Holiday at home

Sorry that it's been a bit quiet around these parts, we've been having a "holiday" at home. Yvonne and I managed a half day trip to the Festival of Quilts! I was rubbish and took precisely 2 photos, neither of which are decent enough to put on here. We had a fab time and managed to meet up with quite a few bloggy/twitter friends (the first time for Yvonne), Di, Trudi, Katy, Justine, Ange, Lucie and Brioni. I hope I didn't forget anyone, apologies if I did. It was lovely to be surrounded by so many like-minded people. I had the great thrill of seeing my Sneaky Stars Quilt hanging in Justine's Simply Solids booth...shameless plug alert...quilt kits are now available here. I also got to meet one of my most favourite designers, the inimitable Ms Tula Pink!

Like a mad woman I decided the day before heading off to Festival of Quilts to make a Tula Pink bag to carry all my loot in, and then tracked her down like a crazy stalker at the show so she could see it :) This photo doesn't really portray the scale of the bag very well but let's just say I could probably have smuggled a small child into the festival in this one ;) It went down a storm and there will be a pattern available sometime in the not too distant future.

Since Festival things have been more sedate but hubby has been home so we got a few domestic type things crossed off our to do list. I'm not sure that they could really be classed as holiday activities though. Garage clearing is not the ideal mode of relaxation.
I did spend an afternoon admiring a gorgeous garden..

Hand Drawn Garden by Anna Maria Horner

...and we revamped some orange pine furniture (well, mainly hubby but I supervised). Hooray for Annie Sloan chalk paint!

Before

That's more like it!

After

Hubby managed to transform the bureau too but I didn't get a before pic. I still need to decide what I'm putting on top of it :)

I love how they turned out. The family room feels much more homely now. It's nice to be able to display some of our retro items in such pretty furniture.

Every home should have a Humpty Dumpty biscuit barrel!

Besides that there has been very little sewing going on. I'm hoping to get some done this week as hubby is back at work now. Before I go I must show you a gorgeous hoop that arrived a while ago from Susan. Perfection!

I hope you're all having a good time :) Catch you soon x

oops, almost forgot. Message for Sabrina, please can you check your junk email box as I've sent you a couple of emails :)