Malvern

As I had anticipated, I had a busy few days prior to my trip to Malvern making sure that the fridge was well stocked and that Freya had everything ready for her marathon school bus trip to Spain. Finally, I made 200 inches of wavy chamois binding and attached it all around the rim of the coracle. For some reason I decided to finish off the edge with an embroidery stitch and had to stop myself from adding even more decorative stitching as I remembered that there would also be lots of eyelets to add detail. I just hope that at least one of the leather punches will be strong enough to crunch its way through all of that spandex, wadding and suede. 

After I had taken Freya sailing and dropped her off for Duke of Edinburgh training I headed down to Falkirk in the evening so that Ellen and I could hit the road to Worcestershire  on Friday morning. The Landy did a sterling job as usual apart from struggling on long, slow hills with its temperamental turbo. I had lashed two 10ft long boxes on top that contained the rails and poles of a longarm quilting system that would be delivered during the show. Apart from getting help from a neighbour to shove the boxes up onto the roof-rack, I covered them with a tarpaulin then tied them on with ratchet straps and nylon rope entirely unaided. 

Ellen and I discussed everything under the sun on the journey but we were glad when we turned off the tedious M6 motorway and followed more scenic roads into Malvern. We stayed at a pleasant Bed and Breakfast run by the aptly named Mr. and Mrs. Gotobed and wandered down to the local pub for wild boar burgers washed down with Hobgoblin real ale. 

The show was held at the Three Counties Showground and it was very busy. There were many traders’ stalls crowded into the main hall and marquee and a high standard of competition and exhibition quilts. We were excited that our friend, Kay Bell had won the longarming prize for one of her customer quilts and teased her by text message saying that Ellen would spend the day impersonating the talented winning quilter.

I bought more printing tools that I will add to the collection of blocks and rollers that is still pristine from the last time I bought a batch at FOQ, Birmingham. Perhaps if I reorganise the drawer that contains all of the creative stuff, I will be more inclined to use it?

We drove out to the pleasant market town of Ledbury on twisty roads through scenic countryside where we had another delicious pub supper with Ani and her friend, Tracey. I bounced book ideas around with Ellen and made some notes to add to the many other ideas that already need editing.

We travelled further into the Cotswolds on Sunday to deliver the quilting machine to a quaint, new quilt shop next to the museum in Winchcombe. I had to park on the pavement and climb onto the roof to untie all of the straps. We carried the boxes across the street and squeezed the longarm frame into its new home after flagging down a passing Man to undo some over-tight bolts that had defeated us. 

Ellen and I declared that the area around Malvern was definitely worth further exploration on another trip when we would allow ourselves more time. I did not go straight home to Aberdeen on Sunday night so we made a foray into Linlithgow on Monday where I found cording for the coracle and beaded totem. I also bought half a dozen Cornishware storage jars that were in a charity shop window, priced reasonably at £4 each! Over coffee we discussed which other quilt shows we still needed to tick off our bucket list or even ones that we would like to revisit. We are both keen to go back to Paducah at some point so perhaps we will have to give that some serious thought...

Frenetic Fortnight

I ceremonially switched on my upgraded APQS Millennium and quickly quilted a tiny quilt that will be for the kids’ piano teacher when her new baby makes its appearance. The machine worked even better after I connected up the extra cable that I had thought might have been a spare. A custom quilt arrived in the post that requires a lot of stitch-in-the-ditch ruler work so I need to order a new ruler base from the USA as soon as possible or decide whether to remove the thread cutter that will allow my old one to fit back on. 

I was feeling nervous about chopping large chunks off the coracle skin to make it fit so I persuaded Mo to supervise me placing darts around the outside. I decided not to cut sections out as it would have left raw edges, exposing some wadding so I have just sewn them down. After some debate, I decided to put the bronze spandex on the outside of the coracle instead of the chamois. This means that the lighter side of the skin will be seen on the inside through the gaps in the wicker. This is actually a much better place to sew all of the beads since they are less likely to fall off if they are inside the boat. When it was sitting on the work-table upside down it looked just like a giant turtle. I need to attach the chamois binding and lace it all on by the beginning of June as the fishing shop in Banchory has requested it for display it in one of their windows during the River Festival Weekend. 

Obviously, 24 hours of having the internet working without a hitch was a fluke. The minute I tried to reset the wireless printer the whole thing went down and I had to make several long and frustrating phone calls to Orange, aka EE. First you have to pass a secret password test with Geordies then you are transferred to a crackly phone line to the technical experts in India with tinny muzak blaring out of the phone every time you are put on hold. To add to this infuriating process, I was unable to use the landline and the mobile phone reception in the corner of our granite house where the modem is situated was awful so the technician kept getting cut off. Somehow I managed to control my temper and insisted that I should be sent a new modem which duly arrived 48 hours later. 

Amazingly, I plugged it in, tapped in a new code and got all of my gadgets working again. 

It is incredible how dependent I am on having a reliable wifi connection. I needed to find out about UK Customs red tape, send emails as Chairperson of the School Parent Council regarding planning permission for a car-park, correspond with quilters, liaise with teachers and purchase disposable cameras for Freya’s school trip to Spain.  

One of my friends idly wondered why I seem to live my life at a frantic pace but I did not have time to reflect on an answer to that question for more than 3 seconds as I was too busy dashing about. An added complication has been that my husband had to go in for an emergency eye operation to have a detached retina fixed, probably as a long-term result of a childhood accident. To recuperate from this procedure, he has to move as little as possible and he cannot drive. 

This weekend I ran a workshop for a group of girls from the International School and their mothers. It was great fun despite being a bit crowded; we even had to set up some cutting tables outside the workshop, weighing the fabric down with stones to stop it from blowing away. The girls learned how to hand-sew hexagons and make half-square-triangles for a cushion. They all seem keen to come back and do another class when I have some free time. 

On Saturday evening I went to see Fenella in her first fiddle concert and competition with the Banchory Strathspey and Reel Society, followed by a lively ceilidh. There were visitors there from all over the North of Scotland including many talented young musicians from Orkney. On Sunday afternoon it was Fergus’s turn to perform in a guitar concert where we enjoyed everything from acoustic versions of The Beatles, Spanish gypsy rhythms, to Jimi Hendrix and some serious rock solos.

It has been quite a feat ensuring that everyone has the necessary supplies, equipment and is in the right place at the right time. I zoomed past the arranged rendevouz with Freya and the other Duke of Edinburgh hikers whom I was supposed to collect after their camping expedition and there was no mobile phone reception to let them know that I was making a minor detour and may be slightly delayed. 

It is little wonder that I have not had time to visit the hairdresser for a while and have had to resort to snipping my fringe with pinking scissors again. I think that when I go and stock up the fridge before leaving on my forthcoming trip to Malvern at the end of this week I will treat myself to a bottle of artisan gin ;)

Pony and Pigeon Power

I reached the point where I was so frustrated with my appalling internet connection that I vowed I would invest in a pigeon loft and train carrier pigeons to convey all of my messages. I had all sorts of correspondence to deal with following the trip to Uttoxeter involving expiring customs carnets on demo machines, arranging a 2014 quilt retreat and longarm quilting enquiries. The Wifi was getting progressively worse but I needed to be in the right frame of mind to call customer services, based in India. In the end, after I had resorted to sending text messages and getting friends to send emails on my behalf, it proved relatively easy to remedy. The router needed to be reconfigured - I have no idea why - and finally things are working smoothly again. 

My Landrover went for its annual service recently but since then its turbo has become sluggish and I now have randomly activating wipers/squirters. If I go over a bump, the wipers decide that it is time to give the windscreen a quick wash. I listened to a radio programme all about Highland Ponies and decided that they were probably less temperamental than the Landy but it would take an awfully long time to drive a cart all the way to Birmingham for Festival of Quilts.

Since it was a 3-day weekend, I plucked up the courage to install my longarm machine upgrade. This involved dismantling the whole frame to fit new, smooth rails, adding a hydraulic table-lift, and setting up a 2013 APQS Millennium. Tania helped me to man-handle the 14 ft long poles and then I had to work my way through the instruction manuals methodically. These were actually very well presented with step by step photos but I simply find things like that befuddling. I slowly got everything worked out apart from reassembling the frame as I need help to manoeuvre the extremely long poles back into place. 

What really took time was the decision to dejunk my workshop. I simply cannot work in a muddle and I felt that things were getting over-crowded. I got rid of cardboard boxes for items that were now out of warranty, decided to clear out magazines that I was not going to re-read and even ditched scraps and odd bits of poly wadding that I had to admit that I would never use. I had to fit in a few odd chests of drawers, folding tables and porter trolleys for exhibitions that needed to fit in more neatly. I created rather a mess before I could see an improvement. I really should tackle some of the cupboards and wardrobes in the house in the same manner but now that my workshop looks more inviting, I will be too busy sewing. I even found the leather eyelet punch that was “lost”!

Uttoxeter

I have to admit that I was not actually looking forward to the Uttoxeter trip... It was the thought of all of the packing, organising, sorting, making lists and trying to get my FOQ entry almost finished that was putting me off. Once everything was done and I finally set off in the Landy listening to Radio 4, I became excited about my expedition. I collected Kay from her farm in the Scottish Borders and we trundled down to Staffordshire where Ani had a casserole ready in a quaint holiday cottage. For my driving I was rewarded with a large, refreshing G and;T and we spent a few hours catching up as we had not seen each other since FOQ last year. 

Uttoxeter Racecourse proved to be a very nice location for the British Quilt and Stitch Villlage, organised by Traplet Publications. The countryside was far greener than up here in Scotland; there were far more signs of Spring with hawthorn and magnolia blossom and far more substantial lambs. It was easy to find with plenty of parking and even spaces for caravans. The facilities are really good at racecourses since there are plenty of loos, cafes, lifts and all sorts of function suites. There were 190 or so quilts of a good standard, a separate embroidery exhibition, special exhibits including one of Kay’s stunning wholecloths, The Ostrych, and the incredible tentmakers of Cairo. There was even a guitarist playing relaxing acoustic melodies all day long which created a great atmosphere. The was a good range of traders selling everything from buttons, paints and fabric to longarm quilting machines, of course. 

We had two APQS longarms on frames at the show - Millennium and; Lenni and also the large throat sit-down version called George. Visitors were fascinated by our demonstrations and they were impressed by what they were able to achieve themselves. We met some old friends, internet friends and fellow longarmer, Janette stayed in our cottage for two nights. 

We enjoyed our pub suppers after the show each evening but I think I will avoid Frankie and; Benny’s forever... There were a lot of noisy children’s birthday parties on Saturday night and I cringed every time the whole restaurant was expected to sing “Happy Birthday“ followed by “Congratulations”. My friends hatched a plan and secretly informed the waitress that it was my birthday, which was not actually the case. She duly arrived with a chocolate brownie, topped with lighted birthday candle, balloons, birthday greetings and led the raucous public singing. It was ridiculously humiliating and hilarious - we laughed so much that we ached and still could not stop chuckling for the rest of the evening. 

I really enjoyed the Uttoxeter Experience in the end - partly because it was a most enjoyable show but mostly because I really enjoyed the Kay and Ani’s company. We got along really well, mucking in together at the show and cottage. We laughed endlessly at my inability to navigate without making odd detours and wondered why I could not concentrate on one topic for discussion at a time without going off at a random or irrelevant tangent. 

Ani packed up her awesome, capacious, little camper van, a Bongo Friendee that Kay and I wish belonged to us, and set off back to Devon while we climbed into the Landy for the long drive North. We made such a great team that I am now really looking forward to FOQ!

Watch a video of the show by cutting and pasting this link into your browser bar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pldK84Dm2-4

Alter Ego

  

For most of the week, I was my school-teaching alter-ego; apart from Monday when my mobile phone rang just as I arrived at school to request that I go straight home to collect Fergus who had been travel-sick on his school bus! He recovered quickly so I was able to use the bonus time to catch up on boring paperwork. Later, we made a trip to the public library, discovering that their internet is far faster than ours; the documents that I had been uploading so painfully slowly for days all disappeared into cyberspace within minutes. 

I was in school for 3 days, covering all sorts of classes from Nursery to P7 so that teachers could get some precious non-teaching time to do some report writing. There were lessons  on pie-charts, spellings, 3D island contours and equivalent fractions. I decided that it would be fun to explain these in the context of a gladiatorial contest, pitching different armoured combinations of "Numerator" and "Denominator" into a Roman amphitheatre. I may not be up to date with all of the latest teaching jargon but my class was of the opinion that this maths lesson had been  "Epic!"

I took my leather quilt to Mo's workshop with the intention of borrowing an industrial eyelet setter to make holes for its corset strings but "Yurtman" Paul happened to be there and mentioned that he had a heavy-duty press-stud gadget. I decided that this would be an  even better method of attachment and I if I have time I can even sew tiny garnet chips around each giant press-stud. I always enjoy tossing ideas out with Mo and Paul - I drove away considering quilting a sheep-shaped piece of leather and displaying it stretched out in a collapsible frame looking as if it was being tanned...

I managed to squeeze in a patchwork pupil - we spent a couple of hours running up a large pieced back for a quilt and having a go at trying the skinny curved piecing that I have been doing lately. It was interesting to observe someone else learning a technique that I have picked up and evolved to suit myself. Beginner pupils often feel that they have to pull or stretch the fabrics as they feed through the sewing machine; in fact it is a case of allowing the machine to do all of that and simply using your fingers to guide or steer.

The Coracle is still waiting impatiently for me to tackle its cover and I was amused to notice that tiny green sprouts are appearing out of the green willow. Helen will attempt to create a wicker paddle and I will wrap offcuts of quilted leather around its shaft. 

Ann has almost finished piecing the Cherrywood quilt in pale tones that we are hoping to complete in time to enter into the two-person category at Festival of Quilts so this will be another project for me to do after I return from the British Quilt and Stitch Village Show at Uttoxeter Racecourse next week. And I really want some time to set up my quilt frame with its long-awaited upgrade, sigh...!

Deadline

 

 

 

 

  

I have a very tight deadline to meet in order to complete and photograph the 3 Totems that I want to enter into a juried show. There was also the added pressure of school holidays, considering a full teaching week ahead and the prospect of packing longarm machines and driving to Uttoxeter the following week. This meant that the totems had to be almost finished by the weekend. Somehow, I managed to sew almost all day ALL week and amazed myself that by Saturday I had got as far as I could. 

I have ordered the large upholstery foam columns which should arrive by Wednesday so the final challenge will be fitting everything together as neatly as possible. I made quilted ends to look like tree trunk cross sections, bottoms with velcro attached in case they need to be stuck down if it looks like they may topple over, and plenty of bias binding for piping. I have bought cording and ribbon that I hope will act like corset strings once I have punched eyelets into the leather quilt, and checked that all of the hand-sewn gems are securely attached.

Over the course of the week I added a linen mid-section to the totem quilt that will be behind the goatskin one and quilted it with dead straight lines as a contrast to the swirly quilting on the leather. Next I drew out some circles onto calico for the back of the silver  spandex totem - some were roughly Celtic and others were just circles that I would fill in later. Finally, I manically pieced skinny curved strips with some inserts for the 3rd totem and quilted it with great restraint in simple verticals. This was done with considerable trepidation since I don't usually go in for subtle quilting but I think it was a wise choice.

I could easily have been side-tracked by the arrival of the fabulous Coracle. Helen Jackson did an amazing job of weaving long willow wands into a proper little boat, complete with a neat wicker seat. I had to hang it straight up in my workshop so that I would not be tempted to start trying to fit its chamois skin before finishing the totems. This exciting and fiddly job will have to wait until I get back from Uttoxeter. I think it will take me a considerable while to sew on all of its amber and blue glass beads!

My longarm upgrade also arrived this week but so far I have just peeped inside the boxes as I would like a free weekend and a willing assistant to get it all set up. I will have new super smooth rails, a new machine and even a hydraulic lift which should mean that I can quilt more comfortably for even more hours at a time.

Mind you, I have to allow time to try and focus on the Ebook that is developing out of the original, neglected Yurt Book. The publisher has made helpful suggestions on how to cut out some of the vast quantity of slightly less relevant information, concentrating more on techniques and inspiration. If I ever did publish the original Yurt Book as planned, it would have several mighty volumes and may not appeal to everyone;)

Tricky Timetables

Cakes and Inks

Volcanoes, Moquette and Invisible Mice

   

I had a busy and varied week. I was booked to teach in school on 4 days and give two talks/demos but wintry weather threw in a couple of diversions to this plan. I gave a talk to a local WRI which seemed to go down well. I was expected to judge the competitions for "best hyacinth bulb" and "vegetarian supper for one". I was the lucky recipient of two raffle prizes, comprising a set of ladies' embroidered hankies and a rubber ball on a keyring that would hold spare carrier bags for emergency shopping. It is a good job that I found my evening so entertaining since they were not actually joking when they said that my Speaker's Fee would be the delicious Refreshments. I was a little surprised: at least, the meringues were delicious. 

We have been trying hard not to hurt Bluecat's feelings by laughing at her clumsy attempts to catch the invisible mice that live deep inside the walls of our old farmhouse. She has a habit of not paying attention and frequently falls straight off the end of the windowsill. The other day she tried out a proper cat stunt of taking a running jump from kitchen stool to table but the stool slipped and she went flying off in a very uncool move which she was unable to make look deliberate. She glared grumpily and stalked off for a sulk in her shopping basket.

I had an enjoyable week in school with a Primary 6 class that was half its usual size since all of the P7's were away on a residential trip. Without the aid of any special training courses, we had fun building volcanic islands out of snow which erupted with a mixture of vinegar, bicarb and food colouring. The class carried out research on 3 tropical islands and   found out all sorts of fascinating facts about komodo dragons, vanilla, tomato frogs and maps. We all learned how to sing two songs in sign language as we had a very talented signing expert who supports a profoundly deaf child.

I was meant to teach a workshop on Wednesday so I turned down a day of teaching in school. In the end, the workshop was also cancelled due to snow so I gained a day in my workshop, albeit unpaid. I expect that it was due to having bonus time that I made two disastrous attempts at bias binding. The first time round I did not have enough of a particular fabric and the next time I cut a perfectly good piece of fabric into too many triangles for some bizarre reason. I ditched the "clever" method in the end and simply cut off 45 degree strips and sewed them together. 

I had been cold in bed the night before so instead of going to look for an extra quilt I thought I might like to make a new one. I spent some time browsing at fabric online before telling myself that I could use up leftover Aboriginal prints. I tried out a new-to-me simple method of making half square triangles and decided that the next time I am bored I will  simply piece odds and ends until I have a bed quilt sized project. Obviously, I already have unquilted projects that I could quite easily turn into a new quilt for my bed but I had a passing fancy to start something new. 

I managed to sew a few more gemstones onto the white leather piece and I joined sections of the freestyle pieced curvy strips together. All I need now is the extra large foam bolster that I will turn into the first Celtic totem post. 

The other project that I have been working on is an ancient bedcover that Mo asked me to quilt for a client. It is made from some sort of cotton fabric that is very fragile and crewel work that seems to be made from moquette or jute. I am simply stippling the background down onto calico, wool wadding and backing but it did not take long for me to realise that most of the embroidery was no longer firmly attached. I am quilting slowly right over all of it and it is rather like quilting a carpet. It is really amazing what my APQS longarm machine can cope with - silk, spandex, leather, carpetty stuff... This project has not been fun so I confess that I have been stopping frequently to look up fountain pens, beads, ex London Underground moquette cushions, and sealing wax on Ebay.

Old Skool

It is one thing to be told by cool dudes in New York that one’s gold Doc Martens are “Old Skool” but quite another not to be short-listed for a job because of “failing to meet the specified criteria”. I should explain that I was confounded and demoralised that I was not offered an interview for a part-time job in a school where I have done a lot of teaching. I decided to phone the Headteacher and ask for feedback and was informed that I was not deemed suitable since I have not attended any recent training courses and there was no “evidence” on my application form that I would be able to implement the latest curriculum developments. I pointed out that supply teachers do not have access to most training courses and that I have spent the last two years relief teaching at short notice covering all age groups and subjects. I called the education department to enquire how I could gain access to the latest training opportunities and they were staggered that I had not been offered an interview based upon those objections. This made me feel slightly better but I have seriously wondered why I should continue supply teaching at all, being paid less than a probationer and made to feel that my years of skill and experience are irrelevant. 

It has been hard to accept that the career that I always thought I could pick up and continue is not welcoming me back with open arms. It would appear that instead of simply being able to “walk the walk”, I should also be able to quote the latest educational jargon on paper. Frankly, I would rather spend my leisure time and money learning how to make lampwork beads, Japanese or Classical Studies. Perhaps this was an affirmation that I should devote all of my energy to quilting after all. I need never worry about taking time off during term-time to travel to a quilt show! 

I regretted the decision to choose a second sensible pair of reading glasses that would go with any outfit. I should have chosen the crazy lime green ones after all. I have finally had to admit that I need specs for reading small print and threading needles. I picked out a pair that I would be able to perch on the end of my nose and I intend to make them a fancy beaded string. 

I worked on a customer quilt this week - 16 simple but cleverly pieced large blocks made a complex looking lattice. My quilt machine did not answer back and no-one demanded to see my qualifications. I have decided to upgrade my 6 year old APQS Millennium to the latest and smoothest model which should enable me to work on more customer quilts. I have also ordered a hydraulic lift system for my table so that I can adjust the height and stand there quilting for even longer each day.   

On a whim I decided to fill up an old fountain pen and write a few notes. It took me right back to my school days and I really enjoyed the practice of WRITING in ink! I decided to order a nostalgic glass bottle of brown ink and savour the act of writing, rather than scribbling notes illegibly in biro or typing using a keyboard. 

I have decided to make 3 tree totems for the time being, possibly making 12 eventually. I finished piecing the wavy sections that will cover the foam column behind the white leather quilt. The next totem will just be covered in quilted silver spandex and the third will feature more wavy piecing. I knew that this project would fall into place eventually if I kept the ideas ticking over at the back of my mind...

Bead Dazzled

   

The trouble with browsing on Ebay is that it is easy to waste an awful lot of time doing "research" while finding the best sites for gems or beads. I also became extremely distracted looking at handmade glass lampwork beads on Etsy and I started to build up quite a collection of inexpensive and not-so-cheap beads for my Houston Chamilia/Trollbead bracelet. My excuse was that I was actually choosing beads to add to the Pandora bracelet that I have bought Freya for her birthday but virtual shopping for bead-charms was becoming my latest addiction. I told myself that this was perfectly justifiable since I have not been drinking wine in recent weeks as part of a mini health kick! Fenella has informed me that she would also like a bracelet like mine so it looks like I may have to spend a little more time searching for the best deals. 

In addition to a day in the classroom, I helped a beginner quilter to apply binding to a cub-scout banner, sewed yet more gemstones onto the white leather goatskin, and I did some utility quilting on a gingerbread man patchwork throw for a customer. 

I confounded the local pharmacist again with an unusual request for lanolin cream or neatsfoot oil which I wanted to use for rehydrating the battered old leather that Mo stripped from some ancient armchairs. I did not want to drive all the way over to the feed merchant and horse tack shop so I improvised with French olive-oil soap and rapeseed oil. I really want to maintain the very worn look of the old leather but I am concerned that it will all crack up if I try quilting it when it is so dry. I daresay I may have to quilt a test piece to see what happens. 

I finished quilting the Norse birds onto the soft deerskin hide and posted a picture on Facebook. I was thrilled when one of my quilting heroes, Karen McTavish, commented that she thought it was "Glorious!" I have decided that it definitely will not become part of the tree/totem series as I have concluded that they should all feature circles that can be surrounded with gems or other interesting beads. 

I worked on some skinny curved piecing over the weekend as I want the "totem" to look a little like birch bark but using the same colours as the gems. There was a time when I would never had dared to try such a radical aspect of patchwork but I figured out my own way of doing it and I am quite excited by what I have planned.

I balked at Mo's suggestion of making  7 such pieces since that is a magical number but I am very tempted by the notion of making 12 - one for every month of the year. I have not even finished the first one yet and I can picture myself being consumed by a new major series. I am already trying to talk myself out of creating something new for the inaugural British Quilt & Stitch Village Show in Uttoxeter at the end of April. Surely I must have something already finished that could be suitable? 

Not Seeing the Trees for the Wood

  

I was driving along looking at all of the different trees to see what sort of trunk would be best for displaying my leather quilts and wondering how to courier them to a show at a reasonable price. Suddenly I struck me that I was barking up the wrong tree - so to speak. I realised that what I really needed would be something like foam bolster cushions. Obviously, they could not simply be plain foam columns on which to display the quilts. I decided that they would be covered with striated undulating patchwork strips that would represent the effect of real bark. I am still not sure whether the curved strips will run horizontally or vertically but I did have a go at using very skinny strips so I know it can be done. 

I had problem sourcing neutral and grey solid fabric to look like silver birch trees. It seems that the entire Modern Quilt Movement has bought all of it. I tried dyeing some cotton sateen but the colours were too strong. I found some suitable bits in my stash and ordered some Oakshott in pale green, light grey and a very rich pinky-red since that is the colour of some of the birch branches. It would now seem that I am intending to use strips that match the gemstones, rather than realistic tree bark colours.

Sewing the gemstones on has taken me rather a long time but they are so gorgeous that it has been really enjoyable. I may have discovered a new fascination for buying beads on Ebay and I am now waiting for a couple of small packages that are coming all the way from China.

I had quite a varied week: teaching in a small village school one day and visiting a longarmer the next day to talk about tension and timing. I was annoyed that I had to leave before her machine was all completely fixed to meet my children from school but she managed to get it all sorted out and running smoothly again. 

I managed to get some admin done and then spent a while writing a 1000 word essay on myself as a profile to send into the FOQ catalogue. However, when I reread the email I saw that I should only have written 100 words so I will need to do a little bit of an edit on that piece.  I suppose I could do that while I make notes to decide whether it might be possible to turn the long overdue Yurt Book into an Ebook...

I started another leather quilt with Norse birds as the main motif but I am not yet convinced that it should form part of the tree series. I am wondering whether all of those should have celtic-style circles like the white goatskin - all surrounded by more gems and beads I expect!

Charms and Gems

Since I could not actually swear to having bought pearl beads in Des Moines, I went on an Ebay mission to look for replacements. Trawling Ebay is always fatal as I tend to get a little carried away with browsing for things that I did not know I needed. I managed to find some reasonably priced cultured pearls AND some other beads, obviously. Unfortunately, I found myself buying a vintage charm bracelet. It arrived safely and was absolutely lovely but when I put it on I realised that it was not really my style. I decided to put it back on Ebay rater than leave it unworn in a drawer so hopefully I won't make too much of a loss! Instead, I bought a couple of new beads for the Chamilia bracelet that I bought in Houston and I intend to wear that one more often. 

I decided to work on the white goatskin and silver spandex project this week so I experimented with pressing hard with a ballpoint pen through the Celtic circle patterns that I had drawn to emboss what I wanted to stitch. It was really hard to see so I sketched some more details in using a frixion pen. For some reason, the ruler base kept getting stuck on the plasticky spandex side so I had to quilt everything totally freehand, even the circle outlines. Despite being a fairly substantial leather, it quilted beautifully but I think I prefer the silver side which is actually the back of the project. 

I made a trip to "Treasures", an amazingly jam-packed tiny gem shop in Kincardine O'Neil and bought some strands of amythest, rose quartz and turquoise chips to hand sew onto my leather projects. I left them a very old glass bead necklace that had been broken for years to see if they could fix it up for me. I asked for their expert opinion checking that the gems I wanted to use would have been available to Vikings or Celts and they confirmed that the stones I had picked were either Scottish or could be found in countries where the Norse people traded. 

I managed to spend a little while painting white pearlescent paint inside all of the circles and then I hand-sewed a ring of tiny gem chips around one of the circles. It took me quite a long time as I don't do much hand sewing at all but I got neater and faster and I think  the embellished circle looks terrific. I bent my ridiculously thin beading needle by poking it in and out of the quilted leather but it was relatively easy and I did not even have to use a thimble. I can't help thinking how long the chamois corracle will take to bead though!

The revised entry forms arrived for Festival of Quilts and make me wonder HOW I intend to send them my large 3D items. They have to be with the exhibitors a few weeks beforehand and the in-person drop off depots are in the south of England. I wonder if a corracle would fit into a washing machine box?

Meanwhile I enquired about a small business loan to upgrade my longarm machine, attempted to set up a business spreadsheet, applied for a part-time local teaching job and received an email about The Yurt Book from a small independent publisher so I could hardly be accused of twiddling my thumbs...

Possessed

  I was utterly obsessed or more likely, possessed by the desire to complete the corracle quilting and to complete the totally absorbing trilogy of books set on the Isle of Lewis by Peter May. 

The dense quilting was pretty hard going but most gratifying as the texture on the chamois and spandex is gorgeous and I am not sure which side I actually prefer. The spandex was more than a little challenging as it stretched in all directions. It was rather like adjusting a pair of Spanx hold-you-in-knickers as I tried to get rid of the wrinkles while it was on the quilt frame. 

Every time I stopped for a cup of coffee or lunch, I greedily read a few chapters as the characters and Hebridean scenery seemed so real. I tried to tell myself to savour the experience but the stories were too compelling. I could even imagine myself living on a windswept croft, eating porridge and cutting peat. For several nights I read well past midnight until the whole story was complete and I sincerely hope that the author will add to the series. I may get a little more work done this week but I am about to embark on a third Carcassonne novel by Kate Mosse that is likely to distract me.

Once I took the 9 quilted chamois skins off the frame I realised how weighty this piece is. Listening to a play on Radio 4, I used gold fabric paint to highlight the quarter-inch concentric circles. I took a small off-cut of chamois and hand sewed some beads onto it using nymo thread and a fine leather needle. I was delighted at how easy it was to attach small chips of amber and some shells. I want to embellish the outside of the corracle using the type of trinkets that Vikings may have traded. I can’t really sew the beads on until I have the the quilted fitted onto corracle frame as there will be quite a lot of shaping and cutting to do. I decided to quilt right out to the edges as I intend to use leftover pieces to cover the paddle handle and possibly make some notebooks if there is enough.

We had two seasons this week: there was heavy snow and treacherous driving conditions on Wednesday but a rapid thaw the next day which led to beautiful spring-like weather for the next few days. It spurred me on to do a mini spring clean in the Music room and  my workshop. I bought a few plastic crates to organise my teaching materials and get rid of some projects that had been hiding in shoe boxes. I found the raw garnet chips that I thought I had lost but I have not remembered where I stashed some pearls that I bought in Des Moines. 

I caught up with Mo for coffee and bounced around a few ideas for another project thatI have had in my head for a while. There will be an Ancient Celtic theme and I hope to use all sorts of natural embellishments. I have asked everyone locally to be on the lookout for small dead creatures as I want to use bones instead of beads. I spotted a fresh road-killed badger but my children would not let me stop the car to retrieve it as they thought that was both weird and embarrassing. I will have to speak to a game-keeper nicely - failing that I suppose I could make do with some antler toggles. I am keen to get started on the next project, even though I know that I still have Oz Bewitched and Highland Fling to complete. I can’t decide whether to start with the soft brown deerskin or the white goat leather...