A weekend in Yorkshire

We'd planned this weekend months ago and though it didn't turn out quite as expected (see here for the full story) we enjoyed the break. Wharfedale is beautiful, even if the weather is iffy and plans to meet up with friends don't go according to plan. But there will be other times - we are already planning our next visit.

Our hotel was great, the hotel art stunning (as previously reported) and the food delicious. Though we didn't get to Saltaire to see the Hockney art on this occasion, we had a favourite in our bedroom!

A week of fun and friends - and a good deal of hard work!

I got stuck in traffic this morning and looking out of my car window, look what I saw...

Sadly not what it seemed, and Edward wasn't at work there - it was the top of a ride at Hull Fair which is always held the second week in October. Though the brandy snap stand wasn't open for business when I drove past in this direction, by the time I drove back, the lights were on and there was even a parking space right nearby so I could jump out and make the purchase!

I've been at the Fashion and Embroidery exhibition with the Textile Treasures at Harrogate since last Wednesday, and when we'd finished packing up last night, I drove over to Hull so that I could spend an hour or two with Mummy before coming back to Gloucestershire today. Another 650 miles on the clock this week.

We got off to a good start and managed to get a few bits of our exhibition up before we were shooed out of the Harrogate showground at 6pm and went in search of a pub with food somewhere near our temporary home in Nidderdale. More of a challenge than we thought but after a bit of a detour we found The Wellington Inn

It was quite a lucky find and Susan decided we had earned a bottle of Champagne - delicious! (Thanks, Susan!) The food was yummy - we ate there three times and felt quite at home, so warm was the welcome (and so tender the steak....)

We took around 12 hours to set up the exhibition, which has 300 items in it, and finished around 6pm on Thursday, ready for the Friday opening.

This was the view for most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday! The exhibition is amazing and the comments left in the visitors book include almost every superlative we could dream of. Anyone unlucky to miss it so far can catch up in Cardiff next month, then Brighton, Glasgow and Birmingham next year.

As we drove to and from the showground, we got to see some of Harrogate but not much. Mostly we saw this

At lunchtime, we found a sunny step to sit on and the view from the other side of the building was somewhat better.

The show finished at 5pm Sunday afternoon and we set to immediately to take down and pack. We left the showground at 7.30pm, somewhat cream crackered, all four of us.

The exciting thing was meeting so many friends: Artful Dodger friends, WI member friends, knitty friends, stitchy friends, ladies who proudly announced their part in some of the textile treasures, Kate from the Quilters Guild who turned out to be my exact contemporary at St Johns, York all those years ago, and Margaret, WI steward who went to the same school as I did, in Hull. We were so well versed in our German conjunctions by good old "Bill" Sykes that we could still recite them word for word. It was as if we'd written them all in our "Sykes Guide to Success" yesterday.

And of course, my colleagues, the real Textile Treasures; Pat, Sue, Sue and Susan - cheers team!!

No time to blog

It's been such a busy few days, not all of it work (just most of it!) Some 600 and odd miles travelled and more to add tomorrow, when I drive up to Harrogate for the Fashion and Embroidery show which will feature the Textile Treasures - all 300 of them. I'm there until Sunday and will then come home via Hull, squeezing in a visit to my dear Mama.

Whilst in Hull last week, much excitement was experienced at a great Blogger meet - I got to spend a really fun evening in the company of Susoolu and her friend (and now mine?) Margaret. Seldom have three women talked so much - poor waitress could barely get a word in edgeways. Enough to say that we are of like minds, like interests and have hopefully persuaded Margaret to get blogging soon!

I'm working my way towards the toe of the first of a pair of Crusoe socks, in a PoshYarn I'm not really sure about (it was a sock of the month yarn). A bit sicky sweet colour combination which might just have to be a present for someone rather than stay home with me. We'll see.

So, been working today - had to go and visit a class, then assess some beautiful embroidery and now it's 5.30pm and it's time to go and see what's up in the kitchen. I guess I'd better sort out some things to pack for the next few days too - it might involve the iron, which is not a happy thought.

Restarting the Bunting Machine

A friend of ours has a special birthday coming up and has requested some bunting, just like her baby sister, so it was time to crank up the machine and create a few yards for her. Such bright colours on a lovely sunny day are enough to lift the gloomiest spirit, don't you think?

Another good read

I'm a sucker for Margaret Forster's novels and eagerly snap them up as soon as I spot a new title. This one snook up on me though - I hadn't seen it in hardback, still having "Keeping the World Away" on my "to read" pile. I was immediately hooked from the first page, as usual and though it's a slow, thoughtful tale, I found it hard to put down.

The pace of the book is considered, the events few. Written in the first person, Lou's point of view was clearly going to be the most persuasive. I sympathised entirely with her from the start and when, three quarters of the way through the book, she was dealt a cruel hand, I fully expected an altogether different turn of events. But family relationships are not straightforward; shared history and experience - and love - create strong bonds and the eventual outcome was not unexpected (or contrived).

Another satisfying read in a week when distractions have been more than welcome.