Declaration of Independence, The American Museum Bath.

 

Hi,

I am a bit behind with my posting,  we went to the American Museum in Bath during July,  they had a special and rare display of the declaration of Independence signed on the 4th July 1776 ,  this is only one of 26 surviving copies in the world.  It is the first time it has gone on display in England  it marks 250 years anniversary of the signing.   I really enjoyed seeing this  as I was born on the 4th July.

We had a tour of the house and here are some of the photos,  it was a very hot day, and too hot to walk around the gardens,  we intend to go back in the autumn when it might be cooler and enjoy the gardens.

                                               Pictures of some of the quilts on show

   

                                        Pictures of some of the layouts of the rooms   I cannot remember 

                                                                                 which  century they were

  

I did not take one of the house,  but I wll do so when we go back in the sutumn.  The house dates back to the 14th centruy,   Its a house with a lot of history and became the American Musum in the 1950s,  its the only one outside the USA,  Its a fascinating building,  with a large show of quilts and the rooms over the centuries showing the American way of life.  as per the pictures above. 

Margaret

Matilda’s christening present

Hi,

I could not show you the christening present that I made for Matilda’s christening,  we are Matilda’s great aunt and uncle.    It was actually on the1st March, but due to being in hospital in February,  then going on holiday to Switzerland,  and coming home with flu,  it’s taken a lot longer to make.   I finished it completely and framed it in July,  we have now meet up with Vernon’s sister for lunch in the last few days and she took the present back to Oxford. Now I know they have it I can now show you.

I designed the letters,  from two patterns neither of which I liked but I used both of them and made my own design which is the same I did for Maisy,  As Matilda’s middle name is Ivy I did some embroidered ivy leaves in the corners,  A tatted teddy is from the book Tatted Animals  by Inga Madsen,   The tatted heart is an old pattern,  the original pattern was by Gale Marshall,  I used Lizbeth thread no 20 in white and pink  parade.  It’s been a long project but iam more than pleased it’s finished, I just hope they like it, I know they don’t understand just how much work has gone into making this,  I just hope they appreciate it.  as yet I have not had a thank you.

Margaret 

World Cross Stitch Day

 

Hi 

Today is World Cross stitch day,  I used to do  a lot of cross stitch and as have nothing new at the moment I thought I would show a few designs I have made over the years,    

This is my favorite,  the elephants took a bit of time,

They have bren folded for a long time,  but hopefully I will get them framed,  just need an iron,  unfortuantely hubby says we dont have room for all my cross stitch pictures,   hopefully one day we might.

Stay cool and take care in the heat

Margaret

Tatting in the coach

Hi,

Yes you know me,  it does not matter where I go I take my tatting,  the journey to Norfolk was about six hours each way,   So I did not do as much testing as I normally would,  travelling was not but I managed to make this bookmark,   I did finish the tail off at home,  but the body was done on the coach.

I used Lizbeth thread Truquoise Twist no 20 and the pattern was one of my favourites flowering Quatrain Bookmark by Joelle Paulson.

Margaret 

The Norfolk Broads part three

Hi

Thursday today we had a trip on the Norfolk Broads on a Mississippi Paddle Boat,  it was a double decker especially built for the broads,  it was another hot day but a lot cooler on the water,  we saw a lot of wildlife including the flash of a kingfisher,  but unfortunately I did not get a picture of the flash of blue,  the photos are of the trip down the broads with these very large and expensive houses,  with some of the wildlife we saw.

The photos of the trip down the broads,

 

For lunch we went the long ride of three miles as the coach driver said to Wroxham,  where we found lovely little restaurant for lunch beside the river.   Wroxham is known as the capital of the broads,  every shop seem to belong to a firm called Roy’s,  so a little more shopping before getting on the coach back to the hotel.

Friday unfortunately it’s time to go home and one our way home we stopped in Windsor, no idea if the king was home, the flag was not flying from Windsor Castle,  it was a short stop,  we had some lunch unfortunately this was not the best lunch in the world,  it was hot but we did manage to sit and eat an   ice nice cream before getting on the coach to home,   It was five days long and packed with lots of interesting visits,  would I go back to Norfolk yes I would,  I would like to see more,  

Margaret 

Bressingham gardens and steam museum. Part two

Hi,

On the Wednesday we went to Bressingham gardens and Steam museum, another hot day,  we had a long walk around looking at the Dads Army exhibition,  they had a part where you could sit and watch some of the films of the programme.

Their was a number of steam engines,  various types of steam engines,  and vehicles dotted about the site  See photos 

Old fashion shops

Steam press for printing

  T

This was a find,  having been born in Epsom   and lived in Ewell I was amazed they had a dust cart,  I dont remember this one going around the streets,  

They had a little train that went around,  I must say they were very kind,  being disabled they got me on the train and then moved the train on to the other side of the station for the rest of the passengers to get on,  after the ride we went to the garden centre next door and had some lunch,  before returning to Great Yarmouth 

I coulod haver put more photos on this post,  but I think by now you might bre getting fed up.

We are about to start next week our 4th heatwave,   during the night we had our first rain since the beginning of the 1st heatwave,  I cant remember when it last rained,  but really to was nice to have some rain,  all it did was wash the dust.

Margaret

Norfolk part one

Hi,

We spent a few days recently in Norfolk staying in Great Yarmouth,  on a coach tour for five days,    I have never been to this part of the U.K. so it was nice to see somewhere new,  we had a lovely hotel with a sea view,   Every morning a seagull would come and visit us,  I called him Humphrey,  we never gave him any food and he just sat and watched us. See picture above.  And here is a picture of our sea view.

Day one Monday. we went to Cromer,  Norfolk is flat and at sea level until you get to Cromer,  it must be the only town in Norfolk with hills.   Here we saw this hut Doggie wash,  great idea if you want to wash the dog before taking him or her home,  never seen a doggie wash hut before.  See picture below

We then went onto Sherringham,  a small  town with lots of shops,  I found a couple of presents, one for a birthday and the other for a Christmas,  I do like to get any presents early and if I see something ideal then I get it.  It’s the sort of old fashioned town with small shops,  of course there’s the usual empty shops like in every town,  but it was unusual to have so many small and unique ones.

Tuesday was a free day in Great Yarmouth and it was another hot day so we enjoyed a walk around the park just a short walk from the hotel,   They had some huts dotted around which were small cafes,  and a boating lake,  it was enjoyable walk,  unfortunately like many places in England they have had very little rain and the grass was dry and brown,  as you can see in the pictures as you have a walk around the park.

Entrance to the park 

 Boating Lake

I hope you enjoyed looking at the park,

This is the last photos from our bedroom,  these are the off shore wind farm and the red boat is a service boat to and from the wind farm.

Margaret