Huddlesford Junct, Coventry Canal

 We had quite a storm last night but the morning was bright and sunny.

After a fifteen minute stop at Fazeley Junction while I went to Tesco's to get a newspaper and stuff we set off along the Coventry canal heading for Fradley Junction.

Passing The Plough at Huddlesford Junction we saw a gap in the moorings and dived in.  That was Sunday lunch sorted. A huge plate of fish and chips for me and a steak for David.  I slept away the afternoon again.


The wild flowers were out in profusion, bluebells and wood anemones inWhittington Wood (we always call in Miles' Wood as a dear friend of ours used to be the Commanding Officer there).  The back gardens we sailed past were also looking good with blossom, bulbs and spring flowers.

Here is an exploding box with a pair of baby bootees inside.

The outside was covered with pink gingham paper, matted onto pink card with a die-cut topper on each side and a rose and die-cut leaves on the lid.

 The box opens out when you remove the lid to show off the bootees.  Each of the four inside box sides was matted with either gingham or spotted paper, again matted onto pink card and 4 die-cut ovals or circles added with leaves and roses.

The bootees were stuck onto the card with glue dots, just to keep them in place, and can be peeled off for use.

Bridge 88 near Braunston, Oxford Canal

The buffalo at Napton Locks, always a lovely sight.

We set off at 0530 and reached the bottom lock at 0745.  The advantage of doing the locks early are there are no queues, the disadvantage is you don't tend to meet anyone coming the other way either.

Just as we were approaching the bridge at the junction at Braunston we recognised the boat coming towards us as Rainbow, old friends who we sometimes manage to meet up with, but usually going in the other direction! 

Sunrise on the Oxford Canal

A Flower Fairy card.  This is the Forget-Me-Not fairy.  I have made it a "baby" card.  It is decopaged and matted onto green card then onto a blue card base.

Near Br 64, Grand Union Canal

 Just before we left Birmingham we took delivery of the new covers for our settee.  They look really great (if very expensive!).  I am also in the process of re-vamping the curtains which are now 18 years old and were beginning to show their age.

When we woke of this morning we had no electricity!  Why do we always have a crisis at the start of our cruises?

Anyway, I phoned Dylan at Swallow Cruises and he promised to have a look at the batteries when we passed by his boatyard.  Which he duly did and pronounced the batteries as fine and they were reading 100%.  So it was a bit of a mystery.

We had intended to stop at the top of the locks but we met a boat at the last lift bridge coming the other way, so decided to go for it.  Big mistake!  There was a boat in front of us, so we only had one lock for us until we got past the Boot Inn where we met up with a lovely female volunteer lock keeper who helped us down to the junction.  There were more volunteers re-surfacing the towpath and generally tidying up and painting Lock 18.

We moved onto the Grand Union canal and immediately felt the benefit of deeper water.  No scraping noises and lots of power.

This is a "card in a box".  Basically a box shaped card that can be folded flat to fin into a normal envelope.

The inside of the box has 3 tabs and the die-cut items are fixed to them with strips of acetate so that they look like they are floating when the box opens out.

I used lots of baby related die cuts to make this card and yellow gingham paper to make it gender neutral.

Below New Marton Locks - Llangollen Canal

 I know we like early starts, but today was a bit excessive.  We left the basin at a quarter past SIX!!!  It was still dark and we bumped and ground our way down through the narrows, missing all the dramatic scenery, but on the other hand we didn't meet another boat until we got to the lift bridge past the aqueduct.

As you can see, sunrise as we went over.  I walked it again.  Getting really brave, no?

When I got to the 100th turn of the lift bridge I finally noticed that it was not going up any more.

The man on the other boat tried pushing, and I eventually had the nous to wind it own a bit and then up again, that seemed to work.  Still, I didn't have to wind it down.

The hire boats were out in force after Chirk and by the time we got to New Morten locks there were queues of 4 boats coming up stream at both locks - still I didn't have to do much work working them, there was lots of help.

Two days ago it took us 5 hours to get from the top of New Marton to the Basin in Llangollen and 4 hours to get back down!  I've seen a slower current on the Thames!

Another example of my expanding repertoire. 

An "exploding" box, because when you take the lid off the sides explode out and fall down.

This box contains a pair of baby stocks.

The sides are decorated with patterned paper and die cuts with a rosette on the lid.

I have made several in blue, pink and white.

Hockley Heath, Stratford on Avon Canal

 

We are on the move, and the lovely sunny weather has broken.  We set off in light drizzle and it continued all the way to Hockley Heath.  So we moored up for the rest of the day.

I caught the bus into Stratford on Avon, marvelling once again at how pretty Hampton in Arden is.  I really must get of the bus there one of these days and explore.

The canal has its usual amount of debris floating in the water, and the off side is quite overgrown, though a lot of the towpath has been upgraded for the cyclists to race  along. 

We have not done this run in full Summer for ages, and it seems quite dark and gloomy, especially in the rain.


Still a lovely Chinese supper finished off the evening, even if David had to walk the length of the village to get some cash to pay for it.  He was not a happy bunny.

 I have been making these little boxes recently.
They are called explosion boxes.

When you take the lid off the box sides fall open revealing the gift inside.

 In this case some pretty pink and white baby socks.

Hawkeyard, Trent & Mersey Canal

Managed to persuade David to hang about so that we could visit the farm shop, so we moored up at the junction and walked back to buy some goodies.  We stopped again at Rugeley and I did some more shoppingg and then moored up near Bridge 62 on a disused long term mooring. 

Here is a new baby congratulations card.  First you knit the little jacket on normal needles and then transfer them onto cocktail sticks, gluing beads onto one ends.

The "jacket" was then glued onto a blue oval and then onto die-cut ovals and finally onto a white card blank.

Gas Street Basin - BCN

 It's very busy tonight.  Must be half-term!

Made several baby cards today.  This is one.  I Cuttlebugged a white panel and edged it with blue ink and wrapped some blue polka-dot ribbon around it, tying the ends in a knot.

Actually, I don't usually wrap the ribbon around the panel, I tie the knot with the two ends of the ribbon and then measure it against the panel and cut the ribbon leaving a flap to go around the back; and then I glue the ends to the back of the panel to keep it secure.  This saves up to 4" ribbon for another project.

Anyway,  I stuck the peel-off baby hedgehog onto a white die-cut oval and then stuck that onto a blue scalloped oval and fixed it to the card with sticky fixers.  Then added the sentiment and three blue gems.

Near Halsall, Leeds and Liverpool Canal

 

 The canal is so lovely up here.  The land is very flat and the canal is slightly raised so you can see for miles.  And, on top of that, the edges on the towpath side are neat and tidy.  Might not be much use to the animals, but great for the boater.

Just a short day today, left at 0745 and moored up again at 0830.

Now I just have to contemplate the many and varied swing bridges tomorrow - only 6!

The doors and side hatch are open, the sun is shining and the birds are singing.  Bliss.

I spent the afternoon making cards.  Sometimes the mood just takes me.  I can go for weeks without wanting to make anything.  But today, the time was right.

This Christening card uses a pre-printed topper from Penny Black.  I used a die to cut out the shape and another one in green which I stuck behind at slight angle to make it show  (it was the same size).

The leaves are die cut and also the smaller flowers (which I actually made this time) and the larger ones were bought.

Below Adderley Locks, Shropshire Union

Saw this in Market Drayton.  If we'd been stopping I might have tried them out.

The plan had been to stay two days in Market Harborough.  I should have known David couldn’t hang around that long.  So, after washing the boat and taking on water we set off to do the 3½ miles and 4 locks to get here.

There are lambs poking their noses through the hedge by the towpath.  Sweet.

High Bridge, the most photographed bridges on the Shroppie?

I made this card using a swan's feather and a hair bobble.  I coloured the feather with ink and stuck it onto a blue panel that  had inked edges and then added the bobble (without the elastic).  I used glue dots to fix both items.

The card blank was white and then I matted the sentiment onto white card and inked the edges in blue before sticking it down onto the bottom right hand corner.

Gas Street Moorings, BCN

Two more Canada geese goslings.  Still looking cute, but not for long.

The adults are particularly annoying at the moment, honking all night.

It was back to Sherborne Wharf today to get two of the three leaky windows fixed.  Of course, the weather turned cloudy and chilly again - especially with no windows!

Three new baby cards all made with the "bobble" of a hair decoration and a feather.

Gas Street, BCN

Lots of visitors to the basin today, come to see the German Christmas Market and have a night on the town.

I bought this topper as a card many years ago while we were living in Budapest.  I loved the baby in the walnut shell.  I didn't make my cards in those days, and as they were so cheap I bought masses of cards for a "just in case".  Eventually, I cut out the baby and the flowers and stuck it down with sticky fixers onto a gold die-cut panel and then onto a blue card blank.

Victoria Park, Newbury, Kennet and Avon Canal

We moved down to Victoria Park for another two nights in Newbury.  The weather has turned and the sun has come out and its hot! hot! hot!

This evening there were lots of shouts and splashing and a muntjak deer had got into the water and was trying to escape the people trying to help it out of the water.  It managed to swing down the side of the boat and the bank and then went back across the canal and got out before running away.  It was such a surprise as it is a really built up area.

There was a family of swans above the lock.  So quite.

I made this card as a baby congratulations card.  Just matted it onto white and maroon card and stuck a white feather underneath it before adding it to a lilac card blank.

Brentwood, Grand Union

 We left early as there was a window in the river and managed to get  to the visitor moorings at Brendford before the rain.  We moored up behind Indus a David wants to interview Liz for Canals and Rivers Magazine and she will be off later today.

I walked into Brentford and caught a bus into Kingston on Thames.  Had a shock going over Kew Bridge - the tide was out.  We only ever see the Thames at high tide here.


 Here is a link to one of the boats that did the upstream tideway in the group of boats behind us Good Friday.  Enjoy.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=327hE86TW4c




Had some interesting news today.  A friend's son is expecting a baby in November and his son is expecting a baby in October too.  So the Uncle/Aunt will be younger than the Nephew/Niece. Confused?

So here is the card.  I began with a white card blank and added a panel of blue paper which the edges deckle cut.  I stamped out the bird and coloured it with watercolour paints and matted it onto white and then silver card and stuck it towards the top of the card.  The sentiment is a silver peel-off which was stuck onto deckle edged white card and matted onto silver card.

Paddington Basin, Grand Union Paddington Arm

 Lots of rubbish in the canal - this bit was still smoking when we went past.  David phoned BW to report it and when he gave the bridge number the guy said, yes, the brown wooden one, someone tried to set fire to that recently!

Yet another lovely day.  There was no room at the various visitor moorings on the way to Little Venice and definitely none there.  The winter moorings end today, so at least some of the boats should be moving off.

So it was on into Paddington Basin where there were about three spaces, so we winded the boat and moored up by the temporary entrance to the station.  A bit noisy, but adequate.

A new baby congratulations card. I matted the decoupaged Forever Friends bear onto a scalloped, silver circle.

Some blue paper from a Forever Friends paper pack was stuck to the bottom front of a white card blank with a silver peel-off strip across the join.  The topper was added on top.

Two sets of three glass gems were added in the top corners to finish the card.

I have left this card blank, no sentiment either inside or out so it could also be used as a 1st birthday card.

Gas Street Basin, Birmingham

 Didn't take any photos today, so here is one from the Droitwich gathering.

David was up at 0530 and we set off (well, David set off, I was still in bed).  Just after he started the heavens opened and it rained all the way back until we got out of the last (very wet inside) tunnel.

We were back on our moorings at 0915.  Don't let me do 42 locks in one day EVER AGAIN!

Another early card.  I stamped the card and coloured it in then matted it onto silver and black card.

I cut some blue paper with wavy scissors and stuck the panel onto the bottom half of a light blue card.  The topper was then fixed over the join.

The sentiment says "A little bird told me!" and I used it for a congratulations card for an expectant couple.

Gas Street, Birmingham

 This morning the Hyatt caught on fire!!!!!  Lots of fire engines.

When I went to check whether I could use the pool this afternoon I was told that it was the sauna that had blown up!!  So no swimming for the foreseeable future.  Hope we get a refund.

Fortunately no-one was in the sauna at the time and no-one in the pool area was injured

This card began with a purple card blank.  I covered part of the front with some stripy paper and then added this little chap holding a bone for his dog.  He and the dog are slightly decopaged and fixed to the card with sticky-fixers.

Downholland Hall Swing Bridge, Leeds and Liverpool Canal

 We noticed this floating coot nest on the way down, the bird was not on the nest and there were about 5 eggs in it.  Didn't have a camera handy in time though.

Our instructions were to be at the first lock for 0800 this morning, unfortunately, all the other 13 boats travelling today also had to be there for 0800.  Confusion or what.  The group from Bridgewater arranged for pairs, but there were also other boats and they joined in too. 

We managed to be in the first 2 boats, so everything went smoothly.

One of the following boats had engine trouble, so by the time we got to Bridge 5 to await the BW guys to let us through, there were only 6 boats.  We waited almost 2 hours but there was no sign of any more boats, to we went through and then through Bridge 6.  We were now on our own. 

The best thing about this convoy was there were 6 swing bridges in front, so we only had to do one each.  By the 5th bridge boats were dropping out for the day and we eventually stopped here at 4.45 on another bridge landing (but with the bridge permanently open).
 

We haven't seen any cygnets yet, lots of swans on nests though.

I used this card for a birth congratulations.  Just a photograph matted onto silver and dark purple card.

I stuck a swan's fluffy feather underneath and then stuck the whole thing onto a lilac card.

Bollington Under Bridge, Bridgewater Canal

David wanted to get on and through Preston Brook tunnel early, so he set off at 0530 to get the 0600 slot!!! Once in the tunnel he soon discovered it was not such a good idea. It was too dark to see the entrance in the distance and he had nowhere to aim for.

A quick stop at Moore for a newspaper and some pate from the little shop there and then on to Lymm for ah hour's rest.

By then the sun had come out and it was rather pleasant. There was lots of activity at the moorings by the Old No 3 pub, looks like they are re-doing the water points and maybe even some mooring rings. This canal is a "spike" one - not many rings or bollards, which when you consider how fast the boats go past moored ones can make it fun to keep put. We did find 5 rings here though, which is why we stopped.

Here is the card for my Brother's grandaughter

A white card blank with the edges coloured with pink ink. A pink feather and a little hair ornament with the elastic taken off the back.

The sentiment is a silver rub-on on white card with the edges coloured with the pink ink.

Dutton Stop Lock, Trent & Mersey Canal

Always a sad sight this. The boat must have had either a wooden or fibreglass superstructure as there is only the metal hull left.

A quiet run into Middlewich. I left David at the bottom of the third lock and walked into town to Tesco for a paper and bits and bobs. I had caught up with him just as he was filling the Big Lock.

Then it was on to Anderton. I dropped in to the customer services to buy some pumpout cards. Not an easy transaction, but I'll say no more and I am sorry to the next person who needs a pumpout card, I bought all 7 of them!

My brother's eldest son and his wife were expecting a baby (a little girl). So I came up with this card.

The photo is not too good because I used a white square card blank. The pink safety pin was stuck to the middle and the rub-on sentiment was added below. The wording is "Parenting results may vary". This is their second child, so we'll see.

Kintbury, Kennet and Avon Canal

Some of the boats on this canal have so much junk. Sorry! Flowers on them it must be really difficult to move them. Which is probably why they don't move very often. Still this one does look rather pretty.

Having stopped for 2 days in Hungerford we got lazy and decided to stop at Kintbury, travelling a whole three miles. Then of course, I said, we had to stay and see the horse drawn barge which was due past on Saturday.
So it turned into two days.



This is Bonnie, enjoying herself enormously. First she walked for one hour downstream, then the boat winded and she walked back to Kintbury. She had an hour for lunch before setting off upstream for another hour's pulling to Hungerford before returning back to her stable.

Mind you, her handler also walked all that way, but he also had to jump up onto the roof of every boat to get the rope over any obstructions, do the locks, polish the tack and feed her.

Walking into the village for a newspaper I found a fab bread and cake shop. Only open on Fridays and Saturdays. On a nearby empty shop there were signs saying that it was going to open as a chocolate shop next week. Darn! Missed that one.

To make up for it we had a rather disappointing meal in the restaurant of the Blue Ball at the top of the village.

Three cards on the same theme.

This was the original card, the bought topper matted onto blue corrugated card and fixed to a white card blank.

A blue gingham ribbon is stuck along the bottom and three blue buttons fixed over it on the right hand side.







The original card got a bit "old", so I cut the topper and ribbon out using deckle edged scissors and fixed them to a blue card base.





















I used the other topper and matted it, again, onto blue corrugated card and white card which I edged with small scalloped edged scissors.







A blue organdie ribbon was wrapped around the card and tied in a knot on the left hand side of the card and a blue button was fixed to the bottom right hand corner.