kayaking Jo

These are the pictures that Jenny kindly took of me, just to prove to you all that I was there.
Thanks Jenny

He gets in everywhere...... how come that jacket is undone????

Don't I just look the part??

Megan in the background... so Jenny is the only one missing.

Few more days of our hols

We went to the 'Rock' again.  This time Mr. D came too, so have to show you a picture to prove it.

Having a rest on the bridge

King and Queen of the Castle (or should I say Rock)

We don't very often get the chance to attend celebrations at our grandchildrens schools, so it was just great when we found out that Chris was going to have his graduation from primary school while we were visiting.  I just have to show you a  pic. Chris is the one in the middle of the back row, with the grey shirt.   Shame my other pics were blurred.

Shame about the extra heads.

They all left the hall in two's, and this was Chris and Carters farewell.

Mates forever

Nana, Gaga, Chris and Ashley.

 To day is kayak day.....hoo ray!!!! Luckily the sun was shining so a great day to head for the water. We borrowed a friend's kayaks so our journey to the beach was just a walk across the road. All suited and life jacketed off we went. I cannot explain how much I love being on the water like this, it's so calm and peaceful. We took the boats out for about two hours and I can't wait for the next time.

Just setting off

Paddled down to the kayak center to meet Megan and her friend.

Getting pretty clever with this camera in its waterproof bag.

 All you can see of me is my oar or the front of my kayak.  Jenny took some pics of me, so hopefully I will have some 'show and tell' later.

Where,s Jo???????

Where,s Jo????? I,m in Vancouver

 Yes, we have arrived in Deep Cove..Yeah!!! The cove looks very much the same as it did four years ago, lush and green, the only thing we had to do now was to climb the stairs to the house.....all 39 of them.

The house we call home in Vancouver

 Yes, the house is on three levels, so there are a few more stairs inside....we should be a bit fitter by the time we return.

M and I after climbing the stairs.

We had a walk around the cove and stopped for an ice cream.....bit of a tradition....not so spectacular I hear you say..... remember, with the time difference it's about 3.30a.m. for Mr. D and I.

Mr. D, M, myself and A

Deep Cove

The Kayak Centre. We will visit here on Thursday.... Yeah!!!!!

We managed to stay up until 8.30 local time then crashed into bed.
Sunday was the football...England v Italy in the Euro, so Mr D decided to stay home with N (our son) and C (our grandson) to watch the match while M, A and I decided to walk to the Rock.

Just the beginning

More Stairs

M and A just a bit ahead of me. 

Got to show you one of the waterfalls

At the Rock....Yeah!!! we did it

Finished

 Let me say it was a bit of a trek, but was very much worth it. Mr.D and I didn't manage this walk last time we were here, so now I at least I can cross it off my 'to do' list.







Next free day I have a date with  Mr. D and we will surely have a trip up to the rock.

Fun and Games

We had a wet weekend....... No not the weather this time.  It started on Friday when an engineer came for the third time to fix our central heating system.  Once again he left us with more of a leak than I had in the first place.  This leak was mainly restricted to an overflow pipe , but as it ran like a tap I decided that someone had to come back and look again at it, so after a sleepless night I called the office on Saturday morning.  Fortunately the guy came back and this time left me with a very small leak that I can cope with.  Parts are on order, so we will see what happens when they arrive.  Next wet session.... while I was sat at the main computer with my laptop on the same desk I caught my fingers in my cup of tea which spilt over the table top and a little on the keyboard of the computer....well, you have not seen me or Mr D move so fast in a long while.  I think because of the quick action nothing was ruined.  Phew!!!!   But that was not the end.  On Sunday I put the kettle on but the lid was not fixed down properly, the kettle boiled dry and the condensation ended up in a pool on the worktop where my phone was........ need I say more....... one wet phone.  Sunday afternoon was spent looking for old phones, and when we found them we couldn't find chargers...... oh goodness to have a brain that remembered all the 'safe' places where we put things.  As it turned out I put my phone in a big jar of rice (advice from number one son) and Monday morning Voilà phone in working order.

With all that going on I decided to make fun things. The 'bugs' below came from  'Tilda's Spring Ideas' book.

How can you call this a 'bug' 

Peeking out from the bushes

Playing with the Pansy's

Those bugs are just too cute.  The other thing in the book that I decided to make is this little bag, well two bags to be precise.  They are not finished, but the sun was out so photo time.  I am not as happy with these, for a start they were a lot bigger than I thought they would be, and I am not sure about the heavy weight interfacing...... how heavy weight should it be????  One is very stiff, and the other is perhaps a bit soft.... Oh well, I will finish them and then decide if they were worth the effort.

Need a bow or frill 

I have made a few of these now, you may have seen I have already given some away, but they are a nice thing to sit and sew whilst watching the football.........no I am kidding, I don't watch the football, but do sit and sew.

More scissor keepers 

YEAH!!!!!!!!
More Peach loops.... do you remember this I am not allowed them in the car, so they are sitting in the kitchen --------- not a good place as I visit the kitchen lots.....Yummy

My favourites

Have fun.

Show and tell

As many of you know the weather here is the "pits", but one consolation is that our hosepipe ban has now been lifted.  I think it has rained every day since the ban came into place, and that was about 2 months ago...... need I say more about the weather...I don't think so.

I will show you a couple of things that have been doing well in the garden.

Strawberries and cream

This poor Weigela spent the first couple of years of its life just knocking about the garden in a tiny pot as I couldn't make up my mind as to where it should live, so I think once it got planted it decided to show me how beautiful it could be if its roots were allowed to spread....

Black lace

 Now this Sambucus I was told has to be pruned almost to its roots each year, but it only ever had one or two flowerheads, so last year I decided only to trim it...........Voila!!  This year its covered in these stunning sprays.  It does grow quickly, so I think it will need a trim once these flowers have gone.

My foxgloves last year have worked their magic and multiplied  ......good job, because they are another favourite.  Do you like my collage???? I have been playing with 'pic-monkey', its a free site where you can play around with your photos, its easy to use and if you have the time I think you could get some great results.  Go  here to play,  I would suggest you make a copy of your photo, and take the copy to the site, then you have no fear of spoiling anything just play to your "hearts content".

I have finally finished my Birdie Stitches Quilt.  This quilt was created by this talented lady
Little miss Shabby last year, and each month produced a new block. She still has the quilt blocks and tutorial on her site if you fancy making it.  I did change a couple of the months, July my daughter and family came for a holiday from South Africa, so I made up my own holiday block, and August Mr D was seriously ill but made a miraculous recovery, so both months had to be celebrated.

Completed with blocks

Unfortunately I didn't think to take pics of each block as I finished them, and now they are quilted you can't really see them very well.  May be if you click on the pic it might show up a bit better, but see......... I have been playing with pic-monkey again.

Completed Quilt

I quilted in the embroidery blocks with (is it called) 'vermicelli', then where the 2" blocks are, I did  bigger squiggles, straight lines down the green, and in the borders (that you can't really see) I scrolled down and added five petal flowers.  All practice ..... hopefully to get near perfect, but not there yet.

The other thing I have been playing with is this.  You see I am supposed to come up with some thing to work on when our group have an 'all day' session, and this coming Monday I thought a sewing machine cover might be a good idea, but for those that already have one, the mat could be a second choice. 

Very Smart 

 I thought I should have a trial run at making these if I am going to try to help the ladies, and Mr D had a couple of shirts that he no longer needed.  The pale blue one was a bit worn on the collar, so lots of strips from that one.  The  darker blue stripe was the one that was cut off at the hospital (had to be kept as a reminder), and as they had cut through the sleeves, I had a few less strips of that, but now both have a new job in life.  I now just have to repaint the room to match my new cover and mat...... that's not happening any time soon....tooooooo much stuff to move in that room.

Jubilee Weekend

Did you all have a great time over the Jubilee weekend?  We travelled up to Yorkshire to spend the long weekend with our Daughter, Son-in-law and grandchildren.  We arrived just in time for lunch with all of the neighbours 'Street Party Style', the weather had stayed dry, but it was quite chilly, so after filling our tums and staying for a bit of a chat we returned to the warmth of the Aga.

Sunday of course was the 'River Pageant' and the Thames was not the only one celebrating with a   fleet of boats. The River Wharf had its own floating celebrations.......not quite up to the standard of the Thames, but what a laugh every one had.  We all soaked up the rain as well as the fun.

Some posh, some not so posh, and some already half sunk and this was just the float past, not even the race

You would think with that sail they would be half way to winning,  but me thinks those pink ladies put their backs into it 

The patriotic W.I. ladies (not nude calender girls this time) were the winners, the pink ladies came second, and the school governors came third, but all that entered were winners on the day.
 

Unfortunately the weather did not encourage the sale of Pimms nor ice cream, but the hot chocolate went down a treat.  

Monday was a much better day weather wise, so we took a walk to Burnsall along the river, and had a great breakfast in the sun.

What a place to walk

The suspension bridge is the way most cross the river, but with grandson on hand, why take the easy route 

With a little help when the steps were spread too far for little legs we made it with dry feet .

It was worth the walk, breakfast was delicious.

Monday evening there was a torch procession in Grassington to light the beacon, so we walked into the village to watch.  Now at Christmas there was a torch procession, and there were probably 50 people involved, this time every man and his dog joined in, and it was wonderful.  My photos don't do justice to the parade, I really must sort out the settings on the camera.

This started at 10 p.m. ...... see its still light.

To finish the evening we had fireworks

Photos really don't do justice to these

They really were stunning, not that the photos show that.

As we walked home, we could see that the beacons had been lit in Kettlewell (we think), and Thorpe, so a weekend to be remembered.  

Tuesday we just slobbed out watching the Service of Thanksgiving on T.V.

Wonderful Weekend for us, how was yours?????

Surprise!!!!

Look who's here....

Dee and I

Yes, its DeeRoo from flickr world, and we  met on Tuesday........Dee hales all the way from America.  Dee was the first person on flickr that sent me a swap, well, it wasn't really a swap, she was my secret Santa and sent me some lovely fat quarters, and loads of fabric scraps, along with lots of other special goodies, and we have been in swaps ever since.  Her daughter is living in England, so her and her husband came over for a visit.  Once I knew she was visiting, there was no way she was coming all this way without us meeting up.  Mr D and I travelled over to Oxford for the visit, and what a great day we had.   Firstly Dee had to hand over two quilt tops.  She has just added her round for the 'Round Robin' in the 'Around the Bend, across the Pond' swap group.

This one belongs to someone called 'uberstitch'

This one belongs to 'frustratedquilter'

Both are stunning aren't they????? I now have to add my round, and send them off to 'bearpawandbearpaw' who lives in Scotland. That was not the end of swapping for us, Dee had made me a lovely mini quilt ( I recognised the pattern), gave  some sweet fabrics, and a liberty bag (the bag fabric is baby needle cord, so so soft)

Gifts for me

Gifts for Dee

And these were what I gave Dee. Yes, another of my English Tea/coffee cup pincushion, some smocked Christmas decorations ...I know I know ....it really is a bit early for them, and a couple of scissor keepers..... the one with lavender embroidered on is really too big, so made the pink one which is a much better size.

We then all went off to Blenheim Palace, and had a great time there (first visit to a palace for Dee and her hubby).

Dee, Mr D, Don, and Miss M

Dee and family

It was so good meeting up, I do hope more visits are planned for the future.  Now as you can imagine, I have known about this visit for absolutely ages, but have been sworn to secrecy.... the reason.... Dee is going to the Fat Quarterly London Sewing retreat and is going to surprise one of her other flickr friends..... how I wish I could be a fly in the wall when that happens.  Telling the truth, I am pig sick that I am not going to the retreat, there are so many flickr friends going and it would be wonderful to meet them in the flesh (so to speak), but am thrilled that I can now spill the beans about Dee's visit, its been quite a feat to keep it under wraps for so long.

There have been a number of other things under wraps..... Gifts galore, Dee's you have seen, but I have to wait a bit before I can show you the rest, but I can show you this.......

New York Beauties.

This was a challenge from a friend, I am a bit late in completing, but have managed to get all 10 finished now.  I decided to sew 9 of them together,  the 10th one will be part of the backing, and I am going to keep it as a sample of N.Y.B.  Once it is finished totally I will show you.

This is also finished, 

My version of circles of Flying Geese

I think it turned out quite well, and I love the pebble quilting so will try that again.

Mr. D got a very early birthday gift, and I just had to make a little wallet for it because he didn't get a cover, and as we will be travelling over the weekend he doesn't want it scratched.

I went to a friend on Thursday and decided to add my round to Pam's quilt top.  This is quite a stunning quilt, and as it was so busy I chose to add plain borders.  I framed Dee's round with a black fabric (it has tiny flowers on, but you have to look hard to see them) then added my bright's. I hope Pam likes it.

quilt top with my round added

Lastly look what has happened to my Bearded Iris....... it has had so many flowers...... as one dies away another takes its place...worth waiting 6 years for, but I hope I don't have to wait so long to see it again.

To all that are at the retreat ENJOY.  We are off to Yorkshire to see our daughter and family and enjoy the Jubilee long weekend, hope you enjoy your celebrations where ever they may be.