More holiday pics

Just last week we visited Brixham and Totnes. A very changeable day weather wise so made use of the good bits. Just a few miles from where we were staying in Paignton, Brixham is well known for fishing and this Banksy painting was just outside the fish market by the harbour. This was beside a door from which one could buy fish.



There were quite a few mosaic murals that decorated the walls opposite the fish market






We visited the replica of the Golden Hind. Quite a small boat but worth a visit to see how seafarers lived back in Tudor times.






Found this above a fish and chip shop



In the afternoon we went to Totnes, but soon after arriving there there was a rain storm so we spent some time in a tea to (mostly) sit it out.




The High Street is quite narrow and uphill, but there were some unusual shops to see.


We found our way to the Castle but unfortunately it was closed, this was the nearest I could get.

However I did make some fabric purchases in sewing shops in both towns



Saturday was spent In Exeter, before going home on Sunday. It was a really good break away with good company. It shouldn't be too long before we have another break.

There'll be some sewing on the blog soon.

Sue W- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Half Term Break

I don't work in a school, but my sister-in-law does so her and my brother-in-law's holidays are normally taken in the school holidays. So for this half term break David and I went with them to Paignton in Devon from Wednesday to Saturday.

Thursday we had to visit a heritage railway. This is the Dart Valley Railway which runs from Paignton to Kingswear, then there is a ferry across the Dart River to Dartmouth.




The engine, Lydham Manor, one of GWR's Manor class engines


The observation coach, which had an interesting history, which was at the rear of the train as we travelled to Kingswear.

Didn't take many photos in Dartmouth, but it is a very quaint town. I could not resist taking photos of daffodils


Aren't they a lovely sight?


A view back to the town from the quayside. You can see what a brilliant sunny day it was, sunny though cold, but nice to be out and about.

We bought this from a touristy shop, David couldn't resist this



A little birdhouse (sorry too good for birdies) but not too sure where to put this at present. It does look so cheery.

More photos to come soon

Sue W- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Textile landscape

So completely different from the precise blocks of last week's post, here are photos of my landscape. Made with silk paper onto a backing of canvas



The stitched picture


The original photo.

These photos actually taken on a sunny morning this morning, makes a change from the drab rainy weather. I went to class on Friday having to go out in persistent heavy rain, accompanied later by high winds so packing sewing stuff to take back to the car was challenging, hence the crease as I folded it. Now I've rolled it up so should ease the crease out. I've heavily stitched the path and parts of the grassy bits. Will need more work, but that's where I've got to so far.

Sue W- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Too Busy Sewing

I can't believe how quickly this year is going already, although I can't wait for Spring to arrive and drier weather with it.  We are very lucky that in this area while there is some flooding it's not as bad as some areas in the country for whom it is catastrophic.

Rainy days mean that I don't get far apart from going to work, so have been busy sewing.  As well as the mug rugs for the Winter Olympic Swap (can't show that yet, I must get that sent off) I have been making a couple of blocks for a quilt along from Sew At Home Mummy called Classic meets Modern Quilt Along.  One, the Bear Paw block went very well, but a little less well is the Amethyst block.  Think I may need to hand sew into the Y seams, a good job I left lengths of thread after machining the block together.

This is the Bear Paw block

Amethyst block (looks good from the top but a bit untidy underneath (but you don't see that, do you)

While having breakfast last week I was looking at another blog and linking to another and I came across a cushion with half square triangles arranged in a heart.  I since found out the site was called Fort Worth Fabric Studio, linked through The Crafty Quilter's "Sew Thankful Sunday" posting. I decided to draw this out and took a photo to email to a friend

(this was from my iPad and you will not imagine what a fuss there was trying to upload this onto the computer to put this on the blog! The wonders of modern technology ;o(  )

I worked on this cutting and sewing (using 2.5" squares) on Saturday afternoon at the Sewing Saturday group and made one heart.  Going so well I made another on Sunday, later it became a table runner.

Sunday evening the binding was sewn down, threads tidied and all done.  Must be a record for me to get something finished so quickly.

This coming week I will be at the textile art class on Friday so will hopefully progress my landscape picture a bit further.