Hillside

The Abbey ruins, church towers and the Tor in the sunshine

2012-02-11T12:06:00.001Z

In the morning I usually go straight into the kitchen for my first cuppa and sit in my big armchair, in front of the window. This morning, I wandered through to the sitting room to watch the birds feeding on the newly scattered seed and I thought how interesting the Abbey ruins looked in the wintry sunshine.

According to legend, the first church on this site was founded by Jesus' great uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, in AD 63 and King Arthur and Guinevere are said to be buried here in the grounds.

In the centre, the Abbotts kitchen. By Tudor times Glastonbury Abbey was second only to Westminster Abbey in its wealth and influence. Abbot Bere further enhanced the Abbey's standing with new buildings, including the Pilgrim's Inn, now the George and Pilgrim, in the High Street. Henry VII visited in 1497.

And of course, the tower of St Johns church, one of my favourite buildings in the town.The church is built of Doulting stone, Street stone, and the local Tor burr. There has been quite a bit of refacing done at various times, particularly on the south side.

The magnificent tower rises to a height of 134½ feet (about 41 metres), and is the second tallest parish church tower in Somerset.Recent excavations in the chancel, together with others in the 19th Century in the nave, revealed early foundations. These indicate a large central tower that possibly dated from C.950, and a later Norman nave arcade on the same plan as the existing one.

And swinging slightly round to the left, little St Benedicts.

A church was built on this site being consecrated around 1100 and the present church was thought to have been built on the same site around 1520

Round at the front, the Tower shimmered and the snow has almost completely disappeared.

It is bitterly cold and no end to the big freeze is in sight.

Keep warm y'all.

Information about the Abbey from HERE St Bens HERE and St Johns HERE

A little snow, microwave slippers and more cake

2012-02-10T11:25:00.000Z

Here in Somerset we had a little snow during the night. As the snow turned to sleet it gradually melted and we were able to see the St Michaels tower on the Tor.

Dragon boy and his lady are staying with us for a couple of days and he is intending to go outside to train later. Tonight there is a martial arts competition nearby, that he is planning to attend with our neighbour R.

Lewis was hoping to get snowed in, so that he could stay a bit longer (he is due back in work on Saturday), but I suspect it will soon be slush. The bird feeders are all full and Husband safely home from Derby, I have plenty of kindling and logs in the porch, so we won't be venturing far today. Husband walked the dogs down to the park, first thing, but reported no squirrels about. There are usually to be seen dashing busily about on the ground or chattering crossly down at the dogs, from the safety of the branches.

I have been wearing the "microwave slippers", whose soles go in the microwave for 45seconds and zip back into the base of the slippers. They are bliss when you slip your icy feet into them, but a bit stiff for walking about, I feel like Herman Munster in them LOL

Spending so much time indoors, means that I've made good progress with the hand quilting the little houses quilt, which I started at the craft bee on Monday. The others have made a lot of progress with their knitting and Dil is making a second peg loom rug. We are all turning out our cupboards for her, looking for old tee shirts!

Brother D was down at the start of the week, doing some more work on the porch, cloakroom and the window bay upstairs. He is really moving us along now, with the back bedroom ready for re-plastering and Terry the tiler coming in a couple of weeks to decorate the sitting room. At last, the end is it sight for phase 1 of the refurb.

Mother sent her usual parcel of home baked goodies, including this "Australia cake". My Nan used to make it, I have never heard of it outside our family. It is basically a slightly crumbly, moist spongy cake, full of sultanas. Well it IS February :-)

So there you have it for this week, keep warm!

ps I published this post at 11.30am (on Friday) but it didn't show up on the Blogger reading list until about 5.15pm. Anyone else had this problem and know a fix?

The Temptations of February

2012-02-06T21:34:00.000Z

"Opportunity knocks only once, while temptation leans on the doorbell".

But then it is February...

The Anglo Saxons called February "Sol Monath" or cake month, which they offered to their gods in that month. During this month, when ploughing began, the Anglo-Saxons offered loaves, placed in the furrows, to Nerthus, to inspire the great Harvest Queen to provide a bountiful crop later in the year.

My Blog friends are advised to eat plenty of cakes during February, in order to ensure good health and prosperity throughout the year :-D

Dog tired

2012-02-05T20:34:00.000Z

We saw a heavy snow storm here in Glastonbury yesterday (Saturday), with huge swirling flakes obliterating our view of the Tor, leaving only the lower slopes just about visible.
But the snow melted last night, as it turned to rain and today we are left with a damp day and a chilly North Westerly wind. Today was a day for being indoors. Husband cooked roast pork for lunch, with crispy potatoes and parsnips. I think he deserves a little snooze now!

Sloopers!

2012-02-03T16:55:00.003Z

For sale in the market here in Glastonbury, colourful felt "Sloopers". Aren't they fun!

Dil was wearing a pair at our last craft bee, apparently the soles are not slippery as they are treated with a resin and quite rough.
They sell them in both my size and Husbands. Can you imagine us the 2 of us, sitting round the fire, with a pot of tea, wearing these colourful pom-pom slippers, like a pair of Hobbits, or more like garden gnomes ? ha ha

Imbolc celebrations

2012-01-31T12:41:00.000Z

This week our little town celebrates Imbolc. There is a large Pagan and alternative community here and the coming of Spring is an important date in the calendar. As always, the shop windows here, are decorated according to the season.

Imbolc, or St Brigids day, is traditionally regarded as the first day of Spring. Life is beginning to stir again.
As both goddess and saint she is also associated with holy wells, sacred flames, and healing. The lighting of candles and fires represents the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months.

This is a time of looking forward and for making new plans for the sunny days ahead. Nature is awakening from her winter rest - the long dark days are behind us as the daylight hours start to get longer. Life is beginning to stir again

The Celtic festival of Imbolc or Oimelc (which means ewe's milk) takes it's name from the new lambs seen around this time and celebrates the return of fresh milk.

Brigid is the Goddess of Fire, Blacksmiths, Wells and Springs.
.

Imbolc is a celebration of the rebirth of nature and fertility the increasing daylight, bringing nature to life again. Bulbs are beginning to shoot and there is new growth all around - the cycle of new life returns to the earth

Tomorrow the Chalice well gardens have an open day, with meditation at the well head.

There was a gentle snow falling yesterday, although it did not settle, it was bitterly cold. I hoped it might start again tomorrow, as it would have been very atmospheric to wander through the gardens to the well head, surrounded by fluffy, swirling flakes.

As I type the sun is shining brightly, the morning frost has melted and there is a haze around the Tor, it feels much more Spring like today.

Read about last years celebration and our visit to Bride's mound HERE

January in Chalice well gardens

2012-01-25T10:06:00.000Z

A chilly West wind howled in the chimneys on Sunday, but the sun was shining and we decided to get outside for a couple of hours.
Husband and I are both members, or companions, of Chalice well gardens and as it is only a short walk away from our home, we enjoy regular visits

.
The gardens at first glance were looking very bare, until you looked closer and spotted all the bulbs and the new growth.
The red spring bubbled forth as ever, it never dries up and maintains a constant temperature, which means its source is deep within the Tor.

We both had a drink at the Lions head fountain, where we were joined by one of my neighbours, Ruth. Husband doesn't have much of a sense of smell but Ruth and I noticed a heavenly scent wafting through the gardens at that spot.

It turned out to be coming from this unassuming evergreen Sarcococca confusa, with it's tiny flowers and small glossy leaves. Definately on my plant wish-list for Hillside. In fact when I mentioned it to S at the crafting bee, she told me she had self sewn plants around her own Sarcococca, which she promised to dig up for us.

All around us were signs that Spring is on it's way. Imbolc is just around the corner, when there will be a celebration at the well.

Remember this cottage? it sits just across the lane from the gardens.

As the sun came out there were many visitors climbing the Tor.

We wandered in the gardens, enjoying the peace and the signs of regrowth all around us.

Until it was time to make our way home, to the fire and hot chocolate!

Crafting bee show'n'tell

2012-01-23T16:53:00.002Z

Today was the second meeting of our newly formed crafting bee, where myself and my neighbours get together to do our knitting and sewing, drink tea and enjoy each others company. It was Dil's turn to host the meeting, there were 5 of us today and we brought cake and cookies to share while Dil's husband did us proud, bringing tea and coffee at regular intervals .

Dil's husband made her a peg loom from scrap wood and some bought dowling, which she showed me last week She was itching to weave a door mat and over the weekend she has been cutting up tee shirts into strips. I love this loom, it's such a simple, space saving design, which can be stored under a chair. The pegs have holes drilled through them, through which you thread your string. Then you weave your tee shirt strips round the pegs, lift them up and slide the work down the strings.

Dil has chicks in her conservatory, who cheeped companionably and kept us entertained with their antics.

Dil was knitting socks on 4 needles and showed us a selection she had made for herself and her husband, using some lovely variegated yarn.

We had invited S along to join our group, she lives nearby and enjoys a lot of crafts, including card making and dress making. She started a sweater using some fluffy mohair yarn and M showed us the Christmas dolls she had started at our last meeting. She has no patterns, just makes them up as she goes along.

B had to miss our last meeting, but she came along today and brought some knitting which she had abandoned some time ago, taking the opportunity to work on it again. I took some hand piecing, which might look familiar. It is the "sanity saver" quilt I was making when the builders were here and the house was full of dust. I couldn't get my machine out and was desperate to sew something.
.

I'd stopped work on it, as although I'd originally planned to make the centre squares in white, I thought that looked a bit insipid. I put it to one side for a while, pulling it out from time to time, trying different fabrics in the gaps, eventually deciding on bright mauve, which will really liven things up!

Our next meeting is in 2 weeks time, when we go to B's house. She adopted 2 rescue cats recently and one strayed away, giving her a real fright, but was spotted down in the town and she was able to go and fetch him home. I must remember to take them a little treat.

January Tor

2012-01-20T16:40:00.000Z

Taken at 4.15pm today, Low pink clouds blown across the sky behind the Tor, by a chilly North Westerly wind.

And now a whole village!

2012-01-18T19:02:00.000Z

These little houses are addictive. Ive been working on them every spare moment!

The pieces are so small that I decided to try foundation piecing, which I have found fairly easy once I got the hang of it. It’s nice and accurate, which I rather like and I haven't minded using the machine, as the seams are so short.

This is my first attempt at foundation piecing, but I won't try to explain it here, as there are loads of tutorials on You-tube, which is I where I learnt it. One good tip I did pick up was, to shorten your stitch length, so that the paper tears away without distorting your stitches.

I found it easier to make, say, all the roofs in one go, then the next day, all the houses or all the chimneys. I spent an hour or so cutting all the pieces ready and then another hour sewing them to the paper pattern, interspersed with cups of tea and changing the tapes of my audio book.

I really enjoyed making the little houses, using up my carefully hoarded scraps of fabric and remembering who gave them to me. There are several of Silve's fabrics and some of my Brothers shirt. There is a scrap of Bette's dress fabric, found in the loft when we came here and some which was sent to me by my friend Sue. Every tiny peice tells a story, which is what I love about scrap quilts. I just don't feel the same about the bought fabric.
As you all liked the little cat in the window that Jeanneke made, I decided to add one to my quilt with fabric dye pens. I will embroider him (and add his whiskers) when I find my embroidery silks!

So here are the 36 little houses that make up my "village". You'll see that I haven't given any thought to colours, I just used what was in my scrap bin. I made the sky in different light blue fabrics and the windows in yellow, the rest was all sorts.
This week Husband has been up in Derby and Dragon boy came to stay, so I pinned and tacked on the sashing, while we watched a DVD together.

It's only going to be a small quilt, once the borders are on, it'll measure about 1 metre square. I am planning to attach a sleeve to the back and hang it on the wall.
Hopefully I'll get it finished next week and ready for quilting.

A winter rainbow

2012-01-16T17:15:00.000Z

Looking out of the window towards the Mendips last week, after a shower of rain, this lovely rainbow appeared over our little town.

It's not often you see a complete bow, but when I looked out of the landing window, there was the other half

faintly shimmering over my beloved Tor.

Quilt design- hours of fun!

2012-01-12T15:47:00.005Z

Just before Christmas, my friend Dilys and I visited the quilt shop and we both fell in love with some glorious fabric, rich with Autumn shades with a hint of gold. I went away to have a think about how I could use it to make a small quilt for the settee at Hillside.

I have never designed a quilt from scratch (scrap quilts don't count as they are wonderfully random and a jumble of pattern and colour). I wanted a very simple design which would show case this beautiful fabric. I had seen a similar quilt somewhere on the Internet and set about designing one for myself, using some squared paper, pencils and an ERASER! I have since discovered this design is called "garden fence".

Getting the basic idea down was fairly simple, but working out the fabric requirements taxed my tiny brain. I am a real duffer when it comes to anything logical or mathematical, but after many hours and several mince pies, I came up with a cutting plan and yardage required.

I spent the whole of Sunday afternoon working on this, while Husband and I listened to The Hobbit, an audio book, read by Martin Lewis. Husband kept glancing across, smiling mysteriously and enquiring as to my progress.
Little did I know, until I unwrapped it on Christmas day, that he had bought me THIS! The Quilt Wizard software programme for my laptop!

Needless to say I have enjoyed hours of fun, designing layouts,patterns and fabric combinations. You get to choose whether or not to have borders (several styles to choose from), then when you're ready, it works out how much fabric you need and gives you a cutting plan.
This is sure to become my favourite toy, with something good to listen to, I shall while away the winter evenings by the fire, conjuring up quilts to my hearts content.

Meanwhile, I'm busy joining all my little houses together. More about that soon.

Is anyone else having problems commenting? do you click on the "post a comment" and get a blank page? Apparently Blogger caused the problem when they upgraded some Comments functions.
Sorry if I haven't been commenting on the Blogs of my friends, but that is why.

Our Crafting bee

2012-01-11T10:02:00.001Z

On Monday my neighbours and I had the first meeting of our newly formed "Crafting bee". We aim to meet fortnightly and bring whatever crafts we are working on. This first meeting was at Hillside, so I was able to use my sewing machine (which is very quiet) to make more little houses. M knitted a doll from her own design and D worked on a pair of socks on 4 needles. B will join us next time as she had a reflexology treatment booked.

It was a lovely companionable occasion, M brought shortbread and D made melt-in-the-mouth cheese scones. We chatted quietly as we worked and talked about anything and everything that came to mind. D told us about her animals and the day old chicks at her cottage, a mix of rare breeds and M talked about her family and the area where she grew up.
I was reminded of the film "How to make an American quilt" where the ladies sat sewing together, making a wedding quilt (for Winona Ryder) and talking about their lives and loves. It is a lovely film, one I can recommend.

I think we could have sat there all day, needles clicking and gentle conversation flowed as did the tea. Our next meeting is in 2 weeks, when B will join us at D's cottage, further up the hill. B is another quilter, who is working on a piece of patchwork.

Meanwhile outside in the garden, the usually mild weather is encouraging many Camellia flowers and bulbs to emerge. Spring must be on it's way.

Little houses from scraps

2012-01-03T16:06:00.001Z

You may have noticed this button (Jeanneke's house above) on my side-bar and seen the little houses I was playing with on new Years day.

This is a challenge was started by Jeanneke in the Netherlands, who gave out the pattern and encouraged participants to make little houses using their scraps and join them into a quilt by the end of the year. Well, you know me, I love to play with scraps and have a lot of very small ones waiting for a project such as this. The chimney pots for example, are about 1cm wide.

The original pattern Jeanneke made was even smaller still, but I enlarged the pattern for the houses, so they are 4.5 inches before sashing is added. I made the first one with paper piecing (each little shape of paper wrapped in fabric). It took nearly all day to make one!

Then I decided to have a go at foundation piecing, where the fabric is sewn straight onto the paper pattern, which I cut into 3 sections. That works better for me, although it’s done on the sewing machine and I prefer to hand sew.

Next, I might try cutting the shapes out, using a template and joining them together by hand. I’m just using scraps out of my scrap bin and not worrying about colours, except the sky is pale blue and the windows are yellow in all of them, as Jeanneke suggests.

The blocks will be edged with sashing, which will neaten them up and make a nice frame around each one.

I've decided I will make a small quilt approx 1 metre, to lay over my wooden blanket-chest, I haven't the patience to make 365 house blocks, but some of the participants are making large quilts with them!

If you fancy making some little houses, pop over to Jeanneke's blog, get your free pattern and join in the fun!

A typical British picnic

2012-01-02T17:25:00.002Z

The sun is out!
Time to make sandwiches,

Brew a flask of tea,

Gather hat, gloves and scarf,

Warm clothes and wellies.

Wake up your dogs...And head for the coast

The waves in the estuary were rough and choppy today

But both dogs enjoyed a romp in the sea

This is what they mean by "Flyaway hair"

We were both glad to blow the cobwebs awayon the blustery beach

Our dogs are Bedlington lurchers, Roobarb really has the look of the Bedlington here, with her top-knot all fluffed up

Ellie's ears are like little wind socks

We shared the beach with just a few dog walkers and these riders,

Eventually rain started to blow in from the sea and it was time to head back to the car

To dry the dogs, eat our sandwiches and enjoy a hot cup of tea

But no British picnic is complete without the rain and the rythmic swish of the windscreen wipers!

New Years day was spent

2012-01-01T19:40:00.001Z

Walking with the dogs, across the fields down to the river

Doing the jigsaw puzzle of Ellie, which Husband had made for me, as a surprise gift

Eating the Christmas cake that he made

Making triangles

and little houses- my first attempt at foundation piecing

Thankyou everyone, for the lovely comments you left about our wedding at Gretna green, what a lot of romantics you are!

It's been a great year here at Hillside and we go into 2012 with lot's of plans, which I will enjoy sharing with you all as we go along. Thank you for being there with your encouragement as we turn our neglected old house into a cosy home.
Happy new Year Everyone!

And now it's our wedding anniversary

2011-12-27T18:32:00.004Z

In between Christmas and New Year, falls a very special date, our wedding anniversary.

Christmas day was a wonderful family time, with 7 of us for lunch, valiantly cooked by Husband as the rest of us climbed the Tor with the dogs in order to keep out of the kitchen.

But now our guests have departed and with the Bubbly in the fridge, we are preparing to celebrate our wedding anniversary, just the 2 of us.
We travelled to Gretna Green to be married, having announced our intentions to our family on Christmas day. It was such a lovely trip, travelling North on the train, with the countryside covered in snow. The brakes of the train froze near Penrith and we were asked to disembark and wait on the platform until the train was ready to set off again. We got chatting to our fellow passengers and when we told them the purpose of our journey, there were hearty congratulations and good wishes all round.

We married at the Old Blacksmiths forge, where darkness had already fallen, the paths sparkled with frost and snow was gently drifting down. A lone piper played the bagpipes as we arrived, while inside a log fire was blazing and tiny lights twinkled on the tree. 2 witnesses were hastily recruited and the Minister placed our rings on his bible which sat on the old anvil, while he conducted the ceremony.

Afterwards, we paused under the "kissing gate" made entirely from old horse shoes and had our first kiss as man and wife.

The Shortest Day- Winter solstice

2011-12-22T00:01:00.002Z

The Shortest Day

And so the shortest day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, fest, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule.

~ Susan Cooper

Seasons Greetings and Yule blessings from Hillside

The Princess and the Pea

2011-12-19T13:12:00.001Z

My Blog friend Joanna commented yesterday that Ellie obviously considers herself a bit of a Princess and that reminded me of a post I wrote a few years back and that might amuse some of my newer visitors.

"Who remembers the story by Hans Christian Andersen, about the Prince who set a test for his prospective bride, by placing a pea under a huge pile of mattresses on which she spent the night?

Well, we call this photo "The princess and the pea" and it always makes me smile when I see it. Taken not long after we moved to Railway, I gathered up my 2 dogs' many bean-bags into a large pile for laundering.

To my amusement, my old dog Ellie, (who is a bit of a Princess), climbed on the pile and sat there, regarding the Spring-cleaning from her vantage point!"

So as you see, nothings changed, except she might need a bit of a hand to get to the top nowdays :-)

A heartbeat at my feet

2011-12-16T12:12:00.000Z

"My little dog- a heartbeat at my feet" Edith Wharton

Ellie, my old girl, between mine and my brothers feet, in front of the fire. She likes nothing more than to be at your side, but she won't lay on the rug like Roobs, she insists on having a bean bag and blankie brought through for optimum comfort.
She has learned that I check my emails and Blog before retiring, so when she hears the "click" of the laptop being closed, she's out of her nest and galloping up the stairs like a 2 year old :-D

The garland, the proddy rug and a glass of Gluhwein

2011-12-15T12:10:00.000Z

Decorating for Yule continues here at Hillside, with the door wreath and the garland on the stairs. This is an artificial garland bought about 20 years ago, when the garden centre had it's sale.
It wasn't quite long enough so I extended it with trimmings from the back of the Christmas tree. I wired on some cones and standing back, I thought it needed some colour. I didn't want to buy anything new, so I rummaged in the loft for these candle ring decorations and attached them to the garland with florists wire. The green trug was made by my Dad, it's good for holding our gloves in the winter.

The door wreath is another veteran, obtained some 20 years back, when a friend was throwing it out. I change the colour of the bow and add real foliage to it.

Yesterday, I met a gentleman shopping in Morrison's dressed in a long red wrap-over woollen coat, with a large shawl collar and deep sleeves. The edges were finished with white woollen blanket stitch and yes! he had a white beard. I couldn't resist grinning saying "hello Santa". I often see him and his wife in the town, they are colourful characters at the best of times, but he looked fabulous on this occasion and I bet the children love it!

You probably remember the proddy rug I made and we wondered at the time if it would wash up OK. This week I noticed it smelled very doggie, so I popped it in the washing machine, on 40'. It didn't lose any of it's fabric strips and survived 20 mins in the tumble dryer, so I think that was a successful experiment. In the good weather I shall just drape it over the line in the garden, it's so windy up here, it'll dry in no time. It occurred to me that the colours (the only tee shirts I had at the time) might match those in the bathroom, so it's taken on a new role as bathmat.

All the present shopping is done and wrapped, leaving me to concentrate on all my unfinished jobs, such as waxing the remaining doors that we had fitted recently and finishing the painting in Husbands office.

He's moved in and working in it now, although still deliberating about what flooring to have. I don't suppose it'll stay this tidy for long LOL
At Christmas, the desk will be dismantled and a spare bed set up, as we have the family coming to stay. I hope they will find the house a lot more cosy and welcoming than this time last year ;-)

So, we are all ready here at Hillside and looking forward to the Winter Solstice next week. I've not been idle this week, I've even started another piece of patchwork, which is an experiment with triangles...
Lastly, here is one of the best things about Winter- the warm Gluhwein, which is my festive treat in the evening. Cheers!

Our first snow shower

2011-12-14T12:41:00.000Z

It snowed a little this morning. Enough to stick to the dogs fur while we were on our walk and when I got home and went upstairs I could see it had settled on the Mendips.

Maybe we will get a white Christmas after all. Any snow where you are? You don't count Nan, my friend as you live in the stunning countryside of Alaska :-D

A Zebra in a Christmas tree

2011-12-08T16:35:00.003Z

Here at Hillside we have made a good start on our Yule decorating. As this is the first time for 3 years, due to renovations, we have been able to have a tree, we were out as soon as the calendar flipped over to December, to choose one. It's a "Nordman" spruce which is supposed to be non-drop and as it's a cut tree, we have water in the base, so hopefully it won't be bald by Christmas eve LOL

Each year our decorations are either red and gold or, my favourite, silver and white, collected over the years and of course we have included Bette's vintage baubles and icicles which we found in the attic when we moved in.

I'm happy that they will weren't thrown away when Bette died and that they will stay here at Hillside to be enjoyed every year.

I have several glass droplets, snowflakes and icicles like this Santa one. I think we bought him about 15 years ago. Nothing on this tree was expensive, mostly picked up at charity shops or given to me by friends.

How about this little snowman with his wiggly legs, a present from my friend Linda, in Wales. Isn't he cute? He has my name on his little hat!

I just love these baubles painted with Victorian snow scenes, there are 6, all different, bought for just £1 a few years ago at a table top sale.

We like quite old fashioned decorations, such as these baubles and bells, but there is a family tradition of hanging this little china zebra on the tree every year.

I have had this little chap for about 40 years and in the days when we had little money for decorations, he was pressed into service on the tree and has appeared every year since.

When my Nan died, my Aunts asked all her Grandchildren to choose a little keepsake. I would have loved to have some of the tree decorations which I remember from when we were little, but it seems they had long been replaced. So I was given her little chapel and I light the candle inside it every year and remember all the lovely Christmases she and my Grandad gave us when we were children.

I like natural decorations best, so offcuts from the back of the Christmas tree and holly from the garden make a nice mantelpiece dressings, with lots of tiny white lights. This one in the dining room includes gold bows and cones which Lewis collected when he was little. They are wired together with florists wire. The candles are spice scented and make the house smell lovely.

The foliage over the fireplace in the sitting room, is mainly variegated holly from the garden. I haven't included berries because they are poisonous to the dogs, but I have some artificial berries somewhere in the attic.

Again I have dressed this mantle simply with a string of tiny white lights. I can't imagine why the manufacturers make the electric cables black? Unfortunately they are sealed, so you can't change the wires for white, which would be better.

Never mind, I like the twinkly effect of the lights. You will notice we haven't wall-papered this room yet after it was recently re-plastered. That can wait until the Spring.

I have another garland for the stairs, which I shall be putting up this weekend, along with a wreath for our front door. I feel quite Christmassy already!

Our candle bridge is on the window ledge and looks very cosy from outside. The wooden horses were from Ikea, about 15 years ago. They have holders on their backs for candles.

And here are a few more photos from the shops windows here in Glastonbury.

I love this pretty white tree

I have never seen a brown Santa before, but I much prefer his outfit to the bright red that he is usually dressed in.

How about this gorgeous angel couple? In the same window there is the same sculpture in gold, but I love the simplicity of the white.

Well, hope you enjoyed seeing some of our decorations and the ones in the shops here in the town. I'm off to start experimenting with some fabric pens, as I am planning a special bag for Lewis' girlfriend, who is joining us for Christmas.
Enjoy your festive preparations!

Christmas decorations, starlings and the well

2011-12-02T07:23:00.003Z

So here we are in December and our town has been preparing for Christmas and Yule, with the trees and lights going up in the High street.The shops are already displaying seasonal decorations in their windows.

I love these green Santas, in the window of Lilith, here in Glastonbury.

At the start of the week, Dragon boy was here and we ventured down to the nearby town of Street, so I could help him with his Christmas shopping. I am well known for my hatred of shopping, but I would not miss out on an outing with my son and a chance to enjoy his company for a couple of hours. My purchases were modest, just coffee creams for Husband's stocking and some Christmas scented candles. This year will be the first Christmas for 3 years, that we have been able to decorate the house and I am really looking forward to making it festive for my visitors.

Christmas 2010 Kitchen at Hillside

Christmas 2009 Kitchen at Railway cottage

The starlings are starting to grow in numbers, as they prepare to over-winter at nearby Westhay. I am filling the feeders, which they can empty in a couple of hours. I shall be setting up the additional feeding stations this week, including last years invention, in order to give the smaller, less boisterous birds a chance to feed.

This week I made my monthly visit to the Chalice well gardens, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere after the bustle of Christmas shoppers. I bought this window transfer (of the design on the well head) for my sons Girlfriend, they visited together in June and she fell in love with the beautiful gardens and holy well.

Husband has enjoyed moving into his newly decorated office over the last few days. He started off by saying he now had too many CD shelves, until I reminded him that the big cupboard in the garage contained several boxes labelled "Books and CD's". In between, he has found time to make a start on wrapping presents, a job which enjoys and I dislike. We also printed off some home made cards, using a photo which I took last year, of St Johns church tower in the snow.

The bright, albeit windy weather was perfect for walking and both dogs enjoyed a run down by the river.
So now, with Husband back in London and Lewis returned home, it's just me, the dogs, the fire and my sewing. I am relishing the quiet, before the house filled with family and visitors at Christmas.

Into the spooky woodshed

2011-11-27T12:45:00.003Z

I've been dying to get into the old woodshed since we came here, but rubbish and piles of logs prevented it. Despite the giant spiders, with webs to match, I managed to pull out a few treasures, like Bettes old clothes horse and log basket and Lewis and I made a foray last year, when I spotted an old supermarket basket which I wanted, to make a bird feeder.

At the time I had spotted a large fish, made of metal and seemingly, on a pole. So when Husband, who knows how to spoil a gal, announced that we were going to "sort out" the wood shed, I was hot on his heels. Talk about cats being curious.
Unfortunately, we were prevented from getting right to the back and pulling everything out, by the failing light, but at least the mystery fish is out.

I reckon it's a home made weather-vane which may have come off the old garage roof.
So now the coal, which was here when we came, is accessible and several large bags filled with seasoned wood and twiggy stuff for kindling. I managed to pull out a number of old garden tools and some ancient bamboo drain rods. Remembering the trouble we had on New Years day, I thought we ought to keep them.
I also spotted this pretty addition to the garden this week

It also has a lot of buds, as you can see. I think it was one of my 99p bargains from Morrisons.

There are quite a few other flowers and buds out, including the stripy Camellia. I hope we don't get the snow everyone is talking about, although it was so beautiful last year.

Waxing and wailing- shelves and doors

2011-11-24T18:10:00.004Z

Here we are, still plodding along. I finished painting the walls in Husbands office. This room has been painted twice actually. A few weeks back, He chose what looked like a soft taupe, but which turned out much darker, when it was on the walls. At first He thought he could live with it, but after a few days we all agreed it was ghastly. In fact the words "cat poo" were mentioned by 2 people independently of one another :-O

So I came to the rescue with some of my leftover paint. When we were preparing Railway cottage for sale, I decided to touch up some small marks on our sitting room wall. It was a disaster and I ended up buying a new tin and repainting the whole wall.

I keep all my part tins of paint, along with any other leftover materials that might come in handy.It makes moving house a nightmare, but paint is quite expensive and if 1/2 a tin from one project can be used elsewhere, thus saving money, that pleases me no end.
So, the cat poo is banished by 2 coats of "toffee cream", a lovely sandy colour .

As you can see, we have only finished the upper section so far.
The shelves have taken f-o-r-e-v-e-r, with 2 coats of primer/undercoat and 2 coats of satin paint, all lightly rubbed down in between (thankfully all the shelves lift out). I am very fussy about the decorating, I like to do the "prep" properly, so it takes ages. But we're making good progress and there's just the bottom section to do now. All the shelf positions are adjustable, but as you've probably guessed, Husband has lots of CD's :-)

The other job keeping me busy, is waxing the 7 new doors. I've made a start, 4 sides done, 10 sides still to do!
These 2 are the dining room and the sitting room, one waxed, one still waiting.
I just love these doors, (the same style we installed at Railway) they let so much more light into the once dark hallway and I love being able to peep into the rooms, especially when the fire is lit and the lamps are on.
We had some of the doors hung the other way round, so they open against the wall and not into the room, bumping against the furniture and that has made the small rooms seem much more spacious.

As you can see, still plenty of work to do, the door frames need painting and the hall ceiling has to be plastered (it's just bare plaster board at present). I really like Bette's choice of wallpaper, but unfortunately, it's not in a good state, nor does it go right up the stairs, so will have to be stripped off.

This is the cloakroom door. This little "loo" has a nice big window. I used to prop the door open (unless someone was in there!) to get more light into the hall.
Brother D suggested, to take advantage of this "borrowed light", we have etched glass in this door, doesn't he have some great ideas?

There was a choice of glass at the workshop, we agonised over them, but eventually settled on this one.Don't worry, the loo is round the corner, well out of sight. The cloakroom is just awful, I'll show you sometime!

The doors are naturally quite pale, but you can see what a nice colour they go, when waxed. The wax is Fiddes "stripped pine" which is a stain combined with a wax, which I put on with a brush.
Here's one of the upstairs doors, which I've already finished.

As you can see, all the door frames need repainting, along with the skirting, they are all brown upstairs. That's going to be a gruesome job, rubbing down all the fiddly architrave with sand paper :-O
Initially, we did look at the reclaim yard for doors, but finding a matching set of 7, in the sizes we needed, proved impossible. So we went to Hampshire to get these. The workshop is on a farm deep in the countryside, so it was a lovely journey, through the lanes despite the torrential rain, and with all the wooden doors stored in the workshop, it smelt divine. I love the smell of wood.

As our doorways are all odd sizes, we had to wait several weeks for our doors to be made and delivered. I was worried they might not be as nice as I remembered, but I when the chap delivered them, he laughed at me stroking my new doors and murmuring approvingly.

I just adore these rim-locks. My Husband jokes that his wife is not interested in designer hand bags, she'd rather have door fittings LOL Yep, more door frames to paint here.
I've had an audio book to keep me company this week, The girl from Seaforth sands, by Katie Flynn. It is read by Ann Dover, one of my favourite readers, as she does regional accents very well. There's nothing worse then trying to enjoy a story, when the reader's attempt at the accent is making you cringe.

This book is on a series of tapes, luckily I have an old tape player which I can carry around and plug in anywhere I happen to be working.
I haven't done any sewing for weeks, with all the upheaval in the house and I've been getting withdrawal symptoms, especially as my Blog friend Annie sent me a goodie bag, which included this yummy fabric.

In the end, I could stand it no longer and wailed to Husband "I need to sew!". He is at home this week, so I was excused from any more painting and while he took over and this afternoon I settled down by the fire, with a mug of hot chocolate and my hexagon quilt. My Libran equilibrium was restored.

I'm very near to finishing this quilt top, I can't wait to get it into the hoop and watch is turn into a real quilt. I am planning on backing it with a white fleece blanket, which will also act as "batting".
Meanwhile Husband is rubbing down the skirting in his office. I know which I'd rather be doing!

Bargain proddy tools

2011-11-22T15:25:00.002Z

Do you remember I had a go at making a proddy, or rag rug this year? I didn't have the correct tool, which was about £18 to buy, so I used a cable needle.
It worked fine, although it wasn't the most ergonomic tool!

Imagine my delight when I spotted these gorgeous little prodding tools in the charity shop today. They are turned and polished wood, I thought maybe they were beech, but Uncle Bernard advises me they are most likely lime- thanks Unc! They have beautifully smooth handle parts, just perfect for the palm of my hand, with a blunt ended end for pushing the rag through.

What did these little gems cost me? just 50p each. I snapped all 3 up, so that I could give 2 away to my friends. What a bit of luck, to find something useful, beautiful and a real little bargain too! I was like a dog with 2 tails walking back up the hill :-D

Fireside companions

2011-11-20T14:36:00.002Z

Last week I showed the new sitting room fireplace with it's cozy fire burning. My Blog friend Cro commented on the "companion set" next to the fire and I thought I'd tell you the story behind it, along with the other utensils.
I have had the "companion set" for quite some years and it has travelled round with me to each house I have lived. A fireplace and chimney (you don't necessarily get both together if people have removed the chimney stack or the chimney breast) is always on our "must have" list when house hunting. Sometimes the fireplace is blocked with a sheet of wood, or in one house, a huge paving slab had been cemented over the opening.
The companion set was left for me, by the previous owners of our tiny terraced cottage in Rutland, before Lewis was born. The old owners, the Parsons, were lovely people, who had owned the house for 30 years and the companion set, comprising tongs, brush, shovel and poker, had belonged to Mrs Parsons grandmother. She was moving to a more spacious and modern house, without a fireplace.
Our little cottage was part of a terrace called "Railway cottages" built for the workers on the nearby mineral works, the carts carrying the mined material would travel along the back of the houses, hence it's name, but the railway was dismantled by the time we moved there. How interesting that I should move to another cottage by a railway, some 20 years later.

The coal bucket was given to me in a poor state of repair. A few years back, I did volunteer work for the rescue where we adopted our 2 dogs. There was a raffle held twice yearly as a fund raiser and I offered to drop prizes in to the people living in my area. One of the prize winners was a lady called Myrtle, who lived not far from the vets where I worked. She was a very interesting lady, who had always had rescue dogs and had a keen interest in the countryside. We became friends and I would sometimes pop in on my way to work in the afternoon. Myrtle would from time to time have a sort out and give me things to sell on our table top stall for the dogs.
Towels and blankets would go straight to the rescue, books and bric a brac on our stall. One consignment included this coal bucket. It was cracked right across the bottom and when filled with coal, would leave a trail of coal dust across the room.
I thought it was such a nice shape I was wondering whether I could use it to display a plant, until our friend Graham, a resourceful chap, suggested I try floating a thick layer of PVA glue all over the bottom, which , when dry will act as a seal. I followed his suggestion and for the last 7 years it has done me proud, holding my coal, first at Railway, then here at Hillside. I think my Mum is itching to give it a good polish, but I prefer it's tarnished appearance.

The log basket was here in the wood shed when we came and was obviously Bette's. It is nice and sturdy and has a lovely aged appearance, so after treating the woodworm, it came back into service.

Last but not least, this little box houses my fire lighters. it was bought for 50p at a rummage sale.
My neighbour Andrew makes firelighters from rolls of corrugated cardboard and candle ends, melted and poured over the rolls. As soon as I have collected enough candle ends, I'll be trying that. Better than smelly paraffin firelighters.
So there you have it, my fireside companions. Apart from the grey hairy ones, that is.

The new fire is lit

2011-11-18T16:47:00.003Z

At the end of a weary week, Husband is home, we've dragged the settee and the rug back into the sitting room, poured the wine and lit our new fire.
Candles are glowing and the lights dimmed, so he can't see the paint in my hair :-D

1 troll, 4 mermaids and a rainbow jacket

2011-11-17T12:53:00.003Z

During the recent upheavals here at Hillside, I unearthed my favourite childhood toy. I was never a Barbie kinda gal, preferring my farm layout with stables and model horses. I did have a couple of teddies, but my favourite "cuddly toy" was my troll, 9" tall including his fuzzy hair..
You might remember them being really popular in the 1960's. I had a large number of them in decreasing sizes, but they they were all given away over the years. This one, unimaginatively named "Trollie", (I was only 6 at the time!), was a gift from one of my Aunts and was the subject of my early dress making experiments.
The "rompers" and matching cardigan were knitted by my Mum and I made his felted slippers.Underneath he wears a stylish brown crimplene all-in-one. I think when he arrived he was wearing just an over the shoulder loin cloth type outfit.
His hair has gone a bit frizzy after many childhood hair-washes, but I love his 4 fingered hands and his cute little face!

A recent rummage in the loft turned up the mermaid picture I was looking for. I just need a seagrass basket now, to house my shampoos and the bathroom is finished.

My blog friend Campfire asked to see my Rainbow jacket, the one that matches my "glottens". I love this jacket, bought here in town. It cheers everyone up on a dreary day and as one of my elderly neighbours observed, you wouldn't get run over in it.

Back ache cure!

2011-11-15T16:54:00.000Z

After 5 hours of painting in Husbands office, my back was killing me. Following the advice of my Blog friends, I decided I needed a "muscle relaxant" ie a few glasses of Somerset cider.

After one glass my back ache was cured, after 2 glasses the painting was abandoned and after the 3rd glass the Tor started looking most odd and I decided to go for a lie down.

Plaster, shelves and the big clear up

2011-11-14T16:45:00.003Z

This weekend Martin was here re-plastering the sitting room. You will have seen Martin here before, he is our "resident" plasterer LOL

You see what I mean about the state of the floor. No matter how you try to cover and protect it, the covers get torn and scuffed up and there's always a big clean up needed, which is what I am doing today, washing down the skirting, picture rail, windows and door, as well as the floor (even the fireplace got splattered).
So, this morning, after I walked the dogs and made a trip to Sainsburys, I drove to the dump and got rid of all the MDF offcuts plus several bags of polystyrene tiles which we stripped off the ceiling in the back bedroom (while it was empty for the window fitters, it seemed like a good opportunity).

Then it was back home to change into my "grot" and finish painting the walls in His office. You might remember Martin re-plastering this room last winter and we have been too busy to decorate it.
.
Husband and I spent all day in there yesterday, me painting the walls and Him priming some of the shelves (which are removable) that D made him. They collaborated on the design so the shelves would be the right height for his files, books, CD's and such.

Since I took this pic, D added a neat fretwork panel to screen the radiator. It hinges at the bottom, so we can get to the rad if needed. This will all have to be primed and painted.

I'm planning to make a cushion to go on the window seat, so Husband can sit in comfort while he's on the phone, which makes up most of his working day. I shall get some foam cut and cover it with a nice fabric remnant I brought with me from Railway. I am a terrible hoarder of fabric and keep some pieces for years!

I have 7 new pitch-pine doors to wax. I have done one already which looks lovely. Having the glass panels has brought well-needed light into the hallway. So I have plenty to keep me busy.

It's been a dull grey day today with a chilly east wind. I am feeling weary and my back is complaining, but as Husband is at a client site this week I can take my time getting the house back to some kind of normality. This latest round of work has affected every part of the house and I have to confess I'm getting worn out with climbing over all our furniture and belongings and the amount of mess everywhere.

I could do with a team of cleaners, painters and fetcher-getters, but there's just me!

Never mind, as they say, Keep calm and carry on!
.

The carnival

2011-11-13T17:21:00.001Z

Last night the carnival came to our town, as part of the Somerset carnival season. There is no charge, but the public can toss coins into a little open sided van that comes slowly along between the floats.
There's always a lot of money raised which is shared between funding the next carnival and local charities.

Each float is built by a different carnival club, who fund-raise all year round to help with the cost. They are all built by volunteers, who spend all year working on them, in their own time. Competetion is feirce amongst the clubs!

I don't know how many of you remember the "Diddy men".

The floats are judged, as they travel the route through the town, with prizes for each category. There is a class for individual entrants ,many of whom parade on foot, so anyone can join in if they want to.

I thought this girl was a dead ringer for Kelly Osbourne!

This last float was my favourite, although there were far more floats than I have shown here. I hope this gives you a little taste of the carnival!

Misty morn and the plasterer arrives

2011-11-12T09:59:00.002Z

Saturday morning dawned with a thick fog, which still hadn't fully lifted by 8.15am, when I came back with the dogs from our walk.

The Mendips were veiled with fog and a thick mist sat on the fields.

I could see the mist drifting across in front of the Tower, it would have made a wonderful film set for "The Legend of King Arthur".

Refreshed after a bath and a good nights sleep, we prepared the room for Martin, the plasterer, covering the floors, fireplace and hallway. Thankfully it was not raining- the muck that gets walked back and forth from the outside tap, has to be seen to be believed.

I was thinking about this time last year (December) when the lads were plastering our newly created kitchen. Snow lay on the ground, the house was filthy and freezing and we were camped out for several weeks in the unheated sitting room, with furniture piled up around us, 2 dogs, a kettle and microwave.

What a difference a year makes!
(Husband wryly observed that the difference being, we're now camped out in a different room LOL).

Sitting room windows and Armistice day

2011-11-11T13:28:00.006Z

The boys installed the new sitting room windows today and what a difference they have made!

We have great views from this bay, so when we decided to do away with the french doors, the obvious replacement was a single large window, with matching panels at the sides.

It must be an optical illusion, because before, the 2 window cills drew the eye into the middle, where the vertical lines of the doors, formed a "point".

Before- narrow, ill fitting french doors and misted up windows

After- is it just me, or does the bay look much wider now?

My Brother, D, has been here this week installing shelves and cupboards in Husbands office, so he is putting new skirting in the gap and new window cills. They are lovely and wide so we can sit on them to look out.

As with most old houses, nothing is level, nor does anything line up perfectly, so he is having to be creative in order to minimise the discrepancies.

As usual D has triumphed and not only got new cills on, he has fitted some new architrave, so we can attach a curtain track.
Husband is taking the radiator off the wall, ready for Martin, who is coming to re-plaster the room tomorrow. Before that, we will need to cover the floor with a special plastic sheet, which will protect the oak floor boards.

Today was the 11th of the 11th and I assisted one of the disabled gentleman I look after, to attend a Remembrance service, where he was to lay a wreath at the war memorial. Watching that dignified man struggling out of his wheelchair to stand to attention for the Last Post, brought tears to my eyes. I never knew my paternal Grandfather, as he died of his war injuries.
When I got home, Husband said he and the workmen had observed the 2 minute silence, while listening to the service on the radio, which made me well-up all over again.

At the end of such a busy week, we are both feeling tired and looking forward to having the house back to ourselves again. One of my Blog friends asked if I was sewing, I must confess, I haven't been able to even think about sewing, with the upheaval here. We’ve had the contents of 5 rooms squeezed into 2, along with 3 adults and 2 dogs.

But this weekend we will be enjoying a well earned break at the carnival, which comes to our town, as part of the Somerset Carnival season.

Fingers crossed for dry weather :-D

Escape from the builders-windows in the back bedroom

2011-11-10T15:31:00.007Z

Fed up with the sound of drilling and with the sun starting to break through the mist, Husband and I snuck off to the Rural life museum.
As the name suggests, the museum houses many exhibits from country life, farming and crafts around the county. Here's a flavour of what the museum has to offer.
This rag rug was made in the 70's to a traditional Somerset design.

I particularly liked these old school desks

With their contents on display

And here we have wash day in the country

I must confess I have one of these

and I can remember using my Nan's mangle, as late as the 1960's

.

I couldn't work out what this little object was, but it turned out to be a "pipe and matches holder".

and how about this for a "lavvie"

And finally, the handcart which carried coffins to the churchyard

Eventually we could stay away no longer and made our way home, where they were all desperate for a cup of tea!

I did smile at this quote from Leannes blog "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." Well, I spend my days making tea and here's my "aide memoire" list, which I always compile when we have workers here.

Today the boys were here fitting new windows in the bedroom at the back of the house.

After they'd taken the old ones out, it was almost like standing on a balcony, looking out over the town.

The old windows were not original to the house, they were aluminium framed, draughty and ran with condensation.
Before

After- the central panel gives an uninterrupted view. We would have opted for 3 plain panels, but we had to have opening sections at the sides to serve as emergency fire escapes.

It should be more warm and cosy in this room now.

Tomorrow, they will fit the sitting room windows, downstairs. More tea and donuts!

Sitting room- it's all happening!

2011-11-09T12:46:00.001Z

It's chaos up at Hillside, as the sitting room refurb gets under way. Yesterday, Lee and Kev the fireplace fitters were here, I am so excited that, at last, our new fireplace is in place.

First they swept the chimney and got up on the roof to fit bird guards, which will stop the Jackdaws nesting on the pots.

The cement under the old hearth was broken up and removed, the lads cut the new slate hearth and fitted it in place.

The new fire-back was formed and cemented, ready for the cast iron fireplace, which sits in front if it. The top of the fire-back is angled, so that any sparks or bits of soot, fall back into the fireplace.

The mantel will be fitted after Martin has re-plastered the room.

Today John our builder is here, making alterations to the bay window, Barry is fitting new doors and Brother D, is up in Husbands office putting up a wall of customised shelves and storage, incorporating a window seat, for Himself to sit and gaze out when he's on the phone.

As always, the rest of the house is in chaos, the dogs and I are holed up in my bedroom, which is the only room that doesn't have a builder in it LOL
We are surrounded by the furniture and belongings from the other rooms and are climbing over a pile of MDF on the landing. In the background are radios playing 3 different stations, the sound of electric planes and hammering. I've stocked up on tea bags, sugar and buns and the kettle is on.

Never mind, we're used to it and come next Monday we can start getting straight again :-D

We can't light a fire for a few days, but by then, everyone will have finished we will be able to enjoy warming our toes in front of the flames.

Colour on a grey day

2011-11-07T17:49:00.003Z

It was a dull old day today here in Avalon and to make matters worse, I had a dentist appointment this afternoon!
I walked into town a little early, as I had a parcel to post and on my way back down the High street, I popped into Margaret Kimber (you might remember her shop HERE in "Dragon Alley").
There I spied these colourful fingerless gloves, with little flaps which convert them into mittens.

Inside is this snuggly orange fleece. Funky Huh?
I already have a knitted jacket like this, so I treated myself to the gloves too.

Meanwhile, the sun, which had not shown it's happy face all day, was starting to set and the mist thickening, to the point that I wasn't able to see the Mendips, or even Brent Knoll from my window.

Tomorrow, Ben is coming to fit the fireplace in the sitting room. Not a day to soon, if the weather forecasters are to be believed. My friend Sue is already stocking up on snow shovels!

Pink snowball quilt all finished

2011-11-06T15:08:00.002Z

First, can I say thankyou to all my friends who stopped by to wish Ellie a happy birthday. She had a lovely day, a run in the park, a few squares of chocolate and a sausage supper. This morning she raced our other dog beside the river, looking like a 2 year old!
Now, I have a "finish" to show you!

You might remember I started this little quilt, as a present for my Mum, (who loves pink!) after my friend Sue sent me 100 charm squares. I'm pleased to say I got it finished in good time for you-know-when :-O

Actually I'm quite looking forward to the C word, having lived in a state of muck and mess for the last 2 Christmas's (eek I said it!).
Well, here's one present all ready to wrap.
I used my machine to connect the snowball blocks into strips, making sure there weren't 2 of the same fabrics sitting next to each other.

I like the way the 2 green fabrics make the diamonds.

I chose the speckly green for the borders and pink check fabric for the "corner stones", which I also used to make the binding.

The sandwich was made up with more checky fabric for the backing. You will notice there are no basting stitches or pins as I use basting spray. I push my 2 folding tables together and lay the backing fabric out, smoothing and securing it with masking tape. Then I spray each layer as I put them together.

Into the hoop it went for the hand quilting. Never in my wildest dreams, would I have believed I could enjoy this part of the process so much! I like to listen to audio books, radio plays or as Cro correctly guessed, "The Archers", while I sew.

I used a nice variegated pink thread and originally planned to stitch a circle in each snowball shape . I tried it, it looked peculiar, so I ended up quilting in a grid pattern. If I'm quilting in straight lines, I use a blue quilt marker pen. It disappears easily when sprayed lightly with a plant-mister spray, or even blotted with a damp tissue.

The binding next, I struggled for ages with mitred corners, but eventually found this great tutorial by a lady called Helena and my problems were over.

Once the binding was on, I decided to quilt a heart into each of the corners,

Just the label to do, then I can put it safely away and start something new.

I still have my hexy quilt and the long hexies on the go. They're ideal for when I want to sew, but not think about it, if you know what I mean!

But for now, the sewing has been put away, as the builders are back next week!

Happy birthday old girl

2011-11-03T21:48:00.002Z

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”

Today our old girl is 14 years old.
She is in fine fettle, apart form a little arthritis in one front leg. She enjoys swimming and chasing squirrels just as much as she did when we first adopted her from the animal shelter, just over 10 years ago .
We had been looking for a rescue dog for some months and on the day we visited we were told there were no small dogs available for adoption, at that time.
It was almost an afterthought that made Caroline, the assistant manager say, just as we were leaving, "We do have a small lurcher if you're interested, she's a kind of scruffy dog".

It was love at first sight and Ellie came home with us there and then.

Eighteen months later, we returned to the shelter to show off our girl and take Christmas presents for the dogs.
One of the volunteers pointed at Ellie and said "There's a dog just like that in the kennels now, waiting for a new home". That was Roobarb and you know what happened next....

Autumn in Somerset

2011-11-01T09:41:00.001Z

I have always loved Autumn, but I have never enjoyed it as much as I have, since we moved here to Somerset.
It's very windy up here, but the views make up for that.

I love the watch the rain coming from the West

And the fog over the Tor in the morning

The setting sun in the West casts a golden glow on the church tower and the Abbey ruins

My favourite- early morning mist looking out across the town to the distant Mendips and in the other direction, towards Butleigh Moor.

And the Tor from the Levels, the river Brue in the foreground

I love the crisp days and the crunchy days

Oh to be in England, now that Autumn's here...

Photo Art at Samhain

2011-10-30T17:47:00.001Z

Samhain is almost apon us, the shops are decorated and yesterday the town was full of party goers in colourful costumes going to the Fairy ball.Tomorrow night we are attending the celebrations at the Chalice well, with fire, music, dancing and story telling.

Today I took this photo of St Johns church tower, with the Abbots kitchen in the foreground, and tweeked it using Paintshop pro.
This effect was simply created by selecting "negative image" ..I didn't expect it to turn out purple/blue, which is my favourite colour pallet, but I love the result!

My Blog friend DAnna in California, takes some fabulous photos and often enhances them with computer software, to great effect. This particular work featured on her Blog just before we moved to Hillside.

DAnna was kind enough to send me this beautiful photo, as a "house warming" present and I bought a mount and black frame for it. It's very much to my taste, as I love a bit of Gothic drama.

These are not reflections caused by the camera, if you look carefully you will see how DAnna layered the image, to give an ethereal, wistful look.

I just love this picture

Perfect for Samhain!

I'm confused

2011-10-27T14:43:00.002+01:00

I'm called Tickseed and I'm confused. I should flower from June to August.

I'm Lavender and I should flower in the summer

My name's Hypericum, you normally see my flowers at mid summer, along with my mate Verbena, which flowered for the first time this week

And Bellflower, my little face shouldn't be seen until July
And it's October (nearly November!)

All these plants (and a few more) have flowered in the last week or so, no doubt confused by the unseasonal warmth.
I also notice this morning, my neighbours Forsythia has flowered!

Do any of my Blog friends have plants flowering out of season?

Rosemary

2011-10-25T13:07:00.001+01:00

"If thou be feeble, boyle the leaves in cleane water and washe thyself and thou shalt wax shiny".
Banckes' Herbal (1525)

Rosemary!

I brought a lot of plants here from Railway cottage, they went first to Mums to be looked after during the move, then in threes and fours gradually made their way here.

One of them was this Rosemary, "Miss Jessop", a gift from my friend Silve, who gave it to me, as a house-warming present.
It's grown quickly since I planted it in the ground and has the sort of scent that makes it impossible for me to walk past without bruising some between my fingers and enjoying the smell.
According to Ophelia, Rosemary is for Remembrance, and it's Latin name, Rosmarinus, means "dew of the sea".

Bankes herbal also says "If thy legges be blowen with gowte, boyle the leaves in water and binde them in a linnen cloath and winde it about thy legges and it shall do thee much good". Always useful to know :-)

Along with Basil (Thai and Italian) and Coriander, Rosemary is one of my favourite herbs. What's yours?

Scraping, recycling, trees and the egg

2011-10-23T16:40:00.004+01:00

With the bathroom all finished, we are moving on to the sitting room.

This weekend saw us emptying our little sitting room and stripping the wall paper off the ceiling and walls. We didn't plan to start this room until the Spring, but with it all empty, it seemed a good time to crack on with it. In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say!

We are getting ready for the fireplace fitter, who is coming to put our cast iron fireplace in the hole left behind by the huge tiled fireplace that we removed in the summer.

The room will need plastering, as wide channels were gauged out of the wall when the electrician re-wired the house last year.

The lath and plaster ceiling needs repairs and once the fireplace is in-situ, we will need to "make good" round it.

But before the plasterer comes, the draughty bay windows are being replaced and the old french doors (none of which are original) will be bricked up at the bottom and topped with one large pane of glass, making the most of the view.

With the new windows and fire, we'll be like bugs in a rug :-D

Eventually, we will have this room wall papered. Although we have painted the other walls in the house, I really wanted wall paper in this room, to make it more cosy.
I have already picked out some wall paper, it was 60% off, when our local Focus store was closing down.

I love this buttery cream, it is very similar to the "toffee cream" paint we had in the sitting room at Railway and the pattern adds subtle texture to the walls.

As husband scrapes away at the bobbly paper on the ceiling, a layer of yellow paint is revealed! popular during the 30's-40's I believe. I don't actually mind it, but no, I won't be recreating it LOL
So for now, we're back to dust and mess, with furniture, pictures and rugs from the sitting room relocated to the hall, dining room and even the cloakroom! But we're used to it.

In between, we've organised our recycling storage, which makes separating the various materials much easier.
It was a lovely weekend, with many visitors climbing the Tor. Yesterday, we took a long walk across the farm, with the dogs and down to the Butchers in the town for some eggs and bacon. It was definitely a woolly gloves morning!

Last week, when all the walnuts had been harvested, we had the walnut tree thinned out and all the dead wood removed. He cut a branch from one of the apple trees, so we have an uninterrupted view of the St Johns tower from our seating area.
The work provided us with a few more logs for our winter store.

We picked up a huge number of walnuts, this is one day's harvest. They make a welcome gift for friends, family and neighbours, as well as the Jackdaws and squirrels!

The Hydrangeas are looking very well and out front, several confused plants have buds on. The ornamental Alliums I planted, are already 6 inches tall.

I had been wondering how to display the gypsy egg and my Blog friend WOL suggested sitting it on a wide finger ring. I had a celtic patterned ring that was a bit big for me, so with the help of a little "Blu tack" I managed to sit it upright in my cabinet. I think it looks very much at home.

I am enjoying the chillier weather as I am a soup lover and will be making some today, using these beautiful squash.

The stripy one was just 49p. I might roast them with parsnips, carrots, sweet potato, red onion and garlic. Doesn't that make your mouth water? No wonder Autumn is my favourite season of the year.

Bathroom before and after pics

2011-10-19T16:12:00.004+01:00

At last!!

"Before"

White tiles, layered over pink tiles, storage heater and smelly carpet

No bath, just a leaky shower cubicle which left little room for the leaky toilet.Towel rings that make me think of a torture chamber!Peeling pink wallpaper over layers of older, floral paper and a huge iron towel rail

Polystyrene tiles on the ceiling and single pendant light

During the makeover, Hubsand stripped off the old wallpaper and the old tiles, that was hard work!
The new window and window ledge was installed, along with central heating radiator

"After"

A new ceiling was installed, the whole room was re-plastered and lights fitted along with a new white bathroom suite. Clever Brother D boxed all the pipes in, clad the walls with tongue and groove panelling and made a matching bath panel .

The new loo was repositioned, providing us with a grand view from the "throne". You probably remember we opted for clear glass in this window.
I wanted a window treatment that wouldn't detract from the view and I have always like plantation shutters. Husband said, we plan to stay here, so let's have something special.
I really love them! I chose a taller panel below, for when you want some privacy, but we can leave the little ones open to let more light in

The slats swivel into an open position,

and the panels open right up when required, or I can nosy over the top LOL

We opted for white tiles, so I can change the whole look by replacing the shower curtain and towels and repainting the tongue and groove panelling..

We had a lovely powerful shower installed, with extractor fan

Husband painted the walls and ceiling "cotton white" using his trusty "Paintpod" and I primed and painted the woodwork a soft blue. It's the same colour I used in the bathroom makeover at Railway, in fact it's the same pot, which I brought with me when we moved!

Finally, we put the new flooring down. I bought this rug here in town, I just love the zingy blues.

I chose a "light-house" design shower curtain. I painted the old bathroom cabinet, and swapped the boring handles for these fun knobs.

I found the light pull, which was just £2.99 and bought it because of the "light house" shape, painting blue stripes round it with artists acrylic paint.

I shall enjoy hunting down some suitable accessories for this bathroom

I already had the glass floats on the window ledge and the treasure box of bits we collected on holiday. Somewhere in the loft is a mermaid picture in blue frame
Downstairs, the house is in complete chaos, preparing for the installation of the new fireplace. I'll show you that next week.

Bathroom cabinet makeover

2011-10-18T09:07:00.002+01:00

Recycled bathroom cabinet.
Take one old pine effect cabinet, with unattractive chrome handles.

Dismantle, fill old handle holes. Rub down and prime, paint with 2 coats of "Antique white" satin paintand put shelf back/doors on. Add funky starfish knobs.

By the way, if you fancy a knocker like the one I showed last week. I asked at Dilliway and they sell them in the shop for just £42! There was only 1 left when I went in tho.

Felting- making a cobweb scarf

2011-10-16T17:11:00.001+01:00

Today, Dil and I attended a class to make a felted cobweb scarf.

It was in a nice little hall, here in the town and a very small class of 4, so we had plenty of help from the tutor.

We teased our chosen Merino wool fibres out, to make them smooth, created holes and added other colours. Then they were soaped and rolled

And soaped and rolled again....and again...until the fibres "felt" together and start to form a fabric

All that was really hard work!
Here is my scarf in purple, lilac and fuscia.

All 4 students chose completely different colour schemes. The orange one is Dil's, she loves autumn colours.

and here they are, stretched, rinsed and all finished.

Knobs and knockers

2011-10-14T07:53:00.003+01:00

This fantastic door knocker is on the door at "Dilliway" here in the town,

Inside this little shop is a fascinating collection of Indian furniture, textiles and lighting, beads, figures, jewellery, incense, brass and brightly coloured cushions and throws. The shop is arranged over 3 floors, the top floor used to be an artists studio. It is one of the few shops in the town, whose iron railings weren't melted down during WW2.

And these are my new knobs!

I decided to give our bathroom cabinet a bit of a makeover and ditch the unattractive chrome handles, in favour of these funky star fish.
I ordered a rather special "window dressing" in the bathroom, which is still to be delivered, but once that's sorted I will show you the bathroom "before" and "after". Quite a transformation, I promise!

The American museum- more quilts

2011-10-11T20:25:00.000+01:00

One of my favourite exhibits at the museum, was this quilt design programme.
There was a choice of 3 layouts and several fabrics.

By touching the screen, you design your quilt and when it's finished, an overhead projector beams your design, approximately 4 by 6 feet, onto the floor nearby- what fun! Needless so say, I had several goes :-D

This year is the museums 50th birthday and to raise funds, volunteers made this amazing quilt, which they are raffling. I bought tickets for myself and several of my quilty friends as a little surprise.

This is the actual quilt, hanging over the stairwell, between floors.

This sofa throw is bordered with plum coloured velvet. Several photographs have been incorporated into the design and the horse-shoe and initials in the centre, which, according to the label, could mean that this was made for a hope chest or a wedding present (made in 19th century).

"Lady in the Whitehouse", made in 1940. During the second world War, the American and Canadian red cross collected quilts and sent them to Europe for use by troops and families who were enduring air raids. This quilt was sent over by the Weately branch of the Canadian Red Cross. It was issued to the ARP in Lincolnshire, for use by evacuees. I love the lemon, white and blue scheme.

This quilt is labelled "Sunburst quilt" a variation of the Star of Bethlehem and was pieced using paper shapes and was made between 1875-1900 by Elizabeth Mitchell. I like the muted colours of this quilt.

This one is labelled "Fannys Fan" and is a throw, made in 1900, by Rachel Boone of Pennsylvania. Rachel, who was a Quaker, wished to marry a man of another religion but it was not allowed. As a consequence, she never married and this coverlet, made for her hope chest, was never used.

This Stars and Octagons quilt was made around 1850

You will be familiar with grandmothers flower garden, hexagons quilt, made using paper shapes. It was made at Watts plantation, South Carolina, pre 1860.

This contemporary quilt was designed by Kaffe Fassett. I love all the shades of blue.

This Irish chain quilt was one of my favourites.

The tiny 3/4 inches scrappy squares have been made into 9 patch blocks and Hearts have been quilted in the white squares.

This was made in Kentucky in the 1930's.

And finally, the quilt I liked best. To me, this is epitomises the thriftiness of patchwork. The label says "Humble materials from the family scrap bag, including part of a shirt and a "Domino sugar bag" have been used to make this crazy comforter. Backed with grey striped flannel and interlined with a blanket, it is tied and not quilted".

There were many more, but maybe you will go and see them for yourself. I don't think you will be disappointed. This is my last post at the museum, I hope you enjoyed your tour.

The American museum- textiles and quilts part 1

2011-10-10T14:37:00.000+01:00

The American museum was opened to the public in July 1961 with the intention of fostering historic ties between the United States and the United Kingdom. Read about the history of the museum HERE

The American Museum is celebrated for its magnificent decorative arts collection – exceptional pieces of Shaker furniture, exuberant folk art paintings and sculptures, Native American objects, and Renaissance maps of the New World and over 200 historic American quilts.

Today I'll show you a few of my favourites. This fabulous red and white quilt is in a section devoted to American Folk Art, along with the quilt top below which was made C1880.

Can you guess what it's made from?

I was fascinated to learn that it is entirely pieced from Cigar ribbons. Apparently, in the lats 1800's cigars were tied with silk ribbons. The different coloured ribbons denoted the different grades of cigars and as they were freely available, the ladies had a ready supply.
This work reminds me of the more contemporary "selvage" quilts.

This red and white quilt, according to the guide, is a repeated Chalice pattern,made by slaves on the Mimosa hall Plantation, in Texas in around 1860. It was made for the Anglican Bishop of new Orleans, who made an annual tour of the cotton plantations to perform baptisms.

These quilts were in the textile room, wall mounted on wooden frames and faced with a protective layer of perspex. Again flash-photography was not allowed, but I hope you will enjoy seeing some of my favourites. The above quilt was made between 1840-1849.

This friendship quilt, is believed to have been made in Pennsylvania in the 19th century. The middle of all the crosses, is signed by the maker.

This unusual quilt caught my eye. It is a "baseball quilt" made in the 19th century, in Cooperstown,New York State. The baseballs are 2 1/2 inches in diameter and are appliqued to squares of unbleached calico. Four hearts have been embroidered in the centre.

The chain-stitch decoration was particularly interesting.

This classic "school house quilt" was found in Westerly, Rhode Island. The label tells us that it was one of the most popular patterns in the second half of the 19th Century and usually made with red cottons, therefore this blue example is unusual.

I just loved the muted, homey colours of this log cabin design, made from English printed dress cottons, circa 1860

Yesterday I invited you to guess what these object were..

Did you guess right?

More tomorrow.....

The American museum - a taste of what's inside

2011-10-08T09:48:00.035+01:00

As you make your way round the museum, you travel through time, with a succession of "rooms" showing genuine furniture and textiles, depicting life in that particular era.

There is so much to see. Every corner of this museum is packed with objects relating to American history and culture. My Mum would have loved this little dolls bed with it's hand made miniature quilt.

I am only showing a fraction of what's there, some of my favourites, as I was eager to see the quilt room! We stayed for about 3 hours (including a coffee stop) and agreed we would have to come for another visit, in order to take it all in, properly.

Some of the settings were a little dark and flash photography was not allowed, so I hope these photos will, at least, give you a flavour of what's on display.

Apparently. the floor and walls (all made of wood) where brought here from American and re-assembled for the museum. These particular settings were about the size of a real cabin, with a tiny adjacent room curtained off for a sleeping area and on one wall, an ingenious folding bed, which stored against the wall when not in use.

I particularly liked this dinky "chair" spinning wheel. The guides were really knowledgeable and seemed to really enjoying answering our questions. Husband used an audio guide as we walked round, which was very informative.

These beaded items were particularly fine, including this cradle hood, lined with cotton chintz. There were some fabulous displays of Native American art and jewellery, but photography was not allowed in that section. If you can get to Bath, I would recommend a visit to the museum and see it all for yourself.

There was a fabulous little gift shop, modelled to look like an old "general store" packed with quilting kits, pictures, folk art and books. This was one of my favourite items, a raggy wreath.

The museum receives many visits from school parties and there are many interactive exhibits, including "What is this?" displays, with the answer on a flap, which the children can lift to find the answer.

Want to have a guess what these items are?

I'll give you the answers tomorrow, when I'll also show you some of the quilts in the exhibition.

The American Museum at Bath

2011-10-08T07:09:00.000+01:00

Last week as part of my birthday treat, Husband and I visited the American museum in Bath.

Set on high ground, surrounded by wooded hills

The extensive grounds contain many interesting statues and buildings

Quiet seating places

guarded by eagles

Impressive statues, like this bust of Lincoln

This elegant Armillary sphere

As well as a tipi and covered wagon

and this cute herb shop

Where volunteers were making "tussie mussies"

The museum is hosting the "Marylin Monroe exhibition, showing her gowns, mementos, photos and other memorabilia.

Tomorrow, we'll enter the museum and I'll show you some of the treasures housed inside.

Rainbows

2011-10-07T19:55:00.000+01:00

On Thursday night, a double rainbow

And at the end of the rainbow, the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey

October gypsies - a special gift

2011-10-06T09:20:00.002+01:00

There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir,

We must rise and follow her;

When from every hill of flame,

She calls and calls each vagabond by name.”

~ William Carman

I am an October baby and am restless and Nomadic by nature, just like my Dad. He loved to live simply, work with his hands and grow his own food. As far back as I can remember he would take us camping, living outdoors, cooking over a fire and walking the countrside.
He used to say "I just have this urge to see what's round the next corner".

His Mum, (my Nan, who I wrote about here before) was exactly the same, right up until her death and I was a chip off the old block, with my ponies, my lurchers, my caravan and my urge for pastures new. She was a girl from the Welsh valleys and I knew little about her background.
Every time I move house, friends and family roll their eyes and say "You've got Gypsy blood in you" and it is rumored amongst the family, that is could well be the case.

The Pedlar's Caravan
I wish I lived in a caravan,
With a horse to drive, like a pedlar-man!
Where he comes from nobody knows,
Nor where he goes to, but on he goes.
His caravan has windows two,
With a chimney of tin that the smoke comes through,
He has a wife, and a baby brown,
And they go riding from town to town.
Chairs to mend and delf to sell --
He clashes the basins like a bell.
Tea-trays, baskets, ranged in order,
Plates, with the alphabet round the border.
The roads are brown, and the sea is green,
But his house is just like a bathing-machine.
The world is round, but he can ride,
Rumble, and splash to the other side.
With the pedlar-man I should like to roam,
And write a book when I come home.
All the people would read my book,
Just like the Travels of Captain Cook.

William Brighty Rands

My Dad just loved this poem and after his death, I kept a copy of it in my caravan, so that he could travel with us in spirit.

Recently my Mum gave me a very special gift, a decorated hens egg.

This painted egg was one of my Dad's treasured possessions. He was one of those people who found a lot of pleasure in simple things and didn't like expensive gifts, preferring quirky and hand made presents.

This egg was painted by a lady in Cornwall and was a present from his younger Brother, when he and his family left London to settle in Cornwall, almost 30 years ago.

The scene unfolds as you rotate the egg, revealing the gypsy caravan settled in a quiet dell, the horse tethered nearby, the camp fire and washing hung between the trees.

I think it's quite charming and I shall love having this momento of my Dad and our Romany ways.

How to wash an antique quilt?

2011-10-04T09:30:00.002+01:00

Image source

Two of my Blog friends, John and Cro, mentioned that they own antique quilts and Cro wondered how they should be cleaned.

Can any of our other Blog friends, offer advice?

(Sewing) W.I.P's -do you have one?

2011-10-03T07:02:00.002+01:00

Non quilters might be wondering, "What on earth is a WIP?"...
I think nearly all of us crafters have at least one of these in our homes :-)

As I have several and have pledged not to start anything new projects, I've spent my sewing time concentrating on "Work in Progess".

In between working on the front garden, I added some borders and "corner stones" onto Mums pink quilt. I just need to find some fabric for the backing, then I can layer the quilt sandwich, ready for hand quilting.

As it is a "snowball" design, I am planning to quilt a circle in the middle of each pink shape and maybe a modified "snowflake" in each of the little green diamonds.
The table that this quilt is on, has been a marvellous buy, just £48 incl delivery and it's really sturdy. The legs fold under and the whole thing then folds in half. Just what I wanted, for when guests come and I have to pack my sewing away.

So what else have I been finishing?
I turned this orphan block from the courthouse steps quilt, into a pot holder.

I decided to have one big "push" and get the hexie quilt top finished. I managed to get all the flowers pieced, ready for attaching to the main quilt. I still have to make about 3 dozen white hexies. All through this quilt, the flowers interspersed with white, to give a sense of rythm through the scrappiness.

I like to take a bagfull with me when I go anywhere, so if I get a chance to, I can join a few flowers.

This is going on one of the twin beds in the guest room. It will measure about 5 x 7 feet. Each hexagon measures 1 inch and a half across, so that's a lot of hexys. No I havent counted them LOL
Once this quilt is layered up, I plan to quilt each "flower" with a flower shape.

That's going to be a long job, but I shall enjoy an hour or so every day, stitching by the fire, listening to the radio. We've been without a TV for over a year now and do not miss the "box" at all.
Mind you, I never "watched" it, rather I listened as I sewed, until my friend Sandra pointed out in her forthright way "Have you never heard of RADIO?"

Spot the likeness

2011-09-29T14:53:00.000+01:00

Image source

Front garden so far

2011-09-27T08:58:00.000+01:00

Hanging out of the bedroom window, I attempted to get a snap of the newly planted beds in the front garden.
Hopefully it gives you the idea of how the space is divided up into beds, with paths around them, so I can reach in and weed them from every side.
Hopefully by next Spring, my baby plants will have bulked up and spread, with the edges being softened by foliage.
You might remember we had to strip it all back to a blank canvass, after removing all the choking ivy, honeysuckle and tumbledown fence. And yes, there was a whirligig in the front garden when we moved here last year. I suspect Bette wasn't able to manage to steps in the back garden, as she got older and more infirm.

When we viewed the house we thought there was a nice little garden out front, but we were surprised, once we'd cleared it and cut the hedge- it seemed to double in size!Passers-by ask "Did you have the wall built?". No, it was there all along, buried in ivy and honeysuckle.

You might remember the massive roots that Lewis and Ben removed for me, along with huge lumps of concrete which held the fence posts.

The honeysuckle is still there, confined to a corner and I also managed to transfer a piece of it round the back and that seems to have established itself to scramble over the old wood shed.

With the yew hedge starting to grow back and thicken up nicely after we removed all the ivy, we set to work making paths between new flower beds. We dug every weed out by hand and used landscaping fabric, which will hopefully stop any annual weeds sprouting in the gravel.

We designed it with one long bed running along the front of the house and divided the rest up into 4 more beds , marking them out with sticks. I tried the width of the paths, making sure I would be able to kneel down to weed them.
We thought about using paving and some nice cobble setts for the edgings, but with so much work still to do on the house, we opted for the budget option of pressure treated decking boards (3 for the price of 2) and 20ml gravel, the same as we used for the seating area.

It was back breaking work excavating the paths and shovelling the gravel, but we are so lucky that the soil is dark and crumbly- blissful, after the clay I battled with for 15 years previously.

Eventually it was time to plant up all the baby plants which have waited all summer in pots behind the house. Some of the less obvious ones had lost their labels, so I may have to move a few things round next spring! I also put in daffodils, alliums, crocus and grape hyacinth between the perennials.
My neighbour Mo, who has a large and very attractive garden has given me a lot of encouragement and when she saw the progress we were making, she arrived with clumps divided up from her own garden, including several drumstick primulas.
I am so looking forward to seeing this little garden blossom and bloom next year. As they say "watch this space"!

Autumn morning by the river

2011-09-24T17:10:00.001+01:00

Down by the weir this morning, the river was swollen and lively. I love this photo, it looks like there is a troll laying under the surface of the water.

I wish you could hear the cheerful bubbling noise the water makes as it swirls over the rocks.

Further downstream the river is calm and serene, as this elegant swan glides by.

The Brue flows quietly under Pomparles bridge

Looking back towards the East, the mist had not yet burned off

and the Tor had a look of mystery about it

Another Autumn morning on the beautiful Somerset levels

Glastonbury- The Tribunal

2011-09-21T08:55:00.004+01:00

Here in our townwe have many old and impressive buildings, including The Tribunal.
It was built in the 1400s for the courts of the sheriffs and Justices of the Peace within the Judicial franchise known as the Twelve Hides, an area administered by the Abbott of Glastonbury.

It is now a tourist information centre and houses the Lake Village Museum, which presents an insight into everyday life in an Iron-Age settlement, dating from around 2000 years ago, when much of Somerset’s landscape was covered by marshy sea. Although these marshes have long been artificially drained, the excellent preservative properties of the peaty wetland soils in the Glastonbury area left an archaeological legacy of international importance.

Save all your kisses for me

2011-09-19T09:12:00.001+01:00

Ellie, the old dog, is a great licker and give anyone a face-wash if she get's the chance!

Spotted today

2011-09-15T20:58:00.002+01:00

In the back garden, this lovely lady on my Green Man.

I was almost expecting him to go "cross eyed" :-D

Spinning wheels, ponies and old friends

2011-09-14T13:40:00.006+01:00

My Blog friend Doohie, posted about a spinning lesson she enjoyed recently and that reminded me of some photos I took at the Rural Life museum, here in Glastonbury.
There was a variety of old and very modern machines demonstrated here.

The ladies were spinning both sheep's wool and alpaca.

While I was waiting for my photos to load, I was humming "Spinning wheel" by Blood, Sweat and Tears, in the charts in 1969. Do you remember that?

The lyrics particularly interested me, I was only 11 at the time and "pony mad". I was waiting to start Grammar school and had to wait another 4 years until I got my first pony (who was not painted, but "bay").

Image source
But there is a little twist to this story, as before I bought Brandy, my first pony, I tried another pony, who was indeed a painted pony. His name was Pickles and he belonged to a girl called Mary. She changed her mind about selling him and went on to keep him until his death, some 10 years later. Mary and I became friends and until I left home in my 20's, kept our horses at the same stable yard.
Her Mum was a wonderful lady and I was very fond of her too. She knitted Lewis a bright stripy cardigan when he was a few months old. Even in those days, he looked like a very boho baby LOL

Over the years, we owned several more ponies, made several house moves, lived through various life events, but remained friends and managed to visit each other regularly. Now I am living here in Somerset, we still write and email. We have been friends now, for about 35 years.

SPINNING WHEEL (D. Clayton / Thomas)
Blood, Sweat, & Tears - 1969

What goes up must come down
Spinning wheel got to go 'round
Talking 'bout your troubles it's a crying sin
Ride a painted pony let the Spinning wheel spin

You got no money and you got no home
Spinning wheel all alone
Talking 'bout your troubles and you never learn
Ride a painted pony let the Spinning wheel

Did you find the directing sign on the
Straight and narrow highway Would you mind a reflecting sign
Just let it shine within your mind
And show you the colours that are real
Someone is waiting just for you
Spinning wheel, Spinning true
Drop all your troubles by the riverside
Ride a painted pony let the spinning wheel fly

lyrics source

Red sky in the morning

2011-09-13T08:42:00.000+01:00

At 6.45 this morning

More plants at bargain prices-from the Supermarket

2011-09-09T12:28:00.004+01:00

Stocking a new garden can be an expensive business, so I was delighted to find these beauties at bargain prices. Yellow Geums, cherry coloured Achillea and blue Platycodon. All lovely clashing colours!

"Cottage garden perennials" at £2 each, or 2 for £3 all at our local Morrisons! I like the hardy chrysanthemums, they seem to give such a long season of colour and remind me of my Grandads garden.
I've paid no attention to placing colour, just tried to arrange it do the taller ones are in the centre of the beds, as they will be seen from 3 sides, the house, the drive and the footpath. I have already seen people looking over approvingly. No doubt they remember the hugely overgrown and neglected space we took on when we came.

This pretty little Butterfly Lavender also for £2. I have several Lavenders that I brought from Railway, including a white one, but they are in pots round the back, so this will make a useful addition.
No "cottage garden" is complete without lavender!

Another Achillea, this one knocked down to 55p ...(Having just watched the DVD of "Troy" last night, I can't help thinking of the delicious Brad Pitt as Achilles.....)
This little garden is filling up nicely on a shoestring. I've made many gardens over the years and spent a lot of money on plants, but but creating a lovely colourful space which we can enjoy for many years, for just a few pounds has been a real pleasure.
My friend Silve sent me some seeds of Allium, poppies and white honesty, which I'll be sewing next Spring, to add to the mix.
With so much work still to do indoors and some big bills round the corner for windows, doors and a fireplace, I'm happy to be making this garden without breaking the bank!

Hollyhock surprise

2011-09-08T14:15:00.001+01:00

Remember my bargain basement Hollyhocks? They were reduced to 99p and I bought 2.

At last, we finished creating the front garden beds and I got them into the ground.
Only one has unfurled so far and surprise! it's a gorgeous peachy pink colour.

That's OK, pink is good!

All my baby plants, the 79p bargains and bits from friends are planted up, but they're all very small and there's lots of bare soil at present. All the bits I rescued from the jungle, before we cleared it, have been replanted in one of these beds.
It was all done on a budget, with gravel for the paths and decking boards (buy 3 for the price of 2) to edge the beds. Luckily, we are blessed with crumbly loam, which is bliss after 15 years of battling with the heavy clay in Bucks.
I also took the opportunity to plant spring flowering bulbs and Alliums before I put the plants in, so next Spring I hope to have a colourful show.

According to the label, my hollyhocks should reach 6 feet, so hopefully we'll have height as well as bushiness next year. I fell into the temptation of planting everything a little too close together, but I like the lush, blowsy effect of a cottage garden.
There's a pretty little rose which I am planning to relocate from the weed choked "rockery" (which will please Leanne!) before we blitz it, to get rid of the Elder saplings, brambles and bind weed.

We're geting there slowly :-D

Funky Tor

2011-09-07T14:16:00.000+01:00

Just playing with Paint Shop Pro.

I love this image, it's rather Andy Warhol, don't you think?

Yes.... I know, I have to much time on my hands LOL

An Autumnal feel on the Levels

2011-09-06T09:31:00.004+01:00

The dogs and I took a walk this morning, after the rain stopped. The Levels , have a very Autumnal feel already

We spied the Heron

Here he is a big bigger

There are 4 Herons along this stretch of the Brue, they stick to their own territories and will not fish in another Herons "patch".

This fine fellow I snapped last October. The Herons are quite laid-back birds and will allow you to come quite close as long as your daft dogs don't bark at them, when they launch themselves, in slow motion, into the air, with a Primeval squawk.

We have seen Cormorants on the Levels this summer, but not managed to get a photograph of them yet. Now they really do look Prehistoric.

Back home, the rain started again

A day of quilting, listening to the radio and drinking cups of tea is the order of the day, today, I think!

Flowers

2011-09-05T11:54:00.002+01:00

"Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the soul"

Luther Burbank

I thought you might enjoy these beauties, to brighten a damp day here in Somerset,

All snapped back in July, at Chalice well gardens

Summer seems a long way off already...

It' be hard to choose a favourite, wouldn't it?

Brrr! the water's cold!

2011-09-03T14:49:00.000+01:00

I don't care how cold it is, I love it!

(Roobarb, dog of little brain, in the sea at Berrow, today).

I'll just have a little paddle

(Ellie, older and wiser)

The ponies didn't seem to mind the cold water

A little break in the cloud

Then it's back in the car and home for a bacon sandwich

Wedding rings runner- all finished!

2011-09-02T15:47:00.001+01:00

The wedding rings table runner is all hand quilted and bound and ready to go to it's new home.

I really enjoyed making the rings, which were hand pieced with paper shapes for the patchwork segments.

You might remember, this is a gift for my Sister-in-law, who requested a "duck egg blue" background to match her Laura Ashley kitchen curtains.

I have to confess, tho' that appliqueing the rings to the background was very tedious. I had to leave the paper shapes in, until the rings were secured to the background then slit the background fabric and ease them through. These were the instructions given with the pre cut paper shapes.

Maybe some of my Blog friends who are more expert in this area can pass me some tips, as I'd like to make another, but do not relish appliqueing the rings down. (I have seen wedding rings quilts, which were entirely hand pieced thus, no applique necessary but as the runner's rings are set on a background fabric, I don't think it's possible to do it that way)

Once the rings were in place, I layered the runner up with some toning flowery fabric for the back and flannel (or brushed cotton) in between, as I wanted a flatter finish, rather than use bouncy wadding.

The rings and centre shapes were hand quilted using a hoop.

A label on the back completes the project. For years I never even thought about labelling my quilts, until a friend of mine said, think how many old quilts there are, which are part of our history and we would love to know who made them and what year, where they lived and what techniques and materials they used. She encouraged me to "sign" my quilts and give a little information on the back.

You can buy ready made quilt labels, or even download them from the internet and print them onto fabric, but I generally write mine out with a water soluable pen and embroider over, edging with a little machine embroidery. How do you make yours?

I was humming and haaing about fabric for the binding, but in the end I took the finished runner to the quilt shop and with the help of the shop owner, began the process of "auditioning" several fabrics in shades of blue, which all seemed to draw the eye away from the many patterned fabrics in the rings. In the end we both agreed that I should used the same fabric as the background.

Now the binding is on, I'm glad I went with my instinct on this one.

So now this project is completed and is soon off to it's new home, but I am already thinking about making another one for myself.

With no hand quilting project to work on, I feel rather lost now, missing that relaxing daily sit down, listening to the radio and quietly stitching away....but the borders are on the pink quilt and soon I'll have that layered and into the hoop.

Up the tower at St Johns church

2011-08-30T18:26:00.005+01:00

Down in the town, we have several churches, 2 of which I can see from our house. St Johns church will be a familiar sight to my blog friends, as it features often here.
On Bank holiday Monday, St Johns had a small fete and plant sale, with cake and book stalls and more excitingly, "trips up the tower".

The tower was commissioned by Abbott Selwood in 1457 and the top is 135 feet from the ground, promising views across the town and the surrounding countryside and is the second tallest parish church tower in Somerset.

The steps were steeply winding and quite narrow. Luckily there was a rope hand rail to help you on your climb.
100 steps took us to the bell chamber, where we saw the ropes for the eight bells; the largest, the Tenor Bell, is about 14 cwt or about 712 kg and the smallest, the Treble, is about 5 cwt or 250 kg.

We were able to view the mechanical workings of the chiming clock,

I was very interested to learn that the clock was presented to the church by "the people of this area and Glastonbury U.S.A". Although the tower has a chiming clock, it has no clock face. The chimes, which are rung electronically, day to day, are coordinated electronically so are extremely accurate

The guide pointed out the "graffiti" from past centuries, names carved on the door in the bell chamber, one date reads Mar 10th 1871 .

Leaving this area, the steps became steeper and narrower, as we climbed the next 65 steps to the roof.

We passed the huge bells, thankfully, not due to peel for another 40 minutes!

All the way up the tower were tiny windows, set at intervals. Of course when the tower was built, they would not have had glass, but just open slots in the brick.

Emerging out on the roof (or crown), it wasn't as windy as I feared and the climb was well worth it. I don't usually care for heights, but it felt very safe and I was just excited to start taking photographs.

Looking down, the roof of the church looked much bigger than I expected.

This is the primary school, the one with the "friendship stop"

and of course my eyes were drawn to the Tor

As you can see, there was a metal rail all the way round to stop you falling off the tower!

Looking down the High street, towards Wearyall Hill, home to the Glastonbury Thorn

and into the Abbey grounds

Eventually it was time to climb back down, we didn't want to be inside the tower when the 1pm bells rang out!

The steps seemed even steeper going down!

I also discovered today, that St Johns has it's own green man, in the Lady chapel.

Back out in the sunshine, there was a lovely festive feel in our town

And we sat outside the pub in the market place, enjoying the warm weather and a glass of cider.

The Town crier came by

As did this wonderful old steam powered traction engine.

The eagle eyed among you, may have spotted the black and white Cornish "St Piran's" flags

A vintage fire engine was followed by an old tractor which pulled a notice advertising a vintage vehicle rally in 2 weeks time

We had such a nice afternoon. Living here feels like being permanently on holiday :-D

My favourite cottage -a real "flower-power" house

2011-08-29T07:10:00.002+01:00

Hot on the heels of the yellow house and colourful shops, I thought you'd really enjoy this delightful Flower-power cottage here in Glastonbury- my all time favourite.

Glastonbury is well known for being "different" with it's diverse and artistic community, so you won't be surprised to see this fabulous wall art on this little house at the foot of the Tor.

I just love it, I wonder if Husband would let me decorate the front of Hillside this way!

It makes these nearby coloured houses look rather plain by comparison!

While I was walking along with my camera, I spotted this pretty sign at one cottage and next to it, a lovely hare plaque.

Thats it then, I promise. No more coloured houses or shops, (although I am collecting photos of pretty cottages, for a post later on in the year).

But for now, it's back to digging my front garden :-D

A quiet walk to end a quiet week

2011-08-25T14:07:00.006+01:00

I love to see the Tor against the brooding sky. This slightly different angle is from the farmland where the dogs and I walked this morning. The rain had just stopped and the weak sun just caught the east side of the Tower.

The Levels are criss-crossed by a system of rhynes (pronounced reens) which drain the land. You may remember me mentioning that Glastonbury used to be an Island many years ago.
A previous post about the rhynes can be found HERE

Willows grow all along their banks, I love their ancient leaning trunks and cockatoo branches

Following the rhyne, I can see our house in the distance

It's been quiet here at Hillside this week, with Husband up in London. Dragon boy came down for a couple of days. I love it that this handsome young man wants to spend time with his Mum and we enjoy being on our own, browsing the shops, eating lunch in the town and on this visit, making juice! We stocked up on more fruit and veg and lugged the bags back up the hill. We bought pineapples, oranges (all reduced) and more carrots. I am definitely eating far more carrots since we've been juicing them!

Lewis wanted to try making a banana smoothie, which was very simple, milk, 2 ripe bananas and a scoop of ice cream and took some freshly made apple juice back for his girl friend.

Yesterday my friend Leanne paid a flying visit and we got Lewis harvesting cooking apples with the telescopic picker, so she could take them home with her.

Tonight I shall be picking Husband up from the station and I suspect, we may detour to the pub on the way home! The dogs always miss him, Roobarb in particular, who will often sleep down by the front door at night.
Tomorrow a trip to the quilt shop for suitable binding fabric for the wedding rings runner and borders for the pink quilt and weather permitting, I hope to finish laying out the beds and paths in the front garden, ready for planting.

To create

2011-08-24T09:34:00.001+01:00

We were made to create, not just consume, and whether baking a cake,

telling a story, arranging flowers or seeing

shapes in the clouds, everybody has the creative impulse within them.

If we perform even the smallest task with imagination,

our lives feel richer and more varied.

Maya Fiennes/ Yoga for Real Life

Mine's a pint!

2011-08-23T14:57:00.000+01:00

Of home made Carrot and apple juice, or "Crapple" as the book calls it!

Our apple trees here at Hillside are groaning with fruit, so as well as giving bag fulls to our neighbours, we've been juicing them.

The juicer was a bit of an extravagance, but it has been in use every day. I bought a "Juice recipe book" from the charity shop for 50p and have been trying several combinations, including orange and nectarine and green pepper and apple. Basically whatever fruit is on offer, or reduced, I've been "juicing" it.
I cut out any bruises from the windfalls, quarter the fruit and drop it into the machine, pips and all. The juice tends to be quite frothy, in the top pic, I'd just made it and poured it straight out, so it hadn't cleared.

Husband bought a telescopic picker, so we've been having great fun every day, harvesting both our Cooking and eating apples. This trug was made for me by my Dad, long before Lewis was born, it must be about 25 years old.

So far my favourite combo is carrot and apple or orange and pineapple. Funnily enough, I'm not a great fan of eating fruit, but I love the juice. I haven't moved on to juicing veg yet, as I think I prefer them as soup, but this afternoon, when Lewis arrives, we are going to try kiwi (6 for £1) and pear.

I don't care for the froth, so I pour that off for Husband, while I prefer the clear juice, (apple on the right and Crapple on the left).

I'm going to experiment with freezing containers of juice for the winter, as I don't have anywhere to store the apples, with further alterations planned to the house this Autumn.

But now, I'm off to drink my juice and enjoy browsing through this fabulous pile of magazines, bought for just £1 this morning, at the charity shop :-D

What's mine is mine

2011-08-22T10:32:00.002+01:00

PTHHHH! This is my chew

And you're not getting it!

(Ellie our old girl, guarding her chewy stick).

Wedding rings runner- ready to bind

2011-08-20T19:11:00.000+01:00

The wedding rings runner is all quilted now and I am getting ready for the binding. I am thinking either to pick out one of the colours in the rings,
or, (which I am leaning towards), maybe using the same colour as the background, as the rings are quite busy with colour and pattern.

What do you think?

It still needs trimming, so I've folded the end under here, so you can get an idea of how it might look when it's finished.

I'm inclined to bind it with matching fabric...

And here's the back. Silve likes to see the back. My stitches arent very even on the back, but at least it looks hand made LOL