I decided to start this year right. It will begin with a positive thought a day, recorded in a brand new gratitude journal. I loosely followed this tutorial to make a soft leather-bound journal, with seven signatures made up from an assortment of lovely papers.

I figured, if I put a lot of love into making something like this, I'd be more likely to make an effort to write in it every day. So far so good, but we're only a week in...

I bought leather scraps and a leather awl off ebay which took ages to arrive, and the rest of it was mostly what I found in my craft stash. It didn't take very long to make, just a lot of patience to get everything lined up and measured correctly.


Making holes in paper? Easy Peasy.
Making holes in thick leather? I got a blister. Note to self; make holes bigger next time, so they don't disappear into the self-healing leather!

So, I made it.

Thirty days of positive thinking and being grateful.

Of course, it was inevitable that today I would be grateful for gratitude, wasn't it? But I'm not just grateful for thinking positively - that is, after all, exactly what I've got out of this. I'm also grateful for the whole process. I slowly started to see how negative I was being, how easily I was slipping into seeing the bad in things rather than the good. I'm grateful for having the strength to change that outlook, and for everyone I met along the way.


Thank you to everyone for your comments, your kind words, your numerous emails and your conversations. Thank you for the phonecalls, the meet-ups, and the coffee mornings. Thank you for talking me through it all, and for being there for me. Thank you for sending me things in the post (!) - - including this rather lovely little Gratitude Journal which was unexpectedly and gratefully received last week so that I may continue this journey offline too.

I'm back to being more "me" than ever before, and I couldn't have done it without all of you.

It doesn't end here, either. I'm committed to seeing this through, and for posting at least one happy thought a week for the coming weeks. You can never have enough happy. If you can't find it, or you've lost it, it's time to make it and to remember all the little things that so easily slip through the cracks.

Normal posting will now resume. Which is great, because I have a whole LOAD of crafty goodness to share! Tally-ho.

Sometimes, the most special and wonderful things in life are just moments. Today, I am grateful for these tiny little glimpses of why it's all worthwhile.


The day is frantic, the postman is grumpy, there is a queue. Oo's next? The lady in front of me isn't paying attention because she's sending a text on her mobile phone. The man in front of her is tapping his foot impatiently -- he took my parking space too. They all think this is a service they deserve, simply by being post recipients. We are all here to collect parcels that we missed, or in my case, were too big to deliver. Incidentally, the too-big box was enormous and cumbersome. Thank goodness I came by car today. Inside, a thin A4 cake board for a birthday cake I'm making this weekend. The box cost more than the cake board, I'm sure of it.

The queue is getting longer, we only have thirty minutes until they shut for the day and the last ones will have to turn around, red postal card in hand, unfulfilled.

All I want to do is ring the bell and laugh.

Today, I'm really grateful for blogland - and that there are people out there who share amazing things with the rest of the world.

I have been working on some gifts for a special occasion (I'm making these pretty potholders by NanaCompany) and I needed some bias binding. I have some stashed away, but it's the stiff polyester stuff and it wouldn't do at all.

It's Sunday, and the shops are shut - and really, I'm trying very hard not to buy anything at all and to use everything we have already (the good stuff is nigh on £3 a metre, so it can get really quite expensive!). So, I had to make some of my own bias binding.

Which is a pain.



Have you ever tried? There's an awful lot of measuring and 45' checking, and stripping, and sewing together. I rarely use bias binding (opting instead for the straight-cut version which is infinitely easier) but when there are round corners involved, you definitely need some bias. It's got to have give.

And so, thank goodness for the continuous bias binding method which allows you to make metres of bias binding in one continuous swoop! I use the Dread Pirate Rodgers method which makes best use of every bit of fabric (no wastage) and all it requires is a bit of lateral thinking and some accurate(ish) measuring.

It's really only worthwhile doing this if you need quite a bit of binding, but it's really worth giving it a go. I used a 120cm x 60cm strip of fabric, and made more than enough binding for the potholders and for another project I have in mind. Ta da!

Time has really flown by. Day 26 already!

Today I am grateful for tastes from home.


A parcel arrived in the post this morning (thank you Anne!) with treats from home - and two magazines. The perfect thing for a Saturday afternoon, after all the running around/grocery shopping/cleaning has been done. I flipped through the Fresh Living magazine and happened upon a recipe for Banana Doughnuts.

"If there's one banana recipe to try, this is it!" the recipe declares.


So I did.

They're teensy weensy teaspoon-sized doughnuts, made with mashed banana and covered in cinnamon and sugar. I added in some festive mixed spice, added fresh banana to the bowl, and drizzled with maple syrup. It's getting closer and closer to winter here, with gusty winds, rain and gloomy clouds overhead. This indulgent treat is ideal for cold Saturday afternoons when you'd rather be in bed. And my husband thought so too - he came home after golf and happily munched his way through the lot (with a little help!).

Here's the recipe, courtesy of Fresh Living magazine, issue 67:

1 extra-large egg
1 ripe banana, peeled and mashed
2 - 4 tablespoons of milk
1/4 cup of caster sugar
1 1/3 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt

vegetable oil for frying
1 teaspoon each cinnamon and caster sugar

1. Beat the egg, banana, milk and caster sugar until well combined.
2. Sift over flour, baking powder and salt - and mix well.
3. Heat 4cm of oil in a deep pan and fry teaspoon-sized balls of mixture until golden, crispy and cooked through.
4. Drain on kitchen paper.
5. Mix 1 teaspoon caster sugar and cinnamon on a large plate and roll doughnuts in the mixture. Serve immediately.

This pretty felted heart garland was sent to me all the way from Sunny South Africa. Straight from the heart!

Today, I am grateful that my beautiful friend Anne thinks of me always, and shares my love of all things wool-and-hearts. I am also particularly grateful for artists like Skaapie (felter and pretty-things-maker extraordinaire) who make me love being a crafter and an artist, and who give me faith for the future of my little hand-made things.

One day, I shall have a little gallery that is filled with love and inspiration, and hand-made loveliness.

Today, though, I shall carry on pottering about and making things for the people I love. Today I am full of inspiration and motivation for things to come!

Today, I appreciate that there is a place in the world where people believe that one bookmark just isn't enough.

You need five bookmarks in a set. And, they should be pink and covered in pictures of princesses.

It's the small things that matter.

Just seven days left to go of the daily entries on my Gratitude Journal. It has made an enormously positive impact to my thinking and my general state of being. Now, I'm noticing the small things that make all the difference to a bad mood: a hot cup of tea, especially when the cup stays hot long after you've finished the tea. Sunshine warming up the bricks after the hurricane has blown away all of the clouds. The smell of fresh croissants wafting in from the bakery on the corner. 

Today, the most amazing thing came through my post box.


FREE HUGS. A giant squid accompanied by an enormous collection of hand-written hugs.


And pineapple lumps.

I am so grateful to have a collection of incredible friends who just get me, and who send me hugs and love from the far reaches of the world when I'm feeling glum.

How can you not smile when there's a fluffy squid offering you affectionate squeezes at every opportunity? He shall live on my work desk.

How amazing.

My positive thought - and appreciation - for today is learning. I've always loved learning, and I'm so grateful that I still do. I originally moved to the UK with the vague thought that I'd pursue further studies in my genre of choice -- Fairy Tales and Feminism -- but the university fee structure changed so drastically when I got here that it just wasn't an option. Instead, I opted for more practical learning.

I started off with baking.

And then, I progressed on to all manner of stitchery: crochet, initially, then cross-stitch, embroidery and finally knitting.

And then, I started inking, painting, drawing, stamping and screen-printing.

And then, I started sewing real things. Things like shirts, and patchwork quilts.


And now, I'm enjoying lazy long-distance learning with Craftsy. They provide an online learning platform made up of videos and interactive course material and discussion forums. You buy a class, and then you have access to the videos "for life" along with feedback from the tutor if you need help or assistance.

They have an assortment of free mini courses, so you can "try before you buy" - but I've bought two sewing classes so far and I've really enjoyed them. They're very... thorough. I like that you can watch them whenever you want and go back anytime, and that you can also ask the tutor if you're not sure about something. There's also an online community of thousands of students for each class, and they all help each other out.

The very best thing is that you can wrap up warmly on your day off work, snuggled up with a blanket, a hot cup of tea, and some knitting, and you can catch up on the latest lesson. No need to brave trains in hurricanes!

This month, I'm making my way through Meg McElwee's class Sewing with Knits (in the pic above) which comes with five knit patterns to try out. I really like Meg's designs (Sew Liberated) so I bought this class when it went on sale. Her lessons are quite intense, each of them individual lectures, but they're wonderful. Lectures and sewing. It's my happy space.

The clocks went back today.


It's not an awful lot of extra time, but at the end of a long day where nothing goes to plan, an extra hour to just sit and enjoy is rather lovely. Of course, I used my extra hour for knitting. Doesn't everyone?

My positive thought is a calming and silent thanks for the extra hour of grounding, quietness and calm.

It's 9pm now but feels much later. There has been a lot of wind billowing about today - apparently we're getting a tiny bit of a hurricane that is passing by in the next few days. Trees are blowing over, shoppers are battling with trollies, the gates outside are making quite a noise. I'm grateful that our little home is in a secluded spot out of the wind, and I've got tomorrow (mostly) off work to catch up with everything.

Oh look at that, two positive thoughts today!