My First Video Blog

I thought it may be fun to make and post video blogs sometimes.
I've uploaded a couple of videos on my blog before but not with me actually on them.
So if you have always wondered what I actually sound like and marvel at my funny mixed accent, now is your opportunity, enjoy !!



You can find out  more about the creative goddess e-course and the academy by clicking on the linky here or in my sidebar :)

(This post contains affiliate links which help me run my blog and contribute to our family. For more info on affiliate links click here.
Thank you for your support!

Trying New Things Can Make You Squirmy

Firstly let me introduce you to our feathered friend who followed John home up the drive last night, not sure if this is a male or female Redwing but they do have a pretty night song :)

Ok now I would like to talk about something which makes me feel kinda squirmy and awkward.

As you can see I don't have ads or sponsers on my site,and with good reason. Firstly my laptop is dying and when I load up a blog with adds on it takes fooorreever, so I don't want my own blog taking ages for me to load up to post or edit. Second it makes me uncomfortable having other companies advertised on my blog (even if I did have a big enough readership).

Don't worry I'm not easing in to tell you to expect ads appearing soon, but I am going to occasionally be mentioning products which I own/use that have affiliate links, Such as using an amazon widget.

The reality is that blogs only really show part of a life, a snippit of the best of things, a well angled camera shot, what this blog doesn't really show is just how much work is still to do to finish the cottage on top of the repair works such as the kitchen roof that leaks like a colander.

What I wont be doing.....inundating you with sponsored posts, plastering ads all over the place, and "hard selling" to my readers.

What I will be doing...... well that picture in the left column is an example, and an affiliate link.
That is a course that I have bought (in fact I have been a member of the whole site about 3 years now I think), and recommend and which I am about to work through starting next week.
Whilst working through the course I will blog about my progress, probably once a week, maybe twice if I am excited over something, so no product overload.

I hope I haven't upset or disappointed anyone who follows my blog with this news. Thank you for your continued support, hugs Mel xx

P.S. if you want to know a bit more about what an affiliate link is you can click on the page at the top called disclosure, thank you :)

100 Happy Days

I came across an excellent idea the other day on Elsie and Emma's blog abeautifulmess called the 100happydays challenge.
The idea is to take a picture to share with the world each day of a happy moment, a way to notice the everyday normal things which perhaps we would ordinarily take for granted, just coasting along.

Today has been spent mostly killing time in kirkwall, I had an appointment I couldn't rearrange today, and due to public transport several hours with very little to do but shop.
BUT one of the perks of a day in the (big??) city is a lazy lunch spent to myself, something I don't need to prepare. So my moment for today was lunch in the garden centre and excellent it was as always :)

On another note I am almost finished creating the pdf file of my first purchase pattern to be uploaded on Ravelry (another happy). Thank you so much for the lovely comments about my plans. Now that things are actually happening I am finding myself really excited about the project, which is giving the enthusiasm to keep going and a boost of energy and inspiration, I feel all fizzy if that makes sense. I'm even getting up just after 6am BY CHOICE, I am not a natural early bird believe me :)

Anyway back to the happy challenge. I doubt I will post my photos one everyday over here on my blog, instead I think I will do a weekly roundup and put them all in one weekly post. But if you would like to see them daily I will be posting them up on my facebook.
Also if you would like to join in with the challenge you can find all the details over at 100happydays.com #100happydays

Fear and Courage

The past couple of days have been spent making final tweaks to my latest crochet pattern, which I hope to have ready and sent out into the world by the first week in April.

I am quite nervous about the whole thing, this being the first pattern I have written to actually sell, a full size garment rather than a small accessory tutorial.

I guess that is why it has been taking me so long to get it finished, the fear of WHAT IF??

What if no one likes it? What if no one buys it? What if people ridicule it? But if I don't even try then I have already failed.

Most artists must have the same fears in regards to sending out a piece of themselves into the world.
And art IS a piece of yourself in whatever form it takes, whether that be painting, writing, pottery, music or crochet.

So in a couple of weeks I will gather my courage, hold my breath and press that publish button, then sit back and hope.

But for better or worse it will be DONE.

A quilting commitment

I've been thinking lately on starting a new patchwork, what you have to understand is that me and quilts have a bit of an on again off again relationship.

Thing is I want quilts, I like quilts, I love having my own handmade quilts around the house. 

But they just take me soooo long to make.

Take for example the new 'Winter' quilt we have hanging in the living room (pic to follow), it has been hanging up since January (note: after christmas), but it took me 2 YEARS!! to finish, hmmmm.

The two quilts on the photos actually didn't take long at all. They were made using old pillowcase and fabric from my stash for the windows in the bedroom in the summer when it doesn't get dark up here.

(if you look closely, the pale blue fabric with the blue flowers on was used by mum to make her wedding dress when she married my dad).

My aim is to have a quilt to hang up for each of the four seasons and so far I have my autumn quilt which I made a couple of years back, my spring quilt also made a couple of years back, and now the winter one.

I still need to make a summer one and this is the challenge for this year.











I have the fabric for the top (bought over a year ago on ebay), I have a pattern in mind also so I have no excuse. Wish me luck !!

If I Was A REAL Blogger

If I was a real blogger I would have a spectacular blog, with professionally designed layouts, fonts, pictures and 'branding'. 

I would own a snazzy DSLR camera and take arty shots, 100's a day with photos that would make a grown man weep (although I admit the above one impressed me).

But I'm not a real blogger.

I could be a food blogger, I could post daily recipes showing the world my chef like skills with a skillet, serving up amazing meals to my quickly expanding husband, whilst managing to keep my figure svelte like, receiving sponsorship from fab foodie companies that I could never afford to shop from myself.

But I don't have a kitchen.

I could be a homestead blogger, posting weekly the bumper harvests emerging from my plot, how I planted 30 rows of cabbages and still have time for yoga before I munch upon my freshly picked lunch.

But its bloody cold out there, blowing a gale and the ground is sodden from all the rain.

I could be a fashion blogger showing my outfit for the day, pretty dresses and cardigans, handmade accessories made from charity shop thrift, makeup and hair tips for the country girl.

But it's blowy out there so hair is either tied back or windswept, makeup is reserved for trips out, and my outfit for the day is usually leggings and a tunic unless a trip to kirkwall is on the cards or company is coming.

So you see I can't really be a REAL blogger, not really.

I shall just have to be a completely and randomly ME blogger instead.

The Most Unhealthy Lunch I Will Eat All Year

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Now lets just pretend that the photo above is a lovely shot of me cooking pancakes by the stove on this shrove tuesday.

Yep its pancake day (don't forget your pancakes on jif lemon day), John isn't keen on crepes (strange man) so this is a seasonal lunch time treat I love to indulge in, but I got half way through lunch before it occurred to me to take a photo. Yes I am a baaad blogger.

Truth be told it's probably a good idea I didn't photo my hob, it needs a damn good scrub, but with a semi-good reason which I will come to in a moment.

It would seem i am coming back to my roots as far as pancake toppings go, I remember having lemon or sugar, usually sugar on them as a child. As I became an adult and could buy what the hell I like to go on them I moved into the sickly sweet indulgences of golden syrup (tin only) or even white chocolate spread.

I went off the chocolate spread idea a couple of years back but still like the odd golden syrup butter fried pancake, but funnily enough I noticed today I preferred the less sweet lemon and sugar. Funny how things turn out.

Anyway I mentioned my toxic dump of a kitchen, well I haven't been too well of late.It turns out I have Trigeminal Neuralgia, yep I hadn't heard of it till a couple of weeks ago either, but believe me I had felt it.
It's awful, or it was till the meds kicked it, so painful I would rather give birth on my own, in a storm, in the wilderness, with nothing but a tarp over me and a penknife; and trust me I have had two troublesome births.

All being well this episode wont last more than a few months, too much to do this year (bloomin body lettin me down grrr).

So back to the original subject, what's your favorite crepe topping?