The Other Side

Well - so, here we are: the other side of the Big Day.
First I should thank everyone for being so patient regarding my Wedding Brain in the lead up to The Big Day!! - it was hard to think of anything else really.  All went well though with very few hiccups - and thanks to Sandra for racing out for the Order of Services at 4.45pm the evening before!

Here are some photos:

The seating plan!

In the Marquee - Victoria cross-stitched all the table names

Mr and Mrs Pickersgill leaving the church

And, of course, there had to be Morris Dancing!

All very lovely - but back to normal life now.  Victoria is back from her mini-moon and packing for her move to Jersey when she finishes her course in Oxford in 5 weeks' time.  We are back from our wonderful few days in Cardigan Bay (we climbed up the legendary Angel Mountain) and I have four more mouths to feed here - baby chicks hatched last night.

Life goes on.................

A Very busy Week

The Hot Cross Buns are in the oven so I thought I'd take a couple of minutes to update this following a very busy week!


The Market Square Quilters' Exhibition last week went really well!  There were some beautiful quilts on display - really inspiring - and we had a stand for Lorne Hill Farm Workshops.  Lots of people stopped by and we met lots of people keen to start making quilts so I hope they are brave enough to head out here to the Lambourn Valley!


Our Stand

 

 

 

I thought the Christmas Corner looked lovely:

 

Then on Tuesday we had a lovely Pitch and Stitch morning:

 

 Jacqui and her Clare Kingslake Satchel

 

Dawn loom-knitted another woolly bobble hat

 

Then on Wednesday it was the willow weaving workshop with Alan Hulford:

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone had such a lovely day and made some brilliant things.  Victoria made willow hearts for her bridesmaids to carry - other people made hearts, spheres, wreaths and even growing frames:

 

A big thank you to Alan for teaching everyone a great new skill.

Hot Cross Buns are out now, so I'm off to check that they taste alright!!

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

Here we go again!

Well, it started with one:

And the little puddle under him is why I insisted he go outside.
Then George brought in the tiniest little thing which I didn't expect to last more than his first night - but here he is:

Happy as Larry.

Then two more appeared, and when I got back at lunchtime there were a total of six.....they think they can sneak them in!

 

So that's four feeds a day for the next few weeks at least - still, at least I get help with the crossword!

 

 

And the reason I was out this morning? - It's rolled around again,  The Market Square Quilters Exhibition.  I was helping set up and there are really some lovely quilts there - and Sandra and I of course, chatting about our workshops!

 

 

Come along!



Lambing

It's all go around here!
We started lambing last weekend and they are popping out thick and fast!

Minutes old.....



 

Finally found what they were looking for!

 

 

Last night I was walking a couple of lambs and their mum down to the paddock (once they've lambed we bring them closer to the house for a day - not always so easy) when I heard a burp next to me.  I looked around and a big old ewe looked me in the eye and gave another burp.  "Is that you Lucy?", I said and she came up for a stroke and then went on her way.

 

Five years ago I bottle-fed Lucy and Mabel for months.  When they got bigger, but weren't yet weened, we moved them to the chicken paddock.  One day in July there was quite a heavy rain shower, and I happened to look out.

 

I wondered why all the chickens were out, and took a closer look:

 

Lucy (on the right), and Mabel were not stupid - why get wet when there is a perfectly nice little house to sit in?



 

Time is running out.....

Very busy couple of days quilting - lovely to see Sheila down here again, staying on the caravan site and joining us for sewing!

Sandra spent most of this morning giving me instructions on what we should be doing at the MSQ Quilt Exhibition - I thought it was about a month away but actually it's only a couple of weeks - and I haven't got one finished quilt to exhibit!! Therefore, forget about the wedding, I have to quilt, quilt, quilt!

Lynne's Yoko Saito workshop was great fun - quite a crowd:

Hmmm - and Sandra was busy I see:

Sandra brought Dolly over so we took her and Reuben out for a run - they had a great time and got on really well

 

And last week we finally started calving - so much later than usual due to the TB restrictions last Autumn.  Still, it seems to be going well

 



and Jonathan and George are keeping busy!

Hard at work with the sunshine on their backs!

Hexagons

Just a few minutes to spare before pitch and stitch so I thought I'd do an update -this time tomorrow I'll be rushing around like a March Hare because we have a full class to start the Yoko Saito town quilt so better crack on.

We had a lovely day working on hexagons last Wednesday - English paper piecing, no machines, all chat!  There were a lot of ideas being discussed about the different things the little hexagon 'flowers' would become - very inspiring!

And Carole and Toni were using the satchels they made in the Clare Kingslake class:

I was, of course, still working on the same old stuff - really need to get my mojo back:

Messy, messy, messy.

When I took Reuben round the house the other night for his mini-walk after supper, I was struck by the fact that from the back of the house I saw this:

and from the front this was the view:

 

Quite beautiful really.

Just had to add this.  Doriana won a funky bag in a raffle and brought it along to Pitch and Stitch to show us.  I found the care instructions inside:

I don't know how easy it is to read this but it's so funny.  Reminded me of when I used to translate documents in Italy - at 3.00am anything makes sense!!

For Whom the Bell Tolls.....

I just took Reuben outside for his post-dinner charge around the garden, and realised I was listening to George ringing the church bells!  He's been going every Friday evening since Christmas and recently I asked him if he would be playing on Sunday.  He said "Why would I?  I don't want to get up early for that".  So I asked "well, what's the point in you learning then ?"and he said "For Victoria's wedding of course!"
It sounded quite good!
We had a beautiful, sunny day today which lifted everyone's spirits.  And the night before last there was a beautiful sunset

I am afraid I have been so busy recently during the day (working on the house in preparation for the wedding) and going out most evenings that I haven't done much sewing, but I have some pictures of Jackie's work.  She made a lovely birthday cushion for her step-mother:

 

All the pictures relate to her life: her house in front of Ben Nevis, her dog, the Edinburgh Tattoo, the poppies she supports, her (very delicious) luxury chocolates she makes.

 

 

And then there's the elephant she's made for her grand-daughter out of her very first baby-grows - so sweet, and what a lovely idea:

Okay - maybe I should go and work on that quilt now!