Happy Blogversary to me - and my first giveaway!

Today my blog is a year old!

When I started it on 29 May 2010, blogging was something new for me and I just thought I'd give it a try. I'd only learned about amigurumi a couple of months earlier and I'd not made anything out of felt since I was in primary school! And between you and me, it was rare that I keep anything going for more than a few weeks. However, with this blog, the novelty has not worn off.

One year later I'm on my 62nd post and I have written six original crochet patterns, not to mention my felt creations, and I've typed up five of my favourite recipes. The blog contains 113 comments, and to date I have 44 followers. The most popular page is the Chubby Teddy pattern, that has alone had almost 16,000 page views.

This special anniversary has prompted me to offer my first giveaway! The giveaway has an owl theme (just because I like owls). To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment below telling me how I can improve the blog. Would you like more free patterns? How about a felt creation tutorial? Or some more recipes? What do you think of the new free colouring pages? Would you like to buy anything on the blog? Should I think about opening a shop? Et si je bloguais en français?

You can leave a second comment if you're a follower, to increase your chances of winning. Please make sure I know how to contact you, either by including your email address in your comment or sending it to my email address (see my profile). The winner of the giveaway will be chosen randomly and will receive:

One felt owl brooch of your choice (remember to mention which one you would like if you win).

An owl keyholder (if you want to make your own, it's a free Ravelry download by Susanne Madsen)

An owl rubber stamp, and some free samples of my favourite French lotions and potions.

The giveaway is open until Sunday 12th June. Please share the news about it on your own blog so that everyone can join in. If this giveaway is a success, there will be more, I promise!

Free colouring pages, for a change

Sorry I've not been blogging recently. The explanation, or rather the explanations, are two small humans, aged 5 and 3 who are spending two weeks on holiday here with us. As my youngest child is now 14 and way taller than me, I'm used to having "grown-up" conversations with him, and having to explain and keep an eye on the little ones during every single instant that they're awake is very different! I've had no time to blog and hardly any time to crochet.

Instead, I've rediscovered colouring in (great fun!) and rather than printing stuff out, I prefer to draw pictures myself for the children to colour in with pencil crayons or felt-tip pens. I managed to scan three of them before they were used so that I could make them available here on my blog, and readers can print them out for your own little ones to colour in. If you click on the images they'll open up in a new window and I think you should be able to print them on A4 paper (you might have to "save as..."). As well as the fish at the top of the page, I drew a mandala:

And some funny little birds:

We've also had fun cutting out, and painting, and making and modelling play dough. We also brought the big box of Duplo up from the basement and the wonderful Fisher Price garage that I've kept for all these years is in full swing, with its great lift and the little bell that rings each time they turn the handle. My collection of amigurumi toys is also very popular. They each have their favourites, and each evening we get them out and play with them during the "quiet time" just before bedtime. They each asked me to make they a toy to take home with them, so I'm crocheting when I have time - mostly when they're in bed in the evening, and I just have to make sure I finish before their daddy comes to get them.

Anyway I must get along now and prepare our next activity. Even though I'll miss them when they've gone back home, I must admit that part of me is looking forward to things getting back to normal soon!