End of journey and back to London and time for friends.

Last day of tour, departing Plymouth onto London. Our first stop was to be Stonehenge, then onto London to conclude our trip.

At Stonehenge, this is the new tourist building which houses the museum, gift shop, canteen and WC, I am proud to say that this building was designed by an Australian.

Another monument of our bucket list.

Another windy rainy day, I could get used to this weather!........not!

We arrived back into London at 1430hrs, time to farewell newly made friends, check into our hotel and get ready to meet our friend, Allan who we met 2 years ago on our South Aamerica trip.  Exactly 2 years to the day we were drinking together in Mendoza, Argentinia.

We also had the pleasure to meet Jill, Allan's wonderful partner, what a wonderful evening eating, drinking and falling into the same banter that connected us in the beginning.

We had dinner at The Mall Tavern then moved onto The Churchill Arm, what a fantastic bar, this bar had gone to a lot of trouble decorating up for VE Day, 70 years anniversary. A typical English pub so crowded but packed with charm.

This ended our catch up with friends, the next day saw us travel by train to Chester to spend a few days with our fiends Joana and Allan in Penycae.

On our arrival into Chester, we were greeted by Jo and Allan, how wonderful to see them again,,our last catch up was 2013. Jo and Allan very kindly drove me to patchfinders a patchwork shop in Cheadle Hulme

      After my fabric fix we then drove to Penycae to their house, "Broolyn House" an early 1800's farm house.

After greeting all the animals we had a well deserved cup tea. Jo purchased some clotted cream and I made scones so that we may have cream tea. An enjoyable afternoon was spent catching up, I was sure there were no pauses in our chatter.

 The next day we were out and about, went to Chirkirk to a trash and treasure market and boy was I let loose amongst the goods, might need a shipping container.

Such fun, I picked  up quite a few little items. DH was having a conniption about excess luggage and no room in our suit cases. I am proud to announce that we were under the 23 kilos allowed for our flight to Madrid.

But I did promise that I would not buy anything else until we got to Madrid.

How to pack a number of visits and sightseeing into a day, well we did that, thanks to Jo and Allan.

Llangollen and river, such a beautiful spot

We all had lunch in the pub near the river, some kayakers were out and about. Wales bought out the sunshine for us.

Local craft store in Llangollen 

How lucky was I to stumble upon a local arts and crafts store, just love the painted caravan

After lunch we drove to Pontaysylite aqueduct, only 20 mins from Brooklyn House, what a hidden treasure, friends from Australia have actually hired these canal boats, how lucky were they.

Nice sculpture, made out of bricks and tiles etc.

A very tall stonework bridge, which the canal and aqueducts travel over, not sure how high it is, but it is a long way down.

Monday, saw us bid farewell to Jo and Allan back to London for a bit more culture and to visit the V & A museum in South Kensington.

A very enjoyable 5 hours, disappointed to find out that the quilts and textiles have been moved to Blythe's House and unable to visit, as it is only by appointment and no openings today. Oh well heaps to drool over without quilts.

Replica of David

Gorgeous icons

An intricate sewing box

Pieces of fabric, tapestry that I would love to get my hands on.

Intricately carved wood, made into a wash basin note the tap.

After our visit to the V & A we went into Camdentown to see if it had changed since the fire a few years ago. We last visited Camden in 2006 and as far as we were concerned, everything looks the same.

Decorated shops in Camden

Quite a busy area.

Camden Lock

Some fancy footwear, no thanks.

This concludes our London sightseeing, meeting a friend from Australia tonight, for tapas then off to Madrid tomorrow. More to follow with our Spain adventure.

You say More......Quilts at Tokyo Quilt show.

I decieded to give you photos of the quilts in separate posts, so we could all enjoy and appreciate some of the stunning quilts that were on display. Chris and I Decieded to go only one day as there was so much more we wanted to do in Tokyo. The other reason, fighting the crowds were exhausting. The quilts were not too difficult to get to, but the vendor stands were fight to the death.

Below are the grand prize winners. This quilt was extraordinary in it's complexity.

A lot of colour.

I think this was the Grand Prix, a lot of work with indigo drunkard paths, I'm not so sure.

Gorgeous appliqué.

As mentioned in previous post, this years theme was dedicated to "Little house on the Pairie, a number of quilts were made in dedication to Laura Ingalls and the show being on TV in Japan for eight years.

The quilt below was the featured quilt on all the advertising pamphlets, it was cot size and had intricate hand quilting.

Other stunning quilts below.

Hexagon madness

A dedication to Paris.

Until next time.

Mittagong, Bowral, Moss Vale and friends.

What a fantastic day to end a very busy week of sewing, three UFO's completed and now the fourth soon to be sent to the quilters after another border has been added. More photo's will be posted shortly of the completed quilts,  I seem to have been on a roll since late January, completing my UFO's, out of seven, only three more to go!!!!, not counting the ones that I am working on at present. Today I drove down to  Mittagong to visit an old friend! Di, we have had a friendship that has lasted for over 35 years and a friendship that is greatly valued.  On arrival into Mittagong, we drove to Moss Vale, a neighbouring town to vist a reviva recycling centre at the " tip", let me share with you, what we got for free! quilting magazines and some great books, photos below! After spending a good hour at the tip, we then drove to Berrima, which is another historical town in the Southern Highlands to have morning tea and visit the Berrima patchwork shop, of course fabric was purchased. We then drove back to Mittagong  for lunch and retail therapy, as well as a visit to the Village quilt shop. Mittagong is a quaint little village in the Southern Highllands which holds a lot of charm as well as spending the day with Dianne, I took the opportunity to catch up with another friend,  Jessica, who lives in Willowvale, a suburb close to Mittagong. What a delightful afternoon with lots of show and tell, cake, tea and loads of fun.

Jessica is making the "Fun Girls Quilt by Bronwyn Hayes! very similar to the Polka Dot girls quilt that I have just completed, back from the quilters and putting the binding on at present.

 The reviva centre at the tip in Moss. Vale and below, just some of the books that were free!

Berrima patchwork shop.

Mittagong Village Quilt shop.

Jessica, cake, tea, show and tell, what a great afternoon, below the "Fun Girls "Quilt that Jessica is making? just love it and well done to Jessica!

My Polka Dot girls, before being sent to the quilter.  I resisted the urge to make it bigger, small in comparison to my other quilts only 71 inches square. I am very happy with the quilting, hearts and roses, will show more photos when binding is completed.

One more border to be added to my appliqué quilt and then off to the quilters, this quilt has been a combination of Chris Jurd, centre, Kim Mcleans appliqué and my borders with the  bird appliqués. By adding extra borders, this quilt is another large one.

"Batik Beauty" completed with quilting and binding, made for my neice, Rhiannon.

In a very happy place with my completed quilts, cannot wait to start other projects that I have in mind,  oh so much to do and so little time!