UK TRIP 2019 - MOUNT GRACE PRIORY.

Heading out one morning from Scarborough with a plan in mind, we entered our destination into the SatNav & started on our way, only to find we had headed into a disused quarry, although a lot of people were walking in the area.  We did speak to another couple who had also got lost, so this time I found the postcode & we arrived safely at our chosen destination.

Very bleak and definitely not where we'd intended.  Turned around & finally found this............

I'm always blown away by the spectacular ruins we see in the UK & this didn't disappoint.
Exploring was on the agenda & we viewed the cells where the monks lived & worked.

 I expect this is probably not the original furniture, but it certainly gives an idea of how they would                                                                                 have lived.

                                              Each monk had a tiny garden outside to tend.

                                                                       Also a privy.
Outside again, wandering the grounds was peaceful, quiet & so serene & green.

Wandering back through the main part of the church I noticed this cross, so another snap.

Walked round to the other side to see if there was any writing on it & much to my surprise, I saw.......

                                                                             THIS
                                                                     Isn't it amazing?
Still wandering and taking photos.

The grounds.

The gardens.

The beautiful priory house.

It had a date stone, which again always takes me aback.  So much older than any structure in Oz.

                                                                       1654,  wow!!
Just one last photo I couldn't resist.

Cyclamen in all their beauty.  Something we very rarely see here, either.
Lots more photos were taken, but I won't bombard you with too many and sometimes something in my archives comes in handy for our Scavenger Photo Hunts.😉
Although I've been trying to do these on Mondays, yesterday slipped past in a bit of a blur.  We went for a nice long walk, as it was sunny after such a nasty weekend.  Another walk is scheduled for today after lunch, plus maybe a bit more weeding of dandelions from back grass (can't really call it lawn) and some sewing which I need to catch up on too, plus my on-line grocery order (ugh).
Hope you are all hanging in there, stay safe, take care and huggles from this oldie down under.
Susan.

SEWING ON SUNDAY - 2.

A week has passed since I decided to do this and not much has happened and a lot has happened.  It all depends how you view it in this time of crisis..
I've made headway on the quilt, but 'alas', now I am stumped for fabric for the 2 borders, all because I thought that I was being clever using a pretty charm pack given by my friend.  And, it's not as if I haven't a wonderful choice in my stash.  I'll contemplate during the week, auditioning & see what I finally figure out.  This little quilt is destined for the little one over the road.  3 months old & I can't even have a nurse till the world tries to be normal.
OK, here is a little more of how I went about it.  Remember, this is just me doing, not a tutorial or quiltalong, thinking it may be interesting in these tough times.

Cutting the ingredients - ha, ha.

From the charm pack, take 25 5"  squares
From sashing fabric, cut 8 2.5" strips from width of fabric, then cut into 60 2.5" x 5" rectangles.
From the cornerstone fabric,  cut 3 2.5" strips from width of fabric, then cut into 40 2.5" squares.

1.  Sew a sashing piece to one side of each of the 5" charm squares. (25 in all).

                                                I then pressed them towards the square.

I actually chain sewed 5 at once, snipped them apart, then pressed.  I need to keep moving a lot, because of my back.  Probably not how most people work & I took photos as I went, uh, when I                                                                                        remembered.
2.  Sew a cornerstone to one side of each, of 30 sashing pieces.

I did exactly the same with the sashing strips, pressing again towards the square, so that once we sew all the rows together, the seams nest neatly.
Before I sewed the rows, I played with placement of the colour on my design wall, until I found a combination that looked OK to me.

                                                                  The mock up so far.

We'll leave it there for this week, so anyone even attempting this with me can have a week to play.

I have decided to try this in another colourway too from fabric in my stash.  This one will also be a baby quilt for someone who we know through picking up our car club newsletters printed locally.  She gave birth to a little girl in mid March, amid this pandemic.  Not the best time for babies, but they will be so precious. 
Time for a cuppa, so that's all for today & hope you are all doing well.
Take care, stay safe & hugggles.
Susan.

FRIDAY WALK.

Thank heavens we went for a good walk yesterday, as we have ferocious wind, bouts of driving rain & it is just plain cold today.  It was a lovely day for a walk so we took advantage & tried a slightly longer route with a new street we'd not trod before.
Taking my camera with me, we spotted all sorts for me to snap.  Quite a few to show..........
Along the grass verges....

                                                               We spied a buttercup.

                                                         Tiny white & yellow daisies.

                                                                        Clusters of fungi.

                         A view over the south eastern edge of town from a higher vantage point.

                                                   A beautiful eucalyptus all snowy white.

 The black seeds forming on a decaying agapanthus head on a large vacant block, where they demolished a lovely old brick art deco type house.  It is still waiting for development one day.

A timber walkway at the bottom of a sloping small parkland.  Quite often you see a kookaburra perched on here.
We crossed the road and headed towards home through what we call a linear park running alongside a tiny watercourse & usually a thoroughfare between two streets.

Notice the smaller notice under the sign.  They are dotted around anywhere there is a childrens' playground.

                                                                  Said small play area.

                                                                                                               

These trees are again eucalyptus, that we always refer to as stringy barks.  Not sure that is correct, but you'll notice they shed a lot of bark.  Below it has gathered at the foot of this tree.

                                                More fungi gathered in little hiding places.

 Looking back along the path from where we had walked.  You can see some grass & the side of the watercourse with a lot of untidy growth at the moment.

Closer to home we came across a very late flower on the Ficifolia, another one of the many gums.

One last snippet I'm leaving you with, are these holes we encounter from time to time near the watercourses.  They belong to Burrowing Crayfish of West Gippsland & build these chimney type mounds around their burrows.  I've never actually seen one, so I must do some research, though I do know they are endangered.  We see them in quite a few places, but I'd not noticed them in this linear park before, so will keep my eye on them.
Well that's all from me now, but I'll be back tomorrow.  I'm having days & even minutes where I feel all at odds with the world,  but it more or less passes & my more frequent blogging is helping, even if boring for some.
I want everyone to take extra care, stay safe & hugs from a very windy down under.
Susan. xx

CRAFTY MID-WEEK CATCHUP.

Just a couple of photos from what we've been trying to keep busy with.  Seems so weird, as we are retired & have plenty of time on our hands, but are finding it hard concentrating on anything.  We've spoken to a few friends via the phone & they are the same.  Anyway, I'm sure everyone has their own thoughts on our restrictions at the moment, so my posts are going to be all sorts in an ordinary way.

A recent quilt finish.

I think I showed this on the machine last month.  Binding done & now a fancyish photo shoot.(ha,ha).  I called this Second Helping due to recolouring it from the original I designed.

The fabrics I used were sitting waiting for "something" for a long time.  I play with my fabrics & put them together in little bundles.  This one began with the floral, then I found pink on white which my mother gave me loooooooooong time ago, which had the Tour de France as its theme.  Not the best photo, as the light was bad, but you should see what I'm talking about.  The colouring works, even if it is a strange combination.

Crochet.

Working on my Dahlia rug from Lucy of Attic 24.  It is so bright & cheery, easy & therapeutic is this lockdown.

DIY woodworking by Hubby.

Made from pallets and the old sink from our Car Clubrooms, when the new kitchen was installed.  It still needs finishing, but a lovely timber top to cover the second sink is in the making & we will paint it in a nice bright colour.  Somewhere for me to work without bending & hurting my back.

A bit of both of us in the next photo.

Occasionally I've been working on the lazy daisy butterfly which I' going to put in a hoop.  Hubby made the bowl, which when you push down it lays flat.  It is fascinating & something he'd wanted to try for a while.
That is just a little wrap up of what we've done.  Been walking most days, when the weather is fine & this morning I made a Mocha Yoghurt cake & a Golden Ginger slice to keep us going for the next week or two.  The mundane side of running the home is keeping us busy too. 
Hope everyone is well & staying as sane as can be.  Take care all, stay safe & huggles.
Susan.

UK TRIP 2019 - NOSTELL PRIORY.

Another Monday already!!  Well I do have the catching up bug.

We spent a lovely day at Nostell Priory in Wakefield wandering the gardens & parkland, camera in hand.  Probably too many photos, so I chose some to show today.

                                              The facade of the house is very impressive.

                                    The veg beds in the walled garden were very productive.

Pumpkins or squash.

                                          A long vista of the garden enclosed by high walls.

Then we went walking through the beautiful parklands surrounding the house.

                                          There were several water features we came across.

         This wonderful tree with a supported branch.  I can see children would love playing along this.

                                                  I found this fence absolutely fascinating.

                                       Along the path you come to this arch in the stone wall.

                                                   A closeup of the indentation of a cross.

                                           This small building had the most beautiful doors.
My memory is letting me down & I do wish I'd picked up a better brochure of some of the features around the Priory.  Sorry about the lack of information.

                   This photo was taken in the vicinity of a small zoo on the site at one time.

                        A willow sculpture, which I really like. Something we don't see out here.

                                         And something else we never see, a clapper bridge.
We kept on walking along another path & out into more open countryside on the estate & along the way saw these.

                                   Passed more water with waterlilies & and an arched bridge.

                                                              Another entrance gate.

A path led down through some woods with a steep bit, so the sign says.  I loved the cogs used as a sculpture.
Last, but not least was this sign below in the stable block.

This was another great day out & one I could cross off my bucket list of things I'd wanted to see.
Hope you enjoy.
Take care all, stay safe in these tough times & huggles from down under.
Susan.
                                 

SEWING ON SUNDAY - 1.

Just a quick post, wondering if anyone would like to sew along with me on Sundays to make a small, very easy quilt.  It's just a thought.  I do believe there are lots of sewalongs on social media at the moment, but I've been going to do this for a long time.
I'll give a little glimpse of what I'm talking about.

I designed this on my Quilt Wizard program when I got it back in 2008 & it was the second I'd tried on it, which was a lot of trial & error.  I've never made this quilt myself, though I did pass the pattern on to someone and gave away a kit & pattern to a friend. 
I am using a Charm Pack my friend Joy gave me when I admired it.  Lovely to have quilty friends who are generous.😊

I've picked the lighter fabric for the sashing & lime green for the cornerstones.  The inner border & outer border will be chosen once I'm satisfied with the middle after it is sewn.  I am using all of this from my stash, especially as we can't go anywhere.
The charm pack had 48 5" squares of which I'll be using 25.
The sashing fabric uses 60cm.
The cornerstones uses 40cm.
The inner border needs 30cm & the outer border approximately 50cm.

OK, I'll be back next Sunday with another small post on how to start cutting & sewing the first installment.
Take care all, stay safe & huggles from Susan.