January 2013

I love dogs especially Border Collies. When I was seven I was given a Border Collie puppy as a pet. His mum and dad were professional sheepdogs on a farm in Newtownards, County Down. I named him Prince, not very original I know but there were very few Collie dog names available in a seven […]

I shot a short video from my kitchen window of the wildlife that came to the birdfeeder during the snowfall yesterday. Ignore background noise at the beginning, that’s my breadmaker having a bit of a churn around. My favourite bits are of the plucky little chaffinch who was ready to take on the big birds!

This is a tribute post about Rosie my little cat who died last night from kidney failure. She would have been 8 years old this April, no age at all for a cat. She was a happy go lucky friendly little thing who always trotted up to other cats to make friends. She usually got

I’ve been working on this scarf for a while. You can see a video of it being embroidered on yesterday’s post. Now it’s finally finished and in my shop! I think it looks almost Harry Potterish. I have a thing about Knotwork designs, must be my Celtic roots! I’ve got another secret design on the

I’m in love with my scissors! They’re not just any old scissors, they’re the love of my life! A couple of months ago I decided I needed a new pair of dressmaking shears. I’d been using the ones I’d got from Ikea which were brilliant when they were new but when you use them for

There are many tutorials on the net for making your own pattern weights. This one is one of my favourites. I was tempted to make my own but instead I’ve been using these. I pick them up in charity shops for between 50p and £1.50 and I’m sure I could get them even cheaper at

We’ve arrived in 2013, it’s stopped raining and the sun’s come out and there are blue skies! I can see loads of happy dog walkers on the Downs. I’m taking that as a good omen for the year ahead. It’s amazing that even in the deepest, darkest depths of winter you can go out and