Sofa Quilt

I have to admit to being a bit of a cheat with my quilt, I didn't continue with the hexagons for the whole quilt you see.  After I had made twelve hexagon flowers and arranged them on the fabric to have a think I then cut out the rest of my hexagons in a white and pale blue stripe.  Well when I put them beside the flowers the design was almost lost, I had a bit of a rethink and decided to go with a grey spotty background and stitch the hexagon flowers to it in a uniform way.  It may not have been my original intention but I am very happy with it, all the lovely colours stand out.

It has been on the sofa a couple of days now so it is serving it's purpose and the dogs seem to like it!  I used some plain white cotton for the backing and I cut strips of the spotty fabric to bind it.  I did want a contrast but nothing I had was big enough and went with it and I didn't want to buy  binding especially.  The wadding has been sitting in my cupboard for some time, I have only hand stitched all the way through where the flowers are, I think it may need more to stop the movement so any tips would be appreciated as to designs and so on as I haven't really done many  quilts.  The only big one I made years ago was machine stitched through in diamonds, I don't really want to do that to this one.

   

We have been out walking in a another new spot today, Agden Reservoir Bradfield.  The superb weather once more put a beautiful sky over everything and we felt like the only people who knew about this one for most of the way around.  We eventually saw a couple of other people but on the whole very quiet.

The sun on the water looked very inviting (not that I would go in and you can't of course).

 The path was more rugged on this walk so maybe that was why we saw less people, it certainly wouldn't be suitable for anyone unsteady on their feet but if you want to get way from it all it is ideal.

 Here we were on the way back down the road and in the very distance we could see Dam Flask that we walked around last week.

 Back down in the village there was a game of cricket taking place.

All very English village.

Dam Flask

The weather is getting cooler but there are still plenty of days of sunshine, I am really pleased with the summer this year it is usually a bit of a wash out as soon as we break for the summer but this year has made a lovely change.  This weekend we took the dogs to Dam Flask for a walk, it was quiet with just a few dog walkers and runners about.  We have been before but started from a different point this time, we both mentioned how pretty the local village is and again were pleasantly surprised by the beauty in our city.  

 The water was quite low in places despite the fact that it has been raining this last week, I suppose it will take some time to fill what has been depleted over these  past months.

We ended the walk with a drink and some chips, it looked as though a few other people had the same idea.

 Earlier this week  I finished the book The Radium Girls, this was a really good book but very distressing. I was quite shocked that I knew nothing of this subject but I would imagine that lots of cases of profit before life get swept under the table!   The book is about the girls who worked in the workshops and factories painting the luminous dials onto clocks and watches (both domestic and for military use in the war).  This paint contained radium which the workers were told repeatedly was safe, they were even instructed to tip the brushes in their mouths to make a fine point!  The resulting health implications were horrendous.  I would recommend reading this book to honour the women who fought for their cases even as they were dying.

I have just started a little quilt for my sofa as the dogs always sit there with me and I like to have a throw of some sort for them to sit on.  The one  I am currently using just appears to attract dog hair which is not ideal, the one I am making is all cotton so it should just brush or hoover straight off, I hope!

These are the bits I have started sewing together, I am wondering whether to sew a few like this then do neutral bits in-between or just stitch them altogether as they are?  I have seen this image below and that is got me wondering about the neutral bits.

 

Wentworth Walk and Books this Month

Today I discovered this wonderful blog called casual ramblers it is an amazing source of information if you like walking and are looking for a new route to take.  To be honest I can't even remember what I was searching at the time when I came across it because I know I did not put in any of those key words. Still it was very handy as we were just saying this morning what shall we do today, and did anyone want to go anywhere?

  When I stumbled on this  blog one of the first posts I read was about a round walk at Wentworth and while I have been to Wentworth garden centre many times I have not really explored the area beyond that. So I printed off the route and we got the dogs in the car, most of my dog walking takes place near my house but just recently I have been thinking there are lots of places just a short drive away so it is good to get out and see different scenery.

We parked in the beautiful Wentworth village and after crossing our first field we saw this...

It is a gorgeous converted windmill, actually people were sitting in the garden I noticed as we passed. I bet they get fed up of people taking photos of their house. Oops!

It is a beautiful area and you pass over lots of farm land on this walk, therefore the dogs remain on a lead.  It was just as well really as it warmed up and they would have got too hot had they been running around.  There were lots of areas of shade as we passed through woodland so this was a relief, it was cloudy and breezy when we set off so we thought an ideal time to have a good walk with the dogs!

The walk has a definite  route as I said it can be found online in the form of a leaflet called Wentworth walk 9 or if you follow the link on the blog above he gives very good directions too.  There are also lots of signs on the footpaths and styles saying doorstep walk. 

You pass this amazing structure called the Needle's Eye which was built by the Charles the second Marquess of Rockingham between 1730 and 1782, apparently to settle a wager that he could ride a horse and carriage through the eye of a needle. It is an interesting sight anyway and in a lovely location.

We think this walk was maybe between 4-5 miles maybe more 5 for us as we set off walking back up a field then realised maybe we should be going the other way, so a bit of backtracking there. Usually my husband tracks it on his phone but he forgot today and our route didn't state the distance.  Many of the other walks on the blog I mentioned  do state the distance and difficulty.

The route also takes you past Elsecar Heritage Centre which is a nice place to visit if you have never been there.  We just stopped to let the dogs have a drink then carried on.

More gorgeous scenery then back up through the village for a drink outside a pub.  This is a another lovely walk to return to and it will be interesting to see how it looks through the changing seasons.

As I have had a bit of time I have finished  a few books this past month, the good thing being I have really enjoyed the ones I have read.  This is partly because I have a new thing of deciding fairly early on if it is my sort of thing and if not I just stop and move on.  There are so many books there is just no point in persevering just because I have started something, I used to have a real problem with that I've started so I'll finish ideal.

So first up was Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant, it may not be for everyone as it is historical and about life in a convent but I really enjoyed it.

This story is set in Italy in the city of Ferrara. It is 1570 and Serafina is sent to the convent of Santa Caterina against her will.   This is a story about the ongoing struggle of one, strong determined young woman in a time when women were expected to quietly accept their lot. There is also a story of relationship, between Zuana the infirmary sister and the abbess who is not all she appears.  It is a  really good read which draws you into the setting with admiration for those who chose it willingly, and horror for those who never had that choice.   I read a little each night with this novel and I’m  glad I did not rush through it, it gave me a chance to think about the freedom many of us get to enjoy in this modern age. While not all women across the world  are so fortunate and for some little has changed.

Next I read The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, I was really pleased to order this one from the library as I had it on my Amazon wish list.  Books tend to stay there while I make up my mind.  Now again this is a historical story but his time in the form of a fairy tale for grown ups, or at least that is how I would describe it.  Set in Russia, there is lots of folklore and magic but the characters are wonderfully believable and I was completely lost in this tale.  The main character Vasya is once more strong and capable in a time when this was not  favoured trait in women.

I did not choose these two books expecting a similar theme to run through them it just happened that way. 

After that I read How to get things done by Richard Templar, this book felt a bit of a cheat, 200  pages with every other one being a title or heading page so realistically a one hundred page book!  I read this in one sitting and of course most of it is just common sense, make lists, delegate, don't do unnecessary tasks  and  just get on with stuff.  So nothing ground breaking there but I would have been annoyed had I paid for this book, given that it was so short and misleading.  I mean if you ordered that online you would expect 200 pages and not 100 of them to be space filling fluff. 

My current read is How to Stop Time by Matt Haig and I am off to finish that now.