Gas Street

Not only do we have two beaches in the centre of Birmingham - we also have a jungle! Well, a gorilla anyway.

There are lots and lots of boats about at the moment with people heading off towards Wolverhampton and the IWA Festival.

Old friends are passing by so we have been catching up with the news and gossip.

The first of the new moorers arrived on Thursday and their daughter and boyfriend are going to live on the boat - so that has brought the age level down with a bump.


My bus pass arrived on Friday and has been used!!! We went for a celebration lunch on Saturday with Caroline in the Jewellery Quarter. Caroline now lives half way down Farmers Bridge Locks so we can walk down that way to get to their flat.

This is the welcome card I made for them using a photograph of boats in the basin which was matted onto silver, red and yellow card and a yellow ribbon. I printed the sentiment and matted that onto silver and red card.

Gas Street

A picture of just some of the 50 odd Canada Geese that we house in the basin. People will insist on feeding them. There were about five when we first moved here. And the mess they make on the moorings is disgusting. Someone was telling me that they crap three times more than any other living creature. I believe it.

Sadly we have been back on the moorings for almost a week and only had one visit from a newspaper reporter! This time it was from the Birmingham Evening Mail. She has promised to let us know if we get into print again.

We never heard from the lady who was doing an article in the Observer - so I suppose that went by board. The Editor probably has the same mentality as the management at British Waterways - in that boats don't matter.

While out on our mini-cruise we met a couple on a boat coming up the Aston locks. They were complaining that someone had put pipes through the locks and they couldn't get them to work without bashing these pipes with the windlass!!!

The mind boggles. Where have they been? There have been anti-vandal keys on those locks for as long as I can remember. It also appears that if you are a vandal, all you have to do is knock the bars out with a hammer and then you can play with the locks to your heart's content.

I have bitten the bullet and applied for a stand in the Craft Tent at the IWA Boat Festival in Wolverhapton over the Bank Holiday Weekend. I must be made as I said after the last time that I would never do it again. But there you go!

So I have been busy making cards, making cards, making cards!!!

This one was made from a white card, white handmade paper and a bought topper of dried flowers and seeds. A lovely simple card but quite effective.

I had an email from Joanne Quinney of Making Cards Magazine to tell me one of my cards is featured in the Readers Cards Page of the September magazine. Now there's an excuse to buy another card magazine...

Tamhorn Park Bridge

Couldn't resist a photo of this sign. The laminated paper one is actually covering the metal one that is fixed underneath. They both say and picture exactly the same thing!!

We managed the Curdworth Flight in 2 bits, stopping after Lock 7 last night and then doing the rest this morning.

There had been a car in the cut at Drayton Manor Bridge, but as we arrived there were lots of BW and a big skip type lorry with a crane and lots of muddy water - so we missed all the fun.

After shopping in the little Tesco at Fazeley we headed on to the Coventry Canal stopping after Hopwass.

David has been putting his best photographs on a blog here and his travelogues here . He now has three blogs going, along with his Bernie The Bollard stories

We had a text from the IWA today wanting to know if I was interested in running a stall, selling my cards, at the IWA Festival during August Bank Holiday.

I thought about it, and against better judgement I have agreed, so I will be making cards like mad for the next couple of weeks and David will be moaning about lack of housework, food and attention.

This one started out as a yellow foam heart. I covered it in pretty white handmade paper with rose petals in it. I then mounted it onto pink mulberry paper and added a pink rose and ribbon. The final touch, three pink gems.

Minworth Greaves

Yes! We've escaped the joys of Birmingham. After all the fun with TV and Radio and hassle with noise from the bars and drunks, and then an obnoxious visitor on Pipe Dream who, when told that the mooring was private, told David to "F*** off!".

We set off early as usual but still got to Farmer's Bridge Top Lock just as a boat was going down. But with help from Albert we were soon on our way. The picture shows David trying to get back onto the boat under the tunnel in the bowls of Mawdor. Not easy with the barrier.

Lots seems to have happened since we were last out. There are now signs on all the locks showing a boat stuck on the cill, and some lovely new seats that BW have put by the locks on the Aston Flight. I don't think they are meant to be seats, but I cannot see any other use for these blocks of wood; though I understand they are for tying the boat up when you go up and down locks, though I thought you were not supposed to tie up your boat when you go up or down a lock.




Now for a card for Liz who will be 65. I was not allowed to put the age on the card, but the wording inside said: "If you were a man, you'd just be getting your pension!".

I stamped the roses onto watercolour paper and embossed them in gold, then coloured them in. Then it was matted onto white and gold card; then onto some white and gold tissue paper with a pink feather and finally onto some pink card which I edged with a gold pen. Half the white base card was covered in rosebud paper with a gold strip down the join and then I added the name of the recipient.