News

I started writing this weeks ago and it suddenly disappeared! I was looking at Blogger today, thinking it was about time I got organised and started to blog seriously again, when I saw this lurking in Drafts. It wasn't there before, but perhaps it was fed up hiding! So I will continue from where I left off. At this rate the New Year will be half done, before I catch up!

  My blog sebatical was due to a little illness, a bit of procrastination, a lot of visitors and finally a computer that died of old age. I didn't enjoy the illness, loved the visitors, but my computer!!!!! It was like a death in the family!! I had religiously made back ups, but when it came down to it, I still lost a lot of files! A friend helped me a lot over the Internet and eventually my cousin, who lives in the south of England, sorted it out, and my baby is back up working! I did go onto a PC when my Mac was away and I still don't like them! I think eventually I will revert to a PC, as I have so much software I cannot use on the Mac, but that does not mean to say I will enjoy it as much.

The embroidery above was done for one of my visitors. Let me state now I do not like canvas work all that much and I usually do not use kits, but this was an exception. I have known this person for over fifteen years and even though we moved away, he has kept in touch and is a lovely person. He had just moved into his first home of his own, so when he asked me to make a cushion for his sofa, I could not say 'No'. He is an avid gardener, so I thought I would bring a little colour into his house, during the dark, dreich days of winter. When he came with his uncle for a visit, he was delighted with his present, so I did not feel so bad.

We have been seeing some terrible pictures of freak weather conditions on Mainland Scotland and England, with enormous floods, torrential rain and rivers bursting their banks. We have been so lucky. We have had a little rain, but in the main the weather has been good. I leave you with a little clip of our bay, taken last week. I thank God every day for this beautiful view. We are so lucky to live here!  

Till next time.
tich                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

We Will Remember

 

The service at the War Memorial was lovely, but it was so cold!! A new name was added to the list on the Memorial. A Rear Gunner from Sanday was killed during the war.The aeroplane crashed in a mountainside near a remote French village in the winter.The villagers had to wait until the spring to retrieve the bodies.The parents would not believe their son had been killed, so would not allow his name to go on the Memorial. It was very sad. Recently his relatives asked if his name could be added, so today we learned of his story, saw his picture and at last his name was there for all to see.

WE WILL REMEMBER!!

 

Till next time.

tich



YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

Alex Salmond

I'm back!
Today is the most important day in Scotland for over three hundred years. Today the terms for the Scottish Referendum for Independence was signed by Alex Salmond and David Cameron.

How will you vote???
Till next time
tich

Baa!

When people ask me what my hobbies are, I immediately say patchwork, then beading and finally spinning/dyeing. Recently my granddaughter asked me for some pictures of our sheep for a school project, and I realised just how involved I am with them.

This is the first lamb born last year. The ewe had twins, but she rejected the second lamb, which was very weak, so my husband bottle-fed it.

 

Our ram was also hand-reared by my husband. The sheep are really friendly, and always come over to see what you are doing.

 I got given this fleece by one of the islanders. It is a Jacob/Suffolk cross. In the picture above part of the fleece has been washed and then it is carded on a drum 

carder. 

The carded wool feels so soft, after it is taken off the drum carder. It can be spun on the spinning wheel. or felted.

 This is actually a felted bag shape (below), but I did not like it, so I cut a bit off, so that I can make a clutch bag out of it. I intend to embroider the flap.

 I also made some felted balls. One of them is embroidered and another has various types of material and thread embedded in it. I want to experiment more with these. 

 Remember last year I experimented a lot with Kool Aid and a crock pot and got some interesting results.?

 My granddaughters using a diz, so that it is nice and easy to spin.

 A variety of colours for selling.

 This year I have started experimenting with natural dyes, and I have organised a dyeing workshop to take place in June, with the tutor coming from another island. It should be great fun. 

I am amazed just how involved I have become with wool. Now I will just have to learn how to feed the sheep and it will be a full circle (and also please my husband no end!)

Till next time.

tich

Last Update

This is the last update from last year (thank goodness I hear!)


My husband and I go to a Lunch Club for over fifties once a fortnight in the Community School. Once a month we get a speaker after the lunch, and at Christmas we have a slap up Christmas meal and a party. For the last couple of years I have written a sketch and my friends Irene and Jim help my husband and I 'perform' (if you can call it that!) This year Irene was given two saris from a lady, who was seriously ill. We based the skit on the poem 'The Green Eye of the Yellow God' and generally had a right carry on. We did not get pictures on the day, but dressed up again, so that we could send the pictures to the lady who was ill. You can see my daft husband dressed up as the Major. Unfortunately the 'Colonel' could not come.

I told you in this post about my adventures at the Burns night on the island, at the end of January. I got my picture taken and here it is in the paper -

Well, I think I have blethered long enough. The wind has risen again, but the dog needs a walk before I go to bed. Think I will have a read, before I tackle the elements.

Till next time.

tich

Harrington and Hannah

You can tell I was really taken with the Raspbery Rabbit BOM that I talked about in my last post. I got all the pieces cut out of the lovely wool my nice friend sent from Canada. I do not usually follow a pattern exactly, and this project was no exception. I buttonhole stitched the pieces down, using my Bernina, embroidered a whipped backstitch for the arms and made sure I stitched crookedly on his nose - whoever heard of a snowman with a straight carrot nose? I added red beads to the French knots for the Holly,  more red beads on top of the snowman's heart and bright blue french knots for my rabbits. I really enjoyed this block.

We have had a couple of really nice days, quite cool, but the sun is shining!! I went for a walk yesterday along the track to another beach. Here is what I saw, when I got to the top of the dunes -

Usually this beach does not have any seaweed on it (or people). There must have been a storm out at sea.
Till next time.
tich

Lookie, Lookie!!

I have often said how wonderful the worldwide blogging community is. I have made such wonderful friends, loving supportive and funny. Look what I got from two such lovely friends, one in Canada and the other in America -

These are pieces of wool to help me make the first block of the BOM from the Raspberry Rabbits It is a really cute block and I can't wait to get going.

My next parcel contained this little beauty with a card about friendship (it is up on my mantelpiece, so no picture!)

 

Isn't this absolutely gorgeous!! The crochet is so neat, and the colour is just right for my lounge. It is too nice to be hidden under a mug, so it is on proud display, where everyone will see it, along with another one I received a wee while ago. I am really blessed to have two such nice friends. They are always there.


We had torrential rain,yesterday, but I mustn't complain, because the rest of Britain is under inches of snow. The sun is actually shining, between the showers. The picture below was taken two days ago. I rushed out to get it, as we seem to have had rain for months, with the island having flooding in places never flooded before.

Sunrise on the Peedie Sea - tide out.


I am away to cut out a block .
Till next time.
tich