What a week so far! I need a day off already.

We left Monday for another trip to the city, to line up suppliers and printers etc. We left after a quick visit to the patchwork club, to have morning tea and say hello. It was horribly hot and muggy, and we were delighted at the prospect of three hours in the air-conditioned car.

First stop in the northern suburbs was a Spotlight, a chain of fabric stores, which was obligingly having a 20% off sale. It was Mereth's birthday, so we regarded it as a birthday present and a sign that we needed to buy fabric. Which we did.Do you think I'm a bit obsessed with stripes lately? Maybe....I got enough of this lovely pastel print for a backing. It's a lovely silky fabric, should look pretty. I also got some dutiful purchases like window blinds for the workroom, and pillows for beds, but quite a bit of material came away with me.
I may be fixated on brown as well.

We then drove through the city in peak hour traffic, which was just horrible, and met Mereth's family for tea at Ikea. What's with the meatballs? And the Fish!!!! The cafeteria smelt like a beach at low tide, not at all pleasant. The 5 of us managed to polish off three plates of the meatballs between us, and 3 cups of coffee each; the coffee was great! It was my first time at Ikea, and I enjoyed it. There is so much to see, and so many ideas.
That plastic storage container is going by the Janome, to hold bobbins and cotton and machine feet. There were three in the pack, so Mereth scored one, and the other will find a home somewhere in the workroom. The Lazy Susan will have a tiny cutting mat on top so I can swivel pieces around as I cut them. I hardly need to explain coathangers and placemats; aren't they pretty tho?

We stayed the night with first-born son and his partner, then set off the next morning on an arduous trek around the city. Gak, I couldn't live with traffic like that! I got quite daring by the end of the day, zipping between lanes and scooting through amber lights with everyone else, but I much prefer driving in the country.

I had two pages of chores written in my notebook, and managed to tick all of them off by two o'clock. Mereth expertly navigated me here, there and everywhere, even to a quilt shop that we happened to be within cooee of. I picked up a smidgen of fabric, all of it half price......
I'm glad I'm not in the No-Buy group on Stashbuster.

It was an exhausting day, and we were glad to head north and see the city slipping away behind us. The sky was overcast and the wind blowing hard. As we got further and further north patches of water appeared in the fields, and the creeks were flowing. It wasn't like that when we left! By the time we got into home territory the fields were flooded and the creeks raging. What on earth happened while we were away? We must have had inches of rain. This is not good harvesting weather....

I am so glad to be home; I've almost caught up on messages and chores and now I'm going to have another cup of coffee and enjoy a jolly good gloat.