BIG BOYS = BIG Toys

  Its is a CF 140 Griffon Helicopter stationed here at CFB Kingston and is used by One Wing (the sponser wing for the 58th Air Cadets)  but he did get to take a 1 hour flight in it and shoot off the weapons. Sigh boys and their toys.........

Exciting new products at Cornerstone Fibres

I have finally found a supplier of natural dye supplies!! Available now are Natural Dye Starter Kits and Natural Indigo Dye Kits - I cannot wait to play (I mean test product) one of these kits myself :)  They are not inexpensive but they are a great way to experiment with natural dyeing.

 The Natural Dye kit includes 100g of the following: Madder, Osage, Logwood, Cutch, Tannin, Alum & 30g of Cochineal. The kit also comes with the in depth instructions. Essential to discovering the world of natural colour! $60

.Natural Indigo Kit
This kit contains 100 g natural indigo, 100 g thiourea dioxide, 100 g lye, instructions. $30

 This kit includes 10g of each of the following extracts: Madder Rich, Madder Standard, Chestnut, Cochineal, Lac, Quebracho, Logwood, Dyer's Broom, Weld, Coreopsis, Golden Rod, and Buchthorn. Also included is 250g of Alum, full practical instructions and a detailed artisan poster of all the extracts.
Extracts easily dissolve in water and are so concentrated that only a small amount is needed. $100

This kit contains both ochres and mineral pigments. The colours included are as follows: Maize Clay, French Ochre, Gold Ochre, English Red, Violet Glimmer, Manganese Brown, Bohemian Green, Italian Green, Mayan Blue, Amethyst, Burnt Umber, Pencil Clay, Davys Grey, Vine Black.

Applied using many techniques including hand painting, they add luminous colour and velvety texture to any cloth. Full instructions included in kit.  $120

Open Doors Kingston

Open Doors is a event where the 28 local historical places open their doors for the public. In Kingston there is one very special Martello Tower -called the Shoal tower which is only open to the public on this one day. This year they had historical interpeters from the actual unit that manned these British fortifications giving the tour.  So here's some pictures from the tour and the day. Kingston is called the Limestone City which I'm sure you can see why :)

 The Shoal Tower -it is the only Martello tower that is completely surrounded by water. There are four of these fortifications in Kingston -two up the hill by Fort Henry, this one right in the harbour by City Hall and one down the road across from the Hospital (The Murney Tower which is completely restored to show what life was like during that time).  There were 16 of these towers built -only 11 survive today and four of them are here in KIngston.

 Inside the tower -the walls are 14 feet thick on the harbour side, 8 feet thick facing Kingston.

Here you can see the other towers up the hill with Canada's Roayl Military College and Fort Henry further up there -all constructed out of limestone.

 Our guides in their full wool uniforms - see there is fibre content :)

 Two of the guns at the top of the tower -they are on rail sliders so they can go all the way arround the tower.

 Our guide fired off his rifle to show us how hard it was to fire.

 Daryl found something he wanted to bring home with him LOL

 City Hall -made entirely from limestone -this is how close it is to the fortifications.

 Our second stop of the day -the penitentary museum -this use to be the Warden's house -again quarried out of limestone.

Here's his front window view - Kingston Penitentary - a maximum security prison and the oldest in Canada.
There is actually a limestone quarry that was manned by the prisoners inside the walls -one of the most famous chrurchs in Kingston is made from Limestone quarried entirely by the prisoners and is called "The Church of the Good Thief"

Father's day Jackpot

I have to say as far as Fathers go I have won the lottery :) My own dad is a super wonderful guy (alibet a little quirky -see photo above LOL) but as Dad's go he is A++++++++++.
Then I married my soul mate and got another A++++++ Dad is Don Sr. Another crusty and quicky dad but still one of the good ones. But best of all I get to share my life with a third A++++++++++++++ dad my very own hubby and father of our two children :)
They say good things come in threes so I guess I am blessed beyond measure.

Happy Father's Day to the awesome men of my life :)

Bouckville CNY Fiber Festival

I love the colours and textures, the inspirations and the creativity that fibre people have :) From felting to spinning, woodworking to pottery there is so many ideas to work upon. And there are critters galore - someday ahhh someday there will be other critters. but for now there is the dreams and inspirations and of course the wonderful people who make it all possible :)

 Needlefelted and then framed with an old barn window - beautiful!!

 Handdyed and felted cloak - I want one!!!!  I cannot even fathom how many hours this took to make.

 Handturned wooden accorn spindles

CVM Lamb -lovey colours!

 Baby border collies all sleeping soundly

 One of Maggie'ns new Nubian goats - stunning colour on this little lady~~~

 Boothmate -a wonderful Icelandic Ewe named Torfa -she had her lambs with her as well -if only I could have figured out how to get them across the border :)

 Time to walk the "dogs"

 The amazing and talented Maggie and the felters who gave amazing demos all day Suzanne  Farrington - I learned so much watching her all weekend long.

Jazzy Dyesigns by Jared

Here's his latest works - 8 ounces braids all ready to go :) He wanted more friendly packaging than plastic bags so here they are ready to go as is.  Bright and cheerful on a rainy day.

Hat Kits available now

 I now have hat kits available for both designs of my hats -the dragonfly one is only available in wool at this time as it needs to be fulled slightly to make it the way it is :) The waves pattern is available both a pure wool or an angora/wool combination. Kit includes all yarn needed to complete a hat and the pattern. $25 each kit.

Assorted colours available :) Can put together a special colour request if you like.