda cows and a family of ducks on one of our walks:





I have tried to keep my knitting going but I have been tardy of late. I hope that the summer will allow me more time for the things I enjoy. My latest project (remember I rarely finish anything, I just start something new...) is a tank top (a trendy one) for hubby in the winter. He hasn't specified the year, just that he wants it for winter ;) The yarn I am using, Rowan All Seasons Cotton, is a dream to knit with. I love the pale brown colour too.



Our patio (progess pics in previous posts) has come on a storm (well done hubby!!). I enjoy many a morning coffee sat on the patio before work. I have been helping with finishing touches, flowers, tablecloths etc :)





I have enjoyed revisiting blogs and I hope that with more effort on my part, a fresh new look and hopefully a little more time you'll enjoy coming back to Dancin' Puffin.

Toodlepip!

Walks, cake and flowers

The first week back teaching after the hols is always the hardest and this week was no exception. I did however make it to the weekend and I am now officially a zombie :)

Last night after work I went to the supermarket - 'why oh why on a Friday evening?' I hear you ask! Well, I thought I was being good, but you are right - it was as though the world and his wife had the same thought! I was glad this morning that I didn't need to go out though so there were definite plus points to my madness. When I got home I took Trev out for a walk... only Oscar decided to come as well:





Oscar does this from time to time. He's a real Mummy's boy and likes to follow me!

Last night I tried the chocolate cake in a mug that Ruth mentions on her blog SugarFish:



Although it is very impressive and quick to make I totally agree with Ruth that it would probably be done in 2 and a half minutes. It was good fun to make and hubby was very impressed :) I will definitely be trying this quick trick again sometime - thanks Ruth!

Today we had my Mum and Step-Dad over for lunch as it was my Step-Dad's birthday this week. I picked some flowers from the garden and we got our best glasses out:







Now for a chilled out evening with my crochet :)

Have a great weekend.

Toodlepip!

Filming on the beach

Yesterday they were filming a new film 'Never let me go' with Keira Knightley in Clevedon, Somerset. My brother and I ventured there for lunch and had a lovely time eating ice cream and eating lunch al fresco. It was glorious weather yesterday, about 18 degrees celsius.

Keira walked past us onto the beach and we watched her rehearsing. We talked to a few of the film crew, having a cute dog in tow helped start conversations :) This was our view:



Unfortunately, in our haste neither of us brought our cameras so this is a poor phone pic. How we kicked ourselves when we got there!

My brother is very funny, he had me laughing all afternoon. He kept coming up with comedy sketches about things that were happening on the outskirts of the set. I am trying to get him to write his material on a blog or put together some YouTube clips because he is so good. Watch this space, I think I have a long way to go to convince him yet :)

I'll post some crafty updates soon... the crocheted blanket is growing...

Toodlepip!

Through the loop hole

I seem to have fallen through the blogging loop hole recently. It is either that blogging is the last thing on my mind, I can't decide what to post about or I haven't taken any pictures to show.

As some of you know I am a teacher and I am studying for my PGCE (teaching qualification) while I work. With the May/June exams for my students looming I have been really busy with them and the PGCE has reached an all time high in terms of workload. All of that alongside more building renovations at home have seen me in a state of 'run away!'. You'll be glad to hear that I haven't actually run away anywhere, I have just been lying low.

So here is my life in pictures:

Mostly studying:



A sneaky birthday ;)



Gorgeous pressies from hubby's grandparents - beautiful pinks and an embroidered table cloth with matching napkins



And flowers from a friend



A much needed spot of retail therapy at a Joules outlet store saw the purchase of this lovely cardigan with my birthday money



Did I mention I LOVE JOULES!! You must check out their site, I am sure you will love it too.



I also bought some new placemats and coasters with my birthday money



A friend of mine (knowing I was in need of pampering) bought me a Boots voucher. I have been reading up on making my own skin care as I have hypersensitive skin and am susceptible to excema. I have made myself a night oil that is so soothing using:



25ml jojoba oil
20 drops lavender oil
20 drops geranium oil
15 drops Bach Rescue Remedy

I am not sure whether I have mentioned before but en route to my bank, that I frequent to pay in cheques, I pass a charity shop. I have had many a vintage item from there. I love my new cushion covers that I am going to use on the outdoor chairs in the summer. They were only 25p each!



With a little bit of craft on the side, I have started this crocheted stripy blanket in colours that match our lounge. Oh I wish I could finish a project before moving on to a new one. I dread to think how many I have outstanding now!





I also mentioned the building work going on at home. Hubby has done it all. He really is a star. This is the garden before (spot the chooks in parade):



And after Peckingham Palace was relocated and a fence added:



Here is the main project going on - the before picture - the drainage rhyne that runs through our land:



That has now been piped and is awaiting the finishing touches before we lay a patio:



It will be worth it all in the end...! It is always hard when you're in the middle of a project with all of the dirt and dust to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't want to wish our time off away though, that's for sure.

I couldn't sign off without some pics of our ever growing Trev. He healed fantastically well after his 'snip'. He's back on the usual walks now and is glad to be free of the lampshade wound protector! Here is the little fella:





I can't promise I'll be back to regular blogging but I'll try my best. Everything should calm down after May. Not long to go now :)

Hope all's well in blogland.

Toodlepip!

A crafty post at last!

A shocking lack of blogging being done on my part lately. I have still been visiting other blogs but haven't found the time to even think of what to blog about. I have a few minutes this morning before I take little Trev to the vets for his inevitable 'boy operation'... Bless him.

I have realised that my blog hasn't really reflected the crafty things I've been doing lately. So here goes.

Firstly, I have (at last) finished those wristwarmers:



I am further along with the hot water bottle cover. Not sure if you can see from the pic but there is a back panel and one of the front panels with a ribbed edge:



You may remember a post I did in January of some unfinished toy parts... here is what these limbs became:



Ok, ok so she isn't completely finished as she is still faceless but trust me, this is good progress for me :)

I have also been knitting on and off (mainly while we were away over February half term) a wedding present for a friend of mine. This is the (almost) finished article. An unpressed, unstuffed cushion cover:



I had a bit of a nightmare with it as I ran out of yarn with about 20 rows to go - doh! I couldn't go and get more as it was yarn I had bought ages ago so the new stuff would be a different dye lot. I was at my wit's end when I remembered a project I was doing with the same yarn last year... I posted in the summer last year about some squares I was knitting up for a blanket (yes it is still work in progress...) I was able to unpick one of the squares with just enough yarn left to stitch it up as well. Phew!

I then found another ball of the same colour yarn (in a different dye lot) so I replaced the square I lost to the cushion cover:



Then I followed a pattern over at Miaou's Blog for a cute little doll. I had it all ready to send to a good friend of mine who is having a tough time at the moment... when after one Sunday afternoon of working in the dining room I walked through to the lounge and... oh no... poor little Clover... Trev's latest toy!! Argh!! Sophie (one of our cats) must have biffed Clover off the table and onto the floor and Trev must have thought - hey, new toy, great! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of her before the event so here she is in her bedraggled state :( Back to square one with this one me thinks...



Had to post a pic of this yummy 100% bamboo yarn I bought a while ago. No idea what I'll make with it as it is tape yarn but I love the soft colours. Maybe a spring/summer scarf? Any ideas gratefully received.



And to leave on a doggie note - here is the latest picture of Trev, taken this morning.



Right... off to the V-E-T-S we go... :(

UPDATE @ 2pm: The vets have called and Trev has come round from his anaesthetic and is fine, just drowsy. Will be glad to have him home again.

Toodlepip!

Happy Holidays

I have not been good at blogging lately. I have still been visiting other blogs but I have left it so long I couldn't decide what to post about. So I decided that since half term here has been and now gone, I would post about the lovely break I had! I really felt the need for a 'complete stop' so we booked a week away in a lovely little cottage in the Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire - on the border between England and Wales) and I didn't take any work away with me :) Just what I needed.

Before I get too excited about the thought of a holiday again... here are some more snow pics from a few weeks ago. We went walking and found some lovely deep snow:



And every now and then Trev needed a cuddle as it was quite deep for him - bless. He loved playing in the snow.



So... back to our week away. We stayed near a lovely little village called Newent:



We saw lots of pretty doves which must live locally:



The weather started to get warmer and we even saw blue sky:



We went walking every day and one trip was up the Malvern Hills. I managed to tie my boots together en route which ended in me sprawled across the floor in more pain than I remember from falling as a child (a sign of getting older??). If I am honest it spoiled the rest of my walk (as it would if I was a child!):



I continued for about a further half an hour and then I let Hubby reach the top with Trevor while I sat on a bench at the bottom of last stretch. The views were quite breathtaking though:



I was feeling particularly sorry for myself and on our descent I text my brother and asked him to find out (as we would be online at work) if there were any knitting shops in the locality. There was - The Knitting Parlour in Malvern! I headed straight there and got myself a 'holiday treat':



I got straight on the case of using the gorgeous Araucania Cotton that is handpainted cotton in shades of pink and aqua (the picture does not do it justice at all). Can you tell what it is going to be?



The following day we went to the Sculpture Trail as a lighter walk for my sore knees :( It was lovely! We saw lots of gnarly trees which I think could tell a tale or two:





and obviously some sculptures too:



Trevor loved sniffing around in the leaves:



That piece of fleece tied to his harness was from a fence we found en route.

After the eventful day on the Malvern Hills I decided to go for boots without laces for the forest walk. I had to take a picture of them as they are an early birthday present from my Brother - a pair of pink and brown Muck Boots and I love them!!



We also spent a bit of dedicated time doing some training with Trevor. No accidents for a whole week was one progress!



It would also have been Nan's birthday since my last post. I didn't realise how much it would effect me. This may sound daft but I wrote her a letter and put it with her things that I have as it was the only way I could get what was in my head, out in the open. Nan loved snowdrops, they were her favourite flower. We drove past a whole wooded area carpeted with the jewel-like flowers so I had to ask Hubby to pull over while I took a quick picture.



Hope all is well where you are and that the weather is settling (for both extremes that we've seen across the globe of late).

Toodlepip!