Feels Like Abroad

I had a couple more days off with Nella this week and we explored a remote beach on the North Devon coast which could easily have been somewhere like Portugal. It’s a pity it takes about 1.5 hours to get there. 

It was ridiculous that with water running down my wall in heavy rain, most of the town had no water due to a burst pipe. There is no doubt that I am experiencing a totally different climate to Scotland as Sunday was like high summer and I spent all day in my garden, grass cutting, potting up fuchsias, clearing more brambles and painting my fence to make it look less rotten. 

I have a binding class coming up this week and I had fully intended to work on the handouts except that the sun was out and it seemed a shame to stay indoors. I know what I am doing - just need to write it all down;)

I Wish I had a Chainsaw

It has been lovely having Nella here for her Easter holidays. She had been a bit worried that my new place would not feel like home but she says it does as there are some things from the old house. She has been busy doing some free motion embroidery on my Bernina 475 for her textile projects. 

We had a couple of outings to Tintagel, Calstock and Looe, despite some very heavy rain that Nessie was not impressed by. I was not impressed that my bedroom sprung a leak and has made a mess of my lovely white paint. 

I finally got around to putting some pictures up on my “gallery” wall. I do not recommend command strips on bumpy wallpaper so I used heavy duty sticky pads instead. When I move I will just have to paint over any damage;)

Easter Sunday was dry so I cut my grass yet again then got carried away shifting a huge fallen tree in the overgrown garden next door. I have decided that I want to clear a path to the river and put a deckchair there. I did all that with my hand saw, wishing that I had a chainsaw. What I really wished for was a bath to soak in afterwards.

Retreat Success

My long anticipated Art & Stitch retreat week was a success! The amount of preparation that I did paid off and I managed to pull off the illusion of being an expert on a complex digitising program. The folk who came along all gelled nicely as a group and all went home as far more confident users of the Q-Matic with Art & Stitch computerised quilting system. 

It was a beautifully sunny week here in Devon (nearly Cornwall) so it was a novelty to have a mid-week day off. I did not head for the seaside but pottered around at home then met my Retreaters for an alfresco cup of tea in Tavistock. I fixed my sloping floating shelf by resourcefully wedging some slivers of milk carton behind the brackets. I cut the grass, touched up the black paint on the shed, refreshed my window boxes and planted pots of sweet peas!

Nella is coming for her Easter hols from Uni so I did a “proper” supermarket shop and unpacked the Bernina 475QE that I bought over a year ago as a teaching machine. Due to the last minute chaos of my move from Scotland, it ended up being the only machine that came to Devon. I had enlisted Tracey Pereira to draw up SVG files so I could use the Scan-n-Cut to make vinyl stickers. I secretly wanted the jolly Kaffe Fassett version but it was unavailable. I may not have got the sizes and placements 100% right but I am pleased with the general idea and I still have some space left to fill.

Hollywood Aspirations

I had a bit of a scrappy week at work, doing lots of “this and that”. The highlight was that an Oscar winning cinematographer (married to one of our clients) came to share some filming tips with me and our media apprentice. His advice for our Youtube tutorials was “keep it simple”, using natural light where possible and even shooting everything on an iPhone, rather than a complicated, fancy camera!

I attempted to do some simple crafting and made some fused bead shapes that might become a dangly curtain (or not.)

The weather was lovely and I sat outside to do some last minute revision for next week’s Art & Stitch retreat. I think I am as well prepared as I could be.

I even washed and dried a couple of grubby sheepskins that I have on my sofa. Nessie is allowed to sit on them so they were not so white and fluffy;)