Retreat Success

My long anticipated Art & Stitch retreat week was a success! The amount of preparation that I did paid off and I managed to pull off the illusion of being an expert on a complex digitising program. The folk who came along all gelled nicely as a group and all went home as far more confident users of the Q-Matic with Art & Stitch computerised quilting system. 

It was a beautifully sunny week here in Devon (nearly Cornwall) so it was a novelty to have a mid-week day off. I did not head for the seaside but pottered around at home then met my Retreaters for an alfresco cup of tea in Tavistock. I fixed my sloping floating shelf by resourcefully wedging some slivers of milk carton behind the brackets. I cut the grass, touched up the black paint on the shed, refreshed my window boxes and planted pots of sweet peas!

Nella is coming for her Easter hols from Uni so I did a “proper” supermarket shop and unpacked the Bernina 475QE that I bought over a year ago as a teaching machine. Due to the last minute chaos of my move from Scotland, it ended up being the only machine that came to Devon. I had enlisted Tracey Pereira to draw up SVG files so I could use the Scan-n-Cut to make vinyl stickers. I secretly wanted the jolly Kaffe Fassett version but it was unavailable. I may not have got the sizes and placements 100% right but I am pleased with the general idea and I still have some space left to fill.