Monday 3 April 2017

A wee jaunt away to Wales and a stitching shop ...

Helloooooo.... I hope this finds you all well and that you have been doing lots of lovely stitching while I have been away for a few days .... the kettle has boiled and there are lots of yummies to eat sooo please help yourselves :)
As you know work has been uber crazy and I was really realllllly pleased to have booked a couple of days RR from it last week .... It was a stitching meet up at The Nimble Thimble  stitching shop in wales ... there was 10 of us altogether on the Saturday but I digress ...
Chris and I had decided after last years visit that it would be lovely to stay for a few days and make a break for us and I managed to book us both into Ye Olde Boot Inn in Whittington ... famous for its castle as well as the Castle Court Quilters shop too ... did I mention it was only "three doors" away ..lol and of course we just had to visit it ...
We travelled down on the Friday morning and arrived there just after dinner and got booked into the Pub and up to our twin room which had a lovely view of the ponds next to the Castle ... we quickly got sorted and had a reviving cuppa before we tootle out to the quilting shop ... we spent a lovely few hours oohing and ahhhhing before we made our purchases ... well it would have been rude not to hahahahahah..... I even took my quilt to show them and had it out on display in the big room ... if I had taken my backing fabric I could have got it cut to size while I was there too *sigh ....
After we had been there, we had a wee wander round the village and found some lovely photogenic sheep ....before meandering back to the pub for our evening meal ... followed by many hours stitching and cups of tea drunk ... Chris and I have decided next time we go we are taking mugs with us ... as the china cups just weren't big enough hahahaha
The next morning after a wonderful nights sleep and fortified by a lovely breakfast we set off to the Nimble Thimble to meet up with the other girls ...  we got there before most of them being soo close this time and we wasted no time in getting settled and having a good nosy at the wonderful goodies on display... Chris and I popped our choices on one of the chairs in the shop to go back to later and make a final decision before heading upstairs to stitch ... The spread they put on at dinner time was lovely as usual ,but this time we had it in the café next door for a change which was nice .... and as the weather had cleared up a bit by then I took the opportunity to take some photos of the garden and the river again ... "Nimble Chris" has a new furbaby too who was 10 weeks old sooo we got a cuddle off him as well as Harvey tooo .
The afternoon was spent stitching and drinking cuppas and doing a bit of show and tell .... Maggie took a lovely photo of my quilt while I  and Pat were holding it ....so bob over there if you would like to see it :)
The day was over too soon and we all took some cake back with us to have later  and of course our goodies from the shop ... I was quite good really  .. honest :)
We had a dinner later that night as we were still full from our lunch so we took time to stitch some more before and of course after too ... I got quite a bit done on my Linen and Threads Sal while there on the day but also on "Honeybee Sampling " by LHN on the nights ... in fact I can almost smell a finish ..lol
Sunday dawned gorgeous ... I awoke to the birds singing and the sun shining into our room ... we were glad it was nice as we were going to the Castle again to have a look at the book shop there and it was a pleasant surprise to have the Whittington Guild setting up their camp that day too ... Chris and I also decided to stop off at Llangollen on the way home and we actually braved walking along the aqueduct for a short way at any rate before turning round back the way we had come ... it was a lovely stroll along the canal seeing all the boats and the youngsters learning to canoe on there ...
We arrived safely back home in time for tea ....and I while I was away my lovely postie delivered a parcel from Sally my belated birthday gift from her which is really pretty and a perfect sentiment :)
Cooo I have waffled on a wee bit soooo with out further ado photos ......

Stop showing off Ethel ...


gorgeous Magnolia tree in bloom

Girls best sides please



small stash of fabric :)

this where I had got to before the break away
where I finished at the weekend end

The Nimble Thimble shop

gorgeous furbabies

you only bought how much ????

Whittington Castle

Can you spot Maggie

River at the back of the Nimble Thimble


Can you spot the dog ????


Where I got to at the end of the afternoon on this

my small stash pile ...well compared to normal hahahah


getting ready for the public ...


The Book Shop in the Castle


Young maiden of the guild

Just love this shot of them








Llangollen canal


See we did walk across it for a bit ...



My lovely present from Sally

Castle Court Quilt shop


Soooo there you have it folks , a few photos of our break away .... can't wait for the next one :) ... and now back to reality and work ...lol  well it does have its advantages it helps me save some pennies for stash heheheh ...
I shall leave you now and wish you all a wonderful stitchy week and I shall bob over as soon as I can and say hi ... take care one and all ... love mouse xxxxxx

22 comments:

Cindy said...

Glad you had a great trip. Love the pictures. Nice stash too.

deb said...

Looks like it was a wonderful trip - so glad you had a good time. Beautiful pictures!

Aussie stitcher said...

mouse dear, I feel like I was there with you, especially love the closeups of the birds, you know we have black swans here!!

great stash, well done
Julie in Australia

Maggie said...

I don't know about you but that weekend set me up for the week :-)
I went to Llangollen too before going home! and a drive over the horseshoe Pass as it was a beautiful day.

Love your photos, especially the one you called 'young maiden of the guild'

All that new stash is going to keep you busy, how many are you aiming to get stitched up before the next meet up?

Karen said...

New follower here, Mouse.
Loved reading your posts and seeing the work you do. Your weekend sounds great, so good to be with fellow stitchy friends. Have a good week!

Barb said...

Thanks Mouse for taking us with you on your travels, it certainly had me entertained for a while. Loving the new stash and I have going to Nimble thimble on my bucket list. Just got to persuade other half to drive me there,. Thanks for the tea and company.

Carol said...

Just love your photos, Mouse! You have such a great eye for photography :) Makes me want to book some reservations and jet off to England right now!!

Vickie said...

Wonderful photos of your trip. I especially like all the doggies you captured on film. :D

Julie said...

Lovely photos of your weekend away. I did smile at one of them, a little typo error me thinks *pubic* lol.

Rhona said...

Looks like it was a wonderful trip! Great photos. I'd love to visit the Nimble Thimble although I don't think my bank balance would like it :)

Southpaw Stitcher said...

Lovely photos, and what a fantastic location for your getaway! All the shops look so interesting, and that plaid chair seems so cozy. And you even made great progress on your projects! These mini-trips are so much fun, aren't they?

Astrids dragon said...

You cant' go wrong visiting Wales! It looks like you had a fab time, lucky you! Lovely pictures, thanks for sharing.

DJ said...

What gorgeous pictures! Looks like you all had a fabulous time. What fun that the guild happened to be the same weekend, it's great that you got some time away. Nice stash haul! And what a sweet gift from Sally. Your SAL is coming along nicely...I need to get started on that for this month!!

Andrea said...

Sounds like you had a great time. It looks a beautiful place. Thanks for the quilt shop recommendation too.
I'm hoping to make a visit to the Nimble Thimble when I'm on my holidays, as we will be about an hour away, a lot closer than I ma now.
Great stitching.

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Looks like a wonderful weekend away, perfect weather too. You certainly got a lot of stitching done inbetween all the lovely food! I bobbed over to Maggie's blog to see the quilt and thought it was a cookery blog with all the scrummy food LOL.
The quilt looks awesome, I spotted my block too.

Mary - Lecoeurceltique said...

A great weekend break. I like your fabric and stitching purchases - most of these would have been 'falling' into my shopping basket.

Brigitte said...

Must have been a great weekend with so many things to visit and to see. And then the get-together with stitching and quilting friends. Just great.

Beth said...

Looks like a lovely holiday Michelle. I'd like to go for a week's trip via a canal boat- wouldn't that be restful?

Cricket-bug Corner said...

How fabulous!! You take the best pictures. that trip looks like it was wonderful!!

geeky Heather said...

Looks like you had a lovely time. I did pop over to Maggie's blog and saw the beautiful quilt and your smiling face. =)

Sarah in Stitches said...

Looks like you had an amazing time! I saw Maggie's pictures too. Wish I could join you guys next year - but it would be quite a journey for me! :D

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