North Yorkshire meet ...

... up at 5am on Friday morning and off to pick up Greta for our weekend in North Yorkshire. Good progress made from Greta's and, having stopped for an hour for breakfast, we arrived at Kanban in Shipley around 1pm. Fellow imag-e-nationers Kara and Yorkshire Ann were already there and Crafting Joanne arrived just after us. Unfortunately brain was not in gear, having been up early and driven over 300 miles so, I didn't think to take photos. Managed to shop though, although I only filled a small box but made up for it with the stuff that was not seconds - lol!! I just wasn't in the mood to go rummaging, which is what you need to do at Kanban and I was very aware that we still had over an hours journey to make before we reached our weekend B&B accommodation. It was really good to meet some more imag-e-nationers though and they were definitely 3 lovely ladies. We arrived at the pub, The Old Black Bull in Raskelf, around 5pm where we collapsed for a couple of hours before heading off out to spend the evening with another imag-e-nationer - Linda aka Dimples - and her canine friends. A lovely, cosy evening was had, with a lovely spread of food laid on for us. Don't think we really did the spread justice but what we had was delicious.

Saturday morning saw us having an early-ish small breakfast and then off to Easingwold where the meet was being held. Knew we were staying close to the venue but didn't realise quite how close until, just 5 minutes later, we were there (although drove straight past it at first - hehe!) What a great day!! More great people to meet and this time not just imag-e-nationers but a few 'Sheenies' (members of Joanna Sheen's forum) and a couple of OH's as well - lol!!. Pat (aka Tricia or Mrs F) and Nena, along with their support workers, provided an amazing lunch and tea was plentiful. Despite Jak's recent bereavement she made the day memorable with her classes. We made a beautiful stamped Christmas card in the morning incorporating shadow stamping, a stamp positioner and some embossing. Several different techniques for an inexperienced stamper like me and it was fascinating. Floral punch craft in the afternoon where we made 2 cards and I loved them both. When I've managed to get some decent piccies of them they'll be put on Crafty Bits blog with explanations. Took a good few photo's here and have snagged some that have been posted on forum so decided, as there's so many, that a slideshow is in order ..............

~Click on photos to be taken to album for larger, stills view~

Saturday evening saw 5 of us, Greta, me, Jean, Jak and Chris (Jak's hubby) dining at the Old Black Bull and a thoroughly enjoyable evening we had, despite Theodore (a story which will be covered in another post) - lol!! Unfortunately, although Chris wouldn't agree it was unfortunate, we were having such a good natter that again, I never thought to take photos - doh! Ruth, from the meet, phoned me with details of Colemans Factory Outlet in Rushden as Greta and I were hoping it would be open Sundays so that we could call in on our way home. Fortunately it was and, after a superb breakfast at The Old Black Bull (never did manage to have the complete full English - lol!) we set off and we managed to round off the weekend very nicely with a visit there. The staff were wonderful and when they found out where we'd been, what we'd been doing and where we were going to, they gave us a sitdown in their staff room with a welcome cup of tea!

Now, having driven a total of 674 miles this weekend I'm home, happy but tired..... Would I do it again? Yes, I most certainly would and would definitely stay at the same place. Superb food, excellent value and a typical old country pub - lol!!

Thanks for dropping by .....