Our Big Adventure 4

Posted on May 25, 2026 by craftycreeky

Well I’m way behind with my holiday posts so this might be spread over two or three days.

After a great stay in Strasbourg we headed over to Freiburg.This is a small city in the black mountains. We had a great apartment we booked a couple of days before, it was a penthouse flat in an old building, there were huge windows on three sides of the flat giving great views across the town. Freiburg was just what we needed, we could just mooch round the old town and have a relaxing couple of days. The old town is interesting, lovely buildings and cobbled streets which have rills in them, like little streams on the side of the road which were originally made to provide clean water to the town.

In the afternoon we walked up a local wooded hill where we heard lots of birds, we’re getting quite competitive with the Merlin app, Helen heard an oriole but I had four different woodpeckers 🙂

After our short stay in Freiburg, we travelled to Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland. I’ve wanted to go to Switzerland for years and it didn’t disappoint!! We spent most of it saying ‘Wow’, the scenery is just beautiful.

Lauterbrunnen is a small town in the Alps, it’s in a narrow valley with steep mountains and apparently 72 waterfalls, every sky high cliff face has a waterfall coming down. One of the best known ones is Staubach falls which was about 50m from our hotel. A cascade falls 279m to the town.

Our first day had the best weather forecast so we took the cog train and the gondola up to Grindelwald First. We did the cliff walk which gives amazing views of the Eiger. We decided to walk to Bachalpsee, a small lake which can give a perfect reflection of the Eiger. The sign said it took 50 minutes, they lied!! With snow underfoot in places and the effects of high altitude it took us about 90 minutes…and the lake wasn’t just frozen over it was snowed over too 😀 We enjoyed the views along the way though and saw some marmets and some tiny alpine flowers peeping through the snow.

The next day we took the bus up the valley to Trummelbach falls, they were amazing. The ten falls are inside the mountain, we took the funicular up which gets you to the 7th fall. I was unprepared for the noise when we started walking down a tunnel to the falls, it was awe-inspiring and frightening at the same time, we walked up to the top fall and then slowly made our way down past all the falls, the power of the falls was immense, we loved looking at the geology, how the force of the water had shaped the rocks. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

After the falls we walked to the top of the valley,passed all the flower filled meadows and listened to the bells on the cows, until we reached the cable car to take us up the mountain to the car free village of Murren. Up there we did the flower trail, I think we were a bit too early to see lots of alpines but it was lovely to be up in the peace and quiet of the mountain.

This was my first time in Switzerland and I loved it, the air smells so clean, the rivers are like an aqua green, most of the houses are still the traditional shape, even new ones.

We’ve got another four days in Switzerland later in our trip, I can’t wait!

From Lauterbrunnen we travelled to Lindau, back in Germany but more of that another day.

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Stitch-a-long

Posted on May 24, 2026 by craftycreeky

I’m still on my big holiday with my daughter, so no progress here at all with my catkins, it is still a solitary catkin…

Please follow the links to see what everyone else has been stitching.


Avis, Claire, Kathy, Margaret,  

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, 

Linda, MaryMargaret, Helen

Posted in Serendipity | 4 Comments

Big Adventure 3

Posted on May 16, 2026 by craftycreeky

Well it’s over a week since we left home and we’ve already been to five countries!!

After Cologne we travelled down the German border to Trier, it was a nice gentle journey through forests and along valleys, very pretty. It took us a while to warm to Trier, not helped by cold, damp weather, it has a pretty market square, Roman ruins and a fine cathedral. We actually went to an organ recital at the cathedral, it was advertised as 8 euros each, which we thought was ok for a bit of culture. When we paid on the door the lady changed us 5 euros for 2 … we couldn’t work that one out! The concert was very good though. From Trier we also had a day trip to Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a very stylish city and very green, lots of lovely parks, the city is built either side of a huge tree lined gorge which has lots of paths zigzagging across it. Helen and I are having lots of fun with the Merlin app which identifies birdsong, we heard a three toed tree creeper here 😊

After Trier we travelled down to Strasbourg. I loved this place pretty much straight away. It has rivers and canals, beautiful half timbered houses, a stunning cathedral and a lovely park. Even better, the park has storks nesting in the trees. They are amazing birds to see flying round. Merlin picked up a greater spotted woodpecker too 😊

Today we visited Colmar, it’s only 40 minutes from Strasbourg on the train. We arrived at 9am, before the crowds descended,we were glad we did. We were able to do the classic pretty photos before it got busy. Colmar is very pretty, lots of half timbered houses, it’s amazing how old these houses are, many from the 16-1700’s. We went for a walk through a park on the way back to the station, it wasn’t a particularly inspiring park but we clicked on the Merlin app and were amazed when it identified a firecrest, these are tiny birds and in the UK they are only found in a small northern area of Scotland.

Tomorrow we travel to Freiburg, back in Germany, we’re there for a couple of days before going to Switzerland.

Having travelled in several different countries now, we have a question…. doesn’t anyone else jaywalk?? It is standard practice in the UK that if the road is clear (or you think you can make it 😀) we cross regardless of whether the little man is red or green. Over here in Europe, there is not a car in sight but everyone waits patiently for several minutes until the green man appears…they are so good!!

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Our Big Adventure 2

Posted on May 10, 2026 by craftycreeky

After visiting Ghent and Bruges we took the train to Maastricht in the Netherlands. My sister recommended it as she loves coming here for a city break. When we first arrived we went straight to the market Square as my sister had told me that on a Friday there was a fabric sale and we just happened to be arriving on a Friday!! Well, it’s worth a visit, it’s not just fabric but there is lots of stalls selling all sorts of fabrics, linens, cotton’s, jersey, sparkly stuff, upholstery…lots!!! We were pretty restrained and just bought two lengths each, I bought a very pretty bamboo tulip design and a gorgeous soft striped cotton with a very pretty broderie anglais border. We’ve posted them home, it weighed two kilos so it’s a good job we didn’t go mad!!

We weren’t sure about Maastricht at first as there isn’t much in the way of tourist sites to visit, we went to the two cathedrals and up the tower to see the view. I think it is probably the most untouristy place I’ve been to, we didn’t even manage to buy a postcard, but I think that is the attraction. Maastricht has a lively and friendly vibe, it’s a lovely place to just meander around. We relaxed and chilled out without feeling we should be doing tourist things. We were staying on a boat which was a little cramped but we could sit on the deck in the sunshine filling in our journals. I would certainly go back to Maastricht, especially on a Friday 🙂

Today we travelled to Cologne in Germany. We’ve been to the cathedral which is pretty impressive, we’ve wandered over the bridge and headed for the old part of the city. Unfortunately this seems to be full of bars and nothing much else. Neither of us get good vibes from Cologne, we might be doing it a great injustice but we both feel we wouldn’t like to be here on our own.

We’re staying in a very comfortable art themed hotel, each bedroom is decorated in a different style. I asked the receptionist if he could recommend a German restaurant nearby. He suggested a local brewery. We would never have gone in without the recommendation, you had to push through two heavy leather curtains, at the end of a corridor there were two outdoor eating areas. The waiters wore traditional long aprons and carried a glass holder which held about 12 200ml glasses which they filled from a keg. Now I’ve never liked beer, I usually drink wine or gin, but I felt we should at least try it, I asked if they had a mild one to try, he said that was easy, they only had one beer! So I had bratwurst and a glass of beer for my tea, I still prefer wine or gin though 🙂

Tomorrow we travel to Trier on the German French border, we’ll be visiting Luxembourg from there.

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Foragers Journal HQAL

Posted on May 10, 2026 by craftycreeky

I did manage to make some progress on my foragers journal before I left for my big adventure with my daughter. Three weeks ago I had made good progress stitching February, which is about Gorse…

I have managed to finish the embroidery. I haven’t done anything with it yet, but at least the stitching is done…

I do think the gorse sprig could have done with a slightly darker green, I don’t think of gorse as being so pale, but it doesn’t upset me enough to re-stitch it in a darker shade!

When I get back I need to stitch this page to the January page (nettle), then I can hand quilt them before folding them in half and binding the edge with Liberty tana lawn, but that won’t be until the end of June!


I’m posting this as part of the Hand Quilt-a-long. Pleas follow the links to see what everyone else has been quilting:


Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Sharon, Karrin, and Daisy

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Our big adventure stage 1

Posted on May 7, 2026 by craftycreeky

Well we’ve had a good start to our big adventure, we left our local station in Yorkshire at 07.20 and arrived in Ghent in Belgium around 6pm. We travelled 1st class which is a big treat for us. Yesterday we wandered round Ghent, today we had a day trip to Bruges. Both a beautiful historic cities based around rivers and canals. We loved looking at the architecture, so different from the UK.

We’ve also enjoyed trying the local cuisine, yesterday we had a delicious Belgian Stew, today we had Bruges waffles !!

We also stumbled across a lovely embroidery shop, though the shopkeeper wasn’t the most welcoming – you had to put on pvc gloves to touch anything, even like a kit in a plastic sleeve, she said it was due to chocolate and waffles. We both saw little kits we liked and the company has their main shop in Paris, our last stop!

Tomorrow we travel to Maastricht…and there just happens to be a fabric market on 😄

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Bird Alphabet

Posted on May 4, 2026 by craftycreeky

This is a bit of a catch up post as I’ve just realised I haven’t posted about my bird alphabet for a while, in fact I had just finished the letter K, I’ve done five letters since then and also managed to catch up with the back-stitch square round each one which I will use to stitch the pages together when I am making my book.

Last night I managed to finish the letter P, just in time before going on holiday. I say ‘just in time’ as I’m taking the pattern sheet with QRST on holiday with me! I think this one is a thrush with it’s speckled breast, though I feel there’s a touch too much yellow really. I love the fuchsias dangling down.

Here’s the previous four letters. I think L maybe a wagtail, M could be a yellowhammer. The next two are easy, N is a nuthatch, we get them feeding regularly in the garden over winter. When you see the shape of their head you can appreciate why they are in the woodpecker family. O is a bullfinch, they are very striking birds here in the UK as we don’t have many brightly coloured birds. This is a male bullfinch, the females have a much duller breast. Again, they feed regularly on the seed feeders over winter.

We get a lot of finches in winter in the garden, they love the sunflower seed hearts and get through them so quickly we bought a sack this year. We have goldfinch, greenfinch, siskins and occasional chaffinch. We’ve stopped putting seed out for them this week as the RSPB are asking people not to use seed feeders from May to October to help stop the spread of a fungal disease which is affecting finches in particular. We still have the peanuts and the fat balls up which the tits and the blackbirds love.

We have at least two sets of birds nesting in the garden, there are great tits in a nest box and blackbirds in the ivy. The female blackbird is very tame, coming within a couple of feet of me when I’m gardening or sitting having a cup of tea, hoping for a tasty worm! I’ve named her Betty and her other half is Basil! We have two other female identifiable blackbirds visiting the garden, so they are Ruby and Dot – Dot has a tiny white spot on her cheek!

I’m looking forward to seeing all the baby birds when I come back from holiday.

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Phenology Wheel SAL

Posted on May 3, 2026 by craftycreeky

Well I’ve still not finished my catkins, I have made a little progress but life has got in the way over the last few weeks. This retirement lark is pretty busy!!

Three weeks ago I had started the catkins…

I think I’ve made the mistake of using a single thread of floss for these French knots, so they are taking AGES!! I have, after several evenings work, almost finished the first catkin…

…maybe there will just be two catkins rather than three!!

As I’m away now until mid June, there won’t be any progress with my wheel for a while but please do visit the other SAL members and see what they have been stitching.


Avis, Claire, Kathy, Margaret,  

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, 

Linda, MaryMargaret, Helen

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Holiday Sewing

Posted on May 2, 2026 by craftycreeky

I’ve been doing a little sewing and stitching for my big holiday – we leave on Tuesday to go interrailing round Europe for six weeks, just me and my daughter, I’m so excited!!

I’ve not been sewing clothes for my holiday, but a sewing bag! I’m sure you will not be surprised to hear I’m taking a little stitching on my travels, both something to stitch on long train journeys and something to record our holiday in stitch.

I decided I needed a new bag for my embroidery, the one I’m using is a simple draw string I got with an order, it suffices in my handbag, but it’s quite bulky and space is tight on this trip so I wanted something which would slip easily into my cross-body bag.

I rummaged around in my stash and found a fat quarter of sewing themed cotton, nice and cheerful. I made a very simple bag by folding it in half and sewing the side and the bottom. I then turned the top over twice to make a channel for my ribbon. I realised that only having one side seam meant there wasn’t a seam to leave open for the second ribbon. I decided to make a button hole at each side, I folded the fabric and marked with a Frixion pen where I wanted the button holes to be. Somehow they ended up higher than I planned but it all worked out OK as the button holes are across the top fold.

I threaded two lengths of ribbon and the bag was finished, it wouldn’t win any prizes but it’s pretty and it will do the job!!

As you can see, I’m taking some of the bird alphabet patterns.

I also want to make a record in stitch of our trip, my idea is to just stitch a little something in each place, it might be a flower or a simple scene, it might just be abstract stitching. I found a long thin piece of linen in my stash, it’s a lovely duck egg blue sort of colour. I’m not sure where I got it but it had already been overlocked down each long edge. My plan is to stitch a long running stitch for our route the length of the linen with places etc stitched along the way. I’ll then turn it into a concertina book.

As I want to make it into a book I decided to divide the pages off so I wouldn’t end up with a lovely bit of stitching folded in half. I just finger pressed it to start, but thinking ahead to packing and travelling, the creases could get lost! Instead I did a big running stitch in some basic sewing thread up each crease.

Thinking ahead, I thought the blank pages of linen could get a bit overwhelming, so I’ve cut several snippets of fabric and lace so I can add to the pages if I want. I’ve packed some of my favourite DMC colours but I’m planning to use the colours from the bird alphabet, it’s a lovely palette and I’m taking plenty of each colour.

You can also see on the photo above that I pulled a thread out top and bottom. I realised it hadn’t been cut straight, at first I tried to trim it straight, but then I thought the overlocked edge would be quite useful on the trip, so I pulled one thread out to show the top and bottom line of the finished piece.

I’m hoping to write short posts on here along the way, but they will be short as I’ll be writing them on my phone! First stop is Ghent 🙂

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Foragers Journal HQAL

Posted on April 19, 2026 by craftycreeky

I’ve made a little progress with my foragers journal, but not as much as I hoped as life has been somewhat hectic over the last month – however did I ever find time to work!!

Three weeks ago I had started the February page which is gorse…

This is a subscription from Pretty Fabrics and Trims, each month I get everything I need for another page. So far it’s been lovely to stitch, the instructions are nice and clear and the design is well printed on the cloth.

I’ve not done a huge amount but I have done some…

I’ve stitched the stems of the gorse using stem and straight stitch and I’m just doing the flowers with satin stitch. I’ve finished all the lettering too. I’ve got my Skipton Stitchers meeting tomorrow so I’m hoping to finish it then.

Once it is finished I then stitch it to the January one, apply wadding to the back and hand quilt it before binding the pages together with some Liberty tana lawn. I don’t think I’ll get the quilting done (or even started!) before I go on my big adventure in two weeks time, but I’ll post whatever I’ve managed to do in three weeks time.

I’m posting this as part of the Hand Quilt-a-long. Pleas follow the links to see what everyone else has been quilting:


Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Sharon, Karrin, and Daisy

Posted in embroidery, Quilt-a-long, Serendipity, Textile Books | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments