sew much fun...

Hello, how are you today? I hope you had a nice weekend, whatever the weather was like where you are!  It's just been cold and grey here, but on Sunday I had a day out and saw first hand just how much snow had been dumped on some other areas of the UK - for this time of year it really is insane.  It looked very pretty from the train, but there were moments when I wondered if I was going to get to my destination at all...but where was I going? And who with?  Well, that's the exciting bit.

A few weeks ago, back when my blogging mojo was still hiding under the sofa, I won another giveaway.  Since starting my blog I've won lots of lovely things from lots of lovely people, but this one was a bit different - rather than a pretty something or other, the prize was free tickets for 2 people to the Sewing for Pleasure Show at Birmingham NEC.  I won this rather fantastic prize over at Sew Scrumptious, so thank you very much to the lovely Louise for that!  

Of course I was delighted, but I was left with the dilemma of who that 2nd person should be...of my good friends who like sewing, one is heavily pregnant and not really up for traipsing round a sewing show on her swollen ankles, and one is currently breastfeeding.  Much as I love my friend's gorgeous baby Florence, I didn't think the addition of a 6 month old who has just started crawling would make for a relaxing day out! 

And then it hit me...the person that I probably chat to most about sewing, crafting, fabric etc is actually someone I've never met.  Sharon, AKA Modflowers, was my first ever online friend, on flickr before either of us had even thought of starting a blog.   And bless her, despite having a busy weekend planned with a trip to the Selvedge Spring Fair in London on the Saturday, she was keen to help me make the most of those free tickets.

So despite the snow, we both made it ... and what a feast for the eyes it was!


There was fabric...

and felt....

and quilts...

 

oh, and a bit more fabric!

 

We even had a chance to play on some seriously expensive quilting kit...

If you've seen Modflowers's blog post today, you may well recognise that skirt!  

To be honest the show was so big it was almost overwhelming, and we both ended up being quite restrained with our purchases.  My favourite stalls were The Eternal Maker, and Dots and Stripes...they both had some really gorgeous fabric that I haven't seen anywhere else.  Ironically, after all that colour, the only fabric I bought was some linen which was a lovely shade of...grey!  But as I'm sure you can imagine, I have plans for it which involve it being combined with lovely Heals fabrics in a rainbow of hues. 

The best thing about the day was spending a few hours with Sharon, who was as lovely in person as she comes across on her blog.  We laughed at the same things, and 'oohed' and 'aahed' over the same fabrics.  We got on like old friends, which I suppose we are in a way.   I was very glad that I'd asked her to join me for the day.  I hope she was too!

Here's hoping that by my next post, spring will have finally sprung.  In the meantime, I hope you have a good week. 

Rachel x