just a messin with my iphone

I am in love with my iphone ... its my life in my pocket ! Phone, camera, ipod, facebook, flickr, bookclub and so much more. Did I tell you I love it!

Today I downloaded the most amazing app from thebestcamera.com
It is truly truly truly amazing! In one sweep I can take a photo, manipulate the image and send it in one press of a button to facebook, flickr, twitter and thebestcamera site as well. Whats more it costs next to nothing .. less than £2. 

So today I was messin with my camera . The felt flowers are one of my favorite things in my kitchen. You can get them here.

the secret life of the sewing machine!

My hubby frequently tells me not to talk to my tools and equipment but sometimes I am convinced they are sentient beings .....especially my longarm that really dislikes working on Sundays!


I found this video on youtube today ....  its 10 minutes and an ideal coffee break moment! 

If you like this you can see part 2 and 3 too here and here

the award of the cheesy green dumpling

Cheesy Green Dumplings

Ingredients:

1 packet semi-dried, vacumm packed or fresh potato gnocchi.

1 jar green pesto

cheddar cheese - around 2oz per person

Method:

bring pan of water to a rolling boil

add gnocchi to pan

wait approx 3 mins while all gnocchi rises to the water surface

(as soon as gnocchi floats it is cooked)

drain water

place 1 teaspoon pesto per person onto the gnocchi

grate 1oz (ish) cheese per person onto gnocchi

stir all ingredients together

pile gnocchi mix into bowls and sprinkle with more grated cheese

use parmesan, cheddar or any cheese you like

takes about 10 mins to make!

Tonight, just as I was about to shut down for the evening I received an unsolicited breed of email. Akin to the illustrious chain letter I was asked to send a quick recipe to the first person named on the list then forward the note I had received to 20 other people. 20 people! 20 people ... I had to question if I had 20 names in my contact list that I could send the email to! My first reaction was to bin the letter .. then I thought about the person who had added my name to the list. I like the lady and don't want to upset or be rude to her so I decide to send a recipe and forward the note on BUT not to 20 people, just 10. I do as instructed and send the note with a preface from me saying I don't like chain lettery type emails so they shouldn't feel obliged to take part etc...

I feel better now and start to think about bed .. then I remember I still have to forward the blog awards I received recently and that I'd said I would do that last week! I feel very bad again. So now I must come clean with you... you see I have been procrastinating because I don't like blog awards much either. 

God, I am such a grumpy old women ... but you know it just smacks of something un-British to me. We just don't do the congratulatory admiration thing very well really here. We do pomp and circumstance reaaally well but not adulation. Mind you, I will confess that my inner child is still jumping up and down like a demented cat saying " yeah ... someone thinks my blog is interesting enough to give it an award"  but there is this bigger voice saying in a big deep voice " well thats very nice but lets move on with the order of the day"

But, I do want to say a BIG thank you to Diane over at DEsigned by Diane Evans for passing me the award of the Zombie Chicken and to Meg at Mega Crafty and Elissa at Not Just Handbags for awarding me a double dose of the Sunshine award. 

I am truly honoured that you have bestowed these awards upon me. 

Now, if I am correct I believe this means I need to forward the awards to as many as 29 bloggers (5 for the Zombie Chicken and 12 each for the Sunshine award). Well I think that pretty much covers everyone on my reader list so congratulations you are all awarded a Sunshine Zombie Chicken combo and quite rightly so! 

I expect some of you are thinking " this girl is not taking things seriously.. strike her off the list", and if you are, I am sorry ... I dont mean to be Mrs Grumpy- Bum but I have always been the maverick of the pack. However, in true maverick fashion I would like to instate a new award ... 

"the award of the cheesy green dumpling" 

awarded for the best post of the day!

So drum roll please.... todays "cheesy green dumpling" award goes to Jodie over at Ric-Rac because I liked her post about the gorgeous Mr David Tennent of Dr Who fame ... ooh!

sew amazing!

Don't you think this "tinternet" is really wonderful?  I do.  I found these 2 super animations tonight showing how a lock stitch is formed on a sewing machine. I discovered the top one whilst looking at this rather lovely selvedge blog but the source originates from Wikipedia and the second one I found at this blog. 

feeling lovey dovey ....

I absolutely love this cover of Taylor Swifts Love Story by Jon Schmidt

feeling slumpy!

Postcard Exchange No 1 from Emma

(photo taken with my iphone!)

I had one of those weeks last week ... you know ..one of those when you just  feel 'slumpy'. On a scale of 1 to 10 I 'd say it rated a good 8, or maybe even 9. My poor dh who has witnessed maaaany of my slumps over the last 20 years usually grins and bears them for the most part, despite the fact that I have been known to take on the guise of evil personified and display the tender characteristics  of the Wicked Witch of the North, Miss Trunchball * and Aunt Spiker ** rolled into one.   But not last week ... I managed to bring his boiling point well and truly below his norm and he let me know it too. Mind you, the fact that he has recently acquired a mouth full of teeth-straightening wire may have played a large part in his mood too. Add  to the mix that he has also stopped smoking, given up drinking red wine and eating curry ..  its no wonder his mood was compromised. His week wasn't made any better either by the anonymous arrival of a Metal Mickey poster on his desk at work as well.  So all in all we had a great week between us .. NOT!  I am sure you will be pleased to know that marital bliss returned over the weekend and the world is good for both of us again. I have no doubt that this is normal behaviour in a lot of households so I shall make no apologies or excuses but as we start the run up to Valentines Day I do want to say how much my dh means to me. I would be lost without him and as my daughter once said to me ... he is the cheese to my macaroni!  So dh if you are reading this ... here is a virtual hug!

*Matilda

**James and the Giant Peach

Right - sloppy stuff over ... I shall move on!

Last Friday I had coffee with my good friend Emma. She is a brick. She listens so patiently I am sure I will wear her ears out one day.  We recently started a postcard exchange and when I got back from our Friday meet I found her first card on the door mat. I love it!  To keep all the cards nice AND to display them in a way I can see them ... I have brought a 'picture pocket'  display to  hang on the wall. 

I got mine here. They have several sizes but I got the one that has 40 pockets and holds a total of 80 4" x 6" photos. At the moment I am also storing the birthday ATC's exchanges I make before I ship them off.  I can think of lots of uses for these picture pockets  too. Buttons would look fab in them I think, sewing sundries, or even just filled with samples of your favourite fabrics. I just think they are such a cool,  simple, cheap and  inexpensive 'do-daddy' that works! (Wish I'd have thought of the idea!)

This week  I have a special task to do too.... I have been lucky enough to receive several blog awards over the last couple of months which has been such a thrill ... so a big big thankyou to everyone who has passed them on to me. But I have been very delinquent in forwarding them! Seeing as I am currently in the mood for 'sharing some love' this week will be the week for despatch. So watch out .. you may have a little something on the way to you!

Until later then ...

.. lets face it

ATC, originally uploaded by teepeequilts.

somedays words fail me ....