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;)

Mind Boggled

 

This week I have been glued to my 2 computers in every spare minute! Last June I was meant to teach a week’s retreat all about the “Art and Stitch” software for Quilt Direct but it was postponed due to low numbers as it is a tad niche. I was almost ready with the preparation then shelved it all thinking I would have months to finish it all off. Obviously, I got side tracked by moving and DIY so my good intentions kept slipping. Hence, I have spent hours finding, revising, copying, and checking all of my files! The manual for the software is enormous and I have indeed been through it all but I cannot guarantee that I know it by rote. I plan to give my pupils enough confidence to work through the tricky exercises after mastering the basics. 

And - I wrote instructions for a quilted tote bag without actually making it;)

At work I had a couple of quilts in for basting so the customer can free motion them herself.

At home I found a newt on my doorstep, put up a little shelf, making sure it was level by shoving in some shims made from an old loyalty card, and received some lovely Mother’s Day flowers. 

What I did in a Short Week

I travelled back to my cosy Devon cottage on Tuesday via Stonehenge, according to the Satnav and that seemed to take ages, although it was scenic. I was back at work for 2 days this week where I dashed around making cups of tea for visitors, attempted a sewing machine inventory, basted a customer quilt and answered the phone, plus loads of other things;)

At home I painted what I could reach of the grubby upstairs landing. It is pretty small so that did not take long. My long awaited garden furniture set arrived from Temu. Instead of being 4 chairs and a table, it was one chair only so I have sent it back, lesson learned. I ordered a bistro set from Suttons Seeds but accidentally entered the delivery address as Scotland. Luckily, they were able to redirect and it arrived very quickly. It took me ages to put it together and honestly, it looks a bit naff. It is plastic, designed to look like wrought iron and sprayed gold! Once I have a couple of cushions and a tablecloth it will be fine.

I attached a mirror to my lobby wall with sticky hooks with mere millimetres spare to open the door and I borrowed a step ladder which was took short to screw coloured solar lights to some fascia boards outside. Instead I used a glue gun and stuck them straight to the wall so now my backyard looks like a disco. 

I popped into Tavistock to go to the Post Office and get Freya some birthday goodies and came back with a Nigella Lawson bread bin from the Oxfam shop. The RSPCA charity shop had some pictures for 50p so I got a couple for the gallery wall that I plan to do. I can’t decide whether to leave their frames alone or paint them. 

I rearranged some of the storage boxes in the spare room so the desk is more accessible. I have 2 weeks to go until my Art and Stitch / Qmatic retreat and there is still a lot of computer work to check over. It was almost ready last year then was cancelled and I kept telling myself I would get it finished but it was not urgent so here we are and I am having an unnecessary minor panic. Everything is totally under control so I am heading out to the seaside with Nessie…

Norfolk Mini Break

 

It still feels weird that I now have limited holidays. When I was teaching in school there was just mandatory term-time and when I was my own boss I just took time off whenever I pleased. I had to use up 4 days of holiday so decided to spend time with my family in Norfolk since I had not visited for 5 months.

I don’t know why I bothered to take 2 laptops to Norfolk, thinking I might have time to review the Art & Stitch software retreat that I am teaching in a couple of weeks. I have said before that time flows differently in Norfolk - nothing actually happens but time passes weirdly fast. 

Nessie went for a haircut at a new pet salon around the corner from my sister. The groomer did a great job but it took 4 hours because she is not a very co-operative Scottie when hairbrushes are brandished. 

I spent a busy Saturday in Norwich with Nella, supposedly to buy birthday presents for Freya. Despite seeing lots of nice things, most of which I wanted for myself, I did not complete my mission.

We did at least have some very nice coffee and snacks in the city and I was very happy to sit on a bench with Paddington Bear near the cathedral. It was nice to have some time off my DIY but I have to get back to work and finalise my plans for the retreat in April.

Carpentry 101

 

I swear that next week I WILL take pictures at work just to prove that I have a job and am very busy;) I think that is proof in itself that I am so busy and forget to take photos. My 2 day ruler course went very well with the participants telling me that it was “outstanding”. I am so pleased that everyone went home with the confidence to have a go at ruler quilting. I worked on finishing 2 customer quilts that I feel have taken far too long way as I have been redirected to other tasks, including cutting 60+ half metres of Moda Grunge fabrics that were an urgent mail order. 

Last week I bought a hand saw and used my kitchen table to cut some second-hand MDF panels to fit the walls of my lobby. That was really heavy going but I got it done eventually then stuck them to the walls with stinky glue. 

I went to the local DIY shop and spent far more than I should have on wooden mouldings, primer and paint. It took me ages to trim them all to size and attach them to the panelling. There were some dodgy joins but one was pretty good, if I say so myself. 

I slapped primer on as fast as I could and had the initially fun then boring job of painting everything with Farrow & Ball “Cook’s Blue”. The panelling has all had one coat so far and I admit that some areas are as skilfully painted as a fishing trawler but I think it looks lovely. It is a tiny space, usually packed with coats but I thought it deserved some colour. Besides, when Nessie shakes her wet fur the dirt won’t be as noticeable!

Feels Like Spring

 

Maybe I am too hopeful but March has started with lovely weather - frosty first thing then sunny and mild. Such conditions are wasted if you are working of course but 2 days of nice weather at the weekend lifts everyone’s mood. I even decided to cut the grass which was long and straggly and had never really stopped growing. The old guy next door said it was too soon but his whole property is a mess so I ignored him. My grass is awful anyway and could not get any worse. 

I finally got the overhead locker up in the kitchen - Mel’s husband did it for me and I am thrilled with it. I am not entirely sure what will go into the cubbies (nothing too heavy) now that I have become obsessed with storage. 

Mel and Iain brought me some pieces of second hand MDF panelling which I plan to fit into my tiny lobby. I bought a hand saw and amazed myself by managing to cut it. Mel says I should become a freelance Handywoman but I don’t think I am ready to buy a van just yet;)

I was actually very busy at work this week which is my excuse for forgetting to take any snapshots. There were classes, demos, phone calls and emails to answer as well as 3 customer quilts! 

Readers who log in regularly to get quilting reports from me will think I have become a DIYer instead. Wait until I start planting things in the garden…