Our little parliament of owls grew significantly at Christmas .........
........ the beautiful card on the left was given to us by Maureen - she had bought it at the German market in Edinburgh specially for us. The painted owl at the front, and the wooden owl behind it were from Meredithe - the wooden owl has little holes in it for cross stitching, but I think I will work it with long and short stitch to look like feathers. Malcolm gave me the tin - it had sweets in it, which were soon eaten, and now contains pins. And keeping all the little ones in order is a large fabric owl, which matches a little one on the yucca. I had seen the big one in Sainsbury's before Christmas, but couldn't really justify buying it - but then after Christmas it was reduced to £2, so, of course it came home with me.
Malcolm gave me this tiny kit - I have put my 6" ruler behind it to show how small it is
it really does contain everything you need to knit the bootees - a tiny pattern book, yarn, stitch markers, pink and blue ribbon, darning needle ...... and the tiniest circular needle that I have ever seen!
Malcolm also added to my button and bead stash, and the lovely brooch on the card will look good on my new cardigan
when we were at Stitchin' Heaven before Christmas, I couldn't show you one of the things I came home with, as it was my big Christmas present from Malcolm. It is the pattern for the amazing Mrs Billings quilt. I first saw the quilt on Meredithe's blog (and when I spent the day at her house in October 2012, I was actually allowed to touch her award winning Mrs Billings), and when Anne decided to order the pattern for the shop, I immediately put my name down for one
this detail shows the centre of the quilt
the pattern comes with a set of templates and ten packets of tiny hexagons (I've just shown one here) - a total of 1,000 hexagons! I am keeping them in this fabulous tin, which was full of my favourite toiletries (half-price in the post-Christmas sales!)
there are twenty five pages of instructions, as well as several pages of detailed photos of the sections of the quilt, so I invested in a folder and poly pockets to keep them in order. I will now have to decide on a colour scheme, and start collecting fabrics
in the back garden, I noticed some dwarf narcissi
buds on the hellebore (which flowers at random times throughout the year)
new growth on the climbing rose on the pergola
and on one of the clematis
in the front garden, daffodils are through in a sheltered corner
the honeysuckle is flowering
and there are a few buds on the climbing rose!
I started with owls, and I am going to finish with a sparrowhawk! I was sitting in the lounge reading, when I glanced out of the window. There, on the grass, was a sparrowhawk tucking into a sparrow. Fortunately the camera was on the table beside me. The first photos have the bird feeders in the top corner, as I didn't want to risk moving
I then moved very slowly across the room to get a better angle
Malcolm was out in the back garden, so I wennt out to tell him about the sparrowhawk, and we tip-toed round to the front garden ........ but it had gone. Fortunately it had taken the remains of the sparrow with it!
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