In the Pink

I was 56 on Monday which means it is almost 16 years since I started blogging! I have been thinking… do I have a good work / life balance? Am I creating enough? Am I having fun? Does any of it even matter?! I certainly don’t seem to travel as much, mostly due to Nessie, costs and probably the state of the world. I am trying to be more focussed as I am easily distracted and that can be overwhelming.  

I “allowed” myself some time off for my birthday and had a lovely lunch out with a friend but I still felt guilty for not being busy all day.

I guess I made up for it for the rest of the week. I tentatively started the pink iris panel with its computerised designs. The advice had been not to move anything on screen and there was actually only one place where the designs overlapped a tiny bit. It was tricky, not placing the designs using markers and there were often undefined areas on the fabric where it was difficult to see if there was an actual petal. It does look good though and I would like to do it again if I can source the panel. It only seems to be available from the USA at huge shipping costs. Speaking of which - the Tula Pink butterfly quilt kit that I ordered from America cost me £68.00 in post followed by the same again in customs so I probably ended up paying the equivalent of the £300.00 that Cotton Patch UK charges for the kit!

I plan to make another short Art & Stitch video, mostly so it sinks into my own brain. I have read the manual and watched all of the available tutorials but the programme still confuses me sometimes. I am trying to learn it inside-out to become an expert well before my teaching retreat in June.

In February I am giving a Zoom lecture and demo about “Help ma Boab” to Region 16 (Scotland) of  the QGBI. Apart from checking that my tech all works, I need to write clear instructions on constructing a block. I had my usual rough notes and some photos but I had to start from scratch in order to write a pattern. I suppose I don’t know at the start of a quilt project that it might become one that I need to recreate;) I discovered that the blocks are far more complex that they seem at first. First there is the reverse appliqué hole, then the rickrack and silver lamé attached by tiny, accurate blanket stitches. Then there is the cutting and placing of the vinyl circles, decorative machine stitching where all of the thread tails need to be sewn in, followed by kantha-style hand stitching!

February starts next week - as well as keeping on top of the projects that I have started for Art and Stitch / Qmatic consolidation, I need to pick up the pace and get back onto customer quilts. No wonder I have to write basic things like, “Brush Nessie” on my do list or they just would not get done!

Allsorts Achieved

It was a snowy week - not that much snow to be honest, although the roads were bad but it was COLD in my workshop. I have just got a digital thermometer out there and yesterday when it was beginning to warm back up it was only 5 Celsius! I was not out there very much unless dressed like an Arctic explorer. I managed to quilt a second sofa cover from fluffy fleece and anti-slip-rug-stuff. I had a bit of a panic when I got an error message that the Q-matic system was not recognising its motors but I discovered that cables had got dislodged by accident when I left a drawer open underneath so it was easily fixed.

I have loaded a digitally printed panel to practise using complex Q-matic designs. I am following the advice of a closed Facebook group and have basted it with a million pins which took me hours. I have even ordered a suede welding apron so I don’t snag my clothes on the offending stabby pins every time I lean over it.

I spent a lot of time on my computer this week which always feels a bit of a skive because it is so easy to get side-tracked by Youtube and online shopping. However, I did reorganise lots of documents, sent some files off tho Quilt Direct relating to the Art & Stich retreat in June and I made a video explaining how the backdrop tool works:) I “wasted” some time figuring out how to customise the boring blue folders on my Mac desktop but now I can easily find the folders I want. I admit to doing some procrastinating as I actually sorted out the pantry where everything just gets piled on top of each other (by other members of the household).

I had a blustery but lovely day in St Andrews with Freya. It is such a nice small town which even has a seaside and she enjoyed reminiscing about her Uni days there. I left early to beat yet another storm home. Hopefully it will not be too bad this far north - fingers crossed that any rain gets dried up quickly by wind because I can’t stand the thought of mopping up yet again.

Crunch Time

I drove back from Norfolk listening to an audiobook which passed the time easily - Kate Atkinson’s “Normal Rules Don’t Apply”. Even though I had taken some craft projects with me I did not even look at them. I made a slightly rash purchase of the Tula Pink butterfly quilt kit and companion digital designs. I think it was due to a combination of not having a planned project and feeling that working with the digital patterns would be a good learning curve. 

Freya was home when I got back to get her broken front teeth fixed (again). I had been meaning to book a dental appointment myself as I have not been since 2019 and one of my molars has been bothering me. I was angrily crunching breakfast cereal and thought there was something hard in the mix. A large chunk of tooth had broken off! Fortunately, the dentist was able to mend it the next day. My hideous 1970’s metal fillings were the culprit. These were liberally used as a preventative measure if any sign of decay was spotted in children’s teeth but they expand and contract, causing cracks. It is a crying shame that there are so few NHS dentists these days as it is so expensive to get check ups and treatment.

I used the excuse of having a visitor for not getting back into my workshop which feels COLD. I eventually gave it a surface-level tidy and plan to get back in on Monday, starting with an easy second sofa cover. My main focus is to put together course-work for my classes and retreat at Quilt Direct in March and June and promote it on social media. Firstly though, I have an online talk and demo on Zoom in February so I need to practise setting up all of my Tech. It feels like a lot to get done but if there is a List then I can work through it;)

The Year is Still New!

 This winter holiday seems to have gone on for while! I wonder if it is because the main holidays were on Mondays. I kept meaning to give my workshop a really good tidy and clean but the wet weather has gone on and on so there did not seem to be any point. I did eventually do some of my new 100-piece puzzle which seems to be quite tricky. It is funny how I can decide I will do it for an hour but still be fiddling with it 3 hours later. 

Nella crocheted at light-speed and rattled out a couple of hair scrunchies and even a granny-square balaclava. 

We binge-watched The Buccaneers (an Apple TV adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel) and loved it. Nella and I drove to Norfolk mid-week and enjoyed listening to its audio book but the reader’s accents were really weird. 

It was nice to see my sister on her birthday and the next day Nella and I visited Oxburgh Hall near Swaffham. We have both really enjoyed using our National Trust memberships for outings such as these and will definitely renew them when the time comes. 

I don’t plan to stay long as I really need to get properly started with the New Year - I feel like I have been “on holiday” for weeks!