This weekend of course was the South of England show, held annually at Ardingly in Sussex. My family and I go every year- although I can't remember a year when it was so windy!! Some poor man accidentally threw coffee all over me (well, I hope it was an accident!! He was very apologetic.), not taking into account the strength of the wind as he chucked away his dregs, and half the tents had to be closed as all of the products were blowing away- lots of ducking under flaps to get in! It was quite scary being in the bigger tents as the sides and roof would blow and flap and make horrible noises; and there were men running around with hammers trying to bash the tent pegs back in before the tent tops flew off across the ground!
I was very restrained and limited myself to only one buy...well, there are three things but they were all bought at the same time, does that count as one buy? What do you think of these little critters?
I was also very tempted by little objects from the East Is East stall- but I was very good and dragged myself away with only the leaflet (just in case!).
So that was Friday- on Saturday myself and the family headed to Oxfordshire for a family birthday party which was fab! The weather could have been a little better, the sun only popped its head out for a few minutes, otherwise it was freezing!! However, this was hardly noticed as the house these particular relatives live in is absolutely gorgeous!!! It is a converted barn, absolutely massive with 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms upstairs, giant kitchen with aga and tiles to drool over, study, spacious living area, downstairs loo.....ahhh. And the garden!! Oh my goodness, don't get me started on the garden! Huge pond, bee hive, veggie patch, wooden gazebo/trellis thing with grapes and clematis growing all over it, big lawn areas...
The lawn was covered, for party purposes, with a large marquee in the case the weather was diabolical, and it was very prettily decorated- look at the bunting, the flower posies, the lights, the draping, and the cupcakes!!
In the evening we sat under the gazebo/trellis thing and lit the chimmnea which gives off a surprising amount of warmth! I was sat about two and half metres away and my face felt like it was burning!! There is something very hypnotic about sitting in the dark watching the flames merrily dancing away.
We stayed the night at a nearby Travelodge and started to make our way home this morning (when it was beautifully hot and sunny!!), aiming to detour slightly to Whitchurch Silk Mill. It is a lovely little place and we passed through several cute villages on our way with thatched cottages and rose gardens.
Inside the mill was fascinating!! As it was a Sunday, none of the machines were being used (although there was still all the noise from the water wheel outside). Look at the rainbow of spools on the top of the winding machine!! Utterly gorgeous!
There were some wonderful costumes in the little cafe, made for the fairies of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and designed by Anna Nowicki. I couldn't get any photos but they were mostly made from recycled materials and machine stitched cords which looked fab!!
I am now back at home, and looking out of the window, the weather has taken a turn for the worse and is wet, grey, miserable, rainy and dull. Fabulous summer weather....Never mind, draw the curtains, make a big mug of chocolate and come and see what I have been working on!!
Hexagons!!! I found a fab tutorial on the Attic24 blog. There is also a very handy way of joining the hexagons as you go!! I haven't done very many yet, I only started yesterday whilst travelling to Oxfordshire, but I am very much looking forwards to seeing this little blanket grow and grow!!
I am keeping the middle bits yellow, but have three different shades of yellow to jazz it up a bit. It reminds me slightly of a summer flower bed with lots of different plants in!
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