Back for good

We got back from our holidays this week and it feels like I haven't been online forever! Looking at the last date I posted, it kind of has been.

Chris and I went to Orlando for a few weeks and have completely worn ourselves out with the adrenaline rushes, fried food and walking too far every day, but it was awesome.

And Shep went to stay with my parents and it seems he was spoiled rotten and has also had an awesome time.

It was so good to switch off and forget about the outside world for a few weeks but I have also loved coming back and catching up with everyone. Plus, I also came back to some great post; thank you to Terri, Trudi and Sarah for completing my collection of Bee blocks.

Terri's Block

Trudi's Block

Sarah's Block

I love how different all the blocks have turned out and all the extra little details everyone has added to make each block really special! Thank you so much to all my wonderful Brit Bees, I have some big ideas for piecing them all together that I will share with you once they are out of my head and onto some paper, but suffice it to say that it will not be done before the retreat as there's still a lot more work to do.

But I did get my schedule for the retreat I have everything I really really wanted to do; freezer paper piecing, embroidery and portholes. I'm also going to be in the Designer Challenge and the Iron Man contest (I'm in group 2 and looking forward to meeting the rest of my group.) Now I just have to figure out how to cart my machine around for the weekend; I am thinking of a trolley case from Amazon then hopefully I can fit all my bits and bobs in one handy wheeled container so I don't have to worry about carrying any of it.

There's still no sign of my name tag though, I was hoping it would beat me here but it's still early in May I guess, I'm just excited having seen a few others cropping up on flickr. I sent mine off with my mum's help while we were away, but I haven't heard anything to say it has been received so partner if you are out there please let me know in case it has got lost in the post andy you need a replacement!

Unfortunately I also missed the cut off for submitting our Winter Stitching Lists :( but I will finish my list for my own sake this week, I don't think it has changed much since the midway point though as I have been distracted with other things.

As it is now only 19 days to go until the retreat I better get started on my sample swapping!

And I need to go buy a cat flap, because it's cheaper than buying a new door...

J x