Not a great week for posting.

Last week was a bit of a disaster. First I developed a bad cold and that made working difficult. I had three full days teaching booked and no one to cover for me so I taught short days and gave the students reading to do. Next my younger brother, who has been suffering with weakness in his legs and numbness in his fingers found out that his spinal cord is being compressed at neck level. He needs surgery and that will happen between now and early march. Finally I managed to lose some important files on my computer so had to spend hours recreating them. The outcome of all that was no time to stitch or be creative. In addition my cold made me very tired so I've been sleeping a lot which is great because it make you feel better but not useful when there is a pile of things that have to be done and you just fall asleep. 

Anyway whinge over. This weekend John and I had planned a trip to Bath and to the wetland centre at Slimbridge. We headed out of London on the M4 at about 5 pm on Friday so we caught the rush hour traffic but the journey itself was OK and we found our motel easily. It didn't have a restaurant attached so we walked into the village and found a great pub called The Woolpack. I decided to have the fish and triple fried chips. The piece of fish was enormous but delicious.

John had sea bass with pesto infused mash potato and vegetables. The mash was delicious and I will be making it at home.

On Saturday we headed to Midsomer Quilting. I knew they sell Kona solids and I wanted a couple of yards of snow. I also wanted to look for red and gray fat quarters.  I've posted these pictures of Midsomer Quilting before so I didn't take any new photos of the shop itself

On the window sill I discovered this lovely display of nativity figures.

 There were also christmas figures.

and various animals.

They all had one thing in common. Each piece had a quilt block or several quilt blocks on them. It made a beautiful display.

Having made my purchases we headed into Bath and here I visited another quilt shop, Country threads. Between the two shops I spent a little money and came home happy. I bought some gloves for quilting, and I had been looking for a 1/4inch bias binding maker to use for applique for a while.

As well as the Kona snow I also bought these fat quarters. Not very exciting but just what I need to go with fabric I've already got for a couple of projects I'm working on.

Late Saturday we drove to another hotel nearer Slimbridge and we spent a quiet evening catching up with some reading.

Today we spent several hours bird watching. Fortunately the day was fairly warm so it was an enjoyable experience. I didn't take many pictures as we were watching the birds through John's scope and the binoculars. As we don't have the attachment for the camera the pictures wouldn't have shown a lot. I did take a picture of one happy husband  who'd enjoyed his day immensely.

The drive home was uneventful and Picasso and Scamp were very pleased to see us. This evening I've felt tired from the driving so I haven't touched my stitching but I have finished a book. One of my goals for 2016 is to read more. When we went away at the beginning of December I bought 'The kiss of death XO' by Jeffery Deaver in a second hand book shop. I wanted something light to read in the evening but I hadn't got round to finishing it. I finished the book whilst enjoying an early morning cup of tea on Saturday. I have several half read books on my kindle so I'm hoping to finish another book before the end of the month.

Having not seen any news over the weekend I have just been shown the pictures of the snow in America. I hope you are all safe, well and warm. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Take care of yourselves especially if you have to go out.

Lyndsey