Torpor in Tavi

 

Whew - it has been hot this week in Devon although not as hot as London which reached 33 degrees! My first task at work each morning was to fling all of the windows open. I had a varied week, demonstrating the Q24, teaching an overlocker class, working on a customer quilt, reorganising the walk-in cupboard, and sorting out bolts of Grunge fabric. 

I did not venture far over the weekend, either staying in the shade or inside, just wilting. I tidied the shed and put together a shockingly flimsy shelving unit. When it cooled down I cleared the rubble out of the old pig shed, thinking it will be a handy place to storage my garden furniture over winter. Part of my brain thought that I should be sewing something outside in the garden but the other part said it was OK to just sit and read a book and check on my plants;)

On Hols with 3 Fs:)

 

I had a super week with all three of my children. They get along amazingly well with each other as young adults. We had outings to Hound Tor, Welcombe Beach, Polzeath, Looe and Exeter! The weather was mixed, the house fitted everyone in and we had a bonfire. I planted up some wee plants and herbs and put busy lizzies into my favourite green (15 year old) Docs which now have smooth soles and great big holes! It is very quiet here now that everyone has gone back to Glasgow and Norwich but they have promised to visit again soon:)

Some Visitors

Nella arrived on Monday evening and my other two children will arrive on Sunday so we will all be on holiday this coming week! I am hoping that it will be dry after an absolute deluge on Saturday where Nella and I binge-watched the latest series of “Outlander”.

Nessie had a cat visitor who won a staring contest before sauntering off on its way. 

On Friday we ventured to a Cornish village called Minions then walked up to see the weird geological rock formation, The Cheeswring. It was quite a calm day but it was blowing a hoodie at the top. 

At work I tested out the Bernina hoop frame with and without BSR. Personally I favour using it without. It was easy enough to set up but I do think people would get frustrated with the limited quilting space offered by a domestic machine and would prefer to mount a Q16 which has a more generous throat space and can accommodate ruler work. I have only set up a practice piece so far so it will be interesting to see if it is easy to deal with a much larger quilt, which would be a game changer for quilters short of space who wish to get into longarm quilting. 

Getting Stuck In

I really got stuck into things this week, maybe because I have visitors coming soon? I continued working on the strippy quilt top and got it finished so I could move the sewing machine out of the back bedroom. It is a bit galling that I will actually have to buy batting and backing for this project as I have 2 or 3 rolls in Scotland. I often dyed a sheet for the back of my quilts but I don’t have any dye or dare to use the washing machine here;) 

At work the new Bernina Hoop Frame arrived and was quickly assembled. I will need to get a quilt on it next week and put it through its paces. I think it will be great for people with limited space but I am not sure that I will be a big fan, having had the luxury of the Q24. We have set it up with a large domestic machine for now but that has a limited throat space and cannot do ruler work. It reminds me of how I got started with long-arming back when I got a Megaquilter. It would inevitably be a better option to put a Q16 on the frame. These are all things I intend to investigate. 

I had a quilt to do for a member of staff which needed to be finished in time for an Accuquilt retreat. The blocks and setting triangles were done using Qmatic but the speediest way of doing circles in the sashing was to use a circle ruler. I quilted like a maniac to finish on time. It is not perfect but it is DONE and Karen is very pleased with it;)

I was going to have a leisurely potter on my day off, working out how to gentrify my shed. Karen sent her husband round to help get the rest of the random boards off the inside walls and cut them up to fill gaps near the ceiling. He said I should try to get the ivy off the back and side to prevent damp and to stop it trying to get in. To get to the back I had to clear a pile of branches and brambles at the side. Once I did that I discovered that the damp was being caused by a whole old fence and shed leaning against the back of the shed. Three whole hours passed with me hacking undergrowth and shifting debris. 

I spent the rest of the weekend tidying, doing laundry, potting up some mini plug plants in a piece of guttering that I found, not going to a car boot sale because it was not where I thought it was and not going to a dog show for the same reason! And I made a very successful Choconana loaf without kitchen scales which I hope to replicate in a vegan version when my children visit:)