Eye of the Beholder....

I had a lovely day with my friend Liz on Monday. She is an old school pal from Edinburgh and every so often we meet up in Glasgow for a day of nattering and shopping.

We always meet by the loos in John Lewis, and these loos are situated just beside the ever dwindling fabric department.
Liz was a little later arriving than I was so I had time to contemplate the cottons on offer - imagine my delight when I discovered that they still had some much discussed (on blogs), reduced Amy Butler & Joel Dewberry, neither of whom I have purchased in the past.
I have enjoyed the quilting revolution that I have witnessed through blogging, and being exposed to all the new, fresh designers has encouraged me to try out their  fabrics.
So Liz strolled up to meet me as I was having these lovelies cut - all at £5.10 per metre.

Now we always have our coffee in JL but we always complain to each other that said coffee is never really, really hot. So this time Liz asked if we could have it extra hot - no problem. Apparently it is becoming the norm in some chains, to serve at a restricted temperature to avoid scalding - I mean, you would never expect a hot drink to be - well,... hot!!

Onward, ever onward thro' several regular haunts until we arrived at Mandors (Fabric store) - I had been tipped the wink last weekend by a friend, to secure a deal through Itison.....£16 bought me a voucher for £40 to spend in Mandors........no brainer really. However.............I found it quite difficult to spend, I rarely find inspiration there, and I am not sure why. They have a lot of cottons, arranged by colour but something is missing...............I did spend though. I dug out my JL purchase and added in a couple more....

and then I needed a solid to back one of my UFOs,

and then I made up the rest of the voucher with these two cuties for Gordon to cut into heart packs.

I had a look around their haberdashery too, from a "professional" point of view ( remember I work in our local fabric store) - I was shocked at the price of one or two items. E.g. £4.99 for a box of flower head pins, I think our price for the same item has not hit the £3 mark yet!! Shop around, is the lesson of the day.

For a change I had travelled to Glasgow by bus ( I am getting into training for my 2013 bus pass) - on the way home I caught up with emails and replied via my new touch screen phone (ooh er, get me!)

Later that evening, having stroked my new fabric, I showed it to my OH (why do I do this?)
"Looks a bit old fashioned" says he.
 "But it's modern, I protested!"
"Nah, looks old lady, like something you'd find in someone's parlour".
So, as a couple of 50 somethings, we agreed to call it retro....................
MEN!!

Today, I have set to, and finished my Mouthy Stitches pouch. Sometimes when a deadline is distant, my motivation declines a wee bit. I had made a good start on my pouch but needed to give myself a bit of a kick. it just needed the finishing touches and I really hope my secret partner likes it,

On a roll now so have had my lunchtime Ryvita and need to get back into my sewing room, I feel another finish coming on soon......................