It has been a pleasant week here with some rain and some sunshine, a trip out and friends visiting.

First up though my Stitch Journal for the week and I have been playing with blanket stitch variations.

I have given up with the scrappy squares knitting project - having tried various needle variations and not getting the effect I wanted I am not wasting any more time on it. So I have been concentrating on my crochet jumper and my socks in the evenings.

For my Chookshed Challenge this month I am working on this kit that was passed to me a couple of years ago.

When I opened it up I was suprised to find that the pattern was printed onto black cloth and I was not supplied with the calico and pattern to trace as the instructions said. However, the threads are vibrant and I think that they will look good on the black.

And I have been working on this but it does need good light as it is fine!

We had a clear day this week and headed out to visit Dunster castle, however we hit roadworks and a large traffic jam so we diverted to Watchet another of our favourite places to visit. We found a new to us antiques shop and spent a while browsing as well as in the community book shop. Watchet has a 40's weekend this weekend and all the shop windows were decorated with a 40's theme. Then we walked across to the East Quay arts centre for lunch - a delicious bowl of spiced sweet potato and coconut soup. It was not a cold day but it was overcast and a bowl of soup seemed apropriate. Then a walk out along the quay past the marina. 

The tide was out but this lock holds water in to the marina.

I always love seeing this Samuel Taylor Coleridge quote from The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.

Despite being an overcast day you could still see across the channel to Wales and Steep Holm (that black dash to the right on the horizon).

Walking back you get a great view of the arts centre which was opened within the last 10 years and has become a busy local centre with galleries, workshops and paper mill and which runs events and craft workshops.

There are also three accomodation pods - the three units in the middle with sail like roofs. Look carefully and you can see the bathroom of the centre one which has a splendid view of the marina and town.

Happy stitching and I will see you next week.

FNSI January

 Many thanks to Wendy for continuing FNSI on blogger as well as Facebook. Good to join in with everyone again. You can see who else took part here and our winners from the end of 2025.

We had a lovely day out to Watchet, a favourite harbour town on the West Somerset coast. It was a beautiful sunny morning and we met friends for coffee which turned into lunch. It was then time for a walk by the harbour at which point we had the first of several showers. So popped into the East Quay arts centre for a browse round the shop and the Two Rivers Paper Mill. I was tempted to buy a pack of their paper offcuts for my new sketchbook project. They are between exhibitions at the moment.

It stopped raining so we went for a walk out to the sea wall and got back to East Quay in time to dive into the restaurant for a coffee and miss the next shower. And then it was time to go home. Sorry no pictures - too busy talking😂

So when I got home I worked on my Stitch Journal This is how it is looking so far - half way through the month already!

Friday's addition was the blue flower top left, todays the scroll stitch scroll.

Then it was time to work on my crochet. I completed the first 30 rows of the CAL earlier in the week so last night I made a start on the new colour chart for the next 40 rows.

Also this week I have been working on my Chookshed Challenge and I have now completed the base stitching for all 6 sides of the box.

And started adding the flowers and vegetables.

When I went to my patchwork group this week I was able to show my progress to the lady who gifted me the kit and she was delighted to see it taking shape. She however was working with some Japanese fabrics and her project was looking very tempting!

So that was my week, a perfect quiet January week with plenty of time to sew as well as a nice trip out. I hope yours was good too.

Watchet

 Watchet is one of our favourite  coastal towns to visit and being just 15 miles away is one of the closest.  The town itself is over 1000 years old with the harbour being used for trade over many centuries. Now it is a pleasure marina.

I took the opportunity to try out my new camera and had lots of fun 'zooming' around!

I have to say the zoom is pretty amazing! In the middle of this picture on the horizon there is an island - Steep Holm.

Here is Steep Holm taken from the same spot on the harbour wall with my zoom

and the Welsh coast

and the new reactor at Hinkley Point.

Note the blue sky in the above pictures - this was the view looking in to Watchet

Fortunately the rain took it's time in arriving.

The macro also works well

and you can't beat a bit of rust!

Yankee Jack (the statue lol) keeps an eye on the marina.

There are several gift shops in Watchet, all well stocked with quality local crafts and we came away with a few Christmas presents - we could be back again soon!

On our travels!

 Yes, after 20 months we managed a trip to the UK where we were able to catch up with friends and family. It was a lovely time and the sun shone for most of it which was great although the last few days were distinctly damp.

Lovely to be out and about in the Somerset countryside too - the narrow roads and high hedges were a welcome sight after the wide open fields of the northern Dordogne. And the sea! So good to see the sea again.

So I will launch straight in to some photographs.

This weather worn boat was in Watchet Harbour - I love that splash of turquoise on top of the right hand pole.

We managed to arrive in Watchet on market day - it was busy! So we took our picnics to Blue Anchor bay and sat on the beach looking across to the Welsh coast. From there we drove inland to Staple Plain where we walked up to the top of Beacon Hill. The heather was in full bloom and glorious.

In the second picture you can see the stunning view down to the coast.

At the top - you can just see the beacon on the right.

On another occasion we visited St Martins church at Kingsbury Episcopi for an interesting exhibition documenting cider making in the parish and the local families and businesses involved. I spotted this lovely door in a corner of the church.

and these 'drunken' graves outside.

I am surprised that Health and Safety haven't been round and condemned that gravestone! Some years ago we visited another graveyard in North Somerset where council workers were pulling over tilted gravestones 'because they are dangerous'!

Anyway from there we of course had to visit a local cider farm, Burrow Hill Cider Farm where they also distill the cider to make cider brandy. 

It is cider making time and there was a large heap of apples in the yard being washed prior to being pulped.

Then a visit to Muchelney Pottery 

Sadly John Leach, grandson of Bernard Leach, died recently but for the time being the pottery and shop will be carrying on. I bought one of the lovely jugs from the kitchenware range to add to my small collection and enjoyed admiring the beautiful one off collection pieces.

Finally a lovely day out with friends at Killerton House It was our first visit and we enjoyed walking round the gardens dodging showers under huge old trees. This lovely hinge was on the door to the Church and will be added to my spiral collection.

 The Bears Hut also sheltered us - in the main room the ceiling is decorated with pine cones

and this is part of the beautiful floor.

Killerton is home to a large collection of 18th - 20th century dress and accessories. On display while we were there an interesting exhibition of sports wear including a very elaborate - and I would have thought very hot - tennis dress! No 7 in the picture.

Thank you for reading through to the end - I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Happy New Year and a Craftpod!

Some of you have noticed that I have not been around for a while. Something went wrong with my computer while we were away over Christmas - the dreaded 'Windows update' I suspect. Anyway, although blog updates were coming through on email I was unable to connect to the internet so I was reading your posts but was unable to comment. But, thanks to our local computer whiz, I am back.

So I wish you all a very Happy 2018!

 

We spent three weeks in UK over Christmas and New Year visiting friends and family and had a lovely time. Not many photographs taken, I have no idea why, but we enjoyed a day out at Watchet in North Somerset and I did take a few there. It was a wet and windy day but it was lovely to be out on the beach and near the sea.

 

 

Before we went away I had read about Craftpods, a quarterly box of seasonal craft ideas in a letterbox friendly box. It sounded like a fun idea and so I ordered the winter box. I collected it in UK but did not open it until this week when I had time to appreciate it and enjoy the contents.

 

 

I opened the box to find a welcoming message from Jo, the originator of the Craftpod.

 

 

And underneath the beautifully wrapped goodies!

 

 

And oh yes, there is chocolate!

 

 

Essential nourishment for any craft project.

 

 

There are two projects in the box - one embroidery, the other a linocut stamping project. Everything that you need is included.

 

 

Three linocut blades, a piece of Mastercut which is a lino substitute and easier to cut, an ink pad and some simple designs to try out.

 

 

The embroidery project is of a pretty winter berries design and comes with a hoop for framing your finished embroidery.

 

 

Also included in the box is a sheet of winter themed stickers and a pretty postcard.

 

 

I have been planning to do more printing this year and so the lino cut project appealed straight away and so I soon made a start on my first print block using the pine cone design supplied.

 

 

In less than an hour I had unpacked my box and made my first prints. The Mastercut was really easy to work in to and the design very effective. I cleaned up my block and then used it with a gold pad to print into the sketchbook I made here

 

 

and love the effect I obtained. Am thinking about applying a wash of colour over the page now.

 

I shall definitely be ordering another Craftpod - a little box of goodies to brighten any day!

 

Friday night is the first FNSI of the year - hope to see you there!