The Fantastic Fabric of Life ...

... is the closest I got to textiles and fabrics this summer. I had made a conscious decision to spend time with me with the intention of returning to a point where I take care of myself, my body and my mind. The intellectual bit involved registering for a short on-line course with Oxford University: "Contemporary British Literature" for which I have to read these books. The course starts on 22 September and lasts about 6 weeks. I've already read the top 2 books and am now busy with "White Teeth". Well, I read "Atonement" a long time ago and want to re-read it before the course starts.

The body bit meant joining a gym. I have been neglecting myself physically for far too long and decided enough is enough. So now I do a vigorous work-out twice a week, followed by a heavenly swim. On the other days I do 45 minutes on my treadmill at home. The kilo's are slowly but surely melting away ( 7 so far) and I am a lot fitter than a few months ago with the added bonus of returning muscle tone. Now, this gym that I discovered is very low-threshold : no underweight, prancing 2-second-old beauties hitting it off with muscle-boys. No, a dignified amount of grey hair atop comfortingly unfirm flesh. All of us politely sweating away to prove that, even though we don't turn heads any more ( not for the right reasons anyway!), we haven't given up on ourselves. Or something to that effect. And the heavenly reward is to flop into the swimming pool when you're done and do a few leisurely laps to cool off!

Of course I cannot indulge completely because I have a business to run. So, with Tim ( the youngest) helping, we have done all the preparations for the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham next week. On Monday it's him, me and Annette heading off to a cottage in Henley-in-Arden all ready for action.
We're really looking forward to the show again this year and, guess what, my stamps even arrived in time. I have quite a few new designs (have a peek at the website : www.trapsuutjies.com ) which I'll have with me, as well as some hand-dyed fat quarters and off course all the lovely paints and dyes.
The stand number is H42 , so please pop by to say hello!!