Okines Moments

Turquoise yarn on bobbin

2011-08-02T14:07:00.002+10:00

Turquoise yarn spun on the bobbin today, so pleased with the result, so pleased to have a day at home by myself to do some spinning. I am getting better with each bobbin that I do. I am so encouraged and excited at the end of each bobbin, I just can't wait to do more.

First skein of alpaca yarn

2011-07-10T06:50:00.003+10:00

From Dahla to first skein of yarn has been achieved. I am very excited about the prospect of being able to turn these lovely animals fleece into something so usable. I don't think I would mind if I couldn't as I truly love these animals and enjoy our small herd, but it is great to be able to turn it into something with my own hands.
Dahla's fleece looks much lighter than the skein but when you part her fleece it is much darker at the skin. I chose to only use the brown and not blend in any white, and it was very easy to separate the colours.

I will be able to get another skein of this size at least, if not a little more, so I should get about 400 grams of brown yarn from her saddle.

Now what to knit..........?

Sebastian and Hippie Bruno

2011-07-01T07:09:00.009+10:00

Sebastian recently joined us here, he is a young Suri male. Suris have not really been a focus for us as I am a lover of Huacayas. But My daughter Cate who is a wonderful help with our small herd, just loves them. The girls like the junior handler comps and enjoy helping me with feeding etc so I felt they should be a part of this journey too. Cate picked out a little dark brown male suri wether for her birthday called Bruno (Hippie Bruno to Cate). While at the breeders I found myself with a big soft spot for Sebastian (pictured with Caramella in the background).....who may or may not end up wethered, so we got both.

First Bobbin

2011-06-15T06:15:00.001+10:00

My very first bobbin of yarn, spun from Corriedale fleece. I wasn’t sure how I would go learning to spin as my first attempt 25 years ago was not my most pleasing craft pursuit. A wonderful lady who lives just paddocks away offered to teach me. So off I went on Monday afternoon, sure that this was going to be a long process, and two hours later I returned with a small amount of yarn in my hand, REAL YARN. I am so very pleased, now just comes the mastering, haha, they tell me about 100 kilometres and I will no longer be a novice, Yay!

Folded scratchie card

2011-06-05T16:24:00.002+10:00

I went along to a workshop with a book and paper artist last Friday. She had some card that she had purchased at Shiploads a reject or discount type store. It was 13x9, a great size.

I needed a card for my uncles 60th birthday on Saturday night, this size was perfect. All I needed to do was make a fold at the bottom edge, fold into thirds, seal the pockets with double sided tape and add some scratchies.

I added (very quickly) a sizzix cut 60, stamped the sentiment on paper and positioned onto the front face. Simple but worked very well.

Brandon's Jacket

2011-05-14T08:18:00.003+10:00

Well no paper craft or felt projects at the moment. I have been busy knitting things for my family. We welcomed a new grandson (first grandson) in April so I took to the needles to make him a little jacket.
Now my big son wants a skater style beanie which I have just started. And I have just picked out some colourful wool for a jacket for my four year old daughter.
The needles will have to keep clicking. I cant wait till it is my own animals yarn that I am working with.

Spinning wheel arrival

2011-02-13T14:08:00.004+11:00

Wow I finally have my spinning wheel, can’t wait to get started. Although having only ever spun a small amount which feels like a lifetime ago, I am not sure how quick I will be able to master this craft. Possibly therein lies its appeal. I am really pleased with this wheel as it is a simple beginner’s version. It is an Ashford Traditional wheel and is in the lovely blonde wood tone I like. Hope it spins as pretty. Now I just need an expert to show me the tips and tricks.

Alpaca fleece felted scarf

2011-02-05T14:40:00.007+11:00

Though I made this a couple of months ago I "felt" (haha) that I should share some of what I have been enjoying craftwise during the last few months. I love how this turned out, the free form and colour combination came together really well. It has an "organic" feel to it.

It is predominantly made of alpaca fibre (not ours) dyed with vegetable dyes by a friend who also has alpacas and sells pre dyed packs as part of her business. I mixed in a small amount of silk fibre which added a lovely contrast texture. It is loosely felted and in some places has small holes and or a webbed feel. I love that it has free form edges.

Card made at Mae's

2011-02-05T11:46:00.004+11:00

Well it took going to a friends Stampin Up evening for me to create something in papercraft. We get together and Mae shows us a new technique for the night. With the supplies given we can make a card like the one she has demonstrated.

I sort of buck that trend and usually do my own thing using the technique of the night. Not that Mae's card isn't beautiful, they always are, it is just I like to take any opportunity to take an idea and make it mine. That is just me.

Last night the technique demonstrated was a wheel technique with shadowing. Took a little bit of lining up, but with a filigree wheel there is some forgiveness.

Cooking with the kids

2011-02-04T13:42:00.005+11:00

Well not many creative pursuits this week, just some cleaning and preparing for retuning to work/school next week. The kids have been busy doing a little cooking so I thought I would show you the Brownie they made and one of the iced Gingerbread cookies. The girls made a different cookie for each member of the family. Good to have some fresh treats.

Revamp

2011-01-28T08:42:00.007+11:00

The revamp is complete...I have finally got around to changing my blog to more accurately reflect the changes here at Okines. I must admit I have been a bad blogger in the last 12 months, with trying to work full time and major distractions of social networking sites, etc, I just have been, well, slack.

I hope that the changes help inspire me to once again share with you snippets of our days.

The school holidays are now drawing to a close and I will be back at work at least 3 days a week after next week so I am going to try to at least achieve 2 creative pursuits between now and then.

I will keep you posted.

I thought I would just share this picture of our Dahla in all her shorn glory, looking forward to seeing how her fleece spins up.

All the guys have now been stripped of their fleece and if and I stress IF we have a summer (no sign yet) they will be happy not carrying those heavy coats around.

Making and a baking

2010-02-08T07:10:00.011+11:00

Hey

School is back this week, so it's fill the freezer time. We have started making lunchbox items. We made 160 + muffins. The flavours we made were choc-apricot, raspberry-white choc, cranberry-coconut and banana-vanilla.

We bagged them into lots of 8, ready to go on school mornings.

Yesterday we took a drive fruit gathering. We went to Pelverata to pick raspberries, the kids enjoyed this very much. Although a 2 (nearly 3) year old helping meant one bucket was almost jam before we left. But I didn't mind as Grace had a lovely time and the berries made fantastic jam.

I got to put some berries in the freezer and we got some lovely jam. The season is almost over now, so there were not a lot of berries left on the bushes, but we still managed just over 3 kilos. Next year we will go a couple of weeks earlier.

We also went and collected blueberries for the freezer. I have just put these straight in to the freezer as they are, ready to cook with over the coming months.

Birdy Congrats

2010-02-06T15:31:00.007+11:00

Hi All

A friend of mine recently got engaged and so I really wanted to make a card for the two of them.

I have another friend, (who views my blog) who has a son that also became engaged not long ago, when I saw him recently and congratulated him, I said that I was sorry but I had started to make a card and not had a chance to finish it. It is finished but not given, so I will only show the one I have delivered. Such is crafting.

Any way here is congratulations card number one.

2010-02-01T05:35:00.010+11:00

Well I didn't finish any paper craft although I have started a couple of cards that I need for happening events, this week.

However I have not been idol. I made jam, ten kilos of apricots in fact. So yesterday on a lovely warm 35 degree day (too hot) I slaved over my gas stove, all day, but the result is fantastic.

Last year I only made 11 jars, they were all gone by March. This season so far I have made over 30, I will give a couple of jars away to my mum and to my friend who saved me in the middle of it, by supplying me with more jars, taa. And taa to Wayne who drove in the heat to get jars, ingredients, etc.

Chloe meets Santa

2010-01-26T14:43:00.007+11:00

I am proud of myself, I completed a scrapbook page. This is the first page I have completed in a very long time.

Mel gave me this photo at our Christmas celebration of her and Chloe meeting Santa. The colours in the photo were pink, red and orange, so I wanted to use softer colours in the page. The image of my page is not totally correct in colour (its meant to be a bit deeper) and I cant adjust it because I killed Photoshop when I installed a trial version of Photoshop 4.

It is not my most amazing page but it still means that I got a page done before I go back to work tomorrow.

I also managed to finally clean the microwave, another of the things on my list of must dos before I go back to work.

So it has been a good day.

First item for 2010 - My Diary

2010-01-24T14:24:00.010+11:00

Well I have crafted.

With the day of returning to work after holidays looming in on me fast, I realised that I needed to cover my work diary. I did this last year and it gave me a lot of pleasure, not only the covering and personalising part but its use every day.

So I set about covering it - here is what I did.

I love owls and I really love making them, so here is a close up of the one I created for the front cover.

I am looking forward to many days pleasure with this diary, I used Basic Grey papers and letters.

I'm back

2010-01-23T14:17:00.005+11:00

Well what can I say but sorry for such a long time between postings.

I haven't been crafting, family life got the better of me. We have had many things going on(we all do I know and it is not a good excuse) and my craft room was in chaos. I was uninspired to create and my work life had taken priority. I still will have limited time over the next few months but I am going to promise myself that I will take time out to explore my craft passions.

We had an exchange student, Yuko, live with us for a few weeks and I am busy preparing for another girl to arrive in two and a bit weeks. This is no easy task for a mum with 7 kids still at home and other left the nesters who occasionally need her time. We had a lovely time with Yuko and I do miss her quite a bit.

I have had the last five or so weeks off on holidays, you would think I would have got a heap of craft time in - but alas no such luck. I have spring cleaned( albeit summer cleaned) most rooms in the house and we have had the most productive clear out in years. This was very necessary as with working almost full time and many sport things on each week I know I will have little chance over the next few months and my house was getting under my skin. I hoped to knock it over in the first 2 or 3 weeks, lol. Dream on.

I have however had a great time just staying home and "playing house" I have baked bread, cooked cakes, iced biscuits, made blackcurrant juice (thanks to a friend picking some currants for us) and had the nicest time fiddling in my kitchen. The clothes have been lovingly hung on the line not hurried through the dryer and the pace has been so much slower. But still no craft time.

Well this could now change - thanks Mae, I did it, look below, craft room fixed. It was not too bad as every thing already had a home - I had just messed it up over the year and I just had to put it back to how I like it. I added a few more hooks and sorted many papers and I feel satisfied that I can go in and work now without agitation. So maybe the creative juice will flow again - you never know.

But the bad news is I go back to work Wednesday. So I am going to have to be focused if I am going to achieve any craft time.

Hope you all have a productive and inspired 2010

Hectic days

2009-07-25T20:14:00.002+10:00

I know it has been ages since I have updated my blog - but as happens in our lives sometimes, I have been busy.
I haven't had a chance to create or make and I find that, while I am frustrated at my lack of time I am powerless to change it, lol.
Today we welcomed an international student from Japan into our home for a month. This is the second time we have been a host family and I am looking forward to it.
I will try to still fit in some crafting.

Marj's passing

2009-06-17T07:53:00.007+10:00

1950

My mother in law passed away this week, her funeral is today. What i wasn't quite ready for was although I was in an OK place when it happened as we had somewhat expected it as she had Alzheimer's and in her mid eighties. It was my children that I suddenly became aware of, I still have some of my grandparents whom I am very fond of. They had just lost one of theirs and though she was someone i cared about deeply she was still my mother in law, I have always been somewhat intimidated by that. She is their grandmother and they have now lost that and as it says in my profile I have many children. The younger 2 will have little and no memory of her, so it will be an important scrapbook project for me.

Goodbye Marj

Tim Holtz Challenge

2009-06-08T15:05:00.006+10:00

Simon Says Challenge

Here is my entry for this week

Ohh boy did I have fun doing this one, one of my favourite things to do is distress stuff, lol. I made the flower embellishment out of a stamped image of a fabric flower (Inkadinkado) added a SU scallop punch out, which i distressed, then two paper flowers and a brad. I added the ribbon behind.

I used Tim Holtz crackle paint on the heart, distressed the U and spritzed the paper doily. It is a piece of corrugated card for the stripe it is sanded and inked. The back ground paper is Basic Grey and I sanded and inked it as well.

Fairy card

2009-06-08T11:13:00.005+10:00

Here is a card I created for Cupcake Craft Challenges

I didn't have a fairy stamp so I used SU's princess stamp and added wings from a template. The wings are glitter coated although the photo doesn't really show it as clearly as it could.

I inked the glossy cardstock with 2 pale greens and rubbing alcohol and using a small sprig stamped all over my brayer, I then rolled it across the top. It is more even than the photo shows.

Challenge number 8 for Raspberry Suite

2009-06-06T11:52:00.006+10:00

Raspberry Suite Colour Challenge 8

Here is my entry for this challenge - I versa marked the background stamp (Hero Arts Flourish) and as it did not quite fill the card I used my versa mark pen and added my own swirls to take it out to the edge. I took the colour kraft to be interchangeable with chipboard and added a chipboard flower. SU's scallop edge stamp was used to make the tag which is creamy white cardstock. A fun challenge.

Rained in

2009-06-06T07:11:00.008+10:00

Well it is the perfect stay in weather. Time to create and spend the school holidays (my holidays also) enjoying our "stuff". We have watched movies - Nanny McFee firm favorite, created and generally just laid low. It has been nice to not be on the road by 7am (with all 7 kids ready for school, etc). I think that is one of the best things about my job as i do have school holidays off, so I can recharge often.

Thought i would post a few pics of the things I have loved just looking at around home.

A Spoon full of Sugar challenge 53

2009-06-01T08:40:00.004+10:00

Challenge 53

The challenge was Lace. Here is my submission - Kangaroo joy I call it. I love this stamp I have only got it recently as I don't have a Stampavie retailer here in Tasmania. (that I know of)

I added the "and many more...." because with such a large family I feel that I can cheekily say such a thing.

Any way it was fun to do.

Dawn birthday card

2009-05-31T20:04:00.004+10:00

It is a friend's birthday today and to celebrate she wished to have breakfast together. So we had a breakfast "party" so to say.

To mark the occasion I wanted to create a dawn scene with my brayer. I think it came out OK, I would have liked the sky a little lighter or maybe I should have lowered the sun a bit. Overall though I am very happy, I love my freehand rooster he turned out just as I had wanted.

The shrubs are flower shadows from SU's Botanical blooms.

Simon Says challenge - Animals

2009-05-31T19:38:00.007+10:00

Evening
I intended to add an entirely different card to this challenge, but I severely ran out of time this weekend. So I had to upload one I completed earlier this week, one i had made for a trade table at our Biggest Morning Tea fund raiser for cancer. Not one made with a challenge in mind, but one with an animal (or two).
I like doing this little pair. I have added glitter dots to the bubbles and clear dimension to the champagne. The image is water coloured with watercolour crayons.
I got these Penny Black stamps from Simon Says stamp a while back, I do love this stamp in particular.

Raspberry Suite Challenge number 7

2009-05-26T21:00:00.014+10:00

Raspberry Suite Challenge 7

This is the card I created for this challenge. I am having trouble including a link for the challenge from Dawn's site and don't know if this entry will link to her site.
This card uses SU's scallop circle for the leaves, I fed a punched circle back in and re-punched as I have done with owl wings before.

Update I managed to finally get the link to work, we have just gone to explorer 8 and I am finding a few things need to be done slightly different to how I did them before.

Beautiful U colour challenge

2009-05-19T15:16:00.007+10:00

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge - Week 6 More challenges - loved this one. Thought I wouldn't but when I played with the colours I had fun. I didn't have the ink pad that I needed so I inked in Pumpkin pie first then straight over the top with Pixie pink. Love how it gives the rose some depth. I added the copper "U" as copper is a brown yet it has peach or coral tones and this is showing lighter than it looks. Although I have gone the softer side of coral, the card really is a bit brighter.

Aqua ric rac and aqua ribbon bow add that tactile touch.

My Monkey

2009-05-17T13:42:00.007+10:00

Challenge 39 - Card for a man or boy

I went allong to my friend Mae's house on Friday night. See Mae's posting
Making new friends....
In my mind I had this challenge as an inspiration idea, that if I got time on the night I could work on. The second part of the challenge for me was while there Mae set me the task of creating a punch art monkey. I took up the challenge and not having ever looked at a punch art monkey before my creation, I think I did a great job. I had in mind all the sock monkeys I have been looking at on fabric lately.
His arms and legs were punched with SUs oval punches I put two together and then free cut the foot/hand and inside curve. They are then an exact mirror of each other. The star set is one of SUs can not remember its name. The back ground is versa marked with a star from the same set.

A card for my mum

2009-05-10T17:28:00.004+10:00

Challenge 38 - Numbers

I wanted to have a go at this challenge also, so needing to create a card for my mum for Mothers Day, I decided to try to match it to the challenge.
My Mum loves daffodils and has a good size collection. A card of any other kind would not be "Mum" so here is what I created.

I created the peep hole to take the chipboard number that I had painted, inked and written on. I backed the peep hole with the same paper for unity. I stamped MUM and embossed in opaque white. The daffodil and butterfly are from Tim Coffey's paper collection.

Wishing all Mums out there a happy Mothers Day

Challenge 51

2009-05-10T09:16:00.005+10:00

Color Inspiration #51

Here is the latest challenge I have created, didn't have much time to do this this morning as challenge is about to close.

This card has an inked edge, faux stitching, emboss resist and hand written sentiment. I used 2 different SU sets and chose colours of chocolate chip, white and rose red cardstock. I used more mustard ink for the background.

Head cold

2009-05-09T20:47:00.008+10:00

I had a sinus/head cold this week and became so inspired to create I made this card for anyone who has caught a bug this past few days. I hope you are feeling better, I am.

My daughter collects all things ladybug, so with her in mind, no other bug would do for such a card. He is punched from circle punches, his spots are a stamp from SU and I hand doodled the rest of his touches.

Simon Says Challenge

2009-05-06T21:37:00.004+10:00

Simon says......a recipe for you !

I created this card today in response to the Simon Says Recipe Challenge. The recipe was

2 x Papers
3 x buttons
1 x ribbon

I had a lot of fun with it, layering the papers, adding the glitter and the buttons. The thing about buttons is every time I add one to a project I spend ages just combing through my button tin, checking them all out, I really enjoy looking at them.

I think the cupcake stamp is the Hero Arts one, the glitter just topped them off nicely. It really lifted them. I stapled the ribbon with a pink staple.

Birthday Owl

2009-05-03T07:52:00.003+10:00

It was a friends daughter's 16th Birthday earlier this week and I made her a card that I would like to share. It is another punch owl card. This time I played with my dog tag punch because I thought it had the potential to make an owl although initially I was apprehensive as to how he would turn out. I am really happy, he has the right level of cuteness I was trying to achieve.

His wings are half a scallop punch. This owl is much smaller than the previous ones I have made and I think that makes him quite a useful fellow.

Dawn McVey challenge

2009-05-03T06:18:00.013+10:00

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge - Week

I am totally into the challenges I am finding online. So many wonderful people out there fueling others creativity, it is fantastic to think we can share passion for craft in such a global way.

I found a piece of paper in my stash with aqua flourishes, but that would have been to easy. I didn't have a soft aqua ink (put on shopping list) but I did have soft aqua paint which I brushed onto my stamps before stamping image. I had matching cardstock for the aqua mount. I added paint to the edges of the whisper white. The brown cardstock is a little washed out under the flash it is chocolate chip cardstock.

I wanted a simple trio of flowers in a modern style so I used the daisy style flower out of SU's Spring Solitude. Brown buttons and a ribbon bow, top it off with a little dimension.

Kristina Werner Challenge #50

2009-04-26T21:15:00.010+10:00

Color Inspiration #50 Hi this is the first time I have had a go at one of these wonderful challenges. I have often wanted to but they fill up so fast. I still need to find a better way to get true colours in photos but I am getting better and this one is very close. Maybe I need to take them outside.

My card features an owl (my current "thing"). I kept this one really simple as I sometimes think it is to easy to over do a card. Well at least that's my thinking this week. The colours worked well together, I used Basic Brown for the owl and the Thank you stamp.

Elmo birthday card

2009-04-26T15:36:00.004+10:00

Yesterday was my granddaughter's first birthday party. We spent a lovely afternoon celebrating it with her. Her mummy and daddy did spoil her, how lucky it is to be the first born ( I am an eldest child).

I think Elmo's colours are great for little ones so using my punches I created this little fellow inspired by Dawn Griffith's Sesame Street friends . I changed mine just a little as I thought his nose looked better on top of the eyes.

Diary and Journal

2009-04-25T07:25:00.013+10:00

I started at a new place of employment last week. I found a hard cover diary at our local supermarket for $2.80 clearance. Not happy with its boring blue cover, I covered it. I also covered my journal or notebook and made them coordinating.

Both use just scraps of paper, I then used my supplies to add tags, stickers and embellishments. I used spray adhesive for the larger pieces of paper and once finished gave them a spray of a matt varnish suitable for paper works.

Elegant River Rock

2009-04-19T14:32:00.019+10:00

Hi

I recently said "Don't think I'll use 18 sheets of River Rock cardstock in a hurry it's a bit of a yuck colour." It was the next colour I ended up using, goes to show you can't write any colour off when your crafting.

These items were created for a friends 50th birthday celebration we had the pleasure of attending last night.

The card uses SU River Rock card, RR ink and RR ribbon. I used the SU scallop punch. The stamps are Hero Arts cupcake stamps, the clear ones. I can not remember the correct name but I have used this set over and over. The patterned paper is a damask style from a Grant Archival pack. I am impressed by River Rock's elegance it does work well with gold.

I wrapped the gift in a 12x12 matching sheet on the diagonal so it would fit. I also made a wine bag from another 12x12 all coordinating. I wish I had taken a close up of the bag now as it has folds and scoring down the sides. Oh well will have an excuse to make another one, I'll post it when it's done. It all looked lovely on the gift table on the night.

I as always had great fun making them.

Raewyn

New addition

2009-04-18T07:23:00.006+10:00

Hi

We welcomed a new member of the clan on Thursday. Toffee the tabby cat came into our household, 8 weeks old and very cute.

Princess our old Burmese has let us know he will be tolerated, just. She has let him know she is boss.

Takes the household out to 2 parents, 7 kids still at home, 1 dog, 2 cats, 1 galah (more like10 galahs) and about 20+ chickens. Should make for some laughs along the way, lol.

Raewyn

Reworking projects

2009-04-18T06:40:00.006+10:00

Hi All

Do you ever rework a project? I do and did as you can see in this latest photo of my owl thank you. I was not happy with how he was sitting.......he just didn't quite look like I had wanted him to. It wasn't till I made the one on the card that I worked out that it was his wings bugging me, they were the wrong way around.

So I fixed them! I made him new ones. I think you will agree he does look much better, he is a better shape, he looks fluffier.

I have reworked things before (not usually this quickly) I have gone back to scrapbook pages years later and pulled them apart or added to them. I have found it can be very satisfying to enhance or change a project in some way when either your skills or supplies increase.

Raewyn

Only owls

2009-04-12T22:31:00.012+10:00

Hi all

As I said earlier as soon as I had a chance to download photos I would show you how my owl thank you gift turned out. I have realised I need to look at lighting when taking these sorts of photos as this is not quite true in its colours.

Inside the thank you gift is a standard box of Lindt chocolates I did not change it at all just wrapped the box as it was. Its handle is part of the inside box, I made a slit in my wrapping to let it come through so it can still be used to carry it. I put a flower embellishment under it so it covers the join and placed the owl on a stamped branch.

I made an owl card this afternoon as I felt I could further improve my owl making abilities. So pleased I did as I love this little critter....... he turned out so well, I am ready to make more. Hope he inspires you.

The card was fun to make as I had the chance to play more and I was so inspired by Mae's card i just wanted to have another go at him. I had already worked out the way to do it having made the thank you owl, so today I played with the shapes and expressions on his face. I don't have anyone in mind for him but he does make a great male or kids card. I love how the beak turned out, it is my ribbon heart punch from EK Success (I think) the slots are already in it. He is so easy to make.

It's Time

2009-04-12T07:04:00.005+10:00

Well hi

I thought it was time I added my first post. I created my blog some time ago and have been "going to" add a post ever since.

The household has been like a train station this Easter, with family and friends dropping by. It has been lovely to catch up with everyone and I have still fitted in some crafting.

My friend Mae dropped by with her sister from Victoria for a quick cuppa. I got to show off my recent projects and I think I have started something. I had recently made a punched owl for a thank you gift to a friend who likes owls, after finding so many wonderful inspirations in the galleries of http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/. I got a text late last night from Mae saying she had just put a photo of her owl on her blog, now I want to do another one. I will post a picture of mine when I download it from the camera.

I love how sharing what we have crafted grows and creates the inspiration and desire to create even more.

I have been into making thank you gifts recently. I love how we can turn an ordinary small box of chocolates into a really nice little thought. I am showing you a picture of one such token, made for a friend after she went out of her way and drove no1 son into town because we were running late to pick him up (the one week cricket finished early) and I wanted to let her know that I appreciated her kindness. I filled the bag with Lindt chocolates which I found later to be her favourite.