A Grand Day Out

Visitors at the BH again this weekend.  My Mum and Dad this time - they arrived Thursday - having waited so patently for our work to be completed.  We have had such appalling weather this week I didn't hold  much hope of getting out and about Sunday with my parents, so arrived armed with DVD's and my sewing!

But whoopee... sunshine greeted us Sunday morning - so after a quick breakfast, off we went into Littlehampton, equipped with walking shoes and rain mac's!

We headed off for a 'breezy' walk along Littlehampton front - heading away from Littlehampton and towards Rustington  - introducing my parents to the country's longest bench...

I was most surprised at the number of people out and about - most I suspect taking advantage of the dry weather as we were!

Yatchs were out in the sea -

Colour everywhere....

After lunch, with the sun still shining and the wind still blowing - we walked the other way along the front - heading back into town.. 

Boats a bobbing ...

Swans enjoying the extra attention...

Dad got lucky with a large dollop of bird poo on his trousers - mmmmm must remind him to get a lottery ticket this week!!!

Recipes a plenty for those lucky enough to catch anything (apart from the bird poo of course!)

And just to round the day off nicely D was able to view a small gathering of Morris Minors - just love the colours - not all original I suspect but fantastic all the same.

All in all an unexpected grand day out!

Lavender Girls

Friday I had the pleasure in attending a local quilting event at my local library - arranged by the Lavender Girls and Scola Quilters. 

I started my quilting life as a Scola quilter back in 2004 (I think), as did many of my quilting friends.  A few now attend the Lavender Girls group.  I have to say I really didn't know what to expect from this exhibition but was determine to attend to show my support. 

CD - part of the QQ and Lavender Girls had entered a quilt under the Myths and Legends section

My Scola tutor had also entered a quilt under the same section - great colours - you can see were my inspiration for using colours came from!

And another ex-scola quilter SW had entered her interpretation within the Myths and Legends section

Other items had also been exhibited - which, I felt, was excellent representation of patchwork and quilting as a acheiveable hobby - sometime the thought of completing a king size bed cover can be a bit daunting!

I know all those involved work very hard in organising this exhibition - both in terms of the actual quilts made to exhibit and the organising behind the exhibition - so well done - and excellent display. 

Half Day Holiday

I took a half day Monday and made an appointment with Dyno Rod to come and look at the pipework we had exposed.  I decided, that although it was half a day from my holiday time, I could not just 'quilt' during the afternoon.  So I made a compromise with myself,  yes I did actually have a good chat with myself,  complete one chore that had been on my list for far too long and then the afternoon was mine.

Cleaning the Oven, was my chosen chore. Mmmmmm just love this job - probably why I haven't done it in such a looooooooong time!!  I am really embarrassed at the state of the oven and was not going to post the pictures but why not, it may encourage me to keep it clean.  Still needs a little work but certainly the hard work has been done!
Before

After

I then went on to complete the backing of pink quilt, and sandwich together - Mmmmmmm now I DO love
THAT job!!

I absolutely love the boarder and cannot wait to start the quilting.

The Dyno Rod guy was very good - although the conversation did boil down to the fact we may never find the problem causing our crack.  He did express his concerns over next door's washing machine connected to their down pipe and soak away but suggested that without digging up their patio and garden we would never know.  He suggested that we fill the crack and keep a close eye!  More discussion between D and I, I think!!

Pond Life

A great start to the weekend - I made Friday night a quilting night.

Managed to sew most of the hearts onto my boarder, with just two corners to complete.  I feel so much better in myself now I can find a bit more time to 'craft'.

The weekend weather was suppose to be wet and cold, so I had planned a part spring clean in our bedroom should Saturday be a wash out, or continuation of the garden should the sun be out to play.  Guess which one it was...

Well to be fair I got to do both.  The afternoon weather was much better than the weatherman has predicted - good old weatherman!.  Bedroom spring clean in the morning and afternoon in the garden - sorting out the pond.

I can state a fact here, I absolutely  hate cleaning the fish filters - thank goodness I generally only have to complete this task once every few months.  With new filters with easy reach....

The filter was opened ..... with a great deal of grunting and groaning .. and eventually a kitchen knife to prise it open!

Pile after pile of blanket weed removed....



A surprising amount of pond life came away with the blanket weed this year...

This little site here, tells you about my little friends above.  http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/

Sunday was far nicer than expected so another day in the garden - finishing the pond and some more work on the veg patch.

Pond plants, cut back, cleaned out and put back....

A check on the other plants....

              

     

I have to say I'm a dab hand at growing those yellow ones!!!

I have, however,  discovered a problem ... someones been munching on my sunflowers.  If I ever catch the little tike there is going to be trouble.


 

Game of two halves .... Second Half

D and I made a decision when we purchased the BH that we would need to furnish and decorate as cheap as we could - and I think we have been very successful at doing that - some of the items were left at the house when we exchanged contracts - most other bits have come from charity shops and the rest from car boots.  But when I saw this I could not resist!!

Doesn't it look fab!!  My new table cloth.

We woke fairly late Sunday morning - eating breakfast (at our table - on our new cloth!) we decided to finish emptying the remaining cardboard boxes and put the rest of the kitchen stuff away!  We needed a little extra help mid afternoon...

Late afternoon was just beautiful - a really nice evening so we jumped on our bikes (well D jumped - I kinda swing my leg over a rolled away slowly!) and headed to the beach.

It feels sooooo long since we have done this - we headed right down to the end of the beach - there is a kind of path which is suitable for biking - so long as you're careful with the stones - and we headed to the end of the sea defences. 

The tide was going out and left some great looking wet rocks -

I could spend all day exploring the rocks - The water was bubbling from underneath and creating some wonderful rock pools...

We headed back along the beach at around six ish - D, off with a sprint before I'd even got on my bike!!

We tested our new lights in the garden after dark ... not warm enough yet to sit out and enjoy - even with a coat and a quilt... maybe in a couple of weeks.

Monday was just awful - rain, rain and more rain, and some very heavy rain thrown in for good measure.  We went back to bed with a cup of tea and decided that a DVD day was in order, maybe a wash of the floors and a test of the washing machine and dishwasher to check all was OK.

We did the floors first - stuck some sheets in the washing machine and then made ourselves comfy on the sofa with a cup of tea, some shortbread biscuits and Sons of Anarchy (Yep.... reading that sentence back not sure now if a cup of tea and a shortbread biscuit really goes with the Sons of Anarchy DVD!!!)

I got my sewing out that I did on Saturday and did some cutting out - and that where we stayed for most of the day..... Bliss!!