Catch up time

The end of the summer holidays, back to work and University and here I am already forgetting things and losing the plot. Last week I told you I was taking Lucy to Bath to move her things into her new home for her third year. The journey only takes a couple of hours and it is a lovely opportunity to chat as we travel. We never seem to leave at the time planned but we still got to Bath with time for a quick look at the shops. We had two shops we wanted to visit, one a bookshop and the other a quilt shop.

On the way to the quilt shop we passed Bath Abbey.

This picture is taken from one side. The present Abbey Church was founded in 1499 when Oliver King who was the Bishop of Bath at the time was inspired to build an Abbey Church following a dream of angles ascending and descending to heaven. I will post some more photos of the abbey when we next visit later this year.

The quilt shop, Country Threads, is situated down a little cobbled street close to the Abbey. The shop is small but compact and has a fantastic range of fabrics. At first sight it appears to be one small room but a second room leads off and houses more fabric and batting. Although small the shop has good natural light which helps when matching colours. The fabrics were well laid out.

 There was a good range of layer cakes, jelly rolls, charm packs,

fat quarters arranged by colour,

and a good range of speciality ribbons. 

We spent some time looking at the quilt patterns and Lucy bought one to make for her friend for Christmas. I am not sure if she reads my blog so I am not posting a photo of the pattern. All the photos are of the first room of the shop. We got talking to Jan Prior the owner and Lucy forgot to take any photos in the second room. The shop is available on line, click here for the link to the website. Jan also runs quilting workshops so if you live in the area or you're planning a trip to Bath check out the website for details.

Having spent longer than we had meant to we had to rush to get to the bookshop before it closed. Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights is an independent bookshop in the centre of Bath. Their specialist area is twentieth century fiction but they will order anything in for you. It covers three floors but not in the usual boring manner of bookshops.  Here it is a delight to move from one area to another as you never know what you might find. For example the book display in the converted claw foot bath, the comfy arm chairs that encourage you to browse so you take home books you love. Even the toilets are papered with book reviews! The staff are extremely helpful and will suggest books you might like, having first talked to you to find out what sort of books you like to read.

We didn't take any pictures but if you click here the link will take you to their website. If you like books this shop is a must visit. It has also won Independent Bookshop of the year in 2011 and 2008.