Naval Warfare

Last Saturday David and I went to Scarborough.  I've visited once and posted that here but it was David's first visit there.  After seeing the town and had lunch, we then went to North Bay, Scarborough to Peasholm Park where we saw the naval battle, which has been a regular summer feature for many years there.  There are men inside the larger ships, also some smaller boats powered with electricity. There are  lots of explosions and a lot of fun while British ships outdo the enemy craft.  Here are some of the photos from the battle.

We then walked along North Bay until we reached the Sea Life Centre.  This was also the terminus for the miniature railway that goes back to opposite the park, passing the newly refurbished Open Air Theatre where there were 80's groups practising for that evening's performance. As with most days recently, it was a cloudy day with the weather not making it's mind up what it wanted to do, but at least it was dry, so a lovely day out.

The colourful beach huts along the promenade.

 

The miniature train.

More postcardy stuff...

For my 200th post (took a while to get there) I'm showing more postcards that I've made and received in the past week.

This week I've completed the set of postcards for the general BQL list challenge and they were sent out on Wednesday.  After having abandoned my crazy quilt cards after completing 2 I then opted to make 4 flip and sew cards and add some embellishments like using fancy machine stitches, ribbon and sequins and here's a pic below.

And here was the state of my room after finishing - what a mess.  I have tidied up (a bit) since then.

I'd also received more from this swap and also the BQL Postcard Group "Something Green" swap and below are the complete sets (some you will have seen from my previous post.

 
The other weekend I went to Doncaster Racecourse for the Summer Crafting exhibition.  What was meant by crafting was of the scrapbooking, card making variety, but thought it may give me some ideas.  I did buy some Micron pigma pens a set of 8 in a variety of colours for just £5.00 - seeing as they usually sell in quilt shops for around £2.50 it was a bargain.  But I had to try them out first - this was on a spare piece of pelmet vilene...

Just a quickie

Do you like the look of my new template?  I found that the background I had used wasn't available so was left with a plain background.  So I've had a play with Blogger's templates and came up with this sort of butterflies one in purple.  Was also able to juggle around with the fonts as well - quite liked that.

I'm hoping this weekend is a quiet one and can get on with some sewing.  I've got 6 postcards to get out and I also signed up for an embellisher (needlefelting) swap to make a small bag so will dust that machine off and get going on that too.

I've now got one week left in this job - it didn't work out permanently but 5 months out of it.  The company now has someone who can do the systems work that I haven't got experience in so hope it all works out for them.  But the upside is I get a long holiday for August as I'll have a couple of weeks to myself before David and I have our holiday - to a family wedding and then Festival of Quilts.

Any pics? Well here's a couple that David took last week while away in Cornwall at St Just.  He couldn't describe them - they weren't quilts, weren't bunting.  I'd say they were banners - colourful applique ones. They were hanging on the buildings during St Just's festival last weekend.

Have a good weekend.

Plethora of Postcards!

I've had quite a bit of postcardy post in the past week.  As well as the Something Green cards (mentioned in my last post) in the BQL Postcard group, the general BQL group also has a postcard challenge this month. Min are still in the making, but I've got 4 this week.  In the photo below (from left to right, top to bottom) are from: Inge, Irene, Miriam and Carol.  All so varied and all lovely cards that we've been pleased to receive.

I've had the first of the Something Green cards today, a beautiful green alligator, really brilliantly done.

I really must get on with the rest of my postcards for this month.  I'll get there in the end.

Playtime!

I haven't posted for a while so have a bit to catch up on.  Visiting our sons last weekend down south, then yesterday went on a rail excursion to Carlisle so our weekends have been busy.  I will catch up with those on another post (or two, maybe), but meanwhile here is some sewing that I've been doing lately.

Going into the post shortly for some of the members of the BQL postcard group are some "Something Green" themed postcards.  Like last month and the Something Yellow ones I stuck to a single item for the green theme and chose pears.  I drew a pear and sectioned it so it had some shadow a bit like a still life.  The main piece being greeny-brown like the russet colour of the pear. In stark contrast to the pear I placed it on a black/white and white/black background. If you look at the photo you'll see what I mean.  Quite pleased how they went and might have another go at shading using fabric.

Yesterday's trip to Carlisle was rainy so not much to do after lunch than to dive into shops and one of those was Waterstone's where I purchased a book called Fabulous Bags to Stitch and Make by Jenny Rolfe. After looking through the book for ages I decided to buy and today had a go at one of the articles in her book of creating your own fabric. So here's my attempt below first of all layering sheer fabrics onto wadding and bonding them.

Then came the stitching - looking good so far.

Then here's the back - quite like that too.

And finally another lot of postcards in the making.  I'm doing a scrap set of postcards and have put my scraps onto wadding with Bondaweb, just like I'd done earlier. It hardly made a dent in my big scrap bag.  I'll decorate that with fancy stitches and variegated thread and may add some other decoration but see how that progresses.


I enjoyed my bit of playtime this afternoon, pity it had to stop to prepare for the week ahead.  Hey ho.

Visit to York

On Saturday David and I went to York, first of all visiting the small village of Elvington, not far from the Yorkshire Air Museum to Priory Patchworkers exhibition in the church.  Unfortunately we couldn't take photos, but I did take part in a tombola and won this lovely stained glass style wallhanging.  The funds from the tombola were going to a cancer charity supported by the lady who made this and several other wallhangings. I'd also bought some fat quarters but haven't taken piccies, very remiss of me.

After this we then went onto York itself, where we had lunch and then I went off to the Quilt Museum.  I've been there before on a few occasions and now that I've bought an annual pass I'll be able to go several more times.  Again I couldn't take photos inside the museum, but the gardens outside have now been finished and its a very pleasant area to be in.  There's been a deli/coffee shop opposite St Anthony's Hall for some time, but now there is an art gallery called The New School House Gallery, so somewhere else to visit when in the area.

The Museum itself held 2 exhibitions - Inspired by the Past and Breakthrough by the Contemporary Quilt Group.

Here are the gardens looking towards the Quilt Museum.

This is the outside of the School House, just right of the Quilt Museum.

This is looking to the end of the gardens with seats to enjoy the lovely weather.  See the arches at the end? That's part of the city walls and people do walk along the top of the wall - you can just spot someone between the trees.

After leaving the museum I went into the city to meet David, who visited the National Railway Museum and we met up opposite the Minster.  On the way I went into a home and garden shop and spotted these lovely meerkats...

One lounging in the deckchair and the little one making a sandcastle, how could I resist - they had to be bought!

Finally, today my set of yellow cards was completed to go with the other four I received (see my last post).  A lovely lemony postcard from Michelle.

Shopping and Yellow Postcards

As promised from my last post here is a photo of my purchase of fabric from our visit to Derbyshire Dales and visiting Quiltessential.  Still haven't started on this yet as I've just finished a batch of postcards on the theme of "Something Yellow".

So below are the yellow themed cards, the flowers being buttercups, inspired by the rather weed infested lawn in our back garden.

Then there are the cards that I've received so far, brilliant aren't they.

 Although it doesn't show too well in the photo the top right one is of a Brownie polo shirt with a prairie point collar.  The yellow submarine at the bottom was just brilliant.

Now the shopping bit.  Last week I bought some cleanser,  toner and spritzer that come from Liz Earle, which has just the most heavenly fragrances I know.  Arrived in the post on Saturday it was lovely to unwrap from its box, which was carefully packed from the Isle of Wight. Lovely stuff.

 

While out last Saturday in Doncaster as well as going to the markets for fruit and veg there were some European sellers and a Dutch plant seller had these lovely Sempervivums and Sedums in this lovely, what I could describe as "bun tin" container. I've got to plant them up into a couple of proper pots, but I could not resist the lovely reds and greens and all for a fiver, bargain.

Another purchase which I had to get was a new camera to replace the one that I'd broken recently.  We were following another similar to the broken one on e-bay until late on Saturday but was beaten in the bidding in literally the last few seconds.  As it cost only another £30 more to buy a new one as opposed to a used one in good condition I decided to go for new instead and here it is - in red this time instead of purple.

 This pic was taken with my phone and there is a slight reflection as there is a clear cover to protect the front.  I've yet to delve through the manual which came on CD which has been uploaded, but had a bit of a play around with it and some of the above pics have been taken already with this.

Last of all on Father's Day David received a card from our son Jamie which included a thank you letter from grandson Leo (I suspect with some help from his Mum).  Leo is coming up to 3 years old and getting very artistic as the card below proves. I love the smiley face in the middle.

Day in Derbyshire Dales

David and I went out for the day and it seems that we're always out and about.  On Saturday we went towards Matlock, Derbyshire.  We been through a few times and have never stopped to take the Heights of Abraham cable car that is just outside the town.  Before that though we travelled on to Cromford Mill where there is a quilt shop (quelle surprise!) called Quiltessential, where we saw a quite striking wall hanging.  Couldn't resist so we bought the pattern and some of the fabrics to make it and I'll put a photo of the purchases in my next post. It's a lovely shop and there is a craft shop next door too, so a couple of things to explore here.

We then went to Matlock Bath and the cable car ridge over the Derwent Valley.  Spectacular views on the way up with a viewpoint at the top of the valley below with the town of Matlock in the distance.  We stayed and took a tour of the caves (lead was mined here) and had lunch before taking the cable car down hill.

Just to show I was there!

 Above is the view towards Matlock from the top of the valley.  Below that is the station building at Matlock Bath, near the bottom end of the cable car terminus.  This building doesn't look to be used any more.  It's very unusual as it looks like a Swiss chalet and the brickwork was quite interesting, such a shame the building is neglected.
 
After this we went to Crich, just a few miles away to the Tramway Village, which houses the National Tram Museum.  It was some years ago when we last visited and there have been a lot of changes with new buildings and creating a more village like scene.  Being a lovely sunny day it was ideal for an open top ride on a tram and later for sitting outside to enjoy a nice cup of tea.  Below is a photo of a Leeds tram, below that is an old Blackpool single deck tram.

I could not resist taking photos of the tram shelters with their decorative art deco stained glass, managed to take the bottom photo when a tram had just left, that's why there's no passengers waiting.

So here it is...

As promised in my last post (was that back in May - wow, how the time goes!) some sewing.  In case it was thought I was going out and about and not sweating it out at the sewing machine.

When I returned to Yorkshire a few weeks back I stopped at The Bramble Patch to have a look around and could not resist the Union Jack cushion kit.  I've found the instructions really clear and in no time at all there it was made.  All that had to be bought was the rectangular cushion and found that Dunelm Mill had just the size, which they called a Boudoir cushion.  Really pleased it turned out well.

Yesterday I took part in a bag making workshop with held by one of the Barnsley Embroiderers, Sheila.  I panicked a bit when I hadn't got all the bits cut out ready and hadn't found a 10 inch zip, but I was early enough to go into Barnsley town centre to get the zip and bias tape that I wanted before the workshop.  I really enjoyed making this bag and even tackling the zips  - they're not the easiest of things to sew in.  I got as far as putting the straps onto each side but not joining the sides together.  With this afternoon's weather being very wet, I kept on sewing until I got it finished. Below is the front of the bag and further down is the back.  I decided to use fancy stitches on my machine to quilt and decorate the bag.

And finally, if you've been reading my blog you will know that my son, Alex, was taking part in the BUPA 10k run in London on Bank Holiday Monday.  He was raising funds with his work colleagues for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. Well he did it in less that an hour.  His legs were aching and he had blisters, (because it's the furthest he's run) but he did it.  He did really well.

Castles and Halls

Last Saturday David and I were out and about again, trolling off down the M1 to Hardwick Hall, near Chesterfied, Derbyshire.  This was once the home of Bess of Hardwick, quite a character in Elizabethan times.  She was married 4 times, had 8 children, though 6 survived and amassed quite a wealth.  She had one Hall built but it was too small, then had another built near the first one just 3 years later.  Over the years the old hall was dismantled so only the remains are standing, but it does make the building more interesting.  We then went and explored the new hall and there was quite a bit to see.

We think that she saw herself a bit like royalty as the Great Hall has two throne like chairs at the end so she could receive visitors!  There are numerous woven tapestries that are in need of renovation, some of which were a collection which she purchased from the son of a gentleman that died to pay his debts.  When she found it had his coat of arms, she bargained for a discount.  So here are a few pics of Hardwick Hall, most of them will be on my facebook page.

Top is an actress depicting Bess of Hardwick, telling her story.  Second is the old Hall.  Third is the new Hall looking from ruins of the old.  The bottom photo there are 3 ladies dressed in Elizabethan dress which they made themselves from authentic patterns.

And castles?
When I was in Christchurch, the nearby village of Highcliffe has a castle which I went to visit one afternoon.  Having been built by the 3rd Earl of Bute it had a chequered history and once was resided by Gordon Selfridge, founder to Selfridges department store.  There was fire damage in the 80s and this was in a sorry state, but in recent years it has and continues to be restored.  I went there to see a textile exhibition, a few pics of which are on Maggie Grey's blog, as she is one of the exhibitors but unfortunately it didn't allow photography.  However I can share some photos of the Castle itself and it's view to the Isle of Wight.

Top is the stained glass window in the great hall. Next is a view out of the window ( I loved the design of that window and couldn't resist taking a photo. Thirdly the main entrance to the castle.  Bottom shows a very misty view between the trees out to the Isle of Wight, you can just see the Needles.

Just about catching up with my blog posts and I am sewing.  Will have something to show soon, promise.