Southport 2 of 2 Crow and Pumpkin Quilt

Crow and Pumpkin quilt. I tried to think of the colours around in the landscape this Autumn.
I even tried a little machine quilting “in the ditch”. It has wadding instead of “warm and natural” so there is a lot of bounce in it.
I took advantage of this by adding buttons. The effect in the middle reminded me of the eiderdown I had at my grandmother’s house. It was so old it’s original pink fabric had to be cut off carefully revealing the original cream thick cotton which contained the down. It was so snuggly. 🙂
Anyway I had 8 of these brown buttons with an incised leaf looking pattern, so the corners got them too.
Sorry best pic I could get.
Hand sewn blanket stitch applique.
Hand sewn multi coloured bias binding strip to the outer border.
Backing fabric continuing the garland theme.
Not strictly Southport as it’s in Birkdale just by the Royal Birkdale Golf Course. I can just see Agatha Christie having a murder mystery set here with Poirot turning up. It’s opposite the old lighthouse now a house. Must try to get a pic of that!

These were taken on different days around town so the weather varies.
Southport Pier begins by a carousel and gaming arcade to the left of this picture. It stretches over the Victorian Marine Lake.
A more land bound section the pigeon loft shape on the left is the very end of the pier. I think it was one of the longest piers in England when it was built. The sand is very flat here, so you do have to go this far out to meet the sea, although in the newspaper there was a letter from a resident saying that he remembered ships being moored near the above photo when he was a lad.

I think the coast line of England is constantly changing. On the East coast areas of land are being claimed by the sea. It would seem that here in the West the sea is giving more land. The Marine Lake was once fed by the sea and what is now the littlest pub in England was once the pump house for a hospital which offered sea water bathing in it’s basement as part of a “cure”. Now there is a whole shopping plaza between the sea and the lake.

Aims you asked about Halsall once being a high tide port- I think that where a stream currently is was once a tidal river channel. For those interested in more of the history and shipwrecks etc. (there is a memorial of a particularly nasty one which I have yet to photograph) then read this link.

Elegant arches holding a light.
Ok now back in town. Love the roof!
Lots of shades of grey by the War Memorial.
St George’s United Reform Church. There is another UR Church called Lord Street West URC on Lord Street near the old railway station.
Waterstones Book Shop
Waterstones from the front by Monsoon. I call this the pink column block on Lord Street.
Already a touch of Christmas in department shop windows. Beautiful dark red with white.
Such beautiful cakes too.
Pale pink columns. This was built as The Preston Bank (probably long since merged into another bank) but is now HSBC Bank
You stand just by these tiles to use the cash dispensers.
I may have just stroked them casually. 🙂
The ceiling tiles in this foyer are beautiful too.
I felt like I was a bank robber casing the joint taking this photo of the inside. They still have dark marble fireplaces at the sides of the room! Sorry no pic I was feeling stared at by staff.
Detail of the ceiling and columns. I do like this building as the inside has been preserved so well which is rare.
Typical Lord Street scene.
If you look above the shop fronts there are some interesting buildings.
This bank like in the typical joke is now a trendy wine bar called The Old Bank. Bank branches have been shutting all over the UK since people started to use cash dispensers instead of queueing up.
This mock Tudor building is the Early Learning Centre children’s toy shop on the ground floor.
When Southport 1st became a Victorian holiday resort it had 2 railways. This was the railway station for a track now taken up which went along the coast heading South. It is currently derelict and a Morissons supermarket is built where the rails once were behind it.
Interesting windows on Eastbank Street- the main way in to Southport from the East.
This pub was once called the Black Horse on a very old map before a lot of Southport was built. The road right by it (Scarisbrick New Road) didn’t exist. It goes to East ish to Ormskirk, but the original way was very winding between fields.
The Baptist Church Hall on the corner opposite the pub. This faces the original main road to Ormskirk.

I’ve got a horrid cold at the mo- a perk of the rainy weather we’ve been having. It’s nothing compared to what some fell runners are going through up in the Lake District North of here. Their families must be so worried. Last I read 1700 people were missing on the mountains with flood warnings and we’ve had gale force winds. The organisers seemed so blase about it!


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