Full Week leads to Empty Cupboards

I had three full teaching days this week covering all sorts of lessons from Vikings to autumn leaf prints so I decided to stick closely to my to-do-list. This included ironing and putting up another guitar bracket in the summerhouse before allowing myself time to make bias binding. In the end I chickened out of binding around all of Freya's  giant hexagons. The sharp corners proved to be very fiddly and I decided that I would not allow myself the time or patience to faff around with it properly. The 3 Christmas quilts for my children are finally complete so maybe now I can think about a couple more Norse pieces?

I am delighted to have sold the Smart Car cover to the Uptown Arts Center in Blanco, Texas. They actually have a Smart Car and really wanted it on time for their show next week. I packed it all up but had to visit three post offices before it finally started its journey to the USA. The small P.O. couldn't process it because their scales only go up to 10kg, the medium sized P.O. is run by a truculent woman and on this occasion she would not accept any more parcels for the day because she was closing early. The assistant at the High Street branch was very helpful and filled in all of the customs forms without any fuss at all.

After school on Wednesday I drove for 2 hours to Cupar in Fife to do a talk & trunkshow with a selection of yurt panels and show quilts. They were a most appreciative audience and were surprised by my casual approach to using whatever materials I like and letting everyone touch my quilts. I decided to drive back that night and had a clear run home by 11pm  with a good Radio 4 reception. 

I was out again on Thursday evening at a long and heated meeting at Banchory Academy where the Parent Council met with the Director of Education to demand that 16+ age pupils should continue to be examined in 8 subjects rather than 6 as dictated by the latest decree from Aberdeenshire Council. This debate has been rumbling on with the rules of engagement constantly shifting for 3 years; the parents are not prepared to back down and the Head Teacher is caught in the crossfire. An agreement will have to be reached by the end of November with a considerable number of parents threatening to remove their children to private schools. It was an interesting, political meeting and astonishing that very little about these sweeping educational reforms has been reported in the media.

At the weekend I finally managed to produce a two-sided A4 flyer about the Quilted Yurt, USA. I managed to put it together in Pages on the Macbook which was actually easier than I had expected. I would like to print it in colour, although it will obviously be cheaper to produce black & white copies as long as the pictures look clear enough. 

I had hoped to spend most of Sunday finishing off the wonky house blocks but I started clearing out the kitchen cupboards instead. I was fed up with plastic boxes without their correctly fitting lids and birthday candles that had melted down to stumps. I was ruthless, disposing of a huge jar full of ginless sloes and some vintage Christmas mincemeat. I hope this does not lead me to embark upon a full scale pre-Festive-Season clearout, otherwise I will not get any sewing done at all!