I have cake, and someone has won the giveaway

And the winner is......

Kitschy Cooooooooo! Lucky girl :)

I too am a winner, as I've had a cracking birthday. Me and mr pickledweasel ran away to Llandudno yesterday for a whole child-free 24 hours. Although we'd been there only a couple of years ago, I had somehow re-invented Llandudno in my head as a sophisticated wine bar and Michelin starred restaurant filled coastal resort with balmy nights and 4 star hotels on every corner, so was a little surprised to find it was a freezing cold slightly run down welsh town full of cheap B&Bs and, bizarrely enough, the Cambrian Rally.

We lived it up. I had a tea while we waited for the film to start.

So rather than wear the satin slash neck dress and purple suede wedge pumps I was planning to stun the north Welsh coast with, I just stuck with my jeans and jumper and we had dinner early at a Mediterranean restaurant, and then went to the cinema to see The Other Guys (which is an hilarious film). We stayed in a crappy hotel where the bathroom smelt of swimming pool and got woken up at 1am by drunk rally drivers, and then this morning we went to a greasy spoon overlooking the sea and had a huuuge fry up, and then did a leisurely promenade walk.

And mr p had a coffee.

Back in time for tea with Munchkin and Grandma Pickledweasel, and just as I was thinking I wasn't getting a birthday cake and I'd have to stuff my face with the jelly munchkin had helped grandma make, mr pickledweasel unveiled this beauty:

Isn't it a thing of skill and beauty? I love the foot :) AND it's all different cakes inside - the top is walnut cake, the side is angel cake and the bottom is Madeira. It makes turning 35 just about bearable :)

Giveaway extended!!1! (Because I am tired)

...after doing a twelve hour journey from Kent to Lancashire :-S


Plus a pitiful number of people have entered (the people aren't pitiful, just the number of them), either because a) the things I am giving away aren't exciting enough, or b) not many people read my blog. I am thinking it is a sad combination of the two.


So I will draw a winner on Sunday the 17th, which happens to be my birthday, in the hope that my popularity has suddenly risen dramatically :) You can enter by leaving a comment on this post. In the mean time please enjoy these photos of Munchkin making some new Kentish friends.

Giveaway in a bits and bobs de-stash celebratory past halfway neverending loft conversion styley!

I know, it' such a snappy title :)

So, I've listed a tiny percentage half my fabric stash on eBay, and should you wish to get your grubby little mitts on it, you can look at it here. I was going to put it on Etsy, but I had no idea what price to put on things, so instead everything's starting at 99p and it'll all get sold. All profits go to the Pickled Weasel New Bedroom Furniture Fund.

But if you haven't got any pennies, and you want some of the loveliness that's listed, read on. You can win all the pretty things pictured in this post. The fabric is just bits and bobs, things that wouldn't really sell on eBay but that people with crafty skillz could use, and then there's a few other random things thrown in for good measure. I hope you like them :)

All you need to do is leave a comment telling me about your favourite tutorial on the interwebs, and a link to it if you can work out how to in the comments box (I often can't, being a bear of little brain, so I don't expect you to).

We're cracking on with all the painting (mr pickledweasel even has roller-related blisters), and I can see light at the end of the loft conversion tunnel, so I'm starting to think about all the craftings I can do when I no longer have a paintbrush surgically attached to my hand. I need new things to covet and drool over and stick on my never ending to-do list.

International bods are more than welcome to enter, and I will draw a winner at random on Friday the 15th of October. As an added weaselly bonus, if you enter the giveaway and happen to win one of the things listed on eBay, I'll give you first class postage for the price of second class. Not much, I know, but better than nowt. Good luck!

Spoonflower. Not really about spoons. Or flowers.

I am trying to sort out my cupboard under the stairs sewing storage room as it will shortly be moving to the...wait for it...UTILITY ROOM!!!1! Yes, I know, How lucky am I. Because of the recent neverending loft conversion project we have a bit more storage space, which means I can have an actual real room to sew in, as opposed to putting my sewing machine on the dining room table and then leaving it there for three months whilst fabric and pattern pieces gather round it in some sort of modern art installation styley, until someone comes for dinner and I have to stuff it all back under the stairs again.

Birdies Galore by cabinpressstudio

If all goes according to plan I will have a workbench, a fold up chair, shelving and drawers. I will still have to share the space with the tumble dryer and washing machine, but at least I'll have a permanent space for my machine and the accoutrement's that come with it. Happy days :)

Love Fiesta by sammyk

I'm a long way off from that yet. First we have to finish the decorating. I am on the third coat of paint in the hall. The third coat, people. Which means there will need to be three coats on the stairs, and the landing. *cries*

Medium Elephants by katharinahirsch

But I have made a start on my new sewing nest by having a little bit of a de-stash. As we have officially run out of neverending loft fund loan money, and the electrician's bill came in £700 more than expected, we are slowly putting the entire contents of our house on eBay. This way we get to pay bills and really make the most of all that new storage space, as there won't be any crap left to fill it with. I'll list some of my fabric next week, and will be running a de-stash celebratory giveaway to mark the occasion. It's nice fabric, not just manky bits that I want to throw away :)

Monsieur Wonder Kat by malien00

Which leads me to the pictures that illustrate this post. How can a girl possibly keep on top of her fabric stash when there are beauties such as these available to buy from Spoonflower? The design talent out there just blows me away. Just a shame all the monies in my paypal account will be paying for sockets and switches :(

And the winner is...

The Random Number Generator has spoken, and it said the winner is: Comment number 4!

Bean Mum said... 'This is a lovely bag! Well done, i'm usless at doing anything without diagrams so fair play to you!'

Thanks to everyone who commented :)

Fambily Pickled Weasel have just returned from a very relaxing week at Centre Parcs. It did feel a little bit like living in a shopping centre in the middle of some woods (do they really need 3 Starbucks?) but we had fun none the less. I did Pilates and some sort of evil torture called Flexi-Ball, and have become very aware of my 'core' muscles. They still hurt when I cough.

Munchkin learnt lots of new words, figured out how to use a straw, and jumped in muddy puddles a la Peppa Pig. We went to the Pancake House too many times. Happy days :)

Big Little Bag Giveaway

Yet another bag. And yes, it's from One Yard Wonders. How did you guess? :)

This is the Petite Diaper Tote, and it's not quite what I was expecting. Mainly because there's only one photo of it in the book, and it's pictured with the change mat unfolded, so you don't really get to see what the bag itself looks like.

Even worse, there are very few diagrams to accompany the instructions, so it was a bit of a pig to put together. They're currently looking for contributors to the next edition, and I seriously hope they improve the format, cause it's made me tear at my already thinning hair with every project I've completed.

Anyhoo, this was meant to be a present for a friend, and although it's turned out beautifully, because it isn't quite the animal I thought it was I've decided to make her something else. I thought the change pad folded up into the bag, rather than outside of it, and I thought there was a flap to go over the top rather than it being open with a tab to close it. Where I got these ideas from, I don't know :)

So I'm giving it away to one of you lovely lovely people. It'd be a great little bag to pop in the bottom of your pushchair or leave in the boot of the car for nappy emergencies. It'll comfortably fit a packet of baby wipes, a couple of disposable nappies (or one cloth one) and a snack and a beaker. It's the sort of thing that you should aim for when you're going through that 'I want to get back to using a normal handbag but I still need to carry a bit of baby gubbins around' transitional stage. I'm happy to send it anywhere in the world, so international peeps are welcome to enter.

All you need to do is post a comment below telling me... well, telling me anything really. I don't mind what you say, as long as it's not too rude :) Just say hello if you're not feeling very prosey. Or just put 'I want your bag please'. Whatevs. And I know it can be a bit of a pain to comment in Blogger sometimes, so if you want to enter by email you can, just drop a line to pickledweasel@btinternet.com.

You've got ages to enter because I'm away next week, so I'll draw a winner on Saturday the 27th of February. Good luck!

Cardigan heartification and a mini giveaway

Munchkin is still growing, despite developing a recent fussy attitude to food (oh the joys of toddlerhood), and so I decided to customise the other cheapy cardigan I bought when our local Ethel Austin was closing down (the other smaller one is here).


As the stamped applique flowers worked so well last time, I thought I'd try some more using the same technique. I chose hearts, because the stamps were about the right size, and the spotty one is my favourite. I rooted around in my scraps bag and found some t-shirt sleeves that I cut off in a fit of cutomization - the colour was perfect.



I love the results :) I had lots of t-shirt sleeve left over, so I made a whole load more applique patches. One set is in my Coriandr shop, and the other set could be yours, all yours! To get your grubby little mitts on four patches (two stripy hearts and two spotty hearts) just leave a comment at the end of this post telling me how you'd use them if you won them. I'll select a winner at random on Monday. International peeps, you can enter too.



They come with Bondaweb already on the back, so you can iron them on to whatever you want to, or iron then sew them on if they're going on a piece of clothing. They're washable at 40 degrees. Perfect for all sorts of things!