Will Ye No Come Back Again? Absolutely, Next September!

Bonnie Chairlie's noo awa', Safely ower the friendly main; Mony a heart will break in twa', Should he ne'er come back again.

Will ye no come back again? Will ye no come back again? Better lo'ed ye canna be, Will ye no come back again?

Traditional Scottish Song

What a week! Flicky and I have had a marvellous time in Scotland where we spent 3 days in St Andrews, checking out the town, being shown around the University and meeting with Admissions and one of the Modern History professors.

Allow me to introduce you to the University of St Andrews ...

And here's some photos of the Cathedral and Castle;

the beaches and golf course;

and the St Andrews town centre.

but these are my favourite photos:

Flicky sitting at the entrance to the School of History, St Katherine's Lodge, where she will be studying

 and Flicky battling the elements, the wind so strong she could barely walk,
but just check out that Manhattan City Quilter carrier bag!!!

The weather wasn't our friend, freezing temperatures, winds and snow, but Flicky loved it.  The University and people of St Andrews made us very welcome and we quickly learnt just how special it is that Flicky has received an unconditional offer from this ancient seat of British learning, who still hand pick only the students that they feel will suit the way of life and study methods.

So Flicky is pretty certain that she will be accepting their offer and we've already booked our trip back for her admission in September.

After St Andrews we headed off to Glasgow via Dundee.  The weather was dreadful but we did squeeze in a bit of shopping and a trip out to the 'Armadillo' to see the English comedian Jimmy Carr, which was excellent but nothing that I can repeat here ;).  Flicky also had her first experience of being caught in a football crowd at Glasgow Central Station - jeering Scotland fans singing "we hate England more than you" to the Wales fans was incredibly intimidating and frightening but I told her to not speak so she wouldn't give away our nationality and we were quickly on our way.  It was the one low point of our trip but at least she's a bit more prepared now for when she encounters that sort of behaviour again.

I did have to take a photo of the sewing machine wall at the All Saints store in Glasgow.  I know this is a regular feature in All Saints stores but I always think they look amazing and yet it makes me a little bit sad that these machines aren't being used anymore.

We spent our last 3 days in Edinburgh, again the weather was too bitter to do the touristy things so more shopping and eating and catching up on some rest and sleep in our beautiful apartment.

 

We did look up at the Castle as we shopped our way along Princes Street
and we enjoyed some delicious Flirtini cocktails

We didn't worry too much about not really seeing anything as we figured we'll have plenty more opportunity to do everything properly over the next 4 years that Flicky's studying here.

Oh and look how much of my EPP Coffins I managed to do ... don't do a close up on my stitches because you'll see everyone of them screaming at you - my appalling eye sight, a smattering of turbulence, narrow seats (yes we fly economy) and an overhead plane light on a night flight don't lend themselves to beautiful, invisible stitches!!!

It's good to be back though, although I love doing EPP, I'm very, very happy to see my sewing machine again!

For details of other fabric, yarn, trim and notion stores that I've visited around the world along with the NYC stores I love, exhibitions and events I've attended and wonderful people I've been lucky to meet click the links below or in my side bar :D

Coffins And More Coffins

Remember this?

and I did say at the time 

"I'm not sure if this is something I'll be doing lots of - I can see that it's a great travel project still I like my crochet for that."

Well two weekends ago when we visited Washington DC I didn't take my crochet, I took my coffins instead.

There you go, that's me on the train from NYC to DC, maybe somewhere around Philadelphia, and just look at the concentration on my face!  That'll be the concentration on my face before my shocked expression at the public display of affection by a couple in the seats diagonally opposite from us that caused the whole carriage to take action against them and the guards to have them removed - and all this in the quiet carriage!!! 

There wasn't much time for sewing on the trip but I did manage some and here's where I'm at now:

I started with one design in mind but as you can see I've decided to extend each line of coffins out a little.  The other fabrics are Kaufman Essex Linens - Med Aqua and Sand - haven't decided what to make yet - maybe a cushion or a bag, we'll see but I do know I want to applique the coffins on to these linens. 

I guess you could say I've been converted (again!) and guess what I'll be taking to Scotland with me?

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