This morning Keith and I went out for a walk - not a very long one, just down by the river and up to the junction and back again, but we noticed several useful bits of wood, so the moment we got back I change my off-white jacket to something scruffier and we drove back down and loaded the back of the car up with what we had found. We now have a yard full of various bits of wood gleaned locally in recent weeks. Unfortunately before we could FINALLY get the petrol chainsaw going again (it has not been wanting to work since last summer, although it did turn over a couple of days ago before hiccuping and going back to sleep again) someone came along and chainsawed the big ash tree we had had a few small bits from (the only ones we could lift) and has taken it all away. Fair enough - we shall look in the undergrowth tomorrow and see if there are any little bits they didn't want.
Firstly, progress - I finished hand-embroidering (blanket stitch) the fourth and last panel for the Baltimore quilt this morning. I've been doing an hour's stitching first thing in the mornings and every evening to get this done. This is the sashing - some sewn on at class this afternoon, and then the long central piece unpicked on one side as I had been hurrying and didn't line up the side-sashes. Typical of me, but I shan't do it twice.
Above and below: it sounds like the African savannah out there at the moment, with dozens of frogs in both the ponds having a free-for-all with the unfortunate lady-frogs who turn up - unfortunate because they are outnumbered by about 20 to one so wooing is a bit of a free for all! Both ponds have frogspawn in - although the lesser amount is in the wildlife pond (shown here) although there are more frogs. Since they return to the place of their birth, this is obviously the pond which has produced more down the years.
I was about to list a good set of pine bunk beds on eBay, but the courier I was going to use, though very thorough in their pricing, doesn't seem to have included bunk beds only single or double ones have prices, so I will have to contact them and ask for a price first. The other items I have on (mainly horsey things) aren't exactly causing a bidding frenzy either! It's mostly excess furniture we need to list, so I will be busy the next few weeks I think.
