Bank holiday sea views and a card trick or two.

Bank holiday weekend found us in Scotland visiting my Dad - The weather didn't look like this when we arrived, It was dark , damp and dismal but the gusty wind blew the clouds away and the sun came out.

We had come to support him and his friends with a fund raising afternoon ( which involved eating lots of cream teas) for the St Abbs Coastal Rowing Association. Follow their blog here.

Although the sea was a bit rough for rowing today .
Another Coastal view a bit further down the north east coast when we went to South Shields on Monday. It was anything but peaceful as a van full of policemen screamed to a halt and the policemen ran past us in hot pursuit of someone - then the police helicopter swooped down low in front of us on the cliff top.
So we retreated inland to Birkheads secret garden for a bit of peace and quiet
and a pot of tea of course. Situated only about 5 or 6 miles from the Metrocentre, these wonderful gardens are a real treat and well worth a visit.


And I have done a little bit of sewing - The "strangled" star block is now complete - although it put up a fight right to the end.
The Card Trick block was much easier to do and went together quite nicely. All this hand sewing- its is not like me at all. I am now starting on a Dresden plate block - all by hand too!

Happy Quilting xx

Quilted Hottie for Easter

This Quilted Hottie from Cath Kidston's Sew book is my latest project. I made it in a flannel material so it is warm to the touch
However, Ms Kidston's instructions were for hand quilting - This would have taken an age and not the one evening I spent on it doing the cross hatch quilting by machine.
and a close up of the quilting and the button and trim.

On Saturday we went on an open top bus tour. Can you guess where we went ?
We learnt all sorts of things we didn't know. Andrew's liver salts were invented here!
This is St Andrew's church in Newgate Street in Newcastle. It might see weird going on a bus tour of your own town but it was absolutely fascinating - I can thoroughly recommend it . http://www.city-sightseeing.com
And no bank holiday weekend would be complete without a trip North to see my Dad and a picturesque shot of St Abbs Harbour.
The sun did come out for a few minutes.


But you have to beware of other bloggers taking photos!!


Then today we went for a breezy walk around Derwent reservoir. which was over flowing with all the rain we have had recently.

Hope you had a busy weekend too

Happy Quilting xx

Scottish Holiday and prizes.

This year our holiday has been split into 2 halves due to my DH not being able to have 2 weeks together off work . St Abbs is so scenic I can't resist photos of the blue sky, sea and sunshine.
But the weekend started as usual with our Friday afternoon group at The Fat Quarters where I met up with Piecemaker. I won the giveaway on her birthday blog and at last I was able to collect my prize. I got this lovely Twelve Red Robins stitchery from Cinderberry Stitches , some fabric and a variegated thread to do it with. Thanks for the lovely gift.
We started our second project from The fat Quarters club, The Fat Quarters bag, a Melly and me design. The bag is made from four fat quarters and is a bit smarter than the usual patchwork bag, more like a handbag than a tote. The next stage is to see if I can remember how to do use my channel quilting tool on my machine to quilt the bag. My sewing room aka the conservatory or rabbit run had got a bit out of hand, the table was so messy there was nowhere to sew so I had a good tidy up. Instead of a boring picture of the mess here is a cute photo of my little helper.
Yesterday I popped in to see Louise in Woolfish embroidery thread and this funky yarn. Called Thalia, it is ribbon like yarn made from a mix of man made fibres, mohair and wool with some and bought some more of that variegated metallic threads too. Check out Woolfishers new website where you can now buy on line. With all this wonderful scenery just outside her door, I am amazed she gets down to any work.
Here are Jenny and her Grandad picking beans for tea in his garden.
And finally, I've been on Concorde!!I hate flying but since this Concorde was safely on the ground at the Scottish Museum of Flight, I risked a quick trip on board. It was a very interesting trip too, unfortunately the cafe did not recreate the Lobster thermadore and champagne menus of the luxurious supersonic flights. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

Well off to Glasgow on Thursday for part 3 of our holiday to meet the exiled members of the family from overseas.