Catching Up with myself

Piecing is coming along slowly. The pattern is 'Shimmer Stars' by Joy Hoffman, and the kit came from Seams So Sweet in Viburnum. I like the colour choices very much (photo taken with flash so not as bright as it looks here), and enjoy playing with the combinations as the top grows.

We had more snow shortly after my last post, and we took the dogs up into the hills to play.



We had another trip out west, just after the equinox....with fish and chips from the gourmet Seefresh in Ullapool ...and ending with a sunset at Achiltibuie.

On Easter Sunday the dogs took us for a walk in the woods...

...lichen fascinates...

and we ended up at this local landmark.

We applied for a firewood permit from the Forestry Comission, so we're off-roading some places we wouldn't normally go.

Thank you to Chris for her Thinking Blog nomination. There are so many inspirational and thought-provoking pages, especially amongst the crafting community that it seems impossible to pick just a few. I also would feel a bit uncomfortable assessing which bloggers think more than others! I would like to mention a couple of blogs that I especially look forward to reading, and find regularly provide food for thought... Jen Clair, who leads me to peculiar arty pages that I would never otherwise visit, and Judith who is showing how she is creating a quilt that I think is magical.

Cathi, another favourite blogger, asked what kind of gardening I like. It's difficult to answer briefly...I like simple pleasures; just being in the garden. Feeling sun and air on my skin and hearing birdsong. Being in tune with a greater rhythm.

Our garden was neglected by the previous occupants (they proudly showed us the vine in the greenhouse. A vine can get pretty brown and cumbly if you don't water it for two years!). It is not, nor ever will be 'perfect' in that I generally like plants to grow in a natural manner, but it is becoming a place of beauty, at least to me.

One of the things I love most is to watch seedlings emerge and to nurture them into grown plants, whether flower or vegetable. It is reffirming and joyous also to see the herbaceous plants erupt from slumber, less so when shrubs and trees come into leaf and flower...but then again some of my favourite signs of spring are hawthorn, birch and larch coming into leaf. I also like to prune, and although pretty fearless with my loppers, have a great deal to learn, especially with neglected plants. It satisfies deeply to see the effect of my labours in patterns of living shape, colour and texture.

Rhubarb, one of the easiest plants of the kitchen garden, and one which the previous occupants of our house did not manage to get rid of, has been supplying us for a couple of weeks now. Is it really a 'superfood'? You can find a wealth of recipes at the Rhubarb Compendium, but we just eat it stewed with yoghurt or in a crumble.

We also have been eating purple sprouting broccoli, a favourite in our house. Next year's seedlings are starting to harden off, apart from the broccoli as we had germination failure and needed to get more seed.

I've had plenty of 'help' in the garden, too. Here the hens are helping me plant Cox and Charles Ross apple trees in the orchard.

and here they are helping me reclaim flower beds from lawn . Maybe they're just eating the worms, though!

To my surprise, in our second spring living here, I found in an unexpected corner some Snake's Head fritillaries, which I have longed to have in my garden for a long time

Bella has been keeping me company on beach excursions,

where we have been collecting uglier pieces of diftwood

to help feed our new Squirrel log burner on chillier evenings.

Scrappy Squares

I'm piecing by hand these days. It's more relaxing, after a day spent gardening.

It's easier, too, as the whole house is now in chaos - a new central heating system is being installed and carpets are up everywhere and floors being ripped up. All quite stressful and messy so I'm trying to keep out of the house if I can. There is snow again today (yesterday was our first proper snow this year!) and I'm told everything in the snug has been connected, so I returned the books to their shelves and so am holed up in there now, with some good films and an electric heater!

These squares are 6 1/2". A few more to go!

Morning surprise!

WOO -HOO! DH found this in the hen house this morning. Our first egg!


It was the tiniest egg I've ever seen, but the best. We shared it for lunch, scrambled on wholemeal toast with some salad fresh from the greenhouse ( back in october we planted rocket, endive, assorted lettuces, beetroot and turnip for a winter supply of baby leaves).

Spring is coming!

WIP Wednesday 28th February

Work continues on my 9patch (and it is a patch now - the striped blocks I showed last week have all been unpicked and transformed).



This particular block is very special - my first 9patch. I ditched my stainless steel 12inch ruler and bought a shiny new 6 by 24 inch omnigrip one and read a book about rotary cutting - and the difference is remarkable. These all fitted together like clockwork.

I'm less happy with the third fabric and am calling it the 'ugly one'.

February sunshine

The warmth of late February sunshine always surprises. Yesterday I lingered all day in the herb garden - raking away the old leaves, cutting back and dividing. And preparing the ground for this year's sowings.

I found this sleepy fellow hiding amongst old leaves.

And this new vista.

Some people have asked what I do with driftwood. I have grand plans of a driftwood-framed mirror, and lately of a driftwood summerhouse (a girl can dream, after all!). But mostly, as you can see, it just lies around in the garden 'drying out' or 'bleaching'.

Branching pieces are good for supporting floppy herbaceous plants in the summer, and lately I have been collecting pieces to make into tripods to support climbers.

.

Mostly I just collect it because I love it's sculptural qualities.

High Tide

The tides have been very high the last couple of days, and driftwood pickings have been good. This is Tuesday's haul, drying in the sun yesterday.

Lunchtime yesterday the tide was so high there was no beach at all to walk on. We sat on top of the dunes, watching the waves. No wind, just big waves. You could feel the vibration of each wave crashing against the dune.

Last night I gave in and had a bath. The cold water is not yet plumbed and the hot is absolutely scalding, so we had to carry through basins of cold water, and put down a couple of planks to stand on in front of the bath. It was out of this world nontheless!

WIP Wednesday 21 Feb

This is my new raggy quilt which I started last week. The colours are a bit stronger than the last couple I have made.



I love this dark brown fabric. There is a lovely flow to the pattern and it seems quite English to me, but not in a stuffy way. It reminds me quite a lot of William Morris's willow pattern. I decided to make blocks with 3 stripes, and alternate them with plain white blocks, but now that I've made a pile of them I'm having second thoughts and may well change the plan completely.

A day on the West Coast

Little Sis was here at the weekend, and yesterday we went over to Lochinver. A spot of shopping and a walk on the beach left us both refreshed.

We found one of these...

here...

and Harvey seemed to have a good time, too.

TAST Week7- Feather Stitch

i liked the effects you get when the stitches are uniform in size and the rows placed close together - and the hearts are topical, are they not?

Surprise

Look at what my lovely friend Gay sent me today! A video showing how to make Attic Windows (I'm hoping this has Jinny Beyer on it) and chenille and a Boston sampler and more. And some fabric, one with the tiniest hearts, and a lollipop! Thank you Gay! I can't wait to watch the video. Quilting isn't a mainstream hhobby here and I can't find any quilting on TV, so I'm really looking forward to watching this.

Valentine

DH found the perfect card for me!

Tulips from Amsterdam

These really did come from Amsterdam. We bought them in Schiphol airport on our way back home and they are lasting well. I make it 19 days since purchase now.

Well, I've weathered the food poisoning and URTI that was the aftermath of our holiday. Somewhere during my fever, my parents flew over from Ireland and spent a couple of days with us, but I'm not very clear about that. I'm sure I made them some food to eat so they can't complain *s*

Now for a disaster story (trying hard to persuade myself it is not actually a disaster of any significance). I was so excited about going on holiday that I almost forgot to take my camera. DH reminded me as I was heading out the door, and I ran back in and grabbed it. Just the camera, mind you. No charger cable or even a spare battery. And when I turned it on in Italy it had 20mins of juice in it. Never mind, I thought I would be able to buy a charger cable.......no, not unless I wanted to buy a new camera with it. Well, I am too mean for that, especially as we have at least two cameras (one staying at home), and two adequate cameras on our phones and a nice fat memory card on my phone. So when the camera battery went flat I would just use my phone.

The phone took lovely photos the days we were on Tenerife and Madeira, but then suddenly it was gone. Dropped it I think. *big sigh*. All my photos of Loro Parque's penguinarium and performing sealions vanished. Just my memories left...

Here is the single best thing we saw on our travels - Gaudi's church La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Full of light and air and...the noise stonemasons make these days with heavy machinery. It's many years since I saw English cathedrals but this seemed on a scale much larger than I remember them.

I love these lizards!

We also saw a *lot* of Picassos. That man just didn't stop drawing! We gave up long before we were half way round the gallery, but I think I gained a little interest in his work.

Casablanca was full of smog. We could see little from the ship. It is a large city, with a population of about 3 million people, and nearly all the buildings we saw were painted white or off-white in colour. It was a dirty place, with seemingly little control on engine emissions. Here is the vast Hassan II mosque with its even more vast expanse of courtyard. We didn't go in.

Our taxi driver thought that, since we didn't seem impressed with the mosque, we might like the Roman Catholic church. I did quite like their stained glass, even though I don't generally much admire modern churches.

This and That

Not done a great deal of quilting, and Blogger has swallowed my last post on the subject. So here we go again. So far I have put these little stars in two of the corners of my log cabin quilt borders. It's difficult to get a good photo of the quilting. I'm thinking I'll do the same in the opposite corners, in gold thread. Need a trip to the Quilt Shop for that.

I started knitting this scarf just before we went on holiday, and have done a bit more the other evening. Someone gave my mother a 'knit your own scarf' kit at Christmas and somehow it found its way into my possession... It consisted of a pattern (for a scarf??), a pair of needles and three balls of hideously brightly coloured blue/green eyelash yarn. Much too bright for me! But I found some white eyelash in the local Wool Shop and I think this is rather fun. Needs a bit of tidying up, obviously. And I know a little girl who would just love one in red and black (ladybird colours).

Also, we have been doing some serious DIY in the house. The old en suite has GONE (and I did not take a photo of it so I could remember its hideousness for ever) and we are in the process of connecting up the new one. DH is plumber-extrodinaire as all the local tradesmen in this part of the world turned up their noses (you want to move the shower? and the bath? and the toilet? What for?) so progress is slow. But we are getting there.

TAST - Algerian Eyelet

Thought I would join in the fun with this one, and spent a cosy afternoon stitching away happily. I liked the stitch more and more as I went along. In my mind it works best to fill in areas with colour or as a border; I found it less easy to think of more organic applications.

Home Again!

We're just back from holiday. No photos yet - we're having some camera problems. I love being back home after holidays. The old routine seems fresh and all those chores I've been putting off seem new again, all urgent and exciting.

The sky was bright and clear yesterday and so I worked in the sunshine in the garden. The garden is very sleepy and peaceful, with only snowdrops flowering and masses of daffodil shoots about 3-4inches tall. I started clearing away the wind-blown leaves at the front of the house, and then when the sun moved round I spent a cosy afternoon in the greenhouse, tidying and planting tomato seed.

One of the many lessons my first real quilt has taught me is that I ought to try quilting in a frame. And while we were cruising and my fingers industriously (it seems) softening up, I came to the conclusion that I should get one of those little lap frames that swivels and pivots, so I can be comfy in my armchair by the fire while I work. So I'm off now to go shopping!

Rainy day

I've had some ideas for how to quilt the border of my red & green starry quilt. I'm almost there - just need to finish off doing around the outside of the inner border. I'm thinking the border is going to be fairly heavily quilted, in a mostly plain style as the pattern has some embroidered text - in gold to match the stars and inner border - and I haven't quite decided whether I really want to include this embroidery or not. My initial idea was to leave out the text - especially as the pattern describes the text as a 'prayer' and I do not think it is a 'prayer'. But that aside I am warming a little to the idea now I am closer to completion.

This is the effect I envisaged when I started quilting the blocks, but I found it quite dissatisfying to sew.

Here are some other effects I tried, I think I have shown these before:




And here is what Libby suggested - it won hands down!

It is easy and satisfying to sew, and I love the way it separates the contour of the quilt from the structure of the patches.

It rained heavily last night and we heard dripping while we were watching King Kong. Couldn't find any water though. Eventually DH went into the roofspace, and sure enough the gable wall was wet. It's dripping down inside the wall. And going ...... who knows where? That makes a grand total of six (6) places the roof is leaking, and the roofer won't start until the weather improves. Ugh. Who wanted to live in an old house? (me). I'm glad we're going on holiday.

I'm off now to search out a Daily Telegraph - they are giving away free Beatrix Potter books this week to celebrate the opening of the film. I have in mind an afternoon in front of the telly (read 'Gone With the Wind') and my needle. And hoping it will stop raining.