Another Quilt

After my recent attempt at a small quilt, I discovered that I had a fair few patches left, and then my good friend Clare at  Selfsewn  (quilt maker extraordinaire) sent me a fabulous packet of beautiful fabrics too, so I decided to make a bigger quilt.  

 I am more enthusiastic than skilled at patchwork quilting and I did find the size of this one very difficult to handle.  But for all it's imperfections, I do love it.

It contains new fabric, vintage fabric, and some from old garments with plenty of memories attached.  I found some wadding at Dunelm Mills that already had some backing attached to it which made life easier!  I don't think I'd tackle anything this big again, and I can see what I did wrong along the way, so hopefully won't make the same mistakes again.  

It is very cosy to snuggle under though.

The Walking Group - Doncaster Walk

On Sunday, we joined the walking group on their Doncaster walk.  We met at Kirk Sandall and started our walk by the old church.  The church is really pretty, but has ended up almost in the middle of an industrial estate which is a shame.

It was a very grey and blustery day, but thankfully dry for the whole of our walk.  This area of South Yorkshire is very flat - just the sort of walking I like!!

We walked along by the side of the Canal for some time.

The leader of our walk surprised us with a welcome tea stop - this fantastic Coffee Boat which was doing a roaring trade.  Some of our group tested the Whisky and Walnut cake which looked fantastic - I resisted!

Refreshed, we marched on until we got to St Mary's Church at Kirk Bramwith.

We discovered that they were holding their annual Snowdrop festival and so the church was open for us to look around.

The inside of the church is beautiful and the ladies who were helping out were so very knowlegdable.

The church has great links to the military and it's patron is none other than HRH the Queen of England.  According to my guide, HRH is always very forthcoming with cash for repairs etc.

She recently sent this kneeler for the church and insisted that it wasn't put in a glass case, but put out to use.

It was the walking groups family walk and we had 3 children with us, so the lady explained about the mice in the church.  The church has 14 mice carved into the woodwork by the "Mouseman of Kilburn"

I think I was more thrilled about these than the kids!

These must have been made when Robert Thompson was very young as they were carved in the mid 1930's.

The church ladies were providing tea and cakes, and so we had tea stop no 2 - approx 10 minutes after tea stop no 1!!!  You can tell why I like this walking group!

Each pew in the church bears more of Robert Thompson's work with carved dedications to local men who gave their lives in World War 1 or 2.  The church is well worth a visit if you are local and get chance whilst the Snowdrop festival is on.

So onwards we went - over farm land and past some lovely old buildings - "ripe for renovation " as they say in Estate Agent language.

You know I can't resist a distressed green door!

We had a great walk - it really is a lovely walking group with plenty of stops for a girl with a camera!

We are looking forward to the next one.

Cromford Mill (an old favourite!)

Yes, you guessed it Rosie, after Wirksworth we headed down into Cromford, and a swift walk around Cromford Mill.

Cromford Mill was the first water powered cotton spinning mill developed by Richard Arkwright in 1771.

You still get an immense sense of stepping back in time here.  At the time that the mills were built, they were operated 24 hours a day - 2 x 12 hour shifts per day.  The locality couldn't provide enough workforce, so he built houses in the village and encouraged families to move here from the nearby towns.  Children as young as 7 years old were employed to work in the mills.  Because of it's importance in history, the site is a World Heritage site.

The lady in the fabric shop (yes, you heard me correctly!!!! - it is just one of its many attractions!) told me that the buildings have no foundations, they are built directly onto soil.  She said that the floor often moves and she finds herself tripping over bumps that have not previously been there!!

They are doing some work to the mill, so it will be interesting to see what they so.  You can see weaving looms in action just round the corner at "Arkwrights Mill"  (which is also sadly a very poor retail outlet).

We had time for a little wander along the Cromford Canal.   The ice cream man was doing a roaring trade - everyone was happy to see the sunshine.

I always love a visit to Cromford - even if it is only a flying visit.

Wirksworth

So next, we went to Wirksworth.  Wirksworth is lovely.

It has every type of architecture that you can imagine.  Mr Darcy would come calling if you lived in Wirksworth!

The town reminds me very much of some of the towns we visited in Normandy France a few years ago.

There are some fabulous individual shops and antiques shops - I loved this one.  It was packed to the rafters.

Wirksworth has just one road through the town, but the best bits are hidden behind.

We wandered around for ages - exploring alley ways and back wacks that we had not seen before.

How pretty is it!!!

It's not called the "Gem of the Peak" for nothing!

But our day was not done yet - where did we go next?  (I think you guessed Rosie!!)