I’ve 3 blog post on my to-do list and half an hour to spare. So first up and straight to the top of the list and bypassing my belated Sunday Sevens is when Harry met Sally, oops I mean when Jenny met Ali! It has a similar ring to it though don’t you think!
The whole blogging and sewcial media scene has changing my lonely hobby into something really exciting, and I’ve friendships blossoming all over the world. I’ve already met some of my new sewing buddies in real life but the chances of meeting those from outside of the UK are pretty slim.
But then Jen – from Let The Sewing Begin -mentioned she was going to be holidaying in South Wales. Not anywhere near Yorkshire, but we just HAD to meet up. I checked out where Jenny was staying and tried to find somewhere in the middle which would be easy for us both to get to. We eventually decided on Chester – it was about 2 1/2 hours each by train AND it had a Abakan which i really wanted to visit!
It was an early start, hubby dropped us off at Huddersfield train station where we were to catch our first train which would take us to Manchester.
We went through some gorgeous countryside as we headed through Yorkshire in Lancashire.
Once inside Manchester Picadilly we managed to get on the wrong train. I was in the loo when the guard came to empty the train and point us in the right direction. Luckily I heard the commotion and didn’t get left behind!
We arrived unscathed in Chester. Did I tell you cyber-mom came too? Chance for a few selfies outside the train station whilst we waited for Jenny’s train to come in.
This is the view from the front entrance of Chester train station. There are 2 ways you can walk into the town centre. If you plan to go and haven’t been before don’t go straight ahead as people will tell you to. Instead come out and turn right. After about 200 yds the road will swing round to the left. Follow your nose and you will come across Abakhan on your right as you walk into town as you go over a little round about and over a bridge. (I wish we’d have know this!)
Jenny arrived, and after lots of hugs and hellos we headed off into town. Sorry no pics of this, we were too busy hugging!
First stop was a coffee at M&S and time to natter. We got on so well, chatting away and didn’t feel like strangers at all.
Jenny brought me a gift!!
She made me a draw string pouch, a perfect size for my golf shoes.
Unfortunately time was rushing away and we didn’t have chance to look around Chester and it’s beautiful buildings, so headed straight for Abakan.
Oh my goodness! So much fabric (and aparantly this is their smallest store!!).
As well as selling fabric by the metre they sell it by the kilogram too. Fabric remnants are organised into baskets by fabric type and price. Most of the pieces are quite big, at least 3 metres which was too much for us to buy. Then we got talking to the lovely ladies who work there and they told us we could buy just the amount we needed, a minimum of 0.2 metres as long as there was at least 1 metre left of the piece. How good is that!
As well as a couple of remnants I bought 3 metres of this silky poly charmeuse with ovals shapes on it. I’m thinking I’ll make another Holly jumpsuit to wear at the Presentation night at the golf club next month.
Here’s what else I bought. The pink plaid for a golf skort, the zig zag fabric just because I liked it, and the jersey under the circles I’m not sure but maybe some leggings – it has a great 4 way stretch.
And here’s Jen with her purchases…
And both of us – Happy Fabric Hoarders Shoppers!
Before we knew it, we only had 90 minutes before Jenny had to catch her train, and we’d not even eaten lunch. We decided to head to the train station and try and find somewhere on the way, and if not there was always the cafe at the station.
We stumbled across a cheap and cheerful cafe. Not quite Betty’s Tea Rooms but it did the job!
Big hugs and goodbyes before we headed into the station.
Bye bye Jen……….was lovely meeting you, hopefully we meet again, and you never know one day I might venture to the other side of the pond!
T H I M B E R L I N A 
You both look as if you had a blast! Did Cyber Mum buy anything or was she just along for the (train) ride? Abakhan looks great – I’ve occasionally seen their stands (in the U.K.) at shows but never an actual shop. I think I might be overwhelmed by the choice. Your pink tartan is lovely – although I never touch it myself these days 😉 – good luck with the matching is all I’m saying.
Jenny is so photogenic I wonder why she doesn’t put more pics of herself on her blog. You are too, of course, but we already know that.
You’re right, we did have a blast! It was like the first time we’d met, the 3 of just never shut up, until,we had lunch! Cyber mum bought some fabric to make a new roman blind for her landing window. I’m hoping to talk her into writing a guest post 😀
You all look as if it was a great day and I really enjoy seeing the pictures. Thanks so much for sharing. Can’t wait to see what wonderful things you make up with your fabric finds.
Your welcome Robyn, I think the best thing about meeting fellow bloggers is being able to put a voice to them when reading their future blog posts. I’ll hopefully be cutting into my new fabric quite soon! 😀
Lovely story! So good that you managed to meet up like that. I have several new friends that I’ve met through IG and blogging – you always know that you are going to have at least one (very important) thing in common!
Yup, us fellow sewers never are short of something to talk about. And none-sewing friends don’t get that we need to stroke fabric and clothes! My fingers nearly had blisters in Abakan with all that stroking going on! 😀
I remember going to Abakhan in Mostyn as a child, my grandparents lived in North Wales, great to see they are doing well 🙂
They’ve lots of stores dotted about, I’ll definitely make a trip to the Manchester shop when I need some fabric. Or maybe I’m fibbing their, I can’t imagine I’ll ever need any more, but I’ll still go no doubt! 😀
Looks like a lovely trip!
We did Linda, thankyou 😀
So delighted you two could get together, and Cyber Mum could come, too! (Bet you two were nattering non-stop both coming & especially going home.) Heard some of the planning on this end from Jen, and managed to watch your IGs for some of the photos. Well done to all for making the trip happen. Am trying not to be green with envy! xxx
Hi Del, we had a lovely day. I wondered if Jenny’s accent would be like yours, not that I know anything about American accents, but it was a bit different. You never know, one day we might get chance to meet up too! 😀 xx
I certainly hope we can! 😀 xx
That’s a great day!
It was Anne! It’s great how us bloggers are all tuned in and get along! Was lovely meeting you too, seems like ages ago now 😀
How totally wonderful! Lovely Chester, super fabric, and a meet up. Perfect day out!
Everything was perfect, except it went way too fast 😀
How great to be able to meet another blogger from the other side of the world (well, almost) and even better that you both got on so well – not that there were ever any doubts. I didn’t realise that Abakan had a chain of shops – do you know if there are any down South? Just how you choose fabric from a selection that huge is beyond me:)
It was like we already knew each other! I’m thinking the Abakahn chain is just around north wales mainly, but there’s one in Manchester too. The choice is crazy, especially for those who like most of us who have far too many projects whizzing around in our heads 😁
Hi Ali! Finally getting recuperated (oh what a trip home!) and caught up with things around the house. I can’t thank you enough for going out of your way to make our meet up happen, and how wonderful spending time with you and cyber-mum. Was it really our first meeting? It didn’t seem so.
Will be posting about the trip and our day out later this week. (Just need a few more hours in my day! 😉 )
Good to hear you’re getting on top of everything, hope the long journey home hasn’t taken it’s toll on your mom too much. She sounds amazing! You’re right, it didn’t feel like we’d just met, strange isn’t it! Looking forward to seeing your pics in your post, take care! 😀
Wonderful!
It was a lovely day! 😀
I’m so sad to have missed Jenny – but I had a blogger meeting while I was away too (details on my blog when I get the photos downloaded but I need to move The Management who is catching up on football!). You were pretty restrained with the fabric purchases 😃
I really didn’t need anything, and I’m trying to be good. And it’s Sewbrum this Saturday so I didn’t want to spend up! 😀
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