Nuno Felt !

Today I experimented making nuno felt. It was a lot of fun.

(Click here if you want to find out what nuno felt is.)

I made these 2 pieces with a chiffon scarf from the thrift store that I cut in half.

The one on the right was an experiment to see how different wool and fibres would work.

This piece I made to be a like a kerchief. You can wear it on your head or around your neck. 

Here is a close up.

I followed fantastic instructions from Terri at http://www.feltinglessons.com/

so "Thank you" Terri.

She also has instructions for felt rocks, so I made some of those too.

Funnily enough I keep a rock on my bedside table to hold down the pages of whatever book I am reading. Now I'll have a lovely felt rock to use !

Now there's just this to deal with, (sigh, I hate the clean up)

Saltery Bay Picnic

It was such a beautiful day yesterday here on the coast.

We decided to make the most of it and despite the increasing afternoon cloud, headed out for a picnic.

A flask of soup, sandwiches, Walkers cheese and onion crisps (special treat from the UK, only broken out on very special occasions) and a beer/cider to wash it down.

In past years it has become a tradition for us to have an early picnic with our friends Randy and Fern.

In past years we have sometimes had our picnic in February.

They have moved away, (we MISS you guys !) so we are left to continue without them.

Here is beautiful Saltery Bay, a provincial park 

It's in two parts. This part of it encompasses the campground and has this wonderful little rocky promontory set up with picnic tables and benches and views to the south and north. This is also where the bronze mermaid is underwater and offers wheelchair accessible scuba diving. Amazing !

And here we also found the first periwinkle of the year. Just being a few miles south and near the water clearly makes a difference as we don't have any blooming at home quite yet.

 A lovely sojourn and a day later, back to the rain !!

Name That Lamb

This post is for you, April.
We decided this year, to name the lambs after jazz singers and musicians. The jazz afficionados in both our families would approve.
So without further ado.....
Here they are.
First up, Humbug's ewe lamb, Ella (Fitzgerald).

Here are Cashew's twins. They are Babydoll Romney crosses.
The little ewe lamb is Billie (Holiday).

Her brother is Louis (Armstrong).

Then we have Marmites twin ewes. This is Cleo (Laine). She is fuzzier than her sister.

And Bea (Wain), OK that one is a little obscure but she was a 1930's big band vocalist.

Last but not least, the Fab Four. Dandelion's family.

This is the little ewe, Peggy (Lee).

The other three are all boys. This is Django (Reinhardt).

This is Dizzy (Gillespie).

And the last little guy is Bix (Beiderbecke), again obscure but one of my Dad's favourites !

OK so did you get all them all ? there'll be a quiz later !

Feeding Frenzy

That's what it is around here at the moment....

We're giving Dandelion a bit of help with her family.

She feeds all of them as well so no one is starving !

We look at this view 3 times a day.

And The BIG News is....

Our sweet Dandelion had FOUR lambs on Tuesday evening. I was out at the Fine Arts Club when Simon phoned me to tell me that she had triplets. By the time I got home there were these four.

Do you think she looks rather surprised ?

We certainly were. Here is another picture of the fab four.

The good news is that she is being a great Mum and is feeding them all. We supplement with lamb formula but no-one has been rejected like last year, (remember lovely Pearl our bottle baby).

She is a busy Mum.

Here are two of them, (not quite sure who as I haven't quite got them all sorted out) having a rest outside on their first day out on Friday. The little one to the top of the screen has a cute little white spot on his head, he's the only one we can tell apart at the moment.

And here is Dandelion with the other two little cuties.

There are 3 boys and a girl.

Well done Dandelion !!!

More Lambs Arriving

It's been very exciting around here !

After it all kicked off on Thursday we've increased the flock to a soccer team, (with a substitute) !

On Monday our Babyrom Cashew had these two little ones, a boy and a girl.

I'll get some better pics soon but just this one for now.

On Tuesday we spent the day anxiously looking at big-as-a-house Dandelion. I went down to check on her but was surprised instead by Marmite.

She had disappeared behind the barn with this result !

Two gorgeous little ewe lambs. In this picture they are just minutes old and still steaming. She is a great Mum and  is cleaning and licking them. Within a couple of minutes they are up and raring to go.

Every year I am truly amazed.

Way to Go Humbug !

A lovely surprise in the barn yesterday morning.

Humbug has a gorgeous daughter. I must admit it took us completely by surprise. We weren't expecting lambs until April. So much for our careful breeding plan and flushing schedule ! Over the 5 years of lambing I have learned not to be too surprised as anything can, (and does) happen.

Needless to say Simon spent the day getting the jug ready, sorting out heatlamps and hay. Not that this little girl needs the heat lamp, she is strong and healthy and it is warm out at the moment but we want to be ready in case any other lambs arrive. The camera is up now in the other part of the barn where the ewes sleep so we can keep an eye on them without the trek out to the barn. The lambing kit is ready,
                                                             and hopefully now, so are we !