Saturday, June 20, 2015

London

We had 2 good  daytime flights with a sleep in Hong Kong. This meant that we haven't been really jetlagged just a tiny bit tired! Yesterday we had a lovely day in sunny, warm London. We wandered down Oxford St looking at the shops and then spent time in my favourite shop, Liberty of London. It was as wonderful as I remembered. They were celebrating 140 years of trading and had a wonderful maypole made with liberty fabrics. We had lunch in the Liberty cafe (delicious soup and tea) and I enjoyed several hours of looking and a little shopping.









In the afternoon we headed to the Courtauld Gallery and enjoyed the wonderful paintings.

We had a lovely dinner at the local pub! 
Today we headed to Greenwich on the tube and the bus. We went to the Maritime Museum. 
We then headed back to the station and rode on the Emirates Air line.

We visited Bernondsey on the way too as Bruce's relatives way back had lived in this area. This church had been there when his relatives lived in the area.. 
We spent a fair time on the bus today travelling all over the place. Later in the afternoon we had some time at the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. There are amazing things in the V & A. 
We head to Harwich tomorrow to get on our ship so I won't be able to blog for a while. I will catch up when I can.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Holidays

Tomorrow we head off for a very big day of travel by bus to Sydney and then the plane to Hong Kong. We are having a sleep in Hong Kong and then another day flight to London. So much movie watching and stitching time! We then have two days in London (a visit to liberty is on the cards) and then we are off on this ship! We are cruising for four weeks to Iceland and Norway.


Afterwards we are driving to Cornwall for a week from 18 July till 25 July. Can't wait to see all the lovely sights there.
We then have 3 nights in Somerset and then head to Hay on Wye to visit Penny and John. While we are there we are having a little holiday together in Wales from 1 August till the 4 August.

The last big highlight is the Birmingham quilt show on 6 August. Penny and I are staying over and will have 2 days there.

The bags are almost packed and most things are done! Must do a bit of housework before I go.....I suppose.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Birthdays....

We are enjoying a busy weekend before we head away as we have celebrated little Alice's first birthday. The little men turn 3 in a few weeks and we will be away so we are seeing them for afternoon tea and gifts later today. Alice turned one on Friday so we popped over to deliver her main present and she certainly liked climbing under it!
 Alice's Mummy certainly did an amazing job of the cake! The fabric number one and the bunting looked so good.




 Alice loved all her gifts....new toys are always a hit!

 The little men came to the party too and loved gobbling up these cupcakes. They especially liked the little silver balls on top!

 They had a go at blowing out the candle too.
I did do a little stitching for the birthday. This is a pentagon ball with a bell inside. It was great fun to make (thanks Di and Instagram for the idea).

 We have lots of gifts ready for two spoilt little boys but I thought they needed some new appliqued, long sleeved tops.

 Other than packing and organising some stitching, I have been having a go at this crochet scarf pattern I saw on Instagram. It is a little tricky but I think I am getting the hang of it. I want to take it away so wanted to check I could actually do it!

Monday, June 8, 2015

Some progress..

I have been trying to finish a few things before we head away. Only a week left till we go so am busy getting stitching ready to take with me. One of my slow projects are these redwork stitcheries for Scandinavian Rose by Rosalie Quinlan. This is block 11 so there are only 3 more to go after this.
 I also wanted to get my July Stitch-a-long centre made so that I keep up with the plan! Whew! Nice to get that done.
 This project was started last year in a class with Helen Stubbings. I had no trouble doing the applique, the stitching and the paper piecing! It was a big effort to finally sew it all together.



Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Lovely work and some stitching

Gwen has been so busy and has just finished this wonderful crocheted blanket. I love the ruffled outer edge.

 She has also finished her Judy's Dilly bag using lovely 30's red fabrics.
 I have been stitching but have been busy trying to get ahead with all my ongoing projects as in a few weeks we are heading away on holidays. I have just finished June's Stitch-a-long blocks and am busy working on July's centre block so that I don't get behind while I am away!