Challenge Check #7 and Decisions

Housekeeping first:
Since the main Giveaway winner and one of the surprise winners hasn't answered my email or notice on her blog, I'm going to divide the surprises and the main Giveaway into two parcels and post them to Andrea and Jona- I hope this is ok?
I know Andrea could do with a care package as her family has problems...actually she could probably do with knee pads for all the praying she's doing! You can see why Medieval monks and nuns had a prie-dieu always to hand..to knee, I mean!

Tomorrow I'll post the links for my Sunshine Award from Elaine, I'm thinking!

The Barter Swap doesn't seem to be working out so I'll do March, and then call it quits afterwards if it doesn't get anywhere...its was worth a try though. For March (first Wed) I'm going to put in some novels for swapping as several of you are poorly, or know people who are, they might be useful.

New post over at 'Our Inheritance', if you are interested- Hymns Ancient and Modern!

Now:
For Dottie Angel's Challenge the Hub has been raiding skips this weekend for possible firewood and sawing it up:

And I'm doing appliqué on the pink scrap yoke from yet more scraps! The stem is the belt from a long since worn out dress, goodness knows why the belt hung around for so long! I'll show you tomorrow how its looking and you can advise me on the next step; since I began in the center sashing I don't know whether to go sideways or not, you'll see.


And for the CED Challenge I'm cheating and showing you some things around the house which I especially like!
This window was salvaged from a demolished Church, and though it makes me sad to see de-consecrated Churches, and, worse, ones which are falling down, I thought that to save a piece in my home would be good. It is upstairs and overlooks the hall.

All our doors were also salvaged...from a 17C Courthouse and gaol over at Ballygawley, Co. Sligo. It has been turned into a Guesthouse, but they were not allowed to re-use the original doors for reasons of fire safety. I think this is the oldest door, the back is quite different, and every bit of wood is different. One day I'll get around to stripping it and deciding whether to repaint or not.
Also all the doors were different shapes and sizes and too short for a modern house so the carpenter added top and bottom strips. We have the handle, it just isn't attached, which goes for most doors in this house!

The kitchen, hall and passageway floors are Douglas Fir, probably imported from the States in the 1880s. The pine is so old that it acts like hardwood; it was the flooring from a Convent in Belfast built in the 1900s and demolished about 1990. A man over Lough Arrow way bought it for a conversion and then had his planning turned down so sold it to us; each plank is 1" thick! I just put linseed oil down and despite a lot of traffic and two big dogs it takes the battering well.

My sisters joke that ex-Convent flooring should overcome possible vibes from the Gaol doors...!!!

But this is what sold the place to our girls, apart form the ruins behind the house, a Fairy Fort!

Its difficult to see but the tree in the center is at the center of the Ring, the edge is sort of along the top of the fence posts. Its in the field next to us, the fence marking the boundary, but all the girls and their friends hang out there in the trees during summer or on any dry day. A Fort is a big deal here, and even the archaeologist admitted it was interesting! Its also possible that our garden is the second enclosure in a prehistoric stone fort, which is why we have such amazing views- tactical placement, you know- but since no hard evidence was found in the digging we were allowed to stay.

Anyhow, that winds up the 'Home' section for the month of February!