Ppppphhhheeeewwww *sigh…
We are home safely from the UK…
Nothing quite like one’s own bed is there!
I have not moved far from mine all day…
Bliss.

Abbie & I arrived safely home last night (Tuesday) after 27 hours of fairly smooth travel.
Much to my relief Abbie travelled MUCH better on the way home…
She slept for about 7 hours straight right in the middle of the journey, so that made us both in good moods.
Never the less, smooth or not – it was still a long way home and we are now S.h.a.t.t.e.r.e.d!!
And jet lag with a baby is a b*&%$ – the flight may have gone well but there was a “party” at our house last night from 11.30pm-2.30am…
Lucky she’s cute!

All that being said I had the.best time away.
Really I should start at the beginning, but since it’s most fresh in my memory I’ll start with the retreat weekend:
And what a weekend it was!

Friday:

We (Abbie, my Mother-in-law & I) arrived in London on Friday lunch time by bus from the great lights of Norfolk. Bus was the perfect way to have a tour of all the city sites on the way to the Victoria bus station in a relaxed fashion I must say.
We were starving when we arrived so we made short work of dropping our bags with our hotel concierge and heading off to find some food.

Then a trip to Regent Street shops was in order…
We walked past and admired a bunch of very impressive shops, finally ending up at Hamley’s to treat my girls to some pressies.

Our trip to Regent Street
How cool is the lego queen!

On Friday night I managed to get a hotel release pass from my parenting duties thanks to my very kind and obliging hotel-nanny/mother-in-law. So dinner & drinks were in order where I got to meet a bunch of my bloggy friends.
Followed by a trip fabric shopping where I could not keep my money in my pocket despite my best intentions…

FQ Retreat
These may have all come home with me from Tiki Patchwork…

I headed home early at 10pm (which I’ll have you know is already long past my usual evening home time – I live wildly!) to get a good nights sleep for the following day.
Just as well because my variable alarm went off at 4am! Hurumph – told you jetlag with a baby sucked!

The rest of the weekend passed far too quickly in a blur of meeting people, learning stuff in classes, meeting more people, learning more stuff in classes, laughing so much my belly hurt, eating and drinking too much at dinners, meeting more people and having a total blast.
Probably easier to tell the story in photos…

Classes:

FQ Retreat

I took 4 classes although only really managed to snap photos at 3 of them.
From top to bottom:

**  Lu’s Porthole’s class: That’s my porthole sample on the right that I made using the technique.
LOVED this class. Once I finally had the “ah HA” moment and got what Lu was talking about that is. I can be really dense sometimes!
**  Aneela’s Embroidery Class: Look at that cute little robin I embroidered. And that’s me & Laura-Jane proudly showing that WE are actually hand stitching something! Definitely worth photographing that one – Aneela really must be a great teacher if she could not only get me hand embroidering in the first place but actually FINISH it! And I confess I actually enjoyed the process. Although my brain had turned into a turnip by the end of the session.
**  Tacha’s English Paper Piecing class: Another hand sewing class & and I really really enjoyed this one too. How cool is my little hexie flower! (Mine’s on the right, Tacha’s sample’s on the left…) Tacha was a great teacher and I can’t wait to buy her awesome book!! (We got to preview her copy during the weekend).

I also took the Fat Quarterly Designer class but didn’t really take any photos or have anything to show for it. I think by that time Sunday afternoon my brain had given up on me for good and I just enjoyed having a chat with those around me in the class.

People:

I met sooooooo many people that I am scared to name them all should I accidentally miss anybody and make them sad… It was fantastic meeting old friends & new friends. {New as in never having had contact with them before the retreat, old as in I’d “met” before through blogs, swaps or bees etc… not old in age ;)}

Here are some of the faces behind the blogs that I had the pleasure of meeting…

FQ Retreat

Top left to bottom right:
Susan, Laura-Jane, Me & Fiona, Sarah, Hadley, The Royals popping in for a visit (aka the iron man challenge winners), Me Cindy & Laura, Me & Kerry,, Susan & Lynne, Terri, Katy & a bunch of other shoppers, Susan & Judith, Cindy, Katy, Trudi, Ceri


I would link to them all except for the small fact that my brain is in total disfunctional lala land and this post has so far already taken me about 5 hours through lack of focus *sigh… sorry ladies.

There were many many more that I met & didn’t get a chance to photograph. And sadly also just as many more that I knew were there but didn’t get to even speak to 🙁
With just over 100 people there it was kind of one of those mad weekends of half started & half finished conversations.

Goodies:

I was thoroughly spoilt for goodies over the weekend!
First up big thanks need to go to Sarah for my gorgeous name tag & accompanying embroidery.
Seriously how cool is that butterfly!! Thank you so much Sarah!

Untitled

Secondly big thanks to my group in the sample swap who made me gorgeous samples & all the sponsors to the weekend. I came away feeling very lucky! (And with one incredibly bulging suitcase!!)

FQ Retreat
name tag swap, liberty bag (gift from liberty), Sample swap goodies, goodie bag,
purchases from Tiki, hand delivered purchase from Fluffy Sheep Quilting, FQ swap fabric & free liberty samples

The end of the sweetness…
It was an unspeakably awesome weekend and I’m so blessed to have been able to go.
Between the intense concentration required of it in the classes & the overload of meeting fantastic friends, my brain is completely and utterly fried now.
I reckon I’m done for at least a good week of total uselessness now.
Seriously – don’t expect anything brilliant from me in a while please!

Massive thanks need to go to the entire FQ crew, all our teachers & the sponsors for the wonderful job they did organising & running the event. Guys it was just perfect & we’re really grateful for all your hard work and generosity!! Especially knowing you FQ guys did it all for love not profit!!
I hope you know how grateful we all are and how much we love you back!!

And finally – more massive thanks need to go to my amazing Mother-in-law…
Not only did she take time out of her busy schedule to chauffeur me around for the 10 days leading up to the trip, but she also was the most incredibly generous live-in nanny for Abbie for my retreat weekend, making it possible for me to even.go.
So for that I am truly grateful. Thank you so much Maia!

Check out my flick stream if you would like to see all the photos in big size & more that I haven’t shown here.
You can also check out other people’s posts over here at the kinky linky party.

Right. Now that I’m back, hopefully “normal” service will resume somewhat shortly.
Including more highlights from the rest of my trip.
After more sleep that is!!

Nighty night.

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  1. I am glad to hear that your trip home was easier, and it was wonderful to get to talk with you and get to know you in person. I love all your pictures.

  2. Glad you are home safe and sound. I’ve been awating your lovely pics with baited breath, and now that they are here I’ve come over all weepy again. Miss you twinnie! xxx

  3. Yay to a better flight home! Now go to bed and stay there until Sunday.

    Fabulous photos, some seriously funny ones especially that one of Cindy!

  4. once you have had a few more hours sleep it will all be even more wonderful.. what memories you have xx thanks for sharing.. even with a scramled brain it has been fun xx

  5. Welcome home, sleep tight! It was lovely to meet you, and so glad that your mini alarm clock decided to sleep on the way home! I’m afraid to see that photo of me any bigger though, ‘cos then I’d be able to count the chins – note to self, lose 1 1/2 stones by next year ;o)

  6. I am so thrilled you had a better journey home! It was a blast meeting you, wish you could have stayed longer! Now, go rest, sleep and be very very merry!

  7. I am so thrilled you had a better journey home! It was a blast meeting you, wish you could have stayed longer! Now, go rest, sleep and be very very merry!

  8. So glad that you enjoyed your trip! I must admit to being a tiny bit jealous! Take care and look forward to hearing more from you when you are up to it. Hugs x

  9. Welcome home! Glad Miss Abbie was better behaved on the flight back 🙂 Sounds like you had a fabulous time! Look forward to catching up soon. xx

  10. So incredible that you came all the long way! And for that to bad that I did not have the chance to talk to you 🙁 There were to many people! I follow you on flickr for a while and I was hoping to meet you in person in London – maybe next year 😉

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