Finished Holiday :(

Oh, it's the last day of our holiday with our Mums on the glorious Isle of Man and after some temperate weather earlier in the week, the sun shone on us all day today. Back at the cottage after another truly fabby day sightseeing (and shopping!), we are watching Andy Murray before packing :( and then we take the ferry from Douglas to Liverpool tomorrow afternoon. 

Yesterday, I bought some wool ... yes, wool and a little bit of pink fabric in the Craft shop in Ramsey. Mutter crotchets blankets so she taught me how to do it last night and here's my efforts so far:

I have really enjoyed it, especially as Mutter gives her praise so generously so I'm rather pleased so far. I shall keep going until I have used up my 6 balls of wool, then we'll have to schedule another visit so she can tell me how to finish it or it'll be a WIP for the rest of my life!

On our way to today's sightseeing venues, we stopped at the Jurby Junk Shop and made a couple of purchases. Then we carried on to Cregneash ... and I'm so glad we did! Cregneash is a living illustration of a farming and crofting community in the 19th and early 20th century. It was a wonderful place and the Manx people really are the friendliest I have ever met on my travels.

And to my utter amazement, look who greeted us in one of the thatched cottages:

Please let me introduce you to Chris Eastham (manxpatchwork.com) who was hand sewing what they call the 'Isle of Man Roof Pattern' with a Manx cat called 'old Ginny' on her lap. We had a great time chatting and she told me all about how quilts were made in the olden days. I picked up a couple of her kits so I'll do another post soon about making this - it was so interesting.

We also saw a sheep being sheared, what a clever man:

After a glorious lunch in the tearooms, I was in the shop paying for the kits, when in walked a lovely lady called Carole (from the West Midlands) carrying a gorgeous quilt which I could see was a quilt made out of this pattern. She had bought a kit last year and had added to it to make a big lap quilt and had brought it back to show! We got chatting, as you do, and we exchanged details ... hope we might meet up again one day! There was another lovely lady (I wish I'd asked her name) but she took my blog details so we might 'chat' soon.

So, I have finished my holiday - it's been a lot of fun. And I finished my shopping today ... here are all my purchases:

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday

Hmmmm ... Hexies :)

Still on holiday in the Isle of Man with our dear Mums and having a fabby time. Sunday we visited Ramsey, Monday a walk around Peel Castle, yesterday to Castletown and the marvelous medieval Castle Rushen and today a ride on the Manx Electric Railway to Laxey and then a walk around Laxey Wheel (74 spiral steps ... made me a bit giddy I can tell you!) and a yellow hat for the mines:

With all that gallivanting AND watching the tennis (c'mon Murray!), I haven't made much progress on the hexies! They actually take much more time than you'd think. This is all I've done so far:

And I found Joan's Crafts in Onchan and bought a little bit of fabric! The pinks are for my stash (couldn't help myself ... no - really!) and the yellows and blues are going to make a 70th birthday quilt for my Swedish friend's Mum. Not sure what blocks to make as it's only using the two colours ... what would you do?

Linking up to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

On holiday ... no Wifi :(

We have arrived in the Isle of Man for a week's holiday with our Mums. We are staying in a beautiful cottage - The Milking Parlour:

and there was a plate of delicious cakes to greet us:

We are already relaxing on the patio with a G&T! There's no Wifi but am able to write this on my iPhone:) So that I don't go too much into withdrawal, I have brought some hand sewing with me - I don't do hand sewing so this will be interesting! My little sis bought me these for my birthday:

This week saw the finish of my loft / sewing room:

And my Strip Bee strip:

There are a couple of fabric / quilting shops on the island so they'll definitely get a visit this week!

Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts