Online Shopping Caveat

I can spend hours shopping online, usually reading all the reviews and checking for bargains. It generally works out well and is obviously convenient but sometimes my purchases do not quite meet my expectations.

I ordered a wool gilet because I love my scruffy, old, fleece body warmer from Boden that is years old. Disappointingly, the XL size was too big in the shoulders but did not zip up. To make matters worse, all of the binding was done in brown brushed nylon! I have an absolute horror of all things nylon, including tights, so that item was quickly dispatched back to where it came from.

Weeks ago I ordered a small battery cuckoo clock for my caravan from Ebay. OK, it was cheap and it eventually arrived from China but it was even naffer than I expected. Surprisingly, it ticks very loudly so I have banished it to the loo. I had an old framed embroidery that I decided could cover up some old damp patches. I decided to cut up a vintage tablecloth and frame parts of that too to make a set. The picture frames from Amazon had very flimsy glass which just shattered when I so much as looked at them - rather than send them back, I simply framed them up without the glass. 

I am making 2 quilts for the caravan bunks and need 2 lots of backing so I ordered a kingsized tropical duvet cover. I did not notice that it was actually polycotton and even worse, I did not see the giant snakes amongst the vegetation! Never mind - it will do.

I have pretty much completed the interior revamp of the caravan, complete with black glittery worktops. The fairy lights have been cable-tied into place and I am building up a “library” of vintage Observer books, a couple of which I picked up for £1.00 at the Red Cross Shop. One of them was published in 1972 and the original price on its dust jacket was 45p. 

I managed to complete 2 customer quilts this week, including a semi-custom one. Now that my caravan project is under control (inside at least), I should crack on with some straight-forward customer quilts, unless I sneak in my caravan quilts first;)

Just Getting On

 

I received a super box of threads from Aurifil to promote with customers and pupils. The 40/3 longarm cotton is my go-to thread these days as it is reliable and looks great. I used a light green on a small custom quilt with a Celtic influence. I wanted to see if I could use the Qmatic to place borders and found that going horizontally was pretty good - although while the quilt looked accurate, it still had borders that were not entirely straight. This was more pronounced when I turned the quilt to make it easier to do the vertical borders. I was definitely being super critical when I was working on the quilt as when it was finished the results looked good. 

We had some typical February weather with a heavy snowfall at the end of the week which made it feel cosy inside. Nessie and Fizz shared a spot on the sofa as they are mostly friends - that is, Fizz does not usually succumb to being chased by an annoying dog. 

In between coats of paint on the caravan worktop I pieced together some blocks for a caravan quilt. Maybe it is because I pieced the units on different machines and only finger pressed them but accuracy was not at all evident. I should definitely have trimmed the units to match up nicely but I just decided that it did not bother me if many of the points did not meet. Hopefully once the blocks all get ironed they will fit together;) 

The Boss Said I Could...

 

I asked the Boss for time off quilting to work on the caravan and She said it was OK;)

There were times when it felt like a never ending project and I can still see wee patches where I need to touch up the paint. The shelves all got lined with sticky-back plastic and I was finally able to put stuff back into the cupboards. It was particularly fun to glue fake flowers around the bathroom mirror.  My favourite bit is the little neon sign promising cocktails from the cupboard with ridiculously cute curtains. I keep having nightmares that I will get a caravan service person to check it over and they will say it is not roadworthy. The outside is still tatty but my new skills in sticky vinyl may hide all sorts of blemishes. 

I really need to get back to actual quilting work this week and tidy up the messes that I have made but I also have fairy lights to install … and maybe I will paint the caravan worktop!

So Much Paint!

 I spent most of my week painting inside the caravan. My excuse for not working on any customer quilts was that nella had a reading week from College so it was a bit like a holiday. If I had known it would take more than 2 coats I might not have been so enthusiastic - the cupboards actually needed 6 coats and could probably stand more. I have to admit that I did get a bit bored with the job and it felt like I was tackling the old Forth Road Bridge. I had more fun in the tiny bathroom with a B&Q knock-off mix of a Farrow & Ball colour, “sulking room pink”. I still have quite a lot to do and really want to fast-forward to the fun part of adding accessories. 

While I was waiting for more paint to arrive by post, I ran up some units for a caravan quilt. 

The idea is that I will make 8” blocks until the quilt top is big enough for a caravan bunk. 

The temptation is to keep forging ahead with my caravan renovations in the coming week. Thing is - I am my own boss so I just have to ask myself permission;)