Day One in Birmingham!

Our international flight landed in Dublin, Ireland at 4:50am.

That didn’t feel so bad as it was just reaching midnight at home – but when you’ve been up since 4am, things can be a bit wobbly.

I’m not much of a plane sleeper.  Being a tall girl, there is just no comfortable place to rest my knees or stretch them out.

So it’s movie time --

And I have a confession – because folks around me were trying to sleep, and the overhead lights on this plane were so FAR overheard and made such a bright light, I didn’t want to disturb my friends around me.  This flight was EPP-FREE!

A quick run to our next gate, and we were boarding for Birmingham -

High Tea at the Tavern!

Our day was a leisurely one, a panoramic tour by bus with a stop off for lunch at the historic Aston Tavern, a place of warmth and hospitality from back in Victorian times.

Cant get far enough away to fit it in the frame!

There is nothing like tea time!

A great pot of loose-leaf tea.  Cream, sugar lumps, strainers to keep the leaves from your cup – it’s all part of the experience, and it reminded me of tea parties we had when we were kids.

Pinkies UP, ladies!

Hot scones, clotted cream and jam!

I’m going to need to walk miles to burn this off!

Across the street from the Tavern stands an ages old church surrounded by headstones – just BECKONING for us to come and explore.  And a few of us did!

Aston Parish Church.

With steeple so tall you have to take two photos to fit it all in:

If only we could have gotten inside!

Headstones rim the walkway.

Beautiful!

Some tilting and leaning with time.

Tilting the camera to set it straight.

Fascinating gargoyles!

I loved this place!

Next time, we need more of a visit and a peep inside!

Our hotel in Solihull!

All of this panoramic driving tour stuff was just a way to get us to 3pm and hotel check in time.  And naps happened before dinner.  There was just no way to keep moving without some shut eye.

This room is built for dreaming!

And We will be here a few nights.

Evening walk into town.

Doesn’t this just look like a scene from days gone by?  I don’t even know how I missed any signs of any cars on the road.

These shops are begging for some exploring – but not tonight.  Another day!

It’s festival day one today.  And I know spirits are high in anticipation of everything we are going to see there.

One of the things I’m really looking forward to seeing is the 1718 Silk Coverlet.  More details on it HERE.

I’ll be catching up with friends from far and wide, making new friends and wandering the vendors mall, and spending time with the quilts.

I’ll be back tomorrow for my book signing at Kaleidoscope Books, from 2pm to 3pm!  I hope to see you there.

This came to my email!

“You’ve been nominated for Best Overall Quilting Blog again! We just opened up nominations yesterday, so if you would like to share the awards with your viewers so that they could continue to nominate you over the next 2 weeks, that would be awesome!”

Well how exciting!  Thank you, AGAIN!  Please send in your nominations by clicking the above photo or CLICK HERE.

I appreciate your support, it does let me know that keeping this daily blog going for the past 13 years has been a good thing for YOU, too!

And tell your friends. 

Breakfast is waiting, full day ahead – time to make some adventures happen!

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Quilt block photo shared by Cathy!

Off to the festival we go!