6/24 Daily December |

Dec
6th6/24 Daily December

Hia. Last night I whizzed out and got cushion pads for these cushion covers. They are made from the Cider Mill Road book by Nancy Halvorsen with as close a fabric as I could to the original.
I’ve been busy hand sewing these appliques onto tea towels which came from the Tilda Creating Christmas Gifts book. The 2 of the left are unfinished. Today’s task.
Daughter created Macintosh the dragon for me. We watched Miami Ink on TV where a Japanese artist was showing a different technique of tattooing and we liked the look of the dragons, so daughter drew one. I had to share as he looks as if he is rubbing his hands together in a miserly fashion- so funny!

This wonderful parcel arrived from Ulla in Finland! Such wonderful beauties hand made gorgeousnesses. The angel is utterly adorable and will go on the tree. The beautifully made sack, zipped purse and matching pincushion are wonderful. The latter 2 will join me in my sewing classes. The corn dolly is going to join the others on the wall. Thank you Ulla so much. You will see what is happening to the edibles later.
This parcel came from Tracy in Norway. The parcel smelt of Christmas thanks to a pack of Christmas tea. There are beautiful turquoise fabrics (wonderful!) chocolate and caramel sweets and a beautiful pair of earrings she made. The bluey green stones are exquisite. She has an Etsy shop too.
So instead of morning coffee we are having tea with Ulla and Tracy. 🙂 What a wonderful way to spend a morning.
The little dresser is as ready as it’s going to be unless I make more for it. The shapes hung from the handles have a little frankinsence essential oil added each year. There was a story I read about a man going into a little village church one very wet day and suddenly the old smell of incense filled the air even though it hadn’t been used in the church since before the reformation. The damp had released the smell from the wet plaster where it had been soaking it in for 100s of years. Aren’t smells amazing- one wiff and you can be a child again smelling your grandmother’s cookies. 🙂
Cotoneaster and frost
Your daily angel.
Now back to Ludlow Castle. Click to read. We were going onward and upward.

We have just come in through this door at the top of the steps. To our right:
Maximum light from minimum glass. Early “glass” could be made from the layers of horn in cows feet laid flat.
Doorway. Can you see the earlier arch above the square molding? Wall can often tell a story of their history.
The chimney looks so odd without a floor or roof.
Another alteration where a window became a chimney. This was Mortimer’s Great Hall- place for maximum swank, entertaining on a lavish scale.

To our left:
Guess which doorway we’re going through!
Yep up the tiny turret steps. The view is looking good although the frosty wind is biting our hands through the window gaps.
but what a view!
These were to the left as we came up those ramshackle steps. These were the Lord and Lady’s apartments.

I don’t think anyone would want to attack the castle from this direction.
The river was high- you can see a water meadow from it’s flooding. Too many sites like this have been built on in England in recent years and then the people get flooded. The councils shouldn’t allow it.
Remains of a fireplace- you can see how the stone has turned pinky from intense heat.

At the top moss and grasses grow over the battlements.
One last look before we return to the ground out of the wind.
This wall tells a tale of having had other buildings possibly even made of wood against it. There are the remains of lead flashings of an apex roof, doorways and windows. They must date from a more peaceful time than the one which needed a castle to rule the area.
Click to read about the castle keep- the last bastion of safety if the castle was attacked. The outer bailey (4 acre mini village/courtyard) would fall 1st to the enemy so you would retreat to your inner bailey. If that fell then the keep was the last resort.
I have never seen a well this big before! I guesss it was fed from the river originally, but there would’ve ben a lot of people at the castle not to mention horses, brewing beers etc.
Some plaster intact in places.
The keep.
You can see the thickness of the walls.
This huge archway led nowhere. You can see from it’s semi circular foundation that it is built on the natural rock.

This room was below the ground level. It had 2 doorways in the wall on the left which just led to one another. It seemed pointless, but perhaps there were plans that didn’t happen?
Window up to the ground level. The walls were incredibly thick.
Arch detail.
Coming back out of the inner baileyand over the bridge to the outer bailey we saw this to the right.
A grotto made from one of the castle rooms where the children could visit Santa.