Roman Holiday

Where did that week go, I had every intention of writing this

at the beginning of the week but life has overtaken me--again.

It seems weeks ago that we were enjoying the last couple of

days our holiday in the Northumberland.

Our last day was fantastic as I forfilled  one

of my ambitions.  This was to walk along Hadrians wall

or at least part of it.

It is such a historic monument and set in such stunning scenery.

This is Crag Lough.  Looking down on it from the top of the Crag

the water was so clear you could see the Swans heads under the water.

Walking is not really for the faint hearted as

although , we only walked 5 miles  as the crow flies,

the up and downs added quite a bit more.

I love the fact that, in places, you can see the wall stretching

away in the distance, but the tree was our destination.

 I couldn't find a picture of the tree which didn't have me

lurking in a corner somewhere but any of you that

have watched Kevin Costner in Robin Hood
( A family favourite from years ago)

this tree is where Morgan Freeman utters the 

immortal words 

" is there no sun in this accursed country"

Mr T insisted on standing on the wall and shouting it,
luckily there was nobody else about.

 A late lunch and the rest of the day was spent in Vindolanda.

Vindolanda is the site of archaeological excavations

which have going on for over 40 years and will be continuing

for a few more years yet.

It is the site of a succession of forts, the first thought to have 

been built around AD 80's.

You can watch and talk to the diggers while they continue to

explore the secrets of the site. It has a great museum

(next to a cafe)

showing the finds and adding some background to

what has been done to restore some of them.

They have found everything from leather boots and textiles

to the Cerialis archive. These are a collection of

postcard sized sheets of wood which have been written on in

Ink. They cover a wide variety of subjects

from children's writing lessons, shopping lists, official forms

and letters home to loved ones.

I found myself riveted  by the whole place

but particularly with anticipation whilst watching the diggers.

Every time someone picked something up,

I found myself wondering what it might be but the only thing

I saw them dig out was a nail of some sort .

Nevertheless I would have loved to have had a go myself.

Luckily whilst we were there the weather was wonderful

but I'm not sure I would have been so keen to work there in the cold and wet.

Hope you all have a great weekend 

wherever you are and I'll see you again soon.

Gillx

National Treasures

We all have a list of places we would like to visit

and things we want to do, don't we.

Well on my recent holiday to Yorkshire and Northumberland

 I have been lucky enough to have done several of the things

on my list although

I can't believe we have been home nearly a week and

I'm only just showing you some photo's.

This was our first stop after leaving Harrogate.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Water Gardens

were on our way North and it was one of the places on my list.

It's one of those places you see on the T.V quite a lot and 

looks very  atmospheric.  

It certainly lived up to my expectations and Mr T and I 

spent several hours wandering around and sitting by 

one of the lakes drinking coffee in the sunshine.

It was built in the 12th century by Cistercian monks

and is the best preserved abbey of it's kind but fell victim

to the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century.

The water gardens are a Georgian addition and 

are set in lovely grounds. It is now run by the National Trust

and is well worth a visit if your near Ripon.

These little fellas were hiding in the eaves of the visitor

centre and had quite an audience.

Next day was Bamburgh Castle which took my breath away.

I have to admit it was not on my list but was 

on our way up the Northumberland coastal route

and was a fantastic place to stop for lunch.

It was too nice a day to actually go inside the castle

and beach was calling us. It gave us a wonderful view.

You can imagine how daunting it looked to attacking armies

can't you.

The local giants left their dice just laying around on the beach.

Next stop Holy Island, Lindesfarne.

This has been near the top of my list for years.

It was mid afternoon before we could cross the causeway to the island

due to the tides but it was worth the wait.

Enough said I think.

I'll leave the rest for another post.

Have a great weekend.

Gillxx

A Trip Around The World

This is where I come every other week to my Patchwork group

with the wonderful Jane as our teacher and problem solver.

It is a collection of old barns which has been turned into

a collection of little shops housing all sorts of craft artisans such

as stained glass and pottery as well as a great patchwork shop

and workshops above. 

This photo was taken in the morning before the public 

where allowed in.

As well as the patchwork there are all sorts of other fabric

related workshops such as dyeing and free machine embroidery.

The class I did this week however was creating a quilt called

" A trip around the world"

I sure all you long time patchworkers are familiar with

this pattern but being fairly new to patchwork it

was new to me and I loved it.

We get a list of requirements before the day and in this case

the cutting instructions so some of the work was done before we

started.

It is made from 10 different fabrics which you cut into strips

stitch together then cut into strips across, it is very easy but you have to 

pay attention to make sure you get them in the right order.

An essential piece of equipment is a seam ripper.

The variety of fabrics and colours we had all chosen

was wonderful to see.  My friend Caroline went with

these wonderful zingy limes and lemons.

Next to her was a collection of marbled effect.

I went with blue and white, it's a colour combination

I have always loved and wanted to try it in a quilt top.

This was the first lady to finish

Closely followed by the marble effect fabrics.

I love this colour combination of turquoise  and white

and here is mine with just one strip left to put in

but I put it in up side down twice so decided I was

too jaded and left it there for the day.

I have finished the top now but need to layer and quilt it

I promise to show it to you when  finish.

Another thing I have had a go at this week is

natural dyes.  I started with onions skins which don't need a mordant 

to fix the colour. I have been reading  blogs about natural dyes

with incredibly talented ladies ( Here and Here) as well

as browsing pinterest to find out how to do it  and 

this was the general consensus of opinion. 

I have collected white onions skins for a while

and put them in a pan with water and boiled them for an hour.

then I drained the skins off making sure to keep the remaining dye fluid.

I'm one of those people who would have strained it over the sink

and then realised I had just thrown away the dye.

I then put some wet white linen, these were pieces of vintage

linen from my stash of damaged and stained tablecloths and napkins.

I left them in the dye for an hour and this was the result.

There are so many things you can use in natural dyeing.

I'm now saving red onions skins to try them.

The other thing I have done is turn this pretty pottery flower,

which was 50p from one of the open studios I went to,

into a pretty summer brooch.

Oh and I've signed up for a couple of swaps as well so a 

very crafty week.

Hope you have all had a good week and

have a great weekend.

 I'll see you all soon.

Gillxx

Better Late Than Never

I should have written this post last week but life,as per usual,

overtook me and before I knew where I was I had to 

post my Scavenger Hunt photos.

So here is my catch up on my days out from last week.

This lovely lady is Lynne from Textile Treasury,

a blog I have been following for a while and

who is doing the Norfolk Open Studios this year.

I think quite a few places do this where local artists

open their studies or houses for 2 weeks every year

for people to come and view

their work. I love going around mainly either textile

artists or potters studies.

My friend Chris and I thought we would have 

an afternoon out and pop along to say hello to Lynne..

She was every bit as nice as I thought she would be

and the 3 of us had a good old natter about life in general

before Chris and I "Ooohed and Aaahed' over Lynnes work.

It was a dreary day so the photos aren't as good as

they could be but there are some more on Lynnes blog. 

I love the real mix of fabrics on these quilts which remind me

of a Kaffe Fassett quilt book I have and who I know

Lynne is a fan off.

These I think are really fun.

It's great to meet fellow bloggers who you feel you already know

and who turn out to be someone you want to meet up with again.

We must have that coffee Lynne.

Saturday I returned to the part of the world where I spent

my childhood.

Mr T and I went to see the Rugby Union premiership final

at Twickenham Rugby ground.

We were a couple of hours earlier than we needed to be

so we walked through some of the places I remember as a child.

The park I used to go to has planted a huge swathe of 

wild flowers which looks fabulous and was a totally 

unexpected sight.

We had an ice cream walking along the Thames tow path

looking at the boats and watching the crowds. 

it was such a lovely morning I'm not surprised so many

people came out for a walk or cycle although alot

of them were rugby fans like us killing time.

I had forgotten how nice the Thames is this far up.

This is Richmond Lock which I had to walk across as a child to 

get to the swimming pool. Not sure parents would let

their children go out on their own now like they used in the 60's and 70's.

I must have been quite young as we moved to Devon 

when I was 11.

Having had a lovely walk down memory lane it was

time for the main event and watch the rugby.

World Cup next year so here's hoping we can get tickets for that.

Thank you for all your lovely comments, I love receiving them

even if I don't always reply to them.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

See you soon.

Gillx

Birthday Treats.

 Aren't friends wonderful!

I just had to show you the birthday tea

my lovely friend Chris bought for me on Tuesday.

We went to Folly's tea rooms in Holt 

which has been in a couple of magazines recently

including Country Living.

It is tucked away in a little courtyard

with pretty gardens.

I absolutely love the mix of colours with these Tulips.

But of course it was raining when we went

so we sat in the new orangery extension

and looked out at the garden from the dry.

Everything is served on nice old china

and as it was a Birthday treat I got a candle

and a rendition of Happy Birthday which 

made me feel very special.

It's the little things like that which  really matter

sometimes, isn't it.

You even get a fresh rose on the plate of scones.

 After our tea we had a nice wander around the shops 

and spent a bit of money just to round things off.

I had a Wonderful morning

so thank you so much Chris.

 And Thank You to another friend, Carol,

for this fabulous Azalea which makes me smile everytime

I open the back door.

Yes friends are wonderful things.

Gillxx