Friday 10 April 2015

Easter and Giveaway Winners

I bet you thought I'd given up blogging at the 1 year mark .... well of course not :) Sorry about a slightly longer absence than usual but we've been busy having a really marvellous Easter holidays, I mean really tippity top. It's been one of those holidays where we've found the perfect balance of going out .... staying in .... doing lots .... and relaxing ..... There really has been much to be thankful for.

.... sweetheart roses - sweet indeed



.... spring greenery from the garden



.... little chocolate eggs from my lovely hubby



.... fun day out at Basildon Park



.... doing their Easter quiz-trail 



... and admiring the beautiful blooms






.... enjoying first crochet in the garden this year



The weather has been fabulous here, I hope it's been as good wherever you are. We've really made the most of it with trips to the park, lots of time in the garden, Little Man and his friends have been out on their bikes and playing nerf-gun wars on the field, and the girls have been trampolining, playing hopscotch, making assault courses, skipping, ..... oh the list of outdoor pursuits goes on and on, its been so lovely to see them having all this wholesome fun :)

Just before Easter I had spotted these little chick beanbags on Pinterest. (http://www.petalstopicots.com/2014/03/crochet-chicken-pattern-little-chick-bean-bag-pattern) I decided to make a whole bunch so we could play beanbag games with them. And of course they had to be rainbow coloured.


I tell you, this is a fab stash-busting project. Each chick is just a rectangle, twice as long as it is wide, then you sew it up at a strange angle, add on some of those red wobbly bits on their heads (should they only be for roosters ??) and some beaks and ta-daaaah ..... little beanbag chickens .....


If you think they are looking rather menacing, you should have seen the first one I made with pointy eyes. Very Angry Birds.
In the absence of a suitable Easter bucket, we stuffed them all in a Halloween pail and took them outside for some beanbag fun.


The homemade beanbag tossy stand thingy was another Pinterest find. Got to love Pinterest, eh ?



Now. After all that jolliness, get our tissues ready for I have a sad little tale to tell you. Little Man and his friend were out on their bikes yesterday and found this little chap at the roadside. They very carfeully carried him home in one of their bike helmets (so proud of them both :) The doorbell rang. "We found a tortoise" they said. "A tortoise?" I said. "Er.....". And so we phoned the vet. And took the tortoise, in a shoebox balanced very carefully on Little Man's lap in the car, to said vet - me, my 3 Little Peeps plus Little Man's friend. Quite an expedition. And so the vet took a look at the tortoise. Which turned out to be a turtle.


"He's very poorly...." said the vet "... very skinny and dehydrated..." he continued. Turns out he is a type of Asian Box Turtle. Aquatic, not native to the UK, difficult to look after, and of high monetry value. Often used for breeding, illegally. And really not in great shape at all. The vet said he would monitor it overnight and call us today with an update. In the meantime we called at a few houses to see if anyone had an escapee turtle (how does that even happen) but in reality I was rather hoping we wouldn't find anyone as I have a suspicion that the poor little turtle was, at best, not being looked after properly, and at worst, had been abandoned.
So the vet called this morning, poor little turtle didn't do well overnight, isn't feeding himself so needs tube-feeding which would need an anaesthetic which would add more stress and trauma....... aaaah bless him :( Vet is going to monitor again tonight but between us we agreed it would be best, if there's no improvement overnight, to put him to sleep :( We, hubby and I, considered giving poor little turtle a home, but we don't think we'd be able to care for him properly. Poor little turtle :(

Phew. Sorry. Bit of a sad ending there. I am supremely proud of my boy and his friend so being so caring, they were so worried and so gentle with poor little turtle.

And onto brighter things. Little Miss helped me to pick the Blog Birthday Giveaway Winners :) 


We wrote out the names, folded them up and plonked them in my button tin. If you're wondering where the buttons are, they are now in jars and sorted according to colour (wee bit OCD ??).


And the lucky winners are ..... Niki Murray - hurray!!! And HouseWithHearts - yippee!!!
I'll be in touch tomorrow ladies to get your contact details :) And then you can await an exciting parcel in the post :)


Enjoy the rest of your Easter hols people - mwah!

xxxxx


23 comments:

  1. What a perfectly lovely week, Jill (aside from the poor turtle - I was hoping for a happy ending.) I love your bean bags. You always have the most clever ideas!
    Enjoy your weekend!

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  2. Congrats to the winners! It looks like you had a nice break. I'm sorry to hear about the turtle, poor thing. Circle of life lesson there, I guess. I love your bean bags, they're really cute!

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  3. It sounds like your holiday week has been just lovely. You have every right to be proud of your young man and his friend. For them to be so careful with the little turtle shows what a great job of teaching him to care for other creatures you have done. I'm sorry the little thing isn't doing very well. On a brighter note, those little chickens are so cute! What a fun thing to do with your children. Congrats to the winners of your giveaway.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  4. Happy for the winners! That was nice of your son and his friend to rescue the little turtle.. I do hope he makes it. I love your bean bag chickens! Yes, even the hens have a bit of comb on top. You're a great mom! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  5. Brilliant! I'm so glad you have been having a happy holiday, Jill, and while I am sorry the turtle is poorly, I'm glad you have found good care for him. Thanks so much for sharing the chicken pattern! I love your colorful flock and hope I can make a flock, too.
    Cheers for the giveaway winners and your generosity! xx

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  6. What lovely chickens! I'll have to make some even though I don't have the excuse of having small children around the place. Poor little turtle though. x

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  7. What lovely chickens! I'll have to make some even though I don't have the excuse of having small children around the place. Poor little turtle though. x

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  8. love the chickens, such a sad tale about the turtle x

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  9. Sad turtle story. Some friends of mine once found a tortoise on the shores of a Loch Ness, but it was in better shape than your poor turtle and had a long and happy life as an adoptee ever- after! Looks like an idyllic week Jill! X

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    1. We considered homing him, but as he's not native, he'd need constant temp of 90deg so would need large tank and UV lamp. We thought a rescue centre would be better equipped, but anyway I think his outlook isn't good :(

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  10. Congrats to the winners. Aww poor little turtle & bless your son & his friend for having the decency to bring him home. I love your crochet chicks! Roll on next Easter x

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  11. Ahhhhhh! I won! I won! I am so excited!!! Bouncing around here! It is a sad story about the turtle but I'm so glad your son did such a kind thing - at least this way if the turtle doesn't make it, he will go peacefully under the care of the vet. It would be lovely if he pulled through and had a new home though wouldn't it. Xx

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  12. Woop woop, thanks so much xxxxx happy dance now xx

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  13. Congrats to your winners! I didn't even know about your blog and so happy you found me! I too pinned those chicks but didn't get any made. Sundays is when I blog my crochet and knitting usually. I love your little tiny granny squares too! My relatives came from Northern Ireland, County Donegal I am told. Their names were Gray....probably as common as Smith over here? Anyway, I love your blog and your crochet and yes, Pinterest.....I have so many pins compared to what I've actually done from them and that is why I started that Thursday Pick 5 on my blog. So far it is motivating me to get more done.....anything is an improvement! LOL! I'll be back! So glad you had a great Easter Holiday...me too!

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  14. Oh poor turtle, I hope he makes it. Thanks for sharing the fab chook pattern, going to bookmark that one for next year.

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  15. Such and Easter adventure you have had, oh the wee poor turtle, such a sad ending for such a cute little fellow. Glad you are back and making me smile once again.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  16. I love the bean bags! Sounds like a wonderful Easter. Poor turtle, I bet he has suffered less because of your son's actions though x

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  17. What a shame about the turtle - well done to your son and his friend's kindness. I love the beanbag tossing game, both the chicks and the tin cans - great idea!
    Caz xx.

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  18. Hi Jill!! Sounds like it was a wonderful Easter break (but so sorry about the poor turtle). I loved all your photos too - so full of color!

    I love those crazy bean bag chickens!! Adorable and I bet a LOT of fun!! xoxo

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  19. I'm glad that you've had such a relaxing Easter break, and it's nice to have you back :) The little bean bag chicks are brilliant, especially en masse. I've been crocheting in the garden this holiday too - such a treat!
    Cathy x

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  20. I'm sorry you had sad experience with the turtle, but luckily no chickens were hurt in the throwing games! What a great idea, they look fabulous and of course it's another opportunity to do a bit of crochet! Thanks for visiting my blog, it's lovely to find yours xx

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  21. Hello. I just discovered your blog and those are the cutest little Easter chicks. How fun! Such a sad turtle story but it's touching that your son and you tried your best. Have a wonderful week.

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  22. Congrats to the winner!

    The Easter chicks are adorable. :-) Makes one wish Eastern lasted longer...

    A quiz for Eastern sounds like a wonderful idea for kids. I will keep that in mind for when I have children one day.

    Take care
    Anne (Crochet Between Worlds)

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Jillxxxxx