Last minute surprises.

Saturday 18th August

Sadly it was time to leave our very comfortable hostel and begin to wind our way back towards Heathrow. We are starting to think seriously about repacking the cases and working out whether it will all go back in. We have offloaded a lot of the sauces and foody stuff to add to the kitchen supplies in the hostel. From here it is all hotels.

We planned just a straight drive to our hotel in Gilwern after doing the last laundry before we get home. It was nearly 12 by the time we were really on our way and not far along we came across a long queue of traffic after an accident on the road. With the help of Dora we managed to find a detour, along with lots of other cars in both directions. The detour was another of those one lane roads so lots of pulling over for cars, and tractors, coming the opposite way.

We passed through some towns with interesting names - Plwmp, Porthyrhyd, Llanwnnen, Rhydyrhaearn Farm, Cwrd-newydd and Bwlch. I'm not even going to try and say them. Maybe I'll take on a new challenge when I get home and learn Welsh.

We stopped for lunch in the town of Lampeter and blow me down if it wasn't the town where the Welsh Quilt Centre is located. What a fabulous exhibition! The quilts are all old Welsh quilts and owned by a lady called Jen Jones. She has had an exhibition every year for the last 10 years and apparently this will be the last as she is retiring at nearly 80.

Probably my favourite in terms of the quilting.
I don't really know anything about Welsh quilts but the lady
in the exhibition said it is really all about the quilting.
These quilts were all hand quilted. She said that in the States
the quilting tended to follow the shapes of the pieces but the Welsh
tend to do an all over type design regardless of the background.

Closer look at the quilting on the Tree of Life quilt.

There was also a display of samplers mostly from the 1800s.
A lot were done by girls from 12 to 15 years old.

Right next door was a fabulous quilt shop - Calico Kate. Kate was a lovely lady and we had a chat about the Birmingham show and also quilting in Australia.  I would have liked to buy something typically Welsh but sadly they are selling the same stuff out of America that we see at home. Even though I didn't buy anything Kate gave me a little Lampeter teddy. I'll certainly remember this shop.