Budsmams liberty day

 Well i have been planning this for months. I was hoping to go this year (2021) but things got in the way and I really didnt feel I could go. But I made the firm decision to go on my 58th birthday 25th May 2022 (update in August 2022, didnt go to plan had to stay for an extra 3 months!) 

I even bought my very own bespoke countdown clock 😂 I ordered 12 bottles of pink fizz

I am having one per month over the next 12 months to count down, oh my the first one (in June 2021) tasted ever so sweet, 12 months on I will be drinking my final bottle 😊

I have them in a wine case in my home office, I throw a quilt over them when i am in TEAMs meetings, saves any awkward questions 😂

Other things to help me count down, this wee chap, Daruma. A lovely friend brought him home from a trip to Japan.

you are supposed to colour in the eyes when you undertake a large project. One when you start and the other when you finish.

So the first is coloured in.

Update! As of June 2022 my lovely Daruma is coloured in now 😊

This week (beginning of September) I will have my third bottle, then I will be in single figures 😊

October 2021

Well …. October didnt get off to a great start …. Off sick for 2 days. I got the 3rd primary dose on the 29th sept. It really laid me low.

Fourth bottle of Prosecco drunk, now only 8 more to go. I think I can hang in, only time will tell!

Things that help bring perspective, visits from lovely lovely chums, and this most gorgeous floof.

5th bottle drunk!!😳 blimey, it’s been a shockingly hard few weeks. But the end is in sight.

down to six bottles! it has really not been a good month, health issues mean i reconsider whether to go or not? But yes i will go, I need to go, I need to take my chances here

OK its now August 2022! thats when i go, thats fine, I had to order 3 more bottles of fizz! so well its got to be Kylie hasnt it!

And here we are at April 2022, 11th bottle of Fizz drunk 🥴  blimey so so close now and about time too!

June! Well .... 10 weeks to go so we have a different countdown  now.

August 2022

!!!!! We are so nearly there! Last bottle of pink fizz drunk 😳 this weekend with lovely lovely chums!

Coming back here and updating this is very surreal. For so long this was “way in the future” “still months away” and now???? Now it is a matter of weeks!

I have another countdown 😂

 

There is also my Kaffe notebook 😊

So many lovely presents from chums too, flowers, pencils (natch!) how lovely

There was so much build up and now its here! I am sitting in the living room a retired person 😲

this is going to take a while to sink in a while to bed in, reading back through this i remember why I left. To look after myself, physically, and of course to sew and drink prosecco 😆

FOQ 2022!!!!! IM BACK - a post 3 years in the making

Remember this 😂 whoah yeah the cine world unlimited card rides again! If you have forgotten there was the one year I didnt have my drivers licence with me and Flybe staff let me fly on my cineworld unlimited car! wouldnt be able to do that now!

Ahhhhh the FOQ is on the cards again! how flipping amazing is that?

Panda wallet with all my tickets etc

I FLEW!!!!!! I went on a tram too! snapped on my big girl pants and only went and did it! After 2.5 years of shielding this was massive

I cannot tell you how much my heart sang to see this sight again

Straight in the door at hall 9 and this shone out to me, yup our very own Kims "A year in the lighthouse quilt" what a story this quilt tells.

How beautiful and moving is this quilt

I went and got some coffee in a nice quiet space and loved this quilt!

The clothing creations as always were stunning

Oh I say wots this! it was meant to go in 2020 but hey better late than never!

A lovely pootle about seeing all the things

Wa hey! Trudi woods stunner and then i bumped into Trudi and Jen (muminthemadhouse) in person!!! how flipping amazing is it to see REAL people

Had to check this was still here 😂

Just testing!

Doing some QA!

Awwww! I got a lovely message from Helen Steele saying to pop along she had something for me! how flipping lovely is this!

I had actually been along earlier to stock up from her shop but she wasnt there! Love the skulls!

So let the shopping commence!

Obligatory hotel room show and tell! I missed these!

Day 2 more pootling looking at quilts!

more Helen Steele!  got a plan for these!

Were you at FOQ if you didnt buy zips from Purple stitches!

My amazing chums Sheenas quilt! I saw her making this its fantastic

Oh my ! the transatlantic love and kisses quilt! I had a block in this

Can you see it? Its in the middle just below the purple one, its got a yellow outer and pink inner, all capel natch!

oooooooft the miniature ones! always love these

This was a stunner, just incredible

Ahhhhhh Pizza express! reliving some memories with peroni and calamari 😊

Day 2 hotel room show and tell!

For me the FOQ was huge, not just because it had been 3 years but also it was a major step for me moving on from shielding, all the travel, the crowds, most of the time i was in a minority wearing masks, this was massive for me. But such a familiar space and place and people it was exactly the right thing to do to ease me out and get me out a bit more. I know we had to shield and i am grateful for the protection it gave me but it has taken a huge mental toll on the immunosuppressed, huge toll. 

I found myself some quiet spaces i could go to for some chill. Thankfully i know the NEC really well, it felt like home!

Still rocking it! 😂

The guild had some beautiful antique quilts on display, they showed the backing of these epp ones, I loved them

the pin for the festival this year was based on this quilt, very modern and quiet a departure, i approve!

Last fizz and a twirl!

Home again home again! to put up my new pin on my pennant, FOQ I adore you! its great to be back