Wednesday 22 June 2011

The Welsh Quilt Centre.

The weekend before last was my first weekend without the boys at all, so I planned a trip to Lampeter in Wales to see the Welsh Quilt centre.




I left work on Friday and drove over to Leominster for the night to break up the journey. I had booked into a B&B - The Copper Hall. It was very nice - it was £36 for a single room - infact it was a double room I had. Lovely house, and very hospitable hosts. It was great to just sit and relax, when at home there are always things to do.
Saturday morning was bright and sunny, and the drive down to Lampeter was beautiful. Driving past Brecon was hard - the mountains loomed tall and I have many memories of a great holiday when we walked the Brecon Beacons Horseshoe - we being myself, Andrew and Joseph who was 5 at the time. It's early days but I realise I'll have to organise myself and see if a friend would like to do that sort of walk with me, or I'll have to join a walking group or go on a walking holiday.
It started to drizzle when I got to Lampeter. I had coffee and a Welsh Cake in the Cafe adjoining the Gallery then went round the exhibition.
After lunch I walked around the town, then drove out to Llanbydder to visit Jen Jones shop.
I pride myself on being good with maps. I enjoy map reading whilst other people drive. But obviously I was a little too relaxed and whilst I set off with a map printed from google I hadn't considered which direction I was coming into LLanbydder from!
I was hopelessly lost when I reached the centre and drove in and out of the village several times. What a dummy.
The shop is so quaint. It is in an old cottage, 2 rooms downstairs, very narrow steep wooden steps up to the 2 rooms upstairs. It reminded me of some of the cottages at St Fagans folk museum, but as it is many many years since I've been there how accurate that memory is is debatable. I ought to take the boys there one day - I'm sure they'd find it interesting.
The quilts are beyond my purse at the moment until I have a firmer idea of what I want. Having decorated my bedroom blue - I need to make sure that anything I get will go.
I have an old Welsh quilt that my maternal grandmother made - it's what is called a "cottage" quilt. Unfortunately it's mainly yellow.


The initial "honeymoon" period following the separation is over. First I was somewhat elated to have the space to myself, and to be able to come home and not have to listen to his constant music, to have the kitchen back as a kitchen instead of his work room, to have a second living room instead of his (work) storage room, to have the evening meal at a sensible time. Now though my initial burst of energy has been used up and I am bogged down by various unfinished things. The reality is work 5 days a week, looking after the boys, thinking what they are need to take to Andrews house, thinking what they need to bring back to my house, housework, keeping on top of the cleaning, washing, shopping, not letting things go off in the fridge, cooking properly for just myself when they're not with me, getting though the list of 50 plus things to do, reclaiming the veg plot, getting to bed at a sensible time,.......
On the positive side I have regained control of the kitchen and therefore the food that comes out of it, and through some effort have lost some weight. Not masses - less than a stone but I didn't have much excess weight to start with - just excess fat round my middle on a skinny frame! So I won't tell you the numbers, I'll just say that I now need to take my skirts in by a couple of inches. (No. 37 on my list to do).
I don't get in till 6, and I try to sit down at 9 to watch a bit of TV whilst I check emails and do other internet stuff. My 4th bedroom is my sewing room and at the moment is in need of a good tidy up. It also has a spare wardrobe in it which doesn't help matters. The boys haven't taken much of their stuff round to Andrews - I don't know why - I ask them but don't get a meaningful answer. Liams room at my house is nearly always a tip. He tidies it then somehow, overnight, something happens.
Achievements - I painted my bedroom a delicious blue colour. Up until now all our rooms have been neutral but this is a real colour. I had to buy a new bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers. Ikea has had a fair bit of my money recently and I don't want to see another flat packed item for quite a while. I now have more Bedroom storage than I've had for a long time. On the "unfinished" list is - wardrobe doors to put on ( No. 4) - new roman blinds to make in the same blue ( No. 1) - painting all the woodwork ( get the picture yet?) - painting the en-suite bathroom. So I've a way to go yet.
Downstairs is the second living room. This room is suffering from Artists dye spillage. Oh yes, no more dye on quilts !.I need to get the man back to sand down the floor and recoat it. Unfortunately this means emptying out the main living room and the second living room, including the really heavy piano, putting everything in the kitchen so all the floor boards can be treated. We had this done about 3 years ago but since then my Artist husband has split Blue and Pink dye on the floor so it needs re-doing. I have a large kitchen so everything will fit in but it's just the inconvenience of it all.
The kitchen itself currently has 3 x 3m lengths of work surface in it waiting for me to find a kitchen fitter to fit it . I have been looking, but it's proving to be difficult. I have one coming round on Saturday so I hope he follows up with a quote, unlike the last 2.


I shall report back at the weekend.



Tonight I went for a walk, the weather is still pretty good and the scenery is fantastic.


1 comment:

  1. Good to hear fro you again. Changes, such as the one you are going through are never easy, but it seems you are doing quite well. Good for you! And I hope before long, you'll have sorted out that sewing room and will be back "at it"! Thinking of you.

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