A toast to Lululollylegs!

Yes, raise your glasses (or cups of tea depending on what time it is in your part of the world) as today is this blog's first anniversary.

At the start of last year I participated in a mini-swap and was lucky to be matched with Ali. Being the endlessly encouraging person that she is, she finally convinced me to take the plunge and start my own blog. Well thank you Ali as it has certainly been one of the most rewarding and personally satisfying projects I have ever undertaken.

It has been an amazing year and I have achieved such an enormous volume of work, made some fantastic friends, been offered a wonderful job and now I'm even starting up a business with a fellow blogger!



A little while ago I was tagged by Florence with this archive meme. I thought it was a good opportunity to save it for today and go back over the last year's posts.

So here goes:

Archive Meme Instructions: Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written. … but there is a catch:

Link 1 must be about family.Link 2 must be about friends.Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are… what you’re all about.Link 4 must be about something you love.Link 5 can be anything you choose.

Family: Post Holiday Chaos. I know that the start of this post indicates much madness and mayhem, but I think it's a good reflection of just how crazy life with three young children is. One minute you can be enjoying a lovely holiday and the next you've got twenty different activities to go to and a sick child. The holiday was really lovely though and it's about time I started planning where we're off to this September.

Friends: Friends+Fabric=Fun. This post describes my first meeting with my gorgeous friend Cathy. And now here we are both working at Amitie and starting up our own business together. It's such a lovely rewarding friendship and it's all because of blogging and an apron swap!! And did you know that we just discovered that our Mothers went to primary school together - I just knew we were meant to be friends.

Myself: A day for Me. I have realised looking back through my posts that I don't actually write a lot about me and what goes on in my head. I tend to just show you things I make or write about my children. I think this post describes how I feel a lot of the time - way too busy. I don't get a lot of time to do things for myself or indeed time by myself and this was such a lovely day. I have to admit I have not made time to have a hair cut since and it is well overdue again.

Love: Cheers! A celebratory post about my darling husband's Birthday and our wedding anniversary. It was fun to post those photos as I so rarely get to see them. It's a fun time of the year for us with New Year's thrown in for good measure.

Random: Party Time. The reason I chose this post is because I can't believe how much my life has changed since I started this blog a year ago. The stitches and craft show left us all on such a high and I realised how wonderful it is to be a part of such a lovely on line (and off) craft community.

It's been a pretty good year I think and I can honestly say I'm quite proud of myself. I have made stuff all my life but hadn't done much at all since I had the children. Now my head is just bursting with ideas and every day there is something new and inspiring to be seen on someone's lovely blog. So even though I probably spend far too much time reading blogs, I think it has definitely made me much, much more productive.

Anyway I don't think I'll tag anyone with this, but if you are keen to give it a go - be my guest!

Now to a bit of crafty eye candy. Look what arrived in the mail for me today from Amy at Lucy Kate Crafts.



How completely adorable is 'Rosie' and she is so beautifully made. Amy also included some divine fabric which is perfect for my sofa quilt fabric stash. A lovely and generous prize Amy - thank you so very much!

And I will leave you with a few photos of my latest finished project. The wedding quilt is finished except for the label.



I'm really happy with the quilting. It is a blossom pattern and a great overall pattern for this quilt.



When I first chose the fabrics I really wanted to add a black and cream striped binding. Luckily I found just the thing and I absolutely love how it has come up.



It looks quite nice in my house - hope the newly weds like it for theirs!



So thanks to everyone who reads my blog wherever you are. It is so rewarding to receive feedback about my creations and you are all a real inspiration to me.

I think that means I should do a blog anniversary giveaway!!! Leave a comment by this Sunday 13th and I will pick a winner on Monday which allows for the time difference. I think it has to be an apron - don't you!

Looking forward to the next year of posts.