Ziggy on the roof!!

On Friday Ziggy,our 7 month old kitten, discovered he could get on the roof.We live in a bungalow but with a very high pitched roof .We had a re enactment of Hitchcock's The Birds.There were about 30 crows circling him and making the most almighty racket.He went up at 9am and it was 6pm when we finally coached him down.His only was was to jump onto a flat roof at the back and then take a running leap on to the patio table.Has he learnt his lesson.No.This was him 10 minutes ago and he is still up there.His other trick is to go and sit in the middle of the road.We don't live on a main road but we have a lot of passing traffic.Should we take him back to the cat rescue and get him a safer place to live?What do you think?
Is it just my imagination or do most of us crafters on here have either cats or dogs?

Hip Knits-KLM

Hip Knits aka Yarn Forward/Kerrie Allman has finally bitten the dust.I think quite a few of us saw the writing on the wall several years ago when we got our fingers burnt!

Bodnant Garden.N.Wales

 We went to Bodnant on Saturday.This is a wonderful garden to visit,especially at this time of the year.Azalea and rhododendron time.So I am just sharing a few photos.

 No idea what happened to this one!

 What a great view.This clematis was the most wonderful shade of pink.

Another great view.Bodnant has a new(about 5 yrs ago) Head Gardener and he has made so many improvements and done masses of new planting.It is going from strengh to strengh.

I made some blankets

 At long last I have managed to get these photos to upload.They are in the wrong order but so what.A while ago I started crocheting squares using the pattern from Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Knitting(but it does include crochet-strange).Above is the resulting blanket.I really enjoyed doing it as the different colour combinations produced different effects.They are also very quick.

 A month or so ago I was stuck for something to do so decided to make some baby car seat blankets.The intention is to sell them for a particular charity I have been following.I used Stylecraft Special DK which is lovely and soft and comes in a huge range of colours.I have made six so far,all different.

This is my favourite.A miniature version of my bigger blanket.

Emily,our middle granddaughter, is seven today so later this afternoon we are going for a birthday tea.She has had a roller disco party with friends this lunchtime and we are the entertainment for later.We always have to have dancing.Quite a sight as you can imagine at my age.Good fun though and definitely no photos!!!

Why can't I load photos?

Why can't I load photos with the new blogger?I have them in a Picasa file but can't load them.HELP NEEDED!

Japanese Style at Ruthin Craft Centre.

We had a short trip to Ruthin Craft Centre this afternoon which is featuring the above exhibition.While this was in preparation the tsunami and earthquake took place.There was doubt that it would actually happen but all the Japanese participants wanted to go ahead.There are various displays but I am just showing you two.

Shinksuke Iwami was giving a demonstration.He was born in 1964 in Tokyo.In 1995 he moved to Mashiko which is a pottery village 60 miles north of Tokyo.It suffered considerable damage in the earthquake and tsunami and a number of kilns were destroyed.

One of the things he demonstrated was how he made teapots like the one above.He also made tea bowls which were used in the home and others that were used in tea ceremonies.He obviously doesn't speak English(or Welsh!!!) and had an interpreter who had to ask for help with words like "spout".

Some more examples of his finished work which was on sale.A small bowl was £21.

In the main exhibition area there was an amazing display of textiles.So innovative.Reiki Sudo is the creative director of Nuno textiles .She gave a talk a couple of weeks ago and I missed it.Such a shame.There were examples of all the textiles around the room which you could handle and an explanation of the process and materials used.

This is a close up of one of the fabrics.They used origami to work out how to produce and weave this material.

Other things on show were the Hale Collection of Tohukuu Ceramics.Renowned in Japan it has never been exhibited as a collection in the UK before and architectural models.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter.We went over to Northwich to our daughter's and after a delicious roast beef dinner it was time for the Easter egg hunt.(When will Emily have front teeth again?!!!!)Inside,with the central heating on,lovely party dresses but outside it was cold.

That's better.Cardies and coats on and all the eggs collected and shared.Great fun.After charades and other games we went to Blakemere Craft Centre.A super day enjoyed by all with lots of laughter and fun.