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

Catching Up and Burns

I still have a bit of catching up to do from my blog break. 

In December we always have a Christmas Sale here on the island. It is supposed to be for things that are made in Sanday, so we have handmade chocolates, knitted items, baking, freshly butchered meat and lots and lots of crafts. I decided I was going to take part for the first time since we moved here. I have always taken part in Craft shows, wherever I have lived, so I knew what it entailed. I wanted to make a lot of shopping bags and back packs with a fancy embroidery sign on it and the name of our island and some other miscellaneous crafts.

 These are my two tables, before I started setting up in the Community Hall. There were a lot of stall holders.

I did not get a chance to take a photo of the stall, before the sale started, because people started asking to buy things, as I was getting them on the stall. All  these photos have been taken about half way through the sale, when the initial rush had died down. You can see my husband having a rest. He always helps me out with my sales. He is great!!

 I not only made lots of bags, but I dyed silk scarves, knitted beadie bags, made wire jewellery, loads of earrings, aromatherapy material crackers, dyed wool packs, embroidered coasters (thanks!) and Christmas tree ornaments.

I sold a lot of things and had great fun. 

I was very quiet last week. I was asked to address the haggis at the Burns Supper. We usually have a meal and a dance, but this year we had a funeral on the day of the dance, so the supper was put forward a week, with no dance afterwards. I thought I would read the poem, but my husband persuaded me to learn it off by heart! I have real problems learning anything by rote, so I downloaded the free software, Audacity, to help me. You can record things easily using this software. I used to record the course material for the different exam subjects and export them as mp3s, when I was still working. The pupils could then revise their subjects using their Ipods. Much cooler than studying from a book! I used this software to record the individual verses of the poem, and gradually learned all eight verses. I practised in front of the mirror, and my husband kept on thinking we had unexpected guests, when he heard me talking to myself! I was really nervous on the night, but when I got to my feet, and saw the lovely haggis 'fillin' the groanin' trencher', I just let rip and had a good time. I have a West Coast accent, and as Burns was born on the West Coast, I had no problems with the pronunciation. I love Burns. He was such a perceptive poet, and had a naughty sense of humour! No wonder the lassies loved him!

On the tables, someone had thoughtfully provided a napkin with a translation of good old Scots words. They are not so old, as I was brought up with these words! Perhaps they were provided because there were so many English in the hall !

Here they are, with pronunciation in the brackets-

stotter (stoat-er) - excellent example

numpty (num-p-tee) - idiot, intellectually challenged

braw (br-AWW) - beautiful

skiver (sky-ver) - lazy person, shirker

cludgie (clud-gee) - toilet

wabbit (wah-bit) - exhausted, under the weather

crabbit (cra-bit) - bad tempered, out of humour

laldie (lall-dy) - to do vigorously, get stuck in

besom (biz-um) -hussy, female upstart

blether (ble-ther) - gossip, incessant chatter

clype (klipe) - informer, tell-tale

drouth (dro-oth) post dram thirst

wheesht (whee-sht) - quiet

eejit (ee-jit) -idiot, not the full shilling

clarty (cla-rty) - mucky, boggin'

scunner (scun-ner) - feeling of disgust or loathing

canny (can-y) -thrifty, wise

drookit (droo-kit) - drenched, soaked through

glaikit (glai-kit) - foolish, not very bright

fouter (foo-tir) - dither, to not get on with

mauchit (maw-kit) - dirty, filthy

haiver (hay-ver) - to talk rubbish

dreich (dreech) - dull, bleak, miserable

gallus (ga-luss) - bold, cocky, cheeky

Anyway, I think I have haivered enough! It is a right dreich night, enough to make you scunnered. I have got a drouth, so I will go and make a cup of tea and stop bletherin', in case I make you crabbit!

Till next time.

tich

Procrastination and a Recipe

My New Year resolution of trying to blog more often has not been too successful. Trouble is I am a born procrastinator, so I have decided to take Marianna's (of Craftluver Marianna) pledge. Now it took me ages to make up my mind to pledge, and even longer to blog about it, but I am getting there . So far I have-

• cut out material for a Dear Jane block, 
• made templates for another one, 
• made two cushions, 
• have two more cut out
• experimented with baking with quail's eggs
• soaked postage stamps from paper and dried them for my husband's stamp collection. 

I now have to think of -

• unpacking some more boxes from the shed,
• finishing the cushions
• blogging more regularly
• paperwork
• learning a poem!
• sewing a cushion for a friend!
• dyeing wool with natural dyes.

This list could go on and on, but I don't want to put myself completely off. If I could get two off the list I would be happy.

I love baking, but never usually find time to make a Christmas cake. This year I found a really quick recipe. I used some of the mix to make individual little cakes. I cut out the marzipan and the royal icing and put them on with apricot jam, but stepped them, so that you could see both. 

The individual cakes were finished off with a cherry, and they looked really cute and tasted great. I used the rest of the mix in two x 2lb loaf tins, to make two rectangular cakes, which were decorated with marzipan and royal icing and then sliced. The recipe is below. I did not use currants, but divided the fruit between raisins and sultanas and used ground almonds instead of whole ones. Next time, I would add cherries as well, but it is yummy as it is. This recipe is from the UKTV site.

Quick Christmas Cake

Ingredients

• 225 g lightlight muscovado sugar
• 225 g butter, or margarine
• 225 g plain flour
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• large pinches salt
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 tbsp black treacle
• 1 apple
• 1 orange, grated rind
• 275 g raisins
• 275 g currants
• 275 g sultanas
• 65 g almonds
• 5 tbsp brandy
• Method
• 1. Turn the oven onto 140C/gas mark 1 and put a shelf onto the centre runner. 
  
  2. Grease 10 x 10cm tins using a little of the butter and line with baking parchment. 
  
  3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, sieve in the flour with the spices, bicarbonate of soda and salt and add the beaten eggs, treacle, apple and orange rind. 
  
  4. Add the fruit and almonds to the bowl, mix together. 
  
  5. Finally add in the brandy and mix together thoroughly. 
  
  6. Spoon the mixture evenly between the tins and press down gently with the back of a spoon to even it out. 
  
  7. Bake for around 1 hour or until cooked. Check if it's cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre - if the skewer comes out gooey then leave the cake in the oven for another 10 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean. 
  
  
  This cake can be enjoyed anytime, not just at Christmas!
  Enjoy!
  Till next time.
  tich
  
  

Hello Again!!

Now I know I have taken a very long, extended break, but I am back!! There were a lot of reasons I have not been blogging, but hopefully they are long gone, and I can get back into the habit of sharing some of my thoughts and things I make with you.


We have had lousy weather for ages. We had the first gales in October, which was very early for us and since then we have had high winds on and off, and loads of rain. On the night of December 8th we had terrible gales, with winds gusting to over 136mph and no power. One of the larger fishing boats, tied up at the harbour, was swamped by a 20ft wave, and sank! This is a picture of the boat a few days later.

 The boat had been pumped out and dragged further into the harbour.

 It looks as if there is not a lot wrong with it. The insurers, however, say it is a write off. The people who own the boat are heart-broken, as it has been in the family for three generations.

The harbour looks very calm, but when I was taking these pictures I was being buffeted by a high wind, and had to be careful I didn't end up in the harbour too! It was very difficult to take pictures without them being affected by the wind - see picture below -

Usually I just stay indoors, when the weather is bad, but I am getting quite fed up of wind and rain. We have had a few good days -

- but they have been few and far between. This is a picture of our bay at sunrise, with the tide out. The following was taken at the same time, turning the camera to the right, towards our neighbours. Although it does not look it, they are about four or five fields away,past the bridge -

When the wind is in a certain direction, and over 70mph, it lifts the water off the top of the sea, forming a mist called spindrift. I tried to get photos of it, but, what with the wind buffeting me and trying to get a steady photo, I did not succeed very well. The pictures look unclear, but that is the spindrift on our bay -

Now the waves don't look too bad in these pictures, but I was nearly blown off the path, taking these! Just after I went back in, the wind got worse!!


It sounds all doom and gloom, but we are just having an exceptional winter this year. The previous winters were fine, so we just have to think that we are now in the new year, and Spring is on its way!!


I know it is a bit late, but one of my friends sent me this, so enjoy the beautiful scenery! Double click it to get the benefit of the complete screen and turn your sound on!







Happy New Year!
Till next time,
tich

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy New Year Graphics provided by MUDTRAP.COM

Wonder what 2012 will have in store? Lots of fun and creative energy, I hope! For all my readers  - I hope you have a fulfilling New Year, with lots of health, wealth and happiness!

till next time

tich

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and a joyous New Year!!
Hope Santa is good to you all.
tich

Digital Photography Class

I have got a good digital camera, but I must admit that, most of the time, I point and shoot, keeping my fingers crossed that the pictures turn out. Most of the time I am lucky, but sometimes I could wish for more. When I heard that there was to be a photography class held in the Community school, I signed up and just hoped I would not make too much of a fool of myself. 


There are five of us in the class. Two members (plus the teacher) have, what I would call, professional cameras, I am in the middle, and the two others have reasonable, but slightly older digital cameras. Our first assignment for the class was -'juxtaposition of circles and lines'. Phew!! I wandered round the school looking for lines and circles, and it was really amazing how many I found. I deleted loads, but was quite happy with these remaining photos.

 Window blind cord.

 Door handle and lock

 Radiator

 Screws

  Screw

Drawing pin

I enjoyed doing this, but still like my landscapes better. Guess I am not arty enough.

Till next time.

tich

Tana Lawn

 I have definitely lost the impetus to blog regularly. It is not that I have little to share, but that the time just seems to get away from me too easily. Anyway, I am on today!


You will remember, perhaps, that I was given a lot of scraps of Tana Lawn a long time ago - years in fact!

I decided I was going to make a log cabin with foundation piecing, drew out a block I liked and photocopied lots of this design. I only had scraps of the lawn, albeit some of them were a reasonable size. I really enjoyed puttering away at this, and laying out lots of permutations of the log cabin on the floor.

I sewed four of the smaller blocks to make bigger blocks and eventually got this -

Next I had to decide what kind of border I wanted. If I put on ordinary cotton, it would have been too heavy and eventually have made the lawn tear or wear badly. I decided on a piano key design, using the material I had -

The photo below, with my husband's feet sticking out, shows the top completed. It still has the papers behind the border, and these will not be taken out until I get round to sandwiching it, prior to quilting.

I have still got quite a lot of scraps left, so I might make another top in a different design - later!!
Till next time.
tich

Summer's End

I can't believe it has been a month since I last blogged, but the time has just flown. Our weather has changed radically since this time last month. Our grandchildren were here and having fun on the beach in August.

The dog was on its lead, because the previous day she had taken off over the dunes after a rabbit and disappeared for two hours!! She came home on her own, happy but exhausted!!


Since then the weather has deteriorated. Last weekend we had our first gales, which is really early in the season. We had a weather warning out from the Saturday night, with high winds and torrential rain until late Monday. We woke up on the Sunday morning to no electricity. It was off from 7.30am till 6.20pm. No ferries or planes could get out, as the weather was too rough, so the repairmen had to wait until it calmed down a bit, before they could get out to repair the break. Only ten houses were affected, but we thought it was the whole island. We had just hatched quail from the incubator and had one new one chick, so the woodburner was on high the whole day to keep them warm, whilst my husband and I went round in t-shirts, trying to cool down! The winds were between 55-60mph, so that was not bad. The wild geese are back early and eating the grain, which has still to be harvested. It is going to be a long winter!


Whilst the girls were here, we had our yearly horticultural show. They entered the visitors' section as usual, and the elder girl got three prizes for-
1. Making something from articles found on the beach (she thought the dried seaweed looked like reindeer antlers.)

2. Shellcraft

 3. Painting/drawing of a Sanday view. (The Wetlands)

Unfortunately the younger girl did not get anything. There were a large number of visitors this year, so the competition was fierce.

Hopefully we will get an Indian Summer later on in the year, but for now I am going to read, as it has been raining on and off all day!

Till next time,

tich

House Name

House names can be quite personal, but when we moved here a few years ago, we liked our house name. The only thing was, there was a bit of a mix up with it. The locals called it one thing and the incomers another. The sign on the gate did not help as it was neither one nor the other, as it was not spelled correctly. The sign was very tatty, and I wanted to repaint it, but did not know which version to use.

I rather liked the local version of the name, but when we put it on the computer to order something, we didn't exist! When we looked up the deeds for the house going back to the 1700s, we found the name was not the local version, but the English one, so that settled it. My husband took down the old sign and sanded a bit of wood for me.
I told you  that I had been speaking to Prof. Michael Barnes about Viking Runes at one of the Soulka Weekends, but he told me about the Pictish Ogam alphabet, and very kindly sent me a copy of it - thanks Michael!. (the Picts were here before the Vikings) 
I decided to paint the original name in large letters, the ogam symbols above the letters and to include the local name in small letters underneath. That way I covered all bases. I also tried to design a Pictish looking symbol. I am really pleased with the results. My husband has to sand the edges and varnish it, and then it can go on display.

Till next time.

    tich