Thomas, plus the Japanese quilt.

Last Sunday our Grandson was 3 and for his birthday my son paid for tickets for the family (all 7 of us) to go to Buckinghamshire Railway Centre to see Thomas. Our grandson is totally obsessed with trains and for his previous 2 birthdays my son has bought a set of the little railway stories by Rev Wilbert Awdry, and a brio railway set. If you know the little railway stories you will know that they are about Thomas, the tank engine and his friends on the railway. The railway centre had a special event on Sunday and Monday aimed at younger children and Thomas was going to be there. Grandson was very excited! it was decided we would take a picnic, so older daughter organised that and told us what she needed us to take. She provided the birthday cake. The journey there was good and we arrived within 10 minutes of each other.

The only photo I took of Thomas had Sir Topham Hatt in front of it. He really looked like The Fat Controller in the books.

We all enjoyed a ride behind Thomas. Grandson thought it was great fun.

Percy the small engine was also at the event and we had to travel on his train. At this event you paid for the admission tickets and then all rides were free and you could go on as often as you liked. Always good when you have a train obsessed child with you. There was A lovely old bus to explore. I remember travelling on one like this.

Trevor the tractor was also there. Trevor from the original stories is a traction engine. There was also a traction engine giving rides.

The railway centre is a heritage centre and so to walk to the miniature railways you had to walk past a lot of old trains. Many of these were very interesting to the older members of the party.

The walk to the miniature railway was well worth it and we all enjoyed the ride on the train. The route it took was much longer than expected and included a bridge and a tunnel and a lot of things to spot along the way. 

It was a fun day and son and grandson  happily headed back to the car park having spent a lot of time watching the G scale trains.

The journey home was quite quick and uneventful. We were told that little one was fast asleep in his car seat within minutes of leaving the centre. 

On Monday I had a sewing day. I thought I would get more done than I did but this is because the maths got in the way. I decided to work on the Japanese quilt. This was the starting point.

By the end of the day I had increased the size of the quilt. I wanted to keep the quilt square but with the pieces I am using that was impossible unless I rearranged my ideas. That made my brain ache so I continued as I'd planned. 

Now I need to go through my stash to find some fabric for the next round. If possible I don't want to buy any new fabric. So far I am happy with how this is progressing.

Take care

Lyndsey