Ideal Home Show... part 2

So here are the freebies I collected on my day out yesterday; not as much as last year - that's probably just a sign of the times, but a good haul none-the-less (there was a dark chocolate KitKat too, but I seem to have eaten that!).

The ribbon, ric-rac and pom-poms I bought at £10 for the 5, which I thought was fantastic.  No plans for them as yet - the pom-poms aren't as big as I am planning for the HUG and KISS, but I have plenty of time to practice with these before they are finished!

Oh, and there's the small pot of edible glitter!

As promised here's a picture of the patchwork ball so far - on looking now, without train-motion, I think I could have done a whole lot better - so I may be doing a lot of unpicking and stitching on the wrong-side, or using embroidery thread, I'm still undecided.

Today has been the lazy day I probably should have had yesterday - a bit of HUGing, grey skies and family time.

Ideal Home Show...

I made it up to London, but my chest infection left me totally exhausted after just a couple of hours, so I was home by 3.30pm, but I'm still glad I went.

I managed to get a little sewing done on the way up; threading a needle with the bouncing of the train wasn't so easy - I'll post some pictures of my efforts tomorrow.  Coming home I was content to just relax and listen to the dilemmas of a girl on her mobile for the whole journey!

I didn't spend much money, but got some lovely ric-rac and ribbon, and gave in to the temptation of edible glitter, well it wouldn't be a proper trip to the IHS without buying something you really don't need!  I got a few nice goody bags too.  Again I'll take some pictures of my haul tomorrow - I just haven't the energy this evening!

But for now, here are some pictures that summarise my visit... from Marching Bands to the funniest Royal Wedding cake ever!   A little celeb spotting, George Clarke, Dairmuid Gavin, Matt Dawson, Tommy Walsh and Billy from DIY SOS; lots of macaroons and meringues and just a little home decor inspiration!

Words fail me!

A little something for the weekend...

I know I am a little early, but on Saturday I am going up to the Ideal Home Show, (I know I don't need a selection of novelty vegetable peelers or a Sunseeker yacht, but hey!).  This will involve over an hour each way on the train and after the frustration of my wait at Pease Pottage the other week, I figured a bit of prior preparation and planning was in order.

So back to my trusty Quilting In No Time, and I thought I'd try some real, paper-pieced stitchery!  There's a cute baby's ball that, with 12 pieces, I figure I can't go too wrong with!  I totally fell for the quilts at the V&A that still had those old papers attached, but I have never actually tried any real patchwork before.

This afternoon I got busy with my pieces and iron, (my new one, finally rescued from a box in the garage at the weekend), and created a little pile of 'spots' to happily stitch together on my journey.  I will even take 2 needles just in case!

I had toyed with the idea (well, for about 3 seconds) of taking the HUG - but could you imagine if I left it on the train!!!