John Middleton, The Child of Hale

One of the benefits of retirement is that we can go out for lunch more often and incorporate short trips to places of interest. If the sun shines and we need a treat off we go, and recently when we couldn't decide where to venture, I remembered The Child of Hale. 

It was many years since we had visited this quaint little village on the edge of Liverpool and it has an interesting story to tell. A champion of King James1 lived there who was a giant of a man. 

I am only 5 feet tall.... or 5 feet small next to the statue

There are several thatched cottages in Hale and this is the one where John Middleton lived. We met some Scottish tourists who were staying in this house and they had been told that John slept with a foot out of each of two windows in his room! 

Liverpool John Lennon Airport is just nearby and the flight paths are just overhead.

John Middleton's grave in the churchyard and people throw coins onto it for luck.

Here's the story of how he became the King's Champion and, surprisingly, he was robbed returning from court. It must have taken quite a few men to overcome him. 

At the end of the village there is a path which is a pleasant walk leading down to the banks of the River Mersey to Hale Beach.

We enjoyed a good meal in one of the two village pubs to complete another of our day trips.

Liberty Quilt & Spring Flowers for a Friday Smile

It's that day again when we share happy things, courtesy of 

Annie's blog, for a Friday Smile. 

Join in, or just take a peek at smiles from all over the world to start your weekend on a happy note.

I am so pleased that I managed to make this Liberty Quilt for a beautiful new little girl, who was born last week in Brighton to a special friend of my DD1. 
It's the 4th one I've made this year from Liberty Tana Lawn fabric which is so lovely to handle, a joy to sew and I adore all the colours and exquisite patterns. The fabrics do not even need to be made into fancy blocks to look good so, as I was in a hurry, I kept it simple and cut 5 inch squares. Here's the result. 

 I cut one day, stitched up the next day and to finish I added the batting and binding yesterday.

The quilt is 45 x 54 inches in size.

Here, the backing can be seen and it is a design I love, with delicate peacock feathers.

A multi coloured quilt was requested by my DD so I shaded around 40 different designs from pinks in one corner to blues in the opposite corner

So lovely to hang the quilt on my favourite Camellia tree. Read how special it is to me HERE.in a previous post. Thanks to my DD2.

Each year I take pictures of our Camellia in blossom and the time varies from year to year.

This pic was taken late February this year, when a smattering of snow can be seen on the grass on the left. It was so cold that I took the pic from a bedroom window.

This next pic was taken in 2014 in April, blossoming two months later than this year.

The Marie Curie Field of Hope daffodils are blooming in Sefton Park, Liverpool

Fully open in some sunny areas.....

but still so many more to come in the surrounding fields of the park. 

A breathtaking, magnificent sight to see.

Spring is struggling to get here with the weather but not with it's flowers. 

In another week I will be going by myself to Germany to see family, leaving DH to his own resources at home (aaah!), and I'm smiling so I hope you are too.

Patchwork Sewing Machine Wall Hanging plus Star Wars & Super Heroes Bags

I've been indulging myself this week making this little (approx 20 x 20 inches) wall hanging. It was really enjoyable to make and it used up a few bits of my collection of fabrics with sewing notions on them. 

It evolved gradually as I decided, stage by stage, how I would make each part and I used gold thread to machine embroider across the machine to look similar to the images on vintage machines. I left the little piece of Liberty fabric loose as work in progress and I found a piece of black and gold filigree patterned fabric to appliqué as the stitch control.

It was a happy play and I'm pleased at how it turned out.

It has been production line time here this week with no time wasted. 

I made 20 little boxes to hold the brooches made by the ladies in our group for our forthcoming event and I also finished off several little vintage style notebooks.

I found some Star Wars Fabric in Bob's Craft & Quilt shop in Marshside, Southport and I also bought some Super Heroes to please the little girls. 

Craft & Quilt does mail order if anyone is interested.

I ended up making 14 shoe bags as I just had to make one of each character's picture.

A satisfying result for the week especially as I also managed to make good headway with my French Braid Quilt and had a couple of days out too.

Bags, Bibs and Pin Cushions and Pots.

Several more quick items which I made towards our forthcoming quilt club event.
Lots of bits and bobs, made from bits and bobs of fabric which will fill out the sales table and go towards tombola prizes.
It's a good exercise rummaging through my stash and deciding what could be made from each unwanted leftover.

This little handy pot was made from a 10 inch square of left over patchwork. I usually make triangular pots this way but thought I'd try this out with a square.
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I wanted to try out this applique cat design so I used my sample piece as a pocket for this bag. I enjoyed making the cat and think I might do a small quilt with several of them.

Pincushions look complicated but they were quickly sewn by machine.

Straightforward shopping bags are so useful now that stores do not dole out plastic bags for free. A good way of using up remnants.

Baby's bibs, all made of cotton except for the satin bias around the necks.

Quick Makes & Stitch & Craft Show Visit

My week....

I've sewn all my strips together for the panels of my French Braid/ Jelly Roll quilt. Now for a "stitch in the ditch" fest!

I made a few quick items towards the goodies for my quilt club's May event.

Shopping bags......

Children's bags and aprons....

Handy pouches with clear zip pockets. 

Credit and thanks for this idea goes to my blogging buddy 

Diane, the Cheshire Quilter.

Event City Trip

Yesterday we took advantage of my 2 free tickets and ventured over to Manchester to visit the Stitch & Craft Show at Event City. I had arranged to go with a friend but her health intervened so I am adding the following pics as a taste for her of a little of what she missed. (Get well soon too!)  It was a good show with so much to see, exhibitions, trade stands and make and takes. The catering facilities were increased and, very wisely, there were groups of 3 or 4 seats suitably placed all around the halls as rest areas.

It was well worth visiting and a step up to last year as we found so much to interest us other than the trade stands. 

Check it out if you fancy a visit as I think it is still on tomorrow.

First a few of my favourite pieces .....

Close up of the detail of fabulous machining skills.

This little panel was beautifully hand embroidered and quite a jewel amongst all the machine stitching.

The following pieces were entries in a competition with "Glimpses of Scotland" as the subject.

This delicate panel was stitched on a piece of an old pianola roll

The detail of this collage of stitched postcards was amazing and it was wonderful to see how this lady, from Denmark, really captured the essence of her holidays in Scotland.

Pauline Walsh produced a really imaginative piece inspired by the distorted image through a glass of whisky.

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This pheasant was beautifully stitched and the tiny heather flowers were exquisite.

Here is the winning entry....very imaginative, good fun and well executed but not one I would have chosen or would have on my wall.

I enjoyed seeing the costumes from "Far from the Madding Crowd" but I couldn't believe how tiny the waists were. It's hard to judge from the photos but they must have only been 20 inch at the most.

Over all a good show and my only complaint..... 

I scoured all the trade stands looking for 100% cotton quilting thread and there was only one stand selling any thread at all and that was bog basic cheapo polyester. 

All that fabric to sew and not a reel of thread worthy of using to sew it.