Weekly round-up and a giveaway winner

My first ever giveaway has now closed.  Rather than using the random number generator I went for the old-fashioned approach:

Names were all written down and put into my pretty vintage glass dish.   I did a little drum roll (in my head) and the winner is....

It's Ann from Vintage At The Corner House.  Well done Ann - if you let me have your address I'll pop the parcel in the post!  I said that I would pop in a few surprise treats and I already know what I'm going to include.  Such fun. :-)

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I've done a bit of shopping this week and was thrilled to find these Ruby & Ed slippers in the sale.  £12.50 instead of £35.  A bargain and I'm keeping these for holidays and overnight stays.  A bit of posh on hols is always good.

There has also been lots of snuggling under the eiderdown.  This little beauty was a purchase from Peony & Sage just after Christmas. 

I'd been wanting a nice eiderdown but could never find a vintage one that I felt comfortable with.  I love the fabrics at Peony & Sage and I am so glad I bought this.  It wasn't cheap (which at least encouraged me to sell some clutter on ebay) but it was worth every penny.  It is thick, heavy and warm, the fabric is beautiful and it is the perfect size to drag around the house.  We regularly snuggle under it on the sofa to watch TV and when I sit on the bed to crochet, watch iPlayer or read I pull it up over myself.  Lovely - makes me feel so relaxed and cosy.

I've been wanting to show you these cute little charms for a while.  They make fab crochet stitch markers.  I do have a few stitch markers but they are quite ordinary - this little shoe is currently saving my place on the giant granny square (I have so nearly finished it but my attentions have been focused on my cross-stitch cushion kit).  

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Finally,  I've set myself a challenge to indulge my creative side.  I work full-time as a PA in the finance industry and, as you can imagine, rarely have the opportunity to be creative.  

The challenge is to take more photographs.  I had a new camera for Christmas, which I love, but bought a fancy new lens for it and the automatic settings no longer cut the mustard.  I am not getting the shots I am after - the bokeh effect kicks in too often and parts of the image are blurred when I don't want them to be.  It is frustrating me.  Practice (and lessons, I think) will be the way forward.

The biggest obstacle I face is my confidence (always the way with me).  I am self-conscious taking photographs in public.  There are so many snaps I'd like to take and I would love to have my proper camera with me all of the time, just in case, but I feel foolish taking photos of what other people consider to be ordinary things.  I ate out with my family last weekend for my grandma's birthday and my family laughed at me for taking photos.  It was an absolutely stunning building and there were so many gorgeous things I wanted to capture.  I took two photographs of a couple of [beautiful] lamps and gave up.  When I got home I was disappointed in myself.  So I'm going to take one photo, at least,  a day.  I hope it will break down any mental blocks I have about photographing in public.  Lots of people do it and I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

I've started small, just using my iphone, but I'll work up to taking my DSLR out and about with me.  I'm saving up for a gorgeous Kelly Moore camera bag as we speak.

Have a great week!  And thanks, as always, for stopping by.

Nicki 

x

PS Big news - I'm not dreading Monday so much!  Yay!  I have joined a knit and natter group which gets together every other Monday - it's my first night tomorrow.  So excited!  Hope I get on OK. :-)  Cheering my Monday right up.