I love it when a plan comes together...

A break from our regular programming!

So, my sister is the big knitter in the family - she has the patience to just churn out vast swathes of knitting that become blankets, baby clothes and toys. I, on the other hand, whilst a very competent knitter, always preferred putting the final creation together which is why I ended up moving into sewing as a dominant hobby. But I do still dabble with wool, as you can see!

Anyhow, with the Inkling (my newest nephew-to-be) due to arrive within the next 6 weeks or so, I decided to send down a variety of blankets. Whilst they may not look the best, the knitted blankets are the perfect size for in the car, and the pair allows for one to always be washed. I previously made a set for my niece Felix (all cats, no surprises there!) and my sister used them so much that she actually asked for these. Felix now has both of hers sewn together (which was always the intention, which is why there is no border) and it fits a single bed perfectly.

A nautical theme was picked as, firstly, I personally love the theme. I'd have my whole house decked out to look like a beach house if my husband allowed me. And perhaps if Scotland had slightly less than ten months of winter. Secondly, as the nickname applies, Inkling has been given an affinity to sea creatures - his early scans had his hand at his mouth, so he had Cthulhu-esque tentacles (my sister is a massive Lovecraft fan and she made the association!) and it kinda all came from that. I love the song 'Wave over Wave' (there are many versions, but Great Big Sea have probably done the most famous one) so I went with that for filling in the middle of each blanket. Once linked, it will read the first two lines of the chorus.

Lastly, is my proper sewn quilt! Gotta admit, this is possibly the best quilt I have ever made. Its on a diagonal and everything! The bulk of the fabric was from a fat quarter set, and I got the fishes material separately to just make it a bit more my own.

Here's a close up

And that's about it! I posted these off earlier in the week and got confirmation it had arrived today - I'd have shown them off sooner but didn't want to spoil the surprise! 

Back to regular programming next time!

Belated Easter

Well, Easter has come and gone and I have been very good and not put myself into a chocolate induced coma (yet). Whilst I do not celebrate the religious aspects of Easter, I understand its importance to many and respect the symbolism. I also understand the practical aspects of Shrove Tuesday and Lent. Truly, its an odd little holiday - whilst I always got eggs growing up, there was never really more to mark the day than that (no egg rolling and the Easter bunny was a novelty and not a thing, I suppose my parents felt that, like Christmas, Easter has the possibility of getting completely out of hand), so its something that's uniquely become personal to me as an adult.

I digress. My favourite traditions of Easter are simple. My husband and I have, for the last ten years now, enjoyed 'dippy eggs and soldiers' as our brunch (a tradition Missy terribly enjoys - I don't know why, but she is daft on boiled eggs). This is Missys third Easter with us and we always try and get out to Beecraigs for the Easter trail. We managed that on the Monday this year (sadly no organised trail, but they have just opened a new information centre) and watched all the families rolling eggs down the big hill and Missy did her best to eat up all the discarded pieces!

 

I always go overboard with baking. This year I didn't really bother with eggs (my niece and nephew received some house warming bits as we were meant to be going to see my sisters new house, but that plan was cancelled last minute). I made mini-egg rocky road and creme egg tiffin, as well as the classic birds nests. I made them on top of cupcakes this year as, though I really do enjoy the nests, they can quickly become too much. There was also some chocolate cupcakes, but I didn't photograph those.

 

We did have our Easter Bonnet contest! Now in its second year, my family are keen to make a tradition of it. Sadly my nephew had picked up a stomach bug, hence the venue change, and couldn't join us (his hat was brought along in his stead and, no, it wasn't too much chocolate - I jokingly suggested such and received such an affronted tirade from my sister that next time I will stay silent!) To everyone's delight, my Manchester based niece also joined in with a photo entry. My brother agreed to be the independent adjudicator this year (it was such a hit with the kids that he wants to do one next year, so this years winner will judge next year) and I'm afraid to say that Missy and I came in joint last. 

I like to think that Missy and I have better taste than he! With my mother having won, and her love of tat, next year I'm going to have to do something really ridiculous. I have some ideas, but none seem overkill enough.

Although Missys bonnet I'll keep neat and pretty and simple.

Much like the traditions I enjoy most.

Strolling in the Sunshine

After the better part of £300, Missys odd limping hop has finally been resolved - she has had a knee injury and the resulting bone growth and inflammation basically means she has very mild arthritis in the joint. The vets happy that it shouldn't get worse provided the supplements that they've given us do their job and everyone is very keen for Missy to fully have her bounce back.

On that note of good news, this weekend we manged to finally get training for the Kiltwalk that we are doing in September. Bearing in mind that Missy is still technically in recovery (try telling her that) we decided on the nice flat and well paved Union Canal. 

Google informed me that the park and ride to the end of the canal in Edinburgh and back again was ten miles, so it seemed a nice starting point. We were accompanied by a friend who is also joining us on the Kiltwalk and had arranged to meet another friend at the halfway point for the picnic who was then going to accompany us back.

We were phenomenally lucky with the weather and as a result the canal was incredibly busy - we saw people rowing, kayaking, running, cycling and, those on the same wave length as us, plenty of other dog walkers. Missy got a little too curious about a swan and made a swift retreat at its hissing, so no one was harmed except perhaps for her dignity!

The Union canal runs right through Edinburgh and, despite the fact that you can literally walk over a main road, is incredibly scenic with little impact of noise from traffic. If you know what to look for, there's plenty of wildlife to spot - though you'll need to make it a dawn or dusk trip to see the foxes. 

After our picnic we all headed back to the house for an evening of board games and enough cake and ice cream that any health advantages of the walk were well and truly neutralised. 

Then the ninja sunburn struck.

So, when we had all gotten back to the house, everyone was fine, it was only a few hours later that the redness started to develop. No one had brought sunscreen as the weather had turned out much better than forecast (you'd think being married to a red head I'd have learned my lesson before now). Nonetheless, I seem to have gotten off the lightest and the pinkness has now passed with no real agitation, but weirdly my friend who was out with us the shortest amount of time has ended up with the worst.

So, note to future self. In addition to the rain coat you'd brought as a just in case, and the thermos of tea which was a just in case, now pack sunscreen.

Saying that, this is Scotland. That one day was probably our summer!

An Easter Throwback

Easter this year is quite late it seems - my Facebook has spnt the last few days showing me all the goodies I've made and baked over the last several years, and I feel that I'm going to have to pull something spectacular out the hat this year.

The irony that I'm competing with myself from last year has not been lost on me, dont worry!

So, its kind of become a tradition since Missy arrived in our lives to gather the clan together and do an Easter dog walk and picnic (and eat copious amounts of cake and chocolate!) Last year my older sister led the celebrations and Missy gatecrashed the Easter bonnet competition.

That's right. Gatecrashed and won.

It took some convincing, but my niece and nephew did eventually see the funny side of it! Especially after I provided lots of baked goodies and explained to them that I had wanted to do an Easter photo shoot with Missy for her Easter cards (another tradition, after receiving so many cards with my nieces and nephews photos on it, I started to do the same with my fur-baby, the satire backfired and everyone thought it was brilliant!)

Anyway, this was last years Easter card picture:

I don't know why this makes me think of Van Gogh...

I'd like to pretend that it was a really easy and simple process to put together, but in reality there is much bribery and waving of squeaky toys. I wont make Missy do something she doesn't want to do, and even then, I keep what she will tolerate to very short 2-3 minute sessions. 

Bit of a rambling post today, I'm in the process of picking out some doggy recipes for Easter and prepping Missys new Easter bonnet as a rematch has been called!

Till next time!

A behind the scenes view

Looking for Ghosts in Dechmont

Well, the weather is finally improving and of course Missy has injured herself! The vet is fairly certain that her kneecap has become mobile and as it locks out of place, causes her to limp - not painful but a bit uncomfortable. So, its anti-inflammatory's and lead walks for the next two weeks and she has already become rather unimpressed at the situation.

Bearing in mind the vets advice, the hubby and I decided to do some exploring of the more local area which should provide Missy with some new sights and smells and not be quite as boring. Her need to annihilate the local squirrel population will have to be put on hold.

Missy in front of the main building

Dechmont Law is locally the highest natural area and as such has lots of dog walking and fields and that was Saturdays morning outing. When looking into the area, we discovered that we had an abandoned insane asylum literally around the corner, so of course we armed ourselves up with all our Lovecraft quotes and went out to see if Missy could find us a ghost!

Bangour Village Hospital has had an interesting life - originally built as an asylum, it was commandeered in both wars as a military hospital and then returned back to its original purpose before being abandoned in the '90s and the last of the buildings went out of use in '04. It is a vast area of land that has now been commandeered by the local dog walkers and occasionally visited by vandals (hence all the security fences).

We did our best to stick to the no trespassing rules, but did poke our heads through some of the rotten and damaged doors and walls. I had expected an air of quiet restlessness, some sensation of a presence to coincide with the history of the place, but with the song birds enjoying the first real flutter of spring and the bunnies scurrying under the rhododendrons, there was only an element of sadness that such beautiful buildings had been left to rot.

The area has been proposed for redevelopment, so I'm not sure how much longer the hospital will be in the area.

We finished the walk and Missy was rather pleased with herself - after getting tied up beyond all hope amongst brambles, she dashed off the moment she was unclipped to the rhododendrons and attempted to reduce the rabbit population.

Although, with a smile like this, I cant be cross with her!

All seasons for the Otter Party

Well, it is Scotland.

I think we can all conjure to mind at least some version of that classical postcard that shows that as a country, its always raining, or snowing, and that all four seasons in one day is not uncommon. Well, this week started with the promise of spring:

The snow drops are out and the crocus flowers are coming up in swarms. That promises good weather, right?

No. 

Forget Winter is Coming, it just wont go away!

These photos were legitimately taken 2 days apart. Whilst unwelcome to myself, the snow proved to be a great hit with my 3 year old niece who, living on the opposite side of the border, very rarely gets anything that amounts to actual legitimate snow. Whilst she had fun, I think she was rather surprised at the fact that we have many kinds of snow, including, unfortunately, the horrid, driving, soggy stuff that met us on our first outing out! Our second outing was more successful, as it had frozen a bit and wasn't driving down as hard.

With a baby on the way, this visit is the last one we're expecting from my sister before she pops in June time. To make a fuss and celebrate for the sake of having a nice time, I organised an "Otter Cuddle Party" - the idea of course belongs to my niece (I got her the Finding Dory pyjamas with the cuddling otters and a cuddly otter toy for Christmas, which she has now decided is the best thing ever). I don't think my sister expected me to actually go ahead and have one, but we did and it went down brilliantly.

To start the day we got all the cousins together (meaning a 3, 7 and 12 years old respectively) and took them swimming at the local pool which is really a glorified water park. Otters like swimming, right? And I wanted to get those kids tired out!

Next we had an otter magic show which my hubby had organised - as the wizard of the clan, we felt he should do something fun and silly and we picked a trick specifically for each child. The classic egg bag was for the 12 year old, we had some magic appearing (and replicating!) pikachus for the 7 year old and finally the 3 year old got to help make an otter magically appear in the special box (after some difficulties with a floppy wand)!

By which point it was time to eat. I had previously asked my youngest niece what kind of cakes otters like, to which she replied kelp cakes, like the ones in Octonauts. 

My sister sent me this as reference:

And I pulled off:

I will admit to a certain smugness about those otter cakes. The squids were slightly more splats, but you cant win everything. And all the biscuits were rolled, cut and decorated by my niece, and she was very pleased with them. 

After the food it was time for everyone to leave and go on and do other things. There was lots of washing up to do, but it was worth it!

Till next time!

Adopt-iversary

Well, I'd hoped to get posting sooner, but nonetheless, better late than never!

Yesterday marked three years since we got Missy and she has gone from this nervous and unsure little thing:

To this completely spoiled rotten little thing!:

I'm not normally a fan of these mashed-up expressions, but I do like adoptiversary. As Missy was a stray, we'll never know her birthday or even an exact age (her estimate was 11 months to a year when we got her, so for documents we just use the first of March, meaning next month she will be approximately 4 years old), so its nice to have a day that's for her. We took her for some of her favourite local walks and I made her some cookies.

I found this recipe and it ticked all of Missys favourites: peanut butter, banana (I opted for 1 banana instead of the apple sauce) and chicken stock. Cant say they appeal to me, but she loves them! Whilst Eating Bird Food doesn't have much in the way of dog recipes, after the success of these, I have earmarked their pumpkin and peanut butter cookies for Halloween!

In other news, I've been sewing away quite the thing. I made myself a SpiderGwen costume and the hubby an Agent Venom one for a 30th party we had been invited to (I'm waiting on the photos from the official photographer before posting any) and its now time to get started on all the baby quilts for my soon-to-be niece and nephew.

My step sister (who is about to have a girl) lives over in the states, so us 'Scottish Aunts' are putting together a care package (the quilt being my contribution). I'm also tempted to put in some Irn Bru and other Scottish goodies for the mother to be!

What do you guys think? I imagine it'll go down well!