Birthday giveaway winner is...

Thanks so much guys for leaving so many thoughtful Birthday wishes...I can assure you it was a great birthday, despite all the issues that I usually carry around with me on my birthday (see last years birthday post). This was a great way to celebrate...I have just had so much fun over the last two weeks...the highlight being a surprise night out, well I thought I was going out for a pizza...only the taxi was a limo and it did not take me to the pizza place but to a restaurant. When it pulled up and the door was opened for me and my glass of champagne was taken from me...I got all giddy when I saw some of my special friends in the window with big cheesy smiles on their faces... Yep...I had been got! You know I can not tell you much about the night as I was just too giddy to take it all in...OK maybe the bubbly had something to do with it. It was very special for me to share my birthday with so many lovely people, how blessed I am to have such special, wonderful and caring friends...There was me feeling all sorry for myself that no one cared...Ha who feels silly now? That would be ME!!!

The reason for no blogging this past week is I took the children off school and we went for a whole week by the beach...we packed up our wet suits and body boards, lots of towels and pic nic goodies and headed for the surf...in reality it actually rained quite a few days, but we would hide under a beach hut for shelter and eat ice cream. Anyway lots of photos to go through and a huge amount of knitting took place in the evenings when the children had gone to sleep and I would pour a glass of chilled wine and curl up on the sun lounger on my balcony and watch the waves whilst the sun went down...Oh bliss...For now though its time to return to reality, unpack and sort all the 'stuff' out. Then its on with living the 'Suzie Sews' life a year older and wiser with some very special memories!!!

As for the giveaway I am so pleased to announce the winner is the lovely Louise from Home is Where the Heart is...drop me an email with your address Louise and I will send out the goodies as soon as possible. Once again I thank you all for your lovely wishes it made my birthday even more special and I thank you for that...

Birthday giveaway!!!!

In tradition of giving rather than receiving on your birthday I am going to have a little giveaway. Just a few of the little things that I make regularly, A 'Suzie Sews' patchwork pin cushion, a set of pegs, great for pinning up special pictures or even just for keeping your socks in pairs and my latest little venture...one of the hair clips from my current order... All you have to do is leave a comment over the next week and I shall draw the winner and announce the name next week...Good luck...See you in a week when I shall be older and wiser:-)

Memories are made of this...

So the reality of normality is with me again and that brief moment of time is locked away in my memory. Spending a last minute week away with my little family now feels a long way away and yet if I close my eyes I can imagine the wind blowing in my hair, the warmth of the fire that warmed us up and the fresh smell of a deserted beach. Yes it was a special week. So indulge me if you will a little walk through the memories, a little off the 'Suzie Sews' topic I know but, whilst no evidence of making was done the seeds of many ideas got planted and are just waiting to germinate... The cottage itself was so sweet, wooden floors and situated in the heart of Yorkshire surrounded by gently rolling hills, pretty floral furnishings gave it a homely feel, lots of animals, from the goats that lived at the bottom of the garden who would rush to fence as soon as we sat down to supper in the hope of a little tasty treat, to the many chickens roaming around leaving their little eggs of goodness for us and I must not forget the little bunnies that lived within the barns and would pop out when they thought no one was looking. Oh and the owls...yes the owls!!! I love owls but when they are screeching outside your window ALL night...well I might have to think again about how much I love them!!!
We had a few days with severe weather warnings so we would hunker down in front of the fire, read, play, draw or eat popcorn whilst watching a movie...the wind beating against the windows and howling through the fire place...cosy cosy cosy!!! When the weather improved we enjoyed a couple of outings...I have boys...what can I say - an inbuilt love of trains and you don't get much closer than this...We enjoyed a lovely trip through the hills and across stunning countryside and came away with the evocative smell of the steam engine on our clothes...
The funny thing was despite being on a farm we still went to visit a petting farm...as the schools are all open we had the place to ourselves and spent a few happy hours walking around, petting the babies-so much life truly does burst out at this time of year...calves, goats and lambs with the highlight of the trip being given a bottle each to feed the hungry little lambs, the children loved this treat...
As another storm blew in (landscape picture taken up the road from the cottage) we settled down for another night of poor weather...at least it kept the owls peaceful as they retreated to a less exposed place for the night...Then we awoke to the first of the two birthday DAYS...my children are born one day after the other (and a few years in between) We spent the morning in bed opening our pressies, eating Muffins for breakfast (with a candle in just to get the party feel going and of course singing Happy birthday...the first of many times) we had a swim and a birthday supper with a big cake and all my child's favourite party food. We even had our traditional birthday hat to wear...This is the part I shatter your illusions of my family, so many beautiful handmade crowns out there in blogland...what can I say...I meant to make them one each but resorted to a shop bought and rather cheesy white cake hat including ridiculously large candles on it...well its the thought matters....

When it was the second birthday day we had good weather, sadly my plans to hire a beach hut for the day fell through, not to be put off though we packed up the party people and hit the beach..the first visit of the year. If you have read my blog previously you will know that the beach and I...well we have a thing going!!! The beach is the place for me, I feel relaxed, happy and rejuvenated here so it was a big thing-the first visit of the year...to blow away the bleak winter moods and welcome in the birth of spring...Yep that's me in green...Scarborough Beach in Yorkshire on a dull but dry day...
What can I say...just fooling around...all the toys and fancy food of birthdays yet the highlight for all of us was walking along the beach with a piece of seaweed each...simple things for simple folk!!!
Making ripples...
and jumping the waves...
and you can not beat an ice cream on an English seaside with the wind blowing through your curls....

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Thank you for letting me share my memories...I have so many things running through my mind, lots of ideas and things to be finishing, I did manage lots of knitting whilst away and even finished a little bag, I have my Easter egg tree to put up tomorrow...so bare with me, the usual 'Suzie Sews' activities will resume soon, I am off for a little hospital stay on Thursday and depending on how I am feeling I will be back to share with you the delights of another swap, my bunny swap (See side bar for button) I came home to a great package from Kitty and I have finally broken into the package from Weirdbunny and started to decorate the house with all the goodies from that swap...

Down on the farm...

Oh my it seems like so long since I sat here to type up my goings on...well it all happened rather quickly and not without a little stress...the children and I have been away for a week. A little last minute which was great fun although it took some organisation. Last week was a special week in the year for me and my little family, it was the celebration of my children's birthdays...so with parties to organise, cakes to bake, and with the lack of interest from my Mom to join in the celebrations I felt that a change was as good as a rest. So with the money that would be spent on parties I took the children off to a cottage on an organic farm for the week. The children had the most amazing time, swimming everyday, lots of walking and best of all the first visit of the year to the beach...As for crafting...well its no surprise that not that much got done, I did manage to get out all my swaps in the post before I trundled off to the farm, I managed some knitting and even finished off one project. So today it is back to reality, the holiday is over and its time to get the laundry done and put on the line to blow dry on this bright spring day, tidy up and buy some food in whilst the children play with their new toys...Then we start a fresh week, time to sort the holiday photos out (all five hundred of them) and hopefully spend sometime in my sewing room...and of course catch up with the blogging, both writing my own (so much to share) and reading my favourites...Hey I missed you!!!

Happy Birthday my boys

Welcome back, its still the month of Moo so here is today's Moo. Its been a great couple of days, thanks for coming back to me. Well I took off for a little holiday, I went away for a couple of days to really celebrate my boys big days. We went to the cottage and just had the BEST time. It was sooo relaxing and the weather was fab, sunny and warm, we even had a birthday lunch out on the terrace in the warm sunshine. Lots of swimming, walking and bike riding was had. Plus lots of opening gifts and even lots of sleeping...
So Happy Birthday my boys you are the best guys and I love you so much.
This is the view form our backdoor, it does not really show how sunny it was but believe me it was great. A real treat to get away from it all. This is what I got up to, I have been going to knit this for ages and I wanted something to take with me that I could do without to much concentration. I was put off that you have nearly 6oo stitches to cast on. Anyway I got busy, carried it around in a little plastic baggie and it went on the walks with us, to the pool, sitting in the sun and curled up in front of the fire until it was complete...
It goes great with a spring pink linen coat I have. So roll on spring time, the lambs are being born, the trees are in blossom, the daffodils are in full bloom, is life just great? You Bet!