Braving the elements to bring you a winner

I don't know about you, but events seem to be conspiring against me this morning. Why is it that when it is a time to pick a winner, the wind whips up the lane and whistles round my garden, picking up the little paper pieces and flicking them about?

Aha, I said to myself, I have a solution to that - I will use a gravy boat with a lid. You will be pleased to note that the gravy is long gone, hence the china boat had taken up its abode on the top shelf, and hence a certain griminess about the handles where the dusting fairy had missed bits.

Then comes the matter of the picking of the winners. My usual helpers are absent or indisposed: Mad Dog is confined to barracks for post-operative recuperation, and to let her out into the garden would contravene vet's orders, and result in certain injury.

Teddy-Face is now Tubby-Toast after a two-week residential permaculture design course - all those lovely people to give titbits to a such a sweet and affectionate dog means that the Tubby Teddy is now on a strict régime and there is no question of hiding snacks in the gravy boat as a means to an end. The Ploughboy is in the Land of Nod, the General is on manoeuvres, the Princess is seeking for treasure on the streets of a nearby cathedral city, and the Head Chef is bringing home the bacon.

So that leaves poor deserted Pomona to do the deed. I promise that I shut my eyes and stirred the bits of paper well (although I couldn't manage to take a photo with the hand that wasn't doing the draw, as hand-eye coordination is not one of my life skills). I did well managing to get the gravy boat, which is not fixed to the plate and does slip about rather, outside without tripping over and sending all flying.

And you remember I mentioned the weather earlier - I braved the elements indeed (and without the benefit of cardi, vest or socks) as the gale was howling and the rain thundering against the roof of the verandah. (Actually, it isn't really a verandah, but it is outside and it does have a roof - I thought rain thundering against the roof of the verandah sounded quite tropical, and might have a warming effect.)

So I did the draw, took the before and after photos, came back inside shivering, and loaded the photos onto the computer, only to find that Cheryl had done a somersault, and was the only winner not visible. Cheryl, I am really sorry, but I did go back outside where the wind had whipped up even more, and the rain was louder and more insistent, then as I put you down for another photograph, you and your fellow winners all blew away.

So here are the six winners of copies of Kate Haxell's Twenty to Make: Bunting and Pennants, courtesy of the lovely people at Search Press. Look at the poor winners shivering in the breeze: Dragonfly, Faith76, Rosa-Munda, Green Rabbit Designs, The Garden Bell, and Cheryl (upside down). Please could you all email me with your posting details, my dears.

And I am shivering inside with the wind keening and wuthering and my hands as cold as ice - time to take up my favourite sock book and knit up some woolly comfort to warm the cockles of my heart.