Dream Country Chat

BABY OH BABY

Yes it has to be done, the baby pictures! I started snapping yesterday and I just couldn't stop.

The one with the spots is a boy and we have called him Marty and the fluffy white girl is Annie. They are named after my friends Martin and Ann that we are going over to France to see today.

I have had sheep here for years and years, but these have to be the cutest lambs I have ever seen.

Descisions on their futures already made. Annie to join the band of ladies as a breeding sheep and Marty has already been banded (ouch!) and will be kept as a pet for Idgy. She had the most amazing pet sheep called Amos who has had his pix in various glossies beside his proud little owner. Unfortunately he dies last summer and I had promised Idgy she could have her pick of any future lambs as a replacement pet. Well here he is, Marty.

It ended up as a very sheepy day yesterday. I even managed to get Alexander to come up and sheer the other ladies. Now they are all in their summer best and hopefully will avoid  nasty fly strike.

Well that's it, cute baby pix done. I'm off to France tonight so will be back with lots of photos next week.

Keep happy.
Karon x

HIGHS AND LOWS

It has been a busy weekend, it has had highs and lows. Friday was sewing and label typing and generally getting ready for the Harrogate fair next month, nothing too exciting there.

Saturday was a whiz. I went to Rowallan with friends to watch the show jumping.

This is Nadine on her top horse Joycy. It was exciting and fun and I met some great new friends. Unfortunately I also fell into the European wine lake and suffered for it yesterday.

Now yesterday, what can I say. Drove through to Edinburgh to visit Mum who is back in hospital again after a fall last week.She was in a room on her own, she looked so very small and frail. "Are you the Doctor?" she asked me, it broke my heart. Apparently you can suddenly get confused and wobbly from a sudden drop in sodium levels. The nurse said they just had to get things leveled out. All I wanted to do was pick up my beloved and fragile little person and hug normality and life and love back into her and make her well. Instead I did boring things, I organised a bedside TV, checked clothes, spoke to nurses, kept  a stiff upper lip. Then I drove away from the hospital unable to see the road for tears.

I got home in the afternoon to see a highly excited Idgy in the yard. "Look Mum, Zoe's had babies". Sure enough there was Zoe my little Soay sheep proudly trotting up to the fence with two sparkly new lambs. Now last year I banded (castration bands) both of the boy lambs. Well guess I didn't do one of them right. I am now wondering if any of my other three girls is about to pop out new life.

Zoe was determined not to be photographed yesterday. I shall get a photo of her today for you, even if I have to play paparazzi  in my own field.

New life, always brings a smile.
Karon x

POPPY POWER

 

I know I have mentioned my love of poppies before, from those pretty yellow Welsh poppies that 'pop' up all over my garden, to the giant Tibetan variety, and all those others in between.

I love their robust colouring and at the same time their fragility.

They adore the sunshine, but fall like the wounded in the rain.

So here is my Poppy Pin which is now available on the web site. I have pinned it to my straw gardening hat here, but it looks gorgeous on a jersey, shirt or jacket. Very rustic romantic.

And while carried away on the Poppy theme I have done a new Mini Mirror for the range which has a hand painted poppy (well it is a little abstract but I like it that way) on vintage creamy white velvet. The velvet painting is so lovely and tactile, I am really pleased with the results. The little mirror will be going up on the web site very soon. I have to rejig things there to make it more 'readable' with the extra bits and pieces I have made.

And I almost forgot, my logo is another Poppy design, again a bit on the abstract side, but it is my favourite flower and I wanted it in there somewhere. It may not be a herb, but hey, the definition of a herb is that it is a useful working plant, poppies are useful to me - they are inspiring.

Karon  x

SNEAK PEEKS AND CATALOGUES

Time is rushing on and I am determined not to be a complete stress-out wreck before the Harrogate fair next month, but as I said, time is rushing on...............

My biggest time rushing worry was the price list/brochure for the fair. Oh yes I know I am over-reacting and could easily just type up info on A4 and be done with it, but come on guys, you know me by now. Every year since I started Dream Acres five years ago I have produced a little brochure at Christmas. It has varied over the years, one year it was a rather pretty little 8 page catalogue, all glossy and beautiful, and stupidly expensive, another year it was a simple A4 colour sheet covered in photos. I have run the gamut of home printing, local printing and on line printing - been there, done that, got the proverbial T-shirt.

So it was all rather worrying about how to do a price list for the fair that would be better than a sheet of type and cheaper than major printing. I have chewed this over for weeks, tried various looks and liked none of them. Well yesterday it was pouring with rain, so I decided to stay in the house at my desk and get this job done. Well a lot of digit pounding, photo sizing, swearing and coffee slurping later, I've done it. Dream Acres now has a neat little trade brochure with a smart deep red (same as the sewing I do on all my goodies) cover with colour photo of a group of products. Inside it has a page of company history and information, then three pages of black and white photos of each item and brief info. There are even the Christmas goodies in there. There is also a pull out price list and terms and conditions. It is finished off with a natty little bookmark fragrant heart on a string. 

I am so pleased to have this weight off my shoulders. Today is printing day in the house while I sew stock out in HQ. Sometimes I worry myself silly over something,  friends tell me to calm down and not stress about it. Well when I finally get the thing (catalogue in this case) sorted out, the relief and sheer joy make me so bouncy it makes the stress and worry worthwhile and part of the build-up to this all out euphoria!

So what's the photo at the top of the page? It is my new 'Bake Bag' to keep your rolls and muffins warm on the table, cute huh! I have a few new goodies that will get to the web site when I have the time, just now I am just thrilled that they have made it on to paper, cyberspace can wait!

Have a stress-free day.
Karon x

DANDYLION WISHES

One thing about going for a run in the morning is being able to really notice the flowers that are in bloom at any particular time.

From being a carpet of yellow, the dandylions are now all white and puffy. They really look strange when wet.

Almost as if the fairies themselves have been blowing away their wishes one tiny puff at a time.

Karon  x

HEART WINNER

And the winner is....................

Clare

Her heart of the home is her little girls bunkbed, where they all snuggle for special time together. I think that's lovely.

And for those who asked about those bargain mugs I picked up at the open day on Sunday, here they are. The perfect pale green that matches the 1930s storage jars that I have on my dresser. They keep your tea hot all the way to HQ, perfect!!

Have a great day.
Karon x

WONDERFUL WEEKEND

What a weekend! We have a friend (George) staying who is over from France this week, so on Saturday I thought we should go visit Loch Lomond which is only about forty minutes away from us.

 

The weather was perfect and as we went early it was quiet too.

The village of Luss on the edge of the loch is just so very pretty, with every little cottage spilling over with flowers. This would be the prefect place to live were it not for the thousands of tourists who amble past your windows all summer long snapping photos of your begonias!

 

Saturday evening and our little village hosted a Blues Night in the Village Hall. It was the first time this sort of thing had been held and was definitely a huge success. The village turned out in force and Colette, Naomi, Hayley and I got up and danced the night away. This soon got other people off their seats and the evening got livelier by the minute!

Sunday morning dawned bright and beautiful and I thought my hangover had really taken a hold when I met this giant hedgehog!  Actually we were off on a visit to the local wildlife rescue centre at Hesslehead for their annual open day.

It was lovely to see the work they do there and see some of the animals they are helping and rehabilitating.

There were lots of little stands there and of course a good range of bric-a-brac and book stalls. I came home with three fabulous pale green and cream pottery mugs that perfectly match the vintage storage jars etc in my kitchen - a fabulous find!

and the The weekend was completed with a lovely relaxing and yummy supper at Colette's house next door and much laughter when Idgy and I staged a rerun of Butch CassidySundance kid by both riding my bicycle home.

A good weekend had by all. Will announce the winner of the prize draw tomorrow.

Karon x

COMING TOGETHER

  

Yesterday was a good day. The weather was stunning and I spent all day working outside HQ on the deck, it was pure joy.

Things went right. You know how some days you feel like you are beating your head against a brick wall and can't get a handle on anything. Well yesterday things fell into place, and designs l have been fretting over for ages actually worked.

I have to admit, I was getting a tad stressed about the thought of this Harrogate trade fair looming up in July, and me not having my Christmas ideas ready. Most things were ready, if you count being inside my head as being remotely ready for anything!

I had got my Tweedy Pie robins sorted out and have a good display of them ready, but I had Scenty Snowballs still to work out, they were just not playing the game, my ideas just didn't work in real life. Well yesterday after some false starts, they finally did and I am thrilled!! My old faithful cup cakes have a new twist for Christmas and are ready to go. There are gingham and velvet hearts, embroidered hearts and gorgeous tiny gift hearts. What next  ~ Christmas stockings. That's my job for next week. I have a pile of the most sumptious rich red vintage velvet that my friend Robert (local antiques shop) found for me, and of course the vintage blankets, something is coming together and it's festive!!

Have a lovely weekend.
Karon x

PREZZIES FROM SEATTLE

This was going to be a nice sensible post about what I am doing in preparation for the Harrogate trade fair next month. Instead here I am posting this mad photo of Idgy I took yesterday. No, my little darling has not had a 'trout pout' lip job, she is merely wearing her new shades and chewy lips that arrived yesterday as a belated Birthday prezzie from my lovely blogging friend Nan in Seattle.

Idgy was so thrilled with her box of goodies that included this gorgeous snow globe of Seattle (going to school with her today to show off), lip glosses, tulip shaped candy lollies, beads, fun bouncy pink Caterpillar (now hanging in her room), hair bands, fabric transfers and pens. Thats not everything. THANK YOU so much Nan, you made my best friend's day.

Most popular item in the box. The sun glasses -' keeps flies out your eyes when you're on your bike Mum'.

Thanks again Nan, you are a star.

I'm getting some great comments on the Heart Of The Home giveaway. Just look at the post from Tuesday and leave a comment saying where the heart of your home is. So far we have had, the kitchen (like me), livingroom, diningroom, window seat, kids bunk bed for snugly chats, porch and garden. You guys are great and all have such a nice outlook on things. So keep up the comments.

Off to get that stock done, and I will give you a work update soon I promise.

Karon  x

ONE FOOT IN THE HEDGE

Just now my morning run is a delight. I'm not saying that I have suddenly achieved the dizzy heights of actually enjoying the run itself or finding that elusive 'buzz' that runners talk about, no, my run is delightful in its sights and smells and sounds of the countryside.

Everything looks perfect.

The colours just zing and I find myself constantly stopping to snap photos and just to appreciate the views.

Unfortunately yesterday I had something on my mind. A car was coming along the lane so I leaped in gazelle like style (!!) into the hedge. Jumped back out again and carried on with my run. It was only when l reached the dairy farm that I realised there was something on my foot.

Eugh~! a hedgehog. Dead of course I hasten to add. Anyway I was fairly leaping about outside the farm waving my foot about and fell over into the ditch. Kind farmer was of course in the yard and came to my rescue. Couldn't get up fast enough and a desperate hopping about occurred as l tried in vain to scrape  Mrs Tiggywinkle from my trainer. Unfortunately, because I had been running on the poor creature it was well and truly stuck to my footwear, it was a Victor Meldrew moment. We ended up having to remove offending trainer and scratch it about on gate to get rid of  firmly attached wildlife.

Farmer said I had made his day with my antics in the lane, so glad to have cheered him up. Scuttled home keeping well away from the hedge in case any other wildlife decided to throw itself at me. Had visions of staggering home under the weight of dead deer, stoats, squirrels and of course hedgehogs.

Trainers in the wash.

Karon  x