Blueberry Shed holiday cottage is open and new creations

I don't think I've particularly shown our holiday cottage on the blog, probably because it has taken so long to get going but we are open and taking bookings for 2017. It's a bit slow at present but I'm sure things will pick up and we are trying to get WiFi into the cottage this year, that has been an ongoing struggle from the start.

http://blueberryshed.co.uk/

Here are some externals of the Blueberry Shed. A single storey, modern contemporary larch clad building located very near to Portree the capital of the Isle of Skye, with views out to sea and across to the island of Raasay.

Some interior shots of the kitchen area. I went for a German kitchen with mix and match bright coloured cabinets. We pretty much have the same in our kitchen.

The living and dining area, I've made quite a few cushions and other bits n bobs to go in the cottage and give it a unique yet cosy feel.

The bedroom featuring some of my art and craft work to buy

Shower room

I have taken advantage of a bit of quiet time in there myself for crocheting when no guests are in, it's nice to get away from all my stuff and clutter in my own house!

It's really rather a nice place to come on holiday, lots of galleries and arty crafty things as well as the obvious outdoor spectacles Skye is famous for. It's that time of year when spring is about to spring into action and things start opening up again here so hopefully a good year ahead.

 On the subject of making things, I have a few new creations to share which I know some of you have seen on my Instagram page, Twitter etc. I'm hoping to approach a gallery on Skye and see if I can get them in their shop this season, wish me luck.

Above was a needle case which I made my sister for Christmas, family photos of us are in it.

Some of my things are now available in my Etsy and Folksy shops.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/fabricmountainuk?ref=hdr_shop_menu

https://folksy.com/shops/FabricMountain

Thank you for dropping by :)

October 2nd - This is The Day, Fantastic Day

So what's with the title for anyone who may be reading this,  I've quoted the names of two of my favourite 80's songs, Fantastic Day by Haircut 100 and This Is The Day (your life will surely change) by The The.

When I started this blog over 6 and a half years ago it was going to be about my journey of changing the life I currently lead in East Yorkshire for a new life in Scotland. For many years, since I first visited the Isle of Skye in 1997 I felt a major pull towards wanting to be there full time. With each holiday up there Skye felt more like home and 'home' felt less like home when we returned.

So over the years we have been deciding how to drop out of 'normal routine working life here and how we could possibly move up there and eek out some kind of existence. Tricky!

When we sold the last property we owned in 2007 we seriously started looking for property up there. We had had such problems with awful neighbours in the unpleasant village of Holme on Spalding Moor we lived in which was the biggest mistake ever. A week after buying our house we realised we had not done our homework on the area and wanted to move straight away. The house was put up for sale as soon as was possible and took over 2 years to sell at the height of the property crash. It left us in a bit of a mess mainly ill with stress but it left us fearful to ever buy a property again incase we had more horrid neighbours or incase we couldn't sell it quickly for if that dream opportunity came up on Skye.

We decided to rent after that, to give us the freedom to up sticks at a moments notice and escape north.

Thinking we would find something fairly quickly on Skye we suffered a cold, damp dripping cottage near Beverly for a year. No opportunities came along in Skye so we had to rent again and the place we ended up was this current freezing cold, damp, spider and mouse infested hovel which I can't believe i have survived now for over 7 years. I've pretty much hated it since the first winter which was a nasty shock to the system but we stumbled on always thinking we would be gone by the next winter. It didn't happen we had such lows not finding a house on Skye that half way through and following an illness with my partner we gave up and started looking at Wales as an easier moving option. That didn't ever feel like home so after 2 years searching Wales we said it's always been Skye that stole our hearts so lets just do it before we get even older and more decrepit. 

Forgive me if this is boring, this is more an account to myself of why I started this blog. Most of my plans have had to remain under wraps so the blog turned into more of an account of crafty things, food, coffee and trips out.

But back to trying to escape from this house and we looked at every option and decided we had to make an opportunity ourselves and we could just about afford to either find 2 small houses and make a living with a holiday cottage or we have 2 houses built. We found an option to build and set about finding some land. A few options fell by the wayside but we finally bought a plot just over 2 years ago. Then came the battle obtaining planning permission and lets just say the first year of owning the plot and employing the services of an architect practise to create our dream went totally pearshaped and cost us dearly as we tried to stabilise from a problematic situation. 

Another year on and in the hands of a decent practise of architects we have finally made the progress through planning and to the point of work starting on our project.

A fortnight ago we went up to Skye to see the first work on our plot from when it was a sheep field, as we saw it a year ago, to having foundations laid. (below)

Not only have the foundations been done but the timber frame kit house we are having built was delivered to the site on the last day of our holiday last week and we were able to see construction start. This was such an amazing surprise at the speed in which it happened. The panels arrived on the back of a lorry in the morning, the walls were up by lunch and at teatime the roof was on. So on October 2nd I can honestly say it was a fantastic day and the day my life will surely change.

(below, the house arrives on a lorry)

The walls go up and progress is quite rapid by lunchtime

By teatime the roof is on

I can see the fruits of all our suffering over the last 10 years finally blossoming. I will soon have the secure feeling of a roof over my head again and by the end of the year I can walk away from this miserable existence here to a new life and look forward to new opportunities and new ways to try and earn a living as we will pretty much be penniless when we get up there until the holiday let takes off.

So that's me out of the closet. I know some people have asked why on earth do you stay in that place when you are so cold and miserable but I've not wanted to reveal what I've been up to to many people incase it casts a jinx over things but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The idea was to document the build on the blog but I won't be able to go up there again now until it is ready so it's a shame I won't have more work in progress pictures. 

Whether I carry on the blog after completion remains to be seen as I've started using Instagram, I will also have to find time to do a Facebook page & website for the holiday cottage when ready so do please join me there when I reveal the details if you fancy a look or if you fancy a holiday in the future away from it all on the edge of the world it would be lovely to see you.

(for information, the holiday let will be a small modern single storey, one bedroom 2 people, larch clad with tin roof, and sorry no pets as we are next to a sheep croft)

Quick trip to Skye

I'm just back from a 4 day trip to Skye, it only feels like 2 days with the 10 hr drive up and back filling the best part of 2 days. It was mainly business with a bit of pleasure. 

A few months back I was working on some new branding for hand made clothes shop Skye Batiks, as well as batik clothing they have a fabulous range of handloom smocks which had previously been known as Skye Smocks. They wanted to change the name into something more unique for the smocks, after much bouncing back and forth with ideas the name chosen was Guga (guga is a young gannet).

I designed a fair few logos experimenting with gannets, handloom textures, landscapes, fishing nets, weaving etc and the chosen design is the simple one at the end, blue and white with the Scottish flag. As with lots of designs, it comes down to how easy it will be to produce at a small scale on a woven garment tag and the chosen design works great for that.

I've designed leaflets, mugs and quite detailed folding tags for the garments. They let me have a few mugs and tags to take back as samples but they haven't had the leaflets at the shop yet.

The thing about visiting such an interesting shop is I always find something new to buy and surprisingly on this trip I came away with a 'toy' and not a skirt. They use all the leftover bits of fabric from clothing to make little soft toys, there are seals, mice, puffins and new to me was the sea eagle. They're fab, they are really quite substantial chunky and heavy, beautifully made.

I was thinking of a name for him on the journey back, Eddie the eagle was too obvious and I went through various ideas but I looked at him and decided he was an Idris. Welsh name I know but there is a sense of fierceness to him like a dragon so Idris it is.

Here is Idris showing you some views on the trip, is it a bird, is it a plane, no it's Idris sea eagle!
Below, Idris swoops over Uig bay, you can catch a ferry from Uig over to the Isle of Lewis.

Idris near Duntulm castle ruins. The weather was beautiful whilst we were there.

Idris passes through Glencoe on the trip back.

I stayed in Portree the capital of Skye, I did a walk around part of the bay which I hadn't done before, usually because the weather has been poor but it was the hottest day of the year so far. This is the view from the bay across to the Cuillin mountains.

And when you've walked around and climbed upwards you come to this part which is where they have their Highland games and festivals.

I took my little friend Bob with me and here we are having a very tasty goats cheese salad and fresh raspberry milkshake at Cafe Sia in Broadford.

Somewhere new we went to investigate, and some of you may recognise this if you ever saw an episode of Grand Designs building a turf house on Skye.

This is the turf house at Kendram.

The two ladies who have this have turned their art studio, which was a separate building, into an espresso bar and below is the Single Track cafe. It's a fabulous little piece of architecture with a stunning view from the landscape window.

We got talking to owner Indi who made us some fabulous coffees and we feasted on a huge mozzarella and tomato sandwich. It was a lovely place to while away some time and take in that view.

The trip was all over in the blink of an eye and I'm back here to some weird sleety weather this afternoon!

A winter week on Skye in pictures

I spent last week in Skye, it seemed a real effort to go away at this chilly time of year but it was worth it. Encountered some snow just north of Glasgow on the way up and then narrowly avoided the worst snowy areas on the way back down although there were lengthy detours to avoid the A66.

The weather in Skye was very good, bright, chilly days and the hotel was warm and absolute bliss compared to this cold house, I didn't have to wear my long johns or vest, how amazing is that!
(I'm wrapped up like a Michellin man since coming back but I still can't get warm).

I'm keeping the words to a minimum and showing a few of my snaps. The landscape was very parched but colourful non the less in a yellowy, brown sort of way and heather burning was taking place on the hills.

Pic 1, edge of Cumbria on the way up

Pic 2, 3 and 4, Glencoe

Pic 5 and 6, looking towards 2 pinnacles known as the Old Man of Storr in the Staffin area

Pic 7, the single track, snaking road up the Quairang mountain range, this area is very recognisable from the film Stardust

Pic 8 and 9, at the top of the Quairang

Pic 10, this is a "stitched" together panorama of the Quairang

Pic 11, just spotted from whizzing by in the car, the turf roofed house featured on Grand Designs last year

Pic 12, leaning Celtic cross in a church yard

Pic 13, beach combing at Elgol, found some lovely sea glass

Pic 14, panorama of Elgol

Pic 15, panorama of Skye bridge from Kyleakin

And lastly, just a couple of little purchases, some lovely fabric and some handmade ceramic buttons.