Wednesday 29 October 2014

A walk in the woods.

On Sunday Jaco came to visit. As Libby and I needed to go and buy some paint at B&Q John and Steve took Jaco to Bierley Hall Woods. We met up with them later.


Jaco enjoyed snuffling in the leaves and found a big stick (small log) to carry around for a bit. I did not really get a good picture of him with it in his mouth.
The holly bush was full of berries
and there was plenty of fungi at the base of this tree
If you read my facebook page you might have already found the spelling mistake on this notice

Despite living in Bradford for over 20 years now I had not visited this wood before.




Saturday 11 October 2014

Secret sewing.

I have been busy secretly sewing. My sister wanted a Christmas related wall hanging. Originally she wanted one that was mainly red and silver but fabric with just those colours was hard to come by. Green and silver yes, green and gold yes. So she gave me free range.

 I had several patterns to choose from and after much deliberating I used the santa and robin from a Christmas pattern by Stitch Witch and the Christmas Tree from Fun with Christmas Trees by Springwood House Designs



The snowman I drew my self

and the stocking and star were a template I had.


I made up the panels over the course of a few weeks among other things I was doing. Just before our   August holiday they were finished.  I switched them around many times and then decided to wait and look with a fresh eye when we came back.

 I purchased the background fabric from The Tabby Cat and everything else was found in my stash.

Here is the finished result

This is the back. Stitching from the small stars and robin's holly is covered by a small red bead.

I was really pleased with the result and was tempted to keep it. However it arrived safely on the Isle of Skye on Thursday and I received a phone call from Angela saying how much she liked it.




Friday 3 October 2014

Yarndale

Last Saturday we caught the train to Skipton to go to Yarndale.


Some people waited for the big red bus however we walked from  the station and the way was clearly marked with  bicycles decorated by local primary schools . There was a bit of a queue when we arrived but it moved quite quickly and we were soon inside.


Everywhere was decorated with bunting and it all looked very festive. Last year only half the venue was used and it was all a bit cramped but this year it was much more spread out and although it was crowded it was much better. We had a good look around before eating out packed lunch and then I had to make a decision about what I should buy. I decided that it must be things I would definitely get around to making. Most of the yarn is hand spun/dyed so it is more expensive than factory produced and I did not want to fritter my money on things that would sit in the cupboard for ages. ( That is a joke if you could see my cupboards!) So I went for small things like fingerless mitts and a hat,

an owl kit that when I got home did not have the yarn in but that has been rectified and some rather nice ceramics. As you can see there is a little bundle of fabric and it seemed a bit strange buying fabric at a yarn event but it was rather nice.

We saws some lovely angora bunnies
 soft sheep
and of course the alpacas.

I enjoyed it much more than last year. The organisers are to be commended and I am looking forward to next year. I must learn to crochet before then! And thanks to John for coming with me.