Sunday 31 October 2010

A couple of days in Hong Kong

Greetings my friends.
Just a few photo's to keep you up to date on what I have been up to.  Our first stopover was in Hong Kong for two nights as both of us have always wanted to go there.
We were staying on the Kowloon side of the harbour so had to get the ferry over. It cost all of 20p and is a great way to see some of the city and what is about on the water.     







 i was amazed at how much water traffic there was and in some parts there were hundreds of ships just sitting at anchor doing nothing. I seriously have never seen so many boats in my life.

It has the longest escalator in the world going through the city from the big shopping centre all the way up to the Mid levels 800 m  up. It was a great way to see the back streets and beat the long walk towards the peak tram.





The tram takes you up the mountain in the middle of the island where you get the most spectacular view in all directions.  Unfortunately they have a big problem with smog from China and visability was not good while we were there, still it was good enough for me.
The tower blocks were hugh and so close to together and as exciting as I found the city I couldn't live there.  Apart form anything else the smog played havoc with my eyes.





And at night the light show is as good as you'll see anywhere.







the people were so nice and friendly,they also all speak a certain amount of English which is handy as my Cantonese is a bit rusty. We had one old man come up and tell us we were honoured guests and had the right to go anywhere in the city as being British we had done so much to create it.  
The other thing I noticed was in general how clean the public areas were with road sweepers going around all the time but there did seemed to be a huge gap between rich and poor.
Shopping was good though if you like designer labels, didn't see any shops selling fabric unless of course you wanted a suit made up in 8 hours.

All in all a place I would recommend and with an exchange rate of 11HK$ to the pound it's fairly cheap as well.

We are now in New Zealand and are having a couple of days with friends in Te Awamuta. I have got a few funny tales to tell already and I'm sure there will be many more by the end of our time.

hope you are all well and I'll try and get back to you in a week or so.
Gillxxx

Thursday 28 October 2010

From NZ

Every flyer who ventures across oceans to distant lands is a potential expolrer in his or her breast burns the same fire that urged adventurers of old to set forth in their sailing shiopos from foreign lands.
Jean Batten 1979.
Thats me folks.

Thursday 14 October 2010

Crafting NZ

It is only a couple of days now before I head of to sunnier climates in the Southern Hemisphere, and I must admit I'm getting a bit nervous as well as excited. Four weeks touring New Zealand with Mr T is going to be interesting, how many of us spend that much time alone with our partners.I know we never have.
Anyway I thought I would have a look at Etsy and see what is about from sellers in  New Zealand.




This is called Tiki and is a felt kit from Fix design.I think is such fun.
I love this bunting from Birdspoke has Imps on.




I just adore Babushkas anyway but these softie dolls are
my type of doll.
They come from cupcake cutie 1





Big Little makes these beautiful baby shoes. I just wish I had someone to buy them for.






These are downloadable from charmedmemory collage and are on my wishlist to make my Christmas labels.









This vintage japanese necklace from Kiwibird too is also on my wishlist.




And finally
I just love the models of these knitted dog coats from Mr soft top. They look so cute.


  I have only really been posting blogs since March but it has become such an important part of my life so I will try to  do a couple of posts while I'm away but I know I'm going to miss finding out what all my friends in blog land are up to. I shall be back in the UK at the end of November.

Speak soon

Gillxx

Monday 11 October 2010

Rats and Bats.

Look what arrived by that nice man from the post office, my Pumpkin Patch Swap from the lovely Nic at Halfpenny Home. I love getting swaps because although you know what the theme is, everyone puts a different  interpretation on it and I find it fascinating to see what people send. And of course I love surprises.




The first thing out of the box was this fantastic halloween bunting. The skull and cross bones fabric is great fun. There are felt appliqued pumpkins on the plain black fabric. This is going to be great hung in the front porch for the trick or treaters. 


 A fantastic knitted pumpkin tea cosy. I absolutely love this and so does Mr T but it gets better-



It came complete with a very elegant white tea pot. It was put into use straight away.




 Then there was chocolate eyeballs. jelly fingers and bat hair slides hiding in these little parcels.




All in all I feel a very lucky lady, it really has made my day especially as we now get to the rats part.


I've got a horrid headache that won't go away. Blah.  More tea I think.

Gillxx

Friday 8 October 2010

Bonjour Mon Amis





Hello  my friends and how are you this fine day. As you have probably guessed by the title have been to France for a couple of days.  Paris in fact.  A few months ago I won 2 tickets on the Eurostar in a Raffle and was going to go in August but when Mum past away they let us postpone it and we went on Tuesday.

The weather forecast was dreadful so I got myself a raincoat to take which meant, of course, we had perfect city break weather. The only rain we had was while we were in a Restaurant, it's a lovely coat even so. 


 We arrived at the Gare du Nord and walked to our hotel to dump our luggage then it was off we went.



 Mr T and I walked miles via the Rue de la Republique, which is where they shot the end of the "Day of the Jackal" so he tells me, to here.  There's nothing left of course but it was interesting area. The shop's were really unusual with one making snooker tables, one making Cello's and even one making carved wooden room panelling.



 So grab one of these or both if you want and come with me around Paris.


 If you read the Da Vinci Code you know where this is. We tried to get in to the Louvre on both mornings only to find there was a 2 hour wait .  Next time maybe.



 So it was a wander through the the Rive Gauche to the Luxembourg Gardens where the flowers were still very much in bloom and there was no shortage of Sparrows.




  A group doing Tai Che which I would  love to have a go at. There was also Kick boxers, artists and joggers  galore. All life was here including bathing sparrows.



On to Notre Dame



and over the Seine.


Before doing cultural stuff.  I rather like this, it's called the Romanian Blouse.




 This was here, the Pompadour centre, which had some very strange things inside which I did try to understand but failed totally with quite alot of it.




One of the house boats along the Champs Elysee. I would love to know how they get it off or if it's just for show.

I had such a good time that I have picked out my apartment.



I'm now going to soak my feet for the weekend . Enjoy yours.

Gillxx

Saturday 2 October 2010

A Week in Norfolk

I said I was being very sociable this week, well come with me on my travels around Norfolk meeting friends and relatives.

Monday.


Not so sunny Hunny or Hunstanton with Mum and Dad in law for Lunch. Unfortunately it wasn't a day to walk on the beach but we had  a wander around town and I found myself a super wool shawl in a Charity Shop. Just right for wrapping up on cold winter nights.



Tuesday

Off to Holt for morning coffee and a wander around it's pretty little back streets.
I would have taken more photo's but guess who's battery ran out. If it's not my phone it's my camera.






Wednesday was a crafting day with a new makeup bag using some of the fabric from Sal's Snippets giveaway.




 


and a roll for my hooks.




Thursday I went here for lunch.



At the famous( or so we are told) Hoste Arms


We stopped at North Creake Abbey for coffee on the way where they have a small collection of little shops in converted barns but as the summer is over a lot of them were closed. The residents were very friendly though.







And the weather meant we could sit outside.
Last but most definately not least,  On Friday I went to Norwich to meet my friend Karen from Tilly Rose who took alot more photo's than I did.
We started in Anglian fabrics which is heaven for those how love their sewing, haberdashery and of course buttons.





Then to Elm Hill which is used quite alot for filming, you can understand why can't you.


I took quite a few pictures but some reason I can't get them to upload. It was a lovely day though with lunch and lots of poking about the fab crafty shops, Antique markets and charity shops.
Thanks for a great day Karen and thanks to all who have made it to the end of this mamoth post.
Have a good weekend.

Gillx