Friday 17 October 2014

The flying goose

So after finishing my shirt, I wanted to get back to a nice easy quilt project.  I've been wanting to do a flying goose for ages and I had some fat quarters that would do the trick.

So armed with my trusty Quilt in a Day project book, I've set to work

 

There's a lot of cutting involved in this pattern.


cutting and cutting and cutting........



You get to know your rotary cutter and rulers really well!

But I figure it will see up really quick when this step is over 

Edinburgh

We've been meaning to do this for AGES but you know how it is - life gets in the way.....but a couple of weekends ago we jumped on the train through to Edinburgh for the day.  It's so easy from Glasgow - less than an hour.

We just basically did a pub crawl round the city to all the dog friendly pubs.  It was great fun!  We ate nachos for lunch and had a burger for tea!  No better day to be had than that, right?


Castle in the background



Pippa (as always) was the star of the show everywhere we went.


You never get a nice photo of you in a place when it's just the two of you - we could be anywhere here!



Pippa enjoyed her day out too! 

Apple pie

Everyone's Granny used to make an apple pie right?  Well mine made the best ever!  Granny was an excellent baker, but she never wrote anything down - she just used to do it all from memory and now she can't remember how she used to make her apple pie!  I've always found it hard to eat anybody elses apple pie - let alone make one.  They just never cut it.  But as we've had such a harvest of apples this year from our tree in the garden, I was running out of patience for crumble, so thought I'd give it a go and put the skills from my pastry course last year to test!




I just boiled some of the apples down with sugar, lemon and a bit of water and cinnamon.  And then placed that over the top of layered, sliced apple.  The pastry was a sweet pastry recipe.

I was pretty happy with the results!



             
I've never attempted a lattice top on a pie before - it was super easy



Yummy with a dollop of chantilly cream!

Completed Hawthorn

As you know I'd been attending an advanced dress making course and had chosen the Colette Hawthorn as my project of choice.  I didn't fancy a dress because to be honest I don't wear many anymore.  And I really love the style of the top.  Sleeves were a must.  I have to say it was really tricky to get the fit right.  I'm between 3 sizes, so I had to do a fair bit of grading, a bust adjustment and take in the side seams, but I'm pretty happy with the results.


I think if I do this again, I will make the collar bigger.

The plackets on the sleeves were without doubt the hardest thing I've ever sewn, but then I had a 'eureka' moment on the 2nd one and I realised exactly how to make it work.  Funny how things just click eventually - that's why you should try, try again.

I've got a couple of wears out of this, which is a first for me as I've not really worn anything I've made yet.  The fabric gets creased pretty easily.

There will definitely be another one!

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Our wee trip to Yorkshire Coast

As we're not getting away this autumn we booked ourselves a wee cottage just a few miles outside of Filey.

It was a beautiful wee village.

Here we are exploring the beach on the first night - holiday selfie!


Of course Pippa had to come too


We treated ourselves to fish and chips.... I have to say these were about the best fish and chips I've ever had.  


I'm not really one for fish and chips - that's the boyfriends preferred take away choice.  But man these were good


We had them on a bench overlooking the beach.  It was just perfect.  So romantic.

On saturday we drove to scarborough for the day

We played the slot games


We didn't win a penny but only spent pennies so who cares!


Pippa's not allowed on scarborough beach during the summer - they have a no dog rule, which quite frankly SUCKS.  In my opinion it's like saying 'no children'.  They make a mess, they pee in the sea, they leave rubbish everywhere, they're a trip hazard running around the place, what harm do little doggies do?  There should be a fine for not picking up after them and an enforced lead rule if anything but to ban all dogs is just ridiculous.  Sort it out scarborough council!

Anyway rant over.  We enjoyed the view from afar but as a consequence none of the businesses along by the beach got our trade!


The pirate boat is dog friendly tho!  Here we are having a quick trip out

Then that evening we drove up to Whitby Abby


Another dog friendly site!

And then we went to find the chip shop that was voted the 2014 best fish and chips in the uK


They were OK - but not as good as Inghams the previous night.


Pippa's looking for dracula here.


Then we had a walk around the town.  Pippa posed on some creels.  So cute


On sunday we went a walk by the cliffs.  These cliffs were really cool - they were completely white like chalk.  


It was like being on a different planet

Everyone wrote their names on stones with the lime stone and put them on the cliffs.

Here's our effort


Here is Pippa in the stones.  Just before this the boyfriend fell over.  It was quite funny


Then we went a walk along the top and by the lighthouse


Those cliffs were high - they gave me vertigo!


On the way home we found a miniature village so stuck our heads in


I have to say it was incredible.

The next day before we came home we went to the village where heartbeat and harry potter was filmed.

This is Hogwarts platform from the first film.  The steam railway still runs through it.




The next trip to yorkshire is going to involve a steam railway journey - they accept dogs! :)


Then we drove to another village where hogwarts was filmed which was really cute - it was the village in the last films.  The ice cream was great!

So much fun to have a quick break.  But too short.  Saving is hard.