Deja Vu and a giveaway

July is turning into a bit of a damp squib up here. This time last year we were coming home from a sodden (but beautiful) week in Cornwall and then I was almost washed away on the way home from work as the Sheffield Flood 2007 hit. Things don't look quite so bad yet and the garden is blissful thanks to all the water, but with sports day cancelled today and the holidays approaching I've got horrid visions of damp children, flattened flowers and a chilly old summer ahead.

So the only antidote until things cheer up is to escape to France - every night! I am addicted to the Tour de France. Not that I really know a thing about it or have any sort of grasp on the tactics but it is a glorious thing to watch on a dreary summer's night.

Woody has followed it religiously for years and patiently reminds me of the riders, teams, mountains, speed trial intricacies and technical details every year. The joy for me is the wonderful French TV footage that Sky screen; soaring aerial shots of chateaux, mountain villages with terracotta rooves, acres of rolling corn and lavender fields racing by and vast dark forests at the foot of glowering mountains. (If only I had some pictures, these floral ones are cheering me up no-end though!)

I'm not a great traveller - (I love the journey but feel so typically English and constantly embarrassed about having no clue what to say and not understanding the social niceties abroad) - but the Tour lets me experience France from afar for three weeks and makes me a little braver every year to pull myself together and go back.

It's also a year - around about now - that I started my blog and what a wonderful year it's been. I've made smashing online friendships, discovered the lure of vintage via ebay (ouch!) and learnt to appreciate and see the world around me with wider eyes. I can't express in a few sentences how much I appreciate all the wonderfully supportive, sweet and often really funny comments people have left. Thank you, sharing my little world with such lovely ladies has changed everything for me so much for the better and I will treasure every one.

So, by way of a proper thank you I've got a bit of something to give away.

Does anyone like crinoline ladies? This lovely pair of chair backs have been beautifully embroidered and if not used to decorate your arm chairs would make lovely panels for cushion covers or any craft project people, so much more talented than me, could produce.

One of them has a few tiny missing stitches on one of the hollyhocks but it's hardly noticeable (and I promise I'll give it a quick press too before I send it to the winner!). Everyone who leaves comment will have their name put in the hat to be drawn out by B next week. Thanks again and good luck!

And I've been meaning to pass on the fab, "You make my day" award onto some of my favourite blogs:

Anna at All Things Lovely - for one of the most entertaining blogs I read. I love her jolly style and and she's opening a cafe soon and will be the perfect hostess I'm sure.

Michele at Cowboys & Custard - a favourite of many, always fun and so creative and the leaver of some wonderfully special comments.

Pipany - the sewer of beautiful things, with the sort of home life I crave and all in wonderful Cornwall.

Dev at The Fairy Glade - great minds think alike I think and Dev's post always strike a special chord with me.

Cathy at Pink Green - the allotment queen with a very busy life who's beautiful posts really inspire me and my allotment dreams.