Three Good Things - Week One

We're moving house soon (if all goes according to plan). This means I've been extremely busy recently. In amongst having too much to do, I want to note some good things as they happen. I've been wondering how best to do this. 

Then I spotted that one of my favourite bloggers, Liz from Margot and Barbara, has started a new weekly series of blog posts called 'Three Good Things' and she has encouraged her readers to do the same. So, without further ado, here are my 'three good things' from the last week or so.

1. New phone case

My new Harris Tweed phone case made by LifeCovers is utterly gorgeous and very practical. 

I bought it as a present for myself after getting rid of my iPhone contract and downgrading to a Nokia Asha 300 contract that will cost me £400 less a year. 

If you want to find out more about what I've done to reduce my annual outgoings, listen to this audioboo about How I've reduced my outgoings by £1000 per year.

listen to ‘How I've reduced my outgoings by £1000 per year!’ on Audioboo

2. Nearly finished '21st Century Boy' cross stitch

This Jolly Red '21st Century Boy' cross stitch kit is wonderful - I love the bright colours. I am very excited now the end is in sight and so is my little boy.

This is how it looked last September, when I first blogged about it:

3. Despicable Me

A couple of people recommended this film to me, so I bought it on DVD. We have all enjoyed watching it together, and my son was particularly impressed with the minions. Here is a snapshot of him wearing the free cardboard 'minion' glasses that came with the DVD.

Magpie Monday - Hunting High and Low

This weekend I had an opportunity for a thorough look around the local charity shops without a small boy in tow. I set myself a £10 budget and then almost blew it straight away on a biscuit tin full of bobbins of thread.

But then I decided to see what else I could get for the same money.

The first thing I spotted, tucked away in amongst the homewares in the Sue Ryder shop, was a little kit to make a beaded broach. I didn't like the design at all, but 95p for lots of pretty beads, some stitching paper and a broach pin seemed like a real bargain.

I've always really fancied trying stitching paper but have never been brave enough to buy a packet of the stuff in case I turned out to be hopeless at it. So I'm pleased to have a little square to practice on, and I'm planning to use it to make a Christmas card. Will show you the results if it works out!

My next stop was the PDSA shop, where I found three DVDs for £1.49 each. The one I'm most excited about is Strictly Come Dancersize.

Also in the PDSA shop, I bought a couple of gorgeous Denby cereal bowls, £2.49 the pair. I think the pattern is Minstrel based on the photos here, which means that it dates from 1971-1977 according the information here. This design will go nicely with my other Denby and Midwinter items.

So that left me just over £3 from my £10 budget to spend on an original vinyl version of A-ha's first album Hunting High and Low from 1985, which I have been listening to whilst writing this blog post. A real blast from the past! I was 14 when it first came out.

I'm linking up with Magpie Monday at Me and My Shadow and Me Time Monday at Mums and Me.

Why stitching does me good

The picture above is a photo of 'Two Elephants' which I stitched for my parents to celebrate their ruby wedding anniversary. I had been planning to do something with names and dates, but my mum said she would prefer a picture and she has always liked elephants so I chose this.

The kit came from Jolly Red, but I used mint green aida instead of the beige aida supplied in the kit. I finished stitching this in the run-up to the birth of my little boy, so it helped me to avoid fretting too much about what lay ahead.

I am very grateful to my friends who introduced me to cross-stitching about a decade or so ago. I honestly think that stitching has helped keep me sane.

Here's a few reasons why a little bit of cross-stitching does me good:

• I find it relaxing to stitch
• once I'm in the flow of stitching I can't fret about anything
• a real sense of achievement when I've finished - especially if I stitch a picture to brighten up a wall
• I particularly enjoying stitching things to give to other people
• I don't tend to snack so much (don't want to risk getting food on my stitching)
• I can't drink much alcohol (unless I want to end up unpicking stitches the next day)

This post was inspired by this month's Needlework Days at Feisty Tapas, which includes the following suggestion:

Cross-stitching: try it, it's good for you...

We love Elmer

The original Elmer book by David McKee is one of my favourite ever stories, so I was very pleased when my little boy started to love it as much as I do.

Elmer is a beautiful, multicoloured patchwork elephant who decides he is tired of being different and disguises himself as a ordinary grey elephant, before realising that the other elephants love him for who he is. I think this message is particularly valuable for boys, as our society puts pressure on boys and men to appear to be dull and drab and not stand out in the way that they dress.

I recently spotted two more Elmer books in the local Oxfam Books and Music shop. My son usually asks me to read both of these stories together as they both feature Elmer's black and white cousin Wilbur.

Another Elmer item that came from a charity shop is this money box, which was bought on a trip to Buxton last autumn.

And my son calls this knitted blanket the 'Elmer blanket' because it is made of brightly-coloured squares. This was purchased in the local Oxfam shop.

Another handcrafted Elmer item is this cross-stitched picture I made using a chart from a book called More Storybook Cross-Stitch by Gillian Souter.

I'm linking up with Magpie Monday at Me and My Shadow. I'm looking forward to seeing what other pre-loved items people have found.

This post was also added to a favourite blogpost linky at TheAnaMumDiary and 

the World Book Day Blog Hop 2013 at Catch a Single Thought.