Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts

Thursday, 25 March 2010

Spring ahoy !




A few photos from the back garden. Eyes down to the bottom photo first - Frank spending an idle afternoon hoping a sleepy moor-hen will cruise by and he would dive in to give chase. They always get away, don't worry.
Then, the peace of the water meadow behind was broken by the local reed harvest workers. You can see how tall th reeds were, and using a converted ski slope snow plough the whole are was cleared in three days.
Frank is very pleased because now he has a perfect view across the fields as he dozes by the canal. It's a dog's life eh ?

Thursday, 4 March 2010

Spring chicks



A lot of people I know seem to have two things in common. Firstly, they keep chickens in a whole variety of sizes and breeds and therefore get a fair number of eggs that they kindly pass on to me. Like the chickens, the eggs come in a range of sizes from tiny ones nestling in your palm to large ones that would make scrambled eggs for two. Secondly, these same people are usually in the process of renovating or rebuilding an ancient stone building that one day will be a cozy and welcoming home. In the meantime much work, creativity, ingenuity and humour is needed to get the job done. Usually when I visit them I hear the latest tale of "adventurous renovation" and it might end up with one of those old sayings like.."well it was cold and drafty when we took the windows out last winter, but you can't make an omlette without breaking eggs" or.. "we thought we had finished, then we found the dry rot in the basement, only goes to show you shouldn't count your chickens until they've hatched"... pause for an uncomfortable silence...
Anyway, I had the idea of making egg cozies for these good friends to say thank you for the eggs when it occurred to me that they might enjoy the humour of having these pithy sayings embroidered on the soft felt outside.
Materials
The soft felt is from remnants that I think were used for coat interlinings -they are very soft. The patterned linings are from my scrap back, all cotton. I used the same pattern for inside and out. You can make the cozies to suit the eggs you get!
I've given a few away, I think they like them.... but I am running out of chicken / egg based sayings so any new sayings are welcomed.