*three things that make me smile: an exercise in gratitude – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog with the happy*

Inspired by Emily of Nerd in the Brain here are my Three Things Thursday.

First, grass roots action. All sorts of things have happened in the world of politics over the past year, and one result seems to have been that ordinary people have been galvanised into action. In the US, for example, there’s The Town Hall Project, which “empowers constituents across the country to have face-to-face conversations with their elected representatives”; there’s also Run for Something, an organisation that “will recruit and support talented, passionate youngsters who will advocate for progressive values now and for the next 30 years… We’ll help people run for offices like state legislatures, mayorships, city council seats, and more. We’ll do whatever it takes to get more under-35 year-olds on the ballot.”

Here in the UK, there’s More United, who “raise money to support political candidates who stand by our values, regardless of their party. Our support helps those candidates get elected and influences the makeup of Parliament, changing Britain for the better…. With a name inspired by the words of the late Jo Cox MP, More United stands for unity and inclusion, and rejects hatred and division.” I am an original member of this organisation, meaning I donated some money to help them get off the ground. I’m happy to be part of this organisation and to support its aims… and to show off my support these arrived this week:

getting political

Second, I passed! A couple of weeks ago I attended a Food Safety course at The Food Centre Wales in preparation for scaling up my cheese-making. There was an exam at the end and I’m happy to say that I found out that I passed when my certificate arrived in the post yesterday :

officially certified!

Third, new fabric. Although my heart lies with yarn, I have recently been enjoying a bit of sewing and so I was very happy this morning when a parcel arrived containing various pieces of organic cotton for two of my 17 for 17 projects arrived.

jersey, chambray and poplin

So, those are three things making me smile and for which I am grateful this week – what about you?