A Summer Hello Part One

It's been a lovely long summer, busy with the season tho & we've still got just over a month to go before it all quietens down.

I've been continuing with my weekly squares, quite a collection now but I need to keep up with the the mounting & framing...

Bird

 Primrose & Forget me not

 Sail in the Sound

 Ammonite

Tulips (sold to a lovely B&B guest)

this is half way thru the challenge of Made on Monday, making a 5x5" piece for one year

Before the season really started  we were able to enjoy the proud moment of The Middlest at his Passing Out Parade at Dartmouth. Lots of photos in my fb album ;) If you remember he is a Marine Engineer, Officer of the Watch but in working for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary they have to train so they are able to work alongide the Royal Navy in times of conflict. I prefer to think of him in his mucky boiler suit at the bottom of the ship, but that's just being a Mum ..... He's lost the beard & looks 10 years younger!

Been working hard over on the Isle of Raasay where I was commissioned to help with a 14 x 5' wall hanging for their community hall. We are progressing tho, slowly but surely.

 the parts of the Community that have no fear

 their work, love the rhododendron shrubs!

 mint green of the hills

 inevitable wall & a bit of rust

 a natural collage

 inside of a boat

certain spring - I do get carried away with the surrounding area when I go 'on location'

I took time out to go to a peg Loom Workshop, run thru the fabulous wool shop down the road from me Handspinner Having Fun led by Sarah of Wood Ewe

delighted with my square rug, good for under my feet on the concrete floor in the studio

 we got a few wonderfully misty mornings & yes, it's not the lens it's inside my little point 7 shoot ;( I will invest in a quality point 7 shoot with Macro, so exciting!

So meet Dizzy, yes she came with that delightful name ;) A couple sent their grandson to the vet to put her down & when she leaped out of the basket in rude health he refused & decided to rehome her.  We were quite upset when we lost Willow last November - we'd been told she was 4 yeas old when we rehomed her 3 years previously & suddenly it turned out she must have been 14 plus when she got liver & kidney failure & diabetes all at once. So sad. So we wanted more of a provenance for the next cat & altho dizzy is 9 years old & only accepts affection on her terms (she's much more used to us now after a few months) we thought there was no point in scouring Scotland for a 2 year old when there was a lovely cat that needed a home just down the road.

 a little tart when she wants to be

 with sweet stubby little legs

 loves the stair game but you need a very long bit of paper to avoid those claws!

instantly at home in the fabrics in the studio. Great to have a cat in the house again - she now walks calmly past Tam & he generally keeps his head well down, knowing she's in charge ;)

In honour of Maggi

Very upset to hear the news of  Maggi's death, a blog buddy since I started 6 years ago. I didn't really think then, that it was possible to have 'on-line' friendships, especially with people not even met but it seems it is. We had fun supporting each others endeavors, she was always interested & always bothered to give her opinion, to share her advice. I shall miss that. I was saddened to hear of her illness earlier in the year - I simply asked what she had been doing with herself lately & she replied 'fighting lung cancer'. I reminded her of the words she'd used in my 50th postcard swap 6 years ago "if you can imagine it, you can achieve it" -  I was hoping she'd use the phrase for having enough strength for the fight. I'll add her to the list in my heart of all the people I come across each year with cancer & think of her when in September we have the Macmillan fundraiser. It's all I can do, really except I'm thinking of all her friends & family.

So I decided to make this piece in her honour, a work in progress which I started on Saturday.

 lots more stitching to do, thinking of Maggi with each stitch. I shall finish it tonight.

I didn't get further today as we had the Youngest home for a long weekend & went for a jaunt despite the rain to Fiskavaig, the middle of the West coast of Skye

The Oyster Shed, heard lots about it, scallops & chips under cover in the rain with a changing view, wonderful.

open spaces

an extrusion or two

between the tides, this is changed every time the water goes out

my first primroses, over exposed as they are

I must look this up - I can feel a printing block of some sort coming on. How perfect is this?!

Macleod's Maidens in the distance


4 of the latest 5 inch pieces for Made on Monday with Kate Bridger

Spring Garden

Birch Trees

Camelia

Crocus

I do love the bare branches in my garden but look forward to the leaves, too.

a sketchbook page & a lovely beachcombed twig from the DH

My 'suggestion' sample for part of the land on the Map of Raasay, the community project I'm helping with. Perhaps a little wild?

this one is a blue version, an idea sample for part of the sea around the island. Lots more stitching, couching down & hand stitch to do. I'm enjoying it. I find it creative, just because, i find it has purpose because it might inspire someone else to create something they can be proud of but also, I find it a comfort, theraputic - a word oft over sused but no  less meaningful for that - we all need a bit of comfort therapy to be able to deal with that which life throws at us almost daily.

Happy St David's Day!

Well, I just missed squeaking into February with a post despite there being an extra day ;) Happy St. Davids Day - I was able to pick a tiny Narcissi for the loved one who is half Welsh & well, you can guess the rest ;)

4 more weekly squares for Made on Monday with Kate Bridger We also had an article by Kate promoted by  Folt Bolt, thank you for that!

 Ben Scritheall (Screel)

 Heart (No 14 of course)

 Snowdrops in my Garden

 Circles - 

I'll take a better pic when there's some light - it's been great recently except for today when I needed it!

 The real Ben Scritheall

 Over to Raasay for the community project twice this month - above is as I was leaving Skye on the ferry. We're working on a huge hanging, a blue rectangle with the shape of the Island within it. There will be trees, heather, boulders, hills, bird & sea life, the language thru poetry, crofting,  fishing, people & places as many landmarks as possible. We've got our work cut out for us!

 This beautiful clock tower is for sale

 Lovely bridge we could depict somehow 

along with this beautiful wall

 Above, the kids work - I went into the school of 9 pupils & the 2 nursery children joined us, with the help of one of the Hanging Group, much appreciated & the welcoming headmistress & a helpful parent we did potato printing, monoprnting, leaf printing, drawing, & coloring - lots of the work was on a clever drying rack so I'll photograph that next time hopefully. The kids even wanted to include the stars & the aurora - inspired thinking.

 What a place for a playground!

 Beautiful Scots Pine

 These 3 pics show a few of us starting to work hard using inspirational books you may recognize to help us along.

Using a variety of media. Back again in 2 weeks!

 The 3 pics above are off the shore from my walks. The middle one is actually from the wood pile as it has woodworm & a bit of a scary face I think!

 I had time to make a few purses, the 2nd one as  a gift & I was inspired to make a card purse & camera case for ME

 Above is the  project I'm helping with in my village - making a hanging with, you guessed it, fundraising squares. A few cried off with the leurgy but I know who they are & the hanging for our own village hall which might have a wall for it in Spring 2017 will grow.   Baby steps ;)

Last but not at all least, look what I won from the Workshop on the Web giveaway - gorgeous silk threads - do you think they'd been here to see the colors matched exactly to the stunning landscape I live in?