Maytime

I had such a pretty postcard from Chrissie yesterday as part of our Postman's Knock fun. My theme is windows and Chrissie has created a perfect little Boulangerie window, complete with awning, lace curtain and a selection of breads. The card came in this lovely wrap and I must admit that my first thought at the red, white and blue tie was with Friday's goings on rather than the Tricolore.

 The lace curtain is even on a rod.

It has been a busy week where I seemed to achieved little.  Last Bank holiday Monday I did an hour or two at the local country fair promoting the Artists Network Bedfordshire's open studio event in June.

This is Jo, a very active member behind our stall which drew lots of interest. The info is not all there on the website but I will let you know details later if you are in the area.

On Wednesday, Sally  and I got together to do some planning and I have made a list of 'things to do'

On Thursday I did something completely different.  I visited a group of alpacas which are kept as 'pets' by the couple here - I realise now that I don't know their names.  I went with my U3A Natural History group - although not quite 'natural' to our local surroundings I did learn a bit about these animals which are domesticated in Peru.

The alpapcas were very friendly as demonstrated here!

They are shorn once a year and the owners usually donate the fleeces to local spinning groups.  In fact a couple of the ladies at 'Nutty Knitters' were spinning some last month.  The fleece is incredibly soft and thick and has no lanolin so does not need to be washed before spinning.

a couple of examples of  knitted yarn from the alpacas.

When down loading these photos which I took with my 'point and shoot' I found this one of Marvin taking a bit of time out on the bed, something which is not encouraged, but tolerated in dry weather. Here he is trying to prove to me that he has been keeping up with the dry cleaning. 

At the moment like most pets, he is moulting like mad and could be a rival to those alpacas!

It is also that time of the month AGAIN, and as I only seem to be managing one post a week, my calendar pages appear rather too quickly.  I hope you are not getting bored with them.

April seems to have been sunshine all the way. The lack of rain has meant a lot less snails this spring so although the young veg hasn't been eaten, it does needed a lot of watering.  However even the lawn (moss patch) is beginning to turn brown, so a bit of evening rain would be useful.  I also find it difficult to be creative this weather.  I want to be sitting stitching etc, but the outdoors is calling.  I try to ration my gardening time due to dodgy joints, but even after a spot of weeding I haven't been able to settle at my desk or sewing machine. However I did enjoy creating my calendar pages.

May is rather flamboyant.  I bought some metallic and pearlised acrylics so had to give them an outing. The squares are cut from pearly paper.

I hope you are able to enjoy this holiday weekend and I will try to put in some extra 'comment' time.

Have a good week.

Jill