European Trip Day 39 Birmingham National Quilt Exhibition.

National Quilt Exhibition in Birmingham

Susan very kindly bought tickets for us to attend the National Quilt Exhibition in Birmingham. This was a major expedition traveling two and a half hours by car each way, the return trip in Friday afternoon peak hour traffic. Geraldine, Susan't very spritely 83 year old friend who is in a quilting group with Susan came with us. John was left at home for the day to mind Daisy and Bella.

The trip there was uneventful and we had booked into the disabled parking hall, which made the walk to the NEC entrance very close. We'd arrived too early for the Exhibition to open, so found a restaurant near the entrance to have a cup of tea and peruse the brochure of exhibits. Susan saw a few people she knew as the bus from her Cambridge Quilters group also arrived early.

It didn't take long for the Exhibition Hall to be heaving with people. It was almost mind blowing the number of quilts on display. Some of them were not to our particular taste, but you could appreciate the hours of work and design skill in their execution. Goodness knows how you judge these things. There were lots of different categories of quilt, so that narrowed down the prize choices, but the over-all grand champion quilt was a difficult decision.

There were many different stalls there too, selling everything from quilts to materials, embelishments, threads and even sewing machones and over-lockers. Geraldine was on a mission to buy an over-locker. We caught up with her at lunch time and found a quiet out of the way spot to eat our lunch and discuss the pros and cons of her purchase.

In the end she settled on the most expensive one, the Baby Lock, which she felt would be the easiest to use. After lunch she went and ordered it!
Susan and Barb were more restrained. They looked at lots of material, but in the end didn't purchase anything. Both of us have a cupboard-ful of material and Barb needs to consider luggage allowance to return home with it.

We left the NEC after a cup of tea, feeling rather weary from walking around the exhibition. Barb didn't envyher having to drive back. We made it!!

European Trip Day 38 Aberdovey and Snowdonia National Park

Last Day in Wales ....Snowdonia National Park

We have had such a fabulous time with our friends John and Anne Gee. It was sad to be leaving them after only two nights.They have really spoiled us and made us feel so welcome.

John Gee suggested we should drive back to Great Chesterford via the small seaside resort of Aberdovey, Only about half an hour north of Aberystwyth. He and Anne often take little trips in their yacht here just for a nice day out sailing, and it has a better sandy beach than Aberystwyth for Grandkids to play on. He also suggested we should call in at Castell y Bere, an old ruined castle near Abergynolwyn and then drive through the Snowdonia National Park.

The drive to Aberdovey from Aberystwyth is very picturesque and we could see a railway line below us very close to the water's edge along the way. We stopped in Aberdovey and it is indeed lovely! I can see why John and Anne like coming here. A perfect mecca for kids of all ages with sailing, kayaking and other water sports available.

We drove on to Abergynolwyn and the scenery just kept getting better and better. We did try to take the detour to Castell y Bere, but Barb was terrified by the steep single lane track to get there. John found a place to turn around after having to back up 100 metres for on-coming cars. Not for us!

We went back down to the town and Barb heard the sound of a steam train approaching.

We went up to the station and saw several steam trains come through. Austen will be so excited! They looked like Thomas the Tank Engine come to life. This was a real highlight of our day.

The rest of the drive through Snowdonia National Park was nothing short of spectacular! Barb kept urging John to pull over so she could take photos any time there was space to do so.

We tried not to stop again and stuck to the motorways once we left Wales and it was a slow tedious trip in places with lots of road works and heavy traffic. We got home to Susan's by 6.15 to be greeted by an ecstatic Daisy and Bella.