Harrogate, Stash and lots of goodies to boot :)

Hi every one :) ... better warn you in advance this post could be a wee long heheheh ... so grab that cuppa and keep the pot hot, methinks you are going to need it hahahahah .....
In case you didn't know I and a few friends from my group .. along with thousands of other folks descended on the knitting and stitching show at Harrogate this last weekend :)
The preparation for this event started a good few days before making my list for stash I would require to do my crazy list as per last post ..... well I duly wrote this list out three times !!!!! on the final one I wrote on two sides of A4 paper with all the flosses in alphabetical order or number order and the count of the fabric I required or needed ;) on the other and popped it into a plastic wallet and into my travelling stitcher bag :)
The sunshine was duly ordered as last year we had terrible snow storms we were praying that it didn't happen this year and thankfully it didn't :) ... any way Friday dawned beautifully early .. I asked Shelley to text me when she set off from her house to mine so that by the time she had made it to the mouse house I would be up and a wee bit with it ..lol ..... I had the  kettle on for a reviving cuppa for when she got here ... showed her the tidy mouse house craft room  and the list  before setting off to Harrogate .... I was that excited I couldn't remember whether I had put the list in my bag and all the way there I was fretting I had left it at home and how could I get it to me for the show eeeekkkkk ....
We pulled up at the hotel around 11.00 am and I breathed a sigh of relief when I found that blooming list ..lol ... Val and Shelia were already there and Sandra was on route and before we knew it, Karen and Gillie along with a wee Scottish Lady (Ally) that had been whisked down specially for the weekend as a surprise to the others turned up not long after .
We all went down to the show once we had got organised and met up with Frances from our group who we had not "seen " before .... she fits in very well ;) and it was lovely to meet her face to face *waving paw hellooooo again ....
I zoomed round the show as fast as my little legs would let me and found the Sparklies stand and promptly got out my stitching to show Kate what I had done on her fabric ...... Gillie turned round to Shelley and said "shall we go and have a three course lunch and a coffee afterwards and come back to get her in a couple of hours " ... oooo the cheek ..lol 
I managed to get nearly  all on  my list after cutting it up and leaving bits at at Trudy Ann Designs before going to West End Embroidery for the other threads I needed :)
Gillie and I returned late in the afternoon with arms laden with my goodies as she very kindly brought my new lamp back with her ... its hard only having one arm free ..lol
We came down to dinner for 7.00pm and was still there yacking and laughing well passed 10.00pm and carried on till quite late in mine and Shelley's room as ours was the biggest this year ... Ally and Gillie  were stitching on the biscornu I had designed for the bran tub while we were all in  there ... Gillie stayed up till 2.30 am and finished it :) ... considering I gave them the chart well in advance of the weekend you would have thought it would have been done before ..lol 
ok I've had to put the kettle on now ..lol .....
On Saturday we met up with some more friends from the group who had come down for the day along with Fiona  at the Trudy Anne stall and photos were taken by Michelle sooo if you want to have a peek at them go there :)
stash wise I got some backing fabric and buttons and charms and Ally's belated birthday prezzie a lovely piece of fabric from Sparklies ... Kate kindly said she would come to the hotel that night to talk to us all :)
we went back at dinner time for a well deserved cuppa and for the girls to have the hardanger class with Val back at the hotel in her posh sitting room :).... not much was got done, I hasten to add as there was too much hilarity and Karen got a stitch from laughing !!! Although I did take a photo to prove that Ally actually stitches hahahaha .... 
Kate from Sparklies  came back to the hotel before we had dinner and gave us a lovely talk on how she learnt to dye and how she works to get those lovely colours of her fabrics ... she fitted in really well as we were all in fits of laughter after her talk .... we learnt quite a lot and are really grateful she took the time out to meet us and offered to come and do a "class dyeing " session once we could work out the where .... looking forward to it very much :)
we carried on with more chatting and laughing over dinner ... the chuckle muscles certainly got a good work out .....laughing at Karen and Shelley forgetfulness as to what they went looking round the show for that afternoon ..lol... they finally did get what they went for ... good job I did a list is all I can say ..lol..... must mention that Val had stitched us all a lovely biscornu bud for each of us as well as a wee Christmas prezzie that had to go under our tree when we got back home :)
On Sunday we all swapped the Biscornu's before we all split up to go back to normality or at least some of them did .. Shelley and I gluttons for punishment pootled back down to the show to get the bits in we had missed ....  we discovered the "Battle of Prestonpans Tapestry 1745" which took the whole of the underneath corridor up on both sides ... 105 panels of work which took over 18 months from start to finish with bits stitched on by folks who had never picked up a needle before ..... the end result is very impressive and I hope my photos do it justice ....
we also went round the guild stalls downstairs and had a good look at the work the students had put in  and also of the stunning work of the exhibitors upstairs in Hall M ... unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos there .... but some of the work was exquisite  to say the least :)
Shelley and I decided to take a pit stop and got a drink and a sticky bun to revive us and had a right giggle when a lady stopped us to say to go and prop ourselves up in the corner of the cafe area ...  I said I am already propped up ..lol with my crutch ... she said we looked like we needed to lean against something  .... I looked at Shelley and said do we look that bad hahahahah .....
We finally emerged from the show at 4.30pm !! and made our way home to to the mouse house  and a restorative cuppa or two before Shelley went on her way to her house.......


so there you are.... the tales of the Harrogate weekend ... the stash will be shown in a wee while .... I just have to tell you of the kindness of a fellow blogger Karen  who sent me the box for "Casting a Spell" as we over here cannot get it ((((HUGE HUGS)))) to her and many thanks ... I shall have a lovely display for Halloween next year :) 
I also received a lovely parcel from my secret pen pal which arrived over the weekend with an adorable mouse , some mouse backing fabric, a wee mouse button and a beautifully stitched mouse and tape measure scissor fob with matching scissors (pattern is from the brooke books alphabet freebies)  and some lovely autumn fall sweeties ... which taste just like our fudge over here yummmmmmmm ......Thank you soooooo much, they are  all gorgeous *VBG can't wait to know who you are so I can thank you by name ..lol :)
And today Teejay popped over to the mouse house with my calender girl goodies .. she got the thread as they reminded her of me .. Jolly Joker and steaming needles are amongst the names heheheh 
so endeth this huge blog update ..... three cuppas later I get to the end heheheh .... I must admit I am still recovering from it as I didn't realise but I have an upper respiratory infection so it was no wonder I sounded like my bellows had bust when I laughed hahahah.....



ok folks I will love you and leave you to drool over the photos of the weekend and my stash and goodies  ...

Calender Stash from Teejay :)

My pudding had same both nights it was soo yummy ..lol

Hardanger class in Val's suite 

My Biscornu design stitched by the girls to swop

the length of the tapestry  !!!

my biscornu bud stitched by Val :)

Royal Hall Harrogate

gorgeous goodies from my pen pal ... my mouse is adorable

the box from Karen with my chart :)

Jane Greenoffs stall at Harrogate 

My small stash haul 

my backing fabric haul

so there you go hope you have all enjoyed the write up and I shall leave you in peace for a wee while ...lol .. take care and happy stitching one and all :)
love mouse xxxxxx