zoom in on the nest

Last week I spotted seven nesting birds on various small islands in the rive, each guarded by a male bird - in fact the guard is often the first thing I spot as the goose nests are well camouflaged

The white swans stand out but did you see the goose on her nest on the far right of the zoom out photo?

enjoying the continuing range of subjects you are choosing for zoom in and zoom out

Pretty feet

I love shoes in many hues (and rhyming!).  I have several pairs in red and purple but my new shoes for summer are lime

I knew I would buy them when I 1st saw them in the shops but wanted to wait until the weather would allow me to wear them.

I was delighted to purchase lime shoes for 2 reasons.  First because I had a lovely pair of lime shoes about 5 years ago, when I was in NZ

and secondly, and I know this may be controversial, I think lime goes with everything.

How about you, do you love your shoes to zing with colour or do you prefer them to quietly do their job without drawing any attention?

I made this bag

Have you ever tried bead tapestry / weaving?  You sew each seed bead in place working in rows, to build up a design. 

I learnt to do it at a workshop about 13 years ago and made several pieces in the following year.  This was the largest thing that I made

I created the design, inspired by Rennie Mackintosh art deco roses. From memory I made it over 2 summer months when the light was good and I was not at work. The light is important because of making sure you pick up the correct colour.

To begin with it feels very fiddly to get the needle into the small hole in each bead but after a while that becomes natural and I could thread them without looking (using ‘the force’!).  Although it is small scale and fiddly I did find it relaxing as you are doing the same action over and over. The biggest problem is not spilling the dish with the beads (small white ceramic dishes designed for oil dips are best).

Amazing to think that some evening dresses in the 1920s were made like this – a whole dress must have taken so many hours to make.

Continuing to follow Sian’s sage suggestion to feature items we have made ‘back in the day’ and still have around.

Zoom in on the breeze

I'm fascinated with ways of photographing the weather - probably prompted by rainy holidays and thinking of ways to make the most of what was there.  It has been sunny around here recently but also very windy - as you can see in the zoomed in shot with the horizontal ribbons on the handlebars blowing in the wind

anticipating some signs of Easter in this weeks zoom in and out pairs.