Hawthorn's Heart💓thon 1 February 2017

I am joining in with Hawthorn for her annual heart-a-day running from 1 February to 14 February.  Click here to see her blog.

For 1 February I've chosen mince pies!  I know it is well past Christmas but I still have a few home-made ones in the freezer (pastry and mince-meat all hand-made).

An ex-works colleague came back from one of her many holidays with a present for me.

A pastry pricker.  I think she'd been on holiday in Turkey.

It does make the pies look very good; as you can see the tin has been well used!

Hawthorn's January 2017 Photo Scavenge Hunt

Once again Hawthorn Spellweaver (click here to visit her blog) has organised another Scavenger Photo Hunt.  She provides a list of 10 words and the objective is to select a photo for each word.  We are encouraged to think outside the box!  This month's list I found rather challenging.  I was in the middle of an awful cough/cold thing so could not do much physically.  Thank goodness her list arrived in early January as I was then able to sit quietly at my PC hunting for photos!  So here is my offering for January and you can judge how I got on.

1   Smoke

Taken in February 2007 when we were putting our sailing boat away.

My sister-in-law drew my attention to the smoke from a nearby

fire drifting up through the trees.

We no longer have a boat there as the storage fees went through the roof!

2   Twilight

Not sure if this meets the correct definition of twilight (the soft glowing light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon, caused by the reflection of the sun's rays from the atmosphere) but it captivated us as we were driving home.

The colour was amazing.  It was taken early February 2015.

3  Starts with F ....

Beloved decided to buy a Ferguson tractor, long before we bought the fields.

Roll on a few years and here he is turning the hay to help it dry.

That year I entered this photo into the Farm Life category at Trawden Show where

it won first prize.  I was amazed as I literally just pointed and clicked.

On show day I dragged him round to show him and he said if he'd known I

was going to enter it, he would have said no!  Just as well I don't

always tell him what I am about to do....

4   Circle

I made this in December 2010; I'd seen the kit but did not want to pay £25 for it.  So I made a few notes and made my own!  What fun that proved to be.

5   Sign

We like to have a drive out here and there.  We were passing near Pendragon Castle when we stopped to walk round it and I liked this sign!  This was taken in July 2016.  We will return and see if we can spot a red squirrel.  We once caught a glimpse of one somewhere else on a drive out but sadly it was off before I could take a photo.

It worked a treat as we did not see any red squirrels at all, not even 

a tail tip as it ran off.

6  Heat

We always seem to have a pile of stuff to burn.  We like a good bonfire.  It was very hot

 and we could not stand close to it.  Taken in April 2009.

As a way of a little joke, Beloved used some computer skills (I think I advised him!)

to place a friend's drawing board in the middle of the conflagration and then sent 

the edited image to him.  He was outraged that we had burnt it (we are 'storing it' for him 

at our shed) but his IT savvy son put his fears at rest!

6   Starts with J ....

I like doing jigsaw puzzles.  Once I get one out and on the go, I just cannot stop!  At the moment I have none out as I'm too busy with one of my other creative activities, crochet blankets!

This intrigued me!  It took some doing.  I was mislead by the description on the box which

said to me (in clear language) that the sides were all straight.  Oh no they were not!

Quite a few interlocked and once I realised this I could make progress.

8   Birds

A friend has her version of this in her house and she kindly made me one.  I've yet to fit it

to the frame properly but it's only been like this since November 2014!

9   In flower now

Hamamelis mollis (Chinese witch hazel) started to flower in early 

January 2017 - perfect timing!

10  Own choice

At Yarndale last year I decided to buy a blanket kit from Lucy of Attic24.  I made it up for my Beloved and then decided I wanted one for myself.  So I ordered another kit for me, different colours. When I  got to look at it I realised I had ordered the wrong kit; I think the Woolwarehouse site was a bit misleading but hey ho.  Whilst the pattern was on her blog, the colour sequence was not and I cannot do random!  After thinking about it for a few weeks I looked on her blog and found a picture of her finished blanket and then I had an idea!  I could use the picture to work out her colour sequence.  I did this and then amended the pattern as I wanted it to be long and thin rather than wide and not so tall.  That was easy enough to do.  Her pattern was on for 60 stripes (2 rows per stripe) but I wanted 90 stripes.  So back to her blog to find out what colours she used for the border (so I would not use all of these colours in my extra stripes) where I found she'd put her colour sequence on!  I felt compelled to compare and contrast and I was very close!

Here it is!  The extra 30 stripes I added are on the left hand side of the above photo.

Yes I am pleased with it and will start her Moorland Blanket CAL as soon as I feel

fit enough to do it.  In case you don't know she favours Stylecraft DK acrylic

yarn which is great to work it, has wonderful colours and I love it!

Hawthorn's November Scavenger Photo Hunt

Once again Hawthorn Spellweaver (click here to visit her blog) has organised another Scavenger Photo Hunt.  She provides a list of 10 words and the objective is to select a photo for each word.  We are encouraged to think outside the box!  This month's list I found rather challenging.  So here is my offering for November and you can judge how I got on.

1   Menu

Now how's this for being spoilt for choice!

Such loveliness, such softness, such fun.

Hours of entertainment for little money.

I recently completed her Cosy blanket

and it was money well spent!

So pleased with it that I am thinking of

ordering another 2 kits.....

PS  A short while later and I did order 2 more kits!

See how irrististable this menu is...

2   Album

Many years ago (20 perhaps?) a good friend asked if I'd like to go on a 

book-making day with her.  YES PLEASE.  So off we went to the

Bankfield Museum in Halifax.  Click here to read about this

museum (which is worth a visit).  What a day we had.  It was 

solid work as there was such a lot to do but we each came 

home with an individual hand-made book.

I've never used mine as it is too precious but I will find

a use for it, just to cherish it and enjoy it!

3    Shoe

X marks the spot of the hot shoe on Beloved's little used film camera.

Give me a point and click digital camera any day and don't mention aperture,

film speed, etc etc to me!

4   In my hand

As we race towards Christmas, the phrase 'A partridge in a pear tree' popped into my head as I

went into the garden a few weeks ago and noticed a female pheasant flying out of our

pear tree.  In the above photo you can see the pear she was feasting on and in my hand

is another pear she has also sampled!

5   Macro

This was another tough one; so many photos to choose from!

In the end I selected this one showing an orange tip butterfly we found on 

a plant as we walked through our fields.  

Amazing detail in the photo, which I never seem to see with my naked eye.

6   Morning

One dismal and dark morning recently, the pheasants arrived for their breakfast.  On the menu

that day is wheat we scatter on the grass (can't call it a lawn, so wet and muddy) and in the

container is some unused semolina, which they love!  Also on the grass and some small

potatoes (too small to bother to peel) and the last of the pears (which did not keep).

At least the pheasants enjoy it all, well they must as they keep coming back and

tap on the doors if we are not quick enough to spot them and then feed them!

7   Rule of thirds

Well Hawthorn, this was difficult to find (weather against me, been slightly ill etc etc)!.  In the end I resorted to your advice, think outside the box!  So rather than find a traditional rule of thirds photo, I found a substitute one.

Here it is!

I've included the 1 kg bag of sugar so you can get an idea of how big this 3 layer sponge

cake is.  Each sponge layer is covered in home-made raspberry jam (sharp and not over sweet) 

and then a generous portion of whipped cream is added...

Rules for eating!

A third for Beloved.

A third for me.

The remaining third is fought over!

It is a lovely cake too and does not last beyond 2 days....

8   Starts with H

Let me introduce you to Houdini the h-evermore h-escaping hen.  She never wandered far

and knew when I appeared there would be food so she'd follow me into the shed

and pop back in with the others when I opened the inner door.  I'd then have to have a look at 

my fencing (rough and ready) to see where she'd broken out.

It was a good game!  

Sadly when we were preparing to 

move house, I gave my last few hens away as well as Eric the cockerel.

9   Tools

Can't imagine lift without tools!  I have so many and Beloved, being

an engineer, has many, many more, all sizes and shapes.

Anyway in my photo you can see some of my quilting, crochet and 

handy tools I use; the curved saw blade fits on a pole that

I can extend up to about 2 m long so I can cut off tree branches

without getting a ladder out.  One of my best garden tools ever.

It is from the Wolf range of tools.

10   Own choice

Whilst in the garden recently, clearing leaves from the watercourse, I became aware that I was

being watched.  She is one of the pheasants which visit each day for food.

The top of my head was about 1.5 metres away from where she chose to sit and

she seemed content to stay there as I walked up and down past her.

I had to go and get my camera, walk back to her, focus the camera

and take several photos.  She just sat there, bless her.

Well that's all for this month and it seems we get to have December off!  I hope we are all able to start again in January 2017.  Until then, keep well, have a good holiday and Happy New Year to you all.