As Christmas is on the way, this month’s competition has a Christmas theme to it!

You can be in with a chance of winning a set of four suede Christmas Decorations. You can use them to hang on your tree or around your home, or you could use them individually to set off the gift wrap on those extra special gifts.

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is leave a comment on this post. Yep, it’s that easy!

Terms:

One entry per person
Entries welcome from anywhere in the world
Competition closes end of day Monday 30th November
Prize consists of four suede Christmas Decorations (Choice of gingerbread man in brown or tan suede, colours on Star will vary)

GOOD LUCK!

I received my Joules magazine the other day. It’s a lovely concept and is full of interesting articles. There was article that made me giggle though….Growing Garlic written by Laetitia Maklouf

The sub headline for the article reads as follows: Being a relatively expensive kitchen staple and ridiculously easy to grow yourself, growing garlic is doubly satisfying…

It’s  a great article taking you through the elements required for growing your own garlic: The right timing (plant Oct to Feb), good garlic as a starting point, a sunny spot and well drained soil. Bingo bango bongo by late spring/early summer you should have some amazing bulbs of garlic ready to eat!

Last year we did in fact try to grow our own garlic:

Planting over the winter – TICK
Good garlic – TICK
Sunny Spot – TICK
Good soil – TICK

Here are our results…it was looking promising

until we lifted them the other day to find the smallest bulbs ever….

I think our problem is that they got a little waterlogged over the winter and the spot we chose was a little too sunny (the front of our house can be a bit of a sun trap) so when we went on holiday in May the pots to dried out too much. Maybe they just never had the chance to grow and prosper like they should have done.

Never mind, we shall try again this year!

When I had a proper job in the big smoke before we moved to the countryside, I used to have a one hour commute on the train and tube. It was a real pain some days…the middle of winter could be just as painful as the middle of winter – too many bodies and not enough space – you get the picture. However the joy was the opportunity to read….sometimes a book, sometimes a magazine and sometimes (but not often) a newspaper.

I now work from home when the baby allows me enough time (usually in her lunchtime nap) I work from home in an office that overlooks the field next door. Couldn’t be any better, but I really don’t get the chance to read anymore. So it was with mixed emotions when I went off to hospital last week. I’m not sure anyone looks forwards to a stay in hospital, but the thought of having a little time to read a magazine or two was quite exciting!!

So there I was at hospital, in my rather fetching gown, ready to get down to a little light reading before the op only to find that I had a temperature and the consultant decided that it wasn’t wise to operate!

Three magazines now sitting on the kitchen table begging to be read….no chance )

As everyone always says, Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier every year. Sadly in the retail world planning for Christmas starts earlier than you might think. For me there is nothing wrong with planning for Christmas (I made a start on this year’s shopping a while back) but I do hate to have it pushed on me in supermarkets and in the high street from as early as September or worse August!

From a work point of view I have been thinking about Christmas for some time now and my suede Christmas decorations will soon be on sale again. I currently have a large stack of them in the studio all cut out and ready to be made up. I really need to get a wriggle on and get them made so Christmas doesn’t overwhelm me (again).

The decorations are available individually at £6 each or as a set of four (mixed or just the one style) for £20. If you are interested in making some for yourself they sill soon be available in kit form. Watch this space…..

The nights are drawing in and it’s getting more chilly by the day. I’m even considering putting on the heating in the evenings. Having said all that, that there have been a few days this past week or so that have been absoloutely stunning – cool and crisp with bright blue skies. Weather like this I can cope with, it’s the constant drizzle and the dark afternoons that drive me potty.

Anyhow with Autumn in mind the team at UK Handmade have just launched the Autumn edition of their on-line magazine

As usual there are some great articles and some fab looking recipes. There’s a fab interview with Kirsty New from PaperFish. She’s the creator of that lovely needle book I bought myself not so long ago! It’s always great to find out more about the person behind the product.

There is also the first part of Knitting for beginners written by Stitchology. I’ll need to have a good read of this as, having mastered the art of crochet (ok, not quite) next on the list is to teach myself to knit……Something for the new year maybe.

My financial year end has been and gone and I have still not done my stock take. Last year I didn’t do it on time either and had a horrible time counting back to get accurate numbers. I really need to avoid doing it again this year, particularly before the Christmas rush starts. There really isn’t a lot of time left!

I have made a start but it is such a boring job, and difficult to do in short spurts (an hour here or there when the baby is asleep) so I seem to be taking my time over it (i.e. finding other more intersting things to do)

What I really need is to have someone look after the baby for the day and for me to plough through it and get it done in one go. That has been the plan for the past three weekends but I keep being distracted….tidy the utility room….sort through photos on the computer…design a new coin purse…even do some ironing…..

Maybe I’ll do an hour tonight when hubby is home from work and the baby is alseep in bed…or maybe I’ll finish those curatins

I am making curtains! I am actually dreading it as the fabric is a bit tricky to work with and I’m not confident that I’ll be able to match up the pattern 100% acurately. Anyway that is by the by. I have cut the fabric so I am now committed – I’m sure it will be too embarassing to turn up at the lady up the road with a half made set of curtains….

So down to thread….I seem to have every pale shade under the sun, yet none of these will quite do the trick

Looks like a weekend trip to Dunelm, oh joy

Our baby girl is a year old….where did the time go….how did she get so big….?

I can’t believe how much she has changed in the past year and how much she has changed our lives in such an amazing way!

I’ll admit, there are good days and not-so-good days, but I absolutely love being a mum and I love being able to run a small business from home so that I can be with her every day. I am very thankful )

Little Black Duck has a Facebook page!

Drop by and become a fan and you’ll be kept up to date with all the Little Black Duck goings on

If you’ve got a facebook page for your business and would like to share, leave me a comment with your FB address and I’ll drop by and say hello

I quite like toadstools, not to eat you understand, but I love their shape. I find them very pleasing. One of my early designs for embroidered leather cosmetics bags featured a toadstool…..queue shameless self promotion ….

When I met Kirsty from PaperFish at my crafty weekend away a few weeks back I discovered that she makes these fabulous needle books. I was drawn to the great unique design and of course the toadstool!

If toadstools aren’t your thing then Kirsty has also had versions with little birds, dear little deer, Matroyshka, teacups, dogs  and even a rocket!

The perfect opportunity to get your Christmas shopping started