SOME MORE RAG RUGS

I've been playing around with photos for an upcoming advertisement in Country Threads.  The dog was in the running to get in the photo, but after the showers of rain we've had, his paws weren't exactly in an acceptable state, so I decided the bear was the way to go.  She was also much more co-operative.  

GRANDPARENTS DAY

Lots of fun this morning for Grandparent's Day at school.  Grade 1 students have been studying farm animals and this little clay model turned out to be a farm donkey.  It was supposed to be a horse, but "donkey" seemed to be more appropriate by the time it was finished.  Mr Apple was very impressed by how the lovely the teacher was to the students.   Certainly different from the teachers he remembers from a bygone era.

OWL FAMILY

This is the little quilt I've been working on, inspired, obviously by the owl family that moved into our big old pine tree last summer.   They seem to have taken up permanent residence in our garden, so this quilt was designed in their honour.  I hope they like it too!!  I haven't written the pattern up yet, but it's not too far away.

I managed to overcome my fear of heights and got the little high section in the front of our house painted.  I don't have a photo to prove it, but that bit is definitely all completed.  Today's challenge though was to get up on the roof to paint the section between the verandah roof and the main house roof.  Must say that gathering courage is very time consuming.  I was afraid that after I climbed the ladder, it might accidentally become dislodged while getting off the ladder and on to the roof, and as I was home by myself the idea of spending the rest of the day on the roof unable to get back down, held little appeal. I tried to get a helper to hold the ladder in place, but my only hope was Dermott, who quickly reminded me he has a sore leg.

Bonny of course was nowhere to be found, but I know she would have let me know that she is, in fact, quite a lot older (in dog years) than even I am, so there wasn't much chance there.

The solution was to provide an alternate route just in case the ladder plan failed. With stools on top of stools,  it was actually the way I used because it felt safer than the ladder.  I somehow think it might have failed all Work Place Health & Safety regulations, but it worked for me and I live to tell the tale.  Once I'd been up and down a few times, I felt like I've done it all my life.  I will be very pleased though when this next section is finished and I can say good bye to roof climbing.

SCAREDY CAT

It doesn't look so high in the photo does it, but somehow I'm not sure if I've got what it takes to climb up to paint those high bits in the front of our house.  I was thinking that the plank on the top rung of the trestle was scary enough, but hey I'm still too short.  I've solved the problem, but I've still got to gather the courage to actually get up there.  Tomorrow will be the test.   
I've had a sewing frenzy happening too.  I've got an advertising deadline with Country Threads soon, and I'm trying to get a new design finished in time to get it photographed for the ad.   Thank goodness Master Chef is on nearly every night, as that's been my stitching time these last few weeks.  Must admit though that my blanket stitch seems to be getting a bit bigger every night as I'm rushing to get it finished.  Hopefully it won't show too much in the photo.  Will let you have a look when I'm finished.