Hi all,
as you may have noticed yesterday I got back in one piece but I was too tired to do more than let Tia Mary know I got her message (and yes she got mine!) about the meetup tomorrow.
I'll start at the beginning of my trip: Friday I baked the chocolate cakes (2) for that evenings potluck and then having squeezed the kids into the car after loading it up with all the stuff I needed (ex said do you need *all* **that** - yep I said as I had to take my own bedding **not** LOL)
I got there and found a good place to sit after first finding a far too small space in a dark corner then went off to find a place to sleep - all the rooms appeared full but the Belgium "contingent" there adopted me and I got to share their room which later turned out to be a good thing :-) then I went off and started on the first "Disney cars" top - Michael's one. in-between stopping to chat, eat our potluck and see how the girls were doing with their silk flower embroidery workshop. somehow I ended up being one of 3 people still up when I finished the top later that night. as the other two were chatting I grabbed my insane hexagon project and joined them in sewing and chatting. one girl went to bed and me and the other girl continued chatting some more - she turned out to be the person sleeping in the bottom bunk of my bed! we went to bed at 2.45 am.
next am I was up before the sparrows and dressed and in the room we had to sew in before 7 am where I helped tidy up the potluck tables, took out the trash and then rustled up some coffee and an apple so I didn't faint before breakfast (at 8.30) then I started on the 2nd cars quilt top. with a break for breakfast where we found a pretty napkin by the side of our plate - the napkin that wasn't a napkin but a rolled up FQ of Easter fabric with a fun fabric inside - I got lucky and ended up with a black FQ with rainbow guitars on it! then it was back to sewing and chatting and seeing what everyone was doing. it was especially fun to see what the girls who decided to do the stack and whack quilts were doing! about 1 minute before lunch I managed to finish the 2nd cars top.
after lunch me and a few friends from my local bee where were also there jumped in their car and went on a mini shop hop - the first shop was new to me and was full of beads and wool on the ground floor and the top floor was filled with notions, fabric and more fabric! as we were a large group we also got 15% off I found some handy little clamps to hold the fabric in place while basting hexagons but the lime pack had a broken one - after chatting with the shop owner I got the pack for less as I didn't really want the pink ones I also got a mini easy eight ruler that doubles as a key ring and two balls of yarn for my art quilts. then it was off to the next shop which belongs to a friend of mine after "visiting" I found a nice box to make the fabric for it ( a pansy print) and the trimmings. then after a "mad" race against the clock we got back seconds before dinner was served.
after dinner there was the bingo (I *almost* won - just one square open!) and the show and tell - I had the largest of the magazine quilts with me (the "bedding" LOL) my little art quilt and I showed one of the two tops I had finished. then it was back to sewing - I started on the BOM blocks but found it hard to concentrate on the cutting directions while chatting with the girls so I put it away and got out my hexagons. this turned out to be handy as one of the girls was about to stop sewing as she had forgotten to bring her scraps for her mini rainbow lone star. so as I trimmed the scraps to the size I needed I "flung" the scraps that were large enough over to her to sew! so girls it's thanks from my friend in NL for scraps her quilt too! she loved the idea that they came from all over! then after a bit of cutting I sat down to play with an old UFO with 1 1/2" blocks and started sewing and when I was too tipsy for that (I had cracked open the port LOL) I joined my roommate in hand sewing and sipping port and chatting - this time it was almost 5 am before we said I wonder what time it is and realising it was
*so* late.the next am I woke with the sparrows and was in the sewing room by 7.30 as I knew my ex was collecting me at about 11 am I packed up everything I didn't need and got ready for my class in fibre cards then it was off to breakfast and a surprise by our plates - we had all been told to pack a small gift for this and hand it in on arrival and now we got to open them! mine was a lovely Chinese box (wrapping) filled with a bit of Chinese silk, a key chain with a rotary cutter, a nifty little fabric box with Chinese men on it and inside the box was a stunning thimble - copper with an enamelled flower and bird - one that actually *fits* but is far too pretty to actually *use* after breakfast we gathered round for the class explanation and them we all went to our places to sew them - I didn't like the *pink* embellishments I got with my materials pack so I dug out stuff in my bags - the eyelash yarn, some leftover blocks from the UFO and the various yarns in record time I had a lovely card :-D then I packed everything up except for my hexagons and spent some more time trimming for me and flinging the scraps to my friend and in-between chatting and chatting.
when ex turned up it was time for goodbyes and off home I went. I was home by 1.30 and too tired to think really - in fact I was so tired I fell asleep on the sofa after the kids were in bed and slept till 8 am!