Gallery
Orkney Islands
Winter in the Orkney Islands
Having lived in the Orkney Islands for 16 months now, we have experienced all of the seasons and while spring has to come in top place, winter is definitely my second favourite. I remember that before moving here, I read some very depressing accounts of Orkney...
Out and About in the Orkney Islands
Although two weeks of lesson planning stopped me sharing on my blog, it didn't stop us from getting out and about in the Orkney Islands. It was my kids holiday fortnight after all and we had two wonderful days, exploring more of Orkney's Mainland. It's only a short 20...
Autumn Comes to the Orkney Islands
We have gone full circle in our new life in the Orkney Islands and as we celebrated the anniversary of moving up here, the seasons changed once again to autumn. This time though, I feel prepared to take autumn in and experience all that it has to offer. Last year, as...
Self-Sufficiency
Hatching Ducklings for the First Time
It was with great excitement that we received a box of hatching duck eggs through the post, nearly six weeks ago. We have often talked about keeping ducks over the years, but prior to moving to the Orkney Islands, we lived in built up areas, where poultry and fowl...
Sowing Seeds for Years to Come
It was one of those four seasons days today. It's quite a common phenomenon in the Orkney Islands: rain, hail, snow, bright sunshine and blue skies, and high winds all in one day! So, we opted to have an indoorsy kind of day. Matt had managed to get hold of a bag of...
Getting the Garden Started for Spring
As soon as the snow melted, spring arrived on our little island and it has been gladly welcomed. Suddenly the air is full of the sounds of bird calls once again, the willows in our garden are bursting into a mass of fluffy white buds and there are huge drifts of
Craft for Kids
How to make Felt Beads
I thought that I would share this little tutorial on how to make felt beads. They're really easy to make and are also a great way to use up little scraps of felt. Older children will be able to make these for themselves, or you could make up a bagful of these, for...
Making Advent Peg Dolls
Making wooden dolls, has been a favourite craft in our house since we started making them last year. Since then, my kids and I have created lots of little characters. Some are just for decoration and others get played with everyday, but all had the same humble...
Using Charcoal for Paints and Dyes
An experiment with natural dyes turned into a fun activity for Wren (my two year old) this week, as she found out how to make charcoal paint. I had been experimenting with making heather dye for a few days, but having left it rather late in the season, was only...
Basketry & Natural Crafts
My Work with Natural Dyes 2021
I have been continuing to work with natural dyes this year, building on what I learned in late 2020. A lot of these dyes have been used on raffia for my basketry, but I have also been trying to keep track of my results on some quiltmakers cotton, so that I can, over...
More Uses for Dandelions and other Spring Leftovers
Spring is a plentiful time for collecting plant fibres to use in basketry and dyes. You may have seen in my earlier post, Making Dandelion Paper and Dandelion Beads that the petals of these wonderful springtime weeds, can be turned into a wonderful textural paper and...
Making Dandelion Paper and Dandelion Beads
The past week and a half, have been a busy time of working with dandelion petals. I have been waiting for the arrival of dandelion season, since the end of spring last year. Like lots of you, we foraged for dandelions in 2020, to make dandelion jelly. It was...