Caravan time

 We were away this past week in our little caravan, staying near Malvern for 4 nights and then moving to a site near Stratford for 3 nights.  So lots of walks through historic town centres, lots of tea rooms, some ice cream, and various secondhand book stores.   

In Warwick I came across the Quilter's Den, a nice little shop with a good variety of fabric and what looked like a nice classroom in the back.  I wasn't planning to buy anything but then spotted this charm pack of Moda 'Junk Journal' by Cathe Holden which I loved immediately.  As soon as we got home, I went online to see if I could order yardage (Quilter's Den didn't have any) but as always seems to be the case when I find something I love, the fabric line is long gone.  I've managed to order about five of the fabrics from a combination of British shops, and British and German etsy shops.  Darn it.  The designer also did the Flea Market range some years ago which I also really liked. There were some American shops that still had some of the line, but the postage costs 2-3 times the cost of the fabric and that's before customs charges.

While we were away, I finished the 2022 Shetland Wool Week hat that I started in Latvia. It fits fine.  The brim design splits between corrugated ribbing and an inset band of fair isle, which makes the brim feel a bit flimsy and it wants to curl up a bit but blocking helped.

And this week I finished the penultimate Little House cross stitch in my alphabet sampler.  One more house to go then the sampler will be finished. I don't even remember what the livingroom looked like without the sampler floorstand frame set up next to my chair.

Our first campsite was near the Three Counties showground and the big Royal Three Counties agricultural fair happened to be on, so we went along to check it out. There was loads to see, all kinds of animals and exhibitions, but  I was disappointed that there was no handicrafts competition - although I did see several people spinning yarn from their sheep, or goats, or lamas.  One tent did have various floral exhibits, including a competition for attractive displays of floating flowers which were very pretty - a nice way to display cut flowers.

I've done a bit of work on the dollshouse today, and my little electric palm sander died partway through. I suppose I did buy it in 2007 and have used it for various dollshouses and other projects over the years. Surprisingly the basic Mouse sander only costs £1 more now than it did in 2007, so I've ordered another one. I've also ordered some wallpaper and wood mouldings.