A Well Deserved Break!

Last week I had a well deserved break and headed off to the north of Scotland for my hols with Mr Bunny.  My aunty kindly called in on 'The Farm' to feed the creatures whilst we enjoyed a busy, but restful week away.

We chose to stay in Gardenstown near Banff, along the Moray Firth, an area of Scotland we haven't really explored before and we fell in love with it!  Gardenstown is a fishing village and you have to take some pretty steep roads to get down to the sea!  We were staying in an old fisherman's stores, The Wee Hoose, which has been converted into the perfect, cosy holiday cottage for 2 with spectacular sea views. 

Gardenstown

The village was full of quaint cottages, a pub and a local shop called Gamrie Larder which sold the cutest pottery houses of which we bought 3 and 1 for my aunt.  They now have pride of place on my fireplace!

This area of Scotland is a great place for walking and wildlife spotting.  We took a walk up to Troup Head, an RSPB nature reserve on the cliffs and spotted ganets, guillemots and puffins - they are super cute. 




Troup Head

We regularly called off to see the seals at Portgordon who bask on the rocks quite close to the land.  We also had a close encounter with a deer who ran straight infront of the car one night - luckily we stopped in time although a stiff drink in the pub was called for after that. 

The highlight of the entire holiday for me were the dolphins at Spey Bay.  We spent many hours there in the hope that we might spot them and eventually we did.  I got so excited when I saw them that I feel over in my rush to get closer.  We were very lucky as we watched them for around half an hour feeding and playing in the bay and it was awesome.  To see dolphins in the wild is so special and I will cherish those meories for the rest of my life!  The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society have a vistors centre at Spey Bay where you can find more out about dolphins and the local wildlife, including osprey and otters, as well as a little shop.  The volunteers in the centre are full of information and are very passionate about the dolphins - they were very keen to chat to everyone.  I adopted a dolphin, Mischief, whilst I was there to.



Sunset at Spey Bay

Amongst other activities we went on a boat trip, to the Glenfiddich and Glen Grant distilleries and to the Speyside Cooperage as well as popping along to local villages and catching up with some of our friends. 
I took my crochet with me but only managed  a few rows on my shawl as it was all a bit non-stop.  I started a scrap book whilst away and will share it with you all when it is complete later on this week.

I hope you are all enjoying this extra long weekend and eat plenty of cake!

Wonderwool 2012

It's been a whole since I blogged, so I thought I'd better get a post up before you all thought I'd disappeared! (life just keeps getting in the way!)

Last weekend I found the time to head down to Wonderwool in Wales. As I can't attend Woolfest this year (I'm away on a residential with my class), I needed to get my wool fix. I had even co-erced Mr Bunny to come with me! Plans were nearly scuppered by a very poorly guinea pig with an aggressive eye infection who needed feeding, by syringe, every few hours but my Mum came to the rescue and piggy sat for us.

Not being put off by the weather (which was truly terrible) we headed off early on Sunday morning and arrived just after 10.30am. Parking was easy and there was even a mini-bus shuttle up to the halls for the price of 30p (all money going to the Welsh Air Ambulance). We, however, thought it was a good idea to walk to the halls in the wind and rain. Needless to say, when we got to the halls we where freezing cold and in need of hot chocolate to defrost us!

The venue was huge and packed with traders and guilds. Just like Woolfest, I was totally overwhelmed by the choice of yarn and buttons and notions! We headed over to Toft Alpaca first to see the alpacas and proceeded to look at animals for the first half an hour or so!

We must have walked around 3 times before I actually bought anything as I just couldn't choose, despite being armed with a list! In the end, I bought some purple sparkly sock yarn from Laal Bear to make a shawl and a large button and alpaca pom pom (more a pet really) from Toft Alpaca. In all honesty, I could have spent a fortune!

Mr Bunny enjoyed himself, and I suspect he has bought me some birthday presents as he kept wandering off (he needs to learn that telling me to stay in one place just doesn't work, I'm like a magpie and if I see sparkle I'm off!). He loved the animals and had a go at weaving on a loom. He also bought a small amount of fleece so he can have a go at carding and spinning on my drop spindle!

Wonderwool isn't just about the wool. There are lots of other stalls selling textiles, buttons and lots if food! The wool schools they offer look fab and there are talks throughout the weekend. It is very well organised and there are plenty of people on hand to direct you and offer help. It is definitely worth a visit!

Fabric Postcards

Yesterday I received the most beautiful items in the post; a needle felted postcard and flower brooch from my very kind partner in the fabric postcard swap. 

The lovely card and brooch I received

This swap was organised by the fabulous Caithness Craft Collective (presenter of the Caithness Craft Collective podcast which, if you aren't already a listener, you really should become one!)  through her Ravelry group around a month ago.  Being keen and eager to try new things, I signed up immediatley and then had to find out how to actually make a fabric postcard.  A bit of googling later, and some help from my fellow swappers, and I was ready to go.

My postcard was inspired by crafting for bliss.  I began by cutting a piece of fabric slightly larger than the postcard itself and then glued and stitched things to it.  Adding the card to the back was the hardest part and I definitley need to work on that!  Eventually it was finished and here it is.

The postcard I made

I really enjoyed making it and hope that it is the first swap of many to come.

Patchwork Project Bag

It seems like such a long time since I last blogged (probably because it is!)  I have been busy working on a number of projects, many of which I have completed, and now have plenty to keep me going with my blogging for the next few weeks.

As part of the textiles course I have been attending at night school, we looked at patchwork.  I really love the mix and match look of patchwork and have had a go at a few projects using simple rectangular strips of patchwork in the past.  On the course we looked at the use of hexagons to create patchwork, a technique very popular in Victorian times and again in the seventies.  In class I made a simple hexagon patchwork flower, using some patterned fabric from an old skirt, which could very simply be used to decorate a cushion cover.

The patchwork page in my sketchbook

Everyone on the course chooses a final project to make.  I have been dying to make the hexagon patchwork knitting bag from Cath Kidston's Sew for a long time and saw this as my opportunity to finally get it made.  Now, this wasn't a small project - would I pick anything easy?  And has taken me quite a long time to finish.  This is why:

It required 60, yes 60, hexagons to make the  bag.  That meant:

Cutting out 60 small paper hexagons. (I used an old magazine)





Cutting out 1 larger paper hexagon to use as a template to then cut out 60 fabric hexagons





Sewing 60 fabric hexagons over the 60 paper hexagons

Sewing all 60 hexagons together, in a specific way, to make the bag and then sewing in the lining and attaching the handles!

A lot of work?  Definitley, but I really really enjoyed it!  It was a great project that could be picked up and put down as and when.  Some nights I managed 2 or 3 hexagons whilst other days I would make lots of progress.  It was really rewarding to watch it grow and to see how all the different patterns of fabrics came together and I love my finished bag. 

My finished bag

In the interests of sustainability, and saving some pennies, I used fabric from my stash.  There are fabric scraps left over from past projects, fabric from old clothes, fabric from larger pieces I have and, if you look carefully, fabric from the printing I did earlier on in the course; I just made sure that they were all of similiar weights.  Each fabric appears no more than 3 times and I arranged them carefully to create a real mix of pattern and colour.  The lining fabric and handles I already had; I bought absolutley nothing new to make it. 

Now I have caught the patchwork bug, I am desperate to tackle a large project - a cushion? another bag? or maybe an entire quilt??