WE'RE ALL GOING ON A SUMMER HOLIDAY...
I'm back! Did you miss me? The family went up to Northumberland for two weeks to revisit old haunts (we lived up there for 12 years, in fact it's where we met Lynnecrafts and her hubby back in 1983!) The weather continued fair and we revelled in the countryside, history and especially the wildlife.
Before I share a few holiday pics, here is the desk:
Still no sewing machine, there was a hold up at the servicing, so instead I did a lot of cutting out/ironing and sorting of strips for future use.
In rough colour order ready for the next string quilts.
A heap of handles, purses, cases, pockets all ready to make items for the RNLI. All I need now is my machine, I miss it!
When we were away, these beauties arrived:
A hare collage from Eva in Austria (a regular follower of my blog) and a fab ATC from Kelly. I loved the envelope and card as well Kelly, thanks so much.
Eva's collage is amazing!! So many small pieces of paper, what a talent she has:
Both artworks are now on display in the JanCave, they made me very happy indeed, thank you lovely gals xx
And that's it craft wise, here's a few pics from my hollibobs.
Rhys is a history geek like me and G, so we visited a fair few castles - for the non-UK deskers, this is Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island. We had a whole day there, there's so much to see.
We went on a boat trip to the Farne Islands as there were thousands of breeding birds to see - it was a beautiful day and one of the best boat tours we've ever been on. The colour of the sea was amazing - we have loads of pics but here's a couple of favs:
What beautiful feet!
A perfect puffin pair!
In the second week, we relocated closer to Hadrian's Wall so we could immerse ourselves in Roman History. We also went to Hexham Abbey, first begun in the 7thC. There are some amazing parts to the abbey and it was hosting a wedding dress exhibition, this one caught my eye:
A beautifully crocheted example, obviously someone's pride and joy.
Beautifully made, so neat - I loved it.
There were things from the Romans to modern stained glass, but Hexham is famous for its 15thC Dance of Death paintings on wooden panels.
A warning to any Kardashian wannabe - if you display too much cleavage, you'll attract a dancing skeleton lol!!
And then you'll have to go to this place......
Look how penitent I'm being....
But what we shall remember most are the birds, flowers everywhere and at our second cottage:
Hares!! We were staying at a beautiful and very rural cottage and there were four hares in the field who entertained us every night, they even came into the car park and played around the cars! Needless to say, I was in my element - G took some fantastic photos.
It was wonderful watching these amazing creatures, especially on the Summer Solstice.
So there you have it, a few snapshots of a really happy holiday. I'm hoping I'll get my machine back before next week or else I'll have to do housework....
Hope you're keeping well, enjoy your crafting!
17 comments:
Welcome back Jan, glad you had such a wonderful holiday, and thanks for sharing some photos. The collaged hare you received is beautiful as well, what a work of art. Hope the machine is back soon, looks like you have a lot ready for it! Happy WOYWW Helen #?
Glad you had such a fab holiday Jan. Hope you get your machine back soon. Love the ATCs especially the hare! Stay safe and Happy WOYWW. Sarah #3
Good to have you back - we missed you. Your holiday pics are absolutely wonderful. The hares and the puffins especially. Eva's torn paper hare is amazing. Hope you get your machine back soon! x x Jo
Hi Jan. Certainly did miss reading your cheerful and colourful posts! Holiday sounds fab. Hope your machine soon returns home! Anne x 11
Great photograph collection, these would make a lovely hoiday journal. Gorgeous ATC and hope the machine is back soon. Have a lovely woyww, hopefully a bit cooler. Hugs, Angela x9x
Of course we missed you! Looks like you had a great time. The puffin photos are superb, what lovely birds. That wedding dress looks very sixties to me, don't know why. Hope you get your machine back soon! Have a good week, love n hugs Cindyxx #12
Good to have you back but good to know you had such a wonderful holiday - the weather too!
I cannot get over the hares. Bunny rabbits yes, but hares? How often do you get to see them like that? Amazing - and especially for you.
Love the Puffins, it's the beaks that amaze me, the colours.
Thanks for all the photos of the holiday, lovely to see all the Appleton smiles.
Sorry about the sewing machine, you will have to turn to your watercolouring to occupy yourself - you do some beautiful work,
Hugs, Neet 10 xx
You were def missed but I see you were far too busy to miss us. Wonderful pics of a great week with just the best of company. I hope your machine returns very soon....or you can pay me a visit and borrow one of mine :-)
Hugs,
Annie x #7
What a great time you all had and the photo of the hare at the gate . . well done Mr G!
Have you noticed how workmen seem not to know about promised finish dates? When did they learn that?
I watched some Eastern European workmen relaying our paving outside . . . they took turns to do the work as others had breaks, they were ready to start at 08.00 and never left bang on 17.00hrs, finished the patch they were working. Just like the good old days, a good workman worth his wages. I took them out some chocolates on TGIFs as a thank you.
OK . . off my soapbox now! lol
Hope your machine comes back soon . . . just saying!!
Christine #15
Welcome back, it’s a shame you couldn’t say welcome back to your machine! Fabulous photographs and I can see you are ready for when your machine returns x happy WOYWW. Angela #14
What an amazing and incredible trip you took and such amazing photos, too. The puffins were what impressed me most, but I also enjoyed the other photos including the wedding dress and the Penitent Walk. Looks like you got a bit of sunburn, too. I have never seen a hare, except in photos, so that was a treat, too. Happy WOYWW from #1.
Happy WOYWW. Wow, G's photos are incredible. I have only ever passed through Northumberland and it is high on my list of places to visit. So much history. Ali x #16
Penitent indeed! That should be me, late AGAIN. DOH! You must feel all adrift with your machine away. I imagine you timed it so it would be having a good servicing while you had a lovely holiday. Typical it didn't exactly work out that way. Love the colours for the new string, but that rabbit collage is truly a wonder. Very very cool.
Happy cool and breezy belated WOYWW!
Mary Anne (4)
Wow, Eva's collage IS extraordinary, wonderful! So are your holiday pics, I don't think I could ever tire of looking at your photos, you are both such good photographers. Still makes mea smile to see you looking penitent though....
Hope the machine gets back from its holiday soon, the thought of having to do housework gave me quite a turn, do try to distract yourself - perhaps design a dress you can knit or crochet, now there's another skill. I would imagine it would have been fairly heavy but no doubting the labour of love that made it, huh. Steph safely home amid this house being slowly and reluctantly returned to its normal level of neglect. You'll be seeing on a commercial scale with all those pre-cuts!
Well I certainly missed you - had a map of Wales on my desk a couple of weeks ago and referenced you but sadly you weren't around to see it. Puffins and Hares such delightful photos. Lindisfarne now that's a place I'd like to visit if I only could cope with the travelling! Glad to have the virtual holibobs with you. Hugs BJ#13
Oh what beautiful photos. So happy you could have the time off enjoying times together. Thanks for sharing. I hope to be back next week posting for WOYWW. I too have been gone each week and "HOME" is the best but a sure mess in every room. Stacks!!! I'll do a separate post soon and get my crafty space cleared up I HOPE Canada smoke had our area under alert to stay in, and now airlines and all of east coast are shut down. Glad I am not stranded. Enjoy a great weekend.
Dear Jan!
I missed you! But now you are back and your post is full of wonderful emotions. You had a lovely holiday. And what a coincidence, that I made the hare collage for you and you met hares!
Now you have to be patient till the sewing machine is back again.
Thank you for your joy.
Thank you for the nice puffinf photos.
Thank you for being friend!
Eva from Austria
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