Photos of Workshops and a BIG Birthday

Wow, what a busy time I've had recently.  No time to blog, no time to breathe but a great time had by all.  This catch-up post is photo-heavy (and you may have seen some of these if you are on Facebook with me) and, for some strange reason, features lots of pictures of Sam!!  Enjoy.

The poppies are blooming in all the fields around here, 

they are a glorious sight as well as a poignant reminder.

 Trudi Wood visited us at Country Roads Quilters last week to teach a workshop on Free Motion Quilting.  It was great fun and everybody learned something.  People who had done some FMQ before learned some complex-looking designs and people who were new to FMQ made excellent progress under Trudi's gentle and fun tuition.  Below is a sample piece of what we were working towards.  You can see Trudi's amazing quilting on her well named blog:  Quilting Prolifically

I had time to visit Sam who had just been surprised with a pirate ship for the garden.  Here we are aboard and I am, apparently a tour guide, Captain Sam is instructing me in my duties!

This weekend my beloved celebrated a big birthday (whisper it, 70).  Cue lots of food, family and friends and we were blessed with sunshine.

 Sam had his first taste of Prosecco!

Sam and I did some gardening while Al relaxed and chatted with guests, and then...

 Sam sang "Happy Birthday" to his Grandad!

 There was chocolate birthday cake,

 lots of presents and cards,

 and I made Al his own prayer flag in his favourite colour.

 Yesterday I joined friends for a workshop on needle felting at the Beach Hut Studio in Freiston.  We had a wonderful day, again in the sunshine, with good tuition from Debbie Mitchell (in the purple), wonderful food and fun and laughter all the way.

I got back yesterday afternoon to find my glorious "Niobe" clematis was flowering, a perfect end to a great few days.  Time to sleep now I think.  I'll share what I achieved in the workshop later.