Sunshine Tonic from Me to You. x

 Hello my lovelies. I hope you're still with me? It has been a little while since we met up last but there has been oodles of felting and stitching going on over the past couple of weeks that I want to share with you. I actually prepared a post full of felty goodness but then stumbled across a file full of glorious sunshiny meadows that made me feel so good that I thought I'd share them with you in the hopes of lifting your spirits on another dismal rainy day. 

So lets go for stroll in the sunshine. 

 Through the meadows.

 Down by the river. Sneaky dog always in front.

 Our own little local 'beach', I could'nt resist snapping these sandcastle, probably the last thing you would expect to see soooo far inland. We later found out that our friends had spent the previous evening here, drinking wine (the grown ups) and building sandcastles ( their little person)

 Across on the opposite side of the riverbank are little woolly danglers snatched from their owners as they brushed past.

 Left behind by these lovely ladies.

 A little bit of welcome shade.

 You've heard of the 3 billy goats gruff, lol. WM quickly renamed Sneaky Dog, 'the troll'.

 Time to start heading back.

 Goodbye river.

 So long, meadows.

Back to our little stone boxes. I hope that cheered you as much as it did me. 

There is 'secret felting' to share with you next time and a sneaky peek of my largest piece to date. I'm off to start embroidering it now. 

So till next time.

love Fi x

Baby it's cold outside.

Hello my lovelies.

Thank you for all of your lovely comments you left on my last post. It was so difficult not to share my makes with you during December, lol.

This it todays view from my attic window.

I'm very glad the snow hasn't settled any lower down!
It's amazing the difference a few metres make.

This is what we had over Christmas. It looks spectacular doesn't it?

I love this view.

This was part of our Boxing Day walk. I just have to show you the frozen beck, it's almost completely frozen.

This the view from the bridge...

a closer look, the waterfalls have frozen completely!

It was beautiful.

Brrrr... time to return to my sewing machine I think.

I just needed to share these extraordinary pics with you.

love fi x

A Winter Wonderland.

(The view from the attic window. Click to make bigger.)

Hello.

I've just popped in to say thank you for all of you good wishes for my Folksy shop and a whopping thank you for your help on the bead front.

To show my appreciation I donned my wellies and woolly hat and set off to take some photos of the snow especially for you.

I hope you enjoy them while you're cosy indoors!

(we've got another dollop of snow forcast for this afternoon!)

love fi x

A walk up Stagsfell.

Hello Ladies,

I have to tell you that after reading the end of my last post, my husband confronted me on the landing, just outside our bedroom door and almost demanded to know when I'd been Fell walking without him!

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As he now knows and you can see from the photos, this walk took place with hubby in the sunshine, back in May last year. I just never got around to posting about it.

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So after all the snow and grim weather we have had recently, I thought we could all do with a little unseasonal sunshine and fresh air.

Let's get started shall we?

The photo above will give you some idea of where we are going to walk. This is St. Margaret's church in Hawes. If you click on the photo to make it bigger (sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't) and then look to the right of the church on the hillside, there is a dark diagonal line sloping upward to the shadows on the hillside. This diagonal line is the lane we will walk up, and then climb to the Fell top above it. (The third bump of hill from the left on the horizon.)

We have just left the tiny village of Sedbusk, in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. There it is, (I'm looking backwards) all those little stone cottages.

Click here to see where we are on Google maps, just type in Sedbusk and click on Satallite. In both of the above photos, we are looking back down the veeeeeeery long Shutt Lane, back at Sedbusk and the little town of Hawes in the distance.

Onward and upwards!

We've left the lane now and climbed diagonally half way up the hillside to this little group of trees, where I have been promised a little rest by my mountain goat of a husband.
(can you hear me gasping for breath?)

This little group of spindly trees has a tumble down stone wall around it, once enclosing the trees and I presume protecting the young saplings from grazing sheep.

If there is one thing we are not short of here in the Dales, it's dry stone walls!

Well we've reached the summit, sorry I mean hill top! It just feels like I've climbed a mountain! Mental note to self, "must get fitter".
We are looking East, right down the Dale/valley.

I've turned right with my camera to try and give you a panoramic view of whats in front of me.

We can see right across from the one side of the Dale to the other.

And now to our right, looking West you can just make out the loooong lane to Sedbusk and Hawes in the distance. If you carried on travelling West in a straight line you would come to Sedbergh and then if you carry on that straight line you come to Kendal in the Lake District.

I'll keep turning right so that you can see what I see.

I'm now looking behind me (if that makes sense) at the moorland Fell top. At the other side of this moorland, which stretches for about 6 miles, is Swaledale (the next valley). There are only 3 or 4 roads (I use the term road very loosely) that cross this huge mass of land from one valley to the other. Closest to this spot is the Buttertubs Pass, the next two are above the village of Askrigg and are suitable called 'Cross Top' and 'Long Band', these roads are literally single tracks that you would only choose to travel in Summertime.

Heading back now. I think the whole walk took just over an hour.

It amazed me when we first came here, how many wild flowers there were at the road sides.

There is so little pollution here that wild snowdrops, garlic and foxgloves all thrive in the verges. Not to mention dozens of other flowers that I'm ashamed to say I don't know the names of.

See! There he is! He did come with me.

Back in pretty Sedbusk.

I'm not really flagging behind! No, I'm hanging back on purpose to take photos. cough! cough!

Well I hope you enjoyed our little walk?

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I think it must be time for a cuppa now, don't you?

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Fi x

Escape to Aysgarth.

Oh! Thank you so much for all the lovely, funny comments you left on my last post. You did make me laugh! You're truly a bunch of nutters!

This was our Saturday morning.

A drive to Aysgarth Falls for a little fresh air. That's Wonderful Man down there at the wet end.

The previous evening had been spent with a house full of teenagers (#1's 17th birthday celebrations) so we felt we needed to escape for an hour or so. (I can't understand how I have a 17 year old, after all I'm only 27! cough! cough!)

The dress code was wellies and woolly hats.

And as you can see we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
Bliss! (I wasn't going to mention it, but we also had a scrummy lunch at the National Parks Centre where we had left the car. Well it would have been rude not to!)

All these 20 minutes are working wonders for my old embroidery.

I found it quite unexpectedly in a box of lace and fabric from an auction. When I unrolled it I found all the original silks safely inside. It's previous owner had only completed a part of one corner, so I thought I would try and carry on with it.

Although I've had it for months now, it's never been fished out of the bag so often. I find it's the ideal project when I get to the end of the day and still haven't managed to do any sewing. This particular photo was taken while snuggled up in bed. A little embroidery and I feel I've done my bit, can't let the side down, can I!
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