Missing in action.....

Gosh, where have the last couple of weeks gone? Well, it's been a bit mad around here of late, what with courses going on, orders coming in, and a nice little break to Edinburgh.



So, what have we been up to? The knitting course was fab, Karen did a great job and we all had a lovely day blethering away to the sound of clacking needles. As usual I forgot to take photos (taking part and playing hostess isn't the easiest you know!) so you can see us in action over on Karen's blog here.

Then we had the needle felting course the following week with Katie, 6 lovely ladies came along to learn how to needle felt and all made a really cute little angel. I have to admit to getting a rather warm fuzzy feeling inside while watching everyone felting away, all quite content (with lots of tea and cake!) and learning a new craft. There is something quite special about promoting crafts and seeing everyone go home rather pleased with their creation from the morning, plus rather sore arms from all the needle jabbing into wool tops!

Gregg and I then took ourselves off to Edinburgh for the night as we were attending these awards. Friends were finalists for a couple of awards and had invited us along to join them, we had a wonderful night with scrumptious food, great company and then a rather plush hotel to return to. We battled George Street in the wind and rain on Saturday and I at last made it to the Cath Kidston shop, believe me, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

So, back down to earth with a rather large bump this week, back to the sewing as deadlines are looming........

Happy Tuesday.

L x

Just had to show you this....

My two crazy sisters made me this cute little video of Milly as a thank you for her. My sister Nicola is holding Milly and talking, and my youngest sister Zoe (whom Milly was a birthday pressie for!) is doing the filming!

Points of note, check out my sisters groovy ears ;) she really is a crazy cat. "Betty" cleaning in the background is a referral to my mum, we all call her Big Betty ( her Sunday name is Elizabeth) but Big Betty has stuck, and she loves to clean. Unfortunately this gene hasn't been transfered down to me, so I hate it when she comes to visit as I know she has the white gloves on....!!

Enjoy!

L xx

P.S. Remember to turn the sound up!

A Birthday this week

Can't believe it's Thursday tomorrow, where has the week gone? The Chicken Keeping course went fantastically well on Sunday (apart from the rain in the afternoon!). My nerves soon disappeared once we got going, a great bunch of folk that all got on great. So, more Chicken Keeping courses will be planned for the next year, probably Spring and Autumn, so do let me know if you're interested. Herbaceous Gardening course this weekend which is fully booked, so really looking forward to it.



As if Sunday hadn't been a busy enough day, we then tootled up to a friends to pick up a birthday pressie for my youngest sister Zoe. It's her 16th Birthday tomorrow and I had a big surprise planned for her. Things have been pretty tough for us as a family lately, my dad is in the final stages of cancer, so I thought it would be great to treat Zoe to something she has wanted for such a long time.

So, on Sunday night, this little lady came to stay with us ...........

I had the pleasure of looking after her on Sunday night and Monday, before I took her down the road to her new home, it was just delightful. She kept me company in the studio, climbing up my leg and falling asleep on my knee while I worked at the sewing machine :) And played with a piece of string and climbed up a customers leg too........!

She slept all the way down the road while we listened to KT Tunstall......and then a quick phone call to my other sister when I was just around the corner ensured that Zoe was in her bedroom, eyes closed and wondering what on earth was going on! I sneaked in and put little Milly on her knee, Zoe screamed and then burst into tears, as did my mum!!! It was such a sweet moment that I'll never forget.

She has settled in well, after one sleepless night for Zoe as she was kept awake by someone pawing at her hair all night wanting to play.....! Right now I think I may well be the best big sister in the world ;)

Life is never dull around here, great friends coming to visit tomorrow, little Inky Monster (my little boyfriend) is coming to entertain me tomorrow with his wee brother Ian. So the house has been polished, hoovered and floors mopped (doesn't happen very often!!!) and mass baking and cooking will be done tomorrow morning. Can't wait.

Shall report back tomorrow on all the frivolities!

L x

Strathardle Gathering

This weekend is the annual Strathardle Gathering over in Kirkmichael, we've gone for the last couple of years since moving up here and have always had a fantastic day. This year I am entering some of the competitions in the Indutrial Tent. Now, for those in the know this is very competitive, it's the ladies opportunity to fluff up their feathers and show who's Queen of the Kitchen, Garden and Crafts!!!

I am on the Ladies Committee for the Alyth Show, our local agricutural show, and was lucky enough to be able to accompany a judge this year, so picked up quite a few tips here and there.

So, for the next couple of evenings I shall be busy getting my list of entries together, a little bit of baking, some jam making, some flower arranging, picking my veggies and making some bits and pieces for the craft section. I'm not entering loads in each section as I simply don't have the time. It always amazes me how some folk have entries in nearly every section, I take my hat off to them. But then if you're serious about this (which clearly I'm not!) you have to enter loads in order to be in with a chance to win any of the cups as it's all based on points!

I'm really looking forward to entering my veggies, funnily enough, that's the section that I'm entering the most in! I know of a few people who are entering in this section so there's going to be lots of competition this year. One of our neighbours entered for the first time last year and won the cup so the pressure is really on for him this year, good luck Geordie!

In the flower aranging section I'm (hopefully) entering a jug of sweetpeas and a vase of garden flowers. Now, our garden isn't looking the greatest at the moment as I'm still battling with our very wet borders and the rain this year really hasn't helped. So, thanks to John (my gardening guru) I'm hopefully going to be able to get some flowers from his garden tomorrow. We do have some fabulous Dahlia and other bits and pieces so I'm thinking a nice warm coloured arrangement will look really good. One of our other neighbours is the champion of this section so Saturday is going to be an interesting day!

I'll post some pictures once it's all over and let you know how I get on, wish me luck!

L x

The month that was February!

Well, February has been and gone and we're well into March now.......where has the time gone? It was a busy month, so much happened........

I met up with this lovely lady for a day in Glasgow, we had great fun shopping for fabric and trimmings, I took her to VV Roleaux.......need I say any more!

I received this amazing gift in the post, not only is she a great friend she's a very talented lady - could you whizz up one of these in a weekend?

A friend recommended her hairdresser at Christmas time when I commented on how lovely her hair was, so I went and got a new hair cut, 5" off as I hadn't had it cut for over a year, very drastic but I'm now getting used to it. I'm not a fan of going to the hairdressers but I think I'll go back again...!

The reason behind the hair cut was because we were going to a christening here and a wedding here, a post about this will follow as I've got so much to tell you all about it!

It was a busy month with work too, lots of sewing for Valentines orders and lots of shop orders winging their way out of the workroom.

We've also been busy with the studio - what do you think so far then?

Ooh and it was also my birthday on March 1st, my mum and my two sisters came and visited for the day and then we had friends round for supper. Gregg cooked, Greek lamb with lemons and feta, I made pud, marmalade ice cream and chocolate brownies - good food and good company, what more could a girl want?!

So, now that I'm back out of hibernation I shall do the cushion draw tonight and post the winner tomorrow.

See you all then!

L x

P.S. Hope you like the spring cleaned look of the blog!

Fun in the snow

Friday's fun in the snow was make or break day. I had to decide whether to stick with snowboarding, give it up and try skiing again (I've not been on skis since I was a teenager) or just give up the whole snowsports thing, because constantly snowballing down a hill just isn't my idea of fun....

So, what was it to be then? You can probably tell from the smile.........

I'm sticking with the snowboarding, I was pretty much linking my turns ( where you turn the board from edge to edge in order to snake down the hill) by the end of the most amazing day I've ever had on the slopes. You see, for those of you that aren't into this mad sport where you throw yourself down a hill strapped to a very slidy board, it's not easy. I have struggled with it for years, and only getting a smattering of days a year at it probably doesn't help. It looks really simple when you see others doing it, but building up the confidence to point the board straight down the hill in order to turn from side to side is not for the faint hearted. Physically having to lean your body down the hill, rather than naturally lean back into the hill is a tricky thing to get your head round, but I'm getting there....

On Friday, I had my determined head on, took loads of snowball like tumbles, but came up smiling every time, more and more determined to crack it. There were no tears ( a first for me ) but lots of bruises, and I have to say the impact shorts and wrist guards are worth their weight in gold. If there's anyone reading this and thinking about taking up the mad mountain sport I would thoroughly recommend you buy yourself some.

We had a perfect day of blue sky weather, amazing snow conditions, and we spotted loads of wildlife, Snow Buntings, Black Grouse, stags and white mountain hares. It made me realise why I truely love living up here, to have all of this on our doorstep really is quite breathtaking, lets just hope it lasts......

On the sewing front, I'm busy getting orders finished that weren't essential for Christmas, making up samples for the new Spring collection and off to visit a new stockist tomorrow. So it's a busy week, but we'll maybe try and squeeze in a bit more snowboarding if the weather's good.....

L xx

A fab weekend

Well, we're onto the last push this week, it's more mad sewing for our Open Day this Saturday (all welcome if you're in the area). We had a fab time at The Green Gallery Fair this weekend, we were beside some lovely stalls in the conservatory, it always helps when you've got nice "neighbours" at these things.

I love the fact that quite a lot of bartering goes on between the stall holders, I did swaps with Emma of Pumpkin Sputnik who was next to me, she makes the most fabulous stationery, have a look at her site. We're hopefully going to work on a project together some time next year.......

We were also kept well fed and constantly tempted by The Cookroom, the most delicious range of cakes, all gluten and wheatfree. The Fair was their first weekend of trading so I really hope they do well in the future.

I also got to meet the lovely Jane Keith, the sister of my friend Sara Keith, both extremely talented textile artists. Jane was there with her fabulous range of hand printed and painted silk ties, I think we're planning on doing swaps too, she loves our dotty aprons and is getting one of our dotty door stops for her Christmas..........!

Right, must get on, loads to do this week, plus the house looks like a bomb has hit it, so a fair bit of tidying will be required before Saturday.........!

Bye for now,

L xx

P.S. the pictures are of Katies gorgeous felt jewellery, it flew off the stall this weekend. x

A gardening day

Inspired was how I felt yesterday, truly inspired. I came home and made a list of seeds and plants to buy for next year. Where did this inspiration come from I here you ask? Well, earlier this year I joined a gardening group and yesterday was a day out nosying at other folks gardens, bliss!

We visited two gardens, both close to home, so coffee and cake was provided here at Mill of Fyall in between visits. The fact that it was a gorgeous day helped too mind.

The first garden was large and terraced, the views across the valley were quite amazing. The borders were filled with stunning roses, an abundance of clematis, aswell as many other beauties. Every time you turned there was a different scent lingering in the air.

The second garden took my breath away, the owner, a garden designer, has a little piece of paradise on her door step, I could have stayed in that garden forever. Quite formal, but flowing effortlessly, your eye was constantly pulled on to the next episode of the story and your nose was tickled with the scents of sweet peas, lilies and more delectable roses.

So, a rather large list was made last night, Sarah Raven here I come!

L x

P.S. If you fancy a cosy country break, the second garden that we visited has holiday lets, have little peak here.

Harris & Lewis

As promised more photos of the holiday. We started our little island hopscotch by sailing over to Harris, one of the most spectacular places on earth. As we drove to the south of the island to spend our first night in the sweetest little B&B ever, all we could do was soak up the amazing scenery of one golden beach after the other.

An evening stroll along Scarista beach

Sorrel Cottage B&B, Leverburgh, a stunningly simple, home from home place to rest your head, made even more special by the lovely warm welcome from it's owner Paula.

Flying the kite on Luskentyre beach, Harris.

Luskentyre is also home to Luskentyre Harris Tweed Company, we had a great chat with Donald, who showed us his workroom, the weaving loom and how it worked. He designed and produced the Harris tweed that was used for the limited edition Nike trainer back in 2004. On looking out of his shop window I asked him where he got his inspiration from, but kind of knew I was looking at it, the aquas of the sea, the golden sands, the pale blue skye and the amazing colours of the machair.

The view from our first nights campsite, at Cliff on the West coast of Lewis. This patch of harebells just gently bobbed in the sea breeze.

Our second nights campsite on the beach at Garenin, the blackhouse village, a conservation village of traditional blackhouses, some of which have been turned into a hostal. There is also a wonderful museum set up as to how the house would have been originally, (another) Donald weaves all day demonstrating to visitors in the weaving shed, and then through in the kitchen there are demostrations of spinning, making oatcakes and the day we were there how to make butter. Theres also a superb little tearoom selling good coffee and great homebaking!

Donald weaving Harris Tweed.

Butter making with a roaring fire in the background.

Looking down through the black village.

Callanish Standing stones.

Feeding the pigs at the Callanish Visitor Centre - really nice little place that do a great bowl of soup, coffee and cake!

Uig Sands, a gorgeous big stretch of sands of Lewis.

Surfers at Dalmore beach, this was probably my favourite beach, a little cove of golden sands, aqua sea and great waves - ooh how I wish I'd had a surf board! It was so hot I ended up sunbathing for the afternoon, stripped down to my bra and my jeans rolled up as there was hardly anyone else there!

We spent our last night on Harris camping at Scarista beach, shown in the first photo. We sat down on the sands with a bottle of wine and watched the sun set (more photos but taken in a different format, will show them later!). It was such a beautiful night, not a single soul on the huge stretch of beach, then, all of a sudden what pops up in front of us but two dolphins! They gave us the pleasure of watching them play for a good five minutes, you can't pay for scenery like that. It just rounded off our first few days perfectly, we were off to The Uists the next day, once we'd seen a bit of the east coast of Harris. I have to admit I was looking forward to a soft bed and a good shower, our second night of B&B....

More to follow on the Uists next week, see you all soon.

L x

The Easter Weekend

Easter has come and gone in a bit of a whirl wind in our house this weekend, but a very enjoyable one! From the first visitors arriving on Friday morning until yesterday afternoon, the kettle was working overtime! It was lovely to see all our friends and family over the weekend, so thank you all for taking the time to come and visit.

Hasn't the weather just been superb, I can't remember the last Spring we had that has been this glorious, and by all means it's to last for the rest of the week, fingers crossed! We've even had to start watering the pots!

We managed to get a few things done outside, Gregg and Allan felled a tree on Friday morning, don't boys just love playing with chain saws and making lots of noise!

In between visitors I managed to get this made.....

........I have been looking forward to this moment for sooooooooooooooo long! This time last year we started off with 5 chickens, a cockerel and 2 geese. We now have a bit of a menagerie, producing loads of eggs and hopefully some little chicks soon. We have a couple of broody chooks so we're planning on setting them on some eggs this weekend, very exciting, as our attempts last year were a bit late in the day and didn't produce anything. We also have more interesting news on the poultry front but I'll keep that for tomorrow.

At last I have passed the "planning" stage of the veggie garden and have progressed to the "just get on with it" stage! I got my first lot of potatoes in yesterday, early Duke of Yorks, and planted sweetpea seeds, varieties "Matucana" and "Painted Lady". I also got a tub of basil seeds planted so that'll be interesting to see how they come along. Only about another 20 packets of seeds to go now..............

Hope you all enjoyed your Easter break too.

L x

Mass baking

Last night I took myself off into the kitchen to have a mass baking session. I love baking, especially when it involves using up lots of our free range eggs. So, I asked the birthday boy (Gregg) what kind of cakes he would like for his birthday as I was planning on making him one to have tonight and one to take into the office with him today. The request was for a carrot cake and a sponge cake and I also suggested I'd make him a tray of mars bar crispie cake as he rather likes that too.When we were at the CL Fair last week he kept pestering me for mini eggs as I'd made some little jars of treats - jam jars filled with mini eggs with a fabric lid, tied with a ribbon and a cute little hand written tag. Like last year they sold really well and we also had a little bowl of eggs on the counter for people to help themselves to, quite a nice little touch I thought. So he knew I had a bag stashed in one of the boxes but I wouldn't tell him where they were as I knew he'd eat them all! I'm such a spoil sport aren't I?!! So I've made him what looks very much like an Easter cake for his birthday to make up for my stingyness last week! It's just a simple victoria sponge with home made strawberry jam in the middle and pink butter cream icing on the top, not quite sure what he'll think of that little touch!!

As promised, here are some photos of the pots that I did for display at the fair, just another little touch that I though looked rather sweet dotted around the stall. So many people asked if they were for sale and there were nearly a few flower heads pulled off as people were convinced they were artificial - really, what next?

Birthday boy and I are are heading out tonight, we thought we'd head down to Dundee for a bite to eat, we've been recommended to go to a Turkish restaurant, so we might give that a bash.

Speak to you all tomorrow!

L x