Then one foggy Christmas Eve...

So... after major surgery to realign his little legs Rudy stood up for the first time.

Still not quite as stable as he might be, he used Andy's lovely wine table for a bit of additional support.

Then headed off to take up his position in the window.

Mrs Claus is keeping an eye on him, so hopefully he will be ready to fly in time for the big night.

( I think I might need to get out more.... keep telling myself he's just a toy...)

Windows are going to be judged this week.... ooh exciting..

My Creative Space

Mrs Claus is a wee bit fed up and could do with a bit of advice.

The question is.. How old is too old to be wearing matching outfits with your husband?

'It's all very well for these young ones,' she says but she really would like a bit of a change.

She's been wearing red all her married life and quite fancies a nice blue dress that she saw on the internet, but Santa says No Ho Ho..

She even thought a new hair style might be nice. Santa wants her to keep it white like his and wouldn't let her dye it brown, so she tried something a bit more extreme.

Shaved her head and got her nose pierced..

Not really a good look but it was worth it to see Santa's face.

It's all grown back again now, which is probably just as well.

The one thing she does like though, is her new red knickers.

I'm running  a wee bit late this week but hopefully there's still enough time to join ourcreativespaces

New Look

Just a quick 'thanks guys'.

It's nice to know I was missed and I thought I might just have a wee play with typefaces since I was here anyway. Some blogs look really nice with lovely typefaces. I think mine looked a bit boring.

Time to click and see how it looks.
Nothing changed
Oh now it has 

And now it's back the way it was. 

Blogtober 17th

So much for blogging everyday for a month. I've just gone and missed a whole weekend.

Do I need a note for the teacher or can I just tell you what I got up to?

Well... it was a birthday weekend for my daughter and since she is on school holidays we thought it would be a good idea to make a bit of a holiday out of it.

We flew from Edinburgh at tea time on Friday and headed to London.

We actually stayed in Colchester in Essex which turned out to be a really good idea as we had brilliant weather over the weekend and it was nice not to be in the city the whole time.

On Saturday we went in to the city with enough time for lunch and a bit of shopping before the main event.

We spent ages in Forbidden Planet as my daughter loves Manga, and Myths and Science Fiction.

She was in her element.

Surprisingly, even I found something which I just had to have.....

There are some truly gruesome crochet patterns in here.

I don't know why I would want to crochet a cannibalistic cockerel but you never know.

Then it was off to Her Majesty's Theatre in the Haymarket for the matinee performance of Phantom of the Opera. Awesome, is such an overused word these days, but really it was.

On Sunday we made the most of the fine weather and headed down the coast to Clacton.

I love traditional English seaside towns and Clacton has everything you would expect.

Ice cream on the promenade and frothy coffee and a fortune teller on the pier.

While we enjoyed our frothy coffees Rhona tried to beat the 'claw'.

Despite her disappointment, I was really rather pleased that she didn't manage to hook a giant fluffy bear.

After all, we did fly Easy Jet and there was no way I wanted to pay excess baggage allowance on a giant stuffed toy.

So ... that's my excuse for missing two blogs.

x

Blogtober 14th

All done.

It's my baby's 15th birthday today and I'm closing up at lunchtime.

Why be your own boss if you can't take an afternoon off from time to time ?

Blogtober 12th

Sometimes you see something and you just know the answer is NO.

However, if anyone thinks differently and wants a cute little crocheted bikini you know where to come.

Fiona x

Blogtober 11th

I finished work today to a house full of teenage girls.

To be honest, there were only three of them and one of them is mine. 

Still, it was really rather nice to go off and leave them to it.

Tuesday night is yoga night and it was definately a lot quieter in my yoga class than it was in my house.

I'm all relaxed, stretched and bendy now and looking forward to a really good sleep.

Blogtober 9th

Today I did something I don't do very often.

In fact today I did something that I hardly ever do.

Okay.... today I did something which I only ever do when I have exhausted every other possibility.

I read the instructions.

I tried being clever yesterday and it didn't work.

I thought I was being really clever posting a sweet little video on my blog but when I went back to view it, it wouldn't play. Hilary at quilary was left in suspense and and I do hate to leave anyone in suspense.

Hopefully, I've edited yesterday's post so that it actually works now. 

And maybe I should read the instructions a bit more often.

Blogtober 8th

Lets just see if I have learnt how to copy and paste.

Or maybe it's share.

I hope I have because it's Saturday, everyone is home and it's really rather nice.

Blogtober 2nd

The other day I came across a post where someone had pledged to buy nothing new for the month of October. It was the same day I came across the link for Blogtoberfest. Now blogging every day for a month might be a bit of a challenge but I believe it is possible. Buying nothing new for a month is just not going to happen.

( well I really needed a good winter coat and when the perfect coat presents itself... what's a girl to do?)

This afternoon we went for a drive up to Abernyte to the Scottish Antiques and Craft Centre. Pretty safe really since antiques aren't new are they ?  I could easily have bought lots of old stuff to counterbalance the new coat but it was more of a browsing visit today.

I probably spent more time than was really necessary scanning all the old cutlery on display. This is just one of perhaps a dozen similar displays. Sadly I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

I saw some really quirky bangles made from old forks in Covent Garden a few years ago and have been wanting to create my own version with tea spoons for a long time.

This was my last attempt and it's not too bad but not quite right. I bought silver spoons, though they weren't actually silver which was pretty annoying. (and possible a breach in trading standards since they were marked as silver) I cut the fancy handles off and soldered two teaspoons together. It was all going really well until I got to the cleaning and polishing part of the task and discovered the silver plating disappearing. 

Still with all those cabinets of old cutlery I'm sure to find the right spoons one of these days. So the next time I have 10 hours to spare I'm going to pack my lunch box and head back to Abernyte.

Fiona x

New Beginnings

The trees in my garden can't decide if it's spring or autumn. Leaves are turning golden and falling off (job for the men of the house to rake up this weekend). But other leaves are hanging on for dear life as the sun has made a bit of a comeback. To be honest, I'm a spring and autumn kind of girl. I don't like being too hot and I hate being cold, so I'm really quite enjoying our strange weather just now.

I was sitting on the back step this morning, seriously considering taking a day off to go out and play but my sensible side took over and after a quick snap of the tree I went in and opened the shop.

Tomorrow is 1st October which is the official start date for my OU creative writing course. Thoughts of "Oh dear, what have I signed up for?" are running round my head and I am beginning to think I just might be mad. Please feel free to tell me that I'm not.

Anyway, I have a massive coursework book to get through which is really quite daunting. The first chapter is trying to encourage free thinking, and free writing by basically waffling in a random way. Now I have been known to waffle quite a bit in my time so this shouldn't really be too taxing should it ?

Mind you, waffling to order isn't as simple as it sounds and I have written a load of nonsense in my new "writer's notebook" this week. Looking at my tree this morning though, made me wonder if I might be getting the hang of  it. There I was in my little garden in Perthshire with my mind drifting off to Port Douglas in Queensland. We had a fantastic holiday there a few years ago and took a boat trip into the mangroves where we learned about special trees which can absorb sea water through their roots and still survive. I have no idea what these trees were called. I could google it of course but I'll leave that to anyone interested enough to do it themselves. However, these trees had special leaves which absorbed the salt from the water so that the other leaves could grow healthy and green. Our guide called them 'sacrificial leaves' which I think sounds so sad, yet totally amazing at the same time. Oh... and we saw sea eagles and crocodiles too x

Procrastinating..............???

Oooh ... It's not long now.

I think I discovered a new synonym today (just checked the dictionary to be sure that really means what I think it means. My English teacher would be proud of me)

I took some perfectly suitable posters for POS

Plugged in the laminator

...... and laminated them.

Dictionary entry for the day then is...

procrastinate - verb - to put off (an action) until later

see also.. laminate, crochet

And this is how I procrastinate over the last couple of days.

To be honest, the shop is looking really good.

Stocked full of handcrafted loveliness.

There are still a couple of little projects that I would like to finish off but I'm all ready for the big week and looking forward to meeting lots of new customers.

Show and Tell

It feels a lot like showing off but why have a blog if you're not going to show off once in a while...

Anyway.. another bright side of a rainy holiday, apart from not feeling guilty about buying a vintage sewing machine, is that you get the chance to do indoor activies: like the stained glass workshop that I went to with my son. In the little town of Beccles where we were staying, we found Cobweb Crafts, and we found that the owner John Wilson offered Stained Glass tuition. It's a craft that I have always wanted to try and couldn't pass up the opportunity.

I had a brilliant morning learning how to cut glass and leading, how to solder the joints and how to finish and polish my work.

John had drawn out a plan which included the big circle and I couldn't get away from the idea that it should represent the sun. ( the one that was missing for most of the holiday ) In my mind, the blues represent the water of the Broads, and the rain, and the sea at Great Yarmouth, and the blue sky which appeared towards the end of our holiday. It's not perfect, and I can see where I could improve if I get another chance to try this craft, but I'm pretty pleased with myself.

You should be able to see John's work at http://www.villagestainedglass.co.uk/

Scottish Summer................

Does this look like summer to you ? Streams of rain water running down the road and the kind of puddles that van drivers just love to drive through at speed. There's nothing quite like an accidental splashing from a white van and a big puddle.

Strangely enough, some of my happiest childhood memories involve going out play in shorts, gagoule and Jesus sandals.

Maybe we were just easily pleased in the "olden days".  When it wasn't raining, and when the sun was shining, we used to spend hours sitting at the side of the road bursting tar bubbles. It was a quiet street with very few cars passing by which meant that in between splashing in puddles and bursting tar bubbles, we had plenty of time to make up words from the car number plates. Bonus points for the longest word of course.

Sadly, my children won't play anymore..

Meanwhile, across the road at the church hall the anuual Kirk Sale is taking place.

Just closed for the afternoon which is why there are no bargain hunters to be seen here. The people of Alyth are very generous, donating unwanted stuff every year. And the bargain hunters of Alyth just love it.

The sale is open all week from 10 till 4pm, then again from 6 till 8pm.

Who knows what the final total will be but I'm pretty sure that last years figures are going to be beaten.

I heard yesterday that the total on the first day was £2900. Pretty impressive for a small town with a population of around 2500, and that was just on the one day.

I wonder if they have any brollies...

I wish I was an Aran Cardigan...

He really doesn't look very happy,does he, sitting in the corner with his arms folded.

Maybe I should go back to the start of the story and explain the title.

France '98, to many people was all about football. There was a World Cup or European Cup, or some kind of big football tournament in France that year. But that meant nothing to the Dorchester Family. For us, France '98 was going to be our first foreign holiday as a family and we were really looking forward to it.

To go back even further.. when I was a wee girl, my sister, mum and I always seemed to get a new Aran Cardigan for our holidays. Walks around our campsite after dinner were always preceded by the instruction "don't forget your aran cardigan, it'll be chilly later"

So I decided that for our first camping holiday in France I would be needing and aran cardigan. I started knitting in plenty of time, or so I thought, but it wasn't finished by the time we set off on our big adventure. Needless to say, I somehow survived a holiday without an aran cardigan.

France '98 was so much fun that we soon arranged France '99 and a couple of weeks before we set off I got my knitting out and managed another sleeve. Yet again time got the better of me and another holiday without an aran cardigan passed by. I could go on and on and on about the inch that was knitted in 2000 just before we moved house.. the time I thought about knitting the second sleeve but couldn't find the pattern... the time I found the pattern and finally, the time I admitted I had completely lost interest in the cardigan and didn't even like the pattern any more.

And now, this morning, the last of the aran wool was used to finish off this little chap.

He was allowed to climb on the back of my chair.

Had a wee shot on the rocking horse.

And yet he still looks a wee bit sad. Dreaming, perhaps, about what it would have been like to be an Aran Cardigan.

Was it all too much , do you think, for him to see me start work on a new cardigan this afternoon ?

Visit Creative Spaces HERE

Lost in a good book.

Does anybody else forget the time when they are absorbed in a good book ?

When I say "good book" I don't necessarily mean a great literary tome, or anything truly deep and meaningful. I'm a bit of butterfly in my reading habits and will read just about anything... apart from mythology, science fiction, instruction manuals, or anything really boring. I've been know to sit reading crochet patterns, which some people may think is really boring but hey ho, we're all different I suppose.

Today I have been caught up in intrigue and suspense.

Which is my way of saying... oops I forgot to take some photos and now I have nothing to blog about.

Which means a very short post today and I can get back to 'Alone in Berlin' by Hans Fallada.



Shadow Shot Sunday

I wasn't the only girl looking for shadows around here today.

My poor Angel doesn't know what to do with herself now that the sun has come out. Being white with short hair she tends to get sun burn and we have to put sun block on her nose to stop it peeling.

She does look good in the shadow under the the old garden table though.

She's a bit of a rubbish model though because as soon as she realised I had the camera out she got all camera shy and headed back indoors.

Would you like to see more shadow shots ?

Pop over to Hey Harriet by clicking HERE

Cracking up ?

Am I maybe getting over egg-cited ?

It's not long till Easter now and I think I might finally be cracking up.

These little egg heads are looking forward to hatching but I'm a bit worried about what they might turn out as. The black and white one is a bit of a bad egg and has ambitions to be a jail bird.

The red one was named Pearce by his mum, an avid James Bond fan with a soft spot for Pearce Brosnan. Sadly little Pearce, an Emo at heart, misunderstood and got his eybrow pierced. Mum was not happy.

On a happier note Ike, in the fetching stetsun, wants to be a country and western singer.

Wee Morag in the tartan bow just wants to look nice.

Not sure what to eggspect from the other two girls but I think the will be just fine.

On the other hand, I may need to have a lie down somewhere calm...

Bunnies Galore

There appears to be an abundance of bunnies in Alyth today.

We have just enjoyed a beautifully sunny and warm weekend and I'm full of hope for a lovely summer this year. I do hope I'm right.

With only two weeks till Easter, and full of the joys of spring I decided that today was the day to start putting my Easter Window display together. Oh yes.. there's another shield at stake but I fear the competition will be fierce this time round.

So would you like a sneak preview ?

I'm not quite finished and I think I will rearrange things a bit more until I am satisfied but here is the progress so far.

I've been crocheting bunnies and carrots and daisies to my heart's content for the last couple of months. I think somehow I would like to create a hill for the little guys to play on though that's going to require some thinking about.

I love my 'easter tree' decorated with eggs and ribbons. It reminds me of our holiday in Eastern Europe this time last year, where the trees in the town squares were decorated in ribbons, and where the fabulous Easter markets were an absolute treat.

I'm not liking how bad the paintwork on my windowsill looks. A reminder of how harsh our winter was and a reminder that I need to speak to my painter to get things tidied up again. 

And here are some more bunnies along the street in my friend Mel's window.

I love her daffodils on the back cloth. They are made from cut out paper petals and fairy-cake cases.

It's such a simple idea but they are really effective.

Hopefully I'll have some more windows to show in the next few days.

Shadow Shot Sunday

It has been such a long time since I played along with Shadow Shots on Sundays.

The main reason, of course that it's been a long time since we had much sun up here, and when we did have sun it was accompanied by gale force winds and freezing temperatures, and the thought of taking my thermal gloves off just so that I could take a picture was a little less than appealing.

I know that I am a big jessie at heart...( that's a big wimp, or a big softie if you aren't Scottish )

I've never claimed to be an intrepid explorer.

Anyway.. I was passing heyharriet today and stopped to see her amazing shadow shot. If you haven't visited before then you really should as this week's shadow is a cracker.

Now, from my living room it looked like there might be some sunshine in the garden so I quickly grabbed my camera and nipped out to see what I could find. I don't have a huge house and it certainly doesn't take more than a few seconds to get from the front room to the back garden but the sun had all but gone by the time I got out. Nonetheless I was not to be deterred in my search for a shadow.

Okay, so four wheelie bins in a row may not be everyone's cup of tea but they do look rather fine with their shadows on. Oh.. and since you are obviously drawn to the gorgeous blue car, I thought I should include a totally gratuitous shot of my baby.

She could do with a bit of a wash right now but I do love my car. She is a Chrysler PT Cruiser and the best car I have ever had. I always wanted one but always thought it was a bit extravagant and settled for something a bit more compact. A couple of years ago, though, my husband had a bit of a tumble in my small sensible car and ended upside down in the middle of a roundabout. Now don't panic. He was absolutely fine, but the car was a complete right-off. Thanks to a very generous insurance company we were able to replace sensible with gorgeous. He likes to tell people that he nearly died just so that I could get my dream car, but that's a bit of an exaggeration.

 And in case anyone was wondering if I enjoyed seeing Showaddywaddy..

Here's a slighly dodgy shot of 'the boys' on stage at Pitlochry Festival Theatre on Friday night. It was a great night of music, nostalgia and a few laughs.