Ash disease and ladybirds
It is not a good time for Ash trees in the UK at the moment, there is a disease that threatens to wipe them out, or at least seriously diminish them. You can read how the government are trying to tackle the threat of the disease here, some say however it is too late and measures should have been taken a long time ago to stop its spread. In the 1970's Dutch Elm disease took hold in this country and over 25 million elm trees were destroyed by the 1990s. There are some beautiful forests in the UK and particularly around where I live so I hope that this disease will be contained and not spread so widely as the Dutch Elm one did in the 20th century.
But on a more cheerful note we have a small stock of ash in the garage and this is one of the latest post shuttles that has been made from it. Can you see what an interesting grain it has? The ladybird sticker was purchased when Jane and I were in the USA and one of the people we visited Pam Freck is particularly fond of ladybugs.
Now here is a reject pop-a-bobbin shuttle, it comes from this piece of wood blown down in the winds. The knots in the wood have caused a split inside, however instead of being thrown away it is stopping with me, even the sawdust sprinkled on it makes it feel like a bit of a reject though!
I intend to write out the Christmas bauble pattern that was shown in my last post (it differs slightly from the two I have already put on the side of my blog) and also show how the tatting is assembled on to the bauble when completed, just need to take some photos of the different stages.
But I would like to leave you with this beautiful picture of a ladybird (ladybug)
Poor rejected shuttle - soooo sad. I love the ladybird one.
ReplyDeleteI remember when Dutch Elm disease hit the trees in the town where I lived in high school... Elmhurst. Many beautiful trees were lost. I hope the government is able to save your ash trees. It would be a shame to lose them all.
ReplyDeleteOne of the joys of using wooden shuttles is seeing the grain show through!
those are pretty shuttles. But at least you get to keep one. hope it stands up for a lot of tatting even with the split.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a pity to loose one of our beautiful native trees,
ReplyDeleteI don't feel the government did enough to stop it months ago
Margaret
The Ash disease is worrying. I read that some Ash trees had been exported from UK to South Africa! So we could end up with the problem too. I look forward to the bauble pattern, especially the bit about attaching it.
ReplyDeleteThat's very sobering about the ash tree infestation. We have it here in the US, too, but they say it's due to an insect! So sad - and scary!
ReplyDeleteI now realize that you wrote the pattern for 'my' bauble a couple of years ago! (Where have I been?) Now I see how you did it! And I'll have to hunt for that size bauble in our stores! I haven't noticed them before. And as I suspected, you used size 80 thread! I think I could handle it for this pattern! Are you doing lock chains on the new ones? Very nice pattern also!
I'm sure Sally, that you will produce some more inspirational tatting from the ash shuttle. After all beauty is only skin deep!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about the trees! We have lost a number here in the US also. It is the price paid for world wide travel, I'm afraid.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful shuttle. I love wood because it is not regular and boring like plastic. Perhaps a little epoxy in the crack and it will last a lifetime!