Huck Lace 

I spent the weekend in Sainte Suzanne which is a charming village in the Mayenne department and where a group of 8 artisans (including me) exhibit their work.    We take turns managing the boutique and this weekend it was me.     This gives me a chance to check the stock and to take my trusty hand held steamer - nothing annoys me more than seeing unironed scarves being displayed and my steamer is brilliant at removing creases.   

The scarf I made last week is gorgeous.    The colours are more pastel than I anticipated but beautiful nonetheless.    I used huck lace within the squares and for the second scarf I put the huck in alternate squares just to change it a bit.   This involved totally rethreading the loom as I hadn't thought about this in advance.    I don't think I have ever thread and woven a scarf so fast - I had a date with Roland Garros semi finals!

This week I'm working on a similar scarf but navy blue with pink and/or turquoise separating the squares.   I dyed the silk last week and now have to tidy up the workroom and get started.

It is June which means Roland Garros and I find it very hard to work when I really want to be watching the tennis.    As a result I spend the mornings weaving and the afternoons twizzling (my word for twisting fringes) the scarves that have been finished with the computer in front of me tuned in to the tennis.    It seems to work.  

At the moment I am building up stock for the boutique in Sainte Suzanne (more later) and also for the end of year exhibitions - Christmas is a busy time for me.    

Today I am working on a simple but colourful scarf in citrus colours.   It's a colour scheme I use often at this time of year : summer, light, colourful.  Let me know what you think.   The photo shows the idea as it appears in my weaving software.   The scarf will obviously be "similar but not the same".

 

I've decided to resurrect this blog but largely based on my weaving work.   

Back in 2012 I was given a table loom for my birthday and a new life began.    The table loom grew in size until it eventually became a Louet Megado with 32 shafts.    I started exhibiting and selling my work locally in 2015 and later on I was invited to exhibit at various Salons des Metiers d'Arts.    

I don't know how successful I'll be at writing the blog each week but I'll try!   In the meantime, if you've got this far, you can find some of my work by clicking this link through to my online shop.   

Top Bar Hive

Three years ago Max made a top bar hive. We wanted to compare the two different ways of beekeeping. We left the TBH outside in an enticing position and waited...and waited. Absolutely nothing! We had swarms from our hives but we wanted these back. For the TBH we were hoping for a wild swarm or a swarm from a callout. But for two years we had no calls for swarms and the TBH found its way to the back of the wood barn where it waited some more.

Then on Monday we were driving home when I suddenly saw a swarm sitting in a tree trunk just a few miles from home. Max returned half an hour later with the only equipment we currently have available - a small step and a sheet - and bought them home. Meanwhile I had managed to extract the TBH from under a pile of wood.

It took a while. These bees were obviously looking for a different des res but luck and the weather were on our side. It started to rain and didn't stop for 24 hours. It's not often I welcome 24 hours of rain, especially during the tennis season, but this time I was delighted. The bees realise that a TBH that was waterproof was the best offer they were getting and filed in. We checked yesterday and they are slowly building comb. We are devising a feeding system for them as the weather is still not great.

I will try and keep you up to date on this hive. I love the idea if a more natural way of beekeeping although I have no plans to get rid of my trusty Dadant hives.

 

The garden in late June

A wet June but it hasn't all been bad. The pears are amazing; for once I thinned then and it seems to have paid dividends as the fruit is developing nicely and we should have a good crop.

The artichokes always look beautiful and add structure.

Stargazer lilies and decorative poppies outside the kitchen door add colour and the courgettes are delicious - we've just eaten some!

 

Lily Beetle

There is only one good thing about the lily beetle : you can see them easily. Once the lilies start coming through I check on them several times a day. Almost without fail I find one or more of these beasts. They are very nifty at dropping off the leaf at the first sign of danger (ie me) but I have developed some equally nifty techniques at catching them.

I usually have a small container of some sort so that I can just knock them in. They fall on their back and I can then pick them out and kill them between two stones.

If I don't have a container I try to arrange things in such a way that they fall into my hand. Then again the trick with the stones.

Be warned, these beasties can fly away. However, if they are on their back you usually have the upper hand.

Why are they so horrible? They lay their eggs on the underside of the lily leaf and the larvae hatch in what appears to be poo. The larvae then eat voraciously, weakening the plant to such an extent that the flowers are severely stunted.

I am always open to suggestions of a positive nature. If anyone wants to give me just one good reason not to squash these red pests, I will listen carefully.

 

Yippee, courgettes

Not many and not huge, but delicious. If the weather picks up maybe we'll get some more.