Show and tell

As always, it was great to catch up with the stitching, lunch and class girls last Wednesday. They have been busy! Janet has three littlies and her eldest is at school this year so her dolly had to have a winter uniform. The shirt even has cuffs and the dress has pleats too.

 Barbara has just finished this gorgeous picture that she bought as a kit in Japan. I love the liberty cups!

 Lynne has been busy doing this amazing weaving!! Looks so good.

 Paddy has finished her Anderson's Farm and it looks so beautiful.

 In the evening, Margaret brought along her beautiful Foxley Village which has been quilted. It looks great.

 I love what Margaret did with the backing too.

 I have been stitching too and managed to complete Part 4 of Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs. I am working on Part 5 now as the next part will be here next week. Going on holidays certainly puts you behind in your projects!

A little stitching...

We were pretty busy on holidays but I did manage to do a little stitching. I took far more but that was just in case! I managed to stitch one United Stitches block.

 I had drawn up these two stitcheries for labels for Anderson's Farm and The Story of my Day.

 It is lovely to do a bit of canvas work on the plane so stitched this little red house.

 My last project was to start this scarf in lovely wool I bought last year at the wool day at the Bus Depot Markets. It is only 2 ply wool so the scarf is taking a while to crochet but it is fun. Might just be tempted this weekend as the wool day is on again.

 I didn't do much shopping. I only bought a few bits for the children and a bit of clothing. I did get these balls of wool and a few bobbins from the Stott bobbin factory.

 It was my birthday while away and Penny gave me this gorgeous bag with some lovely wool pieces and some embroidery needles. So special.

 When I returned, Lyndal gave me this gorgeous kit for a Rosalie Quinlan necklace. Can't wait to start!

 Lyndal also made me this lovely crochet bag (to put my wool in of course) and this beautiful ball of wool. Very spoilt!

 It was lovely to go to stitching again on Wednesday and Roni had finished this gorgeous cushion!

Monsal Head, Bakewell and home

We went for a walk from Monsal Head on Thursday, 11th May. I am not much of a walker but did manage fairly well. The scenery was lovely. We saw the Headstone Viaduct and then walked along the Wye Valley to Ashford-in-the-Water. We had a lovely lunch there.

We went into Bakewell too. I did try the famous Bakewell tart/pudding but as it has a very almond taste. Luckily Bruce liked it. It is a nice own once again thought I didn't get many photos.

On Friday we had a quiet day and just walked to the quirky Oil Can Cafe in the Carding Shed in Hepworth, right near where we were staying. It was a very interesting place with old cars, cute retro shops and a nice cafe.

Then it was just packing up before we headed to Manchester on Saturday for our first flight. We are now safely home, unpacked and most of the washing is done. It is very nice to be home and to sleep in our own bed last night.

Eyam

One of the places I really wanted to see was Eyam. This is the little village that is written about in Geraldine Brook's book "Year of Wonders", which is one of my favourite books. The village battled the plague in 1665 and then chose to quarantine the town. It is a very moving novel but it was even more moving to be there.

 We also visited Eyam Hall which was built about 6 years after the plague. It was another lovely house to see and has been in the same family for nearly 400 years.

 There was a room lined in old tapestries!

 This bed curtain and bedspread were embroidered hundreds of years ago.

 These were modern embroideries done to demonstrate the techniques used.

 It had this little banqueting hall for small parties.