More Daffodils!

Interesting Daffodils keep appearing in my garden and elsewhere.

A couple of Sundays ago when we were having 'Summer', we went to a 'Rare and Unusual PlantFair', in the grounds of Fota House.

Last time we went to this, two years ago, there was constant rain and the ground was nothing but mud,but this time it was such a pleasure. Traders came from all over the country and over the water too.  It doesn't look very big in this photo. The field was packed with cars, well over a thousand people came I think.

Maybe I will show you more of what we bought another time (not all that rare or unusual really!).

just wanted to show some Daffodils that I spotted.

Aren't they pretty.

Worth a close up of the gorgeous shading in the trumpet. 

Later my garden revealed these beauties.

Look how short and flat the trumpet is, and how the petals angle backwards.

Another....

......and another. very pale lemony green colour with a short frilly trumpet.

Very different from the Golden yellow ones.

OK I will get to the point...you came her to see tatting!

Some weeks ago....here I showed you the start of Vinnie's Spring Doiley 2.

here it is finished....

Vinnie showed it on her blog together with her diagram  that I added numbers too.

It made it so much easier for me to follow the ins and outs of the design.

My doiley was made with Coats Floretta 20 which is a 3 cord thread slightly thinner than a Coats Mercer 20. It took 8m on the shuttle and 8.5 m on the ball...a total of 16.5m.

I decided that I would prefer to use 2 shuttles as doing SLT's has spoiled the curve of some of the chains.

Since she calls it a Spring Doiley.....it was shouting at me to tat it in spring colours...and there is nothing more spring like in my stash than Daffodil Dell.

I really like the effect, it's a perfect foil for a varig. thread as it doesn't detract from the design.

I like the clean lines for a change, no picots and lots of open spaces.

The doiley took...Coats Mercer 20 Sh1 7m, Sh2 11m. It measures 12cm, 4 and 3/4 inches.

I would love to make this again using Just Daffodils for the rings and a solid green for the chains.

Stay tuned for more tatting with Daffodil threads coming soon.

Another day, another postcard!

You just can't imagine the excitement at Lep HQ when the postman brings another postcard from Feargal or his cronies. This was meant to bring a little light enjoyment into some lives, but we didn't realise how much enjoyment it would bring to Lep HQ's life.

This time it was a postcard from Feargal while he was in Toronto, massively delayed by volcanic ash (and I still haven't got my specs!)

This is what he wrote.....can still see Maebh's input here..especially with the little tatted flowers again...what a joy that Lep is!

I wonder what is happening now that he is away from her clutches influence.

Maebh sends a card, Feargal sends his souvenir home!

Great excitement here at Lep HQ....as the vocanic ash crisis settles down (fingers crossed)....we got post!! Yup that's right real snail mail post!

Maebh sent a postcard from her time in New York with Mini Boss.

Here is what she wrote.....

She is a good lass is Maebh. She may look ferocious at times,

but underneath that attitude beats a heart of gold.

I am sure that stealing wanting that Spiderman Cookie held by an innocent child was hugely exaggerated!!

For instance when she saw the picture of my best ever Cherry Blossom...she says that she sang to the tree to make it do it's best!

You may well be wondering why Maebh seems so fierce gifted..she turned the cats paw into a radish, threatened me with warts on my nose and an evil troll in my roof!!

Well this is what I have been told .....

"Maebh says that although she attended the Lep Academy she befriended a wizard when visiting a magic shop to find some blown glass shamrocks.....   She apparently learned a bit of the other stuff...."

Maebh told Feargal that he should send his souvenir home......

....so like a good and obedient Lep (did he have any choice!!) he did.

I think that this was bit of an excuse so that she could send 'stuff' to me!!!

Seem that she had been rifling sorting through her mom's thread stash to see what was new and interesting.....with her mom's permission of course!

She loaded up some cards with Lizbeth 20 (she knew that I only have one ball of it) in 4 great toning colours of solids and varigs.  Thanks a million Maebh...you are doing great work.

She crammed as much thread on as she could get away with!

Hey! did you see the little tatted flowers on the postcard she sent..more on the envelope with the goodies in....her tatting is improving.

Oh! you want to see Feargal's Canadian souvenir???

Cute isn't it??

Tadgh and Nollaig went ballistic...get it ball-istic!

I told them they should leave it alone as it's Feargal's......would they listen.....nope .....they ran off to play with it in the garden.

Yesterday the weather was wicked, fog, sheeting rain and wind....and now the petals are falling down off the Cherry Tree like snow.

Tadgh decided to play in this snow.

He wasn't really too sure what to do with it.....Nolláig didn't have a clue either!

He tried to kick it but he kept falling over....... he tried to stand on it........

.......sit on it.

Exhausted he fell off and it flattened him.......

........he decided to sit on the wall and hold it while he thought...

...this was a fraction of a second before he fell off in a puff of wind!!

Finally in desperation he climbed a tree to show it off.......a Maple tree!!

very funny Tadgh!

He says to tell Feargal that he will keep it safe and BTW, what IS IT FOR???

Potpourri,ash,chocolate and cherries!

A motley mixture indeedy!

Who would have thought that volcanic ash would affect my tatting!

We were not due to fly anywhere, we were not stranded anywhere, we don't have ash raining down on top of us.....we just watched as the volcano erupted...thinking...thank goodness it doesn't affect us.

But of course it did affect us in ways we hadn't thought of.

My little story started 11 days ago when I went for an eye test...and decided that I wanted to keep my present rimless frames...and so had to part with my specs for a week.

In return I was to be astounded by some new state of the art, varifocal wideview digital lenses, said to be as different from  my present varifocals as they were from bifiocals.....mmmmm!

SO I put up with wearing my old single vision distance specs and constantly having to change to reading specs...how did I manage with this in the past...well I didn't tat while watching TV for one thing!!

Tatting and TV watching have both suffered until in the end I am just using up little bits of thread and tatting flowers.......I can't stop myself from picking up a shuttle no matter how good the TV programme is!

I stuck it for a week without a murmur and went to collect my new specs.....but...yes you guessed it....the orders come from the UK by AIRMAIL!

The manufacturer had finally resorted to sending is deliveries overland.....how archaic does that sound!

Then of course we realise that it affects all our mail....insects to feed the geckos.......birthday gift for a friend........incoming and outgoing...and yet the post office continued to accept mail.

Pause to answer phone.....yipee my specs have arrived....tatting can be resumed tonight!

So that's the ash..that leaves the potpourri, chocolate and cherries.

All our major supermarkets are offering meal deals.......for 10 euro or a little more we get a choice of main course, plus veg dish, plus dessert AND a bottle of wine. It's all good stuff, top of the range food (yeah I know its full of additives..but it's only once a week!)....

and the meal deal costs less than half the cost of the items bought individually.

Our favourite mains include paella, spinach and ricotta parcels wrapped in filo pastry, to name only two, there are yummy potatoes dauphinoise, boulangére potatoes and the wines are decent....oh but its the desserts!

Millionaire's chocolate tarts, chocolate and pecan puddings.......

This is supposed to be a dinner for two but recently they have introduced a huge Belgian Chocolate Gateaux to die for!

That view from above makes it look much thinner than it is!
We soon learned that it will do us for 3 days amply!

The white of the cream reminds me of our Cherry Tree.....which is flowering it's socks off ...the best ever as normally the blossom by this time would have been hit by a gale and be in tatters. But we have had no rain since it began to flower.

Tadgh went out to explore it's beauty...like any small boy he is in to climbing trees!

He almost disappeared..

The weather was so warm last Sunday that we lit our Chiminea and sat outside to eat our dinner, with the Cherry Tree in full bloom, what is the weather coming to when we have summer in April. Fingers crossed that it doesn't happen again that we have no summer in summer!

That just leaves the potpourri and that reminds me that I intended to talk about tatting!!

Every now and again I give my tat lassies a challenge and this was the most recent one.

This time I gave them each a large (about 5 inches sq')potpourri sachet scented with vanilla...my favourite.

I had had these sachets for a while, intending to dye some appropriate thread to match.

then I realised that I already had!

Dabbling with trials for Antique Bronze, I had 6 skeins that I didn't like one little bit....until I looked at them next to the sachet, and bingo....they were spot on!

They each got a skein...some were 20, some 40 or 80 and were to decorate the sachet however they wanted.....an edging all the way round, maybe only across the center or maybe just a motif.

Now I have to admit that usually I don't finish my own challenge!! but this time I did.

I edged it all the way round in size 40 and still had a lot  left from my 50yd skein.

Not a very good picture...but it's now on it's way...volcano permitting...to my friend in Mississippi for her 60th birthday today.

Here is a close up of the edging...I guess I was in edging mode in my TAT tests.

The design is from Star Book 30...pretty isn't it.

So what did the others do.....

Same edging in size 20 with 2 motifs.....

....and more on the back.

This one is much more ambitious, using size 80 and another vintage pattern Daisy edging...I forget where I found this one. She did get a lot further but unfortunately ran out before she could get all the way round and the thread is unrepeatable.

They haven't all come back yet but here is another in progress..together with the cards for Mary Konior that we had just finished.....had a lovely letter of thanks recently from Mary's daughter.

Just goes to show that no thread goes to waste!

STOP PRESS
D... ..and B..... my new specs hadn't arrived after all
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

B.............!!!!!! volcano!!!

Feargal's 3rd stop!

I was out last evening and came home to an absolute plethora of good news in my in box........my lips have to remain zipped on some of it.....but I can reveal that Feargal and Scarlett landed safely in

NEW MEXICO!

Oh my goodness

I have been watching the relevant blogs since he set off 9 days ago...wondering where he was heading.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw where he was/is! He couldn't be staying with a nicer Lep.

Feargal looks so happy to see his bro' again.......and is up for the adventures to be had in Silver City...even the name sounds exciting.

You can read all about his arrival here and follow his further adventures as they unfold on this blog and also on this blog.

There are still a few leprechauns out there who may be going to miss out on a visit.....your names and addresses ARE in Scarlett's little green bag but they wont be activated unless you leave a comment with a request....no pressure!

Meanwhile while Feargal was in the air, not worried in the slightest by volcanic ash, Maebh had other fish to fry.

She was watching over the safe delivery of Mini Boss and causing quite a stir with her all important presence. Here she is guarding the baby carriage.

I can't begin to imagine how proud she is feeling.............
she looks awfully smug!

Toronto memories!

It's all down to memories now!

Feargal and Scarlett reluctantly left Toronto yesterday...bound for who knows where!!!

No sooner had she arrived when the fair Scarlett had to inform the two sweethearts leps that they

had to part....she is such a spoilsport

The only ones who know his destination are Scarlett.....probably Maebh and Maebh's mom who had to put them on the plane.

Feargal had such a fabulous time ...poor Scarlett the organiser didn't get to see much at all!

You can read ALL about their antics in Tat-ology here, here and here and also in It's a Leprechaun's Life.

I will just recap a little and show you the  photos that are going onto Feargal's Memory Boards.

They met so many people, Meabh just seems to go up and talk to them ...like the man on the beach who she thought looked Irish.......... and he was.

The adventures that these two had ...they should write a book!!

All we can do now is to wait and see where they land and hope that they have as happy a time and new adventures.

Feargal's Memory Board 1

Tadgh and Nollaig are following our intrepid adventurer's exploits with a mixture of envy and fear.

They decided to set up some Memory Boards for Feargal's return so that he will never forget his

World Tour.

Finnbar had thrown the mother of a hooley to celebrate Maebh meeting Fox (a partnership to end all partnerships!!).

Feargal swears that Finnbarr tripped over that bottle as he has never touched a drop in his life...before.

Secretly I think he was still intoxicated with Maebh (she who intoxicates).

Finnbarr surely was.......he was INSISTING that Maebh stay with him!!

as if that would do any good...

Maebh just sat and watched the two lads make fools of themselves!

Finnbarr reckoned that he would win her heart

because

he is taller that Feargal,

has more hair,

and is younger!!

Dream on Finnbarr...   Maebh has other fish to fry!

Eventually Maebh moved into her new home....which she shares with THE CAT.....apparently she refuses to use his name.

You can read ALL about it on Fox's blog here.

You really should.....she has a way with words.....

more anon...

Feargal in Toronto and the story of Maebh!

Feargal landed safely in Toronto along with Finnbarr and Maebh!

Now you didn't know that Maebh was traveling with him.....so this is the story of Maebh.

Maebh came along in a bit of a hurry...she never wants to wait....when we heard that a Leprechaun was urgently needed in Toronto...something to do with a boss and a mini boss...oh and a cat....and the need for a boss to boss them all...

....that job just suited Maebh.

Maebh (pronounced Mayv-e)is named after the the great warrior  Queen of Connaught. the name means 

the cause of great joy or she who intoxicates....

I think I will go for the first option!! and hope that she brings great joy to Fox.

Maebh was obstinate right from the start....she wanted to wear a skirt, not the normal leprechaun shorts. We had to get a special dispensation from Lep HQ to let this happen...yes I know that this IS Lep HQ...but she didn't know that.

So she is the first Lep to sport a skirt....I think this does restrict her activities a little! especially with other leps around!

She likes pink!

She wanted a pink skirt

but

standards have to be maintained.

A leprechaun's uniform is red, green and gold...and that's final!!

So she insisted on a pink belt...Maebh insists on a lot of things.

So here she is....

She wears her hair in plaits with pink bows, has white stockings and carries her lucky money in her left hand and she says that she is right handed and can't do anything much with that coin in her right hand!!

She hopped straight up on to my mug rack, crossed her legs, and refused to come down.

Feargal was taken aback and begged her to come down.....

...but she wouldn't so he hopped up and sat beside her....

hoping to chat her up...get to know her....

Finally she agreed to pose for a family photo, for the album.

When Feargal and Meabh landed in Zurich, she was supposed to stay under wraps and not be seen gadding around with the lads.

She kept a very low profile and was allowed to pose for another family photo.

Notice how demurely she keeps her legs crossed, showing only a hint of petticoat...

.....that's Lep Academy training for you!

She is hinting that she would like a tatted trim on her stockings and on her skirt....I hope it keeps fine for her.

Stop press...just heard that Scarlett has landed in Toronto....with her Mary Poppins bag of lep addresses.

Will keep you updated!

Feargal's 2nd stop....Toronto!

Feargal and Finnbarr landed safely in Toronto on tuesday.

They spent International Tatting day in Canada.....this is what happened.....

mmmm! in the company of a lot of Swiss bunnies...they seem to have pigged out on chocolate......pretending they did some tatting!!!

This is what Nollaig did on International Tatting Day....

absolutely nothing........Tadgh says that he has to do everything now that Feargal has gone.

Meanwhile in Indiana...a miracle has happened.

Conor and Ruari (Rory) have found a baby leprechaun hiding in some Easter decorations.

Be sure to pop over to Battatter's blog to read ALL about it.

We are all waiting for more news from Toronto with baited breath!