Festival of Quilts

We've had such a great few days - first at the Festival of Quilts, then at home with the GCs.

.








.
Let's start with the trip to Birmingham. Off we went to the Festival on Wednesday, stopping on the way at a National Trust house nearby. It was Baddersley Clayton - a moated manor house. Here's a pic - and one above.











One of the lovliest NTs we've seen for ages. It was all old panelled walls and priest-holes, small but quite lovely and they did a good lunch. We walked around the moat and I took a swoopy pic of some trees by accident.








This was a good accident and I put it on one layer with a photo of pots beneath it. The eraser was then used to rub through to the pots. Here's the result.






On to the National Exhibition Centre - although we didn't have a stand we wanted to suss out the lay of the land and we had several boxes of books to deliver to the Home Workshop stand. (I'm pleased to report that they were all selling well at the show). Also, if I'm honest, because I love the buzz of set-up day and we saw all our friends and got in their way for a while. It was a perfect day and we stopped off in a park on the way to our hotel and walked around a lake.


The FoQ was up to its usual standard - shan't show you too much as there will be a 'free to all' review on the http://www.quiltwow.com/ site on 8th September but here is a pic from the recent graduates area. This girl's work was wonderful and technically excellent, too. Her name was Victoria Shepherd and she'll go far.









The talks went well, once we had persuaded them to replace the duff projector. Luckily we had a good techie. It was great to have such a huge audience for Old Walls - hardly a seat to spare and everyone was so interested in the work I took along. It wasn't easy lugging that great case around (the downside of not having a stand) but it was worth it.



We ran away into Birmingham for the afternoon and went on a tour of the Jewellery Museum. This was a factory that closed in 1981 and had been left just as it was - even down to the MDs jar of Marmite that he had on his toast every morning. They didn't go in for mass production and the way they worked, demonstrated by a knowledgeable guide, was fascinating. We also managed to go out for a meal at Tamarinds (Balsall Common) with Oliver Twists and the Ario gang. We do this every year and the food is wonderful and very reasonably priced.



Not having a stand meant that we came home feeling as though we'd had a holiday and we were able to go to the park with Sophie, who had a new bike. Her ever-patient dad soon got her going, after a few mishaps.
.







She disappeared into a hedge at one point and I'm ashamed to admit that her mother and I had an attack of the giggles - but only when we were sure she was OK. She was soon riding like the wind, as you can see here (with a little help from Paint Shop Pro).

.

We finished our wonderful few days by going for a walk by 'our' lake and catching the end of the Air Show in the distance at Bournemouth. The Red Arrows flew right over us on their way to the seafront. A great end to the week.

Not finished yet - here's a chat about the comments on the last blog.

Heather – the Starburst Stains are better sprayed, I think. I want to do more work and am rushing to clear the decks and get on with it.

Glad you are feeling better Doreen – want to see your work when it’s done, but it’s not easy when one is under the weather.

Hey Aussie Jo – bad about the sound system. We will probably try to claim on the travel insurance. That’ll take a year or two!

Dale – put me a box or two by – I know your stand. You turn around and the locusts have cleared it.

Margaret – so sorry to have missed you – we should have swopped mobile numbers.