Haven't really got too much to show for today, although I seem to have been busy. But firstly I will put a picture of the planter that Darren and I got at the fete yesterday. It is a plastic pot but an attractive one. We have placed it on the garden so that it can be seen from the sitting room downstairs.

The day didn't start well when I ordered something on line as a download, entered my payment details and then had over an hour of videos trying to get me to add to the order, but the instructions said not to leave the page of use the back button as it could cause multiple orders, so I was stuck with it! Did a bit of washing and decided to try and make a sponge (no quitter, me!) Thought it was going to be a success this time, almost excited, came up for the camera for proof, and by the time I was downstairs again it had sunk!! Must be the oven, that is my decision, so many flops is just not on. Than an email about some plants that I ordered, supposed to arrive by courier today, they haven't, some problem with the address it seems. Should have stayed in bed, Anyway, I have spent most of the rest of the day on the quilt. Now have nearly all the crosses made, there are twenty five in all, some of these materials have tow crosses and some three.

I did manage to put two together wrongly, I thought I had been so careful!

I will get those two corrected, probably tomorrow now as I am quilted out for today. I will then trip all the blocks before I decide on the layout of the quilt. Off to tidy up.!

I started working on the quilt which ends up looking like a lot of crosses. After cutting 300 squares and border strips there is lots more sewing trimming and ironing to do to end up with 25 pattern squares eventually which will be sewn together to make the quilt. A pile of pieces as I left it yesterday evening.

This morning I did a bit more before Darren and I set off to go to the village hall sale in Brompton. We thought it was an 11 o'clock start but when we got there they were just setting up, it was a 1 pm start! We started back but decided to have tea and cake at Betton Farm, very nice it was too. We then went for a wander round, first at the aviary where there were cockatiels.

Then we went down to the petting zoo and the first residents were these sunbathing chickens!

Saw some gorgeous, very noisy, pigs. I was scratching the back of one of them and he was laying down enjoying it by the time I left them!

Then we walked down to where there are animals in outside pens. Pretty nice view, it is well out in the country.

This sheep spotted me and came racing across towards me.

She came to the fence and I stroked her head for quite a while, she was the scruffiest sheep in the field and she was absolutely adorable. If I had a car of my own these days I may have smuggled her home!!

We decided to go back to the fete and Darren managed to stop near a bridge as I had noticed the wonderful array of crocuses on the other side..You go by the bridge in one direction and over it in the other direction.

So different where I took the next picture from the bridge.

The sun has bleached the colour out a bit, it was like a sea of mauve crocuses, just stunning. We went on to the fete, it was very well attended, in fact it was difficult to get to see the stalls. Saw Sandra from the craft shop and bought a few bits she had on sale. When we got home Tina said she would like to get out for a bit so she and I went to The Mere and walked round it. I have a daffodil open in the garden, it is facing down so I tried to take a photo without seeing what I was doing. Didn't mean it to be out of focus, was obviously too close, but it turned out to be quite an arty picture, so I like it anyway!

Going to get some quilting done this evening, well, that is the plan at the moment.

This morning was a bit dull out, but I decided to take a walk to the glen. I still have bird seed in a bin in the garden, but haven't been feeding the birds for a while now, so took a pot of seed with me to walk up towards the cemetery as there seemed to be a lot of robins and other birds about up there and not so many pigeons. I also took monkey nuts to feed the squirrels. A lot of other folk feeding the squirrels and pigeons as I passed through so set off for the walk up the glen first. The path to the cemetery was blocked off, maybe because there is work being done on the bridge that goes over the park. So went off in a different direction to see if I could find any small birds.. The glen was looking lovely as usual.

When I got up higher I did manage to see and feed some birds, this handsome blackbird.

There were two or three robins, most of the pictures weren't great, but this one is nice and clear.

On the way down I spotted a bit on the rocks in the water, I presume it is some sort of wagtail as it's tail was most definitely wagging!

Another shot of the stream, this time sort of through a built up bit.

Back down it squirrel corner I did get to feel quite a few.

This afternoon I have done some quilting and some overdue dusting and polishing. Will take pictures of the quilt progress tomorrow. The Voice battles tonight and then Casualty, so that's the evening sorted!

Yesterday evening I joined the edging strips and attached them to the quilt. I really struggled with the finishing off the border, I can never remember which way to join the pieces and did a lot of unpicking! This morning I spent a couple of hours hand sewing the edging down and I am really pleased with the result. This one is special as I got some of the material in Tennessee last year.

A close up to perhaps show the quilting detail and to see the backing material.

After I had finished the quilt I got on with doing the lettering on the rainbow plate. Quite nerve racking as I usually do writing straight onto the bisque but this time it was onto glaze so would have been very difficult to correct. Luckily I didn't go wrong! 

Walked into town and dropped the plate off plus showed the quilt to Sandra and Annabelle as it was from their instructions. Haven't felt too lively this afternoon so watched a Perry Mason!

A couple of days ago I was thinking that I would like to do a hanging plate at the ceramic studio. I love the film The Wizard of Oz and in particular the song Over the Rainbow. Love the original version and the one by Eva Cassidy even more. So, A plate with a rainbow seemed the right way to go. I brought a plate home yesterday and drew a design on it last night. Today, after a visit to the Craft shop I went to the studio and spent a couple of hours on the plate.

I have fetched the plate home again and some blue glaze to do the lettering and add a few bluebirds! It has been a crafty day today. Yesterday evening I did the layering and quilting on the charm pack quilt, and this morning I trimmed the edges and cut bias strips which I will join together in a bit to add the binding to the quilt. A curvy edge to this one so it will be a bit tricky!

I did actually take my crochet blanket to the craft group this afternoon, I only bring it out occasionally so it is growing very slowly!

Looking forward to Death in Paradise but sad it is the last one this time around!

I was up at about 7 am and the sky was pretty this morning.

It was frosty so went straight into the back garden to blow bubbles!! Some did land but it was nowhere near cold enough for them to crystallize! 

I was out turning over another bed in the back garden for quite a while. Also weeded and hoed the front garden to make it a bit tidier. The primula is looking lovely and a couple of daffodils should be open in a couple of days.

Darren drove me to Deans at lunch time, we had a snack and then I got three more bags of sand and some plants and bulbs. When we got back I got the higher flower beds sanded and added a bit more to the lower one. They were so wet and in parts I had been turning great lumps of clay, fingers crossed things will improve a bit now. After that I concentrated on the lower bed and got a few plants in and some bulbs. Hopefully the plants I have put in will grow and not be demolished by the slugs and snails!

This morning I went to see Sandy at the studio, ended up helping her clear up after a large party they had yesterday evening. Twenty four Beavers in, bet that was fun! She had got her zip in her coat all snagged up as well, so sorted that out for her, good deeds for the day done! I collected my little gecko, he will go well with the others in the bathroom.

I cut through to the cliff top on my way back, the sky was bright, the sky blue and the sea quite calm with lovely white surf.

I spent a little while using the new garden tool when I got home, but didn't overdo it!

Darren told me that the Flying Scotsman was going to be at Scarborough station for a couple of hours this afternoon so Tina dropped me off in town on her way out to a meeting. I was at the station before the train and had a bit of a wait. The clouds and sun were making for quite a dramatic sky.

Then the wait was over and here she comes!

And stops to be admired.

I was about to leave and let everyone else that had turned up enjoy the experience when she began to let of steam, very loudly, so stayed for a bit!

A very different afternoon to the one I had in mind!

This morning the four of us had breakfast and then Tina went off to a meeting and Mike dropped me off at the station as he set off to make his way home. I had a chiropractor appointment and he is near the station. My session wasn't too painful and we discussed heat treatment. We decided a wheat bag was the best bet so I set off round town to try and find one! Easier said than done, thought I had about exhausted the possibilities when I called in Savers and they had them at a very reasonable price.Then I went to the council offices to get the charge paid for having the garden bin emptied. Our license will arrive in a few days and collections start in March I believe. The council office is near the cliff top of the south bay, so went to have a look, a lovely morning although the wind was pretty cold.

I took a picture with the soldier seat in the foreground.

Another one from a bit further back so as I could include the flower bed!

I heated up the wheat bag when I got back and wrapped it round my ankle for five minutes, supposed to do that a few times a day to  get the circulation going! Then I went downstairs and bagged up the prunings from last week and then used the new tool, will take a picture tomorrow, to break down the soil in one of the beds and work some of the sand in. Was on a get things done roll by then so started trying to organise the box room where I have the fridge, kettle and microwave, I need to give myself more working space in there. Darren has some boxes in there that he is going to find homes for, but I needed to move stuff out so that I can get to them! Went to the vet with Tina as Colonel hasn't been too well. He has high blood pressure and that has meant that one of his eyes has 'blown' and cannot be reversed. Tina has pills for the blood pressure, which will be fun, but that should protect his other eye. He had a Vitamin B injection and I have never seen him so animated or shout so loud! Obviously a painful injection. Tina and I cooked up a couple of Hello Fresh meals as they needed using, they were quite tasty and filling. Then Tina and I went and got a bit of shopping at Sainsbury's, so a fairly busy day today. Not planning to do a lot more this evening, exercises and wheat bag soon I think!

This morning Mike and I tried a recipe from my steam case book, it was Cuban style rice which included rice, tomatoes, onions and bananas, salt ad pepper and then eggs on the top when the rice is cooked. Unusual but really tasty! I had been supposed to have afternoon tea afternoon with a friend, but she wasn't well and cancelled so Mike and I set off for a walk into town and the south bay. We walked down passing the murals, so a steep descent and then walked along the front, a grey day but plenty of people about. We had a portion of chips sat on a bench, heckled by the pigeons, not the seagulls for a change! Then we walked up Paradise, which is far steeper when walking it than it looked in the pictures last week. Took these flowers, gave me an excuse for a breather!

When we passed by the churchyard the seagulls were doing their dances to bring the worms to the surface. One of my favourite sights since I have moved here. This one had been dancing but was checking out the crow as well!

Took a picture of the old town as we headed back into town.

We called in The Conservatory cafe where they sell a cup of tea with a giant piece of cake for £2.50! When I say giant, I mean gigantic!

We went off to see if we could buy a small shelf for Mike to fix up for me to put my electric tooth brush on. We didn't find a shelf  but bought a couple of small brackets. Mike went in the garden when we got back and found an off cut of the planks they had used to block in the shed and I now have a perfect little shelf for the job!

Last Vera tonight, that's a shame.

The four of us went for breakfast this morning and then Darren and Mike went off to buy wood to start blocking in the base of the shed and I started some long overdue pruning in the back garden.

Then I started to turn over one of the beds and have now used two bags fo sharp sand to try and encourage the soil to be a little less clumpy and like a bog!

Mike and Darren had the shed blocking well under way by the time I went off to the craft shop to get help with marking the edge of my charm pack quilt.

I was a couple of hours at the shop because Annabelle forgot she was meeting me so a bit of hanging around, but I do now have the edge marked so that I can get on with the next step! Mike and I took a walk to the glen to see if we could find any squirrels. Lots of other people had the same idea. The water was still gushing well.

We walked right up the the graveyard.

Mike did find a squirrel to feed next to the pond garden

We have had fish and chips this evening and now we are settling down to watch The Voice!