Erddig Hall

Today we went to Erddig Hall and Gardens and the weather has been absolutely beautiful. These are just a few of the many photographs I took.

Spinning, Dyeing and Weaving

The shawl in the background was spun using Shetland and BFL. The colours are natural and the shawl is beautifully soft.

The cushions were spun using Shetland which I dyed using Ashford Acid Dyes however the colours became a bit murky and diluted because I used too much water in the pot and so I am not particularly over the moon with the results but I am pleased that I have seen it through the whole process - spinning, dying, weaving and sewing.

Dunham Massey

Back to Weaving

The cold winter has kept me out of the shed but I am back again and have started to weave a wrap. I am using my own hand-spun Shetland/BFL wool for both the warp and the weft. I was concerned about using hand-spun in the warp but it hasn't shown any signs of breaking and I am really pleased with the results.

I have also changed the heddles from cotton to texsolv which I think are a little easier to thread but it still took me an age to warp the loom and I had a number of errors to correct - but I suppose it could be described as a learning process : )

Skein Winder

Mr Spinning J has made me a magnificent skein winder. It is adjustable, works amazingly well and will save me a lot of time, and as an added bonus it looks very impressive!

HDR Processing

I have been playing around with HDR processing for the last couple of days and thought that this shot is one of the few I have taken recently that lends itself to this type of processing - although I haven't got a dramatic sky : )

Daffodils

Unfortunately these daffodils are not from the garden. The daffs in the garden have a long way to go before they bloom. It is still cold - I hope spring is not too far away : )

Marbury Country Park

We went to Marbury Country Park about a week ago and managed to get close enough to the robin and blackbird to take these photographs. They were both very obliging and seemed to pose for me. The robin was on a fence by a bird table and the blackbird was in the hedge right next to where we parked the car and wasn't in the least put out by us being there!

The Moon

I took my first photographs of the moon yesterday, around 9.0'clock in the evening. It was really cold so I didn't stay out very long but I am quite pleased with the results.

Home alone

I had the afternoon to myself today
so took the opportunity to
experiment with macro and
making a collage.

More photographs

A few more photographs....

Photography

I have been enjoying using the new lens so here are just a few of the many photographs I have been taking over the last couple of weeks.

It has proved to be a good walk around lens as well as macro.

The pony was in a children's zoo and posed beautifully for some photographs.

The orchid was a bargain buy - just £2.00 in a garden centre sale. I used Mr. Spinning J's flashgun for orchid and bud shots.

Cold and Frosty Day

I took this photograph late afternoon - the sky
was quite amazing.













This cheeky chap was
raiding the bird feeder.