Ahh... It Was Brisk and Beautiful In Brighton!

Last time we met up in Brighton was June 2011 last year. And, whilst the weather was icy this time around - the atmosphere was still a roasting hot success!

The Swap-ettes!

Left to Right: My floral trolley, Kathryn, Stevie, Laura, Shivani, Julia, Ally, Rehanon, Zoe,
Alana, Santie, Leah (non-blogger), Camilla (non-blogger) and Laura

For this meet up Zoe and I thought we'd switch things around. The last Brighton meet-up had started off with a trip round the shops, and finished off with food and swapping. This time we all met up at the station for 11.30am (where I handed out the homemade cakes), we then warmed ourselves up with a brisk walk to All-Bar-One where we ran cheeky-chappie John off of his feet fetching our food 'n' drinks. We then had several fun-filled hours swapping our sewing treasures.

My own trip down from London did not get off to a good start - the 9.27am train from London Bridge was delayed from departure for 25mins because our driver "Paul" could not be found (I kid you not!). They made 3 announcements over the tanoy to apologise for the wait, and saying they were awaiting the arrival of the driver - and final announcement sounded like they were mightily p*ssed off as they asked "Would the Paul *****, the driver of the 9.27 train to Brighton please make himself known to the station staff" (or words to that effect), I mean - naming the guy's full name is clearly sending a message that he's been a bad boy, and to get his arse into gear wherever he was hiding!

Anyway, I'd planned on getting the 9.27am train as it would get me to Brighton at 10.48am (a good 42mins earlier than the planned 11.30am meet up time). So, all in all I was there on time (phew!).

I'd brought quite a lot of stuff with me to swap (I had 2 trolley's worth at home, but could only manage 1 on the day - so a good excuse to hold another swap soon methinks ;) LOL!). I brought lots of knit fabric, some ribbons, trims, buttons, loads of magazines - plus scissors and a fold-out 2metre ruler to help cutting up stuff!

I wasn't the only one with a trolley on the day Laura (there were 2 Lauras at the meet) had a fab leopard print one with her - packed full of goodies too.

Zoe had made these really cute little fabric bags with zippers and a set of buttons from her own stash inside (plus some black piping from moi) - so everyone had a sweet little gift to start of the proceedings!

Everyone then took turns to swap their stuff - Alana got my pile of magazines some complete with enveloped patterns. Stevie got one of my knit fabrics, as did Kathryn. There were knitting patterns, and quilting blocks and curtains, and duvets and all sorts being swapped :)

 

Bits I received in the swap-a-thon were a Burda Magazine (09/2007 issue) and some fab drapey polyester blend fabric in a toffee/fudge polka dot print - both from Shivani. A wool(?) tartan/check/plaid fabric in blue and off-white from Santie, and a vintage dress pattern 4429 by Simplicity (which forgive me here - I can't remember if it was from Julia, Laura, or Kathryn?). Afterwards we visited only 1 shop - the fab Ditto Fabrics. I bought only 2 things (as opposed to the vast haul of last summer): 4 metres of 150cm polyester dark navy blue Ponteroma knit - which I intend to make a cardigan from in the style of the cream one (top centre of the front cover of the Cal Patch book), and the 2nd piece of fabric is 4 metres of 100cm wide bright, deep pink 100% cotton - which will be a second go at the Scout Woven Tee (once I finish the 1st one successfully). I'm dead chuffed with my haul - and I hope everyone who got a piece of my old gear is happy with their acquisitions too :)

My haul from yesterday in Brighton!

Handmade Jane couldn't make the meet-up but she sweetly sent some things along to Zoe in the post for the swap (and Zoe posted her some bits in return too) - thanks Jane!

After Ditto, some of us headed home - and a few of us hung out at the 'Wai Kika Moo Kau' cafe with Chi-Chi (the crochet manikin made by Pat) and we were joined by Chi-Chi's creator himself, aka the groom to be for coffee and veggie/vegan cakes.

Then it was time to make our farewells at the station. Alana, Kathryn and I caught the 18.07 back to London Bridge. I had fun on the train chatting to them about sewing stuff - I'm sure the other passengers thought we were bonkers, as our seats were strewn across different sections, so we were talking across the aisle. Also, as I'd forgotten about the bag of breakfast stuff I'd had from Burger King that morning - I managed to spill the dregs of the cold coffee cup all over my lovely new acquisitions when I popped my trolley up onto the overhead rack :( It was fun trying not to spill drops of coffee onto my fellow passengers whilst try to keep my balance on the train as I wiped the mess up LOL! Luckily I was able to rescue the vintage pattern. But, but the fabric got wet (even the new Ditto stuff in it's carrier bag) - along with my brand new Sew Today magazine I'd bought at the station in the morning - and when I got home the pages were tearing part when I tried to separate them *sighs*. As soon as I got in the door I put all the fabric into the washing machine, and what with the central heating being on it's now all dry and clean (hurray!).

Thank you so much for the fantastic day yesterday Ladies - I had so much fun, I wish I could do that every weekend now (regardless of how cold it gets LOL!). It really is the people that make it such a great time - and you all looked like you really enjoyed yourselves (I know I certainly did!)  :)