Packing Has Begun

 

Thank goodness my great friend, Mo decided she would help me get organised for my move to Devon because without her I would be running around like a headless chicken. We always were a good team when it came to us having adventures so we shrink wrapped, packed, chucked stuff out, took things to the Red Cross shop, and did some wheeler-dealing at a vintage emporium. I have also been selling things on Facebook - some very popular items and many where the prospective buyers did not turn up. Gradually though, I have made enough for my van hire!

As if that was not busy enough, I gave an in-person longarm quilting lesson and a ruler tutorial via Zoom. The final job for my Q24 was to quilt a mermaid tea towel that I plan to bead and hand-stitch if I have time on my hands in the evenings;)

Mo helped me to dismantle and pack both Q24s. It was done carefully enough but not necessarily to a Swiss standard. I know where everything is and I know that it is all safe to travel without coming to any harm. I have also packed up my domestic machines, quilting books, sold my fabric stash and sorted through my clothes but there is still so much to do. Thank goodness I am not packing up the entire house, only my belongings. It seems relentless but it will get done in the end - I have no idea where it will all end up though because I can’t imagine I will ever have a workshop like the one here.

In addition to all that moving related stress, I finally heard back from the garage about my dead Volvo. They had to strip it out in order to get at the fuel pump which turned out not to be the culprit. The mechanic was amazed that the car had not burst into flames as its wiring was all melted and he could see that it had also happened previously. He has “hotwired” it for now but it is not happy and because its brain has been fried is displaying every single error message. It will take quite some time to fix and there is no guarantee that it won’t happen again so I will have to get a new-to-me car. And the arm snapped off my favourite specs. Oh well, as the the warthog, Pumbaa in The Lion King says -  “Hakuna matata;)”

A New Chapter

I have taken hundreds of photos this week - of things to sell on Facebook Marketplace. The local rumour mill has been convinced for months that something is more afoot here than me decluttering. When I moved here 24 years ago I said that I would only leave if carried out in a box but things change and I am going to make a huge move on my own. I am heading for Devon to start a new job as the Longarm Expert (amongst other things) at Quilt Direct. It is exciting, terrifying and sometimes overwhelming. To start with I will live in a static caravan on a farm because it is too hard choosing a place to rent on the internet. I have 3 weeks to pack up my stuff and start out on my adventure with my machines, essentials and Nessie.

The kids are on board with the move although they wish I had done it years ago. Reality has now hit and they know we will never all be at Brigton Farm together like before unless we are clearing it out. If they decide to visit I won’t be there. There were a lot of last times this week, Morning pancakes, making jam, walks along the river, sunsets, starry skies… The girls were sad when I dropped them off at Stonehaven station. 

I have spent the week on a preliminary sort-out in the workshop, advertising all sorts of things to raise funds for my removal van. I did my last customer quilt here and had the last customer quilt pick-up from one of my most long-standing clients. I have two lessons to give this week then need to dismantle the machines. I had a roaring bonfire getting rid of unnecessary paperwork and defunct business cards. 

I am going to have to be ruthless and leave many things behind. I have filled this house with all sorts of junk but I cannot take half a dozen teapots. I am reconciled to the fact that  much of what I have is just “stuff” but at the same time I don’t want to regret some of my decisions. I don’t actually intend to take everything in one trip but I do want to get pretty packed up and store it in my workshop until I find a house that might work. 

For those of you who read this blog, I hope you will stick with me on my new chapter. I will still be quilting for customers on behalf of Quilt Direct and they will offer free postage for my existing customers. It is going to be a VERY busy few weeks!

A Not Going Anywhere Week

 

My journey home from FoQ was not entirely straightforward. I made it to Fergus’ flat in Glasgow with no problems but when we decided to nip to the supermarket my car would not start, just like it did in June. I called the AA just after 9am the next morning and a patrol truck came about 2 hours later and declared that we would need to be taken to a garage. At 1.30pm we got towed as far as Asda in Cumbernauld where we hung around for 5 hours waiting for another  truck to take us further. This was also meant to be a staged journey but the fantastic female driver decided that she would take us all the way back and we finally reached Banchory at midnight. All of the garages and mobile mechanics seem to be busy and nobody will even look at it until late next week. The only other car available car at home is an ancient VW Golf with defective brakes so I won’t be going anywhere for a while unless I hire a car!

All 3 children came home for a few days which was lovely and I even persuaded them that I would like a photo in the summer evening sun. 

I did not want to disappear into my workshop to do customer quilts while they were visiting so I pottered around and even tidied up my jungly plant windowsill after a bird got in and pooped everywhere. 

We cooked together and just enjoyed each other’s company. As young adults all living away from home, they love the kitchen space, gadgets, and food stores that I have. We used a silly rice scoop to make duck shaped rice balls and Nessie was thrilled to have all of her favourite people for a visit. 

I will have an empty nest again next week so will get the customer quilts done and have a ruthless workshop sort-out.

Festival of Quilts 2024

I first attended FoQ in 2006, missed out 2007, can’t remember whether I went in 2009 and 2020 was cancelled which means I have been to 17 (I think) and at least 14 of those years I was working as a longarm demonstrator. 

Birmingham is often hot while FoQ is on and set-up day was around 30 celsius so we all melted as we got the stand ready. Thank goodness for the good humour of the UK Bernina team and everything was made ready, with just a few swear words, for the crowds on Thursday.

Thursday and Friday were pretty busy but Saturday was oddly quiet and we dreaded that Sunday might be a slow day but it turned out better than expected. Working on a stand means that you don’t get the same opportunity to wander around at a leisurely pace, browsing the competition quilts or doing shopping. To be honest, I have reached the point where I rarely make any purchases  because I really don’t need any more quilting “stuff”. In the end I bought a pattern for a stuffed toy Axolotl and a signed copy of Nicholas Ball’s book. 

I zoomed around making a silly video on my scooter early one morning, ignoring a security person who warned  me, “No whizzing!” On the last morning I was more sensible and made several short clips on my phone which I plan to make into a Youtube video about quilts that grabbed my attention. 

For once, I was in total agreement with the Best in Show quilt, “Dear Humans”, a pictorial quilt which was exquisitely done. 

The gallery that I enjoyed the most was by an American quilter, Sidnee Snell. The pieces were a mixture of photographic and abstract. They all had saturated, solid colours but seemed felted or like watercolours. The quilting was actually very simple but the pieces were washed when the stitching was completed so had a more textured finish. 

I enjoyed seeing old friends and made some new ones. I missed having the Qmatic computer on the longarm stand as it always bring people in out of curiosity. It is always fun to show people a longarm who have never seen one before and the reactions vary from those who think it is cheating to those who are blown away by the possibilities. 

Quite a few people asked why I did not have a quilt in the competition. The answer to that is perhaps that a) I have been busy with Life, b) I am not sure that I have been hit by sufficient inspiration and c) my personal standards are higher and I know that I have to devote far more TIME than I can to such an endeavour. Who knows what will happen by 2025?!