North Country quilting weekend

The best bit about getting the earlier train to Durham for this "girls quilting weekend away" was that we got to explore the Botanical gardens for the afternoon....

There was lots of colour...

 

 

Some interesting characters watched us ...

 

I found some big hints that there were bee hives in the vicinity...

 





We decided to explore the woodland walk...

 

And found some mighty strange things...

 





And sure enough I found the beehive in the middle of a woodland clearing....

All too soon it was time to head back to Collingwood College to spend the evening admiring Lilian's collection of wonderful quilts...

 

 

 

Saturday brought lots of hard work.

So much hard work that I only managed to take four photographs...

The template for the Weardale chain...

My three chosen patterns...sketched, traced and inked...

Fabric pinned and ready to be marked....

First stitches quilted...

and after that arduous day's work we had to wind down with an evening stroll around Durham...

If you find the right cobblestone alley... 

It takes you right to the most magnificent cathedral...

 

The castle is pretty impressive too...

We walked on...to the Kingsgate bridge over the Wear...

The views back up river and into the city were amazing as the sun dropped even further over the horizon...

One last glimpse of the cathedral and it was off home to bed...

Sunday brought some more busy quilting, I managed to take one photo of my work table...

The weekend finished with show and tell from the other workshops..some had quilts nearly finished and others some exquisitely embroidered butterflies...

 

Then we packed our suitcases and took a meandering walk through Durham back towards the station, appreciating the landmarks in autumnal daylight...

 

 We had a fun weekend, though I for one have a pretty large quilt to finish before I can show my face there again!