South-coast breakfasts : Driftwood Cafe

Eating breakfast out topped Jim's list of things he wanted to do on his birthday today (yes our birthdays are three days apart) so after our disappointing experience of a fortnight ago, we decided to select our venue from a safer source, starting at the top of the Trip Advisor recommendations...

The Driftwood Cafe is situated in the heart of Emsworth town centre near the Hampshire county border, nestled between the many independent shops that this lovely market town benefits from. It's decked out in muted blues with wood paneling, copious cushions and a very rustic nautical feel. It's open seven days, and on Sunday's between 10-5pm. When we arrived just before 11am was pleasantly bustling with people of different ages.

Jim opted for the cooked breakfast which was "very nice and a good price" whilst I tried the Eggs Benedict with a really fantastic homemade Hollandaise sauce, and we picked a toasted teacake for Theo, not baked in house, but supplied by the excellent local Westbourne Bakery.

The food was good and arrived quickly and the whole place had a very clean and welcoming vibe with the decor clearly having been well thought through. They have a very pretty little garden at the back where you can be served with canine companions in tow (always good!) and they also offer a very tempting looking afternoon tea, and an impressive array of cakes.

We suspect we will be back to try both the garden and the tea, especially as we have relatives visiting next week. Definitely a venue add to our list!

Holiday postcards...from the West Coast of Scotland (competition entry)

Every summer British holidaymakers pack their suitcases and flock south. Like birds on an inverse migratory path they board planes and ferries, desperate to get a few degrees of extra latitude under their belt.

I hold my hand up and admit for many years we joined them, until the imminent arrival of our first child in 2011, left us constrained to a choice of holiday destinations within driving distance of our new military posting in Moray. So the west coast of Scotland it was!

Of course the doom-mongers warned us it would rain relentlessly, and I the eternal optimist, cautiously packed wet gear whilst praying for just one day of sunshine so that we had pictures to wave in their faces on our return.

 

But yet against the odds here we were, sitting astride the verdant lawn of the wonderful Kishorn Seafood bar overlooking a sun-dappled loch, dining on fresh seafood and enjoying not one isolated day of sunshine, but our fifth consecutive day. 

Around us diners were seated at rustic picnic tables reading newspapers and munching on fresh prawn baguettes, and the only noise was the gentle hubbub of their chatter. It felt like we had stumbled upon an extremely well kept secret. Where were the tourists? Where was the litter? And where the heck was that rain everyone had said we'd have?

Caught up in the preparations for the arrival of our son, our planning for this trip had been woefully under-prepared. By rights we deserved a dud vacation, but by chance we had stumbled upon a destination that exceeded all our expectations. 

As we sat on our benches at the Kishorn Bar taking in the plentiful Scottish sunshine, we took stock of the sights we had seen so far that week. Beginning on the A86 where fleeting glimpses of a sprawling mansion across a loch prompted us to pull the car into a layby and take a closer look. We were at the shore of Loch Laggan and the majestic property the other side of the water was Ardverikie House the location of TV's Monarch Of The Glen. We were just two hours into our trip and already impressed...

On day 2 we negotiated the twisty country roads to meet the ferry that took us to the Isle Of Mull arriving in Tobermory the fishing village made famous by the BBC's Balamory. We drove up the coast on the quest to find a place we had seen on the map called Calgary. Arriving in a tiny hamlet we turned a corner to discover a white sandy beach with turquoise water lapping at the shore.

Our third day was spent at Castle Tioram the crumbling fortress on the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula where access is by foot across a tidal causeway. The following day we drove to Mallaig stopping midway on our journey to climb the hillside beside the Glenfinan Viaduct, taking in stunning views of Loch Shiel and capturing photos of the Jacobite steam train on its route to the coast.

Our eyes had feasted on some of Britain's finest scenery whilst our stomachs had taken in some of its best cuisine, and we weren't at the end yet! Ahead of us lay the beautiful gem that is the Isle Of Skye with its copious tiny bohemian art galleries and dramatic views of the islands of Eigg, Rum and Canna...

This is my entry to the Travel Supermarket Holiday Postcards competition, for a chance to win £1000. 

This is 37!

I turned 37 yesterday and I wondered when is it that people stop celebrating their age and start trying to hide it?

I don't see a reason to apologise, life is pretty good. I weigh less than I did at 30. I know more about myself than I did at 20. I still wake up every morning wondering what the day might bring.

Me and my extended family all headed to the beach to celebrate yesterday. My nephew cooked sausages on a disposable barbecue, my niece built sandcastles with Theo. The dogs ran around enjoying the space and we all marveled at how grains of sand manage to get into picnics however tight you bind the tin foil.

It's been 8 years since I was in the UK for my birthday. Since then I've celebrated in the Falkand Islands, Canada, Cyprus and Scotland. I've marked the day in swimming pools or singing karaoke on remote farms, but it takes a lot to beat the English seaside.
 
We came home to a sewing machine cake cooked by Jim (didn't he do well for a non-baker?) and homemade ice-cream in cornets. My sister said birthdays in February are never like this.... and she's right. There is definitely an upside to being an August baby!

Brit Sewing Thursday Linky (15th August 2013)

Hello folks! It's that time of the week again. I've had a pretty stop/start week sewing wise. Can you believe I have made and remade the pieced back for Theo's cot quilt 3 times this week? Once cause it wasn't large enough for the LAQ (I forgot it needs to be larger than the top - gah!) and the second time because I decided I changed my mind on the colours I'd picked - But you know, you do end up looking at it for many years!

It's ok though. I am one seam away from completing my third attempt and will be very glad when it is finally in the post and out of the house!

Amidst the chaos I did find time to blog about one of my favourite modern quilt makes. A quilt which I made last year but forgot to photograph or blog about. You can read the post and see more pictures here.  

Just a quick reminder if you are taking part in the linky, please grab the code for the button over there on the right so that your blog readers can easily find the others taking part. Thank you!

New Wave quilt

I recently put together a list of all my finished quilts for the blog, but in the process discovered that I had completely forgotten to photograph at least one quilt! It's actually one of my favourite quilts and I completed it in May last year, decided not to photograph it in Scotland (where we were living at the time) and sent it to my mum, fully intending to photograph it next time we visited... and I forgot!
 

So here I am playing catch up. The pattern is Oh Fransson's New Wave Quilt, it's lap quilt size (about 40 x 40 inch) and as you have no doubt guessed, it's all made out of Kona solids. Though it was a year ago I seem to remember the pattern was very easy and it came together quickly. I'd definitely consider repeating it especially for a baby quilt.

The intention was to match the colours in two existing quilts that my parents have on their sofa, the Deer Valley quilt and the Moda Arcadia quilt (another one I have forgotten to document!) The sofa does not have loose covers and with a dog (a post-sofa addition) and three grandchildren, it needs protecting! We matched the colours with the Kona colour card and I backed it with the only one of the six colours I could buy sufficient meterage of.

The only problem is that now it is on the sofa it has made me want to replace the other two quilts. An awful lot has changed about the fabrics I have access to and the styles I like since I made the original two!

Courgettes and barbecued pizzas : A Sussex weekend

After sleeping for 10 hours on Thursday night after the Festival Of Quilts, I spent most of this weekend trying to finish Theo's birthday quilt (almost done!) whilst Jim tackled burn marks on our lawn by resewing grass seed and we both did some cooking.

With the summer days disappearing rapidly it looks increasingly likely that we'll be starting our remodel of the house next year and not this. Whilst it gives us more time to source things and lifts the threat of Christmas on a building site, it also leaves us unable to really tackle our garden too as we're avoiding doing work which may be damaged by all the heavy equipment later. It's frustrating plodding along just weeding and maintaining when I want to do so much, but we'll get there.

At least our lack of productive garden has not held us back from eating fresh veg this year. With my parents only a short drive away, we've been helping them eat through their glut of courgettes (which are rapidly turning into a glut of marrows!) We tried them stuffed with lamb mince, tomato sauce and rice last night - surprisingly tasty for such a humble vegetable!

And talking of cooking. Jim's early birthday present had its first outing this weekend. It's a Weber charcoal pizza oven, which fits on top of a normal kettle BBQ. First run was not entirely successful, but we shall report back when we've had a second stab. There were mumblings about seasoned pizza stones and "letting the coals get up to temperature." This is man talk and I know better than to interfere...

Update > There is a more recent post giving a review of the Weber pizza oven and some tips for barbecuing pizzas here.

 

What's been inspiring me on Flickr...

 

I find it quite useful to do a monthly stock-check of the images that have been inspiring me on Flickr as it keeps me focused on the designs, colours and fabrics that I like. Low volume quilts are very much in evidence in this month's collection. I've been drawn to them because of the theme of the next round of the X-Factor pillow swap, but also because I'm now giving seriously consideration to using this palette on our (much delayed) master bed quilt.

Those who have followed this blog for a while will recall that I have made many sample squares for our bed quilt and always hated them. I'm starting to think low volume might be a great "safe' option with continued appeal over the years.

What's also worth noting is (on the whole) the simplicity of the designs I pick. I really do love repeated squares and triangles and yet I often don't make them because I consider them too easy. There's a lesson to be learned there...

Please note if your image has been used here and you would like it removed, please contact me and I will happily do so.