My Great Yorkshire Show

My, that was quite a scorching hot Great Yorkshire show this year - a complete contrast to the wash out of last year!
I was on my own this year for the show so I was very pleased to get this little message sent from Emma who is still overseas:

Here is how we looked for this year's show, where we decided to have a much bigger stand than usual:

They had to take my nameboard away to redo it as the letters were peeling, and this is what they brought back - we decided quirky was ok!

Opposite me was artist Elaine Johnston who broke up her days by painting large canvasses - I'm hoping to be able to post up a video of her at work, once I've worked out how to do it.

Being on my own left me little time for walk-abouts, but I wanted to visit the sheep pens so came in extra early. I just love the variety of looks, which always make me smile

Herdwick, looking comical with its very big head

Jacob horns

The curly coat of a Masham

Not sure that this Wensleydale can see where it's going

The magnificent horns of a Whitefaced Woodland

Whitefaced Woodland

I nipped into the fleece tent - all safely on show in what resemble rabbit hutches

Show Fleeces

I enjoyed these scenes too:

Queueing for the shower

Early morning clean up for the Shorthorns

Taking the pig for a walk

And no agricultural show can go without it's collection of tractors

And finally, since I stayed over for an extra night, I met up with Shirley Hunter from Northern Ireland who was coming over for the Harrogate Home and Gift Trade Show and we breakfasted in style at Betty's

So pretty!

A breakfast feast

Farewell to Beautiful Prague

So this is my last ever blog post from Prague!  I’ll be back home in Norfolk for a few weeks before continuing my adventure elsewhere!

I thought I’d share with you a few of my favourite places from this beautiful city.

First up; Vysehrad, an old fort up on top of a hill by the river. There’s lots to look at here, a cemetery where many famous Czech people are buried, a basilica church, and of course, an amazing view over the river! 

The river itself is also a lot of fun, I often used to run alongside when I was training for the half marathon. 

Taking out a peddle boat is a perfect way to spend a sunny afternoon, and of course, there are plenty of beer gardens right by the bank in case you get thirsty!

Petrin Park is another place where it’s very easy to wile away the hours. Right at the top of this hill there is an observation tower, providing stunning views of the city! 

You can also wander around the rose gardens and the famous blossom trees.

There are so many more places and things to do that I could write about; the national museum, Riegrovy Sady, some amazing restaurants, and some super fun day trips in the Czech Republic, but I have a feeling that none of these places would have been half as much fun if it hadn’t been for the people that I was with!

I’ve had an incredible year here, made some amazing friends, and created some memories that will stay with me forever! 

I can’t wait to do the same again in a different country! 

Post by Emma

One Way to Wash a Sheep's Fleece

I was very excited to find a North Ronaldsay fleece at the Royal Norfolk Show. It's from a 4 year old ewe called Dianthe. They're an interesting ancient breed originating from North Ronaldsay in the Orkneys where they have been fenced off the land and confined to the beach. You can find out more about the breed here, from the Rare Breeds Survival Trust's.  It's one of the breeds that I first fell in love with when researching ancient European textile tools back in the 1980's.

The following is how I wash a fleece, ready for spinning or whatever else you want to do with it. I was shown this method by some Shetland spinners in about 1977 when I visited. It's simple although it may look long-winded here.

The fleece will come rolled up rather like a sleeping bag. 

The shearer will have extended the neck part out, twisted it around and tucked it in. So it's best if you can find this end and unroll it carefully. 

You can then examine the fleece and decide how you would like to divide it as you will want to wash it in smallish batches. How you split it rather depends on what you want to do with it, I think. The fleece along the back is always drier than elsewhere, and at the rear you may well get dag ends which may be best on the compost heap. (I love that term, dag ends - bit of a slang expression in Australia)

I'm not too fussy how I sort the fleece as I no longer spin the fleece, but use it in my work where it's the colour I want.
This particular fleece is small so I simply split it in half along the back.

Like pasta, fleece needs lots of space in the water. Fill the sink (bucket, basin, whatever) with as hot water as you can get. 

If the fleece is really dirty, simply immerse the fleece into the hot water, push it under with a rod or wooden spoon, and leave it completely alone until the water cools off a bit.
Let the water drain away - this is why I prefer a sink, where you can pull the plug and let the water drain. You want to handle the fleece as little as possible.

Re-fill the sink with more hot water - just slightly hotter than the water you've drained away.
Add detergent - the spinners in the Shetland islands told me they always use quality washing up liquid, so I do the same. You'll need more than if you were going to wash the dishes.

Immerse your fleece again. Push it under the water. Leave it alone! When slightly cooler, drain the dirty water. Fill the basin with new hot water, no detergent. Immerse fleece again to rinse.
Drain the water.
Re-fill again with hot water, plus detergent.
Two washes is usually enough.
End with 2 or 3 rinses.

This may sound long-winded and complicated, but this is what you need to remember:
Handle the wet fleece as little as possible
Leave it to soak in the water
Don't use extreme changes of heat when transferring from one bath to another.

Hot water + agitation + detergent = felt.

Once felted, you can no longer spin it!

Once rinsed, squeeze out as much water as you can. Lay it on a towel, and gently ring it out.

Lay it out somewhere to dry
Enjoy the results of your hard work and patience

Here is my before and after washed fleece from Dianthe - lots of lovely tones of greys which I shall really enjoy using in my art and greeting cards.

If you're a textile artist, I'd love to hear how you wash your fleece, and what you do with them afterwards. Do please feel free to add your comments below.

A Celebration of a Dog's Life

A short little post about our Whisper's last weeks, which may help one or two other people.

Emma and puppy training

Nicola and sleepy puppy

He did love a boat trip

Snow, snow balls, misbehaving - happy boy!

We knew Whisper was getting old - he was 12, with arthritis especially in the lower back and back legs, and he was pretty much completely deaf. We'd adapted to that. He was still the adorable border collie he always was.

Water therapy helped get those back legs working again

But then, just a month ago, he seemed a bit constipated. This went on for longer than we thought right so that's when we took him to the vet. Bells seemed to start ringing, and after a thorough examination, prostate cancer was diagnosed, high dosage pain killers administered, and guidance given on the palliative care that would be needed. 

Canine prostate cancer is rare, but sadly it seems to be very aggressive with no cure. It quickly spread through the spine and into the chest. We did our best to listen to Whisper, and he let us know when he'd had enough. He was still enjoying his food to the end, and even his walks.

On Sunday he was unable to settle down - just pacing the house. So I put him on a large soft cushion and sat with him all afternoon - he settled, his breathing settled, and we spent the time together. I did the same overnight, putting him on the bed. His ribs and all his under carriage were so sore that it seemed to hurt him to lie down. Hence the big cushion and the bed. Eventually he slept peacefully and soundly for about 3 hours, with his head and paw resting on me.

The following morning, yesterday, we took him to the vets. He's now buried in the garden near to the rabbit and I will be planting wild speedwell over his grave - these were the flowers in bloom in the woods on Sunday when he had a very short but peaceful last walk.

I don't know if the symptoms are typical of canine prostate cancer, but if sharing this story helps even just one person, then I'm glad to share. 

So, dry your tears and hear the good news - as a celebration of Whisper's life we will be donating 20% from all sales from our Border Collie page to The Animal Health Trust charity in Newmarket. It's an amazing animal charity - find out more about them here. Over the next few weeks we will be trying to add more collie designs and products so do check this page out from time to time. 

And we're just working out how to put a Donate to Charity button on our website, for those of you who may support our cause but don't particularly want border collie products. 

The RHS Spring Gardening Show, Malvern - a fleeting glimpse

There's not much opportunity to see much of the shows I attend when I'm on my own, but here are just a few bits that caught my eye while walking in in the mornings:

These alpines greeted me as I walked along to the Country Living Magazine's marquee each day

There were some fantastic gardens designed and created by various schools, all themed around children's books. These hedgehogs amused me

And some beautiful plantings designed with such creativity - I feel some new card designs coming on: 

This is one of the show gardens - very popular with the public, and with me - Boathouse No. 9 by Mark Eveleigh. If you're interested, you can find out more about the show gardens here

And these slates have nothing to do with the gardening show, but I love them. They were stacked up outside the b&b where I was staying

So, is anyone inspired to get out into their gardens now? (Weather permitting, as it's pouring with rain as I write this)

Colour blending when there's no time to dye

I use natural and dyed sheep's fleece for finishing all my greeting cards and art work, and many of the colours have rather bizarre names - horse, Buff Orpingtons, dachshund, pig, and the like (based on what we use them for).

Well, we've run out of "Mrs Nosey" - she was a bantam we had years ago, but in the studio we all know what this colour is. No time to dye any more at the moment, so it was out with the carders to do a bit of blending. I don't normally like to use merino tops as it doesn't have very much character, but needs must. Here I'm blending a bit of horse with a mixture of oranges to get what I hope will suit our Mrs Nosey.

Just the ticket!