Short days

Winter sunrise through the woods.

It amazes me how much life has changed in just one year. Our days used to be defined by the time on our watches, now it seems we plan our activities according to the hours of daylight. The chickens rising and bedding down starts and finishes our working day. The summer days here are really long and often it doesn't get dark until nearly 11 o'clock at night and conversely, the winter days are extremely short. Just now we have to wait until 8:45 for the day to get started and our outdoor jobs need to be finished before it starts to get dark at 3:45pm.

 

As we had hoped, we managed to get our new front door fitted before Christmas, it looks very smart and hopefully the cold drafts in the hall have now been banished. Unfortunately M was unable to save the old stained glass window as it exploded into a thousand bits.

 

Look what we found in our woods, a little antler. Jess and Finn were very interested in it but M managed to get hold of it first. We keep looking for the second one in the pair but no joy just yet.

  

A week or so ago we dug up all the willow cuttings we had put in one of the baths about a year ago. There were also a few elders which I had stuck in when we trimmed our newly planted elder plants in March. We couldn't quite believe it but there were 45 willow plants in all and these are now dotted around the woods. I potted up the elders to give them a little protection over winter before being planted out next spring. I'm really chuffed with my little group of oaks and hopefully they too will find a permanent home in the new year.

Dreary days lead to crafty adventures and M has been busy. He has cut and dried willow before soaking it to try some willow weaving and the result is a beautiful willow wreath adorning the Wendy house.

  

He also weaved a little cone before picking some winter greenery for an indoor arrangement; he is so creative.

 

The best I can do is buy some little indoor plants, I love the look of a poinsettia at Christmas. I also decided to get a small Christmas cactus which has loads of buds, hopefully we won't kill it before it blooms - we've never been particularly good at keeping house plants.

 

Some lovely hyacinths complete the windowsill picture.

One final note on the chicken front: due to the avian flu restrictions they are now enjoying their enforced confinement in the byre where the wild birds can't get to them or their food and water. Roll on the 6th January and a return to normal scratching around, free range, in the chicken yard.

Wildlife camera (Video)

More Camera video

I just couldn't wait to show you this video so this is a really really short post.

We did think that we had more than one barn owl residing in our byre. However, we were overjoyed to see this video today which captured both of them, together. We have no idea where they live and if they are a family, oh it would be wonderful to see some little owlets. 

Christmas is Coming

Christmas Decorations

Christmas doesn't officially begin in our house until December so this week we gathered together all our decorations and started the job of adorning trees. We have always added to our pot of decorations each year and when we first got married we would choose one new bauble each. In recent years we have made decorations which have arrived in a variety of forms.

   

Mum bought me a kit to make a silver bauble where pieces of material are folded and then pinned into a polystyrene egg. It was quick and easy to make so I got some more material and made another in bright green and red.

   

One year we embarked on a Fimo modelling clay session and had a lot of fun making labels for all our presents and a few decorations with the obligatory glitter glue of course. Having a huge stash of buttons meant I could make a few little button Christmas trees, very quick and easy to construct.

Decoupache is a fun way to decorate and at this time of year M's NOEL is always on display.

   

A little while ago I posted a picture of the wooden owl M made and mentioned he was also making some Christmas decorations. Well, tah dah! he made these lovely little snowmen who are now sitting comfortably in our tree.

He was having a lot of fun and made these larger snowmen and a Santa Claus for outside.

  

Don't they look wonderful and the Wendy house looks all Christmassy too.

About a year ago I bought this Kirstie Allsopp kit but as we have had such a busy spring and summer we never got around to trying it out.

Until, a couple of weeks ago M decided to cut some logs and try making some little tree hangings.

 

And another little NOEL which looks great under our light arch. I'm feeling a bit guilty as I have yet to contribute to the decorations this year but I still have a couple of weeks to add my own touch.

So the trees is up and looks very pretty although this picture really doesn't do it justice. We just need to complete the picture with a couple of presents and we'll be ready for the big day.

Happy Christmas everyone.

Crafty beginnings

Needlework

For as long as I can remember my mum has knitted, crocheted and sewn, she is an amazingly crafty woman who will try any kind of craft at least once. I have yet to reach her skills levels in any craft and for many years my only form of crafting was needlework, mainly cross stitch. I had planned to tell you about how I've recently embarked on new crafts but I got a bit carried away in a period of reminiscing and found lots of my old projects. So I thought I'd indulge myself for a few minutes but I'll keep this short and sweet.

 

These were the first cross stitches I ever did, I can't remember quite when that was but I was probably about 11 or 12 years old. They were little kits that really didn't take too long to complete and got me used to working with an embroidery hoop.

This was the first big needlework picture I completed and mum and dad very kindly got it framed for me. It was a wool tapestry; as a child I always loved having this on my bedroom wall and it now hangs proudly in my little craft room.

I have always done cross stitch in fits and spurts, becoming obsessed with it and then leaving projects for months and sometimes years before returning to them. I have quite a few which still haven't been framed and to be honest I'd almost forgotten about them. I love elephants and really enjoyed this cross stitch (again another kit) and maybe one day it will hang on our wall.

 

Sometimes I find it difficult to complete some projects and found these little kits which took no time at all to finish, long before I got distracted by other projects.

This was one of the most difficult cross stitches I have ever done. Instead of counted cross stitch it was printed on cotton and was so time consuming trying to find exactly where the needle should go. I did finally get it finished but perhaps I should have ironed it before taking the picture.

One of the nicest cross stitches I have done was one of the county of Worcestershire which I gifted to a lovely couple on their 40th wedding anniversary, unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it framed.

 

I started a couple of cross stitches a few years ago and they have become a bit of a standing joke in our house. One was an engagement picture which I bought when we got engaged and another of Venice where we spent our honeymoon 12 years ago. Unfortunately, as you can probably tell, they have been folded up and kept in a bag for quite a while.

 

Hopefully one day I may find the enthusiasm to get them finished. I'm embarrassed to say that I also found another few half completed needlework projects which I had forgotten about, including this long stitch wool tapestry. I received a beautiful cross stitch of a black Labrador for my birthday last month and can feel the urge to return to my first ever form of craft. Obviously I have lots to catch up on and get finished off.