A great day out.

Today I visited The stitch festival with Michelle. The event is held at the Business design centre in Angel, London which is an easy journey for me as I can take the northern line all the way. Unfortunately the train didn't stop at Angel and so I caught the train going back the other way. As the doors shut there was an announcement saying that Angel station was closed. Never mind I got off the train at the next stop and took a bus. It made me a little late meeting up with Michelle but at least I got there. We had to join a long queue to get in but it moved very fast but I was surprised that there was no bag check as we went in. The show covered all stitch crafts so there was a lots of fabric, quilting, dressmaking, patterns, knitting, crocheting, felting, embroidery and bead work. Neither of us had anything particular that we were looking for, rather it was a chance to get ideas. We were enjoying having no responsibilities for the day. We were looking at the wide range of crocheted animals on the Toft stand and decided we needed a photo with our new friend.

I couldn't help wondering how long he took to make and how much stuffing was needed. We stopped and looked at all the stands and I got a lot of inspiration for future projects. I also found a silly present for my son's birthday, a felting kit to make a frog. He did some felting several years ago and enjoyed it and he likes frogs, so as a silly present it works well.

I bought this little kit to make three tree decorations. I loved that one has a sewing machine, one some embroidery and the third is a knitter.

I found a stand selling patches with various animals. I bought these four dog patches to create a cushion for my younger daughter's birthday, which is next month.

I like these Liberty Tana Lawn and will use them in a hand stitched English paper pieced project.

My final purchases seem a little random. Some bobbins for my machine, buttons , 2ply wool to knit another blanket for the doll house and a bag of small scraps. The scraps are a challenge to see what I can create from them.

Michelle treated me to lunch which was very tasty. I enjoyed felafel and a choice of different  salads whilst Michelle had a tart and salads. We spent some time chatting to two ladies who shared the table with us. It is so easy to get talking to people you have never met at events like this. Whilst we were in the show it rained and hailed but by the time we left the sun was shining again. A fun day out and all the more fun because I went with my friend.

Take care

Lyndsey