Long weekend

Boy was I surprised to see Quilt Mavericks mentioned in a recent article in British Patchwork Quilting January Issue! One of the women in my quilt group loaned me the magazine last week and I just got around to reading it last night. There is a very good article by Helen Conway on Quilter's Blogs and in a sidebar she lists five quilting blog rings including Artful Quiltiers, Quilters who embellish, Quilters Lounge, Stash quilts, and Quilt Mavericks!

I think I really overdid it this weekend....too much fun and I am paying for it! Saturday my DH went out golfing so I took over the Kitchen counter to cut fabric for the sampler block demos. I cut fabric for 15 blocks! I had printed out the directions on Friday so now I have a binder ready to go for weeks. I have 9 of the blocks made up in cowgirl fabrics too. I also made Kung Pao Chicken so he wouldn't complain about the kitchen becoming a quilting room too!

Sunday we drove up to Broadway again...or should I say he drove my car to Broadway. Very scarey! He brought his car over from the US and so has not made the transition to having the steering wheel on the right side of the car. He wanted to take another shot at it and we thought a Sunday morning may be the safest for all concerned...everyone but me. By the time we got to the village I was a white-knuckled wreck! The worst part was how the car would bump when he went off the road (I'll leave off how many times that happened!) It was torture on my leg! On the way home we got caught in a Cotswold traffic jam - a road full of sheep! At that point he gave up and let me drive the rest of the way home.

On Monday I went on a coach/bus trip with the Anglo American Women's group to Stoke-on-Trent. The town has dozens of Pottery/China outlets. It was incrediably organized and exhausting! It was about a two hour drive to our first stop - Burleigh. I never would have found this on my own - tiny sidestreets and almost invisiable signs - but this ended up being my favorite shop. (lucky for my bank account I didn't know that then!) The pink mug, pitcher and blue cow creamer all came from that stop. I got a few more of the pink mugs in diffent patterns for one of my sisters. I may have bought more but we only had 20 minute at this stop...and they were serious about keeping on schedule - the train system could learn from these women! The coach drove about 10 minutes then stopped at the Dudson Outlet. I was better there and only came away with a postcard and 30 pence plate (the brown one in the photo!) Again this was a 20 minute stop and we were quickly off to the Royal Doulton factory shop for yes, another 20 minute stop! I was starting to need caffine...that may have influenced my picking up the white teapot.

They said there was enough time to eat your bag lunch before the next stop but they must eat faster in this country because I only got half a sanwich and two sips of juice in before we pulled into the next outlet. I bearly remember that one - I went straight to the coffee shop with the bus driver...fading fast! The next stop was in the town. There is a huge Spode outlet with several other outlets and a museum. We had one hour and 15 minutes there. Still caffine deprived and without enough energy to finish my sandwich I had lost the ability to make a decision. I love spode but wandered around aimlessly and left without anything in my hand! We walked up the street to the Portmeirion shop. I was starting to panic...the boot of the bus was starting to fill up with boxes and bags...my stuff fit into the overhead compartment! Obviously I wasn't trained for this! I grabbed the jar with lilacs on it for my Mom. Panic shopping.

There was one more stop at a place that had 3 shops...vague memories. They opened up a few bottles of wine, some cheese and chocolate and passed them around as we drove back home. I'm glad I went even though I can barely walk this morning. I think I'd like to do it a bit less frantic pace (maybe just do the Burleigh and the Spode then "tuck-in' for a good lunch somewhere!

So today I will spend clearing my fabric out of the kitchen again and maybe making a few more cowgirl blocks...