TLC

No, not that sort!  This is the ongoing saga of the Twisted Log Cabin that I wrote about here in April.

This is how I left it at the end and it was put to one side as I was rather busy, but last weekend I completed it.

I inserted a zip in the back and quilted the front:-

No wadding just calico on the back

I decided not to put wadding on the front as the seams are quite thick from the TLC; I sewed round the edges, remembering to leave the zip open, trimmed the edges, especially at the corners and hey presto, it is nearly finished.

I turned it through and pressed the seam so that I would have a neater finish -

and finally finished the edges off with some fancy stitches.  I chose the herringbone stitch for speed but I could have chosen any of the 50 stitches on my machine!!

By the way I sashed the edges with two strips on each side.  The first strip was using up the strips that I had left over from the TLC and then I had to think carefully what the second should be as by this time I was running out of the royal blue.  In the end I used two strips of each of the two colours.

At last it is finished and I am quite pleased with the finished result.

 

This is my contribution to the Higham Piecemakers cushion raffle at the exhibition of work in September! 

Now to get on with the next one - lime green and brown - not my favourite colours; but in the meantime the sun is out, gardening beckons and The Archers Omnibus is nearly finished on the radio!!

 

Wildlife on the embankment

Just a quick update because I am feeling pleased with myself!!

Tuesday is a "Looking after Will day" in Bedford, so after a quick coffee with my niece, C, Will and I set off along the embankment beside the River Great Ouse to see what we could see!!

We saw these -

 

Canada Geese goslings

who took to the water with Mum and Dad to protect them.

Another pair with two goslings on the bank

After crossing the river we met a man who said there was a Grey Heron in the bushes so we went to have a look.  I thought it was on a nest but it wasn't -

Can you see him in this willow tree?

So a close up was needed -

I call this 'Having a scratch'!

Then I realised that it was about to fly so hastily put my camera on to 'burst' and hoped for the best.  I had lots of  photos of just the tree but managed to get these -

- so it was really worth the time I spent the other day, learning how my camera works!!

It landed on some grass a short distance away and I managed to snatch this picture before it flew out of sight again.

Having a shake or just dishevelled?

Well worth the effort I hope you will agree.

At last - a reveal

For what seems like ages (could be about 4 months) I have been beavering away on a very special smocking project. 

As you know I have taken this lovely craft up in the last year and having made a sampler cushion and Christmas cracker I decided to embark on something a little more challenging.  My eldest granddaughter's birthday was on 1 May so I decided that if I started in the New Year I might be able to make her something by her birthday.

Teacher J has so many smocking magazines that I could look through and at last I found a really lovely pattern.  It seemed a daunting task but I was smitten: and the first item I needed was fabric so I bought a Japanese Liberty fabric that J prepared for smocking and off I went.

A full width of the fabric but no pleating at the armhole edges

It took me about three months to complete but I was working on other projects at the same time!

The next part was to cut out the pattern pieces for the bodice, save a full width piece for the back skirt and with the remaining fabric I made my own piping using bias cut strips and DMC Petra 3 cotton thread.  I was surprised how much piping I needed as it was going round the armholes, across the front and back yokes, round the neckline and down both sides of the back yoke.  As I was making the piping I realised that the fabric was just right, because it was soft and pliable and would be ideal for a little girl's skin.

At last it was finished and here are some photos that I took before it was posted for the birthday girl -

I have no overlocker so I made a blind hem with rolled edges

I rolled all the edges of the fabric to ensure they were soft.

My hands were so cold I needed fingerless mittens!!



Armhole, neck and bodice piping

The crossover back

The back crosses over and there is no seam at all, so plenty of leg room for running around and it is still modest!!

My label placed on the inside of the crossover

 I always label clothes, whether made for myself or anyone else because I understand that when they eventually get sent to charity, if there is no label items are sent for rags!!!  After all that work - never!!!!

 

The back

The front

and finally being worn:-

- and a happy birthday to a 6 year old in a size 7 dress that I hope will last for two years at least.

Oh and by the way smocked dresses should be every day dresses and not saved for best - that is what teacher J told me!

" A good walk spoiled"

Today I had a round of golf with my sister B, and a friend, R, who we used to play with regularly until about 2 years ago when we both stopped as we were too busy.  However B had said she wanted to start again and so I agreed to go along.

When I was about 18 (a very long time ago!) my father, who was an excellent golfer, said he would pay for me to have 6 lessons.  I had the lessons and Father took me out for 9 holes.  He was a founder member of this particular golf club and would not start on the 1st hole as it was in front of the club house and he didn't want to be shown up by me so we proceeded to the 2nd tee.  I addressed the ball (that is a golfing technical term!) and went to hit it and missed it; after about three times of trying to hit it my Father suddenly bellowed "For God's sake woman hit the b****y thing!"  I was so frightened that my usually placid father should shout at me that I whacked it and did a perfect shot down the fairway.  We played the remainder of the 9 holes, which must have been torture to my Father and I never touched a golf club again until the mid 1980s.

My late husband played a lot and after our sons left home for college etc, I decided to have another go so we would have an interest to take part in together.  We joined a club near us in South Wales, I had lessons and loved it and we were playing every week, usually at weekends as I was working, though occasionally in the summer evenings and taking part in club competitions. 

Then we moved house to Northamptonshire and the golf lapsed to just the odd round.  My husband died and so it wasn't until I retired that I joined my sister and a group of her friends playing once a week at Wyboston Lakes.  As it's name suggests there is a great deal of water, but is a very flat course.

So off we went, sister B, R our friend and I, in a howling gale, rain in the offing and B and I not having played for two years - how would we manage?

Sister on left and friend on right approaching 1st green

At this time of the year I would have expected to see lots of wildfowl, but nothing on the first hole.  I didn't do too badly at this hole - long game OK, but putting awful!!

The next hole, the 2nd -

 

runs beside the River Great Ouse and though none of us hit into the river today it has been known in the past!!  In the summer motor cruisers and narrow boats watch the golfers tee off - not today! 

However we had to contend with these -

Swans with a goose in the middle

- and they did not move when we walked past.  Not too bad on this hole and so to the 3rd hole that has a pond in front of the tee and a large lake at the back of the green.  I overshot the green and lost ball No 1 in the lake at the back.

On to hole 4 where again there is a lake in front of the tee - managed to get across and headed for the green -

Hole 4 with big skies behind the green in the distance

In this photo it looks sunny BUT behind me (taking the photo) the sky was getting blacker!

Egyptian Geese

We carried on to hole 6 with everything going reasonably well for me, B had hacked her ball into the rough at 5 and R had lost her ball in the lake.  BUT then the rot set in for me.

At 6 we had a side wind (a gale actually) and I watched my good shot start really straight down the middle and then go in a complete arc well into another big lake with a splash.  A second shot off the tee and I went into trees but did see this family of ducks -

No, these are not leaves but lots of little ducklings!!

 and from the other side of the trees.

and my next shot over a bunker and a pond to the green landed in the middle of the pond!!  Two balls lost on one hole, total so far three!!!!

Hole 6 is again over the edge of the main lake and I completely mishit the ball, it went in the wrong direction and where did it land - in the lake!!!  Fourth ball lost - b****r.  Getting expensive.

The other two played the hole while I took a photo of these -

Canada geese and newly hatched babies

 - and then the rain came down.  We decided to walk back to the club house as swiftly as possible and that was hard work battling into the wind with the rain stinging our faces, BUT I had thoroughly enjoyed my morning.  I remembered how much I enjoyed golf especially when the sun is shining, I could wear shorts and a polo shirt and though I had lost four balls which was a record for me, I had played reasonably well after a two year lay-off.

PS - I would not normally take photos whilst playing golf, but the course was empty with no-one around and my companions did not mind.

Out and about again but something different!!

Another activity today with the 50+ Adventure Club that I had organised. I am on the committee that run the club and all of us organise the activities that take place through the year and three of mine seem to come within six weeks of each other.

Today was the first and one of the most difficult to arrange - horse back riding. This is the fourth time that I have taken on this task, but only the second that we have actually ridden. The first time went off very well, the next time the horses went lame (probably when they heard that we were coming!), the next time the riding school had been sold and didn't take groups any more and finally today.

I surfed the net to find a riding school and eventually settled on Park View Riding School in Leicestershire and so it was that my companions and I arrived a little bit early at Anstey. We watched a Pony Club group have a lesson on the indoor ménage and two very small, diddy little girls in pink wellies on tiny ponies also having a lesson on the outdoor ménage. Such fun.

Then the first of our riders arrived - the novices. Quickly mounted by the very competent staff they went for a 30 minute hack -

and then back for a 30 minute lesson that they all seemed to enjoy.

Then it was our turn - those with some experience! Thank goodness for a mounting block as it made it easy to mount and then we went for a one hour hack which was great fun and we even managed to trot on a number of times. I felt like a sack of potatoes at the start of the trot but soon mastered it again and by the end was feeling very confident.

Not a bad photo from the back of a horse!!!

 I really enjoyed it and it is lovely to see the countryside from a different perspective.

I was on Kallie and she behaved beautifully or she could have been well ridden!!!!!

When we returned to the yard it was the turn of the experienced riders and I am sure that they galloped off into the sunset as they all looked so competent, even having all the riding gear!

A great afternoon and my friend and I are planning a return visit for a two hour hack to nearby Bradgate Park but that is another story for later in the year when the weather warms up.

I went to Coventry ..

On Sunday the 50+ Adventure Club had a Blue Badge guided walk of Coventry and though I know the city centre from my working days (we had a training centre in the middle) I had not visited the new Cathedral since I was in my 20's - a very long time ago!!

First stop was the bombed out remains of the old Cathedral, which was  heavily blitzed in November 1940 as Coventry was one of the centres of armament manufacture during World War 2.  The Cathedral is now an area of 'Peace and Reconciliation'.

The East end of the old Cathedral

The old Cathedral Spire

The Cross of Wood from the charred remains

'Father Forgive'

The cross is actually a replica of the original one that was put together the morning after the bombing by workmen, who also chalked 'Father Forgive' behind and is now painted in gold.  A very moving altar where services are still held weekly on the theme of reconciliation.

'Reconciliation'

There are many other sculptures around this area including:-

Ecce Homo by Jacob Epstein

We didn't go into the new Cathedral as there were church services going on and time did not permit - another visit perhaps?  However I do remember the fantastic Graham Sutherland tapestry Christ in Glory from my previous visit and the wonderful stained glass..

Our next stop was St Mary's Guildhall, passing this house on the way -

22 Bailey Lane

 Built in 1500 it is the only remaining example in the area of medieval timber framed houses, chimneys added in the 17th century and the shop front in the early 19th century.

St Mary's Guildhall

 

The ceiling of the Guildhall

The bollards in this part of the city are all topped by elephants

Priory Row - Bishop's Palace on the right

After a walk through some of the older parts of Coventry we came into the shopping centre where there is a statue to one of the more famous early residents - Lady Godiva.

and yes, she is naked!!

 

All Britons know her story, but if you don't here it is. The origin of Peeping Tom here also.

This was the end of the tour and lunch beckoned so we went to the nearest Weatherspoons -

Not sure how much is old or new, but pretty impressive

and the 'Ladies' loo was very modern!

After lunch we toured the Motor Museum and saw models of bicycles and motor cars both of which were made in the City.  Daimler, Jaguar and Rover are the more famous names in the industry.

A great day out, albeit a little cold!