Glowing

There are few things better than taking the dogs out just as night falls and seeing a tiny speck of light shining in the grass

look a bit closer and you can see

a glow worm!  And once you've spotted one, you suddenly see them all!  Little glow worms (they are beetles really) with their lights shining brightly in their tails to catch the attention of the males which can be more than 50 yards away.  And I've just discovered that they feed on slugs so that has to be a bonus!

We really should get a night camera.  The other evening I received this email:

"Would you believe I am camping on your site busily sewing in the ends of a wall hanging for my son for his 50th. It is a Barn owl and a real one has just flown by. Magic"

I told her she absolutely had to bring the hanging up to the workshop the next day so we could all see it.

It really is stunning and Sandra told us she got the design from a book called Animal Quilts by Juliet van der heijden.

I hadn't realised that the last time I wrote this blog was when we returned from wonderful Wales.....well, quite a lot has been happening.

First we did the shearing with the help of friends

It only takes a couple of hours but it's very hard work

and they work up an appetite so afterwards they come up to the house for a full English breakfast!

Then Barney and Big Boy went off to have their hair cuts

so all the animals are ready for Summer.

We've been busy in the workshop - last week we did a dressmaking day and were amazed how much we accomplished.  We were all working from Merchant & Mills patterns

and I was very pleased with the Trapeze dress that I managed to make (except for the hem) by the end of the day!

and Ros also managed to practically finish her more complicated pattern

but we both agreed it would have been a far more painful process if Sandra hadn't been there!

Then this week Fay showed us her completed Antique Wedding Sampler

Such a beautiful quilt and I really didn't recognise it as the same quilt others in the group had made - the colours are so vibrant she's completely made it her own.

Sheila came down and showed us the Trip Around the World which she started at our workshop

and the Di Ford she has been working on (all hand-stitched)

 

Such beautiful colours!

Finally Denise had a word of warning for us.  When you have made a beautiful quilt top, celebrating your house in France, and decide to add one final border with perhaps a house on it

......don't ask your partner to draw up a picture of the house so you can sew it - it may present quite a challenge!

Wow - That Went Fast

I meant the last two months - not the last hour I spent trying to log on after I'd forgotten my password.

Anyway, I'm being bullied for not posting for so long, although, to be honest, I hadn't realised it had been so long.

What have I been up to?

Well, Pitch and Stitch has been busy - with some new faces which is always great, and the workshops have been busy.

We went to Malvern and marvelled at the Little Coxwell Quilters quilts - we are always saying it but we are so lucky to have Lynne Johnson as our teacher.

Then we had a visit from a very pregnant Victoria and the next day Jonathan and I went to St David's for our holiday and had a wonderful time.  The weather was amazing - so hot and sunny all week - we couldn't believe it. 

We stayed in a lovely little chapel just up from the coastal path

 

and went on a boat ride around Ramsay Island

and then walked around the island and heard seals singing and saw wild horses

Every evening we watched the sunset from the Jacuzzi

 

 

 and just had a wonderful time.  This being a Rabbitts holiday though, there had to be a downside.  The little chapel wasn't quite the luxury 'Luxury Cottages' promised us, so as well as other people's clothing in drawers, dirty pans, chewing gum on the bedside table, caravans along one side of the garden and the road to the coast on the other side, there were little bits of treasure left lying around for us to discover

But, they reimbursed us £100 of the £1100 cost so maybe that wasn't so bad, and Wales is such a beautiful place and we had such a wonderful time that it didn't spoil the holiday for us at all.

 

 

Then it was shearing time and because George was away we had to rope in the neighbours to help.  Here's Pat Murphy the trainer doing some excellent rolling

 

 

and Libby and Sophie working hard

 



The shearers are amazing

 

Then I was off down to Cornwall for my nephew's wedding which was lovely in a little Registry Office in Bude followed by a party in their local pub in Boscastle.  They loved the 'Underground Railroad' quilt I gave them

 

 

 

Then it was off to Jersey for Victoria's Baby Shower - baby's coming along nicely and we should be welcoming it into the world in the next three weeks

 

 

And of course, when I haven't been doing all this, like everyone else I've been watering, watering, watering!



Three Signs that Summer's Here!

The three following things that have occurred over the weekend mean that it is officially summer - hooray!

First of all a pan of Elderflower Cordial is waiting in the larder to be bottled up tomorrow.

Secondly......the sheep have been freed of their winter coats!

We finally had a few hours of dry weather yesterday afternoon so we drove all 250 sheep and their lambs into the barn.  They have to be dry, and have empty bellies when they are shorn (they drop dead during shearing if they are full).

The caravanners had hardly any sleep because of all the bleating, but they didn't seem to mind.

Then Tom and the Kiwi shearing with him arrived this morning at 7.00 and set up all their equipment - which includes a radio blaring out rock music.

Then they set to work

As each sheep was shorn Jonathan and Coco rolled up the fleeces

and packed them into the bags

 

 George kept the sheep moving along to have their turn, and sending their lambs out the other way

It's such hard, hot work

But worth it when you see the sheep all looking cool and happy in the field

So that was that - by midday Tom and Kiwi were on their way to the next farm, and 250 sheep and a farmer were feeling pretty good about life!

The third sign of Summer was what I saw in the grass when I took the dogs out

a lonesome little glow worm!  Hopefully there will be a gang of them soon.

 

Sky Arcs and Hirondelles

All these localised storms are causing us a lot of stress!  The sheep should have been sheared a while ago now, but every time we've arranged for the shearers to come, we have had rain storms and have had to postpone.  Ideally the sheep would be dry by the evening, we could get them in to overnight in the barn (they need to be shorn on empty stomachs) and then get the shearers over the next day.

The latest plan was to have them over tomorrow, but we have had showers off and on all day, so it's not going to happen.

The silver lining in all these showers are the rainbows, which I love.  And because we have Corentin over here from France, I know the French for rainbow is l'arc de ciel; our name for it is probably prettier.  I do like the French for Swallow though - Hirondelle!  - and I'm pleased to report that we have baby swallows in the front porch.

There was a marvellous double rainbow this evening, so I ran outside to take a photo:

it was too big to take with my camera, but then I noticed I could take a "panorama picture by consecutive 3 shots or less" - so I gave it a go:

Hmmm, something not quite right there - so I had another go:

Bit of practise needed, I think!

The flowers and greenery in the wet, evening sunlight looked beautiful

 

But my lovely roses have really taken a battering

 

Still, it's watering all the plants I planted out earlier this week, so it's not all bad.