Dorset Ladies on the March!

What a great week this has been! Have hardly been home for a minute!!

Yesterday I went with Claire Youngman and Mimi Walker (the country market ladies of Easton) to a craft club, where we made these lovely scissors fobs. The teacher came with an assortment of fabrics cut and ready to use, and everyone else brought their collection of beads. In less than two hours, we had hand stitched and embellished our project. They were all so different, but all very pretty. At the end of the session there was a brief business meeting and then a drawing for door prizes. I won a box of Cadbury chocolate! Can't beat that!!

On Tuesday, Quilting Jenny took me to another of her patchwork circles, her City & Guilds friends. This is a group of about a dozen ladies who had all taken a four year diploma course to prepare them for advanced careers in quilting...teaching, judging, designing. (Go to: http://www.cityandguilds.com/ and prepare to be amazed at this massive international initiative in adult education.) Even though they completed their course more than ten years ago, they continue to meet every two weeks...each one working on her own projects but with input from the others. One woman was working on a pink quilt of her own design. I wish I had taken a picture, as it was a marvel! Perhaps I will have a chance later on.

Monday has always been quilting day, but this week our group went on a road trip instead. Our destination was Sturminster Newton, where there is a warehouse full of fabric as well as knitting and other craft supplies. What pleased me most was finding so many fabrics that were made in England. It's more common for their quilting fabrics to come from the US, only at double the price we have to pay. At more than $15. per yard, I want something different!! I bought yard cuts of three lovely pieces and also added some new fat quarters to my William Morris collection and came away very satisfied.

After fabric shopping we went to a store called "Olives et al," a gourmet food store where they offered samples of almost everything. We could have made that our lunch but wound up going on to the charming village of Cerne Abbas. After a good pub lunch, we walked around the town's famous abbey and then along a shaded stream that led us back to town, where a few of their shops proved likewise interesting.

All this, and it's only Thursday morning! My calendar is clear for today, and that's not bad.