More Lace!

I had hoped to do a  blog every day from Kintyre, but I’m afraid it didn’t quite work out that way!  Today is Saturday and our course ended yesterday!  So!  What I thought was that  first I’d show you the lace  we achieved  and then show you some pictures from our afternoons out.

  I should however tell you that Linda had got some meercat toys to sell in her craft store, so they took quite a prominent part in the week’s proceedings as most of the group bought one or two for grandchildren – or so they said!  These meercat toys have really taken off since the TV docu-soap about real meercats in Meercat Manor, and more recently the car insurance advert.  We made up stories about them, and related them to Aleksander Orlov, the advert meercat.  In short we had a lot of fun with them!   Here the big one is teaching all the little ones to make lace!  Simples!

So, as to our lace, I finished a pendant, and a butterfly pattern which Anna had designed.  I haven’t got a photograph of the completed piece, so  here are my two works of art, butterfly in the making, with pendant,completed.

 

  Catherine made a chicken napkin holder and Pat a different chicken…..

 

 

 

 

The other Pat started off making a star  which she will continue at home, now she knows what to do.  It will take a bit of time to finish but being quite repetitive she felt she would rather spend her time learning something new.

Here are the first two points done.

 

 

This is Rachel’s funky butterfly which she was very proud of.  It’s very cute and would make a great motif for a jacket or a sweater.

Mary made the “slice of apple” below.  Two or three of these in different colours and stitches make an interesting sculpture.

 

 

Linda didn’t quite finish her Nemo fish

 

 

 

 

but had a seahorse to show off as well.   These are just a few of the things that we had to exhibit in our final exhibition yesterday afternoon.  Then we had the group photo taken by Ken wielding many cameras. This was taken with mine.  It was a beautiful afternoon and we were all squinting in the sun. From left to right – Catherine, Rosemary, Rachel, Pat, Anna, Linda, the other Pat, yours truly and Mary.

All week we  worked hard in the mornings then took a break in the afternoons,

and one afternoon Linda took a few of us to see her friend – Lady Macalister – at Glenbarr Abbey. 

She was married to the 5th laird of Glenbarr, who died a couple of years ago, so now runs the tours, shop and cafe herself.

There’s not a great deal of the house to see – it is a house rather than an ecclesiastical building – but Jeanne, an American, can tell tales of the house, its family and its past, as she guides visitors through the few rooms on display.  The  hall is festooned with tartan on the walls and the stairs  and the American influence is very obvious around the place with displays of Americana,  flags, quilting,  a collection of American dolls  and a teddy bear room which is quite extraordinary!  Hundreds of bears!!!

   Another day Rachel, Pat and I took the ferry over to Gigha,

 

 

 

 

meaning God’s Isle , where  we visited an excellent little art gallery/ gift shop -  run by Henry who, amazingly, used to live in the same Borders cottage that some of my ancestors used to live in,  in the 1850s – and then toured the gardens ofAchamore House where the rhododendrons and azaleas gave the rather dull day a good splash of  colour. Another day we drove down to Campbelltown, the main town, fairly near the end of the peninsula.  It’s not the prettiest town, but has some interesting buildings.  Here’s the local bus coming up the main street on its way to Macrihanish…..

                                                                                 

…and this is a side street with a bit more character to it than the main street.  We had a cup of tea in one of the hotels that day before driving home for proper tea - our evening meal.

One evening I visited Neil and Hilary in Tarbert, Neil being the brother of  Moira who lived in Scourie, and therefore another cousin of mine.  We had a great evening, looking through old family photos, and enjoying a good blether, not to mention a wee “half” or two.  That’s a glass or two of whisky, by the way. 

This is a photo of our great great great grandfather, who was born in the 18th century.

The sunsets we have seen have been beautiful – not every night, but most have been pretty colourful, or just pretty!  ~I loved the sun’s rays descending through the clouds in this picture  and of course the gate to the beach made a great foreground.  I used it several times for photos.  This was taken looking across the road from Linda’s and Ken’s house.  The land you can see in the distance is Islay, another of the Inner Hebrides (Hebri-dees, the islands of the west of Scotland near to the coast).

This in one of the pretty sunsets, but this is a much more beautiful one.  It’s that gate again!

 

Last night I was walking along the beach towards A’Chleit

 

 

in the distance, looking for seabirds’ nests on the upper beach as the sun began to go down.  Again it was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

We saw little of the beautiful after-colours really, as there was either too little  or too much cloud for the sunlight to reflect off, but the last of the sun itself was magnificent enough.  I should leave you here for tonight.

Talk again soon.