I'm back

Well, I’m back. It’s been a busy week but I feel better for having been away. My holiday started off in Reading as that was were DH had to be on Friday. So after I’d dropped him at his office I headed up the M4 to Cricklade Needlecraft were I had a pleasant browse through their pile of Just Nan charts, eventually narrowing it down to Peacock Cypher, Flowers of Joy and Porcelain Nosegay. Then it was back to Reading for lunch and to explore the town centre where I spent some quality time with the wools in John Lewis LOL. After much fondling I have decided that I have to knit something with the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Arran, 80% baby alpaca, 20% silk it’s just the softest stuff.

That evening we went over to Oxford were we where spending the weekend. On Saturday we went into Woodstock for a spot of shopping, breakfast and a wander round the grounds of Blenheim Palace. On Sunday the weather wasn’t up to much so we went over to Burford for lunch and a window shop. And I mean a window shop, I spent a while browsing in Burford Needlecrafts and I didn’t buy anything! On Monday I went into Oxford where I spent most of the day having a good browse round the various bookshops. Then I got the train down to Bristol to meet up with DH, we stayed in the Hotel du Vin which was gorgeous.

Tuesday morning I met up with Michelle, Lorna and Amanda for a gtg. We visited a craft shop in the St Nicholas market where I picked up some wired ribbon for finishing then it was on to a coffee shop for a good chat. Lorna had to leave early to collect her girls from school so we adjourned to the Coats Crafts concession in House of Fraser. Amanda kindly gave me a lift back to Reading, so we also tried to visit a shop in Hungerford but unfortunately it was shut.

On Wednesday I went into London for the day. After some deliberation I decided to go to the China: The Three Emperors 1662-1795 exhibition at the Royal Academy. It’s a display of artifacts from the reigns of the main Qing dynasty emperors, most of the pieces have been lent by the Palace museum in Beijing, and it was jaw droppingly stunning especially some of the details on the scroll paintings. I almost bought the catalogue but sanity prevailed in the end (that and the photos of the embroidery weren’t close up enough for me!) After I’d managed to tear myself away from that I headed over to South Kensington and the V&A to spend some quality time with the samplers. Thursday I met up with a friend in Guildford to explore the shopping there before we came back home in the evening.