A Derbyshire life…..local walks and events and some crafty stuff
We are not very good at identifying wildlife - birds, butterflies, wildflowers are all pretty much a mystery to us. We don't let it put us off though and we are getting better at it and it doesn't stop us from appreciating the pretty and peaceful nature reserves. This time it is the turn of Theddlethorpe dunes nature reserve on the east coast in Lincolnshire.
During our recent holiday to Suffolk the (mostly) dreadful weather forced us to spend a day in Norwich. Obviously we really went there to see the cathedral, but as we parked in the John Lewis car park it would have been rude not to go in and buy something :). We did make it to the cathedral though and it really is very impressive, both in it's architecture and age. This year we have visited two of England's ancient cathedrals; Canterbury and Norwich. It would be difficult to pick out a favourite as both were equally interesting days out; in Canterbury we were unexpectedly entertained by a young choir from America and in Norwich we managed to tag onto a tour of the cathedral which was very nicely done and very informative.
Today has been a lovely, relaxing sewing day in the company of nice people making nice things. A glow of niceness is surrounding me. It has also been a productive day as I'm making the most of these sewing Sundays to makes some finishes to things started a long time ago. This time, I'm working on a quilt top that I completed at least 2.5 years ago. It's a scrap quilt who's mission was to use some left over blocks from another quilt, so these form the centre of the quilt. The rest of it is made from a load of half square triangle blocks that I made from piles of scrap 5" squares bought at Nottingham Patchwork Group. This part was an experiment for me in scrap quilting - ie making a load of disparate squares of fabric which just don't go together at all, to look absolutely fantastic and beautifully coordinated. I was really pleased with the result, especially the way that the colours transition around the quilt as I laid it out to colour blend from reds and greens, to blues and then browns, and so on. The only trouble was that when I had finished I just wasn't keen on the centre blocks compared to the outer scrap blocks. The passage of time works wonders though, because now I really like it. I must have just looked at it so much before that I got quilt fatigue. Anyway, today's objective was to layer up the quilt with the backing fabric and the wadding, first cutting the backing fabric and joining it together to fit. I was a bit frugal when I bought the backing fabric and it was only just big enough so hopefully I've got it centred properly. I thought it would take all day to do that, but it only took the morning. It was really nice to be able to do it on tables rather than lots of grovelling around on the floor, which has been my usual modus operandi. After lunch I started the quilting and since I'm quilting it simply I think I should be able to finish it the next time I have a sewing Sunday. Mind you, my next sewing Sunday is a workshop so I will end up with yet another thing to finish - you start some, you finish some :)
I've had a few days off during the February half term holiday and been able to spend some time just doing stuff; some baking, some chilling, some walking.......and I've had some new binoculars. Admittedly, these are for my birthday, even though it's not my birthday for ages, but well, I needed them now whilst I was on holiday. Anyway, this is how we spent our holiday at home:-
I've been trying to eat more greens and have been experimenting with adding spinach to, well, almost everything. A very colourful breakfast ensued with green sourdough pancakes (with spinach) and purple smoothies with blackberries, banana, avacado, yoghurt and coconut water. It was quite a substantial breakfast and so needed a walk to work it off. I should probably say that the pancakes did taste much nicer than they looked.
A spell of nice weather (and a huge breakfast) meant that we needed to be out and about so we went to Crich for a short but glorious walk. We parked near the purple dot below and set off along The Tors which is a ridge with a great view over Crich and Amber Valley to one side and views over the hills towards Matlock and Crich memorial on the other side. The main objective of the walk was to investigate some building works at Ambergate reservoir (marked 'Resr' on the map). The underground reservoir was built 100 years ago and was in need of rebuilding and extending, although we didn't know all this until we reached it. We skirted around the reservoir, and up through Bilberry wood, climbing up the steepest bit of hill to get back onto The Tors and into Crich. It wasn't a long walk, but it certainly gave the lungs some exercise.
We are not very good at bird watching, in fact binoculars are usually called 'bird scarers' in our house. This does not put us off from watching the birds if we can find any. In our quest to try out the new binoculars, we made a visit to a nearby reservoir at Ogston. Disappointingly, there doesn't seem to be much access to the reservoir unless you are a member of the bird club, so we zoomed up to Carsington reservoir which is a much bigger (blooming huge) reservoir near Wirksworth with a visitor centre and loads of public bird hides.
A final baking extravaganza for Sunday family tea included a mixed seed sourdough loaf and a marzipan and mincemeat tea loaf. Plus of course, I've been waffling for Britain as described on a previous post.
It seems such a long time ago, but here are few photo's of our holly jollidays in Kent at New Year. We stayed in a lovely Grade II listed Elizabethan dower house which had huge fireplaces which were fantastic with roaring log fires burning. It also had some interesting topiary which included a row of dancing ladies (with big bosoms). We visited the beach at Botany Bay to see the chalk stacks and had a bracing walk along the beach and cliff top. We were near to Canterbury so spent a day wandering the shops after visiting the cathedral. Whilst at the cathedral we had an unexpected (and beautiful) choir recital from a young American choir.
One very wet day we went to Margate and visited the shell grotto. This is a small underground passageway covered in ornate shell mosaics. It's origin is unknown and the shells have lost their lustre but it is strangely quite beautiful. We also went to the Turner Contemporary gallery which is on the site where the painter JMW Turner stayed in a guest house. It was of course quite compulsory to have tea and cake. I created my own contemporary art work from a photo taken of the sea from within the gallery.
On New Year's day we went to Deal for a walk along the pier and a breath of fresh air. We also visited the Deal Time Ball Tower Museum which was quite fascinating and we all had a New Year's day free mulled wine to warm the cockles (which really did need warming by then).
Sunday morning and the sun is shining. Time to drop everything else and go for a quick walk - Christmas can wait. We decided to go to the barns to do a little circular route along the footpaths and down to the railway centre and then back up to the barns. It's a walk we've done a couple of times before but it was extremely muddy today and we were slipping and sliding all over the place. I was really glad it was just a short walk because it was really hard work underfoot and we were in serious danger of going arse over elbow (or at least I was) and when we finally got home, the rain arrived and it was miserable again. It was a well timed and very welcome brief interlude from the mild and wet weather we have had for the last few weeks.
It's hard to believe that a year has passed since I went to the Bakewell woolly show last year, but it has come around again. This year I managed to get a place on a 'Freeform Crochet' workshop with Pauline Fitzpatrick. I mostly follow patterns when I'm making anything, usually because I don't have time or ingenuity to make up my own. I have a few notable exceptions such as Wendy Wensleydale, but on the whole I tend to use or adapt someone else's pattern. I've wanted to have a go at freeform crochet for a while but have not made the time to play and research how to go about it so took the plunge when I saw that there was a place left on the workshop. It didn't disappoint. The pieces of work Pauline had brought were quite stunning and she was wearing a marvellous freeform crochet cardy. I'm not sure I will ever manage anything quite so detailed, but was quite pleased with my effort on the day. I took some photo's of Pauline's work at the workshop, but the photo's really didn't do them any justice so haven't included them.
I have a bag of crochet motifs that I have been building up on a periodic basis. Most of them I've done when I've been away on holiday as it is really easy to just pick up a ball of wool and a hook and do a motif or two and then pack it all away after the holiday. I made a start joining them together to make a funky wrap or poncho, but there are some odd shaped gaps so thought that I might learn some techniques during the workshop to fit them together better. I've certainly got a few more ideas on how to finish it now. The only problem is that I haven't an excuse for not finishing my wrap thingy apart from the old lame excuse of lack of time!
I have been very productive this week on the crochet and knitting front. I wanted to use up the left over super chunky wool from the fox cowl, plus a ball I bought on holiday, and I found a fab free pattern for a headband for using it up. It took a while to work out the pattern, but once I'd sussed it there was no stopping me. I found that I could easily make one an evening, and on Sunday I made two! The last two were in black and I don't have a photo of these as they have already been despatched as birthday presents. Anyway, it was really satisfying using up all the wool. I also made a pair of chunky mittens to match the fox cowl and these would have been made in an evening as well except that I inadvertently made two right mittens and had to re-do one as a left mitten!
I'll finish with an absolutely stunning sunset. Our temporary accommodation might be bijou but it has a surprisingly lovely view. I say temporary, but we've been there a year now and it's beginning to feel quite permanent, somewhat disturbingly!
Ooh, I nearly forgot. We had a lovely walk at Carsington water last week. It's just stunning driving through the Derwent valley on the way to the reservoir, but it was equally beautiful there too.
I just can't stop........here are a couple of photo's from the barns. It's turning very autumnal everywhere. I really love autumn........ when the sun is shining, and absolutely hate it when it's foggy and dark.
We are not far from Heage windmill, the only 6 sailed stone windmill in England. It was restored to working order in 2002 and has been my source of wheat grain and stone ground white flour for the past 18 months. It is in crisis at the moment due to a wet rot problem in the main beam holding the sails and tail, and is trying to raise £50,000 towards the £90,000 estimated bill. Click the link if you want to help the restoration of this historic mill.
Last Wednesday It was very much like the song "I can see the sunshine after the rain", because after an overnight swamping, the sun came out in the late afternoon and it was just too beautiful to ignore. We decided on a short walk from Heage windmill, going down the valley and then following part of the route of the Cromford Canal. I was particularly intrigued by a section of the map marked 'Starvehimvalley Bridge' and so had to go and visit it before making our way back up to the windmill. It was a short walk but it was so nice to be outside in the sun.
A blog diary of my creative life in Derbyshire with crochet, quilting, knitting, embroidery, textile art and baking......and barn conversions
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