A few days at home

.... and a few things were made.

I made these shoes/slippers after seeing this.

They are made from a felted recycled sweater with a pattern I modified from Martha's link above.

I made a second pair for my Mum.

I finished this little tartan bag today. I bought some lovely tartan mohair offcuts when I was in Scotland and this is one of the pieces that I felted and sewed this bag. The handles are recycled from a belt. I got the idea for this from The Wheel Magazine from Ashford that I really like. They wove the fabric on an a small Ashford loom and shrunk it, whereas I already had this piece.

I also have been doing a bit of spinning with some babydoll/angora and made this function over form niddy noddy to wind it off the bobbin. I spotted the t pieces when we were in the hardware store the other day buying parts for the LOVELY NEW WATER PUMP and Simon found the pipe so it got made in less than 10 minutes. ...yes I know it looks like it but I don't care. It works just great and will do until I make a nice driftwood-from-the-beach-model.

And last but not least a pic of the sheep waiting for some hay as the meadow is STILL full of SNOW.

More pics on flickr

Merry Christmas

I have been conspicuous in my absence lately. Sorry about that.....

No excuses really apart from being away in the UK.

Anyway "Merry Christmas" (or insert your own favourite seasonal greeting). Around here I like to think we celebrate the longest night/our wedding anniversary on the 23rd/ as well as Christmas which really stretches it out !

Here is our little shepherdess and her lamb on top of the tree.

And this is what we got each other this year.

Wow !

It's a water pump. We are very pleased to have it as it means we have water again. Our recent prolonged cold snap, ( -5 to -9 for a week or so which is COLD for us wimpy west coasters) caused it's demise and left us dry for a while.

Amazing how a few days without water really make you appreciate how important it is.

Now the temperature is a balmy zero and we are bathed in winter sunshine. Just like the day we got married, 13 years ago. It was here at Palm Beach.

And looked very like this, minus the snow.And here is another shot of the beach, .....looks almost tropicalWe had a nice walk along the beach this morning while the turkey was cooking and we plan on relaxing the rest of the day.

Hope you enjoy whatever you are doing today !