I really really love sitting down with Ellie-dog, her all curled up next to me being all cutesome and cosy. Sums up what autumn and winter is all about! Thankfully she has forgiven me once more for the evident torture that is me giving her coat a cut. She's like me you see, hates going to the hairdresser! Though one massive pile of fur later...

(two if you count all the fur that sticks to me!) she is looking like a young pup again. Not bad for a nine year old cocker spaniel!

Over the last couple of weeks I have been decidedly lazy. I'm not understating this or being dramatic. It has been full on lazy heaven. What with house renovations having been going on since July 1st - lazy time seemed allowable (that is what my guilty conscience is whispering insistently - I didn't like to argue with it). Whoever thought it would be possible to catch up on five years of Dr Who episodes in five weeks - but it is. Living proof of what laziness can achieve!
The house is looking exceptionally grand considering its upgrade from 'slightly studenty digs' as it was before. It has certainly put house moving on the back burner for now (though that was the reason for having the work done in the first place!).

While I haven't actually accomplished a great deal of sewing recently I have not been idle on the crafts front. Instead I have taken a liking to crochet. Crochet has even been my first thought when I wake in the morning. Strange as its usually something along the lines of "uuurgggh".  Finished this up last night and tested it this morning - works well, however I'd like to find a 'scrubbier' wool for more exfoliation!

Well, that's it for now - only meant to pop in and say I might be changing this blog for a website! Watch this space.
Ta-ra for the meantime, Kathy & Ellie-dog x

You know how it is universally accepted that pairs of socks separate in the washing machine (and probably wind up at OddSox (Odd Sox - Facebook page) to be made into something grumpily awesome)? Where is it that time disappears to?

There is never enough of it anyhow, but the older I get the more of it vanishes. One minute its 12pm, the next the fabric shop is closing and it's 4.30pm (why a fabric shop closes at half four is surely another question that needs to be addressed!). 

Friends and family ask me what I'm doing, or make suggestions of stuff to try/buy/do – to which my reflex comment is “it's on the list”. THE LIST. The list is a working document rolling about in the dark fusty recesses of my grey matter. I add to it constantly – big important things (buy chocolate) to little things (sort out wall insulation). I'm quite certain if I wrote down everything on the list it would take forever, use a ton of paper and 74 biros, and be large enough at the end to house a family of penguins quite happily (although that last one seems to be an excellent reason to start scribing!). 

Undoubtedly it would scare the living daylights out of me – an unavoidable and insurmountable mass of tasks to get through....eeeek. I like a list as much as the next person, but when faced with more than, say 10 things, it just seems like TOO much and a cup of tea & cake always magics at the top of the list pretty damn smartish. 

Of course there are exciting items jostling for position; buy chocolate, learn dressmaking, make a tartan Nessie draught excluder but no sooner have I added them to the list than six hours/days/weeks have passed & I am left spinning from the whirlwind thinking “where did that time go??”. Where does it go? If anyone knows please come join me for some tea & cake so this matter can be dealt with. And bring chocolate. I will sew you up a wee Nessie once the time:list ratio has been rectified xx

Good morning readers! At long last my fingers have reached the keyboard to make a tentative start to this blog. I confess to having been sitting on the idea for many months – it's a wonder I don't have piles.

What does one write about in blogs? Although I have experience in scripting one before, that was in Cambodia where everything was new and interesting – there was always 'something' to scribble about. So, based smack bang in the middle of 'normal' what could be interesting to read? Well, I guess that's where the challenge will lie – training the eyes to notice even the smallest wonders in everyday life and hoping you will enjoy reading about it!

This will be the official blog of the Hound of Happiness team, and will contain a right old mish mash of the things we are interested in – from our business makes and developments to philosophical musings and awesome stuff we have come across through crafty networks. I guess the best place to start would be to tell you a bit about ourselves.