the patchwork dress

looking up

Last Sunday I did one of my favourite things to do..

Went into Glasgow on a Sunday morning before the shops open, sit in a café and watch the world go by..

At that time, before the shopping crowds, it feels very cosmopolitan. You get the tourists and visitors who have just left their hotels setting out for the day, or the odd hen night now en masse with their wheelie suitcases as they head for the train.

I like to sit and watch the people passing by, wondering about their lives, what they might be thinking, guessing what they might be about to do. Who's happy, who's sad, who's preoccupied. The Big Issue seller gave loads of mileage - he smiled and spoke to everyone, cleared tables, studied things around him. At one point we were both just looking up at huge seagulls that swooped and glided above the precinct - while inside the café Goldfrapp played over the speakers, and the whole moment became like a beautiful piece of cinematography... but was life.

The proscenium of the window became the archway to watch all the coming and going, and activity as it got busier. I particularly like the buildings opposite and was just thinking how they look much better in sunlight, when the shadows cast by the reliefs in the stonework bring them to life, when the clouds parted and the sun came out, just enough for me to take these shots.

shetlands

...what's that?...how many legs?

Ah! now I see...
Wonder if you would come a bit closer... so I can take a photo for my blog...

...but I'm a bit shy to have my photie took right now...

...oh, alright... just a quick...

...wash...and brushup...

...there ...how's that?

edinburgh 9am

garden

my blog seems to have turned into a gardening blog all of a sudden - it's the place I've been spending all my spare time lately - am so tired after work, even 5 minutes out there makes you feel as if you've done something, and I find being outside so therapeutic, even though I am a novice gardener.

These are the sunflowers that Melissa sent me last year in this post..

the tomato plants I bought a month or so ago from the Red Cross Plant sale in the village, are now up to my shoulders! The first flowers are coming out, and I have been getting tips about growing tomatoes from a chap at work. I was just commenting to N last week about how quickly they are shooting up - and that I'd been advised to pinch out any new growth between the stem and leaf - when he told me he'd kindly been pinching off the flowers to help. The tomato growing has consequently been left to me, and I also gained some courgette plants from a friend.

today I have been out madly tidying in the garden, and replanting an old trough - moving the plants I wasn't so keen on, to turn it into a herb garden. In there are parsley, basil, some coriander and one or two lettuce... The parsley marker was bought at Potfest on the last foray. I really like the typewriter typeface on it!

Speaking of forays I have had a couple of good finds at work. During the week I savalged 3 old wooden pallets from a skip, as since N had seen an article about this designer in Dwell magazine - he'd wanted to make one of these...

I am so delighted with my recycled sun lounger. (By the way, if you like this kind of thing, check out Scrapile as well.) Had been needing some garden furniture to add to the 'bench' and had been planning an expensive trip to Ikea - so the next day he made a table to match!

which also doubles as a footrest and another sitting bench. Total cost £0 - from 3 pallets.

I hate having to work on Saturdays, as it means a 6 day week and I miss my morning of R4 and pottering in the house. It knocks the system, which I don't think recovers without a break - so thank God I am having a week off later this week. However, being at work did have some payoff as I was given this Cath Kidston fabric by a colleague - with another piece in beautiful roses.

All I need is some time to do something with it!

Bon appetit!

gold, green & blue

from the weekend...

gold, green,...

..and blue. Such a rare thing in Scotland, I had to take a photo... not a cloud. Those 2 'wee guys' flew into the picture just as I snapped. They wanted to record it for posterity too!

Then, today I received these lovely artist date cards from Barbara. She made them from photos she took of a visit to a mosque in Aleppo a few years ago, stuck to postcards she didn't like. I love these images and the rich patterns. Unfortunately the photos I just took were a bit blurred... so they are featuring as a backdrop to my other favourite green thing at the moment...

the Strickpuppe (german for knitting doll) which I pur-chased at the Quilt Show Traders Market a few weekends ago. I haven't quite got round to figuring out how to use it. I used to do something like this called french knitting as a child - with 4 nails sticking out of a cotton reel. You can weave or knit a kind of cord. I was strangely drawn to buying the Strickpuppe... for a bit of fun.

Also because she reminds me a bit of a Russian Doll, and is quite East European looking.

...and for her smiley face!

meetings with extraordinary trees...

waiting for master...

"and I'm not budging 'til he comes out with my sausages..."

...seen at lunchtime today.

good friday

...seen at lunchtime yesterday, someone's Easter Bonnet didn't make it home.

things observed last week...

computer generated pots on these fruit trees at the garden centre...

granny's hielen' hame... no, not really... a corner of my sewing room... ha! fooled again!... no, actually a reconstruction in the corner of the Aberfoyle Woollen Mill. As anyone who knows Scotland knows, the place is teaming with wee tartan, shortbread and woollen goods "mills" which are a totally honest representation of what we all do at home (of course!). The best entertainment was provided by a team of runner ducks - known locally as the Quack Commandoes, who ran up and down outside in the rain the whole time I was there, often accompanied by a comedic accordion soundtrack. Show stealers, the lot of them.

I am strangely fascinated by this fairy tale corner of the woollen mill and the rack of 'threads' (displayed right, foreground), which I am always drawn to peruse through, like a kitten batting wool. Of course you have to move on pretty quick before the Giant comes back.

On the drive to Aberfoyle are 3 placards planted in the verge - ARE - FAERIES - REAL?
I'm not sure if this is to get you thinking about whether you believe in fairies, whether they have been put there by fairies trying to get humans to notice, or a local protest about the number of fairy references abounding in the area?

Wren! spotted! in the garden! Not this one of course. This is a small ceramic by the artist Simon Griffiths, which I own and love - and by the looks of things needs a dust! I spotted the wren for the first time in the garden yesterday, and am delighted to see her flitting about, tail in the air. There is a tendency to assume wrens as being feminine, or robins being male, but of course there must be male wrens too.

Speaking of male wrens, today was the turn of the men at the local coffee/craft morning held in the village hall. They served up the Big Breakfast, with the joke being that as it was the 29th February they were in a position to being proposed to. I laughed about this last week, and was told firmly that they were all married, thank you very much! So sweet to see them all in their pinnies though!

new wee guy

I have been meaning to say a big thank you for all the lovely comments and encouraging wellwishers on this blog over the last few weeks, and I do apologise for not writing to you all directly - but you know who you are, so thankyou!

We had a new 'wee guy' (that's what I call the small fellas) alert in the garden yesterday...

I think I can say with some confidence that it is a Yellowhammer, although at first I thought it was a budgie, or a sparrow wearing a hat - it is really yellow (more so than this pic)- quite outstanding against all the grey wet drabness. Thought I'd like to share and bring a little yella fella to your weekend!