Friday 2 October 2015

Spooky! and a freebie

I thought as we are now into October and All Hallows' Eve is just round the corner I would share with you some pictures of a crumbling ruin that I sometimes pass on my walks.



This is Crawford Priory once the home to the Earls of Crawford and now belongs to the Cochrane family, a neo gothic style mansion that fell into disuse then ruin after the death of the 2nd Baron Cochrane of Cults in 1968. It has subsequently suffered from fire damage and now sadly is way beyond repair and is slowly being reclaimed by the local landscape. I've never been in it but my sister and some of her friends dared each other to spend the night in it long before it suffered fire damage when it had floors and part of a roof and says they never managed it as they were all scared witless by a strange light and noises... ghosts? or imaginations in overdrive ;0) The house is reputedly haunted by Lady Mary Crawford but I've never met any ghosts....yet!




This is a memorial to the Earls favourite deer! There is not much left to read but I can make out 'died age seven years the favourite deer of George Earl of Crawford Lord Lindsay fed daily 1842'

Look at the cobwebs on those windows I wander if anyone was watching me pass?

Anyway my needle has been busy stitching this La D Da piece, Something Wicked.

I don't normally do much round Halloween apart from supplying the local children with tooth rotting fodder. However whilst recently rummaging through my stash I uncovered some linens I inherited from my gran (I used a piece in the Madame Chantilly design) but the rest are peculiar colours like this bright orange or pastel shades. I am guessing they were purchased sometime during the sixties/ seventies? certainly the orange reminds me of an ercol suite my grandparents had. I never thought I would use this particular piece as it is quite garish and is only 24 count but I stumbled on the La D Da piece and loved the Shakeaspeare quote and thought it might look rather nifty on the orange and it does, if a bit bright. I stitched using 1 over 1 otherwise it would have been huge. I am thinking of making this into a little hanging piece.
Now for the freebie part, there is rather a lot of the orange left and I thought someone else might like a piece of this rather garish orange to be creative with :0) So I am offering a piece measuring approx 19 3/4" by 14" to someone who would like it, no strings attached just leave a message stating that you
would like it and I am going to be cheeky and ask that you might mention what you might do with it but that's not compulsory lol. If more than one person wants it I will get my kids to draw a name from a hat and if no one wants it frankly I won't be surprised or offended lol! That still leaves me with a large piece which I will put back into storage till something inspires me again. I dearly wish I knew what my gran had planned to do with this linen. If there is any interest I will try and get this sorted out before Halloween. Thank you for popping by.


4 comments:

Vickie said...

Well I thank you for the offer of the orange linen, however I have no need of it. :)
What awesome pictures you have shared today. Wow! That is one amazing place.

Kim said...

Those ruins are amazing!! How lucky for you to be able to go for a walk and happen upon such wonderful buildings of another generation. I too thank you for the kind offer but alas I will decline as orange is my least fave colour.....it just doesn't fly anywhere on my radar. I really enjoyed reading this post....it was so informative. =)

Mereknits said...

How sad that amazing place has fallen to such ruins, it looks so hauntingly beautiful.
Hugs,
Meredith

Annette-California said...

I can imagine if the castle/estate was all restored. What a gorgeous home it must have been once upon a time. So sad the state its now.
LOVE your La D Da sampler. OKAY!!! I have a certain love for Scotland. Of all things it was - 4 years ago. I had ordered a crochet chart for my mom from "The Bead Shop" - Scottland.
We called it "A Scottish English Plum Pudding". Mom had made over 20 of them and passed out for gifts that year. The people at the Bead shop were so wonderful.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the fabric was your grandmothers. How special it would be if I got to win this beautiful piece of fabric. I would stitch "Midnight Ride" (both pieces main design & pincushion )by Blackbird Designs. Also I would use a piece of the left over for a Easter/Spring ornament. The orange fabric is so rich and beautiful. PICK ME PICK ME PICK ME!!!! Love Annette