Cherry Blossom Time!

I love the cherry blossom but it's so fragile.... a puff of wind and it's gone!!

Just Beautiful!!!

New Blog address!

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Pony Circles!

You've heard of crop circles....these are pony circles????

It's that time of year when the ponies love to have a roll and scratch that itch! They need to get rid of all that hair which kept them warm over the freezing cold winter but is now making them hot and itchy!

This is Fieron with Rosie who's enjoying being brushed so much she is falling asleep!

The hair comes out in handfulls at this time of year!

Having a cuddle!

Fizz is loosing handfulls too...bad choice of jacket Kyle

My Experience as a 'Stunt Quilter'!

I have finished my stint as a 'Stunt Quilter'!

This is how my project arrived!

This is one of many panels being quilted by different people (both in the UK and US), to cover a Yurt, a mongolian tent!

This was my thread choice!

I have only quilted this one panel (30 x 54 inches) which was pieced by Linzi Upton the project owner...Linzi has made and quilted over 50% of the project herself... All the panels are linked by colour and fabric but all of the designs are different....these panels will cover the sides of the yurt with tweed panels to cover the roof!

The Yurt will be on show by Linzi at the Loch Lomond Quilt Show here in Scotland and may also go over to the US!

There were many firsts:-

First colaboration..

First gold lame..had to deal with the issues of skipped stitches and broken thread

First use of a (Barbara Chainey) stencil, embellished

First time 'Stunt Quilter'!

The finished project!

'I just love the back of quilts'!

Being spring in the Scottish Borders there are lots of pressures on your time, I needed to get the panel finished to move on to other things, if I'd had more time to spend, I may have done somethings differently....but hey... you take something away from every quilt!

Now that it's finished I find it was an enjoyable experience...lol...!

I haven't posted it back to Linzi yet as she is still living it large in the US after MQX, something about volcanoes, cancelled flights and backlog????

First Foal of the Season!

This is Honey with our first foal of the season born 15/04/2010...he's a colt!!

Honey is a real honey!  We have had her for about 5 years...3 years ago she lost her own foal during a bad birth but she went away to foster a foal over in the west of Scotland and she did a brilliant job!

Then 2 years ago Honey's foal was about a month old when unfortunately we had to have another mare, Tina put to sleep, (somehow Tina had managed to break her leg and nothing could be done)....Tina had given birth to a foal around the same time as Honey....believe it or not Honey just took that foal and reared it alongside her own ...no one asked her to take that foal...they looked just like they were twins... it was a wonderful site to see!!!

This is a photo of Honey with Amber, her own foal and Topaz her foster foal in 2008!

I'm a Winner!

Look what I won in the raffle recently at the local 'New Road Quilter's' show!!!!

It's a small quilt, I don't usually know what to do with these small quilts but I think it looks good as a bath mat!  We don't use this bath tub so it's for decoration only!
What do you Think?

It's Lambing Time in the Scottish Borders!

Spring is a busy time for farmers.. thought you might like to see a few photograghs taken at random over the past few weeks!

In the lambing sheds....

Newly born, still wet and wobbly...

My Grandson taking a break from helping his Granda...

Two of our homebred two year old fillys waiting to be fed a couple of weeks ago when  it snowed! 

It's wonderful when the weather is fine...just what young lambs need!

Down by the riverside!

The men are busy in the sheep pens dosing sheep!

Great view from where I am sitting!!!

I had a bit of company while filling the hay nets...

Can you see her?

 

She was busy...

Eggs for breakfast!!

It's a virtual rainbow!!

Look what I received in the post today!!!

It's a box of 34 large spools of Metro Thread, my Mega Quilter loves this thread and it is so cheap even with the added import duties....

Look at all those fabulous colours...

These are are my favourites...

This thread has a lovely soft sheen and is 'so fine', it makes a beautiful stitch on my machine!!

Local Quilt Show!

During the recent Border Reivers Festival the local quilt group, 'New Road Quilters' put on a wonderful show of there work in one of the local churches... this is a fairly young group of only five years.... unfortunately they meet on a Tuesday morning when I am at work....never mind!!!!


Here's a sample of there work!

Didn't they put on a wonderful display???

Is he coming yet?

Well, we had to wait for the Farrier, he was booked to come on the day that it snowed! When was that, well it was just last week although today you would hardly believe that it snowed just last week.... the weather today is wonderful!

Here they are looking to see if he's coming?

Bess got new shoes....

Dibbley got new shoes...

Moth (in the back) had a trim and Willow her yearling filly came along to see what all the fuss was about....just to hear all the noise and take in the different smells of the day!

This was the day that I finally got around to weaning Willow away from her mother......As I am around more over the next couple of weeks it seemed like a good time to keep Willow in the stable for a week while her mothers milk dried up!

Willow, Moth and I already have a  wonderful relationship, I stroked Moth as she foaled out in the field in the sun (May 2009), Willow imprinted/bonded with me and we have spent time together every day of her life so far..... being weaned from her mother was not too much of a big deal for her as I just stepped in to keep her company!!!

Reiver's Festival!

A couple of weeks ago, (I don't know where the time has gone) our local town had it's annual 'Reiver's Festival' ...

The Reivers were raiders who live along the marginal lands of the Scottish/English Borders from the 13th to 16th centuries....Scotland and England had many battles for the Borderlands, the livelihoods of the border people were affected greatly by all the fueding!
The Reivers stole for there very existence..... sheep, cattle, horses....what ever they came across.....I dare say one side of the border was as bad as the other!!

It's a weekend of entertainment for the townfolk, the procession heads off along the High Street at 10.45, headed by Reivers on horseback followed by the 'Fife and Drums' band, children from the towns schools present plays with tales of the Reivers, there's an Encampment with a 16th century market, a craft market, medieval market in continental style, music, story telling, even a quilt show (photos later), and in the evening a torch lit procession and fireworks!

Some of the folk are in period dress...

My Son Bella Wood  had a stall selling some of his handcrafted items

The weather was wondeful for the end of March....It was a lovely day!!

Wholecloth Design and Execution!

Among other things,  I've been taking an online class on MQR.... 'Wholecloth Design and Execution'!
These online classes are a great way to learn something new at your own pace.

Our class tutor is Adam Chenevert... I'll have to check that spelling? Adam does outstanding wholecloth quilts!

Adam has a great teaching style and students are encouraged to find and follow there own ideas, we also get to brush up on our computer skills. We are in our third week, there are some fantastic designs on the forum, but the work is only available to members registered for classes, so here's a sneeky peek at three of my designs.

I think we are supposed to choose one and finish the whole quilt, but designing these small quilts is so addictive....how could you choose?

                          

At first I thought this was my favourite!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldringading/4541351650/

I've removed this photo to protect my copyright...Thanks for being respectful!

                                     

But 'Wow' this one is so special, I named it 'Easter Parade' as I designed this one on Easter Sunday and it looks like a bit of a show off!

This is the revised, refreshed and refined vesion!

Check back later for updates!

At Last!

At last the daffodils are starting to flower here in the Scottish Borders!

I thought that it was going to happen two weeks ago but then the snowy weather put them back on stand by.

 

These are a bit special, they have frilly petals...

Look at these...there are four flower buds but they are only 4 inches tall.....!!!

These are so cute, I have lived in this house for 17 years and have never seen these before, they are just on my drive, by an old stone dyke, maybe something ate them in previous years? I hope not as daffodils are supposed to be poisonous!


Did You know....?

The people of the Scilly Isles pay the princely sum of one daffodil each year to the Prince of Wales as rent.....now isn't that silly!!!!!