Nella's 18th Birthday in Glasgow

We had a funny kind of week, anticipating our weekend in Glasgow to celebrate Nella’s 18th birthday with Freya. I got the zippered leaders finished while Nella made sure her college work was up to date. We also made her a simple halter-neck top and a couple of hairbands. The thing was that we thought Freya was coming home midweek to go to the dentist so we did not plan much, thinking that we would be doing stuff with her. She cancelled that because she felt too busy so we were kind of kicking our heels for a couple of days at a bit of a loose, holidayish end. 

We arrived in Glasgow mid-afternoon on Friday and found the Volvo an even trickier beast to park than the Landy. There is no parking anywhere near Freya’s flat so I had to hunt for some suitable street parking where I could safely leave it for 3 days.

We had an itinerary that included a yarn festival, lunch out, a visit to the Tenement Museum, pumpkin carving and even a cocktail. It was a lovely weekend, far better than last year’s hospital birthday, even though Nella is still very much struggling with her anorexia. Trips like this are essential for reminding her that there can be a life of freedom and fun if she chooses Recovery. It is hard, though because after an event such as this, the “voice” in her head will demand a relapse. We have to stay several steps ahead which is why we are planning to return to Glasgow this weekend for Halloween…

Mellow Autumn Days

 

It has been mid-term for Nella so there was no need to rush anywhere. I got her quilt all joined together with a majority of the points matching and downloaded a pumpkin-patch  digital quilt design from Intelligent Quilting. It was quite a busy pattern so it took most of a day but it looked cute and was dense enough to hold all of the pieces down. I had the binding ready to go so I attached it as soon as it came off the frame and the quilt was on Nella’s bed by Tuesday evening!

We had an outing on Wednesday to St. Andrews, via Dundee. We checked out 2 fabric warehouses in Dundee which mostly stocked stretch jersey or upholstery fabrics. Nella bought some cinnamon coloured corduroy but otherwise we did not find anything that we could not leave without. 

It was strange to visit St. Andrews without Freya - I think the last time was 2 years ago since the 4th year of her degree fizzled out without a graduation ceremony due to the pandemic. The town was very busy with students and visitors and it was tricky to find a cafe without a long queue. We just mooched around some favourite shops and wandered on the beach for a few hours, enjoying a very nice day together in glorious autumn sunshine.

I finally got around to filming the process of making “zippered leaders” for a longarm quilt frame. Nella was the main camera person and I somehow forgot the use another camera for B-roll. It will take her a while to edit it all together, even if it all makes sense. I am not even sure who the video is for - I can’t exactly highlight it for Bernina owners since I am showing them how to make a non-branded product. Perhaps it is just one of those “because I can” projects. I think I would like to teach via the medium of video but only if I think it is really good;)  To confound myself even further, I will write up the instructions for my fictional pupils. At any rate, I now have a very smart set of Q24 zippered leaders for sale because the zips I used are a different size to the ones I have myself. 

Back to Front Quilt Making

 I had so much fabric left over from Nella’s autumnal selection that it made sense to piece a back for her quilt, even though the top blocks were not all done. Instead of joining large chunks, I decided to make it a bit more interesting and unplanned so I cut up some strips and squares and started joining them together. I would call this method improvisational, even though there is nothing modern or wonky about it. I doubled up the measurements for a Goosey Guddle block so it ended up 4 times larger than the original, taking up a nice big space on the bonus, reverse quilt.

I even managed to do 2 automated customer quilts, one of which was a new pattern by Tracey Pereira called Loopy-Loops.

It felt like a hectic week, even though I hardly took any photos and have absolutely no recollection of what else I did…

Nella is already on a mid-term break from college so we hope to have a chilled week with a couple of outings. I also am determined to get her quilt done otherwise Halloween will have been and gone before I know it!

Camera Capers

 

Several weeks after telling myself that I would be filming a How-To video on making zippered leaders for the Q24 have gone by and I still have not done it. It turns out that making instructional videos is not as easy as it looks. I think I am actually good at delivering the demos on camera - it is the technical side that has been tricky. The camera angles have to be clear and in focus and it is important to have good quality sound. I have got so much gear now that I could probably rival a BBC documentary team. 

I bought a refurbished GoPro from a seller on Ebay. However, the battery door got jammed and bent and the outer case broke. Thankfully, the seller was one who accepted returns and they did not quibble. I was told that they could not fix it and did not have a replacement so they would refund me. Apart from issues with the outside of the camera, I liked it so I spent an entire afternoon trying to source and order another one. Later that evening, I received an email from the original seller informing me that they had managed to fix it and it was on its way back to me. Now I will have to return the replacement when it arrives since I have not managed to stop it from being dispatched!

It occurred to me that I could practise making videos by filming the stages of making a Goosey Guddle block and by doing a short film on how we make overnight “sourdough” bread. Nella became my untrained camera-person and editor-in-chief. She actually made a great job of stitching all of the scenes together and switching camera angles. I don’t know that I am yet You-Tube ready. I may have to get some beta-testers to see if my instructions make sense. 

I have almost made half of the Goosey Guddle blocks for Nella’s autumn quilt. I will have to get a move on as we are now into October and the leaves are starting to fall. I have so much spare fabric that it makes sense to use it on the back. I would like it to be more interesting than simply speedily joining large bits together so I would like it to be pieced in some way. I started by making a super-sized Goosey Guddle block. It is the size of a small quilt and I really had to watch out for bias stretch in the large triangles. 

Since I am teaching myself videography by watching You-Tube, my homework for the week is to learn about B-Roll - seamlessly blending in casual shots from a background camera. Luckily, I have a competent editor (Nella) but one day I will have to learn all this stuff myself…