31

Oh my sainted aunt! I have truly been the most tardy blogger around. But fear not, I am back, and am turning 31 tomorrow. 31! Yikes!

This means several things:
(1) The bloom of my youth has well and truly faded, and that it's only a short trip here on in to hagged and crotchety;
(2) I can no longer say things like "When I grow up I want to be a blah blah blah", because it will only make me look dafter than I already am;
(3) Time is a'running out if I want to be an accomplished piano and trumpet playing bilingual diplomatic officer and bona fide chess master before middle age strikes;
(4) It's the Jorth birthday giveaway!

I suspect it's the latter that you're all interested in. Never mind me and my aging crisis, just show you the goodies, hey?

Firstly, the rules. Long time visitors know the drill - give me a bit of birthday love by leaving a nice message, telling me I don't look old at all and that being a diplomatic officer is vastly overrated etc etc and mention which gift you'd like to be yours. After the weekend I'll draw the winners out of the appropriate hats, send you an email requesting your postal details, and you and the pressies shall soon be one.

Rightio, first cab off the rank - Knitted Babes by Clare Garland. Lovely, sweet book, featuring these easy to knit up dolls that can usually be made from scrap yarn. I hope you have better luck than I did with mine, which resembled nothing but a burnt alien. Grumbles took one look at it, and crawled for the hills. Don't blame the poor kid, it did look pretty scary. Oh well.

Next up is The Modern Quilt Workshop by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr. Fabulous introduction into world of quilting, with a heavy emphasis on colour and design. Very inspirational.

Third is this nifty Japanese embroidered handbag pattern book. The bags in here at to die for, and there are about 10 I'd love to make, but it's been sitting on my shelf for 3 years now, and in my heart of hearts I know I'll never get around to making one up. So I'll hand it over to somebody who hopefully will. Or somebody who will at least drool over the pics more often than I do. (See more of the projects inside here)

Lastly is another Japanese craft book, this one featuring patterns for tote bags. Some very, very cool designs in here.

Well, that's it. Hope you all have a splendid weekend, and good luck with the draw!

xo Jorth