Apart from teaching pretty demanding infant classes this week, I seemed to pick long overdue tasks such as sorting out Fenella's bedroom and the family towel cupboard in order to avoid starting on the stitch-in-the-ditch customer quilt. I have been prevaricating because I have been asked to quilt as little as possible in the background. This concept seems to have stumped me completely because I just don't do that sort of quilting. Perhaps this type of quilt is why I really should get to grips with using a computerised system where I can program in a simple, repetitive block design. I can't put it off forever - I have folk coming for longarm tuition in a fortnight so it needs to be done by then!
I finished all of the quilting on Dunes Duet and created a huge pile of discarded thread on the floor because I had problems with tension. I am not entirely sure why things were so tricky. Maybe I had a bad reel of thread or perhaps it was the dyed flannel that I unwisely used as a backing. There was some boring unpicking but otherwise I hope to get away with a little painting on the reverse to stop the loose bits from coming unravelled. Trimming all of the threads will take several attempts. I admire the fortitude of quilters who sew all of those tails in so neatly but I do not have the patience for such a malarkey. I randomly painted some gold rings on the front and now want to add some subtle machine embroidery around some of the other circles.
I have been reading the first book in the "A Game of Thrones" series on my Ipad. After battling through the first couple of chapters getting to grips with the world of fantasy and peculiar names, I am completely addicted to the twists, turns and intrigue of an epic story. It is too tempting to read a couple of chapters at coffee time or while supposedly cooking supper. I was glad that I had such an engrossing novel to take on my weekend camping trip...
I took Freya and her friend, Millie, to a small midsummer festival near Breemie, Kintore that was last held 8 years ago. It is on top of a hill with spectacular panoramic mountain views when not obscured by angry rain clouds. I cannot remember the last time we had a hot and sunny summer solstice in Aberdeenshire. It was chilly and pretty wet for most of the time. I was jealous of the owners of small touring caravans that arrived, unhitched, levelled their legs then made a cup of tea. Our little igloo tent was fine and did not leak or blow away but it was quite a challenge poking the tent pegs into such rocky soil. We now only have about 3 straight ones left! I was glad that it had a tiny porch so I could sit on my folding chair to use the primus stove while the girls played guitar inside the tent.
Fortunately, it dried up a bit in the evening while the bands were playing and I even took my full length drizabone coat off for the duration of one dance. We joined Mo, Willow, Yurtman and some other friends to sit around their firepit and had fun with djembe drumming, while admiring the fire-dancer who fluidly spun her lighted hula-hoop. We actually had great fun despite the damp weather but I am glad that I have booked a yurt rather than a small tent for the WOMAD festival in July.
After we arrived home and aired out our soggy gear, Freya and I lit the stove in our garden yurt and cooked sausages for lunch since the grey morning had dampened our enthusiasm for a cooked camping breakfast. I was unpopular for having forgotten to take milk with which to make hot chocolate so we enjoyed that at home and even had to open up the yurt doors because it became far too hot inside. It was a much nicer place to sit and listen to midsummer sleet and hail lashing on the canvas roof :)
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