York...still beautiful in February

Initially Miss M was planning to travel to York by herself but I couldn't let her do that.....I do love York and I wanted to go back to Whitby as well as I had such a great day there with my son and wanted to experience it with her too. Another chance to relive my childhood.

So we BOTH got up really early on a Monday morning to catch the train from Kings Cross Station. It was almost 7am when we got there but still dark outside so the lights were on inside the station concourse. I just loved the effect of the modern roof structure.

For the most part, I love to travel by train and we had reserved seats with plenty of room around us non-stop to York which made it an enjoyable 2 1/2 hour journey. I learnt my lesson this time and made sure we had accommodation close to the city centre and once we had dropped off our luggage it was time to start exploring.

Although there was alot of rain in South West England, I was surprised to find the River Ouse looking so dangerously swollen. See how it is creeping up the side of the windows and overflowing the riverside walk on the lower left of the picture. Maybe I would need those wellington boots some of you had advised me to pack.

We walked through town, without getting our feet too wet, towards Cliffords Tower. I find it so interesting visiting a familiar place at a different time of year.  No leafy trees this time and although the mound was covered in daffodils, as I hoped it would be, they were not blooming yet.

We then visited the Jorvik Viking Centre in York which is a very informative display of how the vikings settled in this area.  There is a viking village to explore complete with residents going about their everyday business and a museum showcasing many artifacts found around the York area.

 Afterwards we walked through the Shambles and past numerous old buildings through the centre of town. York is rather well known for all its haunted buildings and I am told that the pub photographed above is one of the most haunted in all the land!  I am easily frightened by such things so we did not go on any ghost hunts.

There were plenty of lovely old buildings to look at though and some of them you just wonder how they stayed up for so many years as the walls were very crooked and windows at a slant. It all just adds to the quaintness of this lovely historical town.

And then we found Betty's Tearoom.  This is such a popular venue and we had to queue (even in February) for about 10 minutes for a table. Although I would have loved a table on street level, we were hungry and so opted for one in the basement space.  Just look at the stainglass windows, even down here.

We had the most exquisite lunch here and copious cups of tea served from a silver service and vowed to come back and have a proper afternoon tea with little sandwiches and cakes too. If you EVER find yourself in York, you have to go to Betty's Tearoom (not far from the Minster)

With time to spare we headed over to the Museum Gardens and the ruins of St Mary's Abbey

You can see by this photo that although it was really cold, even in my books, we had some lovely sunshine aswell.  If only it would stay like this.  To find out if it did, look out for my next post.

Camden Town Revisited

I have a special place in my heart for Camden Town. My brother once lived here and I find it to be a place where you can find the 'real' people of London. Even though it is very ethnic now, you can still hear the occassional cockney accent spruiking their wares at the markets, an aging punk or two that bring back memories from trips to London in my youth, and so many other interesting sights to goggle at. Even in winter, this is a bustling hub of activity wiith so much to see, and experience. 

 We got here quite early and were really cold so went to find somewhere to sit inside and enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate and a slice of banana loaf

 When I was last here I told you about the markets that are held in the old stables. The markets are full of bronze statues and plaques that celebrate these horses and I thought I would take a few photos for you to see

 I think alot of people just come to see these horses as it is very difficult to get a photo due to everyone wanting to pose with them but who can blame them, they are beautiful.

After spending a few hours scouring the markets for trinkets and keepsakes, we had intentions of travelling on the canal to somewhere near Primrose Hill as there are rumoured to be fabulous views of the city from here, but on investigating the barge bus times, we found we had just missed one and the next one wouldn't be for a couple of hours (unless we wanted to pay for the expensive one that stopped at the zoo) and which would make it too late to be trudging up Primrose Hill......maybe on our return to London in a few weeks

view of the canal with bridge crossing over to the market

(ps.....we never did make it to Primrose Hill this trip)
 

Did you miss me?

I have almost been back a week from my trip to the UK and I have managed my jet lag quite well, me thinks! Back into a normal sleeping pattern before the week was half way through. I haven't had a chance to blog up until now as there has been so much to catch up with. I had to work the first two days I was back in Oz, the next two days were taken up with sewing classes. Yesterday I had a hair appointment and today I have been tackling my email inbox......hundreds of spam emails that need to be deleted....it has taken me all morning to sift through what was important, what I wanted to look at later and what could be deleted immediately.

Miss M and I had a really lovely time over in the UK and I hope to bring you a little look into what we saw while we were away.

Our first week was spent in London and one of the first places we found ourselves was in Regents Park ..... which isn't far from where we like to stay while in London. Of course it all looked so different from when I was there last August and in the throes of Summer.  Now, barely a leaf to be seen on the trees

 but the grounds were covered in carpets of flowers.....first we came across crocuses

 and then these pretty white snowdrops

how about some daffodils? (I have always loved Daffodils because it reminds me of my grandad who always had them in his garden) I kept an eye open for the daffodils but they were not in bloom yet and all I found were these shoots sprouting everywhere.

Of course, Queen Mary's Rose Garden which gave me loads of photographic delights last time were at the end of their flowering season although I did find one or two lone survivors still looking pretty for the camera.

 We stood watching this little guy interact with some other tourists for awhile......climbing up their legs (much to their surprise! ), hoping to encourage them to feed him

Time for us to leave before he thinks we are another source of food.  This next photo gives you some perspective of just how big these gardens really are......this avenue seems to go on forever.

Because it is not that far away, Miss M and I also found ourselves at Madame Tussauds on this day.  You may recall that I tried to visit before but the queues were so long that I gave up. We met lots of famous people!! My favourite was Colin Firth. These are life like wax figures so I was quite astonished as to how tall he must really be.

for over an hour we rubbed shoulders with movie stars, royalty, politicians and mucians including a younger version of The Beatles...

Now I must end here as I must do some prep work for my March calendar and quite a number of hours have passed since I decided to do that!
 

January Fat Quarter Swap

Sneaking in one last blog post before I catch my plane.

Hoping not to get behind on my obligations this year, I got in early with the fat quarter swap and got them all in the post on the first friday of the month.

 This month it was swappers choice and this is what I sent to Sharon of Motherdragon's Musings. A couple of Sharon likes are purples and cats.....I hope she likes these that I picked out for her. (update....yes, she did!)

Three birthdays this month

To Maryanne who likes purple and dark green to go with purple

To Diana who is collecting red and white fabrics - I adore that scissors fabric!

To Lisa who likes geometric patterns

I had to shop around a bit this month to find something that I was happy to send to these girls and I hope they like the choices I made.

And this is what arrived from Sharon.......aww Sharon, this parcel made my heart sing. Thank you so much.

 

And the lucky number is.......

It is time to draw the winner of the giveaway I had for the Grow Your Blog Party. I know my giveaway is being drawn sooner than everyone elses but it is because I am flying to the UK on Wednesday and I would like to get it sent off before I go.  I suppose I could have got away without a giveaway but I do so like to have a little fun.

Before I let Mr RNG do his thing, I would just like to say a hugeTHANK YOU to everyone who came over for a visit to my blog and left such lovely comments. I am not sure if I replied to all of you but I think I made contact with the majority.  And I must not forget to say THANK YOU to our host, Vicki from 2 Bag Full. You can go HERE to catch up with the other bloggers involved. I am so thrilled to know that my blog has swelled by 20 new followers........Welcome to you all.  I look forward to getting to know you and hope you will visit often and leave me a little comment while here.

Ok, there were 51 comments but one person commented twice and to be fair to everyone, I have counted that as 1 entry .

And the winner is.............................

GILLIE from Random Thoughts from Abroad

"Squeaking in at the last minute, a new visitor - thank you for your nice comment - but will be back for a more extended look. Have a lovely visit back to the UK, take your wellies, lol, and obviously your camera! Love everything on the blog but do like a nice *view*, lol! Yes please, would love to be in the drawing!"

Gillie, you made it in plenty of time. I will contact you by email as well but please let me know your address asap.  I only have tomorrow morning to make it to the Post Office.

There will be other giveaways if you are a regular follower, I have giveaways coming up every month. 

Must be off to do some final packing of my suitcase now.

January EOM wrap up / February Plan

 

January! where did it go?.......gone way too fast if you ask me. Thankfully I can report that I managed to fulfill most of my Calendar obligations for the month so I have to be happy about that. Betsy's Closet didn't make it this month but everything else was achieved.

Block 10 a and b of The Edwardian House

Block 6 of Bric a Brac

And, finished just last night, the stitchery for Block 4 of Tail Feather

Completing the binding on my blue green table topper made my UFO finish for the month

And I started my NewFO for January

Now comes February..........
Not much sewing will get done in February because I am packing my suitcase today.  Heading to the UK on Wednesday for my mum's 80th Birthday.  Calendar progress will resume in March.