3 in 1 Giveaway ...

Well, I'm heading towards 35,000 blog hits now and 30,000 passed me by completely!  It's also the countdown to Christmas and I thought I'd celebrate the first ever Sew Tiny, so I have this little stack of Christmassy eighths to give away.  I've never seen eighths before, which are exactly half the size of fat quarters.  I found them in a new sewing and quilting shop that's appeared in Ely.  Anyway, all you have to do is tell me what you're most looking forward to about Christmas this year - just leave me a comment below.  Open internationally.  I can't wait for my week of leave!  I'm actually planning to sew something large ... most likely my tartan coat.  Anyway, good luck everyone!  I'll make the draw in the next two weeks to allow time for posting.

  

Crafty Business

I met up with an old friend for lunch in Ely a couple of weeks or so ago - it was great to have a chat and a catch up. We chanced upon a craft fair in the Maltings afterwards - a really good one with stallholders from all over the country. First up lunch though - well, although I'm in the habit of photographing anything and everything these days, I'd eaten before I'd remembered to record it - it was so delicious! Brie and bacon with real ale chutney ... Peacocks always has a queue coming out of the door - it's down by the river. You can dine with mis-matched cutlery and crockery in lovely surroundings.

Here are just a few of the stall holders in the craft fair.  'Sparkly Mary', www.sparklymary.co.uk made jewellery and panel pictures from hand painted silk embedded in resin.

I had to come away with some of those gorgeous earrings!

This lady, Claire M Turner from Newmarket, made scarves in hand dyed silk and organza bowls decorated with wildflowers.

Mackintosh Mirrors is self explanatory really ...  See more at www.greeneyeglass.co.uk

Finally, wicker sculptures - they had arrived by a canal boat decorated in willow ...

There was plenty more ... these were just some of my favourites.  Apparently this is an event that happens every year - the next one will be in October 2014.

Holidaying at Home - Ely

I ADORE Ely in Cambridgeshire.    There's a real community feel about the place and it is home to interesting independent shops and cafes.  Plus it has the riverside which on a fine day is a joy to walk along.  Yesterday, unfortunately, I seemed to leave the sunshine behind me and the further I travelled, the more overcast it became.

This barge has an apt name!

 Still managed to enjoy my day though.  The riverside is home to various waterfowl ...

Well my mum thinks I'm beautiful! 

I love this Morris Minor car which always seems to be parked outside one of the terraces on the hill up to the main town.

Residents take care to make their windows just as interesting to passers by ...

A walk up the steep hill to the town demands tea and lunch!

Delicious!

All set now for a bit of indulgent shopping!

Yarn on the Square is on the Market Place.  I found a crochet instruction book for left-handers here - have always been put off trying because of my 'sinister' nature!  I can have a go now ... they also hold classes on Saturdays which I might investigate.

Spent some time photographing things I found, for my coursework reference.

Interesting brickwork ...

A lovely old door ...

And of course, the cathedral ...

The sun actually came out!

 All in all, a very enjoyable morning and home I go  ...

Ely Cake and Knit Crawl

I tried really hard to eat all that cake but had to take the chocolate home with me!

Last Saturday, I spent a whole day touring the cake and wool shops of Ely with a group of like-minded enthusiasts!  What a great day - made another addition to my wool stash and also found some stuff to make samples from for my City and Guilds, which I really need to get going with again.  I need to have my fourth module finished by the end of September.  Anyway, this got me going again.  For anyone else interested, there will probably be a future event, listed under Cake Crawl on Ravelry.

We toured The King's Arms, The Almonry for lunch, (looked at Dotty's Cake and Tea Room) and ended up at Peacock's down by the river for afternoon tea.  There are three main wool emporiums in Ely, consisting of two major shops, Yarn on the Square and the Ely Wool Shop, as well as an outlet in the back of the City Cycle Centre.  There's also a kiosk in the main shopping centre - can't be bad for such a small 'city' (Ely is a city because of it's cathedral ...).  The following photos tell the story!

Meeting everyone in the garden at the King's Arms

Dottys - you can have your shoes covered here with an assortment of fabric scraps.

Porch of Ely Cathedral

Sweet house!

Sam, Robert and Ruth 



Peacock's tearooms and the queue to get in!

Martin and ?

Dorothy et al

My tea!  Complete with Peacocktail!  Iced tea, lemonade, peach schnapps, gin and vodka - heaven on earth!