Happy Sunday, busy weekend

Hi folks hope you are enjoying your Sunday, its a bit showery here so I have taken advantage to finally get my lap quilt finished.  I really wanted to get this done as we resume the fortnightly meetings of Medway Craft Group on Thursday and I couldn't go without finishing it.  So without further ado here it is. Its not perfect but I am happy.

Its actually been good to sit quietly after all the walking I have done this weekend.

On Friday we travelled down to London for Peter's birthday present.  We met up with friends Judy and Stephen at Euston station, dropped off our bags at the hotel, then boys headed off to the Oval for the London v South Africa one day international match, armed with their packed lunch and a warning to take it easy on the booze.  Judy and I decided to take advantage of the lovely weather to go for a stroll.   We wandered along the north side of the embankment dropping into Tate Britain for a look at the free art exhibitions.  I really don't understand some of the art, there were actually several painting that looked very similar to work that Rufus produced last week!  We then headed up towards Trafalgar Square where we went for lunch.  The original plan for this trip was that Judy and I would go to a show but rather than be shut inside we decided to try one of the evening walks which left from Tower Hill.  Anyway after lunch we headed back to the river and chatted, sat, people watched, walked and finally arrived at Tower Hill around 4.30pm.  Revived with a cup of tea and a muffin we headed for a wander round St Katherines Dock, somewhere I'd not actually been before.  Our chosen walk was to be the Jack the Ripper Walk it being the anniversary of the first murder. 31 August 1888.  Our guide Simon was very informative and at times scared to life out of us.  We walked for 2.5 hours all round Whitechapel stopping at relevant points along the way, ending back at Tower Hill safely deposited at the tube station.  I would recommend doing one of these walks just for some history if nothing else.  Note to Judy - the walk from the hotel to Tower Hill was 5.5 miles and that doesn't include all the side stepping!!  No wonder we were foot sore.

We met with the boys in a pub near to the hotel, they were happy, England having won the match.  All in all we had all had a great day.

Saturday - more walking.  As usual for me I don't sleep well in a strange bed so I was tired.  We however decided to walk.  We took in Buckingham Palace, through St James Park, watched the Horse Guards parade, then on to Downing Street,  along the South Bank to the Globe Theatre, over the Millennium Bridge to St Paul's where we said goodbye to Judy and Stephen.  We walked on via Fleet Street, onto Covent Garden, then into Soho where we had a late lunch.

Whilst away we had news of the early arrival of a friends' twin grandsons born at 25 weeks.  Our thoughts are with you all for the weeks ahead.  Congratulations to you all

Out with the old?

Its too easy these days to just chuck out what we don't want just because its old and tired.  In one of the guest rooms we have some pine furniture which had seen better days.  There was nothing actually wrong with the furniture, pine just tends to go very orange with age, and it just looked sad and unloved after being moved around when the eldest was living in flats in London.  So I decided I try and give it a new lease of life.  The room needed a revamp too as I have never liked the blue paint on the walls and there had been a damp patch on the chimney breast - which has now been sorted.  I needed to keep to blue as I couldn't justify changing the curtains and bedding. 

Here are the before pictures of the chest of drawers, the wardrobe I still need to paint.  I am so pleased with the result.  I used B&Q quick dry satin paint

The room is now painted in Dulux Cornflower White, which whilst still blue is much softer and lighter.  I also painted the mirrors and side table in the satin paint.  I have a few more pictures to put up.  I feel very pleased with how the room looks for a very small outlay, just lots of rubbing down



Top row before.  Bottom after

In other news -

• I knitted another bathroom mat for the youngest, but forgot to take a picture. 
• Finished hand quilting my lap quilt, the running stitches may not be perfectly spaced but it is a first attempt, so just the binding to do on that. 
• I have done 2 pattern repeats of the mohair shawl, I can spot a couple of mistakes, but I think I can live with them.
• Finished reading Peaches for Monsieur le Cure by Joanne Harris, so enjoyed this, infact refused to get out of bed yesterday until I had finished it. If you enjoyed Chocolat and Lollipop Shoes you will enjoy this one.
• Went cycling in 30C temperatures - we did however do two pub stops for refreshment and Peter got a puncture