Sand and seafood

The short break with friends continues and the weather has been kind to us.  Glorious sunshine as we walk the dogs on Sugar Sands in the early morning and only meeting other dog walkers. My photos do not really do it justice as it is completely unspoiled with a bay of golden sand with blue sea gently lapping.  Plenty of sea birds, larks, sand martins, herons and shelduck and the occasional fisherman dealing with his lobster pots.

One small 'Westie' enjoying the sea!!

The evening before we had been to our favourite fish restaurant, Craster Restaurant, which is part of Craster's famous kipper smokehouse.  The smell of the oak smoke permeated the village when we arrived and we met friends, caught up with their news, ate fresh seafood and the sun shone as it went down over the village.  An idyllic evening.

View of the harbour from the restaurant window

Another favourite walk with the dogs is Boulmer Harbour, with its fishing boats, dune walking and wonderful wild flowers.  We saw Common Orchids, that maybe 'Common', but they were exciting for us!  A slightly grayer day, but the wind was warm as it was blowing from the South. A pair of Shelduck with about 8-9 tiny ducklings, swam from the beach as we approached and the little ones were bobbing about on the sea.  I would loved to have taken a picture but my camera is not up to it.

All good things come to an end and we will be going home in a day.

Oop North!!

I am 'Oop North' staying with friends and today was our annual trip to Cragside,  the place that we visit every year.  They took quite a battering during the winter storms, but it didn't affect the places we love to see.

First stop is the Bird Hide set in the middle of pine woods  and as we walked in there was a ripple of excitement because this little chap was on the ground feeding!!  The first time that I have seen one and it was much smaller than its grey squirrel cousin.  They are an endangered species so it was exciting to see it.  

A red squirrel

Cragside through the trees

After a walk round Nellie's Moss (the name of the lake) we went for a cup of tea and home via Alnwick Castle which stood as Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter films.

Nellie's Moss - the lake

Alnwick Castle

Lovely Northumberland!!

Family celebrations

This weekend has seen a family celebration on Saturday and a christening on Sunday and it has been such fun catching up with so many people.

The party yesterday was to celebrate the 70th birthdays of my sister and her husband (B and C) and to combine it with their 46th wedding anniversary.  I knew it would be a good party because it has been planned for a long time, but I didn't expect so much.  My eldest son and family were staying with me and we had an early light lunch (just to keep the children going) before setting out on the 15 minute drive, in pouring rain, where we were due for Champagne and Canapés at 2.30pm.  This was followed by the meal at 4.00pm and when that finished there was a disco until the band started. As usual all the oldies got up to disco away to the Rolling Stones, ABBA etc and all the little girls were there with Grannys, Grandads and Great Aunts and a few Mums and Dads dancing away as well.  Great fun and the littlies were so sweet showing off their ballet moves!!

But the highlight of the evening was the live band put together by Trevor Barry, who is a friend of B and C, and they did a set for about an hour and a half.  There were some well known session musicians there, but I can't remember who they all were, though Jamiroquai and Elton John were mentioned in hushed tones!!  A one-off band formed for this special session, complete with a brilliant singer. 

My niece decided to take advantage of the marquee and today baby Will was christened, so we were back again at 10.30am for brunch followed by the church service and it was a lovely and very personal service in the village church. Instead of christening cake we had these beauties made by Lizzie Loves Cakes and the children loved them, and so did the adults as well!!

I had a pig!!

I am now putting my feet up after catching up with friends and relations, dancing (well sort of) with my granddaughters, cheering the band, choking back tears in church when Will was christened and eating and drinking in convivial company.  This will be the talk of the family for years to come and thank you for inviting me.  xxx

A small visitor and other things.

I went to my usual Wednesday group meeting of Higham Piecemakers last night and didn't feel much like sewing so I crotcheted instead.  It has been a really busy week and it hasn't finished yet., so blogging may be in short supply over the next few days but I was cheered up by seeing this little visitor on my lawn when I got home - a hedgehog! 

So many get killed on the roads that I am delighted to see it and I hope that it will eat some of the slugs in my garden.  Anyway I threw some of 'Spikes' Hedgehog Food onto the lawn and stood for 20 minutes outside, not moving, while a great deal of crunching went on.  If I can look after it, it may not want to cross the road in search of food.

Pleased to say he has just come back again this evening and so another handful of Spikes has been thrown down.  

I am delighted to announce that our Mandalas have been posted onto Pinterest so we are famous!!  Please look for them as they are now part of Yarndale 2014.

Another activity ticked off on the 'Bucket' list!

I don't actually have a Bucket list but if I had this would have definitely been on it!  Let me explain.  

As you may already have gathered I love History, especially British History, and I love nothing better than reading historical books, both fiction and non-fiction, and visiting old buildings and stately homes.  I belong to the H&R U3A History Group and we go out on trips in the summer and have indoor meetings in the winter.  Two of my treasured possessions are parts of Roman roof tiles which I was allowed to keep after a visit to Piddington Roman Villa.  The tiles were lying all over the site and I was told I could keep the two pieces that I picked up.  One has the finger marks of the maker, probably his 'signature' and the other has burn marks which shows it was near smoke.  I hold them and cannot believe they are about 2,000 years old..

I also belong to Higham Ferrers Archaeology and Research Society (HIFARS) and an email was sent out asking if members were free this week to help with an archaeological dig at Chester Farm, which now belongs to Northamptonshire County Council.  In historical terms it is of huge importance in the area, with evidence of a neolithic settlement, a large walled town of about 600 people in Roman times, a deserted medieval village and the house itself is Georgian.  Well I answered the call and yesterday went to take part.  I have to say that I am a complete novice at this, but did decide to take my gardening knee pads (good idea), gardening gloves (good idea), sun hat (excellent idea), lots of water (good idea) and forgot my portable chair (bad idea).  The latter was needed at break times to sit on instead of the ground which was hard and I am not very nimble getting up.

We arrived at the right time and were briefed about the site, which was originally part of the Victorian gardens laid next to the main house.  They were originally 'ridge and furrow' with topsoil laid on them and we could see this in the dig site.

Geo physical map of farm and surroundings

We had the geo-phys map explained to us and the Roman part is left side to the centre and clearly shows the roads.  However because the site is of Special Historical Interest excavating can only be undertaken in the gardens, at the moment which is to the left of the house and outbuildings at the top of the map.

The dig

Our first job was to sweep the dusty earth off the top in the area top left of this picture.  This took nearly all morning and I found this sticking out of the soil.

A Roman pot/plate?

In the afternoon we excavated for anything we could find - pottery, nails etc.  Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to excavate my pot/plate further as it wasn't in my designated area, so I shall never know how big or how much there was of it.

It was a lovely site and I did take this photo of the old greenhouse and potting shed.  I am told that when the site is developed further this may be the cafe!!  I think some further work is needed.

Potting shed and tumbledown glasshouse

But I had a wonderful day, really enjoyed my first 'dig' and learnt a great deal about the whole site, part of which now has new warehouses and an approach road over the ancient remains!! That is progress I suppose.

Trees

I had a lovely day yesterday doing a workshop at Poppy Patch with Helen Coverley.  It was Free Motion Trees and after we had mastered the technique of sewing them free motion we then had to put them on to the Strata Batik.  It is not necessary to use this type of batik and Helen showed us some wonderful Egyptian cotton batiks which could  be used instead.

So feed dogs down, calico with a circle cut out in the middle in the embroidery frame, a full bobbin of inexpensive thread (because it takes a lot of thread) and the free motion foot on the machine and away we go.  First the trunk is worked using a straight stitch, by making a fan shape from one spot at the bottom of the circle (which has been cut out) so you are machining over nothing! Then when I thought I had enough strands I was told to make more.  Next step is to use the zig zag stitch to pull together all these straight strands of machining and hey presto, the tree is beginning to take shape.  Branches had to be made from the tree trunk and again on the other side and at last it was finished.

Next step is to cut round the edge of the circle to release the tree.  I was expecting some unraveling but it didn't.  So onto the next tree, which can be made using the same circle of calico and this time I decided to make an elm shape instead of the nondescript one I had made first time.  I felt that this was a lot more successful and I hope you agree.  We then had to sew the trees onto the background pelmet vilene and wadding with some free hand embroidery, frame it and the picture was complete.

My first effort partially hidden

My 'elm' tree

The finished picture

I then tried to make a pine tree but this turned into a rather hairy looking lavatory brush so I think that I need to refine my technique!!

A great workshop and I learnt a lot.

Tomorrow I am taking part in an activity that I have never ever done before but always wanted to so watch this space.....  and the weather forecast is looking good.  Must keep covered as I shall be outdoors all day.

How I coveted my friend's necklace!!

Some time ago J came to Crochet Club with a lovely necklace which she had bought in South Africa whilst on holiday.  I really admired it, so way back in April when we went to the Uttoxeter Quilt Show I found this wonderful stall, The African Fabric Shop, which was selling Ntaka Glass Beads and I realised I could make the necklace with them.  Well I have made one and I felt it needed another one to go with it so here is how I made it.  

To all you experienced 'beaders' out there I am a novice, so please don't wince when you see my technique!!

Firstly I set up the piles of different colours.  I was lucky because I bought individual coloured packets and I used a narrow leather round cord, so didn't require a beading needle.  I measured two pieces of cord to the length I wanted and then added half again.  

Getting ready

Starting off ..

Close up of photo above.

Working from the centre, with the first bead you come up from underneath with one piece of cord and down under with the other.  You keep doing this with each bead so that they lie flat when threaded.  You should be going up or down with each cord through each bead.  Work left and right sides from the centre.

One I made earlier!!

When you reach the required length (or run out of cord) finish off  both cords with a knot. 

I love my 'African' necklace.