February Progress

Hooray, just Friday until a sewing day.  Don't get me wrong, I love my job and I carry on working because I want to but I also love my time away from work. It gives me the opportunity to spend more time with my family (including our dogs), the opportunity to work on my various projects and time for visits and expeditions. This week I'm working on Friday so there are just two days to fit everything in. Tomorrow, (Friday) evening we are out at a concert, which means I only have this evening to finish knitting the back of my cardigan. Not that I set out to finish it. In fact my plan was to knit the back to the half way point but I've totally smashed that. Just finished the back.

I made the quilt sandwich for the Churn dash quilt and I started the quilting. I decided to outline the block design and this creates a cute second pattern with squares. I've finished 15 of the 35 blocks so just 20 to go. I also need to look for a suitable binding fabric.

I started the fish block for the Frog quilt. I was hoping to have this finished before the end of the month but life, amongst other things got in the way.

I've managed to do a little work on the Star Trek cross stitch, a little on the table cloth and some on the Red Manor House quilt top. I'm not posting any photos here as progress on these projects has been very slow.

On a totally different topic, I got a phone call from the hospital giving me a date for my reconstruction surgery. For those of you who don't know, I was treated for breast cancer in 2017. I had chemotherapy, surgery (full mastectomy) and radiotherapy. I had always said I wanted a reconstruction and last year I finally got onto the waiting list. The phone call came out of the blue as last time I saw my plastic surgeon back in June last year he said it would be about 18 months time. My surgery date is 18th March but If he has emergencies to deal with it may get pushed back a little, but that would not be a problem. Last night I sent a text to my brother to suggest we visited him on his birthday which is 21st March. If everything runs on time that will be delayed.

I'm happy to have finished the back of my cardigan and also to have got so far with the Churn Dash quilt.  WI need to decide what to work on during March.

Take care

Lyndsey 

A trip to Brighton.

Last week I took my none working day on Wednesday. Our plan was to visit Brighton, visit the Royal Pavilion,  eat a fish and chip supper on the beach and hopefully see the murmuration.  Not a major timetable for the day. We left early and headed out to the M23 where things went slightly haywire. There had been a 15 car pile up on the motorway with 4 hospitalised and quite a few minor injuries. We ground to a halt and sat in a queue for some time. The queue eventually started moving but we had to leave the motorway at the next junction We used google maps to find an alternative route but it kept trying to take us back onto the M23, so we headed in the general direction of the south coast and eventually google caught up with us and took us to our destination, the park and ride just outside Brighton. The bus took us on a very circuitous route and stopped so many time but eventually we got into the city centre. I was very pleased we had decided to use the park and ride as the traffic in the centre was awful. I drive most days in London but this was a totally different situation. So much more traffic on narrow roads and with road works everywhere! Our first port of call was the Royal Pavilion.

The history of Brighton Pavilion is very interesting and if you want to know more you can find lots of information Here .  Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, who became the Prince Regent in 1811, and King George IV  in 1820.

As we entered the first room we saw this huge chandelier.  Unfortunately the picture doesn't show it at its best but it was huge and very beautiful

George IV was very taken with all thing oriental so there were many examples of Chinese art

Also a lot of very large chandeliers in different rooms. As the lights were on it was difficult to get good pictures but this gives you an idea of size.

Up at the top of the high ceiling we could see these windows on each of the 4 sides. The guide in the room told us that a member of staff would go up to the roof and light candles outside the windows when there were guests for dinner. Sounds dangerous on several levels!

Below is a view of the dinning room with the table laid for dessert. You can see the lights better in this picture.

Below is the attachment for one of the smaller lights.

This was the design above the main ceiling light.

We visited the kitchens which must have been very loud and busy when there were guests. It was a large room with separate preparation areas for meat, fish, vegetables and desserts.

  

The fireplace was decorative with this bird or pterodactyl.                                                                                                                                                                         

The wallpaper in this room was very decorative.

This bedroom was very bright

and here is a close up of the wallpaper.

We really enjoyed our visit to the pavilion. I did take a lot more photos but many of them are quite dark due to the lighting. By now we were hungry and so stopped for lunch. It was nice to sit down for a while. OK so we had been sat down for quite a while in the car due to the crash but walking slowly, looking at things makes your legs feel tired so it really was good to sit and eat lunch.

Next we wanted to walk down to the marina. Information that John had read told him he might see a purple sandpiper in that area. This would be a completely new bird spot .  We walked past the pier.  Brighton beach is pebbles and so we kept off the beach at this point. As we walked we were aware of the different birds around but also the restoration work going on along the sea front and the families enjoying a holiday or day out at the seaside, since it was half term.

At the marina we started to look out for the sandpipers and eventually we saw two through the binoculars. They were too far away for me to get a good picture as I hadn't taken the long lens. 

Purple sandpiper stock photo Royalty and copyright free Google.

By now the time was moving towards sunset and so we walked back to the pier. We bought coffee and fish and chips and found a comfortable spot to sit and wait . Our plan was to see the starling murmuration. We had skeins of brent geese fly over us and lots of gulls ,when eventually the starlings started to gather. They fly as a group and there is a lot of swirling, and flying around. The numbers increased as more starling join the groups and slowly the groups came together as one. They flew quite low along, under and over the pier. It was fabulous to watch. Finally the starlings settled to roost. By now the temperature was dropping and we needed to get a bus back to our car. We were tired from our day but fortunately the journey home went without any incidents.

We had a great time on our day out. We have more planned over the year. Now I need to try and finish the back of my cardigan as this was my challenge for this month.

Take care

Lyndsey

A Trip to Kew Gardens

On Valentines day I had booked two tickets to the orchid festival at Kew Gardens. This year the festival was celebrating its 29th year. We haven't been to all of them but we have visited quite a lot. Each year it celebrates both the flora and fauna from a different country and this year it was Peru.

The day was sunny, dry and a little wind but it was cold. We had tickets for 11:30 and were at the front of the queue for that time entry. Once in, you can take as long as you like walking through the exhibition. Whilst I love the orchids, I also like the animals and birds that have been created. I have chosen my favourite photos to share with you so I hope you enjoy it.

There were a lot of birds and butterflies for the children to spot. Some of them were getting quite competitive

After we had seen all the orchids we went and had lunch. We sat outside, choosing a place out of the wind, so we could enjoy the sun. After lunch we were going to walk round the gardens but the wind was very cold so we decided to go home. Our outing was a delightful way to spend Valentine's day. 

Take care

Lyndsey.

Oops, missing in action again!

It's been a while since I last posted. Fortunately, it wasn't because something awful had happened or I wasn't feeling well. It just happened due to being over busy and making myself extremely tired. Several things have conspired to cause the problem, from family visits, helping make curtains, planned outings and work. In addition I have been dropping off and picking up younger daughter several nights a week. Last year she decided to make a career change and train as a nurse. She had been working as a healthcare assistant for several months to decide if it was definitely what she wanted to do. Having made her decision she started her course last October. She is on a fast track course because of her degrees and her previous work in healthcare. Currently she is on placement and working 12 hour shifts at a hospital near where I work. I drop her off and get into work early and then work late so I can pick her up. I've cleared a lot of work in an evening when I have the office to myself but it has meant I've been tired when I get home. Too tired to post.  We are now 6 weeks in to the arrangement and my body seems to have got the hang of the timing and I'm feeling much more alert. 

Whilst I haven't been posting I have been winding down at the end of the day with some sewing or knitting. My challenge for this month was to start knitting my pink cardigan and I've been working on this several nights a week. I may have the back finished by the end of the month.

I've also done a little embroidery on both the tablecloth and the star trek cross stitch.  I'm trying to alternate what I'm working on. This way all the projects move forward. When I tidied my sewing cupboard I found the rug canvas for the latched rug I wanted to make using fabric from old T shirts. The last two nights I've spent time to get used to the technique. I've only done a small amount so far but I do like the effect. I'm making up the colour placement as I go along rather than planning a pattern. As a child I can remember visiting friends and family and seeing rugs that had been made this way, by using left over fabric or from clothes that had reached the end of their useful life, having been mended many times. I also like the plaited fabric mats that I've seen on Pinterest.

The tiredness has affected my enjoyment and ability to work on my projects so I took today off work as annual leave to catch up a little. I started the day by adding a border to the Churn Dash quilt. I have a backing fabric but need to iron it so I will be able to make the quilt sandwich later today or tomorrow. A friend of my older daughter has recently had a baby so this has a new home to go to once quilted.

My son had given me a commission to make some draw string bags to help him keep various cables and controllers for games machines and other small items organised. He wanted 10 in all and I had some calico that was left over from something, I can't remember what, that made up 8 of them. For the final two bags I used a piece of fabric that I was given ages ago but I hadn't found a use for. I already had sufficient cord for all the bags.

At this point in my sewing day my phone beeped with a message from work to say we have OFSTED coming in next week to inspect the apprenticeship provision we offer. We have been expecting it, as it's several years since their last visit. It did distract me from my sewing, so that's as much as I've got done today, I needed to do some household chores, with the main one being to book my grocery delivery and complete the order.

This evening I realised I haven't shared my photos from our visit to the orchid festival at Kew Gardens. I guess I'd better do that done tomorrow. It will be a photo heavy post.

Take care

Lyndsey

Slow stitching, fast stitching, all sorts of stitching.

Yesterday, John and I went birdwatching. We visited the Hickling Broad and Marshes Nature reserve. This was a planned trip by coach from London. We had to be at Embankment by 07:45 and although it was light, it was misty and drizzly. The drizzle persisted all day but worse was the cold. I went fully prepared with thermal everything on but I still got very cold.

I only took one photo whilst we were there as I tried to keep my gloved hands in my pockets when not using my binoculars. There were a lot of birds to see and we managed to watch over 40 different species., including ducks, geese, gulls, small birds and raptors. We went to watch the raptor roost and on the way we past this old mill. I was hopeful I would see an owl around this area but it didn't happen.

I was so tired and slept all the way back to London. Once in London we found that the underground line we needed was running very slowly due to faulty points, so we caught a bus instead. Not my favourite form of transport in London but it did the job.

On the  coach drive to the reserve I worked on the small frog stitchery. I have the frog's eyes to finish and this one is done. 

I've sorted the threads I want to use for the fish block below and will start it a little later today. I hope to finish this over the week. When I drew out the remaining patterns on Friday I made sure to leave a much bigger gap around the stitcheries.

When we finally got home yesterday and had eaten I settled down and did a little more work on my knitting. The pattern is 20 rows and predominately knit and purl so it's nice and easy knitting to do whilst watching TV.

This morning I carried on my search for forgotten projects, fabrics etc. I came across several things but I put all but one of them back to be dealt with another day. The one I kept out was some church dash blocks which I made as part of the RSC challenge several years ago. I laid what I had on the bed and played around with the blocks. Finally I found an arrangement I liked and set up the machine to get them sewn together. I have 5 blocks left over but they are all the same colour so difficult to integrate into this quilt top. I'm pleased with how this top turned out. I can't decide whether to add a border or not. It's small but still a useful baby size at 30 x40 inches. I'll look through my fabric and if I spot anything that will work I may add a border.

Today is also the day I'm going to do some mending. John caught a thread in one of his jumpers and created a hole that needs sewing up plus I have a zip to replace on my black work trousers and a button on one of my blouses. Not exciting stitching but it all needs to be done.

Once the mending is done I will get on with the star trek cross stitch as it is easier to sew in daylight. 

I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching link up. Time to check out some stitching eye candy.

I'm hoping this week will be good for stitching but it all depends on how busy work gets.

Take care

Lyndsey

My fun day

Here in London the weather is cold, wet and overall horrible. With that in mind it seemed like a good day to stay home and have a little fun. The fun started early. On a work day I get up at 5:45 and plan to leave home at 6:30. The best bit of the morning is the first cup of tea of the day and I need time to savour it. Today I had extra time in bed and Twiglet came and snuggled down on the duvet next to me. It meant I was very warm as he is a small but efficient generator of heat. I eventually felt too warm at about 8a.m. so made a start on the day. I had several things I wanted to do. First up was some cooking. I had three bananas at the perfect ripeness for making banana bread. When that was put in the oven I started on some millionaire shortbread. Twiglet and Missy hung around in the kitchen in the hope of me dropping something but they were out of luck. 

Next up was a rest with more tea and my knitting. I started my pink cardigan as it is my project to work on this month for the Chookshed Challenge. I love the yarn I'm using, it's so soft and silky. which is not surprising since it's 70% wool, 15% alpaca and 15% silk. It feels really nice on your fingers when knitting. This is how far I've got in week 1 of February.

This afternoon I drew out all the embroidery blocks for the Frog quilt. I have finished one small embroidery and these are the other two small ones. All the other embroideries are much bigger.

Tomorrow John and I are going on a bird watching trip to Norfolk. The journey should take about 3 hours so I'm hoping to get quite a bit of stitching done on the coach. I need to make sure I take enough floss with me and a spare needle. I'm stitching the pattern with three strands of thread.

This evening John and I went out to dinner. The food was very tasty and had the added bonus that someone else was doing the cooking and we had no tidying up to do afterwards. I didn't take any photos in the restaurant.

Before I go to bed I need to check my camera battery is full recharged and find where I've put my binoculars. We're hoping to see quite a few raptors such as marsh harriers, hen harriers, sparrow hawk and merlin. I also need to remember that tomorrow is due to be cold so I'll need lots of layers to stay warm , especially as we will be near the sea.

Take care

Lyndsey 

Slow Sunday Stitching.

Today was a free day so I decided to try and get the butterfly blocks for the Red Manor House quilt made. The pieces were all cut out so I just needed to follow the instructions and get the four blocks made. All did not go to plan. For some reason I kept making mistakes and I seemed to unpick every seam. I know it wasn't that bad but it certainly felt like it. I kept misreading how the pieces went together. Eventually I sorted all the pieces into piles, made sure they were the right way round, labelled them and finally got them stitched together. The upper wings are not on a white or cream background but it looks like they are. You can also see one of my mistakes just above the left lower wing. This should have been the upper wing fabric but I used the background fabric. This has been corrected.

My plans for this evening are to enjoy some slow stitching. I have a range of projects to choose from and so far this year I haven't worked on any of them. The star Trek cross stitch is a long term project. I used to love doing cross stitch but in recent years I have fallen out of love with it. I'm certainly going to spend at least an hour on this today. I can't work on it for very long as the black background doesn't work well for my eyesight. However the colours of the stitching are nice and bright.

This afternoon when I was changing the water in the flowers I got a lovely surprise. I have a flower delivery every two weeks and in my last delivery there was some hazel twigs. The twigs have now grown roots and leaves. We're going to plant them in a large pot outside and then propagate some more twigs. Katy would like to create a willow hedge in her garden.

I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching Do pop over and see what everyone is doing.

Take care

Lyndsey