A fine autumn day.......

I decided to pop down to Calke Abbey this afternoon for a ............

 But before that I had a little walk and saw some colour, reflections,

fungi

and beautiful skies.

I sat for a few minutes in the hide and saw............

a great spotted woodpecker

and plenty of finches.

 Now we all know that sex and violence sells and it was proven today .

These people were waiting and watching for.......

this pair to get between..........

this big boy...........

and his ladies, as well as hoping he would get his way with them.

Nothing much was happening this afternoon except a lot of posturing

and bellowing and a bit of chasing around.

 

A little gem

Not long ago, BF(before Festival - of Quilts), I was on my home
from a successful mission to buy very comfy shoes. I did a little
detour to find a tea shop, The Apple Tree. I had read about it on line
and after the closure of the Beetroot Tree have been feeling lost
for somewhere to go for some time out. It was worth the detour.
A tiny little gem of a place with gorgeous cakes and best of all -
gluten free brownies. And... you can have a mug!!

Since we last spoke......

Since we last spoke lots has been going on .............

these small shoots are lovage and are now as tall as me. Incredible.

 This fella was just having a rest. I don't know how he balanced so well.

 Another cheeky fella trying to get the last scraps out of the feeders.

More incredible balancing.

 A beautiful sunset.

Cheeky slug. I was unaware that slugs like daffodils.

I do now.

 Parrot tulips  - they flower a little later that the red and yellow ones

in the garden but it's worth the wait.

 Dandelions attract the prettiest visitors, a peacock butterfly.

I'd already seen a large yellow butterfly about 3 weeks before this one.

This is the second blue butterfly I've seen this year.

It is blue, the sunshine is too strong.

Not a bad start to spring I think.

FM101 - the last one

Well, it's the last one.
Go over to 'Happenings' to find out what's happening!
Scroll down to find session 4.

Free Machining 101

Tomorrow is session 3 of the Free Machining 101 course at The Brewhouse
in Burton on Trent. We'll be looking at Applique and fusibles.

A breath of fresh air

I recently spent an afternoon at Calke Abbey catching up with the

gardens and the wildlife. As you can see it was a beautiful day,

bright sunshine and a brilliant blue sky.

 

 The reflections in the glass houses were inspiring.

Happened to catch this fella in the sunshine..............

Just off the car park at Calke there is a shed!
Not just an ordinary shed........ a hide.
It's one of the best things to spend some time being quiet and
watching the birds.
The blue tits are so blue....................

Free Machining 101 session 3

The next session of Free Machining 101 is coming up.
The requirements list is on the 'Happenings' page.
Scroll down to find the list.
We're going to have a look at applique and fusibles.

Free machining 101

Bring your darning foot.
If you're not sure what this is, contact me.

Happy New Year 2015

Happy New Year.
Hope it's full of good things.
This fella is a 'red legged partridge', not a British native.
It's amazing what you learn on Christmas day.

 

Something new for 2015

Something new for 2015.

Free Machining 101

 When:         1st Wednesday of the month, January - April 2015

Time:            9.30 - 12.30
Where:        Café area, Brewhouse Arts Centre, Burton on Trent
Cost:            £5

 

If you want further information go to 'Happenings'.

 

Another visitor

Another beautiful visitor in the garden last weekend.....

Visitors in the garden

We live next to fields belonging to an animal rescue organisation.

We suspected that we may be having visitors because a hole had

been eaten in the hedge, close cropped grass and the real give

away - sheep droppings.

My OH went out for a smoke about 5.30 tonight and was

greeted by this.........look carefully..........I didn't use a flash as we

didn't want a stampede. There were probably about 15 sheep.

The wheelie bin handles can just be seen at the front of the photo.

They were all over the back garden literally.

They just stood and looked at him until he moved then wandered

off slowly back the way they'd come.

Death in the garden

A surprise find in the garden. Two beautiful but dead thrushes outside
the kitchen window. No blood or anything nasty. The conclusion we came
to was that they had flown in to the kitchen window or the window above it
and killed themselves. One yes, but two? Very sad.

Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day........

Christmas Day

Had a quiet day. Went a walk in the morning with this pair.

Bright and breezy.

Came across this sight - who'd have believed we're in a land locked county.
Just missed it bathed in sunshine.

Came home with dirty boots, clothes and a dog!
We all needed a bath, not at the same time though.

Parasols

Parasol mushrooms at Calke Abbey.

 

Had a lovely walk at Calke Abbey and went foraging with the camera.

Saw these parasol mushrooms on the way in and went back to see them.

The blue thing is my mitt and is about 6" long - it's there to give an idea of

the size of the parasol.

They were huge, about the size of a dinner plate and in various stages of

development.

 

Getting things done.

Well, hasn't it been an odd week. I took this phot of these yellow
tulips in my garden this week.........

and today this sad looking collared dove was sheltering in the
bird table.

I have been doing some work and it's now finished. I've still got to

edit the photos. It's my contribution to the Sketchbook Project.

Bluebells and Inspiration

The first bluebells coming through at Calke Abbey.

 I like to see things like this............not the 3 for 2!

 How good is this and it smelt great too.

Views

I'm always on the look out for a good view.
This one is at Calke Abbey just above the top car park. You have to
stand in a certain spot.

 This is at the Elvaston Castle Old English Walled Garden.

I don't make textiles like this but images like this do influence
what I do.

New addition

We have a new addition to our garden. This bird table was made by my
grandpa a very long time ago and was never used. My other half added
a leg and I added the roofing felt. It was abit parky out there this
morning. We just have to give the birds time to find it. There is
another bird feeder about two yards away.