Crafty Retreat

It's this weekend, Joanne is picking me up in the morning and I'm mostly packed now.   I've got 2 knitting projects with me.  Ians mittens and my Central Park Hoodie are both hoping to get a little closer to completion.  
They're secondary to the sewing plans though; I've got my quilt in the pile and as well as that I have a pair of slippers to sew together and I've decided I want to cover the basket for my bicycle.  The one I'm covering is one that came off the bike, got run over by the looks of it and my FIL  was kind enough to beat it back into shape; it's still not quite right so a cover will be brilliant!

The trip down will involve quite a few stops; it's nice travelling with someone who knows the places to stop.  I was going to pick up my batting on the way down, but today I got a call from Grandmother's Garden up north to say that they can get the batting I want (100% wool) in king size with no joining required!   The price is about what I'd pay for 80/20 joined on the way there.   As I know there's no way I'll get the quilt ready to sandwich and sew together on the weekend I'm going with GG.   I'm only just over 1/3 of the way through piecing the blocks for the quilt so even if I spend every moment sewing this weekend it won't be completed.    I'm using jelly rolls so this is very much a small piece quilt, a huge amount of sewing required.    Probably not the best choice for my second ever bed quilt, but I'm not going to let that stop me.  We will still stop at Annies quilt shop though; I need some ribbon and of course there might be some fabric I need.  Ashfords is a must too, even though I don't need anything.  Should I pop a spindle in the luggage for just in case?
We'll probably stop at the Tin Shed too, I won't be buying any yarn from there though; don't need any.   Will be stopping at Barkers in Geraldine too; I need caramel sauce and plum sauce.  Plus there's a cheese shop and another quilt shop.  I will have to be strong!

I'm still deciding which camera to take, the basic one cost a lot less; the other one takes much, much better photo's and considering I don't know what the lighting is like...   Ok, I'm taking the good one, that way I'll have good photo's of crafting to show you all afterwards.   Hope I've got everything.   Luckily we do share resources so someone brings an iron, someone else the ironing board.   We all bring our own machines; I'm just taking my sewing machine (Ellie) as I won't be needing the overlocker.   I'll be binding the seams for my basket cover to make it stronger.  I think I'm getting excited, just have to make sure I remember the final bits and pieces in the morning; the buns and milk for a start, the tooth powder etc. Oh, and I'm trying out the newer sleeping bag which is a down-filled one, taking a couple of blankets too, but I'm not really expecting to need them, expected overnight temperature is about 7 degrees celcius and the bag is rated to -8.