Corker

We were all packed up ready for our camping trip so I went to lock up my workshop. Noticing that there was a strong smell of elderflower champagne, I found that one of the bottles had exploded and that several others were bulging ominously. I tried to move them gingerly like unexploded bombs into the large stone sink, aware that one of the plastic bottles was making a cracking sound like an iceberg. There followed an almighty deafening explosion and I was showered with sticky champagne and dared not open my eyes to survey the damage. Apart from dripping with fizz, there was also a fair amount of blood dripping from somewhere. After I had showered for the second time that morning, I discovered that I had a deep gash just above my eye. Tania and Freya stuck it all together with some steri-strips while my husband attempted to mop up the mess and disposed of the rest of my home-brew. He wrapped the remaining bottles in a towel and threw them into the field where they exploded dramatically. I was extremely lucky that I did not get a direct hit in the eye and I dread to think what could have happened with glass bottles. It has been a curious experience having a swollen black eye – people seem to stare but avoid asking what happened as if imagining all sorts of domestic horrors. I did go to the surgery the next day where the nurse complimented us on our first aid skills. Instead of being taken aback by the unusual circumstances of my injury, she mentioned that her previous patient had been the victim of burns caused by scalding hot homemade jam.

We have been spending a pleasant week with family in Norfolk where it seems warm even when raining in summer. I have to admit that I do not enjoy sleeping in a tent as much as I did when I was much younger. It is either chilly or too hot and I seem to lie in bed thinking I must go to the loo but would rather not get up and tackle all of the necessary zips on sleeping bag and tent walls. I have been trying to get into the spirit of it all but have sneaked back into my parents' house a couple of times.

We had a really enjoyable day in Norwich, visiting the castle, cathedral and wandering around the quaint streets. We had a delicious supper in the Waffle House which has not changed at all for years. After the shock of browsing in a trendy and expensive shop called "Jack Wills" with Freya I bought a simple skirt pattern and some Amy Butler fabric to have a go at dress making under my mother's supervision. It reminded me why I don't usually sew garments as I find it all so confusing. I think I could make another one if I approach it like a quilt with binding and buttons.  Going to the beach and having campfires has not allowed me any time to embellish the show quilts that I brought with me, let alone work on the Yurt Book draft but it has been really great to spend time eating outside and toasting marshmallows.

What a Bind!

 I decided to concentrate on getting as much done on the quilts for FOQ as I possibly could before the school holidays. The first hurdle was remembering which panels I had earmarked since I made the entry forms so vague in case I had to make substitutions. Three Yurt panels are being entered as a "triptych" but I will work on four then decide which ones qualify at the last minute. I was pleased with the quilting on "Yellow on the Broom" but secretly prefer the reverse side. I decided to work in a slightly back to front way and bind them all first. Next I will attach hanging sleeves, tidy up the loose threads and finally will deal with embellishments such as crystals and buttons. This means that I won't have to worry so much about running out of time. I started off with good intentions of hand sewing the bindings onto the backs of the quilts but soon decided that I had sore fingers and was bored and since I am a machine quilter, I will do the whole thing by machine. I think I do it pretty neatly and the Yurt panels are not strictly show quilts; they are just getting an "outing" to FOQ to show the quilting world that I still quilt!

We had some serious downpours during the week so I did not feel guilty about spending as much time as possible in the workshop - I also had to fit in taking Freya to her grade 3 piano exam & school prize-giving, and Durris School's end of term church service. Tania and I taste tested the elderflower champagne. It is rather cloudy because I added yeast, worried that natural fermentation wasn't happening. It is extremely fizzy and tastes OK but could do with a stronger elderflower flavour, perhaps by adding some cordial.  Ginger could also be an interesting addition. I will make a note of these improvements for next year's recipe.

We are going to do some camping this week but I have packed up the crystals and quilts in case I have any spare time. I would like to make my own sleeping bag. I washed all of the camp bedding but some of the zips were broken. I cut one good zip off a very old nylon bag and intend to make a much nicer new one with some Amy Butler fabric if I see it on sale. I could even use an unfinished quilt top. First I need to decide what wadding to use. The expensive ones seem to have a silk filling of some sort. Perhaps it needs to be layers of silk or wool and cotton as long as it doesn't get too damp. As well as being cosy, it needs to remain lightweight, although if you take the car you can take extra quilts and pillows camping too, as well as the stove, coffee pot, lanterns, books...

Soggy Solstice

Midsummer was damp and cool again this year and I was secretly glad not to be camping at a Festival, even though Glastonbury looked great on TV. I hope that my new pop-up Liberty flowery tent gets a nice warm and dry first outing. I got soaked to the skin every day as I walked the dogs through the wheat field and tall bracken. The elderflower fizz that started off so well looks a little flat and cloudy. It probably needs to be tasted soon and possibly dumped. I still have a batch of frozen flower heads that I will use to brew up some cordial. I watched a BBC documentary about weeds and decided that I was doing my bit for the environment if I just let the garden get completely overgrown. I can at least use the nettles for pesto – I made a tasty variation that substituted all of the original Italian ingredients apart from garlic for cheddar cheese, toasted breadcrumbs, rapeseed oil and garden herbs and it was delicious! Saturday was dry almost all day then there was a brief but fabulous sunset at around 10.30pm

It may have been grey and dull outside but my workshop was full of colour. I worked on a customer UFO that has been waiting 10 years to be quilted. It is really bright and I am sure that its new owner will be thrilled.

I used my coffee breaks to micro-stipple part of the second Celtic Knot but it is still a long way from being completed. I think this one will probably get some crystals to brighten it up. I managed to find a couple of hours to make a wonky triangle bottom border for the African fabric thistle coloured panel. I will quilt it in chevrons then add some circles to the sides later. There is only one worryingly short week left until the school holidays. Apart from continuing to work on the Yurt while keeping the children busy and fed, I have several pieces still very much under construction for Festival of Quilts. I hope it rains all week so I can spend all of my time quilting.

Resourceful

I admitted that my sore throat was not getting any better and finally phoned the surgery but predictably, it proved impossible to speak to a doctor. Mo was able to provide me with a second-hand set of unfinished antibiotics which I took for a couple of days that seemed to ease the symptoms. I came across an interesting recipe for an onion and chilli gargle which I may try as a kill or cure remedy. I accompanied Fergus' class on another school trip at the local trout fishery and we all had fly-casting lessons. It was a beautiful day and we saw plenty of fish but they were obviously far too wise to be caught by noisy school children. Later that afternoon Tania I collected a bag of wild elderflower heads which had been in full sun so we hoped that they would help us to make a batch of perfect "champagne". We wondered if the liquid would look too brown since we chose to use unrefined sugar. Several days later I was amazed to find that it was actually fizzing in the bucket so we will bottle it and hope for the best.

Despite making several more batches of bread and some delicious brown bread ice-cream, which tastes far nicer than you would expect from its humble ingredients, I eventually got going in the workshop and completed the quilting on Celtic Circles2. I decided to keep it very close to the original version but there seem to be even more circles to paint this time.

On Friday I drove down to Stirling for the biannual QGBI Region 16 residential weekend at Stirling University. I felt a little guilty at taking time off to have fun when I have so much else to do but it is such a great weekend that I soon relaxed and began to enjoy myself. It is lovely to be catered for and spend the whole weekend sewing and catching up with quilting friends. Everyone is friendly and visitors from outside our Scottish region are made especially welcome. My tutor was Katherine Guerrier and all of the students were delighted with the work that she inspired us to create. The piecing techniques were not as complicated as they seemed but the results looked impressive. We tackled curved piecing fearlessly without any special equipment or fiddly instructions as Katherine's demonstrations were so well explained. I worked as fast as I possibly could and pieced an entire yurt panel using up scraps. It is a wackily random piece but by the time it has been quilted with circles it will fit in perfectly with all of the others. Many people made favourable comments about the Quilted Yurt and asked what I would be working on next. I have had a few interesting ideas ticking over for a while. However, I seem to have agreed to have a go at creating a suit of horse armour for the Loch Lomond Quilt Show in 2012...!

 

A Little Downtime

It was a good thing that I got on with several projects early on in the week to make up for some "lost" time later on. The trapunto on the Celtic Knotwork2 panel is coming along nicely. I quilted and dyed some more Yurt2 roof material and I added an assortment of Oakshott squares to make a wacky piece of African thistle fabric large enough for a Yurt panel. This is the first time that I have deliberately used an obviously printed fabric for a yurt panel but the thistle design is perfect. The squares were joined as "in-betweeners" while I pieced Celtic Circles2 so it seemed like I was piecing two quilts at once. I had hoped to get it all done and photographed but I was hit by a nasty sore throat which I suspect may have been tonsillitis so I had a couple of go-slow days. This coincided with a visit from my parents who have been on a tour of Scotland in their caravan, so actually the timing worked out rather well for a lazy and sociable few days.

I was disappointed with my pumpernickel bread that took two days to assemble and then got badly stuck to the cast iron pan that it was baked in. I broke a knife and a spatula trying to extract the bread from the pan and have made an amendment to the recipe book stating that it must be baked in a tined lined with baking paper and protected with layers of brown parcel paper like a Christmas cake. Once I sawed off the blackened, crispy crust, the inside was actually pretty good. At least the dogs enjoyed it.

After harassing the garage every day for seeming to take forever to diagnose the extent of the Landy's electrical problems and get in the new parts, I finally got it back at the weekend. I breathed a sigh of relief as it started up beautifully. The garage has not yet presented me with the bill so I had better get stuck into the next customer quilt with gusto this week in case it is bad news!

$Sparkz!*!

$Sparkzz!@*&>!!:(

My week got off to a great start as I multi-tasked baking flapjacks, bagels and a loaf on Monday flying between dyeing and quilting yurt roof panels on Milli and the Celtic Drunkard's Path on Lenni! I had grand plans to plough through a mammoth to do list in the following days after fitting in a school trip and a shopping trip to Aberdeen. I helped transport Fergus's class on a visit with the Ghillie for a demonstration of fly-fishing for salmon. It was a beautiful day on Royal Deeside - the children really enjoyed paddling in the shallows looking for small fry and thought it was hilarious when an eel bit one of the class. 

Wednesday morning also started off according to plan. I posted LSD off to Australia for an exorbitant fee, made more bread and read a patchwork magazine before heading off to have coffee at Mo's. My neighbour asked if I could help to start her car which had a flat battery. I had a niggling feeling that I didn't really want to attempt it as the Landy's battery is tucked away under the passenger seat but we always try to help each other out so we unravelled the jump leads to do some vehicular CPR. A short circuit happened somewhere and an alarming spark frazzled out from my car's battery. When I tried to restart my car it was dead. I called the AA but could not actually explain the whole story because I don't suppose that sort of casualty is covered. The mechanic tried to tell me that I had probably run out of fuel but I insisted that "in my opinion it seemed to be an electrical fault"... He had to call for a larger truck to tow the forlorn Landy to the garage, which by this time, had closed for the day. Just like the parent of a child with an unknown illness, I searched the Internet to track down a diagnosis and then worried about the possible symptoms even more.

The next day was gloriously hot and two mechanics were "off sick" (obviously skiving) so it was nearly 5pm by the time the garage phoned to say that it was mended. I asked Mo to drop me off in Banchory on Friday morning to collect the Landy. However, there seemed to have been a miscommunication since the Landy was still dead and no-one seemed to know who had actually looked at it. I started walking home dejectedly knowing that Mo never takes her mobile phone with her but luckily she had a sixth sense that I would need a lift home and she spotted me on her way to Tesco. I was very annoyed with myself for thinking that I could tackle any job but instead I caused unknown damage to my own car which could yet prove to have been a costly mistake. I have made a pledge not to attempt any more rescuing, towing or botched mechanics in future. To make myself feel better I made doughnuts and as a punishment I refolded every single piece of fabric in my workshop. Actually, it was very therapeutic to sort through the stash and the neat drawers look most satisfying.

 

Whirlwind (with text this time!)

The week started off with damaging gale force winds. The Yurt tried to take off, the henhouse blew over, branches broke off and at least half of the cherry crop was lost. It was not until the next day when I was in the full swing of multi-tasking in my workshop that I had a powercut that lasted for several hours. This curtailed Fergus' electric guitar lesson and Fenella's internet based homework. Of course, this was nothing compared to the devastating tornado that killed so many people in Joplin, Missouri USA.

Somehow I was "in the creative zone" this week and flitted between several projects. I added some shot cotton bits to an African fabric panel which I may treat like a wholecloth. I appliquéd a Celtic knotwork twin for one of the Stunt Quilter's Yurt panels. Adding the black bias was really fiddly so I don't think it is a technique that I would rush to repeat. I intend to mark on some fancy trapunto like the original and see if Lenni will enable me to quilt bravely and smoothly around a drawn design. I worked on Ellen's diamonds quilt. She had been given a Spanish fabric kit that contained linen, velvet and damask and since the diamonds were all cut on the bias, the resulting quilt top was very stretchy. It would have been very challenging to quilt this on a domestic machine so I insisted that I would longarm it instead. I used wool for warmth and also to take up a bit of the fullness. Ellen commented that this lifted a feeling of guilt that she had kept putting off finishing that particular project. I also worked on the Celtic Drunkards Path panel and was pleased with my first attempts at curved cross hatching using boomerang shaped rulers. As a reward for all of this industry, I "allowed" myself to piece the African Fabric Shop wall hanging kit that I bought at LLQS. I even spent some time trying to finish drafting the remaining Yurt Book projects. I want to produce a very rough draft so that potential publishers can see exactly what I have in mind.

It was a busier than usual week for the children; Fergus passed his cycling proficiency test and Freya packed for her school trip to France. I spent a fraught Saturday with Fenella "assisting" with her homework to produce a realistic model pirate ship. I think it is really tricky using junk to make a boat so that it does not look like a shoebox covered in paint and sellotape. We both lost our tempers but the final result looks shipshape; at least, my linen sails hand sewn onto the lollystick masts look pretty authentic.

The biggest fun that I have had this week was making bread on a daily basis. Now that my sourdough mix is doing what it is meant to do, I make up a "sponge" the night before, add the rest of the flour in the morning, then get the Kitchenaid mixer to do a couple of kneadings before baking in the oven. I have varied the type of flour each time and made genuinely wholesome bread. I ordered a selection of unusual flours and seeds from a mill in Gloucestershire, although the children would probably prefer less robust combinations and look unimpressed when offered bread and homemade lemon curd as an after school snack AGAIN! There is a danger that I will have to eat most of the loaves myself so I decided that if there were spare slices then I would freeze them as the bread makes extra crunchy toast. I read the River Cottage Bread handbook from cover to cover and I now have aspirations to become an artisan baker...

 

Cultured

I tackled a pair of boys' quilts almost as soon as the customer dropped them off as I knew that if I left them any longer they may not get fitted in for ages. They were really charming in simple checks, spots and stripes and big swirls finished them off really well.

Mo gave me a panel of Celtic patterns to quilt that she had applied with a T-shirt transfer. I used the Bliss Lenni and was really impressed that I could follow the pattern without wobbling off any of the lines as it was so smooth. I decided to check that the rubbery residue would wash off before I spent hours on the background quilting but after hand-washing it, then giving it a hot wash, it looked like dried-on glue. Mo was more determined to get it off so she has now scrubbed it with white spirit! I think I can probably come up with easier ways to finish the Hare off...

I decided to trace the Celtic knotwork Yurt panel from California and make a second version of it for Yurt 2. My curved cross hatching rulers have now arrived so I hope to tackle the Celtic Rings next. I will have to make a decision on when to stop as it is probably about time to work on a new project or at least think about a couple of new competition quilts. I checked and edited the supply list for my AQS classes at Des Moines, and submitted the draft book proposal so it really was a week of crossing things off lists.

It was an incredibly sociable week. I attended the world premiere of low budget comedy-horror film, "Attack of the Herbals". This was shot entirely on location near Stonehaven with local actors. The bizarre plot involved herbal tea that made the villagers psychotic and turned them into evil zombies. It was surprisingly funny – apparently it has attracted considerable interest at the Cannes Film Festival. I took Freya and Fergus out for a sophisticated supper at Woodend Barn to see Walter Strauss, an amazing guitarist from California. He played a mixture of Blues, Spanish, American Folk and African instrumentals, including songs that he had written himself. We also went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and enjoyed the swash-buckling piratical adventures of Captain Jack and the dastardly BlackBeard.

In addition to all of the cultural outings, there were some incredible cultures bubbling away at home. My sourdough starter no longer smelled like vomit, just acridly cheesy. I appealed for help on the River Cottage Forum and was advised to keep going as the cooler climate in Scotland was obviously slowing down its fermentation and at least it was not mouldy. Sure enough, it now smells fresh and yeasty after two weeks so I hope it actually makes good bread! We had some remedial work done on our old fashioned concrete septic tank and soakaway; I was complimented by the digger driver that he had not seen such wonderfully healthy bugs and cultures for years so it's good to know that we have done our bit for the environment.

I spent Friday and Saturday at the Loch Lomond Quilt Show with Ellen. We spend a pleasurable and leisurely couple of days visiting all of the exhibitions. The Smart Car looked great in the shopping centre at Lomond Shores. The Canadian Red Cross Quilts all had moving stories to tell. Of course I am biased as some of my quilts were there, but I particularly enjoyed the "30 of the Best" and "FreeWheeling" galleries in the Trinity Church at Renton. The traders were in a new, brighter location at Riverside Church and I bought some gorgeous African fabrics from Magie Relph's African Fabric Shop. There are a couple of large pieces that may end up as Yurt panels and a wall-hanging kit for me to do just for fun. It was lovely to catch up with so many people and even be recognised by my gold boots. I am also thrilled to mention that I have sold "LSD" as part of my effort to raise funds for the Yurt tour of the USA. Its new owners are from Australia; they were on holiday in the UK and were visiting the show. This will be my most well travelled quilt as it has already been to California and Rhode Island. I will be kind of sad to see it go but on the other hand, it's an excuse to make something new!

 

Quilting Between the Lines

I worked on a geometric Yurt panel this week which I have called 5 Bar Gate. It is a very basic strip quilt with vaguely Welsh/Amish inspired quilting. Simple designs can be surprisingly time consuming as the lines have to be drawn out accurately then followed with a ruler with concentration. Some of the lines were then filled with mini spirals. I was really pleased with the effect and decided to order a couple of new rulers. I did not have one that was marked for cross hatching so I drew the lines in fine marker pen then scratched them on using the point of a pair of compasses. I spent Friday 13^th painting inside the quarter inch lines with a very small paintbrush while listening to Radio 4. Earlier in the week someone told me that I sounded "just like Sandi Toksvig!" Hmm, I have always wanted to be a BBC presenter... While listening to the R4 soap opera about farming, The Archers, I dutifully filed my Government guidelines on what to do if I have an outbreak of Sheep Scab with my flock inventory. I applied for an agricultural holding number several years ago in case I ever wanted to get a couple of pet goats but I have never actually had an Ovine on the property. Theoretically this means I could keep sheep, llamas, pigs and even elephants.  At the moment the only "livestock" to keep me occupied when I am not quilting are my 5 hens.

I spent an interesting day with Garioch Quilters on Tuesday where I taught my feathered Paisley class. I made notes on what could be improved for future classes. I will include a photocopy or template for people who really don't want to draw their own designs and I need to source white-board pens that don't trigger asthma. I even went home with some fresh rhubarb. This went straight into a cake that was delicious, despite getting burnt on one side. I left a curry in the oven at 120 degrees while I took the children swimming but when I got home it was black. I will attempt to change the thermostat since I refuse to buy a new cooker until the day I finally get an Aga! Fenella kept me busy with "homework" so I sub-contracted some of it to her older sister who created a pirate outfit, drew on some fake tattoos and took photos for the class project. I felt inspired to make a sourdough starter for yeastless bread. It has to be fed with flour daily for at least a week until it gives off a pleasant yeasty odour; however, it smells more like vomit to me so I am hopeful things will improve.

I caught up with Mo who had cut out lots of foliage for a Green Man appliqué project which should look great. She has given me the challenge of quilting some intricate Celtic stencils to make new borders for the Hare. She also produced a sketch of an adder that we could piece or appliqué so it looks like I will have plenty of panels left in the UK for Yurt 2 after the original ones are shipped to the USA later this year.

I made myself sit and concentrate on the Yurt Book for a whole day without getting side-tracked. Once I got started I made good progress, rediscovering and editing half written chapters. I tried to use the Smart Pen to sketch rough diagrams to attach to the written instructions but I forgot to switch it on to activate the special paper..! I enjoyed the challenge of turning my "chuck it in and see" recipes into formal instructions but I will need to get someone to check that the quantities are accurate and will produce something edible. I hope that a publisher will allow me to include some of these so the Yurt Book is more diverse and quirky than a straightforward quilt book. A few more productive days like that should get the manuscript into shape and ready for submission at last.

Curtains R not Us

Curtains R not Us

I had a great day on the beach at St Cyrus with the children on Monday, the May Day holiday. It was sunny, not windy, lovely and warm beside our driftwood bonfire. We just sat and watched the waves, built a moated sand castle and made hot-dogs washed down with cups of tea. I didn't even worry about my To Do List at all!

I did battle with a pair of linen curtains for the next couple of days, regretting using the thick blackout interlining. There was barely enough so when the sun shines I can see that it doesn't quite reach the top. The linen seemed to keep moving every time I measured it and I could not remember how to use the blind hem foot so I simply used invisible thread for the hem instead. After hanging them they trailed voluptuously and annoyingly on the floor so I took up yet another hem that I wasn't pleased with. The finished curtains seemed so bulky after the 40-odd year old velvet ones that I thought they looked like bedspreads and decided that from now on I will only make Qurtains or pay a professional to do them properly. I know I should have sewn them by hand; using the machine was not necessarily faster. I am going to make a pelmet with pompoms to finish them off. Visitors declared them to be very posh so I must stop obsessing over the mistakes that only I can see.

I added some painted details to the Hare but there seemed to be something missing. I thought he needed a shadow but Mo favoured a standing stone. That is the trouble with not planning something in advance. I looked up images of hares and standing stones but just could not find inspiration. In the end we have decided to cut a bit off the bottom end of the Hare panel so that he no longer seems to float in the middle and we will attempt to add on some new quilted borders with Celtic details. Meanwhile, Mo is going to appliqué a Green Man's head so hopefully we will have a choice of panels with which to enter into the two person category at FOQ.

As an antidote to all of that artistic decision making, I ran up a super simple 5-bar Amish style strippy in 2 colours of Oakshott which I intend to quilt very geometrically for a change. I absolutely MUST make some progress with writing so will work on that on and off during the week, while continuing to churn out quilted/corrugated Yurt roof sections and try to make a decision about dates on which I could offer classes.

This weekend we went on a family outing to have a go at 10-pin bowling. I don't think my dodgy elbow appreciated hurling the incredibly heavy bowls but I came second and enjoyed the nachos. The children became utterly addicted to the 2p pushing machines in the amusement arcade and fed all of their winnings straight back into the slots until they were broke. After a slap up supper at Costco, it was time to supervise music practice, do the ironing, organise packed lunches, read bedtime stories and update the blog at the end of yet another week that simply flew past.

 

Too chicken for a Hare

It was another 4-day week so I had to get stuck in and try to quilt two things at once. I rattled off 3 Yurt2 roof sections then concentrated on getting Mo's Hare quilted. I decided to do the background first as I really wasn't sure what to do about his body. I am pretty pleased with the effect considering that this was the first project that I had done on Lenni and I was squeezing myself into a very small gap which was not very comfortable. In the end the body was just quilted with wiggly lines as the fabric collage did not really demand anything fancier. There now needs to be some paint to enhance some quilting lines and a few sparkly crystals. Mo and I need to decide whether we are happy with the Hare just sitting there – she had originally planned to do a standing stone collage but hit a creativity brick wall with the project. I think it also needs something interesting to happen in the binding then I will send it to FOQ before it officially becomes a new Yurt panel.

Since major dieting was not a speedy option for squeezing in between Lenni and Milli, I decided it would be quicker to rearrange my studio to fit Lenni in the larger room. It is a pity that I have to have the longarms in separate rooms but it is now in a much better position as Milli's room is chilly and shady all day. I dismantled the frame and reassembled it all by myself as good practice for being at a show. I also put together the flat pack table that arrived as a replacement for my Horn cabinet so I reckon I'm getting pretty good at using my tools and even following instructions.

While spending all this time in my workshop I thought a lot about running classes on a more regular basis. I have been meaning to do this for ages but never got around to writing down specifics, requirements and picking some dates. With Miche on board as an informal PA, she is giving me helpful suggestions and setting me "homework" tasks to try and get things done more efficiently. I made myself finish off an article for C June Barnes that I started over a month ago and thankfully she has approved it so I was able to tick that off one of my lists.

Like most of the people in the UK, I took the day off on Friday to watch coverage of the Royal Wedding and have a picnic lunch with friends. I decided that Coronation Chicken and G&T Granitas would be delicious patriotic treats. The BBC did its usual great job of commentary and providing wonderful footage of the ceremony, procession and crowd scenes. I encouraged the children to watch such an historic event, annoying them by singing along to "Jerusalem". We loved criticising the outfits and hats, and trying to work out who was who. It was lovely to forget about deadlines, foreign wars and disasters for just one day and be caught up in a feeling of national goodwill.

This week I have to find a large box and arrange a courier to take quilts and the Smart Car cover to Loch Lomond and make some headway with the book draft and quilt class plans and make a pair of curtains... However, the children don't return to school from their long weekend until Wednesday so that could be quite a lot to fit in!

Mad as a March Hare (in April)

I questioned my sanity when I had to ring a list of people who may be able to have my children after school when I forgot to check whether my neighbour was actually available and when I set off to Inverness with the Yurt without the full address and telephone number of my destination. I will put it down to trying to think of too many things at once. I need to go back to old fashioned list writing and consider printing off all non junk emails. In the end, everything worked out fine and I had a clear run to Smithton, where I met Sandra who did a great job of looking after me. I was glad that Highland Quilters had a team to help me including two very patient men without whom things would have been tricky.  The church hall had a brand new carpet so I was unable to chalk a 9 foot circle to mark where the wall trellis should be placed. Someone eventually had the bright idea of laying down bits of paper and after that things went really smoothly apart from breaking another roof pole tip – I will just need to have around 3 spares I think. The talk seemed to go down well, despite the audience sitting in a curve around the Yurt so I hope they all caught most of it!

As we have had another week of good spring weather, I dyed some lengths of fabric for the roof of Yurt2. I dyed 6 times as much fabric at a time than was recommended in the instructions so the colours were lighter but they are still really good shades. I did some complicated calculations to work out the most efficient way of cutting the pieces and I intend to start quilting the long roof panels this week. I have even loaded the Lenni frame with the Mo's Hare panel so I need to pluck up the courage to quilt that too. I am hopeful that it might do for a two-person category FOQ entry since I have not done any show quilts for over a year now.

The sunshine spurred me on to finish Freya's new quilt, take up the hems on Fenella's new school dresses after she tried to squeeze into last year's frock complete with woolly tights & sheepskin boots, and I even went on to clean out the summer house and garden yurt. Freya and Millie entered the Balmoral Run for the first time and ran 2.5km in a very respectable 12+ minutes. Welly and Mabel willingly lined up for dog hair cuts. I looked up some recipes in case we decide to have a last-minute garden party to celebrate the Royal Wedding – I wonder if Prince William and Kate Middleton will have Coronation Chicken and Gin & Tonic Sorbet on their menu?

 

Spring!!

Spring!!

The weather was pretty good this week, indeed, unbelievably fabulous on Sunday and we even ate outside twice at the weekend without everything blowing away. The ground is actually dry and the wild cherry blossom looks lovely. There are hundreds of white anemones growing through the dead, winter bracken that may inspire a Yurt panel when I remember to take my camera on a dog walk. Fergus got a new bike since he wasn't looking forward to doing his cycling proficiency course at school on his sister's old one which was purple and too small. I was rather taken by a traditional ladies' bike with a wicker basket so wasted a little while on the Internet looking up Dutch bicycles in case I took a notion to cycle 4 miles for a carton of milk. Those bikes look such fun in Holland but the reality here in Scotland is that the main roads are too busy and the off-road tracks are too stony for that sort of contraption.

As it was school holiday week two I felt concerned that I was not progressing with business related tasks so got stuck into finishing off 3 customer quilts and a tote bag project that had been hanging around for a while. The bag was a little frustrating because it had an odd windmill construction method and I did not find it easy to get the lining to behave. I had hoped to have alternating coloured churndash blocks but seem to have ended up with a red side and a purple side. I utility quilted Catherine's Aussie animals, Alison's scrappy elephants and sewed the binding onto another quilt that I did before we went away.

The faulty Kitchenaid mixer had to be collected and will be swapped for one that doesn't mind making bread dough so I had a cooking frenzy one day trying out all of its attachments. It did a really good job of pancakes, pizza dough, mango yogurt ice-cream and also mincing cheese and basil. The children were impressed by all of this activity in the kitchen but after washing up a sinkful of dishes about 6 times I remembered why I am not a full time domestic goddess.

The APQS Lenni on the 8ft Bliss frame arrived from the USA and I put most of it together by myself. It looks great and I have had a practice piece on it. I love my great big Millennium but I think the Lenni is lighter and far simpler to use. There are no adjustments to make on the track or wheels although I was a bit frustrated that there was some vibration at certain resonances. This improved dramatically after we took off the castors. I may have to do a few minor tweaks to get it running as perfectly as I would like. Space is now rather limited in my longarm room; I could do with being a bit slimmer to get past Lenni to the back of Milli but I would prefer to keep the other room free for workshops and small classes.

All in all, I was pleased with my progress for the week and should be able to go to Inverness with the Yurt this week with a clear conscience – after I have done everything on my To Do list for Monday!

 

Isle of Mull & Iona

We spent a great week on Mull despite some very wet weather that made part of the cliff wall collapse further down the street. It was like watching manufactured rain in a movie lashing across the bay. We did not get too bored as the children drew pictures of the colourful harbour front and strummed on the old guitar that we took with us. After I made Fenella's Clothkits dolly with back to front arms, I pieced a quilt of simple squares. My husband kept thinking of errands to fetch from the multi-purpose chandler at the harbour that sold everything from cake decorations and harmonicas to fishing tackle and binoculars. I came up with plenty of ideas for remodelling the fisherman's cottage that we were staying in. It was quaint and cosy but if it was mine I would have redecorated it with a nautical theme and antler coat hooks.

It was not quite the tourist season so some places like the handmade cheese company were not open for business. We travelled all over the island in the Landy and took in the spectacular scenery, driving on twisting, plunging single track roads. Some of the settlements were extremely remote and you could drive for miles and not see a house or car. There were many highland cows and sheep wandering around and we kept a keen eye out for wildlife. We could not decide whether the birds of prey were sea eagles, golden eagles or just buzzards. We were fortunate to spot a sea otter, a mountain hare, a seal, and on the last evening a pod of five harbour porpoises swam around the yachts moored up in the bay at Tobermory.

There were plenty of good places to eat out and the seafood was fabulous. At Mishnish, Cafe Fish, the Pub and the Chip Van we feasted on langoustines, mussels, oysters, crab claws, monkfish, scallops, and even squats which looked like large pink woodlice. I have to admit that we had fish and chips several times in one week but it was all so deliciously fresh.

Our outings were delightfully simple – Tobermory museum, collecting shells and pebbles on the beach, and a foggy ferry trip back to the mainland to visit the most westerly point of mainland Scotland. There really was nothing much there apart from a few muddy cows grazing on the beach. The expedition to the neighbouring island of Iona was more successful as it was sunny and the children enjoyed looking for pieces of sea glass and green Iona marble on the small beaches. It was fascinating finding out about the geology of the area. Mull is a large island formed mostly from massive volcanic eruptions millions of years ago It was obvious to see that lava had flowed and bubbled to form most of the land mass. Apparently, the rocks on Mull are so old that fossils are rarely found as plant and animal life had not yet evolved.

We were sorry to leave the island on our last day as we had enjoyed our week spent mostly without Internet or TV. We took the long scenic route home via Glencoe, Aberfeldy and Braemar so that we could tour through the Highlands. On that journey we appreciated that Scotland has the most amazing scenery of craggy peaks, waterfalls, lochs and glens. It was nice to arrive home and realise that we have so much space in our house after spending a week in a small cottage. We would certainly recommend a trip to Mull and may consider visiting other islands in future; possibly visiting when there is a Celtic music festival and hoping for some sunshine – still, a major advantage of it not being brilliant weather was that at least we did not have to contend with midges

Time Wasting Technologies

I signed up for Mobile Me, supposedly a productivity enhancing programme to link my computer, ipad and phone so that contacts and emails would all be synchronised over a technological "cloud". However, I wasted a ludicrous amount of time trying to load it all up and get the gadgets to connect with each other. I really wonder whether it was me being dense and missing the obvious or whether it was actually far more complicated than necessary. It is still not quite all tied together with the computer but theoretically I can at least access and edit the calendar.

I was very excited when my new Kitchenaid mixer arrived and immediately made a bucket full of mashed potato and cookie mixture. Strangely, it juddered alarmingly when mixing a batch of bread dough so I wasted yet more time on the internet trying to find out if it is normal for an industrial type of mixer to struggle with a basic loaf. It is not supposed to do that, of course, then I came across a website full of Kitchenaid complaints that I wish I had never read. Sadly, I have to pack it all up and send it back for a replacement which is frustrating. I made Freya's chocolate birthday cake the old fashioned way and it tasted great.

I finished off the couching and binding on Pi Sqaures on the new Elna machine and was pleased with the extra throat space. It is really annoying that it is around an inch too big for my Horn cabinet – if I lower the table I can't plug it in! I was horrified at the cost of new, larger ones so may just get the basic Janome/Elna table instead of the hideaway cabinet. I eventually managed to get half of a customer quilt done, ordered more fabric and dye for Yurt2's roof and got packed up for the family trip to the Isle of Mull.

We had a very scenic drive through Perthshire to Oban to catch the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry across to the Island. It was only a 45 minute crossing; beautifully sunny and calm. We drove on the single-track main road towards Tobermory with its brightly coloured houses on the harbour front. After settling in to an old fisherman's cottage, we had a supper of freshly caught mackerel and chips from an award winning van on the jetty. We ate it sitting on the steps of the clock tower in a heavy rain shower as a double rainbow arched across the bay.

What's the story in Balamory?

I'm on the Isle of Mull without an Internet connection! I will have to wait until the Internet cafe opens later this week before making a proper blog post...

Pale and Interesting

I started the week determined to make good headway on the Yurt book and began by printing out everything that I have written so far. There seemed to be 3 versions of an introduction and several partly completed sections. At least I can now see what needs to be done. I made headway on an article on Shape and Form despite looking up definitions in a dictionary and getting rather muddled. I just decided to write about yurts in general and the structure of mine in particular. I had to put the frame up again in order to make accurate measurements which Bruce in Vermont will need to make the USA frame. My Yurt is not what I would call precision engineered – the measurements vary slightly and seem to change if the grass is bumpy. I need to stand all of the roof spars upside down in a bucket of linseed oil since they seem to be getting brittle at the ends; there have been a few casualties, snapping off at their pointy ends that will need to be replaced.

I quilted the panel called Pi Squares with some curving lines and curved cross hatching, filled in with pebbles. The new Elna 740 machine arrived from Pembertons and I put it straight to work on couching some yarn around the circles and defining some of the curves. I am very impressed so far – it has not complained once about chomping through a quilted piece to do a bit of fancy stitching. The larger throat is great for manoeuvring a finished quilt for embellishing since the wadding I have used is rather stiff to make the texture puff up nicely.

I painted my bedroom bit by bit during the week. As I have a roll of subtly printed grey and white linen with which I intend to make curtains, I had to cover up the pumpkin coloured walls with something more Scandinavian. I used to paint walls in bold colours but I seem to be choosing paler shades nowadays – I hope it is not a sign of age! I can't say it was exciting decorating when the colour was an undramatic off-white and by the second coat I couldn't see where I had been.

I finally decided to order a Kitchenaid mixer this week as I came across a very good offer. This promotion did not apply to any of the gorgeously coloured ones so at least I was spared that difficult decision – the classic model only comes in white. This was partly prompted after I grated my thumb amongst the carrots again and I admit that I found the video clip on potato mashing impressive.

After working with all of these neutral shades there was some unexpected colour here this week – Fergus discovered a very old bottle of fake tan lotion in the bathroom cupboard and decided to apply it liberally to see whether it would work. The offending bottle had long passed its sell-by date and had a potent smell. Fergus maintained that the bottle "fell" on him. He did not consider rubbing the cream in or washing his hands afterwards so he gradually developed a patchy orange tan that fascinated everyone at school.

I ended the week getting frustrated by a program that is meant to make life simpler by synchronising my calendars and contacts between PC, phone and ipad – except that I can't get it to function in the first place and all it tells me is that my new phone is actually 4 miles away from where it really is so I expect I will have to waste some more time sorting that quirk out...

Stirling

 

There has been something wrong with my coffee this week. It seemed to lack flavour so I went on a quest to source some more interesting blends. I researched different types of coffee grinders, wondering if I should make a ritual out of preparing my own beans for elevenses. Ferret had made me a cup of Blue Mountain coffee at the Region 15E weekend that had strength without bitterness. I eventually ordered an extravagant tin direct from Jamaica to see if it really is worth it. I had coffee with Mo midweek and came home with two new hens. She is constantly downsizing her free range flock so we captured a couple using fishing nets and I put them in my empty pigsty. They have laid two eggs each every day while my other lazy four have produced one in total. I had to stock up on layers' pellets before my trip to Stirling so picked up several new pairs of dressage gloves which are perfect for domestic machine quilting.

As well as preparing for a lecture & workshop away from home, helping to make sets of wings for the school show, registering for North East Open Studios and typing away on Yurt related documents, I also began dyeing fabric for the USA Yurt roof. Disappointingly, I realised that I am short by almost 40 metres! This large miscalculation is because I had forgotten that the first roof was tweeds on the top side with dyed backing but the second one will have dyed fabrics on both sides. On a positive note, I experimented and found that one sachet of Hungarian dye will colour an impressive 6 metres at once.

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Stirling Castle Quilters this week. It only took 2 ½ hours to drive to Stirling which is a compact city and I soon found my way around. The evening talk was held at the very well appointed Raploch Community Campus which had modern conference facilities. It was rather nice not to have to set up the entire yurt as I only took the panels. These were all laid out on tables - there are almost 36 now which is almost enough for two yurts but I aim to complete a minimum of 40 by the summer so that I have "spares" that can be swapped around. I managed to borrow a digital projector so the audience could see pictures of how the frame is constructed. They were really impressed by the scale of the project; they gave me a really very warm welcome and I felt that the talk went down really well. I was told that everyone was looking forward to seeing the fully dressed yurt at the Scottish Regional Day in Perth in September.

I took my Husqvarna sewing machine to Pemberton's in the centre of Stirling and was most impressed by the customer service. I looked at a couple of machines in case I decided to trade it in and tested them out on a piece of army canvas and quilted tweed. I felt that Andrew Pemberton imparted sound advice based on experience and knowledge. The technician looked at my machine straight away so that it could be diagnosed and discussed before I would head home the next day. I took some leaflets away to read overnight and I decided to trade in my embroidery machine for something better suited to quilting. An Elna Excellence 740 with an 11" throat is going to be delivered on Monday...

I pre-quilted a set of 9 Celtic kaleidoscopes for the Stirling workshop and wondered if it would be possible to draw them out instead to save some preparation time. I looked up spiro drawing applications on the computer but it was all a bit mathematical and I couldn't work out how to echo the lines. I ended up ordering a selection of books on circles, mandalas and vectors as I decided it would be far easier to photocopy, enlarge and trace the patterns. The books that have arrived so far seem to be written for people who have exceptional understanding of geometry and computer programming so I hope that the colouring books that have yet to be delivered will be easier for me to follow. The students in my workshop commented on how fun it was that the basic quilting had already been done so they could concentrate on the more intricate fillers and embellishments. They all worked very hard and produced super pieces which they all seemed to be pleased with!

I coerced Freya into helping me rearrange my workshop at the weekend as it seemed to be getting overcrowded and I was climbing around rolls of wadding. It looks much better and I have created enough space to accommodate Lenni, the smaller longarm that I will take to Festival of Quilts. Fenella helped me to clean out a 1950's kitchen cupboard which most sensible people would have taken to the dump. It is impossible to work out what its original colour may have been and it really could do with a total revamp but I can't spend days doing it up when I have so many other things to do, including considering repainting my bedroom for the first time in 10 years!

 

Full-on Formal

Sometimes I have customer quilts that don't get quilted as soon as they arrive. This one came last year as a "no hurry" quilt then its owner eventually took it back to complete herself before returning it recently since it looked rather challenging. This customer makes perfectly pieced quilts and she always warns me not to overdo the fancy quilting. This quilt required formal quilting, particularly stitch in the ditch. I am usually reluctant to use rulers as I once ran over one and had to retime my machine. I think that using rulers on a longarm machine is actually quite tricky to begin with – you certainly have to sew far more slowly and concentrate. It is all a matter of confidence – I used a really small ¼" thick ruler that couldn't slip for the straight lines and a 2" circle template for all of the pumpkin seeds. I eventually became faster but it still took me 5 full days of quilting to finish this quilt. I am really pleased with the results and know that I will not be afraid to use rulers again. However, I was conscious of how long it took to be so precise and how I was spending the entire week on just one project. 

The formal quilt kept me mostly out of mischief. I had coffee with Mo one morning and came home with 2 new laying hens. Mine are lazy layers so I wanted two everyday chooks with no airs and graces. They have already shamed the other lot by laying a brown egg each every day.

It was a week of very variable weather – we had gale force winds that threatened to pull off my canvas yurt's roof. The anchoring straps worked themselves loose so I had to go out and haul them in to avoid a catastrophe. I had planned to drive to Perth for the QGBI Scottish Regional Day but we had a severe weather warning for heavy snowfalls. I spent the spare day usefully catching up on correspondence for the Yurt tour in the USA and browsing for internet special offers on Kitchenaid mixers. It will take me ages to decide whether to buy one as they come in so many lovely colours.

I have packed up all of the accessories belonging to my recalcitrant sewing machine to take for a service in case I decide to trade it down. I can only justify doing this if I can get a good deal as it originally cost me a frightening amount of money and I have hardly used any of its fancy functions. I have to pre-quilt some kits for a class that I will be doing for Stirling Castle Quilters this week and maybe I will get started on quilting one of the new Yurt panels. I am dying to get started on Mo's fabric collage hare but really need to think about how this should be quilted. I also need to decide whether to make something for FOQ this year – if the hare works well then we could consider entering it into the reinstated two-person category.

First Yurt Road Trip

I spent most of the week preparing for my trip to QGBI Region 15E near Durham after getting in touch with Region 15W to apologise profusely for muddling the two groups together and taking the latter out of my diary. Luckily, Ferret has agreed to take my place at their Regional Day in October as I plan to be out of the country. I rooted around my computer to find lots of construction and work-in-progress pictures to make a PowerPoint presentation. This was a really interesting exercise as it meant that I had to create a chronological sequence of photos and make notes. For the first time ever, it made me realise quite how much was involved from planning, to gathering materials, making, enlisting help, putting it all together with the invaluable help from the Stunt Quilters and then starting to work out how to continue developing the project after LLQS. Bizarrely, on the night before the trip, I dreamt about Kitchenaid Mixers rather than having nightmares about driving several hundred miles with a Yurt on the roof of my car.

 Packing everything up was relatively easy as it was already organised. The tweed roof sections had been packed into vacuum bags which took up very little space. The most challenging thing was working out how to use the ratchets on the roof-rack straps. I think I have it sussed now, after catching a finger in one of them.

The 6 hour journey was pretty smooth all the way to Newcastle then a couple of angry motorists shook their fists at me while meant to be keeping to the 40mph speed limit during roadworks as they wanted to overtake. I almost made it to my final destination then had a last minute doubt that I was in the right place so stopped at a corner shop to ask for directions. In my haste to get away, I backed up the Landy but somehow just did not see a parked car behind as I crunched its plastic bumper. The driver emerged from the shop, understandably annoyed and I apologised profusely while also getting lip from some cheeky teenaged bystanders. I was SO annoyed with myself! There wasn't a scratch on the Landy, of course.

During the evening some of the Region 15E committee members gathered and finally after 10pm we gained access to the venue. The janitor was most concerned about his newly varnished floor but we were very careful. Miraculously, the small team of ladies managed to put up the wooden frame within an hour but it made me realise that however independent I claim to be, this is one job where Manpower is essential.

We arrived early the next morning to hang the wall panels and get the huge tweed roof up.  Despite not having time to hang bunting and fairy lights on the Yurt, it was great to see it in all of its finery again. The visitors were impressed and seemed to enjoy my talk which actually overran a little. I normally worry that I will be over concise and finish talking too soon. I received many compliments and admiration for my crazy project, and for the amazing support of the Stunt Quilters. I was delighted to sell some of my hand-dyed packs and postcards. I even met 2 longarmers who were keen to undertake some tuition and it was really nice that Kath from Darlington came specially – she even volunteered her son to help pack up the Landy afterwards, which was hugely appreciated.

It was fun to meet up with Ferret again as we always seem to get along rather well. We were amused that some members of the audience didn't know which of us was which and wondered vaguely whether we should plan a joint road trip in the future. Her talk also went down very well and it looked like everyone managed to stay awake all day – this has not always been the case at other Regional days that I have attended as there often seems to be some surreptitious afternoon snoozing going on.

I must thank Ann for being a lovely hostess and looking after me this weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting quilters from another area. It was a long drive home but I was able to listen to Radio 4 for most of the way. I stopped at IKEA for lunch on the way home and bought a bolt of black cotton which I daresay wiped out the modest profit that I might have made if I had not ruined someone's bumper. Unfortunately I didn't remember to ask anyone to take photos on my own camera so I hope that someone might send me a picture or two. I believe that Ferret may have taken a quick snap as I climbed on the Landy to load up my floral trimmed army canvas roof-rack bag – I don't suppose it was a particularly flattering shot!