Blogger meet up success (no jitters were required)!

I think I have missed the boat on this. With being away, all the other girls have beaten me to it, and I'm pretty sure that most of you who read this, will also follow some of the lovely ladies I met up with on the 1st February and so will know all about it already!

L-R: me, Debi, Nessa, Elaine, Alison, Katy, Elise, Katy, Kerry (and Franca - not pictured - took the photo). Photo courtesy of Kerry. I forgot my camera.

Debi of My Happy Sewing Place

Nessa of Nessa's Place

Elaine of What Diana Did Next
Alison of Heavenly Handmades

Katy of I, of the needle

Elise of Foof & Faff

Katy of The Littlest Thistle

Kerry of Kestrel Makes

Franca of Oranges & Apples

I was a bit late in meeting the others. I was in a bit of a panic about that because when I entered the shop, there wasn't an obvious crowd of bloggers to head towards. Luckily I had met Hazel once before, so I spotted her and she was able to point me in the direction of Kerry, who had organised the day. It was a bizarre shopping experience, with me trying to suss out who was part of our group and who wasn't, whilst trying to look at the huge selection of fabrics, but I recognised Debi, Nessa and Alison pretty easily and managed to introduce myself and chat a bit. I had intended to arrive with a plan, but time had got away from me that week, so I did a bit of running round the shop thinking "must buy something, anything!". Eventually I calmed down enough to make some pretty sane and hopefully useful choices.

The Butterfly and Pig. This and following 2 photos courtesy of Nessa.

Kerry and Franca

Cake! - Photo courtesy of Franca

We were lucky enough to be served by the lovely and knowledgeable Hazel. The girl really does know a lot about sewing and fabrics. I was pretty awed. Sadly Hazel had to work, so couldn't join us for lunch, but we were able to have a bit of a chat in the store, while she cut fabric and served us.

My purchases for the day were a rich purple Ponte Roma, with which I intend to make a maternity dress, most probably based on the Lady Skater Dress; a black and white spotty woven polyester (yes, I bought polyester) and some black jersey. My plan is for another dress (maternity, if I make it soon enough) with the polyester skirt and a plain black jersey bodice. Failing that, the spotty poly might just become a skirt.

My purple ponte. Photo courtesy of Franca.

After Mandors, we headed to the Butterfly and Pig, a lovely vintage style cafe, with gorgeous surroundings, fantastic food and amazing cakes (the biggest slice of cake I have ever eaten, I think!). After food, we did a Show and Tell of the items we'd bought (head over to Nessa's Place for a run down of what everyone chose, and to see photos, have a look at Franca's blog), and then a very civilised but quick swap. I had taken along some fabric, and was pleased that most of it was snapped up. And here comes a confession. You may remember that some time ago, I won some Waxed Cotton in a giveaway run by the Amazing Taracat. I really entered for the pattern, although I thought the fabric was pretty cool too. But the more I looked at it sitting in my stash, the less convinced I became that it was "me". I felt bad about giving this away, but I felt worse at the thought of this lovely fabric sitting in my cupboard never to see the light of day. So I took it along. And Kerry took it - and made me feel infinitely better by telling me she had also entered the competition! So, I hope that Jo doesn't mind, but as it turns out there were 2 winners to that competition in the end!

Swap in progress - photo courtesy of Nessa (and the one below).

Photo courtesy of Franca

I came away with a length of vintage fabric (polyester, which I normally dislike but I think this will make a cool skirt) from Debi and a few vintage patterns, including one maternity one!

After that we went our separate ways. I headed to John Lewis for some skincare bits and bobs, but thought I'd take a quick look at their haberdashery department while I waited for P, and whaddaya know, I bought more fabric! This is a quilting cotton in a bright grass green with white spots. It's a bit summery, but i want to make a gathered maternity skirt (that, hopefully, I can re-purpose as a "normal" skirt at some point) and I figure it will probably look OK with tights and a dark top now, and with lighter tops in the summer.

IRL the green is brighter than it appears here.

This proves that I can wear this in winter, as pointed out by the JL sales assistant!

Thank you Kerry for organising such a fantastic day. The weather may not have been on our side, but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. It was such good fun meeting people who's blogs' I have followed for ages as well as new-to-me bloggers, chatting sewing and blogging and eating cake! I can't wait for the next one!