Skye, Nryeemas Dark Shadow 4/3/2011-18/11/2019

Skye was born on March 4th 2011, a beautiful black and grey sable German Shepherd puppy.

She came home to us eight weeks later and although she lived up to her kennel name being the easiest dog to lose sight of in the dark, she shone like a light full of joy throughout her sadly short life. Our resident dog, the 15 year old Border terrier Nino, greeted her arrival without much enthusiasm as she woke him from his naps, pinched his toys and tried to play puppy games with him. However he soon decided she was ok and they often sat together in the garden under his favourite cherry tree, where, I am convinced, he passed on his wisdom and told her about her duties. He always sat outside the bathroom if anyone was in the shower and after his death she took his place religiously.

Her enthusiasm sometimes tired her out and a nap was needed.
At seven months Tilly our white Swiss Shepherd was returned to us and immediately took over mothering Skye (she would have mothered Nino too if he’d let her) and made sure Skye greeted each day with a clean face.
Skye objected but with no real effect and eventually just accepted Tilly as her mother.They loved to run together and play bite-face
At eighteen months Skye suffered a horrific injury as a result of chewing a sliver off a Nylabone toy. This tore her intestines and she developed peritonitis. Weeks in Liverpool Animal Hospital and three operations and she came home a very skinny pup, but still as happy as ever. One of the vets commented that even when they doubted Skye could survive her injuries she always greeted the vet staff with her big wagging tail.Tilly faithfully looked after her as she recovered.  She then needed a special diet, a very expensive diet based on salmon and white fish but she had a splendid shiny coat as a result. When grandchildren came to visit she made sure she was in prime position to catch dropped food.
She wasn’t the brightest dog, she learned a few commands and gave a great paw but sometimes misinterpreted instruction such as when she was told to sit down for her dinner.
Skye loved the grandchildren, happily running around with them and proved very useful for herding small children to us at home time (not necessarily the correct children but as all children were drawn to her like a magnet they didn’t seem to mind)
After Tilly’s death she was very sad, and despite seeing Tilly after her death Skye seemed to hope Tilly would return. For eighteen months she took Tilly’s favourite toy into the garden each morning and brought it to put where Tilly’s bed had been each night. Visiting dogs were told in no uncertain terms that the Pink Cuz was not for playing with.
A few weeks ago she developed a lump on her ribs which the vet thought may be a spindle cell sarcoma, she lost her appetite unless on steroids and was quite sleepy much of the day. She always cheered up when our son came home and still loved going on walks though she walked less far and more slowly.
A week ago she suddenly wanted just to lie quietly and had no interest in anything or anyone, so we made the very sad decision to let her go peacefully to her maker where we hope she is running free with all the dogs she loved.
People talk about the black dog of depression but Skye was the black dog of joy. She loved everyone and was very much loved in return.  She  loved  to  join  in  any  activity.

Even the postman who she greeted very noisily each day said he’ll miss her.

 

Long time no see.

It’s been a while, but a lot has happened. A new house, a new granddaughter, retirement etc. not to mention the odd hospital stay and the loss of a very good friend.

Firstly the new, to me, house. It’s a bungalow, a little bungalow. Quite a change from the old house, which had plenty of rooms, with lots of storage, and two garages. Downsizing to this little house with less and smaller rooms, no built in storage and one small garage has been a bit of an awakening. I have far too much stuff, so the last year has been spent sorting through boxes, selling or giving away all sorts of things, building wardrobes, or rather helping my son build the wardrobes in exchange for cups of tea and slices of cake. The previous owner was a heavy smoker so I’ve been cleaning, stripping walls, wallpapering and painting. The house is beginning to look more as I’d like it to look and has proved to be a happy move.

The new granddaughter is just as delightful as her big sister, being a Granny is great fun.

Retirement is proving to be as busy as everyone says it is, there always seems something to do, someone to see or somewhere to go. I love it and feel much better for it.

Sadly in the Spring this year my lovely friend and companion Tilly, also known as the polar dog, died. She had been ill since Christmas, but seemed to be improving when she took a sudden turn for the worse. Tilly was a very special dog, all dogs are special but Tilly was special in so many ways. When I first met her she had little to recommend her, she was thin, she was moulting, had fleas, had never walked on a lead so reacted like a wild pony, she had digestive problems, almost constant tummy troubles made worse by her anxiety, she stole food, tore the house up if she was left alone and was jealous of our resident dog. However she was beautiful, was desperate to please and responded to a more settled life by slowly relaxing. It took time but gradually we identified that her digestive problems stemmed from a wheat allergy, the introduction of grain free dog food and salmon oil controlled her diarrhoea, improved her coat and she gained weight, although she never lost her fear of making a mess. She gradually relaxed when left alone for short periods. Nino, our Border Terrier, helped her a lot and they became great friends. 

Walking her on a lead was difficult, she leapt and turned and ran and spinned and pulled, oh how she pulled! Walking the two dogs together was known as the Sail and the Anchor, Tilly racing ahead like a sail in a gale force wind, Nino pulling backwards or sitting down. Tilly loved to be outside, running and chasing, catching a ball or a stick or a raggie. She was a joy to watch, her happiness was a delight to see. When Nino developed Canine dementia Tilly looked after him, shepherding him around when he was confused and keeping him company. She helped to bring up Skye, the black German Shepherd puppy we got and they have lived happily together for the last seven years. They loved to play together, chase each other and play fight.
Although Skye grew to be a much bigger stronger dog, Tilly could subdue her with a look and frequently pushed her to the floor and washed her like a puppy to put her in her place. Skye began to look after Tilly as her health worsened and would lie beside her quietly when she was upset. Skye has missed her greatly in the months since she died as we all have but every cloud has a silver lining, all the Cuzs and tennis balls now belong to her!

 

December 1st

The first day of Advent, spent suitably. This morning I finished knitting another Christmas present, socks for a friend with sore feet. The socks are soft and will I hope be comfortable. When that was done I got the Advent calendar down from the high cupboard where the Christmas decorations are stored,  I made it when my son was a baby. I used a pattern in a German handicraft magazine, it has Father Christmas in an embroidered sleigh and reindeer flying through the night sky towards a snow covered village.  There are 24 brass rings to which we tie a small parcel, one each day until Christmas. In the past I would wrap up pieces of Lego, small pencils or rubbers, stamps, sweets or tiny toys. Latterly I’ve wrapped more useful items like boxes of matches, pound coins, book tokens etc but this year with two children to help open the parcels there will be toys again. 

This afternoon was our school nativity play, I mended three donkey costumes, a camel costume and sewed the tail back onto a sheep. Then I helped small wriggling children get into their outfits and walked with them into the hall to perform in front of their parents and friends. After that it was off to Year 5 to design a meal for an astronaut.

This evening after the usual round of marking work and preparing for tomorrow’s lessons I started a tiny pair of socks for my granddaughter – red and white to match her liten fuggel mittens.

The time between the 1st of December and Christmas always seemed endless as a child, now it is the beginning of a busy time that seems to get shorter every year, but it still invokes the same anticipation and joy I’m glad to say.

 

Liten Fuggel.

Cold weather and little hands are not a good combination. Isabelle has grown out of her baby mittens so I started looking for some cosy toddler mitts.

Jorid Linvik designs wonderful knitting patterns, see her website at  http://www.joridweb.com/butikk/

I was torn between the Tango Elefant mittens and the Liten Fuggel ones but the possibility of knitting matching socks won the day for the Liten Fuggel. The mittens were great fun to knit, enough pattern to be a challenge but small enough to be a fairly quick knit. 

My only modification was to change the thumb colour to red instead of white. I think white would soon look dirty.

On Friday we tried the mittens on Isabelle, she was not impressed but will hopefully appreciate the warmth on chilly days. She loves wearing hats (just like her Daddy) but likes to be able to wriggle her fingers without gloves. At the moment gloves and socks are removed and discarded as soon as possible, fingers and toes are much too interesting to keep covered up!

More baby sewing

Cold days need warm clothes, a cosy needlecord pinafore dress over some lovely Frugi tights.The pinafore dress has a faced scalloped hem. The pattern is the MiniKrea Spencer dress, the needlecord from Truro fabrics. 

Leggings are quickly sewn and keep little legs warm, the jersey fabrics are from Kitschy Coo. The pattern is Brindille and Twig’s baby leggings.

And finally a bit of knitting, the pretty Alouette pattern by Frogginette, knitted in Rico wool double knit shade Rose

Baby things are such fun to sew.

My friend is expecting a baby in a couple of weeks and we are going out for a meal tomorrow to celebrate and give her presents for the little one. I’ve had a lovely time sewing a few things -firstly this little suit made from a French pattern by Citronille. The top and trousers are made from very soft cream needlecord, a joy to cut out and sew. The tulip buttons are so pretty and not too girly in case the baby is a boy (I’ve included a set of blue buttons in case she prefers a more traditional finish to a boy’s outfit though.)

I then started playing around with some cotton jersey fabric, Isabelle has some little bandana bibs that she has worn a lot while teething and I decided to try to copy them. I used an organic cotton sweatshirt fabric for the backing and scraps of cotton jersey for the fronts. The puffin jersey is brilliant isn’t it! The puffin and one of the striped fabrics are a pale blue but photographed looking grey, the pink is the correct shade. They are so easy to sew and will I hope be useful as well as decorative. They are fastened with nickel free press studs, which I had to insert with a hammer as my special pliers have disappeared. I’m very very tempted by a KAM press but for the number of press studs I use in a year can’t justify the cost so a hammer it is! 

Please excuse the state of the kitchen table which desperately needs to be sanded down, although it’s “patina” does reflect its usefulness as an all purpose dining, sewing, diy station and generally useful space. Next week I’m back to sewing for Isabelle, she is growing rapidly and needs some new pinafores – I’ve ordered some cherry red and some navy needlecord for her and some very funky tights to go with her new dresses. She also needs new leggings for crawling about, so she’s getting stripey ones and puffin ones and some very pretty Liberty print jersey ones.

Summer holidays

and I’m decorating the hall stairs and landing. I began by thinking I could paint over the existing wallpaper, mistake number one as it had a wipe-clean finish (which I might add was singularly unsuccessful) so the paint didn’t dry properly. I then began the lengthy process of removing the paper which was of course well glued onto the walls and covered in tacky emulsion paint. Under the paper I discovered some new cracks in the plaster and an area of blown plaster which disintegrated under the power of the steam stripper.

When decorating it is traditional to keep spirits and energy up with cups of tea and either Chocolate Digestive biscuits or Cafe Noir biscuits.

Chocolate digestives can be a bit of a liability especially in the later stages as chocolatey fingerprints on newly hung wallpaper are not a good look so Cafe Noir are my usual biscuit of choice. But what has happened … the normal packet has been replaced by a cardboard box and a “new recipe” label warns me of changes inside. Not only has the coffee taste been altered to a sweeter and weaker flavour but the biscuits have shrunk to approximately half their usual size – bah this is nonsense. I do not wish to have a mini biscuit with an apologetically mild coffee flavour that is too small to dunk in my mug of tea. Whatever were you thinking Mr McVitie, please return to the full size and full flavour biscuits before I am forced to find new decorating snacks!

Vivianna update 1

The watch arrived last week, there was good news and bad,good news first: what I had thought to be rust is in fact just a sticky deposit, probably just accumulated sweat, dust and general dirt – ugh – but relatively easy to remove. A clean with an old toothbrush and a disinfectant wipe removed most of it. The glass although dirty is less scratched than it looks in the photos and again cleaning has made a huge difference. Best news of all, the watch is working and keeps perfect time. Now for the less good news, although the auction house valuers assure me that it is a genuine Georg Jensen/Vivianna watch there are no makers marks at all on either the watch casing or the bangle. This is very unusual as Georg Jensen pieces normally have the Georg Jensen oval stamp at the very least. Even tiny earrings have it. I have the auction house letter of authenticity, when the watch is being worn the marks aren’t visible anyway and most  importantly I love the style and design, they are what matters rather than a stamped mark. The other concern is that the rear case is clipped onto the casing

 

 

, other examples I’ve seen have four screws holding it in place, note there is no makers mark on the back casing of this example either but the bracelet is stamped. 

 

The dial is very dirty/stained, it should be a silver mirrored finish but is almost copper coloured. I took it to a Jeweller yesterday who is going to send the dial off to a dial restorer to get his opinion about cleaning it. This involves taking the watch apart to remove the dial so my watch will be away for at least a couple of weeks. Once the dial restorer assesses it I will get a quote for restoration and move on from there.

So how do I feel about the watch? Despite some slight concerns about its provenance I love it, when all the cleaning is done I’ll have a beautifully designed watch that looks elegant and keeps good time.

On being 60, and Vivianna

I have loved the designs of Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe  for many years, I’ve looked longingly at jewellers’ windows and coveted the watches in particular the bangle watches, the necklaces and the earrings. Actually the watches have been a constant obsession since I saw a very elegant friend wearing one many years ago. I’ve told myself many times that I would have a Vivianna watch  for this or that occasion.Now and again I’ve saved up some money but then inevitably other needs took priority and the savings would be spent on necessities. This year I reached the milestone of being 60, a number of friends and family asked what I’d like but I didn’t feel that asking for a present costing thousands of pounds was reasonable. Just after my birthday I spotted a vintage Vivianna watch for sale in an online auction house in Denmark. Calling it vintage is being kind, really it is a very old very well used watch

that is going to need some serious restoration but it’s price was well within reach so I bid on it fully expecting someone to outbid me by the closing date, today.

When I got in this afternoon there was an email waiting to say that the poor old battered Vivianna is mine. It should arrive in about 10 days and then the work will have to begin… but I am finally the owner of a Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe watch and I can’t wait to start restoring it to its former glory. Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe had quite unusual views about watches, she didn’t like the idea of watching the progress of time so most of the watches she designed had mirror faces to reflect the present instead. They don’t have numbers on the dials and sometimes only had a second hand and no minute or hour hands. Thankfully this watch has both minute and hour hands and currently the mirror face reflects nothing but dirt and rust. It is apparently in working order though so the damage is surface damage only.

Baby footwear

there seems to have been an explosion of baby shoes, pram shoes, boots and slippers for babies, both ready made and patterns. I can’t remember there being so much choice, if any, when my son was a baby. There were the little cotton sewn booties that were rather like a bag with elastic round the ankles, there were the traditional knitted booties and of course there were the leather pram shoes for the well – heeled!He wore mostly traditional knitted booties and later on had soft slipper socks made in Norway. 

His daughter at eight weeks already owns more pairs of shoes than I do, mainly fabric shoes, in all colours including a pair of silver glittery boots. Looking around the Internet for sewing patterns for her I found the Lilly Baby Mary Janes pattern for tiny felt shoes. Yesterday I spent a couple of happy hours making these. The pattern is not difficult, fiddly definitely, but

 

fun to sew. The possible colour combinations are endless and wool felt makes them very soft for tiny feet. The pattern is from http://www.ithinksew.com and the wool felt I used was from http://www.woolfeltcompany.co.uk. I used the 30% wool 1mm thick felt for the outer shoes and the pure wool 1mm felt for the linings and inner soles. I bought a pack of different coloured sheets of the 30%wool felt so that I could make a few pairs in different colours. The sheets are 20×30 cms and are just big enough to make the smallest size from a single sheet with careful cutting. Sewing the straps was very fiddly, I’m amazed I still have all my fingers intact, the pattern gives instructions to hand sew the edges with buttonhole stitch but the illustration showed machine stitching so I tried that, I’ll use buttonhole stitch next time! As you can see the machine stitching on the straps isn’t very even, however the baby won’t mind and these are my first try.