Scots Corner - Scottish Country Dancing

Have you ever danced to accordion and fiddle music? Have you ever collapsed on the floor after a really good reel and wondered why you had not gone into training before hand?
Would you believe SCD was taught as part of P.E. when I was in high school. We had dances at the end of each school year and our teachers nagged us into perfection. They took groups of reluctant "we don't want to hold hands with each other" students and honed them into respectable, fun loving dancers. Eye contact was still a blushing issue but at least the rest of the bodies looked good attired in kilts or dresses.

(photo - Inspiration Holidays)

I did have a problem with the whole process in that I was one of the taller, lankier, girls which meant ........ I learned the men's part because we were usually short of boys. So I had to learn everything backwards first and right ways second ...... no wonder I get confused :) (Gay Gordons being the worst.)
My favorite tune to dance to was The Lewis Bridal Song. Ironically I have a cousin Mairi and she played this at her wedding.
Here's a rather elderly but fun version of the dance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCptMS8IZvA&feature=related played by the legendary Jimmy Shand Band.

(photo - Highland Wedding Musicians)

The adult version of the school dance is a Ceilidh. In other words, same dances but you can get boozy too :) I'm a purist - I can trip over my tootsies in style without the addition of alcohol. I have witnessed gentleman manage to dance their way through without spilling a drop from their beer mugs. Now that's definitely a talent !!!

(photo - Thornhill Country Dancers )

So here's a fun site that goes through the basic steps and then shows you a number of the different reels. http://hubpages.com/hub/Scottish-Country-Dance
For whatever reason The Dashing White Sergeant and The Military Two-step are the ones most typically danced and merrily botched up at parties and weddings :) Tons of fun and great ice-breakers. Lots of "twirling and whirling." If you really want to tax your brain learn the Eightsome Reel in short order.

(photo - Dance Scottish Week 2008, London edition.)

In preparation for Dance Scottish Week 2010 - 17th-25th September - RSCDS is running a photography competition. All you have to do is photograph country dancers jigging away in front of a recognizable landmark, monument or country symbol and submit your entires by June 30th. http://www.rscds.org/events/dance-scottish-week.html

Blog of the Week - Sew Many Ways

A goodly number of people are familiar with Karen at Sew Many Ways. If you are not here's one of the reasons why - her regular Tooltime Tuesday feature. It's great. She takes objects you might not necessarily think about for solutions to household/quilting problems. Most of them are so simple that I for one usually say "Duh, why did I not think of that?"

What is that dangly bit?

What's coming next?

Darn, I should have held onto my buttons :) Speaking of which, Karen is currently doing a button giveaway. I want them you cann't have them !!!!

She did what with this!!!!

Go for a stroll through her blog and find out more. Karen has a very entertaining way of drawing you into her projects and you always come away feeling as if you have learned something.
Check out the photographs she took at the MQX, Machine Quilters Expo. Amazing. (Sunday April 25, 2010). Will my own machine quilting ever get that good? Highly unlikely because I prefer to hand quilt - BUT - they are good ......... very...... very ......... good :)
So thanks Karen for thinking outside of the box and giving us such entertaining ideas for very simple daily items. http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/ and as she says "The happiest of people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything they have."

Project update - re-visiting some dogs and a new project

I was working on a series of Scottie dog wall hangings last year and came to a grinding halt with one of them - 4 seasons. I put all four together in one grouping but did not like it and could not quite work out why. I unpicked everything and decided to go back to my original idea of making 4 small "quilties". I'm currently working on winter and trying out beading for the bottom edge. (And yes your eyes are not deceiving you, the borders are cut at a slight angle.)

Because I moved a number of containers from the basement to my sewing room I was unable to access my sewing machine until yesterday.
To keep me "occupied" I have been designing and hand stitching a pillow. The back of it will be a quilt design probably in white, navy and lime green to go with the colors I've picked for the front. I am working on the upper left hand corner at the moment.

Local Life - Bellevue Family Picnic

The annual Bellevue Family Picnic is still scheduled for Saturday 15th at the BELLEVUE CENTER MALL parking lot A. (between Dillard's and Macy's) 10.00a.m.-10.00p.m. (don't go to the normal location). Thanks to Sam's Club for sponsoring the event. So take a break from the flood clean-up at some point during the day and go eat good food, visit vendors, enjoy games. New this year -  children's bicycle safety inspection and race. I wonder if I'll still be able to see the fireworks display from my house?

It's an Interior Thing - the simple life

Aaaaah the fresh smell of sea air as gentle waves roll onto the beach. The giddiness of children (and adults) building castles in the sand, eating grainy sandwiches while reveling in the heat of summer, and chasing sticks with their dogs. Skin turning red from forgotten sun screen. Ice-cream never tasted so good. The aroma of hot chips (french fries) in bags as people stroll along the promenade. Folding beach chairs and sunshades creating an oasis of shade.
Have you ever dreamed about living by the ocean or transforming a non-conformist building? For me it's been windmills, tiny little chapels or houseboats, none of which have been realized but give my mind plenty of opportunity to visualize :)
Someone who has taken on the challenge, and blogs about her beach house renovation is Sarah at http://www.abeachcottage.com/  Her cottage is in Australia but she is currently back home in England visiting some old haunts.

Scots Corner - the River Forth

Scotland is surrounded on 3 sides by ocean and has many streams, rivers, lochs and lakes. They are the country's lifes blood so to speak. Used for farming, fishing, industry, and tourism just to name 4.

The River Forth rises near Loch Ard in the Trossachs. It is joined by the River Teith and the River Allan  and then meanders through Stirling (where I grew up). From that point it becomes tidal and goes on to form the Firth of Forth estuary. It then flows out to the North Sea. It is the main river that drains (and floods) the central belt of Scotland.

(Photograph courtesy of Finlay McWalter)

(Photograph courtesy of Alan Campbell.) See the green bit in the middle of the loop - at least once when I was growing up it was totally submerged.

(photograph courtesy of Stirling Council)
Up until about 1936 Stirling was the easternmost bridge/road crossing point over the river. There has been a bridge in existence in the town since about the 13th century.

This area is what I consider to be "the chin to the face" of Scotland.

There's lots of interesting towns, villages and scenery along the river. You can even do a river tour which takes you right from the starting point out to the sea. Much as I am not fond of the works at Grangemouth when you see it all lit up at night from the motorway/highway it's inspiring.

Blog of the Week - The Quilt Rat

Jill Buckley from Ontario Canada, aka "The Quilt Rat", IMHO is a wonderful artist. She was going to be my spotlight last week but with the weather that hit us she suggested we wait :) Congratulations on having "Graffiti" selected for the juried show at the 2010 Grand National Quilt Show which opened on Saturday and runs till June 13th.

Some of you may already be familiar with Jill's art piece "Earthbound" shown here with some of her collection of mini sewing machines. I love "Earthbound" and it was my initial introduction to Jill's work. Having said that I am spotlighting her blog because of her doodles. I enjoy reading and seeing her thought process as she takes what many might think are common or familiar objects and turns them into something highly creative and "out of the box".

I highly recommend you visit http://thequiltrat.blogspot.com/ to find out what Jill did with the above flower. I guarantee you will learn a lot from her experiments.

There's also a Scottish connection ...... of sorts. "Tartan Delight" was created for the 2009 mini quilt challenge at McDougall Cottage in Cambridge, Ontario. Read Jill's April 28, 2009 post to find out more about that annual event.

Thanks to Jill for letting me raid her blog for photographs and for being such a wonderful inspiration and teacher to many of us. I will take you up on your challenge to doodle :)