Home away from home

I'm sure this will be the first of several posts from the Lake District holiday we just took, but I haven't finished sorting through the pictures yet so I can't say how many there will be. I figured I'd start with a quick post about where we stayed.We were in the little village of Chapel Stile, just inside the Langdale Valley. We had an adorable cottage in a row of beautiful slate cottages (ours is the one with door open above). I didn't take any inside pictures but if you're really interested you can check out the video here.This was the fabulous view from the front door, looking out over Lingmoor fell. The grassy area in the foreground was a big communal front garden for the row of cottages, if you stood at the bottom of this you had this magnificent view of the Langdale Pikes in the distance.There was so much beautiful walking to do right from the doorstop. At the side of our little row of cottages was a fabulous little footpath leading straight on to the fells behind.This little row of stone steps led up to a gate and right behind the gate was the most adorable little outbuilding right next to a little waterfallI can't tell you how pretty this little place was. I went for a paddle in the waterfall after one walk, the water was freezing but felt wonderful on my poor tired feet :)

Just before I finish, one last little look at the row of cottages as seen nestled in to the fell side from the other side of the valley bottom.I could have quite happily moved in to this wonderful little place forever, but sadly all holidays have to come to an end at some point.

3CS - Quail

A little catch up post. This is something I made for the 3CS colour palette challenge and it was finished just before I went on holiday. If you've been following you'll know that I have been exploring cloth doll making in these challenges but with no sewing machine I decided to attempt something a bit smaller. So I went for the Quail pattern from ' The Artful Bird' Book by Abigail Patner.You might also know that orange is my favourite colour so there was no way I was going to miss out making something from this colour palette.Not a partridge in a pear tree but a quail in a Bay tree. :)

I'm Back

I'm back from a wonderful week in the lovely Lake District. I have lots to share with you both creative stuff and pictures of the beautiful Langdale valley where we stayed. But for now I only have time to pop by and say a quick 'hi' I have all the holiday laundry to do, a million blogs to read, a man coming to fix the garden fence and hopefully fingers crossed I'll also be making a trip out to pick up my much missed sewing machine Jemimah today!

Nothing to Declare

With my machine still at the repairers (and not likely to be back for another 2 weeks - waiting on a part) I don't really have a lot to show at the moment. I'm working on a little hand stitchery, I'm using a photo I recently took of the glorious English countryside as inspirationThere is a lot of stitching to do yet but I'm starting with some collaged fabric scraps. Apart from that I've been working some more on Birds Eye View and some crochet but generally life has slowed right down for a while I've been taking time to enjoy the little things....Like the quick 10 minutes I grabbed in my lunchbreak the other day enjoying the beautiful colours of this poppy field. It was just enough to recharge the batteries and set me up to deal with a busy afternoon in the office - a little fresh air and sunshine can work wonders.

Time for some music

Haven't had a music post in quite a while. Not much to say just a few snaps from some of the gigs we've been to this year.

Amsterdam Revisited - Randoms

This is the last one from Amsterdam ...I promise. Actually it's been fun for me revisiting these last few Amsterdam posts, reminding myself of what a fabulous trip I had. Also it's been a chance to remind myself of all the things I have to be grateful for right now, there have been plenty of points in my life when I wouldn't have been able to do this trip for reasons personal and financial. I'm happy that life, with all it's bumps in the road, has bought me to where I am, able to experience all of the fun and precious moments that I'm having right now.A crow in the park

This is not a great photo but if you look very closely you'll see some parakeets in the branches - have never seen them flying around in the wild before.

On of the many streetside vendors in Museumplein - I had croissants and orange juice for breakfast in the sunshine

Cherry Blossom

Light reflections in the canal at the end of the day

An adorable little ruffian. This starling had been fighting it out with some others over a few crumbs before he decided to catch his breath on the wheel of this bike.

So many fond memories. I hope I get to go back to Amsterdam one day.

Something Old

Way back some seven months ago before Christmas I was on a bit of a knitting roll and made several hats. While I was having a sort out the other day I came across one that needed a bit of finishing up. All the knitting had been done it just need the flower adding to the hat.This one was meant for a friend so off it will go to her now, several months later than intended but in plenty of time for next winter. I really like the pattern though so I think I will make one for myself too, but of course the flower will be orange!! :)

Amsterdam Revisited - On the Streets

Amsterdam is a wonderful city to explore by foot. Beautiful canals, enchanting alleys and fabulous buildings. I was lucky to have all but one of the days I spent there filled with sunshine. Here are a few shots that I took whilst out wandering the city.

Art is everywhere in this city, even on the street corners

Street food. Some fried cod, the dish is called Kibbeling.

Beautiful canal buildings

Bikes are everywhere in Amsterdam. Pedestrians Beware! :)

Ruth

Can you cast your mind back a couple of weeks? You might remember that I was working on a doll for last months 3CS challenge, you might remember that she was nearly done but not quite. Well I finally got round to adding the final embellishments and she's done.Here she is standing in the sun like the proper beach girl she is.I ummed and ahhed about whether she should have hair, but I grew to like her without. She hasn't told me her whole story yet, but she's a maiden of the sea, she looks young but has been haunting the shores for more years that you or I have been alive.She's not one for trinkets but she has a simple necklace made from stars she found on the beach, a shawl made from cast off fishing net, and a simple tie round her waist made from rope she found on her wanderings.

I'm not sure that I am going to be able to participate in this months challenge which is a real shame as the colours are fabulous. I may try and hand stitch up a little something if I get time in the next few days though. We'll see.

Amsterdam Revisited - Sights and Attractions

I can hardly believe it but my trip to Amsterdam was about 2 months ago now. Doesn't time fly when you're having fun? I still have about 3 posts worth of photos that I uploaded but didn't get round to actually posting. As I'm off on holiday for a week later this month I figured it was about time I tried to get caught up. So here we are Amsterdam revisited :)

There are so many wonderful places to visit in Amsterdam, I barely scratched the surface during my few days.My hotel was right next to Vondel Park, what a fabulous and peaceful place. I often found myself wandering through the park on a pre-breakfast walk in the mornings.Also just round the corner from my hotel was Museumplein. I spent a lovely morning wandering round the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum.So many wonderful artworks, it was pretty overwhelming really. Actually they are currently doing a lot of work at the Rijksmuseum so a lot of the rooms are closed off to the public right now, which was probably no bad thing. Sometimes it gets hard to appreciate the beauty of every piece when there is so much to see and you get a bit blase after a while ...'oh look another masterpiece...' :) Anyway I digress.Museumplein is home to the I amsterdam installation. I was lucky to be there early one morning to get a whole shot as every other time I went by there were people climbing all over this thing getting their photos taken!One of the most moving places I went to was the Anne Frank house. I have to confess that I am pretty ignorant about this period in history, I've always shied away from learning too much about the Nazi regime as I know I would find a lot of it very upsetting. It was very strange going up the stairs behind the bookcase and into the tiny rooms that Anne and her family occupied. It's a very popular attraction but I would certainly recommend a visit - but get there early.And of course you can't talk about Amsterdam without mentioning the flower markets......... and the red light district.

Amsterdam is certainly a city with something for everyone :)

Scraphappy Saturday

June is the month of yellow in the rainbow scrap challenge.

I love yellow, it reminds me of sunshine and buttercups. I'm a little stuck at the moment with my machine in for repair but I have been busy cutting my fabric scraps so that they will be ready to be stitched up into chequerboard blocks when the machine is home. Fingers crossed that will be soon, and I'll have some blocks to show next weekend.