Sue Spargo, Cushion, wip, Peel Island |

Aug
11thSue Spargo, Cushion, wip, Peel Island

Blocks 1-3 of Sue Spargo’s Folklore. I am so enjoying making this. Felt cotton and perle 5 embroidery thread.
Here are some of the details of the felt cushion. Stitches are in Perle 5 again.

Here it is all finished where it will sit.
I’ve been experimenting with the tree for the Christmas quilt. The vintage lime green bias looks so pale until I blanket stitch it with bright green perle 5 like on the holly vine on the sleigh. All the backgrounds are fairy frosts lilacs and blues so they shimmer and are meant to be like a frosty night. What do you think about borders? I was wondering about a 1″ in black then a wider one maybe in dark blue? Advice appreciated.
Are you ready for an adventure in a little inflatable dingy? We’re off to Wild Cat Island from the Arthur Ransome books. The first is Swallows and Amazons and is available on DVD too. Ever since seeing this island from on board the Gondala I’ve been itching to explore. Hubby and Son are game too so we all climb unsteadily in- it’s about 8pm.
After rowing very badly and spinning round several times (due to unequal strength when we took an oar a piece and tried to paddle canoe style) we finally arrive. I am relieved as I had a fall back position of swimming on my back with my camera clutched between my teeth to stop it getting wet.
Looking North back at how far we came!
The island is steeply sided.
With lots of bulbs which have stopped flowering.
Have a closer look at this tree- a spider has made eyes for it
This is the flattest part of the island so I think it must’ve been where Arthur Ransome imagined the Walker and Blackett children camping. It is very wet after the rain.
A horse or deer like head in another tree.
The West side of the island.
Looking across to the West shore of the Lake. It’s about 185 ft deep in the middle.

This tree divided very early in it’s life and now forms this unusual cradle shape.
Heather growing on the South side of the island.

Looking South- a tree is stranded where the lake is so high at the moment.

Looking to the South East
A face made by lichens. The air is very pure here so lichens flourish.
East side of the island- rock walls shelter the centre of the island.
The island is close to the land on the East- far closer than the distance we rowed. I think we’ll go back this way. 🙂
There’s no way we can get the dingy down though so we’ll have to think of something.
Back to the South of the island. This is the entrace that is described in the books where you have to line the boat up just right to reach the harbour.
I can just imagine Swallow or Amazon moored here.
So our dingy gets taken from the North of the island to the South.
And we set back off before it gets too dark.
Round the curve of the rocks being careful not to get too close.
Then into the stretch of water east of the island. View looking North.
There’s a soft sloping bank to come ashore on.
One last look at the island through the trees.
Hubby has gone for the car as we have landed further South than the jetty. You can see just how narrow the roads are around here. They were made for horses rather than cars, so you drive slowly. It’s not a hardship though as the views are so beautiful.