Quilts and Cakes mmmmmmmmm

There were quilts galore and cakes glorious.

Rooms oozing colour.

Cakes oozing cream. Whose hand is that? Oh yes, that would be mine, he he.

Now now,let us be serious and get down to the important stuff, yes I know that cake is very important but to tell the truth I am a bit "caked out".

This quilt caught my eye and tantalized me so much that I snapped it on both days.

I know, it is a bit frivolous, but good frivolity is a serious business, it requires order, concentration and cake. Oops that just slipped out.

The small hotel that we stayed in, Heath Lodge, was only a 5 minute drive from the NEC, but as we were treated to a splendid breakfast we thought that it would be wise to walk it. 30 minutes or so ambling along country roads for most of the way.

We spotted this little gem,

It looks like a faerie door, but as it bears an unfortunate number we thought that it might be a marker for an accident.

Then there were,

Canopies of wild plums.

Oodles of blackberries.

Garlands of roses.

Skeins of slowly ripening sloes.

An abundance of apples.

You can tell from these how strong the sun light was, we were so glad that we brought our sunnies.

I took over 100 photos and will put a few up each day so you do not get overwhelmed. Tomorrow I will share my purchases, now for the giveaway.

A tote bag containing a set of templates, and an instruction sheet for Dresden Plates from Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

A decoration pattern from homegrown textiles.

A Candy pack of a new collection called Ink, from Moda bakeshop.

A pack of pretty and strong pins from Sew much to do.

An orphan Owl from one of my personal favourite people, SusanClaire, The Gourmet Quilter. From her New Zealand studio she produces some so easy to follow tutorial videos and also designs patterns and sells them through her website. Pop over and have a look.

There will also be a leaflet, from a very good shop, with a 20% off code that is valid for multiple use until December, not to be sneezed at, and I have one for myself. Rubs hands and chortles with glee.

I am not promoting these for any gain, I am just happy to be able to share this bounty with 2 of you. I only wish that there was more.

There might also be an extra treat or two that fall in the bags from the piles of stuff teetering on my own shelves.

You know the drill, all followers are cordially invited to drop me a comment saying that you are interested and sometime over the weekend I will pop names into a container and bribe ask someone else to pull one out. It is amazing what folk will do for cake. There it is again, it just will not behave.

Francesca and I did a plaited rag rug making workshop with the very clever and crafty Jenni Stuart-Anderson. 

This was completely new to Francesca and I had not done it since I was knee high to a grasshopper. It was fun and we visited Jenni's booth and I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase her book. There are some full day courses on various methods of rag rug making, later in the year, that are not too far from me so I will be deciding which to try.

Here is the lady herself in her room of crafty treasures, still very lively after 4 busy busy days teaching, encouraging and interacting with all of us fans of all things crafty,fabricy and stitchy. Those rugs have to be seen in the flesh to be appreciated. 

That was a marathon, I am all photo'd out for one day so.....

     TTFN                                                                    Pam