The Day That Was

Yesterday was a gloriously good day. It's hard to beat friends, fabric and quilt viewing for a fab day, after all. Mostly it was about the friends. Saw too many people to name them all (because I will inadvertently leave someone out and then feel really bad) and there were others I wanted to see but failed - this time. For some reason my phone declined to make calls from almost everywhere within the hall. It managed intermittent IG connection. Anyway, I was so pleased to see those I did.

Cindy and Nicky were my partners in crime. Needless to say, it was great to spend time with them. Nicky got up at the scary time of 4am to catch a bus from the south coast to come to the Festival so how she managed the day of chatting, and walking, and standing, is beyond me. She even did hand sewing on the bus on the way to meet us! I also introduced myself to Jen, the editor of Love Patchwork & Quilting. Unfortunately I may have confirmed her suspicions that I am mad, so we shall see if she ever asks me to make something for the magazine again! (We are standing infront of Lynne's amazing quilt found in the latest LPQ issue.)

Then there were the quilts.

The quilt police (aka the really nice women wearing white gloves who made sure no one touched the quilts) watched us very, very closely. Because we kept peering so closely to a lot of the quilts. I was in a constant state of envy at peoples ability to do really tiny, detailed piecing, and to FMQ incredibly well.

As always there was a huge variation in the types of quilts to see - from traditional, to art quilts, to modern, and some a little...   um...   odd. The one thing they all had in common was the talent and attention to detail that went into them. It was great to see some of my friends with their work in there too (bottom left - Trudi - and bottom right - Reene).

So, did I buy anything? Of course I did, but not nearly as much as expected. I was quite restrained for me, and very relaxed on the whole buying front.

I ordered the Swiss dots from Cindy from her Fluffy Sheep Quilting shop, and she hand delivered them. They are an excellent addition to the LV stash and I love the lime green dots in particular. The purchases on the right are from Natalie and Tracey at Pin It & Stitch. I'm really pleased to say that they are in the process of launching their website now so expect to see even more from them in the future. They just got Aurifil floss in on Friday so I had to buy some to test it out. And I finally got around to getting myself a Sewline glue pen to speed up my epp basting. The fabric cuts were bargain end of bolt pieces that are about 10" wide WOF and were only £2 each!

The rest of my fabric purchases were a mixed lot of things that caught my eye. I love the whales I bought from The Eternal Maker. Then a couple of cuts of the re-release of FFA, and one of Cotton & Steel, this despite expecting some of each line to be arriving from the USA any time now. Not sure where I got the mushrooms and the other two whimsical FQs, but I like them. (Obviously, since I bought them.) The purchases from Doughty's were real bargains at £3.50 a half metre, except the FMF which was £5.50 - still less than the usual fabric price here in the UK.

Finally, I splurged on two Bloc Loc HST rulers, because I've never heard anything but good about them. I chose to try the 2.5" and the 4.5" ones and if I love them as much as everyone else seems to maybe I can add other sizes in the future. I was tempted by the Flying Geese Bloc Locs, which the man explained could also be used to square up Square in a Square blocks. So many toys to purchase if the budget is ever there!

And that was the day that was. Today it is very stormy. I've already taken Cindy to the airport to return home, and a good friend from Canada arrives tomorrow. Just enough time for a quick change on the bedding and to do a hoover.

Susan