Destash swap.

I was recently able to take part in a destash swap organised by one of my fellow Folksy sellers, Laura of Jewellery Drops. For the uninitiated, a destash swap involves sending items you have stashed away with the intention of using them at some point in the future, only to find you don't have time, to someone else who will in return send you similar items of their own.

I was lucky to have Alex of Aleximo Croissant as my swap partner and she sent me a huge parcel containing fancy eyelash type yarn, buttons, sequins, beads, ribbons and safety pins! She also popped in a lovely note on one of her Gocco prints. See photos below...





Now I have to decide what to do with it all - the pinky coloured eyelash yarn will probably find it's way into my niece's wardrobe. Watch this space for further updates :)

Oooooops!

Can't believe it's over a month since I last blogged! But I have been away on holiday and the kids are off school and I'm still sharing their PC so I suppose I have a bit of an excuse. So much to talk about but not much time so I'll just talk briefly about my holiday today.

We went to Normandy on our motorbike, which is a Benelli Tre-K. As I suffer from Fibromylgia we had to stop on route at regular intervals - always a good excuse for coffee and cake :)

The highlight of the trip for me was a visit to Monet's garden at Giverny. I've been several times before but it's so lovely I just had to go again. I took lots of photos this time as I plan to use them as inspiration for my spring/summer yarn colours next year.


Lovely yellows and reds,


purples and pinks


and blues.


Not forgetting the multitude of greens in and around the beautiful lily pond of course!

Finally as inspiration for some natural dyeing I'm about to do some lovely tree bark..


and lichen.