Visiting Quilt Direct in Tavistock

 I was so determined to make a good impression at Quilt Direct that I got everything organised and was pretty much packed by Monday! I had got all of my customer quilts out of the way so I had to give myself something straightforward to do for a couple of days. I received the new Bernina 475QE that I intend to take with me on teaching trips when I go by car. It is smaller and more modern than the 710 that I have set into a table. I had coveted the turquoise Kaffe Fassett version but there are no more available in the UK so I have enlisted Tracey Pereira’s help to design some jazzy decals for it. 

I quilted a second iris panel in blue, using basting stitches instead of pins to secure it. I think it was a bit smaller than the pink one and I admit that I did not spend quite as much time lining it up precisely to get the digital designs to fit - it looks great but if you look closely, there are a couple of annoying pattern overlaps. 

A dozen sheep appeared in my garden and were behaving so naughtily compared to their friends in the field. They were scoffing the grass and looking around to check that a sheepdog was not about to round them up. I penned them in with hurdles so they could not get onto the track then road and called the farmer. 

I have been making a concerted effort to have more of a presence on social media in order to get people to book for my classes. It is quite an effort to come up with posts, and then check in for views and comments. My social media presence fizzled out around 2019-2020 and I must admit that I did not miss it. It amazes me that some quilters have thousands of comments and views on every post. How do they achieve that? I don’t actually want to be super famous or popular - I just feel embarrassed and a bit of a fraud if my classes don’t get fully booked;)

After a slightly faffy couple of days, I took Nessie to Mo’s and was finally ready for my trip to Quilt Direct in Tavistock, Devon. I flew from Edinburgh to Newquay in Cornwall and could barely see the scenery because of rain and mist. Everyone said that it seems like the weather has been stuck like that all winter. 

Quilt Direct is a well known UK quilt supplies online store and Bernina dealer. They have a lovely open and bright showroom on the edge of Tavistock with every single Bernina machine on display. I don’t think I have seen ALL of the machines in one place before. I was obviously very busy because I took very few pictures during the classes. I must make a sign that I take to classes reminding me do do that. My pupils were very diligent and said that they enjoyed their classes. I did one day on Northern Lights inspired improv/freestyle piecing and the other day was all about the Q-Series. 

There was a cream tea, pasties, and a lovely bunch of folk who deal with customers, machines and orders. I stayed with the owner, Katherine, who made me most welcome in her 400 year old farmhouse on Dartmoor and met 6 ponies, plus Oreo the cat, Kiera the dog and Graham, the head chef:)

The publisher of my (flopped) E-book, Vivienne Wells, came for a visit from Exeter and we reconnected as she has relaunched my book and changed its title from “Deviant Quilting” to “Machine Quilting with The Quilt Quine”. It first came out almost 10 years ago so it could probably do with a rewrite but I don’t think I want to go there.

After a hectic few days, my pal Mel, who moved to Looe from Banchory last year collected me from Tavistock and I will spend the next day and a half exploring her part of Cornwall. I hope the sun comes out just for a little while so I can see the sea!