Cousins in dollyland (blog 9)

If you have been following the travels of the flutterby patch blog-trotting sheep you will remember they have been staying in Ohio (USA). But now they have been invited to visit little Eli and their woolly cousins in Iowa who live with an ever growing family of cute knitted dolls. As they don't have an ocean to cross (thank goodness), they have decided to walk all the way to the next blog Knitting Tree.

However, their journey has barely started when they bump into a couple of items that appear to be lost.
The basket doesn't interest them much, but the sheep all agree that the strange black monster requires further investigation.

Brave Chalky climbs inside the monster's mouth but is afraid it might swallow him so he quickly climbs onto the long pole hoping to escape the ferocious jaws.

Suddenly he slips down the pole and with a loud 'SNAP' the jaws open even wider.
Now all three sheep are swallowed up and trapped inside. What a disaster!

A gust of wind spins them round like laundry in a washing machine.

They twirl and twist and then are suddenly tipped out.

"Perhaps it's not such a bad monster " says Chalky "it will make a great shelter from the wind and rain."
Eventually curiosity gets the better of Charcoal and he climbs onto the basket and tries to lift the lid.

But his efforts are unsuccessful and so Chalky suggests giving him a helping push.

With Chalky's help, Charcoal is able to open the lid and excitedly calls to the others that the basket is full of knitting wool.

What fun! Chalky and Rose join Charcoal in the basket and nestle down into the soft yarn.

And what a snug little house it makes.

The black monster, who all this time has been watching them, suddenly takes a mighty leap.
It's black handle catches hold of the basket

and before the friends can jump out of their new home they are lifted skyward.

And it seems another journey has begun.

Will the flutterby flock reach Iowa safely?

To be continued - the 10th and final journey will follow shortly.

The woolly wandering continues (blogs 7 and 8)

You might remember that back in May we had fun following the flutterby sheep (Chalky, Charcoal and Rose) on their blog trotting adventures around the world. At each blog they met a new woolly friend the idea being that they should travel 'around the world in 10 blogs'.

Their first trip was to Ivory Blush Roses in north America where they met Fred

Trip number two involved a rough ocean voyage to Tasmania where they spent a happy time with dolly Beth and her woolly friend at Little Jenny Wren.

Three was a long balloon trip to Belgium where a sweetie named Daisie was waiting to greet them at Cats and Quilts.

Four - a lengthy trip on a magic carpet transported the threesome to North Carolina where Billy and Miss Kitty entertained them for a while at Cats, Crafts and Penguins.

Trip five was back to Australia in a giant bubble. The sheep were pleased to land safely and spent a quiet few days with Shee-Baa and Lam-Baa at their blog Still at Home.

At the end of May the flutterby sheep travelled with some adventurous penguins on an iceberg all the way from the Southern Ocean to Dublin in Ireland. And it is here that they have spent the summer with their cousin Aaaa-shling and pretty Bo at Wee Cute Treasures.
But the time has come to move on again and the flock have been invited to .... well let's find out...

Total confusion! The sheep cannot understand their invitation to visit a blog in Dublin because they are in Dublin already (Dublin in Ireland)....

Problem solved, they turn the card over and find it is a different Dublin. The invitation is from Dublin, Ohio in the USA.
They will travel to Life of a Domestic Disaster. So out comes the trusty atlas.

A quick look at the map and the friends realise they have another large ocean to cross...not a happy prospect. Rose says she will never travel on a raft again. Chalky insists he will never sit on another magic carpet and Charcoal refuses to travel via balloon or bubble. So how will they reach Ohio?
"Anyone need a ride to America?" the sheep recognise a familiar voice.

They look up and see the penguin friends that brought them to Ireland on an iceberg.
"Our iceberg is moored in the harbour and is ready to sail if you want to travel with us" the chief penguin said. "We are going to America ourselves before heading back to the snowy lands in the south."

The flutterby sheep were happy to accept the offer of a ride and jumped on board. As the iceberg set sail Charcoal watched the lush green pastures of Ireland disappear into the distance. Another journey had begun.

Thankfully the penguins were experienced sailors and before long the three sheep were transported safely to America and were heading off to Dublin, Ohio to see Charlie and Kate at Life of a Domestic Disaster.

The penguins meanwhile were bound for upstate New York to visit their friends at the blog Northern Crow Country. If you are wondering why they are pulling a large cart full of wool just take a look at their smartly dressed cousins on the Northern Crow blog. Wouldn't you want to own waistcoats like that if you were a penguin? The yarn will all be put to good use that's for sure.
Further blog-trotting adventures following soon.

Harebell fairies

Greetings friends. I've been busy stitching this week.

My little project was inspired by some pretty blue harebells that I found dancing in the summer breeze.

These delicate wild flowers found their way into our garden some time ago and seem to like it here as they pop up every year on the edge of the lawn. They always remind me of my childhood days and my endless search for fairies who are supposed to ring the tiny bells on warm summer evenings.

Sadly I've never seen (or heard) any evidence of little folk ringing the bells but content myself with this lovely picture of a harebell fairy painted by Cicely Mary Barker. It comes from her much loved book 'Flower Fairies of the Summer'.

Unfortunately our pretty patch of harebells was hit hard by rain on Sunday. These delicate blooms on slender stalks were no match for the torrential downpour that we had.

Happily when the sun came out the following day a few hardy bells looked ready to chime again.

With no fairies to be found in the harebell patch I decided to make a blue fairy baby and she's a real little character.

She is usually very well behaved and plays happily with her tiny brass bell.

But occasionally she gets into mischief.

Recently she dropped her bell onto this cup and was determined to retrieve it.

Eventually she reached her bell but then found she was stuck inside the cup!

I rescued her of course and now that she has been reunited with her little bell she seems quite content.

The rain has returned and the wet garden is not inviting so I will probably stay indoors and make another fairy or two.

Green shady places

After last week's colourful 'rosie post' I thought I'd take you to some of the shadier parts of our garden. Neglected corners where ferns and brambles thrive.

Let's follow this little path and see where it leads.

 

We could leave the garden by this little 'secret gate' in the hedge. But we won't, we'll head for the far corner of our patch.

This is my husband's domain. It's where weeds and hedge clippings that aren't suitable for composting are piled high ready for burning. As an ex-Boy Scout my husband really enjoys having bonfires (the bigger the better!) The large logs are from a larch tree he felled and I'm not sure if this arrangement is meant to be an artistic 'log-man sculpture', a chopping block or a seat. It probably serves as all three.

We are surrounded on all sides by woodland. As you can see it is quite dense at this time of year but lovely in all seasons. We enjoy watching roe deer, badger, fox and rabbit in the wood but not in the garden as they can wreak havoc. Deer and rabbit eat anything and everything; badgers dig up the lawn looking for worms and the fox raids the dustbin....complete chaos! Most of the time we manage to keep them out thanks to a high fence.

Back to our garden and this is a safe refuge for small mammals and birds. What a perfect reason for not moving this tangle of fallen branches interlaced with brambles. I guess it could be home to a great many different creatures so we are happy to leave it undisturbed.

But who's this little fellow? He's certainly not one of the creatures I was expecting to see! I wonder where he's going with his bundle of feathers? Let's follow him.

I think he's disappeared up these old stone steps and is hiding in the shadows. We'll creep up very quietly and see if we can find him.

Ssh! Don't make a sound. He's sitting over there. I wonder what he's up to?

He seems to be busy stuffing his soft downy feathers into a cotton bag. I do believe he's making a pillow.

Oh dear! He must have spotted us. His little stone seat is empty and he's left one of his feathers behind. Did you see which way he went?

Perhaps we should leave him in his shady green home and head back into the warm sunlight where the flowers bloom. We'll return again later in the summer and see if the little fellow is anywhere to be seen.
This little hobbity fellow is the same size as my Midsummer fairies and measures just 4 -5 inches (10cm - 12cm)

Midsummer fairies

The sun might not be an enthusiastic visitor but it's midsummer and so time to look for fairies in the garden...

....sweeping their tiny pathways

....collecting freshly laid eggs

and gathering honey for tea.

And when their work is done you might see them having fun making daisy chains.