What do you get when you take….

... One little boy with a plaintive face,

One devoted Granny,

  And a motley collection of feathers, leather and beads?

Then after you've spent several hours contemplating, stitching, pricking your fingers and swearing .  
Oh b]c#g@!*

It's finally finished - well almost.

Result….One very happy Big Chief Oscar!

 
 I know, the buffalo horns in the first picture gave it away! And I couldn’t even use them as they’re too heavy.

Now he wants a tepee and a totem pole! 

So I gave him these….

…and told him to get on with it.

Clever little Goldcrest!

It may be tiny, but Britain's smallest bird, the Goldcrest, is no bird brain! 

In the spring of last year, whilst trimming a topiarised golden cypress and tottering on the top of my stepladder, straining to reach the last "ball",  a small bird flew out at top speed within inches of my face.  Well I nearly fell backwards with shock, as it was obvious I'd disturbed its nest, and it was a goldcrest, it had to be, it was so small. 

After recovering my composure, a quick delve into the thicket of branches revealed a tiny nest, complete with seven equally tiny eggs.  So I did the decent thing and retreated in haste and resolved to leave it undisturbed.  Several months later, the nest was empty and my conscience was salved!  The birds did not reappear this year so I've taken the nest down for my grandson's nature table.  Here it is, completely flattened now, but it was ball shaped originally.

It's made of tiny twigs, lichen, moss and weeny feathers and bound together with cobwebs.

But the reason for the goldcrest's intelligence?  Not that it had the sense not to come back to my tree, not that it can construct a beautiful nest in miniature, but the tree is called - Cuppressus macrocarpa "Goldcrest"!!

All the fun of the Kitsch and Stitch Fair!

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Yesterday, Saturday 3^rd September dawned full of promise of a lovely day out in glorious weather, to the ancient and historic town of Cranbrook, Kent.

And I wasn’t disappointed!

This is the setting - the Vestry Hall in the town centre

This is Maygreen Fairies, and the lovely Amanda, who makes deliciously whimsical items centred around fairies.  Her cards in particular are to die for.

And here are some more of the stalls

 

And a close up of the previous stall

I hope this charming lady approves of her photo!

Sorry there are so few photos, but it was very busy and impossible not to get a lot of heads and arms instead of the goodies!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cranbrook is worth a visit just for the delightful place it is, full of Kentish cottages, (or should that be "cottages of Kent"), white painted weather-boarding, and even its own working windmill.  The High Street boasts lots of independant shops and positively buzzes!

On the walk back to my car, I passed Cranbrook allotments – they were worthy of a blog post all of their own!

To finish the day, I drove to Sissinghurst Castle, the National Trust’s most visited garden, as it’s less than 2 miles away. This is part of the White Garden.

And finally I dropped in to Merriments Garden Centre, as I can’t just pass by all that temptation!

  All in all, a very pleasant day out and I can’t wait for the next Fair, which is December 3^rd, in good time for Christmas. 

TTFN

The amazing Cranbrook Allotments

I had to walk past this site on my way to the Kitsch and Stitch Fair, and on my return I popped in and found this little gem in a delightful setting.

The central and dividing paths were all closely mown grass

The standard of cultivation was very professional and worthy of inclusion in Gardener’s World!

   

Lots of quirky touches that made you smile!

Some of the squashes and pumpkins ripening in the sun.

The allotment holders are very friendly!

But on my way out, when I closed the gate (which was open when I came in) I saw this …

Oh Lordy - I'd been trespassing!