Saturday 29 February 2020

Japan 2020 - Flight and first few days

OH MY GIDDY AUNT!!!! we went to Japan ... I have started writing up each day of my holidays in a notebook,  this makes it so much easier for me to write up the blog post afterwards. I have come to realise in recent years how much looking back at these happy times can help if i am feeling low or in need of a boost.  When work and stuff are dragging me down i often come on here to remember the good times and oh boy this was epic, one of the best!!!!!
12th Feb
Fortunately this wasnt too early a start taxi at 7 am taking us to Glasgow airport, no stress getting through security but i forgot my valentines card for Scoobs!!! I had bought a lovely one but had to hide it and then forgot to pack it .... I managed to get a substitute in WH Smiths!! We had our usual bacon buttie and latte in the airport. Quick hop and a skip to Schipol and a nice easy transfer to flight to Tokyo. I had been a bit worried about the long flight with the joints and everything but it was fine and thinking about it, what a luxury, enforced chill  out time! Eleven hours to read, watch films and snack! First film was Maleficent, i had seen no 2 recently at the cinema so it was good to catch up on no 1, really enjoyed it. I had a great seat too, in the aisle next to the loo, I get a bit anxious about getting access to a loo, always have so this was good for me. Second film was Toy story 4, enjoyed it didnt manage to get to see this one at the cinema.
I do love plane food, all very cute etc but i was so aware of all the packaging and waste. I do have to say that KLM took really good care of us, all very much to time etc.
Scoobs had a ball on the plane, he was at the window and loved seeing us fly over Russia, he couldnt get over the fact we flew over the entire length of Russia!
13th Feb
All a bit of a jet lagged blur! We exchanged our JR pass voucher at the airport for our JR pass, this allowed us to take the Narita Express to Tolyo Central station which is totally amazing by the way! it took us a minute or two to suss out the underground but there were helpers going around who were excellent. We couldnt check into the hotel until 3pm and we got there about 2 ish, the room wasnt ready so we dumped luggage and went in search of some food. Our hotel was in a nice business district of Tokyo.




View from the rooftop




We couldnt see into  a lot of places and were tired and not keen to just wander in without knowing what the place looked like or the kind of food they sold. We eventually found a sushi place which had a good menu outside we could understand. Very proud we didnt fall asleep face first in our sushi!!
We eventually got checked into the hotel after almost falling asleep in the foyer! There was a 7/11 right next to the hotel which was a saviour, we got snax and beer from there, i love the Asahai cooler, nice grapefruit taste!
 Totally knackered!
 Night time view from  hotel room




Friday 28 February 2020

February furtle

Well here we are with our second furtle of 2020! i do love my blog so much,  it has provided me with so much comfort in times of need. Im mentioning this as i do see more and more crafters in particular moving over to instagram, Which is fine, but since i have had bad jet lag ive been awake and pootling over patterns etc and looking for old ones and again and again i see blogs which havent been updated for 5-6 years. Which would tie in with the rise of instagram.
This is more an observation than a regret, things move on. I use this blog for very personal reasons. It is so nice though to still have one link party to join up with!
Sooooooooo what did february bring! Well unless you dont follow me on instagram you cant but know me and Scoobs have been on a holiday of a lifetime, we had two epic weeks in Japan. So this months furtle may be more fabric buying than making! 
So first up is my phenology wheel. Lovely idea from Sarah Edgar Pretty fabrics and trims, you fill each segment with embroidery of plants and animals from that month. I did fill in  january but still need to fill in February. Its pretty and i do want to try and engage more with embroidery

 Wa hey!  a day of solid sewing with Kim and the Killearn crew ended up with the Jumbo paperclip top coming together.
 Wots this?? ahhhhh the ever so fabulous Lucy Engels has been at it again, lovely bunch of tulips! dont know what these will become I need to restore my stash of Lucy fabric and then see what inspiration hits.
 Talking of Lucy, this is ALMOST done!!! I took it along to Killearn where some of the lovely ladies brought along kona colour cards. I had more or less made up my mind to bind OMCOC quilt in hot pink but wanted to match it to the pink Lucy had used. The always awesome Kim  suggested putting in some flashes of the lime green to mix it up a bit, can you see it at the bottom? there are two spots like this, it just adds that extra je ne sais quoi to the whole endeavour :-) I will hopefully get this done today so there will be some husbands holding quilts action soon!!! I love this quilt so much.
I did wonder if i was wise taking up luggage room bringing a cross stitch on holiday with me but oh my goodness yes i was! i got so much of this done on the flights and sitting in schipol! I have been picking away at this Michael Miller cross stitch for ages now but this spurt really got me in the groove with it.
And that is it for February! 



Friday 7 February 2020

Gartmoooooooore!

Awwwww January wouldnt be January without Gartmore! and this year was no different.
Now who is that young pup? well its a young Llama, Mr Lloyd the Llama to be precise! Mini Mini Bud decided to stay home with the teacayks and let Lloyd have an adventure instead
 And what an adventure Lloyd had! We sat in our usual seat, because that is one of the comforting things about Gartmore, one of the many many comforting things about Gartmore. The certainty, the routine, the comforting rhythm of it all.

Oh i say Mr Lloyd, were you DJ??? and is that Adele I spot :-) another of the comforting routines of Gartmore is the music, Adele, Spandau Ballet, ABC, plus some new things to entertain us.

 Well what is this beauty! Lovely Ruth took along this bed runner to finish off, we all had an epiphany reading the Jackie Gering book - Walk. Who knew how much difference your foot pressure would make? anyhoo. We all loved this runner. It reminded me i need to get back to these patterns. Just so cute.




 Janice is just one of the loveliest ladies, and one of the funniest too. She brought along this banner she has started to make with all the funny things we say at Gartmore 'a warm desert wind' '90% Custard'
 Lloyd, are you drinking while sewing??????
 Its for me?? Well just how fabulous is that!!!
the Lovely Garrtmore staff came in and surprised us with Prosecco! how lovely was that!



 awww one of the many things i love about quilting is seeing the happy memories the fabrics spark. I remember going to the knitting and Stitching show with Ruth and Irene and Ruth buying these lovely sparkly japanese fabrics. So good to see them all together!
 Oh I say Lloyd, those are pretty fabrics but watch your pawsies with the rotary cutter!
just little old me enjoying my gazillion meters of fabric!!! a bargain snaffled at Harrogate and perfect for the jumbo paperclip pattern im working on.

Cin??? wots Cin??
 Ahhhhhh thats better! what a numpty getting my c and g mixed up. You think i would know better!

 Yea! Almost a finish! I have had this pattern ever since the FOQ 2019, OK it originally read Books and Quilts and Tea, but i think my version is better!


Lloyd the dude, spiffing titfer courtesy of lovely Ruth

 Lloyd atop the mountain of Emmaline retreat bags

Awwww an empty Cayzer room, never mind Gartmore we will be back soooooooon, April to be precise! 

 Poor Pauline couldnt manage but lovely Lucy took her back some apple crumble and custard.

Saturday 1 February 2020

January's furtle

Oh fark! I forgot to furtle in January, probs so consumed with b****t 😪 anyhoo onto nicer things. I've been using my jam Martin templates eventually for this diamond primrose block, pretty huh? 
Oh I need a better picture but my tresna shawl is done. Rather chuffed with this 😁
Here is the bigger version of the diamond primrose block top. Really quick to put together. 
I went to Gartmore 😁😁😁 had the usual fabulous time, made good progress with this quilt. Will do a separate post about it. 
Oh yes while at Gartmore I started my jumbo paperclip top, super fab pattern. Not long till I finish it hopefully. 
And that's its for January, even if its a day late 😁