That was a rather nice weekend, wasn't it? The timing of all that beautiful sunshine could not have been any more spot on. Here in Leeds today it's all but disappeared, but when the weekends manage to be sun-drenched, who's complaining?

The sunshine has such an affect on people, doesn't it? On Friday, I was feeling on top of the world. I was doing the same old stuff - food shopping, cooking, working - but when the sun is shining on you while you do it you just feel so positive and happy.

And when it continues throughout the whole weekend, so you can actually enjoying the finer things in life - picnics here, coffee and/or vino on the deck, taking an hour out to read in the sun - really, for that time, life is good and all problems seem to momentarily fade away.

And don't you feel you have more energy in the sunshine too? (well, once you have managed to jog yourself from your hazy slumber) That certainly seems to be the case in this house anyway. Ever since we decorated - gulp, almost a year ago - we've been wanting to get a table in the hallway. I have to say, I have fleetingly looked over the last few months and whilst still haven't found anything in the budget that quite fits the bill, with our sun-induced get-up-and-go this weekend, we did a bit of furniture removing and now we have the old redundant desk in a new position. And I love it.

And whilst I am under no illusions that we will find the most perfect affordable piece to replace this old worn out desk any time soon, I am thoroughly enjoying walking by this version in the meantime.

Particularly with my fab new print by Mrs Eliot Books that arrived this weekend...

Do you like japanese fabrics?

I do. A lot.

And I particularly like this circle range.

I'm particularly partial to this yellow and grey combo.

I know - I shock you with my revelations ;-)

But this red and navy combo is rather delish too.

The lovely Jo at Saints and Pinners sent me some samples of these fabrics that they are now stocking, along with some of these ditsy flower and dragonflies.

Gorgeous, aren't they?

I love how japanese fabrics are so compatible with each other and I can just picture them together in a variety of projects.

I for one am going to be racing to S & Ps pronto to add each of these to my fabric collection. I have a feeling as soon as the show orders are completed, I'm going to be in the mood to create with some of these lovelies.

It's been a crazy few days. It's funny isolating a snippet of time and all that goes with it. I've had a fantastic few days at BCTF, partly as a result of meeting lots of wonderful cyber friends in the flesh and also as a result of the great response to my work.

There will be more about BCTF another time - when I've had chance to regroup and get my breath back.

In the meantime another very exciting thing happened during this period. I won a giveaway! Not just any giveaway but a giveaway by the uber talented Francesca, of Mrs Eliot Books. I've long since been a fan of Francesca's work and am so overjoyed at winning not one but TWO prints. And not just any old prints (not that I wouldn't be happy with any of them) but 2 prints

of my own choosing.

This in itself did pose a problem. Well, have you tried narrowing down these prints to just 2? I rest my case. This and this were on my initial short list but the two that won out in the end were these 2 right here. I love Francesca's use of collage mixed with her own drawings. She has such a great eye for patterns and illustration.

The 'I think your dress is very beautiful' print, above will fit perfectly in our hallway and how perfect is 'The knitting needles and the midnight sewing'? That is going to have pride of place above my sewing machine in my newly appointed studio. I can not wait to be staring endlessly up at it.

Thank you, Francesca for you very generous giveaway and being so darn talented to boot.

Tomorrow sees the finishing touches being completed for BCTF.

Or should I put it this way - tomorrow MUST see the finishing touches completed, as Saturday I head over to Harrogate to set up my stand.

I probably won't be around again until after it's over, so I just wanted to say thank you for all your lovely comments of support. I really do appreciate your support and encouragement and I hope I can report back that you were right and it all went well.

I am a tad nervous...

Final countdown week in the BCTF preparation stakes this week.

I've had a bit of a breakthrough this weekend with getting the stand how I want it. It's been in the preparation stages in my head and I have finally got around to getting it sorted in practice. 'Bout bloody time, you may say, and you'd be quite correct.

As well as making sure the display is as I would like it, it's all systems go as far as making sure all the samples are completed. There's still a fair amount of work to be done in that area, but I'm sure it will all get done...quite frankly it has too. There's nothing like putting yourself under a bit of pressure.

If you happen to be in the vicinity of Harrogate next Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, I'd love to see you. So please come and say hi - Im on stand D399. And if you need a ticket, just give me a shout and I'll pop one your way.

No trade show preparations are quite complete without the necessary trip to Ikea, King of storage and accessories solutions. I headed there this morning to purchase these, but obviously a trip to Ikea is equally never complete without a visit to the fabric department.

Boy was I in for a treat today. I needed some more white cotton for show makes and Lenda is my fabric of choice. Not only did I pick up metres (yes, metres) of this, but my timing was perfect as today saw the re-arrival of Aina, the linen that Ikea used to stock and hasn't been available for a long time. I picked up some of this in white and was over the moon to see that they are also stocking it in grey.

The most perfect grey linen EVER. I've been after a good grey linen and haven't been able to find one that works for me and I think I may just have found it.

I'd almost walked away, when this beautiful grey rose caught my eye and it seemed rude to walk on by. It's even more gorgeous in the flesh and is going to be turned into some lovely summer cushions for our bed just as soon as BCTF is over.

It seemed equally rude to walk past Kajsastina, this lovely daisy.

Most of the pile of beauties will have to stay untouched for the next couple of weeks, put out of temptations way. They aren't right for the show, but they sure are right for me.

In about 10 days it's the British Craft Trade Fair and less than 10 days ago I signed up for it, which gave me at the time less than 20 days to prepare.

Quite a mountain I'd say.

One reason I hadn't decided to go before now was all the personal stuff going on here and to be quite honest the whole timing completely passed me by.

Having made the decision and been accepted (again - as I did show there a couple of years ago) it's been all systems go.

I'll be there with my Take Away Craft Kits, with a couple of new ones added, as well as various accessories that I have been working on this year.

There's going to be an emphasis on hand-printed fabric to go alongside the items I already produce and it's this that I am most excited about showing and having on my stand.

Since I was accepted last Monday I have been working like a maniac to get all the work done, so that next week I can focus on the stand itself. One of these days I'll get into the rhythm of doing regular trade shows so that it all happens as a matter of course, rather than being a starting from scratch each time.

I am getting there - sort of - but there's still a lot of blood, sweat and undoubtedly tears to be had first.