Well, what a week it's been. On Thursday afternoon, my friend Margaret arrived from West Wales. We got to know each other last year on a GRW charity stall, and it turned out that we were both interested in greyhounds, quilting and were cancer survivors. We got to chatting and have kept in touch ever since. Another link is that Margaret was the person who collected Boola from the home he was living in before being taken into the care of the charity, and so she has always had a special interest in him.

I have mentioned previously that Busy Bees were organising a trip to London for the Quilts exhibition at the V & A, so thought of Margaret and asked her if she would like to come. She gladly agreed and so on Thursday she came up to us to spend the night before we set off on our adventure. We had a lovely evening, chatting away about all sorts of things, and Margaret was very happy to see Boola again, as well as meeting the other two hounds. She also brought me the most wonderful little gift - a Moda tin, with a charm pack, and a pattern for a mini quilt, wrapped up in a complementary fat quarter, and tied with pretty ribbon. Such a lovely gift.

The following morning, we got over to Tredegar House to meet the coach. The weather was cool and dull, which was great actually. I hate very hot weather for travelling or sightseeing, so it was perfect. The coach was very comfortable and we sped up the M4 to the museum, being dropped literally by the front door. We had timed tickets for the exhibition, so had time for lunch in the museum restaurant beforehand then met up with our group under the most magnificent Chihuly glass chandelier in the atrium (see pic attached I found on the net). I was fortunate enough to see another Chihuly piece some years ago at Kew Gardens (see pic attached) and love his use of colour and the wonderful organic forms of the blown glass.

The exhibition was everything I had hoped for and more. Understandably, because of the age of many of the textiles, light levels were very low, but in general I was impressed with the way things had been presented to allow for close inspection. The exhibits were wonderful, being inspiring, beautiful, moving and occasionally very funny. Even if you are not a quilter yourself, this exhibition has much interest, in terms of interior and domestic history, as well as broader social trends such as Victorian temperance or the prevalence of quilting in mining areas such as Wales, as well as a fascinating section from the Second World War. After emerging blinking like moles into the light, we gladly hit the shop as I knew they were selling a special range of limited edition prints in partnership with Liberty of replicas from the exhibition of 18th century designs. I have bought some half metres of fabric to add to my stash. Emerging finally from the museum, we sat in the sunshine for a while to gather our thoughts, then, with Margaret's agreement, hopped in a taxi for a trip over to Bloomsbury. Margaret had not been to London for some years - she has lived all over the world so was delighted that the journey included lots of the obligatory sights, including Buckingham Palace. Anyway, on arrival at our destination, we hopped out and entered the delights of http://www.bladerubber.co.uk/ - a specialist and very intriguing rubber stamp shop just round the corner from the British Museum. I was in seventh heaven - the range of stamps was gorgeous with lots of quirky and off beat ones that were most intriguing. Eventually I made my purchases and reluctantly left - the shop has a great range of regular workshops and so on, which would be wonderful if I lived a little nearer to London. Then we strolled round the corner and had a leisurely and much needed coffee in Starbucks before finally hopping in another cab and heading back to the V & A. We just had time for me to press my nose against some of the lovely shops there - Skandium is a shrine to Scandinavian design and then we lusted after the kitchenware in Divertimenti, although both of us were simultaneously appalled and amused at a very fancy kitchen range in the window for a mere £37,000. Almost next door was Smallbones, who of course would build you a kitchen fit for such an expensive range and again it was great to have a thoroughly aspirational gawp - fortunately, by this time, all the shops were firmly closed. Then back on the bus and home - met by Andrew when we finally disembarked, stiff, tired and very happy.

On Saturday morning, we took Margaret back to Tredegar House. I attach some pics of her with Boola - then Andrew took the dogs for their walk while I showed Margaret the house and buildings before making a happy pilgrimage to Busy Bees for Margaret to have a good browse. She was delighted and managed to find some gorgeous fabric for a pretty elephant quilt,as well as some cat fabric (she has two). Eventually, Andrew came back with the hounds and we all drifted back to the cars, for Margaret to head back home down the motorway. It had been a very happy and successful trip.

Today, in the best traditions of British bank holidays it has been cold, wet and blustery. Also firmly in this tradition, we visited B & Q for a pot of paint, as Andrew will be painting the downstairs loo. When we moved into the house, as it was a new build, the developer had coated all the walls with a bog standard magnolia - quite inoffensive if dull, but at least we didn't feel under any pressure to immediately decorate every surface. So far, the living room and dining room downstairs have been painted and upstairs,we've decorated the main bathroom and three of the four bedrooms but have yet to do the smallest bedroom or the ensuite bathroom. For a while, I've been keen to decorate some of the untouched rooms, so we decided the downstairs loo would be a great project - not too big and complicated. We've got a very pretty Roman blind in the room, which features a misty design of tulips on a soft, golden yellow background - the tulips are dusty pinks and plums in colour. We've chosen a colour which is a sort of browny plum which picks up on the palette of the blind and should also work well with the prints and frames we already have in there. So tomorrow the young master will be picking up his paintbrush.