Making crafty and useful stuff with fabric.

Hello. It's a lovely morning and I want to get on the bus and go to Hull, so here is a quickie. The notebook cover I started on Monday is finished. They are so easy to make, sew strips of fabric together with the machine. Add cross stitch and sequins, make a lining for it, and blanket stitch the top and bottom together, making inside pockets to slide the front and back cover in.  

Front. 

Back.

Inside front.

Inside back.

My next project. Unpicking the stitching on a duvet to separate the layers, which will then be cut up and made into cushions and pet beds.



Phew, I'm busy. Don't forget, walkers unite, it's the last day of the month. Tomorrow is check in day for the Walking Group, we want to know your mileage, whatever it is. I know some of you are forging ahead and doing splendidly, but it isn't a race, it's all about taking part. It's about doing some walking, it doesn't have to be marathons, you just need to get up off your bums and walk.
Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Motorcycle gear for sale.

I haven't owned a motor cycle for many years, the last one was a Honda CX500 custom, which I sold more than 20 years ago before I moved house. But I kept the gear thinking I might buy another one, one day. Well that day has never arrived and I have moved on, no point in hanging onto my leathers, so they have to go. As well as the gear I am modelling here, I also have a good quality, padded waterproof oversuit. 

I've had a card in the local shop window for a month, no enquiries. I asked a friend who is a biker if he knows someone who might be interested, he goes on rallies and belongs to a club. He said he could ask at the club next time he goes. He might get there tonight after work, but if he doesn't he offered to photograph and put it on Facebook for me. I suppose I could do that myself but I don't want the faff that goes with it, people enquiring, coming to have a look, haggling over the price, etc.

This morning I had a brainwave. I don't need the few quid it would fetch, why not give it away, easy peasy. I don't want to put it on Freecycle or Freegle or whatever, you don't know who is coming to your house for it. I rang the guy who does the motorcycle training and he said he could find new owners for it. So, I have just delivered it to him, and hopefully some young trainee who perhaps can't afford to buy new, will get some benefit from it. Makes me feel better, gets it out of my house, sending it off to a new life with a new owner.

What goes round comes round. Janet gave me a lovely jacket, and a lady has dropped off an unwanted duvet with me this morning and I will turn it into cushions for the church. Recycling, reusing, repurposing, keeps stuff out of landfill, got to be good for the planet.

Second post today, that's ya lot. Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Inspiring you to walk.

Good Morning, having a flick round the internet before I get off my bum and do something. Noticed this on Twitter which might be of interest to some people in the UK, especially those who love walking. Yesterday was the start of The Great Big Walk, organised by the Eden Project. It's aim is for five groups of people to walk five different routes starting at Batley Yorkshire, in 21 days. They will be stopping off along the way meeting people at community events. Destinations are Scotland, Ireland, Wales, the South West, and London. Have a look at the web site to see if they are coming your way, you might want to go out and cheer them on.

Here is a little video



They are not coming past my neck of the woods, but no matter, I am happy to walk alone, but if you are looking for company, see if they are coming your way. Anything that promotes walking for exercise has got to be a win win situation.

Catch you later. Toodle pip
Second post done, no more today. xxx

Heidi learning keyboard skills.

Hello. It's goodbye summer and hello autumn here today. Damp and drizzly all day, now chucking it down with rain. Blow that for a game of soldiers, I'm not going out for a walk today, no sireeee. Twas a bit quiet at Crafty Club this morning, just the two of us, made a change because I could actually get a word in edgeways instead of battling against the banter going backwards and forwards across the table. Last night I machined a few pieces of fabric together to make a book cover to take with me. I added some cross stitch to it. 

This afternoon I made some more shopping bags, now I have 14 to sell on the cat stall next month. Owain the Welsh weather man kept me company, he is now a presenter on BBC Radio York, and his lively chat keeps me entertained.

My lunch today was a big fat sandwich. I am really getting into them now, and they are getting fatter and fatter as I stuff more filling into them. For dinner tonight I made a pan of this whatever you like to call it. A chopped onion, three mushrooms, handful of frozen peas, and broad beans, two pieces of frozen spinach, and some Quorn mince. It's sort of mild curryish with turmeric and vegetable granules for seasoning. Instead of water I gave it a slosh of cranberry juice. Served on a bed of tagliatelle. There is enough for two more meals which I will eat tomorrow and the next day. It's very tasty, and filling.  

Now I am being interrupted, Heidi's nose is two inches away from this keyboard, she is demanding my attention. I'm not going to get much more done tonight so I might as well give up. Perhaps I can get her to write the blog posts in future.

Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip.

I'm in the pink.

Hello. I've had a nice day today. Did my walk straight after breakfast, a bit more painting on the garage door, made some plastic flowers on sticks, gave them to Janet to put in her pots, and she gave me a jacket that is too big for her. As you can see it fits me perfectly. 

Now I'm going outside to water the flower beds, then I have to get something ready to take to Crafty Club in the morning, need to start a new project that can be transported in a bag. Something small.

Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon. Enjoy your Bank Holiday Monday.
Toodle pip

Saturday summary

Hello. We've had a couple of downpours today, not as much as those down south though. I was outside painting the garage doors, and had to hurriedly retreat indoors as the heavens opened. The job might get finished in a few days, I have a short attention span so I am doing it a bit at a time. Pity I haven't got enough of the same colour paint to do the whole lot, never mind, no one else will have doors like mine. 

The car was loaded up this morning, cat litter is flippin heavy, my poor springs. The Focus Estate is a good workhorse. A local cat litter factory has a clear out every so often and offers the cat rescues round here the old stock which they can't sell for one reason or another. Some of it is contaminated, a mixture of two or more different varieties, this happens when the packing machines change over from one to the other. Some of it is old stock which the customer no longer requires. Before they dump it in landfill they tell us to come and collect what we want. The men this morning were very helpful, getting it out with the forklift truck and helping us load it into the cars. It's good of them to offer it to the rescues first before it gets chucked, saves us a lot of money. 

I went to town this afternoon, needed to stock up on nuts and seeds for my breakfast cereals. Aldi for the nuts, Holland and Barrett for the seeds. While I was there I had a look at the new exhibition in the Arts Centre. Some amazing Lego models, I'll post some pictures soon.

I have decided to get rid of my motorcycle gear, I'm never going to ride a bike again so not much point in hanging on to them. I have a leather jacket and trousers, boots, helmet, and full waterproof suit. There's a couple of bike shops and a training centre on the way to town that might be able to make use of them, but they were closed today so I'll have to go back another time.

I am beginning to feel a bit out of touch with the pop world, it's all moved on since I was a teenager screaming at the Beatles. There is a big outdoor Radio1 pop concert on over the border in Yorkshire this weekend, and I've never heard of any of the performers. I hadn't heard of Ariana until this week. I have no idea who these up and coming young stars are.

Soon the pop festivals start, and I have to admit I have never been to one. The only festival I have been to is a truck festival. I can't see the point in being trapped in a crowd peering at some dots leaping about on a stage. You can look at the big screen but you might as well watch it at home in the comfort of your arm chair. Nope, I don't fancy that at all. Years ago I did see The Rolling Stones at Stafford, I was lucky enough to be at the front, and The Kinks and The Honeycombs at our local  dance hall, quite a small venue. Years later I saw Meatloaf at the NEC and Cher at Sheffield. That's about it, never been to a pop festival.

The sky looks very angry, looks like another storm is brewing. The cats are in and I am going to watch something on yooootoooob, so I'll sign off. Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Making art out of a tennis racquet

Hello. I'm having to choose the times I go outside because it's swelteringly hot out there. Early morning is best when the sun is behind the trees, then late afternoon early evening when the sun is over the other side of the house. I'm halfway through painting the garage doors, and have painted a couple of pots. The lawns are mowed, and the wheelie bin is full of hedge trimmings, and they don't collect it until Wednesday. I did my walk last night at 9pm, nice and cool. 

Sounds daft but the hot weather is keeping me indoors, but hey, I've been getting on with this tennis racquet project and now it's finished. You may remember I bought it for £1 at a car boot sale a few months back. 

 Make a template out of paper and check if I have made enough embroidered circles.

Wrap the frame of the racquet in strips of red velvet, and add white/silver wool.

A piece of snooker table green baize for the background, with strips of green fabric machined on.

Arrange circles and hand stitch them on, using the same stitching adding to the designs already there. Sequins and beads then added to make it sparkly.

I backed the green baize with a piece of old blanket to make it thicker.

Pin it in place and hand sew it together with tiny green stitches. Silver sequins and tiny yellow beads decorate the frame. The back is completely covered with a piece of red felt.

I'm well chuffed with this, it's exactly how I pictured it when I thought of the idea. It reminds me of sea anenomies swaying in a gentle flowing rock pool.

The weekend is here, and it's a Bank Holiday, enjoy. I hope you are all keeping up with your walking, I am ahead in miles but still aiming to get out most days. I feel as if I am cheating if I do not walk. Thank you to Elaine for the package, the fabric is lovely and will be used for something special.

Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Llanfair etc, and Llandudno

Hello. Here we are on the last day of the holiday, well actually Sunday was supposed to be the last day, but after a look round Llandudno I decided to head back on Saturday. Before leaving Anglesey I needed to pop into Llanfair thingymajig, to get a pic of the famous long name at the station. There is a large car park which belongs to the big department store on the same site. Signs everywhere saying it is for customers only. I only wanted to stop for ten minutes so I took a chance that they would not check number plates. After I took the photo's I did actually buy something there, so technically I was a customer. 

Picture this, a massive car park almost empty. I chose a bay at the end of a row, empty space to my left, because I don't want to get my car door bashed by inconsiderate drivers. Someone pulled in right next to me and filled the space. Why did he do that! I started my engine and moved a few feet to my right to leave a bigger gap between us. Big bloke gets out and thanks me for giving him more room to open his door. For goodness sake, he had the whole of the car park to chose from, what a dipstick. 

And if you can's say it, try this. Double Dutch to me. I think most people use the shortened version.

My last port of call was Llandudno. I thought I might stay here the night, but when I arrived there were thousands of holiday makers and day trippers. Chose the wrong day really, it was bound to be busy on a Saturday. The streets were chocablock with parked cars, I went in a car park and paid £1 for two hours, and had a look around. I didn't enjoy it, my first thought was to get the heck out of there. It was dull and overcast and threatening to rain. As I drove out of the town along the promenade the traffic wasn't so bad and there was free parking on the left so I decided to dump the car there and walk back along the prom.

Lots of very large hotels.

Heading towards the pier. Weather still a bit mizzley but at least it didn't chuck it down.

I decided to take a walk up the Great Orme, following signs for Happy Valley.

Good views. The prom there in the distance.

The higher I went the better the views.

There is a Swiss Chalet style cafe and shop, an artificial ski slope, a snowboard slope, and a toboggan run. These were very popular, everyone enjoying themselves despite the cool and breezy weather.

Climb a bit higher.

Fantastic views from up here. No cable cars running today, closed because of wind I imagine.

The Happy Valley gardens were very pretty, plenty of benches to sit down and rest for a few minutes.

This is a good site for more photo's of the Trail.

Once back in the town I found the Tramway Station. It was very busy, people queuing to get on.

Off it goes up the hill.

Still people waiting to get on the next one. Too busy for me, I hate queuing.

It was 3.45pm when I got back to my car, what to do now? Too early to find a room, so I set off towards home, with the intention of calling in to see John on the way. I didn't know if he was going to be there or not, yep, he was in as you know, we had a laugh, he was getting ready to go out, so I carried on. I needed petrol so stopped for that, I rang my friend Lin at Ellesmere Port and she said she was in. I had originally said I would be there on the Sunday, but as I couldn't think of anywhere else I wanted to go it seemed a good place to end the day. It was smashing to see her again, we had a lot to talk about over a couple of beers. A good end to the holiday.

It was a smashing holiday. I might go to Wales again at some point in the future, the scenery is great, and there are lots of places of interest to visit.

The weather has been hot hot hot today, plenty to do in the garden. In fact it's half past seven, still sunny, and I am going back out there to do a bit of hedge trimming. Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Holyhead Coastal Walk

Hello, I thought I might go up Snowdon while I was in North Wales, but after looking at videos on yooootooob, I decided against it. It seems the summit is often obliterated by swarms of people all pouring off the train and climbing the steps to the top. I didn't fancy that at all. I decided to go up a little mountain on Anglesey instead, and Holyhead Mountain looked like just the ticket. 

As I was about to set off from the hotel a coach pulled up and discharged about fifty ramblers who set off down the path I had planned to take. Oh dear. I gave them a ten minute start and off I went. Maybe we wouldn't bump into each other once we got going. My plan was to take the coastal path then head up and over the top of the mountain. Maybe they had a different plan and I wouldn't see them again.  

I hadn't been going long before I came to an interesting building, it is quite high up so can be seen from the hotel below. On closer inspection I was disappointed that it had been fenced off and was in fact derelict. Such a shame, it must have been a beautiful building when it was occupied. I was speaking to a lady walking her dog, she said it belonged to the Ministry of Defence. 

Around the back was another building, also derelict.

The rugged coastline around this area is beautiful.

Large white pebbles litter the beach.

Onward I went, some of the paths are quite wide and easy to walk.

I'm going up there.

And up there.

Oh no, look who I have caught up.

I take a ten minute break to let them get ahead.

The weather was perfect, while the rain poured back home I was in brilliant sunshine. This is North Stack, a redundant fog signal station. Another break to admire the view.

Two boats go backwards and forwards to Ireland from Holyhead.

Stunning views.

After going up and over the mountain I arrived at South Stack Lighthouse, a bit further round the coast.

There they are again. I'll wait and let them get ahead.

I carried on around the coastal path and caught up with the ramblers again at a cafe. After a quick loo break I set off ahead of them.

This helicopter was hovering for ages over the land ahead of me, and eventually flew away.

Oh wow, a blue lagoon, so beautiful. After glancing behind me I saw the ramblers catching me up, so I stopped again and let them get ahead. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind seeing a few people when I am out and about, but I don't want to walk with a whole bunch of them.

Time was getting on and I needed to turn inland back to Holyhead, at that point I got off the coastal path and left the ramblers to it.

It was a couple of miles back to the hotel at the Marina. I picked up some food at Lidl and did what I always do when out walking, have a picnic in my room. Cheaper to spend £3 - £4 in a shop than £12 on a meal in a restaurant. I watched an hour of telly because sadly I couldn't get onto the internet.

I have checked the mileage, today was twelve. In total for the holiday it was 46 miles. One more day left to report on, I'll post that tomorrow.

Who needs big mountains when there are little beauties like this. It was a fabulous day. Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip