What was I meant to be doing?

 

Yet again, I have had a week when what I was meant to be doing (on paper) was not what I ended up doing, not that those things were not valid in their own way;) I did get 2 customer quilts done before Nella pointed out that she would like to spend some time with me in the last week of her Easter hols. The custom quilt had to have a few thread tails sewn in and the red flying-geese one was a bit of a challenge because the customer wanted the echo quilting to look exactly as it did in the magazine that the pattern came from. Horizontal straight lines were not a problem but diagonals are very difficult to do on a longarm without a lot of palaver. I started off just doing the diagonals that I could reach but that involved a lot of stops, starts and sewing in thread tails. In the end, as it was not a huge quilt, I decided to do the diagonals on my domestic machine with a walking foot and that was far easier. 

It looks like I have finally sold the cast iron Raeburn stove that I bought years ago that has just sat unused in my garage. The new owners live 300 miles away and want a courier to collect it so I had to track down a pallet so it can be picked up using a fork-lift. I seemed to do a lot of time consuming wee jobs like that - I went to the Vet to pick up cat anti-flea medicine to be told that I had a supply that should last until June but when I double-checked at home there was none and I know that was not my error. I sent my old phone off to be sold for scrap but the company tried to wriggle out of the online quote that they had offered then wanted £8.95 for my broken phone to be sent back to me special delivery. 

Evri seems to have lost another parcel - I ordered a new cutting ruler to tackle the marathon cutting involved in the Tula Pink butterfly quilt but it is still not here after 3 weeks so now I am way behind with the Facebook Group involved in the quilt-along. Meanwhile I got totally embroiled in researching old Pentax cameras and lenses that I can mostly only import from Japan and have now watched ALL of the Youtube videos and read ALL of the reviews. Honestly, it is like a form of addiction when I start looking at Tech online. I need a new quilt project to get me off second-hand camera forums;)

I am in Norfolk this week, splitting my time between visiting Nella and my folks. I might borrow a pressure washer to scrub Nella’s backyard then go to a garden centre to buy some fairy lights and plants. I brought a piece of the quilted coat with me to work on but I don’t suppose I will even look at it…

If Only I Could Get Up Earlier

I have huge admiration for people who get up super early and crack on with their days. I wake up early in order to make a cup of tea to take back to bed then waste time reading the news, checking social media and browsing Ebay for vintage cameras that I don’t need. If I could get my days off to a brisker start then maybe I would find time to keep on top of my To Do list or even make some more Lego plants. 

In my defence, this week I have had some late nights, spending time with Nella and Fergus who have been getting along better than they have in years. We went shopping to get him some essentials to stay in Glasgow with his band mates. Hopefully, he will soon get a job then think about getting a flat of his own. It is quite weird to think about him moving out. He did not go off to Uni like the girls and had a bit of a hiatus with his music career due to Covid. He was both excited and nervous to “leave home” but it is time that he has a taste of city life. 

I have been trying to clear my diary to knuckle down and thoroughly plan the retreat that I am teaching in Devon in June. It will be 4 days of intense software learning, using the Q-matic system and I need to be prepared for all abilities.

I had a challenging customer quilt that took me more than 4 days to complete. It was beautifully pieced with large on-point blocks but there was something a bit off-kilter with the borders that I had to work out. As there was nobody here at the weekend I just powered through to get it done so I can start the week fresh. I need to get my retreat programme sussed as I will be taking Nella back to Norwich next weekend, staying with my folks for a week and I won’t get any work done there;)

Lost and Broken

 No need to be alarmed - the title does not refer to a sad music album that I have written! It has been a week when I seem to have lost and broken more things than usual. I hunted high and low for some Swiss Army knives, blaming everyone else in the house for hoarding them then eventually found them at the back of a drawer where I had put them. When I was unspooling some thread off a Bernina bobbin it jumped out of my hand and disappeared under a really awkward cupboard. I looked everywhere for a quilt that turned up underneath a mattress.

The most annoying thing was that I dropped my phone which was inside a case and bag, smashing the glass on the back which disabled the camera. I had to hang around in Aberdeen for hours while I waited to get if fixed which cost me £100.00 (Apple wanted £459.00!) When I looked at it at home I realised that the back glass had been replaced with a metal panel and the camera was still broken so now if I try to trade it in will be worth even less. I ordered a replacement from Music Magpie which is working well. I could have put up with the broken phone but then would have had to keep a camera handy - it is easy to forget how reliant we have all become on the convenience of smart phones.

I did not seem to get any of the “homework” that I had set myself done this week. I have Nella home for the holidays and helped Fergus to tidy up his CV. I eventually got a customer quilt done - a super Triple Irish chain wedding quilt for recipients in Ireland, quilted with shamrocks. I am tempted to go down at least 2 unnecessary rabbit holes, either piecing a diamond or triangle quilt using up my stash and / or designing some digital sashiko style motifs to work on a panel featuring Japanese motifs with a Zoom pupil. The Tula Pink butterfly quiltalong starts on Monday and I have no idea how I will keep up with that, do customer quilts and get Fergus ready to move to Glasgow!

Cornish Capers

After I finished teaching in Tavistock last Saturday, my friend, Mel who moved from Banchory to Looe in Cornwall, picked me up and we had a lovely couple of days exploring the area. The sun even came out - everyone told me that it seemed to have rained every day since last autumn. I met some lovely people who said, “Proper Job!” a lot, sampled pasties, fudge, and had fun seeking out the filming locations in the light-hearted BBC detective series “Beyond Paradise”. I really had a lovely time, just like being on holiday. 

Unfortunately there was Drama waiting for me at home. Fergus had been all set to move out with his girlfriend to a flat in Glasgow but they split up so all of those plans are over. Thankfully, they had not actually signed the contract. I spent a lot of time this week trying to console him and work out what he is going to do next. The new plan involves him staying on his friends’ sofa until he gets settled, hopefully getting a job quickly then working on some new music.

Apart from that and some Quilt Quine admin which I swear takes me longer to tackle than is necessary, “all” I did was organise myself with a Tula Pink quilt along that I have signed up for online. There was a lot of photocopying and sorting to do. It will be interesting to see if all this preparation makes the construction easier to manage.

Both Freya and Nella arrived home on Saturday evening. Freya is only here briefly for the dentist but Nella has a 3 week break from Uni and plans to work on assignments, projects and do some outings. Obviously I will spend time with her but will also need to spend a bit of time in my workshop, help Fergus write an eye-catching CV, and continue planning for the retreat that I am teaching in Devon in June - (no pressure)!

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!

Social Butterfly

I have not done much social media since pre-Pandemic and I have not missed it! With courses to promote at Quilt Direct in Devon, I have really had to push myself to get back on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube to remind quilters that I still exist. It is more time consuming that you might imagine, searching for photos, coming up with a caption and checking back in for comments. Freya told me that I needed to learn how to make cool online posters as well as making short movies about what I am up to. Hopefully, my classes will be well attended.

Just for fun, I decided to make a mini series on Youtube about everyday gadgets from around the house. I have mentioned a mechanical pencil sharpener, jumper shaver and milk brother, to name a few so far. Some have had over 400 views, which I find quite bizarre.

I caught up with a couple of pending customer quilts, quilted out samplers for my teaching weekend in Devon, made 3 handy “Clam-Up” pouches, and a Youtube demo on how to make side-clamp extenders for the quilt frame!

On Saturday I travelled to Glasgow by train to attend the Scottish Quilt Show for the day. It was lovely to see other quilters from around Scotland and brilliant that “Help ma Boab!” won Gold in the Contemporary category. In addition to a nice, red rosette, I also won a box full of useful haberdashery items, some of which I will try to find other good homes for, since I don’t really “need” any more supplies;)

Let Me Get This Straight

 

I have embarked on a childish challenge to grow my hair as long as possible. I was never allowed to have long hair as a child and my Dad recently disparagingly asked how long I was going to grow it for to which I replied, peevishly, “Until it reaches the pavement!” I don’t go to the hairdresser very often because they usually want to chop 6” off but every now and then I have to trim my fringe (bangs) with dress-making scissors, sometimes pinking shears, usually in the reflection of my workshop window. I have been getting it remarkably straight and apart from filming myself for Youtube tutorials, I don’t get out much and can even wear a hat;)

I have been sitting in front of my computer for hours this week, mostly checking that I am ready for my Devon teaching weekend. I also did a quilt for my friend, Ellen. She said that she was sick of the sight of it because it just would not behave. I think there was a conflict between the rather stretchy Moda fabrics and the stiff white-on-white background fabric. It would definitely have been challenging on a domestic machine because it was pretty large.  I just did simple wavy lines to keep it fresh and modern and I think it turned out well. 

I have made an effort to get myself noticed online a bit more so the bookings might go up at Quilt Direct. Before 2019 I posted daily video snippets like a “Thought of the Day” but Nella’s illness and the Pandemic cancelled them. I filmed, edited and posted 2 tutorials onto Youtube as well as launching a daft mini series on my “Gadget of the Day”. So far I have posted a mini tripod that has one leg that is a carabiner and a jumper shaver. I have already had several hundred views which is bizarre!

I must focus this week and not get sucked into a Youtube vortex. It is a good job that I have some tasks written down, including 3 zip-up clam pouches because I really wanted to make something easy and useful. 

At Your Auntie's

 

When I was little if you were “At your Auntie’s / Granny’s House”, normal rules did not apply. My sister and her boys came to visit for their half-term hols and they were allowed to do pretty much what they liked;) Luckily, we had decent weather almost all week so we went for long walks with Nessie and had a trip to Aberdeen on the wet day. Other than that it was very relaxed with video games, crafts and snacks. The boys thought my cluttered house was great as it contains every known gadget, book and musical instrument yet there is no cold water in the bathroom and the kitchen ceiling threatens to collapse at any time. 

My only quilt related activities were sending “Help ma Boab” off to ICHF Events for the Scottish Quilt Show and making a couple of short promotional videos for my forthcoming teaching weekend at Quilt Direct in Devon. One of the videos was a tongue in cheek scone test, wondering if Devon or Cornwall won on the jam vs. cream debate. I have a bit of an admin / catch-up type of week ahead and will make sure that I am thoroughly prepared for my teaching trip. I might even practise those blasted Beziers!

Brainpower Required

As a person who owns several cameras, these days I take very few photos which does not adequately document my week. I had a huge customer quilt that took 2 days and a DIY quilter who spent 2 days here custom quilting. 

I considered starting on my Tula Pink butterfly quilt kit but that would require my full attention so I decided to dip in and out of the Art & Stitch manual. I think I am absorbing it more easily and it was pointed out to me that I don’t actually need to know it off by heart - I can in fact, consult the manual if necessary. My nemesis seems to be drawing on the computer using the Bezier tool. I hate it but feel that I need to conquer it in order to explain how it works, even if I never put it to use. Concentrating does use up a lot of brain power and I was able to keep going with a date and nut snack boost mid-afternoon. 

Since my QGBI Zoom lecture is done and dusted my next milestone is to prepare for a teaching weekend at Quilt Direct in Devon, mid March. I re-wrote the Northern Lights notes and calculated how much fabric would be required to make the whole quilt. The original Bifrost was made in 2015 and it was interesting to look it up on my blog history to see what decisions I made during the construction. I have no idea why but the photos I took at the time were terrible - low resolution and blurry. I don’t know whether I took them with a small camera or an older iPhone but it has made coming up with a slideshow rather hard!

Freya was here for the week to continue her dentistry saga and it was lovely to have a companion for walks when she wasn’t working. Nessie was delighted to have someone else pay attention to her. 

This coming week is going to be a holiday week since my sister and her boys are coming to stay. They have not been to Scotland for a while and it has been ages since I had guests other than the kids’ sleepovers. I had to find quilts and towels, make a meal plan and activities list and hope they don’t mind cobwebs and clutter that we don’t see any more…

Triumphing over Tech (in the end)

 

I spent a lot of my week testing out the Tech that I needed to use to do my Zoom lecture and demo for the Scottish branch of the Quilters Guild of the British Isles. I was using the MacBook Air that I got from Music Magpie and a usbc hub since the MacAir hardly has any ports where you can plug in gadgets. It turns out that there is more than one version of a basic usb port! I wanted to use 2 Camlinks in order to livestream images from my 2 GoPro cameras but they needed a faster port than usual, 3.0 instead of 2.0. Having ordered a new usbc hub I had to return it because the ports were too close together and the 2 quite fat Camlinks could not both fit. Let’s just say, the Postie was kept busy with my Amazon exchanges until I got the right gadget;)

That was not the only stumbling block - I could not get a microphone to work reliably until I realised that I had one that could connect to the Mac via Bluetooth. Despite that, when I practise Zoom with my sister there was no sound. I was so paranoid that I also did a practise run with the Region co-ordinator and Nella. None of this was helped by the fact that the wifi was also being temperamental. To my horror, when I logged onto the meeting 15 minutes before the start there was again no sound but in the end it was suggested that I leave then rejoin the meeting and after that everything ran smoothly. I had a face camera, a slideshow and 2 work stations with day 2 other cameras. What a relief when I got through the whole presentation and people seemed to have enjoyed it:) 

That was my first big commitment of the year. The next one to concentrate on is a teaching weekend at Quilt Direct in Devon in mid March. I was asked by one of the Zoom participants if I was going to enter FOQ this year but I said that I was not going to push myself to a deadline when I need to concentrate on my teaching commitments without getting my knickers in a twist;)

In addition to all of my Tech trauma, I managed to get 3 smallish customer quilts done. The forthcoming one this week will be another big one at 100” square.

I had intended to make a short Art & Stitch video this week but I went a bit off-piste wondering if an old drawing tablet might be useful (it wasn’t) and I tried to get to grips with computer drawing using a Bezier arc/line tool which I found almost impossible. 

At least I have found my planner useful… it was really good having decided what to eat each night, even though I have a lot of risotto left over since Fergus decided McDonalds would be more appealing. Because it was scheduled in, I went swimming twice and things actually felt a little less chaotic. I need to keep up the good start;)