I will put a shot of the misty pink clouds yesterday, not striking like the sunset itself but pretty!

Tina printed off a pattern for a tortoise paper weight for me last night, it was in the sewing magazine that I get but at the moment my computer won't stay connected to the printer so she did it on her office printer for me. So this morning I decided to have a go at making it with the hand sewing machine. The tension changes sometimes and it can be a bit frustrating, so got the book out and had a go at oiling it, called Darren to help me understand the diagrams! It is supposed to be oiled weekly and has probably not been for many years so hopefully it will run better now. You can't change the stitch length so it wasn't working well for the legs and head so I machined each seam twice and that solved that problem. Leaving cottons and threads everywhere I went into town to see if I could give blood when just turning up and not with an appointment. They fitted me in quite quickly and the nurse was lovely and took three drops of blood in an attempt to get me past the first hurdle. On the third try she said it was okay to donate - just!! On my way out I took the daffodils in the front garden as they are looking good and standing up again now the wind has dropped. The other day they were nearly horizontal!

Walking back it was trying to rain, we could really do with some. Passed this lovely plant looking glad of the drink!

I didn't feel great walking back but don't usually react when I am giving blood. Had a biggish dinner in Boyes and was very hot in the sunshine today as I had a fleece on and my winter coat, so am hoping it was just that combination. Sat quietly for a while when I got home and had Colonel for company. Since then I have battled on with the paper weight and it is quite a cute tortoise I think.

Will crack the hand sewing yet, actually I really enjoy it and don't miss having two hands to guide the work along as you can go as slowly as you like,