Break Away in North Yorkshire

As we continue to pack up we have been surrounded by more boxes.  Below is or was my (sewing) room.  It's not until the packing is done that I realise just how much stuff I have.

And then there's what was the spare room...

That's just 2 of the rooms there's more boxes in the kitchen, dining room and living room too.


David and I have managed a couple of days away as I had some unexpected time off when my temp job came to an end on Wednesday.  On Thursday we went to Harrogate, which I'd only seen going to and from the Knitting and Stitching Shows.  Apart from visiting Bettys Tea Room, which on a January Thursday morning hadn't got a queue, but that was a different matter by the time we left when it was approaching lunchtime, we were a little disappointed with the town.  We then went on to Ripon, a tiny city with a cathedral where we stayed for the night at the Royal Oak, just a short walk from the cathedral. In the evening after a lovely meal we went out for a walk to take some night time photos when we saw the Watchman in the Market Square at 9.00 pm.    He blows a horn from each corner of the market cross, a tradition that dates back from 886, then reports to the town's Mayor that all is well. There's more about this here.

This looked ok on the camera but it did turn out fuzzy

Friday saw us going to Whitby for the day and it was lovely, weatherwise, although a bit blowy.   We walked from the Marina to the sea walls which shelters the boats coming in from the North Sea.  As it's January a lot of the local shops and cafes are closed down for the winter but there were still a number open. We had coffee in a cafe called Sherlocks, quite a fascinating place with dark walls and Sherlock Holmes paraphernalia.

No queues outside the famous Magpie cafe - it's closed for January

St Mary's church with the Abbey behind

Walking along the sea wall

The whale jawbone

Captain James Cook and friend.

 After a wander around the town, we then headed for Whitby Abbey to have a look around.  The audio guide went on about imagining what it was like in year so and so, but being cold and windy we were not up to imagining anything.  Though we did take pics - here are the views below...

Saturday was my last workshop with the Barnsley Embroiderers, :o(! They'd invited Phillipa Naylor to do a lesson on Curved Piecing, which she's done on several of the prize winning quilts.  I've taken her workshops last year and just as before it's very informative and she goes into a lot of detail.  I did get as far as getting a block completed, but it will need borders (2) on the outside of the block.  I've got the patterns for those and will get this done sometime after the move.

But for now, as you've seen above it's all packed away!