The joys of country life.

Just thought I'd quickly pop in and say hello, it's been a busy week, can't believe it's Friday already! In between the showers, I've been taking lots of photos of new products. Today Nicola (the elf!) and I set up a cute little photo shoot with the pottery, as the photos I had weren't the greatest. I'm really pleased with the results so I must get the website updated, another job to add to the list!

And the dreaded "C" word is being banded about here already........

We (Gregg) had a bit of a nasty deed to do this week, you'd better not read on if you're of a delicate nature..... The other day, while taking photos, I happened to look over to the chicken run and noticed one of our little bantam hens lying on the ground looking like she was having a fit. When I got over to her I knew exactly what had happened. Her feathers were wet and she was in a bit of a mess, the drakes (male ducks) had attacked her. I think they may have broken her neck. She was beyond saving, so for the first time ever I had to despatch one of our chickens, not the nicest job, but unfortunately one that goes hand in hand with chicken keeping.

So, the two drakes were despatched last night and will be slow cooked this weekend in a casserole. The four remaining ducks seemed a bit lost this morning, but there did appear to be a bit more harmony in the hen house. I think we've done the right thing.......

I let you know how the casserole tasted.........:)

Enjoy your weekend.

Lx

The view from my desk....

Glorious sunshine, sitting out on the deck outside the studio. Listening to the babbling burn, ducks quacking, and hens clucking away. The wonders of wireless broadband allows me to work on-line, what more could a girl want!

Even though it was a wet and miserable weekend the opening was fun, it's lovely to have the studio back in working order and looking very smart even if I do say so myself! The deck is almost finished, just the balastrade and rope to go around the edge and that's us, another project finished at last.

Photos of inside shall follow this week. Hope you're all having a lovely sunny one like us.

L x

The madness....

The deck is nearly finished, Gregg is still out there working at nearly 10pm......

The studio had a mass blitz on Friday, one half is tidy, the other half is like a bombsite.......

The list of stock I still have to make is rather large, hmmm.........

But, the tablet is made (I delegated that one!) and the lemons and sugar are ready to be made into old fashioned lemonade.........

Do you think we'll be ready by Friday at about 11am? Did I tell you we were opening for the season then? Come and join us if you're in the area.........

L xx

A lovely new blog to visit....

.....pop over and say hello to Rebecca at POLKADoT Farm, a fab blog about life on her and her husbands farm in rural Stirlingshire. I met Rebecca a couple of years ago at a Christmas Fair we were both selling at, it's lovely to see her here in blogland.

Image is a toadstool keyring, one of last years big sellers and making a return this year in many more products! x

Stuffing & handsewing

I'm a real Friday loving girl, the weekend is about to start, I deliver the eggs in the village, Fridays just buzz along nicely. Today, I decided to stuff and handsew some of this weeks production, seeing as there was a rather large pile of it mounting up.

We open up for the summer two weeks today, as usual I'm leaving it all to the last minute! The studio looks like a bomb has hit it and needs a major tidy and move around, there's still pine needles on the floor from the Christmas tree...........the next couple of weeks are going to be busy.

Seeing as I feel I know my customers quite well I decided to start making lots of what I know sells well, so lavender bags were the order of the day today in the handsewing. Next week I'll get making some other new pieces, which I'm rather looking forward to.

We're off for the weekend, back down the road to visit friends and family, we're both looking forward to it as it'll be our last weekend off for a while. For the next few weeks it'll be all hands on deck, literally......Gregg has started on the deck outside the studio and has promised me it'll be finished for us opening back up in May.......fingers crossed eh!

Happy weekend. I'm off to put eggs in boxes. xx

Bumblebees & Swallows

I've been watching out for them for the past couple of weeks, then they arrived on Sunday, one week earlier than last year. Don't you just love it when the swallows arrive? Although they do say one swallow doesn't make a summer......?

My Papa keeps a diary, he has done for as long as I can remember, but not the sort with Dentist and Doctors appointments, nope, he records nature and and it's goings on throughout the year. I must have taken it from him as I've become a bit of a recorder of dates too. We also have lots of House and Sand Martins too, they've been with us for about a month. I love sitting watching them all swooping and diving, filling the sky with their magical dance.



We've also had an abundance of bumblebees this year, has everyone else found that? There's been some huge bumbles bobbing about in the garden, they obviously survived the winter well.


The cherry blossom tree was buzzing with them when in flower over Easter weekend, such a lovely site. So it's not really surprising that they've began popping up in this years designs, don't you just love being inspired by nature? x



P.S. Thank you for all the congratulations on our news, we're both so excited, 2009 is going to be one heck of a year! xxx

Easter bunny a week late

On Friday morning I opened the porch door to find our ginger tom parading around a helpless little baby bunny cowering in the corner. After an initial squeek from me at the thought of having to put little bunny out of it's misery, I picked him up and checked him over for any gashes/bits missing, thankfully there were none and he seemed to be in good health other than being a bit stressed.

Thankfully Nicola works with me on a Friday so she kindly took some photos of me and little bunny before we returned him to the burrow where I thought he'd probably come from down the road. I was very tempted to keep him but Gregg said a firm "no", we have enough on our plate at the moment without adding to the menagerie!

And yes, for those of you wondering, I have a "bump" rather than a fat middle, we're due in October. Just to add more chaos to the madness.....x

Back to it

After a lovely Easter break it's back to the grindstone, sew, sew and a bit of sowing! We had a lovely time with family and friends over the last few days, lots of good fun and some really special moments. So it's back to it in the Studio, Nicola is back helping me again as we're opening for the season on Friday 8th May. This year, due the extension build, we're only opening 2 days a week, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am - 4pm. I'm terrible for biting off more than I can chew and this year I'm having to be a bit more sensible about things, so I think two days a week will be more than enough as I have a feeling builders and customers together could be a bit of a recipe for disaster!!!

So, over the next few weeks you'll get little sneak previews of the new collection for this year, and you never know I might even venture back into the world of wholesale seeing as we're only open two days a week........we'll see how it goes.

I'll leave you with some rather cute photos of the highland cows living up the road from us, they are so adorable.

Hope the sun is shining where ever you are.

L x

An impromtu break....

Sorry, a bit of a break in blogland there.....we had a lovely and much needed break up north a couple of weekends ago and then time just seemed to disappear. A bit of research for a rather important bit of kit for the extension was done here, and just general chilling out with lots of wonderful beach walks. Little Miss Moss was in her element splashing in and out of the sea.....

So, it's back to the grindstone with a rather busy and exciting week ahead.....and then family visiting for Easter.

See you soon,

L x

Sunny days

The last couple of days have been absolutely glorious, real spring sunshine with a warmth that gets the washing on the line perfectly dry!

Today I planted my garlic and red onion sets, a little bit late, but hopefully they'll produce something, it was just so good to get outside and working away in the garden again.

Yesterday two friends came round to organise our application for the Perthshire Open Studios event which we're taking part in again this year. Between the three of us we'll have a really varied selection of work, from painting and photography to textiles and ceramics, plus we've decided to do a produce table as we should all have spare cut flowers, veg and eggs, something for everyone hopefully!

What I really enjoyed yesterday was having the support of others and not the usual "having to do everything myself, therefore it gets done at the last minute in a bit of a panic". I think that's why I've enjoyed doing all of the fairs over the last couple of years with Katie, the company and the shared responsibility makes all the difference, even though we are both separate businesses yet working together.

I really hope this great weather continues, wouldn't it be wonderful.......

L x