Happy New Year (when it comes!)

Happy New Year and

Lang May Yer Lum Reek!!

40 years!

Thank you for 40 happy years!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS (when it comes)!!!

I know I will not have time tomorrow to blog, so I want to take this opportunity to wish all my bloggie friends 'A Merry Christmas!' The year did not start very well, and had a very sad middle, but from the sadness I met and made some wonderful bloggie friends, who overwhelmed me with kindness. I have learned so much from this year, I have some wonderful friends, I have tried new techniques and patterns and I have been surrounded by LOVE.

THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!

WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!!

Giveaway Competition

As you all know I live in a remote island off the north coast of Scotland. I love living here, and say thanks every day for being so lucky for being here, but, as with anything else, there are drawbacks. I can't nip down to the supermarket, when a recipe asks for an unusual ingredient - nearest supermarket 90 minutes away by ferry and only one return ferry a day. The weather can be severe, but having said that, we have not had the dumps of snow the rest of the country has had, and none of our roads have closed (thanks to our great roadmen!). I buy a lot of goods over the Net, but I think the thing I miss most is going to a Patchwork workshop and seeing and learning how things are made. I have great Webbie friends and I use the Net to increase my knowledge, so I am really excited about what I am going to tell you now.

There is going to be a new Internet magazine for quilters!!


It is only $11.99 for the year's subscription, that is twelve issues PLUS an extra issue free! Yes, that's right, a baker's dozen for only $11.99. Oh my Scottish blood is jumping. Imagine getting a magazine for less then $1 an issue and that is not all. The magazine has the following features -

• You can print and file the portions of the magazine you wish to keep.
• You can easily organize all the articles and patterns in a binder.
• You get at least five patterns in the magazine and

• You will have instant access to the magazine hot off the press. No waiting for the mail to arrive.

This is too much fun! I've had a sneak peek at the magazine and it is goood!! 

Now for the best bit - No 1!

If you want to see the magazine too, go to the following link -
http://www.quiltpatternmagazine.com/
Edit - I missed out a dot. Thanks to all the people who were paying attention!
Best Bit No. 2!
If you would like the chance of a free subscription to the magazine, come back to my blog, after you have looked at the magazine and leave a comment. The winner will be announced in the first week in January. I will use the Random Generator, as I know all my bloggie friends will want to win!!!!
Best Bit No. 3!
Even better! If you want more chances of winning, take part in the Blog Tour See all the participating blogs and leave a comment on their blog too. Not only do you get more chances of winning a subscription, you get to see a whole lot of interesting blogs!!! How good can it get?
Bonne chance!!
Till next time
tich

End Of Journey! (Photo Heavy)

 We were so pooped when we reached Inverness, we decided to stay the next day and not move on until the following day. Our first port of call was Leakey's Bookshop and cafe. This is an amazing place, an old church converted into a bookshop, with over 100,000 books in it! You can see the history below. 

 

This is taken from the cafe in the gallery, looking down on the stacks.

 The sides of the galleries have old maps and Victorian prints for sale. The pulpit is where the owner checks books and does business away from the public.

 The building is heated by and absolutely immense wood burning stove. The flue can be seen in some of the photos, going up through the ceiling.

 The cloth covered pile and the boxes in this picture are books waiting to be sorted and priced.

 The spiral staircase leading to the cafe and galleries. A glimpse of the owner at the cash desk. The service here is so friendly and welcoming (and the cakes are good too!)


We continued our journey the next day. The roads were really good, but we could not get up to the ferry at 1.30pm. We missed it, so we had a break and got the later one at 6.30pm.

Because we missed the lunch time ferry, we had to stay overnight on Orkney Mainland. The Sanday ferry had left at 3.20pm. The roads on OM were really bad. We saw a lorry trapped gong up a hill, and we had one bad skid.We could not go back home on the early ferry. We had one sad task to perform. During our visit away, we got a phonecall from the person who was caring for our animals to say that our cat had broken its leg and had to be sent over to the vet. We spoke to the vet, but she recommended we put the cat down. We saw the vet and paid our bill. 


We got home just after five, after a calm crossing. I can honestly say I was never so glad to get home! We have both been sitting, doing nothing, for the past two days and it has been wonderful! Hope you are all warm and cosy wherever you are!
Till next time.
tich

Snow Upon Snow Upon Snow!! (Photo Heavy!!)

My new granddaughter, Annabelle, was having her dedication service last Sunday, so we left the island on Thursday amidst weather warnings for the whole of the north of Scotland, going right down the east coast to Edinburgh. This was slap bang in the route we would be taking, but we wanted to be at the service and see the little one and the rest of the family, as we had not seen them in person, apart from Skype, since the summer. There was lots of snow at the side of the road, but the roads were black all the way down, thank goodness. 

We went to Glasgow first, to see my father-in-law, who has Alzheimer's. He remembered my name eventually, but could not remember his son at all. It was so sad, as they were really close. We went back over to Penicuik, and despite a bit more snow, we were able to go shopping for party shoes for the girls. The shops were not busy at all, and a lot of them had sales on already. The recession seems to be biting. 

Overnight, there was a huge change. When we looked out the hotel window there was at least ten inches of snow, and we did not know if we could get out of the car park! We were supposed to give a lift to my daughter's friends, but we could not get to my daughter's house, so they had to walk down to us. The main roads were not bad, but the side roads were terrible. Seventy people were supposed to attend the dedication, but only fifteen arrived. We had a lovely service and a nice bowl of hot soup and homemade treats afterwards. You can see Annabelle in our heirloom christening gown with the rest of the family. The gown was handsewn by nuns in Madeira and was bought by my grandmother's first husband, who also bought her another gown and her wedding dress there too (I have the skirt of this). Unfortunately he was lost at sea, before they had any children. I am guessing the gowns are about 100 years old.

 I went in my jeans and wellies (new ones from my daughter), but I changed into a nice outfit for the ceremony. As usual, I forgot to get a picture, so here you see me below, with the rest of the family, all dressed up to face the elements, with boots, layer upon layer of clothes, body warmer and scarf.

We were warned by the congregation not to go north, but it was just as well be did, because a lot of the roads closed after we left, and Edinburgh had a dump of snow, thereafter!

The next part of the journey was HORRENDOUS!!!! We were trying to reach Inverness, which usually takes about 3-3.5 hours. We finally made it eight hours later, but how we did, I'll never know! Some of the photos are taken just holding the camera out of the window, but for the most part I was too scared to do anything but look at the snow, driving at the windscreen. The first two photos below show the M9 motorway, heading towards Perth. On our side, there was only one lane open, and it had a two inch crust of solid ice on it. When you stopped, which was every two minutes, the car just slid sideways. If you look carefully at the other side, you will see the cars are completely stopped. There was a fourteen mile tailback (including the snow plough!) and people had been in the queue for so long that they had built five feet high snowmen at the side of the carriageway and walking their dogs - on the motorway!! 

 

We waited in the queue for over thirty minutes and decided to take a diversion to Perth. We just got on that road when some cars got stuck. Fortunately, a snow plough came up and we managed to bypass the worst of the traffic.

 The rest of the journey was pretty bad, but Inverness was getting closer. Just as we got to Kingussie, we saw loads of flashing lights, and a fire engine blocking the whole of the fly over we were supposed to take. The police were flashing their torches over the fly over, so we wondered if somebody had skidded. We were told to take another diversion, and actually went past this, on the road below. A lorry had skidded off the fly over and rolled down the embankment to the road below. I copied the picture from the BBC website, but as you are allowed to use it on Twitter, Facebook and email, I think it is alll right to use it here -

We had a hairy drive on the diversion through Aviemore. This road closed soon after. When we got to the hotel in Inverness, we both had a strong drink and collapsed into bed.

I will tell you about us getting home safe and sound tomorrow!

Till then.

tich

Oh My!!!

I can't quite believe this. A HUGE parcel was delivered to my house, all the way from Victoria, Australia. Jenni sent me a parcel of material, and what a parcel!! There are chunkettes and long quarters, chunks and fat quarters, half yards and yards!! I cannot believe my eyes. Jenni must have emptied her stash into the padded envelope. The colours are wonderful. I keep on thinking what I am going to make!! I have been patting the materail and 'oohing and aahing' ever since it arrived. I can hardly write this, as I am so excited!! What it is to have such wonderfully kind, thoughtful people in the world. I know my sister would be tickled pink, to know this is happening, and I am just overwhelmed with such goodness. I can't say this often enough - 'THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!'
Till next time.
tich