Glasgow 2015

Monday was spent figuratively girding my loins and preparing for the trip to SECC Glasgow with the Yurt, Coracle and Henge. Freya looked disgusted that the totems had all been taken off their shelves and she dreads putting them all back again next week. 

The whole family travelled to Dunfermline in Fife for my Uncle’s funeral on Tuesday. Despite it being a sad occasion, it was nice to reconnect with long-lost family and friends. My folks will be relieved to return to their own lives after a few difficult weeks.

Sat-Nav lady shouted at me after I had ignored her for several junctions and navigated me to the SECC via the East End of Glasgow in my huge white van. I was given 3 helpful but clueless guys to help me set up the Yurt. Two rafters got broken and mended but the structure was eventually made sound, although a touch wonky. No wonder it has only been erected a handful of times since 2010! 

It is so gratifying to hear the wonder and amazement of quilt show visitors who cannot believe the scale and audacity of The Quilted Yurt. It was wonderful to have enough space to display the Henge and Coracle next to it. I just wish that a museum would offer to curate the entire collection so it does not have to be stored in bubble-warp in my garage most of the time. 

I met up with Ellen and enjoyed a wonderful curry in Glasgow’s South Side. We had intended to trawl the sari shops but forget that they would close early for Friday prayers. I set her the task of tracking down some family history as she is a bit of a genealogy whizz. It was fascinating to find out more about my Grandfather who lived in the Gorbals of Glasgow in the 1920’s.

My non-machine quilting classes at the show seemed to go down well. They were more like a stand-up comedy routine. I kept telling my pupils that there are no rules and they could just do whatever took their fancy. This show looks like it could grow and develop at the SECC. It should double in size next year and I think it is a really good venue. My hotel overlooking the Clyde was lovely and if I had been more on the ball I could have booked tickets for all sorts of music events at The Hydro. 

“Bifrost” did not win a prize at the show. It was well lit and looked pretty good but was overlooked in favour of simpler, less complicated pieces. Ellen has given me “permission” not to work on a major project this year. I need to concentrate on completing the Ebook and work on some samples for Bernina. I had good intentions to work on book edits in the hotel each evening but I was so tired that I just watched a bit of inane telly then fell asleep. 

On a busy final day the visitors continued to be very complimentary about all of my pieces and wondered why I had not managed to find a museum home for them. I managed to tear down the yurt quickly with the help of a couple of porters and drove the van away at 6pm, completing my drive north in 3 hours. I spent the whole of the next day tidying everything away and was delighted to get help from Tania in exchange for a couple of strong mugs of coffee. Now to crack on with one of my lengthy To-Do lists…