Tuesday 30 September 2014

I am a moron.

I could go on about it but what is the point? I designed the final border for the machine appliqué quilt. I was pleased with it. I traced the required four copies onto freezer paper and onto the fabrics for placements. I pinned the first border to the quilt top (and thank heavens I didn't applique first) to find it is massively too short. Not a whole motif too short (that would be too easy to sort out) but just over a half of one. I will not shoot myself but haven't been able to face going back to it yet.
Grrrrr

On the upside I painted the front door, it was navy blue last week.

And we took a trip to the lovely Gower Peninsula in Wales.

To get there we drove along the south coast of Wales on the M4 motorway. I glimpsed a castle through the trees. I wasn't fast enough with my phone when travelling 70mph to get a photo but managed this on the way back.
Sorry about the quality of this. I forgot my camera and the speed combined with small gaps between the trees, all amounted to this. This may or may not be the newest castle in the UK. One day soon we shall have to visit it. Meanwhile you can find out about this little bit of total fabulousness here. Castell Coch was built on the much earlier remains of an earlier castle in 1870.

And on we went to the Gower Peninsular. Past Cardiff, the capital of Wales, past Port Talbot, somewhere which looked like the end of the universe from what could be seen from the M4, past Swansea and the over a cattle grid and onto the Gower (apparently it is wrong to call it The Gower, but everyone does so I will too).
This particular cow was a little worrying as she was missing an eye on her side closest to us.
She was following her calf who came within three foot of the car.

Then we drove for about half an hour, down narrow lanes (with some large vehicles) and saw the sea.

We drove on until we reached Rhossili. 
We weren't particularly looking for anything but Tripadvisor had recommended a bistro for lunch. We drove into this little hamlet and the only parking was in a private field/car park. It looked a pretty little place but at this point, nothing amazing.  Then we walked round the edge of the bistro and this was in front of us.
This was our view sitting on the terrace. That little white dot to the left of the house is quite a big house, just to give you an idea of scale. And what looks like a little smear in the sky above the house is a hang glider. We were so lucky to really just happen to have a warm day in late September. I imagine the whole place is crowded in the school holidays.
It was perfect conditions for hang gliding and there were up to eight of them above (and below) us at any one time.
Nothing was quite normal on the Gower. The sheep thought they were mountain goats. Those little black dots down on the beach above the sheep in the photo are people.
Rotating left from here is Worm Head, (not what we think of as worms, apparently it is Old English for dragon).
 And that is probably more than enough of this beautiful part of Wales for now.

9 comments:

  1. Hiya! I loved looking at the photos of your drive through Wales. My next task is to find a map and see where this is in relation to where DH and I were while travelling in the U.K. We had taken the ferry over from Dun Laoghaire and then got on the train at Holyrood for London. It was gorgeous - late June - and there was a formidable looking castle up on a hill that we tooted on by. I don't think it was 'your' castle but I'll go look it all up.
    You live in such a beautiful country; I'm eager to return one day.

    Guila Greer http://guilagreerart.com

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  2. That was supposed to be Holyhead of course.

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  3. How frustrating for you! I am sure you will come up with a solution; hope you enjoyed your time in Wales!

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  4. How annoying - but how clever of you to have checked before appliqueing everything!
    Trip to (The) Gower looks lovely!

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  5. Sally, I sympathize with what's happened to your quilt design — I've done similar things, of course.

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  6. I was working on a raw edged applique quilt. I was using quilt as you go. It went pretty well until I went to attach the first border (appliqued and quilted, of course) and it was too long. By two inches! I have put it away for now and will go back to it later. I will have to use a wider setting strip between the blocks and the border, piecing in a little batting strip and trying to keep it so it doesn't shift until it is all together. I feel your pain.

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  7. I forgot to comment on your quilting predicament. Just last month I had a situation similar. Because I was working on a class sample I had to be true to the pattern. Otherwise I would have been doing my own thing. As it was I had to recut all appliques to the correct size.

    I rather like the idea of placing an element like a bird in the corner. Unless it's entirely out of line with your original vision. I hope you'll let us know what you end up doing with it Sally.

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  8. Wonderful photos - what a massive beach! I love the one with the sheep on the rock!
    BTW, you emailed me, it went in my spam folder, I pressed 'not spam' and my computer ate it - argh! Can you possibly repeat it? Ta!
    C.x

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  9. Castell Coch is wonderful! Lots of design inspiration inside. Well worth a visit. It's also used for Dr Who filming.

    And as for the Gower, we used to spend all day on the beach when we were students. It never seemed to get too busy, it's just beautiful

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