Beach Walks

On my retreat I got up each morning eager to see the sunrise,

hoping to catch that moment when the sun just peeps above the clouds.

After some crochet, and timed according to the tides, I went for a walk to one of the two little beaches nearby.

When the sea was calm, there was a heron

 fishing

but I was looking for rusty bits and seaglass

On the whole the weather was good

with the low sun adding beauty the the hedgerows.

Looking back from the path, if you zoom in, you can see my caravan perched above the beach.

So back to my cosy nest for some more crochet

This is what two weeks of mosaic crochet looks like – in Stylecraft Special Aran and 5mm hook. The pattern is Santa Cruz by Daisy Knots.

Then out for another walk to catch the sun setting

I wonder where I will go for Christmas 2022.

If you could go anywhere in the world for two weeks on your own, where would you go?

From my nest on the cliff

7.06 am 25th December 2020, looking out from my static caravan window.

Click on any image to see it full screen.

As some of you will know, every other year I escape Christmas and find a hideaway where I can be on a blissful tinsel-free retreat.

This year, I could not go too far from home, but luckily a friend owns a caravan at Sandsfoot Castle, overlooking Portland Harbour, just 10 miles from where I live and she was kind enough to let me have it to myself.

I have not been away from my house overnight for about a year, so it felt very exciting to pack a suitcase and stuff the car full of craft supplies and head off to the sea.

8.00am  30 December

watching the sun come up each morning was the biggest thrill.

Each day a constantly evolving Rothko painting would gently, gradually, change with the light across the sea and sky

Lots of people seem to find it too odd to comprehend that I enjoy going away on my own to be in some far flung place in isolation – but I LOVE it. My very own silent retreat, away from village life and all the practical ‘to do’ lists of home and garden.

I often get asked “but what do you do?”

Most of what I do fits around Tide Timetables, the weather forecast and the time the sun rises and sets  – and that is a wonderfully calm and simple way to live for a couple or more weeks every other year.

In 2008 I went to California for six weeks,

In 2016 I stayed in a treehouse on the Pembrokeshire Coast from the 15th December to 15th January.

paddle boarders

This year, I was able to walk from my nest, along the Rodwell Trail, that follows the old railway line, from Weymouth to Portland. From there I could tramp up along the top of Chesil Beach

This photo was taken at 1pm on Christmas Day. Whilst so many were tucking into a turkey, I was walking for about a mile along the top of a nearly isolated beach in crisp clear air and glorious sunshine – it felt SO good!

I say nearly isolated as there was one family having a windy picnic lunch looking out to sea and in the carpark, looking out over the harbour, where it was a bit more sheltered, there was a couple in red and white Father Christmas hats sitting at a picnic table covered in decorations and having a lobster and champagne lunch. Fabulous! The camaraderie of doing things differently.

There are plenty of old rusty bits and pieces to enjoy along that stretch

I would love to know the story behind this abandoned boat

The Pheonix

But oh the shed!

Look at those doors – all that texture, the colours! the corrugated rust!

ART!

So, dear readers, I am sure YOU don’t need to ask me, “but what do you DO?!”

 

 

Christmas Dawn

Merry Christmas everyone from my seaside hideaway

Rainbows!

Yesterday magic.

Just after walking under blackening skies

and being drenched with icy rain and pelted with hailstones

the sun came out

and created magic.

The first photo was taken by my lovely walking friend – and that’s J in the last photo. Such happy memories of a multitude of walks over the years – and this one was right up there in the top 10!

As is this one back in July 2019

❤ Have you found some magic this week? ❤

Scrap Happy Baubles

I follow a Facebook Group called Stitch Meditations and one of the Moderators, Anne Marie Desauliniers, posted a picture of one of her embroidered orbs on Instagram which set me off on a mini obsession. I have two big bags of plastic garden playballs, so I used them as the base,

covering them with fabric scraps and then using yarn made of Silk waste from the manufacture of saris, from Yarn Yarn  to hang them up with.

This tied in with another recent obsession with re-using teabags

 

I sewed a strip of 4 together and then wrapped it round the ball,  sewing ends together. Then did the same with another strip. All the edges were then sewn down.

 

 

 

 

Some have gone to my grandchildren for them to paint and decorate (mainly because they find it so funny that Granny sits sewing teabags together)

and the rest are sitting in a bowl waiting for more inspiration to strike

Joining in with Kate and her happy band of  Scrappers.

Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra (me), Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire,
Jean, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki,
Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin, Vera, Nanette and Ann

In a Vase on Monday: My Christmas Tree

On Friday I took my daughter and her children to see the Ignite Garden display at Kingston Lacy

Which was a magical way to meet outside at the start of their Christmas holidays.

This is Little Miss M, in a pixie hat I knitted, who just seemed to feel right at home in the Fern Garden

As we were walking round, we were talking about Christmas trees and I was telling the children how I used to take my children into the woods to collect fallen branches, that we would take home, and decorate for our tree as I did not want to kill a tree for Christmas.

Nowadays, I don’t ‘do’ Christmas and haven’t put any Christmas decorations up for years. I will be in a caravan by the sea this year, and I am really looking forward to it.

On Saturday, Little Miss M walked over to my house with a present

…….a branch they had to cut off their tree to balance it, topped with a decoration I had made with the children a couple of years ago

and some pink yarn because I like pink. She carried the lametta in her pocket so it wouldn’t blow away and then put it on the ‘tree’ as she gave it to me.

Heart-melting! I will take it with me to my caravan by the sea!

Joining Cathy for In a Vase on Monday.

Sammy the Seal, Weymouth

A friend has been staying near the beach in Weymouth this week and we have been been meeting for walks and al fresco lunches.

A favourite place on mine is the The Lookout where it can be a bit breezy but the view is worth it, out to sea and looking over Lodmoor.

Before retirement, I used to work in Weymouth and often,  if I had an appointment with a colleague, rather than meet in a stuffy office somewhere, I would suggest The Lookout. Very few people are there during the week outside school holiday times, so confidential meetings could be had whilst looking out to sea.

Seeing Lodmoor from here made me realise that having lived here all my life, I had never walked around the Nature Reserve, so yesterday I put that right

There seems to be only one path that just goes straight across and you don’t really get to see much for the reeds, although I do get fascinated by the lines and patterns they make

and the reflections in the water

They turn up in my doodles

The path leads to a crossing over the road, then up the steps, over the wall and onto the beach

where every day a digger pulls back the pebbles from the sea. The following photo was taken in October.

Then, back along the beach to have fish and chips at Cafe Oasis.

and later as the sun was beginning to set, a siting of Sammy the Seal.

He has become a local celebrity this year. He appears on Facebook pages, on the News and in the papers. Friends have seen him and even been swimming with him but up until yesterday I had not seen him.

He was not lying in the most photogenic position, and one can’t get too close as there are Marshalls standing near to protect him and people and their dogs.

If you Google ‘Sammy the Seal Weymouth’ you can see loads of You tube clips and all the links to his appearance in the newspapers. In this clip, you also get to see the huge dormant cruise ships that have also been a Lockdown feature of 2020

I chatted to the Marshall and she told me that Sammy has been checked by the Marine Biologists who say he is 2 years old and comes from the colony that lives on Portland (the island you see in the background). He goes back to visit but seems to prefer contact with humans, coming up onto the beach in the early morning and at dusk. Apparently he won’t mate until he is 4 or 5 years old, so I wonder if he will be on or near the beach for the next couple of years.

Sunrise on Sunday

Baby Blanket in Blues and Greens

 

Another stash busting baby blanket, this time in Attic24’s Cosy Stripe

Stylecraft Special DK and 4.5mm hook

Colour order:

Spearmint, Sherbert, Cypress, Cloud Blue, Duck Egg, Lincoln

Sherbert, Sage, Spearmint, the next colour is from my stash and could be an earlier, lighter version of Sherbert = mystery, Cloud Blue, Meadow,

Duck Egg, Sage, Lincoln, Sherbert, Cloud Blue, Spearmint,

Cypress, Duck Egg, Lincoln, mystery, Sherbert, Meadow, 

Cloud Blue, Storm, Spearmint, Duck Egg, Lincoln, 

Sherbert, Cypress, mystery, Cloud Blue, Meadow, Spearmint, 

Lincoln, Storm, Sherbert, Duck Egg, Sage, Cloud Blue,

Meadow, Spearmint, Lincoln, Sherbert, Storm, Duck Egg,

Sage, Spearmint.

Edging pattern as written by Attic24

The finished blanket measures 40″ x 45″

Joining in with Ginny’s Yarn Along

I don’t read fiction very often nowadays but I have loved the BBC’s programme Between the Covers

 

 

Silent Sunday Stroll

Octogonical Part 4

I posted a photo of this blanket-in-the-making on Facebook and someone said that it reminded them of lighting in a night club – I love that!

So this is my night club blanket – haha! two more opposite things brought together is hard to imagine.

Octogonical by Helen Shrimpton is a free pattern. I am making it in Stylecraft Special Double Knit and 4.5mm hook.

I haven’t been posting much on here have I.  A combination of the WordPress format changing which I struggle with; enjoying the ease of posting on Instagram; and sinking deeply into a creative hibernation mode during these strange times.

There is plenty of creativity happening, I just can’t seem to find interesting things to say about it.

How are you doing?

 

Octogonical: Part 1

I tried hard to resist this Blanket Crochet Along – failed!

Helen Shrimpton’s Octogonical.

My excuse to myself is that I am only going to use yarn I already have:

Stylecraft Special DK and a 4.5mm hook

Colour Order

Lobelia, Royal, Teal, Lobelia, Bright Pink, Lobelia, Emperor, Lobelia

What can I say – crochet makes me happy, and joining in with other crocheters on the same project is fun.

In a Vase on Monday: Happy Birthday

It was my daughter’s birthday last week and I picked some asters and cotoneaster to pop in a jar for her.

The bees are going crazy for those asters but the birds are not eating the cotoneaster berries yet. There is a Mrs Blackbird tucking into some pyracantha berries just outside my kitchen window – so they must ripen earlier.

I used an old doodle book of the children’s to make the birthday card

The book had been filled and discarded so I took out the centre to reuse the neon pink cover

I could easily reuse the holes for sewing in a new centre.

With a bit of neon yellow embroidery thread. My daughter loves a bit of neon!

I came across something called ‘block writing’ on Instagram, so I had to have a go.

When my daughter was born, I was reading a beautiful book about Native American practices: Voices of Our Ancestors. by Dhyani Ywahoo.

A was born at 3.45am and when I got back to the ward, the light of dawn was beginning to glow in the sky. I looked out of the window, feeling so happy and relieved and grateful to have a healthy baby girl, and I saw one bright star, which I now realise must have been Venus.  I gave A a Native American name ‘Bright Morning Star’- a secret name – just between her and me.

For her birthday I gave her a rooted fig tree cutting that I bought in the market – hope it grows well and tucked a note in the card for her to go towards her lunchtime meal at The Station Kitchen, West Bay.

I am definitely going to try and take some cuttings from my fig tree next year.

My daughter lives just across the field from me, so I walked up quite early to give her the card.

This was the scene over the village as I walked back – autumn mist in the distance.

Joining in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday.

Beach

Imagine my delight when I went for a walk at Overcombe beach yesterday morning and saw PINK seaweed!

It was such a beautiful morning and there were quite a few people swimming

with the backdrop of huge cruise ships sitting in the bay. There have been up to 10 at a time out there as they sit out the pandemic in the shelter of Weymouth Bay

They are quite a sight – some are enormous!

But I was far more interested in the seaweed and just looking at the pebbles 

and other finds

meet Rocky (found on different day)

and this is when Rocky met Bob, who lives at my daughter’s house

and this is me (on the left) and my sister on Newgale beach in Pembrokeshire, circa1962.

Who had one of those bathing suits? And why on earth did we have to wear those horrid hats in the sea!

Textile Tuesday: Wild Twinchies

I just love seeing those little envelopes pop through my letterbox. If you want to know more about this project see this post.

These are just arranged randomly at the moment.

Aren’t they yummy! An Autumnal theme is developing methinks.

Only two more to come and then I can start playing around with how to bring them all together.

Thank you so much to all who have joined in

Life is a bit hectic here right now – all good but it is keeping me away from blogging – I am looking forward to it all calming down soon.

Silent Sunday in Thorncombe Woods

And the Rainbow Blanket goes to ……..

Pebble!

Yes Cathy, you were right!

Liitle Miss M asked for the blanket to be for Pebble and I crumbled!

Pebble arrived yesterday and has settled right in. I am not one to go all gooey over animals in general but ……. I have to admit I’m smitten.

We had a black labrador in the 70s/80s called Dido, this is Dido as a puppy

and later, (circa 1974) curled up with Basil and Rue, our two rescue cats, next to the solid fuel Rayburn in the kitchen, on a very comfortable chair I bought in an auction for £1.

Dido went on to have 8 puppies and by the time of this photo was taken, with my son (then two and a half, now 44) she was heartily fed up with them!

The next photo is when Pebble met Little Miss M and Master R for the first time, after school yesterday. She snuggled in and went to sleep just after this photo was taken with two very happy children, beaming from ear to ear.

My daughter sent me a text this morning to say Pebble is very happy with the Rainbow blanket and slept on it last night, and sent this photo, saying that Pebble seems to be a fan of the scrap happy blanket too.

Happy Days ahead!

Wordless Wednesday

Rainbow Blanket for ?

Another stash busting Rainbow Ripple Blanket using Attic24’s Neat Ripple pattern, a 4.5mm hook and the yarn left over from the blanket for Big Bro.

And this one goes to ………

….. and I can’t quite believe I have agreed to this ……

but this one goes to ……..

……… answer next week.    😉

In a Vase on Monday on Scrap Happy Tuesday

It was my son-in-law’s birthday yesterday – Happy Birthday Mr. M!

You might remember he is the farmer who likes supporting my crazy crafty ways.

You can see him and my daughter in this post.

I had meant to post this yesterday, but the day did not go to plan, never mind it now doubles up as a multi-functional post, two memes in one.

In true Scrap Happy Style I made Mr M a card out of old used teabags and some of the old wire fencing he brought for me to play with.

Each element, a symbol of members of his family. The heart with gold kisses represents my daughter – her name means ‘beloved’. My two Granddaughters’ names are represented by the fern leaf print and the ‘pearl’ and my Grandson’s by the red beads.

In the Chive vase are a couple of Robin’s Pincushions found on a wild rose in my garden

Intriguing, I love the colours and texture – they have a touch of magic about them

and the wonderfully shiny hips reminding me of the school nature table, when each year in primary school we seemed to do something about hips and haws.

Joining Cathy for In a Vase on Monday.

Kate and her fellow scrappers for the monthly Scrap Happy Day

Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra (me), Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin, Vera, Del and Nanette

and Cee for Flower of the Day, with a link to her post with some graphics on the state of the fires and air quality on the West Coast of the US.