Some people reading this are getting a malaware warning. I am aware of this now, thank you to all who told me, and will try to sort it out as soon as I can.

Woolfest!!! Yea!!

Loved it. The weather was unspeakable..almost literally as the roof was metal and the pounding rain made it very difficult to make yourself heard!

It also necessitated negotiating a river to get to the outside toilest. 

Either that or queue for an hour inside.

The atmosphere was ..well...woolly. I reallu enjoyed it  and stocked up.

I seem to have come home with photos of the same stall.

I loved it. Does that mean I'm a vintage gal?

May I present Eliza Conway.

 She had a unique way of winding her wool and was extremely generous in sharing the technique. She said it was the only way she knew to do it but it lent an organic wholesomeness to her wool!

Don't they look like lemons?

I can't find a website sadly but she appears in many lists of vendors.

 I took this pic because I have two of these lovely plastic, maybe bakelite, wool holders and was amazed to see them on sale for quite a considerable amount.

 Of course being Woolfest there were woollybacks. Here are the Herdies.

 Don't remember what these are.

 These are Hebridean. I know that because when we went to the Hebrides we saw some on a weavers field. I asked him what he did with them..he said 'Eat them'.

 Alapacas..always good for a photograph.

 Another breed I should have written down.

 These are Ryelands

 and these are..maybe Wensleydale...but maybe not. Sorry.

 This is definitely a rabbit..angora. When I asked to take a picture the owner went to lift the lid of the white one. I said I preferred the blue on.

 Reminds me of someone.

Someone who made this mess in my sewing room.

 She did me a favour..I have spent three days re organising my sewing room.

How tidy is this?

 The teds are impressed.

 But just how many scissors does a person need?

 Ooh Tidy...

I found I had a box full of pieces I'd made and not used.

 I can't bring myself to throw them out so I've listed them on etsy in groups of four.

 They are not brooches but may be useful to someone to applique onto something else.

Every picture tells a story.

The brooches standing up on their pins have given me an idea. I might make a 'Theatre' someday with felt figures. Watch this space!

Here are 'Ma boys' sitting by the river at Art and Garden.

 Sunday when this was taken was a nice sunny day but Saturday...well.....shall we draw a veil over Saturday? Late friday night it was cancelled due to waterlogged car parking field. Early saturday morning a phone call.."Jackie, Its on again..get out of bed!" I was pleased it was on but sitting all day in a marquee in the rain was a bit reminiscent of childhood caravan holidays in Abergele.

Anyway Sunday was nice and I took courage and did something I have been meaning to do for all the years I've been there. I walked over the bridge.

 And I walked back again. My knees were like jelly when I got back on dry land but I did it.

                                          On the way I caught sight of the minutest bit of garden.

Here's the Summer house with lovely paintings.

Overall it wasn't a bad weekend, its alway enjoyable socially but financially it was very poor.

It was a great joy to meet one of my favourite blog readers 'JP" who came with the other 'JP" her husband.   I also met Sarah and her daughter from 'The Art of Moodling' whose sunny smile exactly matched her blog profile pic!

It was a delight to meet them all and makes it all worthwhile.

Oh AND I WAS on the radio and it wasn't bad at all. I didn't tell anyone because it would have made me nervous if I imagined my Mum and my friends listening. I told my husband not to listen and I didn't mean it but he's very good and he didn't! 

I made him listen on iplayer and he said it was good. So then I listened and do you know what? It was quite alright. I sounded a bit fat though!

I hadn't realised it would be live. They just sat us down, Chris who owns the garden and me, and started talking to us. When the music was playing the presenter discussed the next question. 

So..as well as the crossing the bridge, I've been on the radio.  Bucket list?

Now, this is the inspiration for the title of this post.

Can you tell what the story is?

The bird box covered with much gaffer tape because a few weeks ago the bottom dropped off. The nest, full of baby blue tits,was dangling on a twig below, the cat was licking his lips, the dog was chasing something around the garden, and the parents were having hysterics on the washing line.

 

 We fixed it all back together and the parents came back and raised the babies. The I found one on the path. I think it had tried to fledge and not made it so I stuck it back in the nest and when we opened the box the other day I'm afraid it was dead. It had a kitchen roll shroud and  cremation in the wood burner.

Anyway look whats in the nest.

A little bit of lime green merino wool which Hetty had been playing with outside.

Now here's another glimpse of our garden. 

 The bit I ignore has blossomed. We have a fine show of what some might call weeds but I love them.

 Such a fantastic pink.

 They are taller than I am when I stand on the path.

 Hetty demonstrates.

 Hetty has had a trip out to meet Donald, The Nova Scotia Duck-tolling retriever. I hadn't heard of them either!

 He's just a baby.

 The meeting went well.

 As usual..there are brooches! 

 Brooches for Woolfest and brooches for an order.

 I love the background colour of this felt. I used a horrible orange lumpy felt to start this off and it gave a lovely glow.

I'll be at Woolfest on Friday and on the IFA stand from 1-3 pm.

And finally......

Like the button box

Did you ever play with a box of buttons when you were little? 

What fun it was to sort them by colour, then again by size, and then maybe by shape.

 I've been having that sort of fun with the brooches I made for an order for the delightful Lazyhill Gallery in Abbotsbury, Dorset.

I put them in groups according to coloured centres

Yellows

 Turquoise and greens.

 The delicious tomato red again

 Then by shape..these are a bit of a risk...I didn't send these to Abbotsbury.

 Or these. 

This is another one of my repeatable shapes. I must think of some names for the various repeatables. At first I called them things like 'Frond' and 'beech' but there are going to be too many soon.

I thought I might give them names on a theme. First I thought the names of historic places, you know, Bloomsbury; Charleston; Petworth; Knole; Powis..etc. 

Then I wondered about Shakespeare's heroines: Desdemona; Ophelia; Miranda; Titania..etc.

Or perhaps after my mother and her sisters..she had a lot ..that would be Vera, Phyllis, Gladys, Jean. Renee, Vera, Marie and Freda...not forgetting Colin! 

I'm still thinking about it.  It must be like naming a litter of puppies.

Here's a bit of gratuitous felt. I love how it turned out. I made it with a horrible orange base but it glows through beautifully.

 More gratuitous loveliness. Little Hetty has had another haircut. Its like a new dog every two months.

Now look carefully at this...

Next weekend its Art and Garden again. I've blogged about it every year I think! So check back to June  in every year of my blog and you can see pictures.

Its a lovely weekend event even if the weather isn't good.

 I have to speak about it on local radio but I'm not telling anyone when because its 'rabbit in the headlights' time.

I mean one thing but it comes out as another. For example when I was asked to give the vote of thanks to a visiting tutor once , I made what was supposed to be a compliment sound like an insult.

There are other things I could tell you but I'm too embarrassed.

Fingers crossed.