Here Come the Girls!

It's officially Spring now and time to let the cows out of their winter home - always an exciting time.

The noise as they sense what's going on is deafening

but there has to be a bit of preparation before we let them out.  Any gaps they can get through that don't lead to the meadow have to be blocked

 

then the first lot are let out into the yard.  First one out

 

then we open the gates and - run for it girls!

Oops - if the calves don't keep up with their mums

                                              they tend to run the wrong way

 



but then they get it

Along towards the house

and then down to the meadow

Finally - lots of lush grass, sunshine, and space to roam!

 

Finally it's May!

Lambs are still being fed, we're still waiting for calves to be born, but May certainly has a softer feel to it after being buffeted around by April.  Jonathan and I are so tired that I put my foot down and insisted we go away for a week at the end of the month - so we have a week in Cornwall to look forward to.

We danced for May Day, which was good fun, and then I decided I really had to go up to the woods to see how the Bluebells are.  I had read my cousin Jen's blog (Freshwinds) where she took some lovely photos of the Bluebell woods in Sussex, so I took my camera with me.  I know the Bluebells up in Hashams are beautiful, but didn't have time for a long walk so I went up to Rogers Wood behind the house.

I wasn't disappointed; the Bluebells were beautiful:

On the way up I saw a clump of Cowslips on the edge of  the field which surprised me

 

and once I reached the top of the lane, the brooding sky over the acres of Rape looked stunning

I also saw loads of Dead Nettles,

which, my mother told me when I was little, was where the fairies kept their dancing shoes when they slept through the day!

 

Anyway, it was a very nice walk.

Today Pitch and Stitch was very busy, with Anthea making a girly quilt for her granddaughter

and Louise finishing the stitchery she started at our workshop

The crocheted edge really finished it off.

And finally Jackie showed us the Purple and silver quilt she is making for her nephew's wedding present - they chose the colours and the design is Kaffe Fassett - he's going to be the after dinner speaker when we go to the NEC in August.

It's all very well me going for walks to look at wild flowers - I really should go out right now and sort out my wild garden!



 

 

April Showers...and snow, and wind, and frost, and a Bit of Sunshine!

Well, April is really acting up this year.  We've had glowering skies

and snow

 

and cold wind and rain but luckily, in between, bits of lovely sunshine to walk out in.  Most days Millie and I get to walk alongside the paddocks and enjoy the sight of the lambs playing in the late afternoon sun

 

 

But a lot of us are feeling very tired, so it was nice to get some inspiration in the workshop today.  We welcomed Sheila back and hope she and Ron manage to come down to the caravan site a few more times this year!

Victoria and Ben are over from Jersey and it was lovely to see what Victoria has been working on.  She has used some software she has to make a cross stitch pattern for a picture of Maidencourt, and we were all astounded at her exceedingly intricate work which looked more like a photograph than stitching:

It's going to be stunning when she's finished but such tiny, tiny stitches!

Elsewhere in the workshop there was knitting, Anthea was working on her bag and showed me her carousel piecing,  Louise and Sally were quilting

Janet was working on her English Paper-pieced Hexagon quilt

 

Mikky's mum was admiring Louise's stitchery and listening to the chat (but mainly waiting till she could go and see the lambs)

 

and Jackie was working on her beautiful little smocked dress

Some really great work rewarded by a cake made by Micky of Simply Delish!

 

 

How Many Log Cabins?

Just a quick little post before I go out to give the lambs their evening feed and hopefully listen to George ringing the bells for the Queen's birthday at the same time!

We had such a tiny, but perfectly formed, workshop yesterday that I was able to crack on with the log cabin border of my Medallion Quilt.

The method we use is foundation piecing

because they make such precise blocks

and we had to make so many (I haven't counted), but I really think it makes a lovely border

Louise, who is relatively new to quilting, said that it seemed very complicated - the way I had to keep measuring and adding and taking away bit.  I reassured her that if I had followed the instructions properly from the start, it would have been much simpler.  Also, looking at this picture, there seems to be something dodgy happening in the corners, so some remedial work may be necessary!

Wehey! Hands-free!

After a very long two weeks, I am so pleased to announce that my lambs are now hands-free!

 

You really wouldn't believe how much easier this makes life.  I just pop the bottles in the racks, hang them on the side of the hurdles, and stand and watch them drink.  The most I have to do is nudge a lamb towards a spare teat if she's trying to barge in on another one.  Of course I still have to wash the bottles and mix up the milk from the powder, but, honestly, that's nothing to having to feed each lamb one after the other.

 

Things are brightening up!

Sunshine and sewing

Well, on a beautiful, sunny morning like today I don't mind going out to feed the lambs at all!  Four of them can manage feeding off the rack now which makes things so much easier - and, since I'm back at work on Monday, I hope all eight will be able to do it because I can't see George or Jonathan sitting out there feeding them one by one!

So, whilst the sunshine is all mine, the sewing isn't.  By the time we get to sit down in the evening I can't do much more than a line of knitting, so I don't have anything to show.

I was really pleased though, to receive from Julie a photo of her folk art hanging she started at our workshop:

I think it looks lovely.

And then Carole sent me a photo of all her Antique Sampler blocks laid out and ready to put together:

So beautiful.  Now we are holding two Lynne Johnson classes each month, we have plenty of spaces at the beginning of the month if anyone feels inspired to join us.  We always have a lot of fun putting the world to rights and look what we achieve at the same time!

Life Goes On

This has been a very difficult week for East Garston, with the funerals of three wonderful local characters who will truly be missed.

However, life has to go on.

People who have been reading this blog for a while will remember this picture of my pet lambs, Mabel and Lucy, sheltering from a summer shower in the chicken house:

Well, now I'm bottle feeding Lucy's latest triplet (she could only cope with twins)

But that's not the only one

There are so many that George thought I might need a hand

They always make me think of piranha fish they way they swarm around trying to get milk from anywhere:

 

 

And at four times a day this makes for quite a lot of work.  However, once they get used to the bottle, and three of them are already, I can feed them from a rack that makes life much easier.

Meanwhile, they are nice and snug in their little house, safe from the cold wind and any hungry foxes.