Edward's Menagerie Takes Flight - the book launch at Toft Farm

A couple of weekends ago I made my way down the long length of the M6 to go to a book launch.   You might remember reading about Dave The Seagull's adventures HERE.

The book launch was at Toft Farm in Rugby, Warwickshire.

You can visit the farm and shop, and lovely tea-room - more details HERE.

The shop is glorious, with wool and woolly related stuff everywhere.

Alpaca fleece teddy bears adorn the walls, along side scarves, buttons, tools, patterns and of course, loads of Edward's Menagerie animals.

.... and the birds  :)   Of course, the birds.

This is Kerry Lord herself, the author of Edward's Menagerie and Edward's Menagerie Takes Flight.

Graciously signing my book for me  :)

So, we sat down and listened to Kerry do some little talks on crochet tips, sewing up tips, and other tips to make your bird's all lovely.  We could also sit and crochet a little ice-cream cone while we listened, which was great fun.

And as a special thank you for attending, we got a crochet Sparrow pattern, which is so cute!

Of course, it would have been most rude not to have tried the tea-room.  But it took me a long time to choose a cake as they all sounded so delicious. In the end, the Bakewell Tart won - and what a good choice it was.   :)

Then it was off for a tour around the farm to meet the Alpacas.

What cute little creatures they are.  So fluffy and doe-eyed.

....and just look at the baby!  Can you get much cuter than that?

After the tour, which took about an hour, it was back to the farm shop to toast the new book and enjoy a glass of bubbles.

If you would like to read the review I did for the book you can find it HERE.

The next open day to be held at Toft farm is Saturday 19th December. I would fully recommend that you pop yourself along as it will be great fun. You can find more out about it by visiting their website.

http://www.thetoftalpacashop.co.uk/Article_Pages_OpenDays.aspx

The adventures of Dave The Seagull

If you follow my Facebook page you will have already met Dave.  He is a seagull from Kerry Lord's new book Edward's Menagerie Takes Flight.

I made Dave last week and at the weekend, he went on a trip down the the launch of the new book.... but first he had to accompany me to a crochet class I was teaching  :)

He was eager to get going, but he was very patient, for a Seagull, and sat there quietly observing.

And at 8.00pm that evening we set off on the (what we thought would be 3.5 hour) trip to Rugby.

But a few hours later, after being stuck in traffic - and by stuck I mean 'stationary' - for over an hour then being diverted off the M6, Dave was getting a little tetchy.

The 3.5 hour trip turned into a 6 hour trip, so by the time we reached the hotel it was two in the morning, and we were all tired and a bit grumpy.

Still, we got a 'welcome' drink - yep, at 2.00am I was faced with two glasses of wine, which of course I had to drink before brushing my teeth and climbing into bed.  Dave helped me.

A nice big strong brew only 6 hours later woke us up enough to face the day.

We found a nice place for breakfast called The Bell Inn in Hillmorton, the breakfast was delicious as Dave feasted down on Croque Monsieur (with mushrooms in place of ham as Dave is not a meat eater)

Then we headed off to Toft Farm, where Kerry Lord was having her new book launch, a blog to follow on that later.  Dave was so excited to meet Kerry, the very person who designed him.

He was also excited to meet all the other animals and birds dotted around the shop, but he was a little overwhelmed by the size of this monkey   :)

He was happy to sit for a while, whilst I crocheted him an ice-cream.

Which he happily tucked into for his afternoon snack.

Before helping me with my lovely piece of home-made Bakewell Tart.

Afterwards Dave met some more Daves.  Dave, Dave and Fat Dave.  He was thrilled to meet some of his own kind and they had a right good chatter together.

But he wasn't quite to sure about meeting the Alpacas, I think he thought they might eat him!

To calm his nerved after the Alpaca encounter, Dave then helped me drink some bubbles as we toasted the new book in.

But, the bubbles went right to his head and he needed a little nap in some super soft fleece.

The journey home turned into another 6 hour trip, so Dave took the opportunity to enjoy the ride and take in the air   :)

Once we got home again he was such a tired little seagull that he went straight to bed without any fuss.

Dave is now off to a new home, so his adventures will be ongoing, I am sure   :)