I knew I'd left the wreath up for a reason

I just didn't know what that reason was until this morning!

I came down this morning to make a cuppa; up before everyone else as always at the weekend. Staring aimlessly out the kitchen window, I caught sight of movement on the porch. I looked but couldn't see anything. 30 seconds later, out flew a little wren and started to pull bits off my clematis - and promptly returned to the porch.

The wren has built her nest in the middle of the evergreen wreath I put up by the front door at Christmas.

Magic! With luck I'll be able to watch her raise her brood. I put some of Cassie's hair out this morning to assist with the furnishing.

Used the embellisher for a project today - a glasses case for my Mum (shhhhh, don't tell!).


The flowers were created by twisting chenille into loops and needle felting the centre, adding a little silk for lustre. Stem was machine embroidered as were the leaves. And in case anyone thinks of appropriating it for themselves, it has her inital on the back..........

Another bag ready to put in the shop:

The flower was made using this tutorial

Happy birthday, Cassie-dog! 2 today!

Added:

I've been doing a little reading on the wren and apparently HE has been building the nest. He builds several and the female chooses the one she wants to lay her eggs in.

Oh, please pick this one!

Hope it's worth waiting for.....

Finally, I 've managed to take some photographs in focus. Amazing!

My new toy is.......

........a Pfaff 350p needle felting machine. How cool is that? Well, I guess that depends on how much of a gadget queen you are - and that is my other name ;-)

And here are some things I did at the weekend with it:

A pin for my friend Valerie to say thank you for Saturday night
another little flower

and a flower attached to a hair grip (beautifully modelled by Beth!)

Stop Press!!

I've sold my very first thing online!! A handbag! Yippee!

Does it ever go according to plan?

Well, I had a plan. I was going to write a cool blog and include photos and everything about what I'd been up to today.

But the photos I took are all out of focus and now it's getting dark. How are they out?, I hear you cry (well, perhaps I hear me cry, actually). I was using a very nice Canon digital SLR with autofocus. Except that it didn't. Autofocus that is. The camera I used when I was out the other day is a little cheapie thing that I don't expect too much from (and generally that's exactly what I get). But the Canon?

Hmmmmmm.

Perhaps it's time for some lessons or a read of the manual. I know things are desperate if I'm considering reading the manual

Spring is springing!

So I think we can say that spring is in the air!

At last I have a picture of my chickens; not terribly clear, but the best the camera I was using will do. (note to self - use different camera next time)

Penny at the front, Lucy in the middle and Totty (named by my daughter) at the back. Lucy is losing her feathers on one wing and has been like that since we got her; I'm not sure whether she's moulting, but this patch is definately naked!

Took Cassie for a run this afternoon. Usually I walk her early, half asleep before work, but as I was off today I decided to walk her a bit later. Cassie likes water; if I'm going to walk her and I don't want her to get wet, then I must STAY AWAY FROM PONDS. Not rocket science, but a good maxim to live by. Today I didn't care if she got wet, so she did:

By the time we got home, she was pretty dry (except for her ears) but she is now rather smelly. I feel a dousing with the hosepipe coming on........

Definate signs of spring; daffodils, celandines, daisies, dandelions and frog spawn! Some of this is in danger of drying out as the pond's water level is dropping quite dramatically.


















We usually end our walk on the village green (a bit of a misnomer really, because I most certainly don't live in a village - much as I would like to!) so Cassie can have a good run around with her ball. Her boredom threshold for this activity is way higher than mine - I have yet to throw it more times than she will fetch it.

Well, standing and throwing the ball, I watched a heron fly over, circle a few times and land right by the pond in the pictures above! I've put a photo in; it's quite awful really, but you can see the heron - just.


Made my day!

A short wait...

Well, here it is! The first egg. Quite small but perfectly formed.

I don't know which one laid it, so naturally I had to thank all three. They now have their coloured leg bands on, so we can tell who's who.

Lucy is yellow, Penny blue and Totty red.

They're not awfully keen on Cassie just yet; frantic squawking can be heard whenever she approaches the ark. I fancy they were making less noise later in the day, so hopefully they're getting used to each other.

Beth has made some cracking flapjacks, which go with the lovely tea my husband has just made. I shall enjoy!