Curtains R not Us

Curtains R not Us

I had a great day on the beach at St Cyrus with the children on Monday, the May Day holiday. It was sunny, not windy, lovely and warm beside our driftwood bonfire. We just sat and watched the waves, built a moated sand castle and made hot-dogs washed down with cups of tea. I didn't even worry about my To Do List at all!

I did battle with a pair of linen curtains for the next couple of days, regretting using the thick blackout interlining. There was barely enough so when the sun shines I can see that it doesn't quite reach the top. The linen seemed to keep moving every time I measured it and I could not remember how to use the blind hem foot so I simply used invisible thread for the hem instead. After hanging them they trailed voluptuously and annoyingly on the floor so I took up yet another hem that I wasn't pleased with. The finished curtains seemed so bulky after the 40-odd year old velvet ones that I thought they looked like bedspreads and decided that from now on I will only make Qurtains or pay a professional to do them properly. I know I should have sewn them by hand; using the machine was not necessarily faster. I am going to make a pelmet with pompoms to finish them off. Visitors declared them to be very posh so I must stop obsessing over the mistakes that only I can see.

I added some painted details to the Hare but there seemed to be something missing. I thought he needed a shadow but Mo favoured a standing stone. That is the trouble with not planning something in advance. I looked up images of hares and standing stones but just could not find inspiration. In the end we have decided to cut a bit off the bottom end of the Hare panel so that he no longer seems to float in the middle and we will attempt to add on some new quilted borders with Celtic details. Meanwhile, Mo is going to appliqué a Green Man's head so hopefully we will have a choice of panels with which to enter into the two person category at FOQ.

As an antidote to all of that artistic decision making, I ran up a super simple 5-bar Amish style strippy in 2 colours of Oakshott which I intend to quilt very geometrically for a change. I absolutely MUST make some progress with writing so will work on that on and off during the week, while continuing to churn out quilted/corrugated Yurt roof sections and try to make a decision about dates on which I could offer classes.

This weekend we went on a family outing to have a go at 10-pin bowling. I don't think my dodgy elbow appreciated hurling the incredibly heavy bowls but I came second and enjoyed the nachos. The children became utterly addicted to the 2p pushing machines in the amusement arcade and fed all of their winnings straight back into the slots until they were broke. After a slap up supper at Costco, it was time to supervise music practice, do the ironing, organise packed lunches, read bedtime stories and update the blog at the end of yet another week that simply flew past.

 

Too chicken for a Hare

It was another 4-day week so I had to get stuck in and try to quilt two things at once. I rattled off 3 Yurt2 roof sections then concentrated on getting Mo's Hare quilted. I decided to do the background first as I really wasn't sure what to do about his body. I am pretty pleased with the effect considering that this was the first project that I had done on Lenni and I was squeezing myself into a very small gap which was not very comfortable. In the end the body was just quilted with wiggly lines as the fabric collage did not really demand anything fancier. There now needs to be some paint to enhance some quilting lines and a few sparkly crystals. Mo and I need to decide whether we are happy with the Hare just sitting there – she had originally planned to do a standing stone collage but hit a creativity brick wall with the project. I think it also needs something interesting to happen in the binding then I will send it to FOQ before it officially becomes a new Yurt panel.

Since major dieting was not a speedy option for squeezing in between Lenni and Milli, I decided it would be quicker to rearrange my studio to fit Lenni in the larger room. It is a pity that I have to have the longarms in separate rooms but it is now in a much better position as Milli's room is chilly and shady all day. I dismantled the frame and reassembled it all by myself as good practice for being at a show. I also put together the flat pack table that arrived as a replacement for my Horn cabinet so I reckon I'm getting pretty good at using my tools and even following instructions.

While spending all this time in my workshop I thought a lot about running classes on a more regular basis. I have been meaning to do this for ages but never got around to writing down specifics, requirements and picking some dates. With Miche on board as an informal PA, she is giving me helpful suggestions and setting me "homework" tasks to try and get things done more efficiently. I made myself finish off an article for C June Barnes that I started over a month ago and thankfully she has approved it so I was able to tick that off one of my lists.

Like most of the people in the UK, I took the day off on Friday to watch coverage of the Royal Wedding and have a picnic lunch with friends. I decided that Coronation Chicken and G&T Granitas would be delicious patriotic treats. The BBC did its usual great job of commentary and providing wonderful footage of the ceremony, procession and crowd scenes. I encouraged the children to watch such an historic event, annoying them by singing along to "Jerusalem". We loved criticising the outfits and hats, and trying to work out who was who. It was lovely to forget about deadlines, foreign wars and disasters for just one day and be caught up in a feeling of national goodwill.

This week I have to find a large box and arrange a courier to take quilts and the Smart Car cover to Loch Lomond and make some headway with the book draft and quilt class plans and make a pair of curtains... However, the children don't return to school from their long weekend until Wednesday so that could be quite a lot to fit in!

Mad as a March Hare (in April)

I questioned my sanity when I had to ring a list of people who may be able to have my children after school when I forgot to check whether my neighbour was actually available and when I set off to Inverness with the Yurt without the full address and telephone number of my destination. I will put it down to trying to think of too many things at once. I need to go back to old fashioned list writing and consider printing off all non junk emails. In the end, everything worked out fine and I had a clear run to Smithton, where I met Sandra who did a great job of looking after me. I was glad that Highland Quilters had a team to help me including two very patient men without whom things would have been tricky.  The church hall had a brand new carpet so I was unable to chalk a 9 foot circle to mark where the wall trellis should be placed. Someone eventually had the bright idea of laying down bits of paper and after that things went really smoothly apart from breaking another roof pole tip – I will just need to have around 3 spares I think. The talk seemed to go down well, despite the audience sitting in a curve around the Yurt so I hope they all caught most of it!

As we have had another week of good spring weather, I dyed some lengths of fabric for the roof of Yurt2. I dyed 6 times as much fabric at a time than was recommended in the instructions so the colours were lighter but they are still really good shades. I did some complicated calculations to work out the most efficient way of cutting the pieces and I intend to start quilting the long roof panels this week. I have even loaded the Lenni frame with the Mo's Hare panel so I need to pluck up the courage to quilt that too. I am hopeful that it might do for a two-person category FOQ entry since I have not done any show quilts for over a year now.

The sunshine spurred me on to finish Freya's new quilt, take up the hems on Fenella's new school dresses after she tried to squeeze into last year's frock complete with woolly tights & sheepskin boots, and I even went on to clean out the summer house and garden yurt. Freya and Millie entered the Balmoral Run for the first time and ran 2.5km in a very respectable 12+ minutes. Welly and Mabel willingly lined up for dog hair cuts. I looked up some recipes in case we decide to have a last-minute garden party to celebrate the Royal Wedding – I wonder if Prince William and Kate Middleton will have Coronation Chicken and Gin & Tonic Sorbet on their menu?

 

Spring!!

Spring!!

The weather was pretty good this week, indeed, unbelievably fabulous on Sunday and we even ate outside twice at the weekend without everything blowing away. The ground is actually dry and the wild cherry blossom looks lovely. There are hundreds of white anemones growing through the dead, winter bracken that may inspire a Yurt panel when I remember to take my camera on a dog walk. Fergus got a new bike since he wasn't looking forward to doing his cycling proficiency course at school on his sister's old one which was purple and too small. I was rather taken by a traditional ladies' bike with a wicker basket so wasted a little while on the Internet looking up Dutch bicycles in case I took a notion to cycle 4 miles for a carton of milk. Those bikes look such fun in Holland but the reality here in Scotland is that the main roads are too busy and the off-road tracks are too stony for that sort of contraption.

As it was school holiday week two I felt concerned that I was not progressing with business related tasks so got stuck into finishing off 3 customer quilts and a tote bag project that had been hanging around for a while. The bag was a little frustrating because it had an odd windmill construction method and I did not find it easy to get the lining to behave. I had hoped to have alternating coloured churndash blocks but seem to have ended up with a red side and a purple side. I utility quilted Catherine's Aussie animals, Alison's scrappy elephants and sewed the binding onto another quilt that I did before we went away.

The faulty Kitchenaid mixer had to be collected and will be swapped for one that doesn't mind making bread dough so I had a cooking frenzy one day trying out all of its attachments. It did a really good job of pancakes, pizza dough, mango yogurt ice-cream and also mincing cheese and basil. The children were impressed by all of this activity in the kitchen but after washing up a sinkful of dishes about 6 times I remembered why I am not a full time domestic goddess.

The APQS Lenni on the 8ft Bliss frame arrived from the USA and I put most of it together by myself. It looks great and I have had a practice piece on it. I love my great big Millennium but I think the Lenni is lighter and far simpler to use. There are no adjustments to make on the track or wheels although I was a bit frustrated that there was some vibration at certain resonances. This improved dramatically after we took off the castors. I may have to do a few minor tweaks to get it running as perfectly as I would like. Space is now rather limited in my longarm room; I could do with being a bit slimmer to get past Lenni to the back of Milli but I would prefer to keep the other room free for workshops and small classes.

All in all, I was pleased with my progress for the week and should be able to go to Inverness with the Yurt this week with a clear conscience – after I have done everything on my To Do list for Monday!

 

Isle of Mull & Iona

We spent a great week on Mull despite some very wet weather that made part of the cliff wall collapse further down the street. It was like watching manufactured rain in a movie lashing across the bay. We did not get too bored as the children drew pictures of the colourful harbour front and strummed on the old guitar that we took with us. After I made Fenella's Clothkits dolly with back to front arms, I pieced a quilt of simple squares. My husband kept thinking of errands to fetch from the multi-purpose chandler at the harbour that sold everything from cake decorations and harmonicas to fishing tackle and binoculars. I came up with plenty of ideas for remodelling the fisherman's cottage that we were staying in. It was quaint and cosy but if it was mine I would have redecorated it with a nautical theme and antler coat hooks.

It was not quite the tourist season so some places like the handmade cheese company were not open for business. We travelled all over the island in the Landy and took in the spectacular scenery, driving on twisting, plunging single track roads. Some of the settlements were extremely remote and you could drive for miles and not see a house or car. There were many highland cows and sheep wandering around and we kept a keen eye out for wildlife. We could not decide whether the birds of prey were sea eagles, golden eagles or just buzzards. We were fortunate to spot a sea otter, a mountain hare, a seal, and on the last evening a pod of five harbour porpoises swam around the yachts moored up in the bay at Tobermory.

There were plenty of good places to eat out and the seafood was fabulous. At Mishnish, Cafe Fish, the Pub and the Chip Van we feasted on langoustines, mussels, oysters, crab claws, monkfish, scallops, and even squats which looked like large pink woodlice. I have to admit that we had fish and chips several times in one week but it was all so deliciously fresh.

Our outings were delightfully simple – Tobermory museum, collecting shells and pebbles on the beach, and a foggy ferry trip back to the mainland to visit the most westerly point of mainland Scotland. There really was nothing much there apart from a few muddy cows grazing on the beach. The expedition to the neighbouring island of Iona was more successful as it was sunny and the children enjoyed looking for pieces of sea glass and green Iona marble on the small beaches. It was fascinating finding out about the geology of the area. Mull is a large island formed mostly from massive volcanic eruptions millions of years ago It was obvious to see that lava had flowed and bubbled to form most of the land mass. Apparently, the rocks on Mull are so old that fossils are rarely found as plant and animal life had not yet evolved.

We were sorry to leave the island on our last day as we had enjoyed our week spent mostly without Internet or TV. We took the long scenic route home via Glencoe, Aberfeldy and Braemar so that we could tour through the Highlands. On that journey we appreciated that Scotland has the most amazing scenery of craggy peaks, waterfalls, lochs and glens. It was nice to arrive home and realise that we have so much space in our house after spending a week in a small cottage. We would certainly recommend a trip to Mull and may consider visiting other islands in future; possibly visiting when there is a Celtic music festival and hoping for some sunshine – still, a major advantage of it not being brilliant weather was that at least we did not have to contend with midges

Time Wasting Technologies

I signed up for Mobile Me, supposedly a productivity enhancing programme to link my computer, ipad and phone so that contacts and emails would all be synchronised over a technological "cloud". However, I wasted a ludicrous amount of time trying to load it all up and get the gadgets to connect with each other. I really wonder whether it was me being dense and missing the obvious or whether it was actually far more complicated than necessary. It is still not quite all tied together with the computer but theoretically I can at least access and edit the calendar.

I was very excited when my new Kitchenaid mixer arrived and immediately made a bucket full of mashed potato and cookie mixture. Strangely, it juddered alarmingly when mixing a batch of bread dough so I wasted yet more time on the internet trying to find out if it is normal for an industrial type of mixer to struggle with a basic loaf. It is not supposed to do that, of course, then I came across a website full of Kitchenaid complaints that I wish I had never read. Sadly, I have to pack it all up and send it back for a replacement which is frustrating. I made Freya's chocolate birthday cake the old fashioned way and it tasted great.

I finished off the couching and binding on Pi Sqaures on the new Elna machine and was pleased with the extra throat space. It is really annoying that it is around an inch too big for my Horn cabinet – if I lower the table I can't plug it in! I was horrified at the cost of new, larger ones so may just get the basic Janome/Elna table instead of the hideaway cabinet. I eventually managed to get half of a customer quilt done, ordered more fabric and dye for Yurt2's roof and got packed up for the family trip to the Isle of Mull.

We had a very scenic drive through Perthshire to Oban to catch the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry across to the Island. It was only a 45 minute crossing; beautifully sunny and calm. We drove on the single-track main road towards Tobermory with its brightly coloured houses on the harbour front. After settling in to an old fisherman's cottage, we had a supper of freshly caught mackerel and chips from an award winning van on the jetty. We ate it sitting on the steps of the clock tower in a heavy rain shower as a double rainbow arched across the bay.

What's the story in Balamory?

I'm on the Isle of Mull without an Internet connection! I will have to wait until the Internet cafe opens later this week before making a proper blog post...

Pale and Interesting

I started the week determined to make good headway on the Yurt book and began by printing out everything that I have written so far. There seemed to be 3 versions of an introduction and several partly completed sections. At least I can now see what needs to be done. I made headway on an article on Shape and Form despite looking up definitions in a dictionary and getting rather muddled. I just decided to write about yurts in general and the structure of mine in particular. I had to put the frame up again in order to make accurate measurements which Bruce in Vermont will need to make the USA frame. My Yurt is not what I would call precision engineered – the measurements vary slightly and seem to change if the grass is bumpy. I need to stand all of the roof spars upside down in a bucket of linseed oil since they seem to be getting brittle at the ends; there have been a few casualties, snapping off at their pointy ends that will need to be replaced.

I quilted the panel called Pi Squares with some curving lines and curved cross hatching, filled in with pebbles. The new Elna 740 machine arrived from Pembertons and I put it straight to work on couching some yarn around the circles and defining some of the curves. I am very impressed so far – it has not complained once about chomping through a quilted piece to do a bit of fancy stitching. The larger throat is great for manoeuvring a finished quilt for embellishing since the wadding I have used is rather stiff to make the texture puff up nicely.

I painted my bedroom bit by bit during the week. As I have a roll of subtly printed grey and white linen with which I intend to make curtains, I had to cover up the pumpkin coloured walls with something more Scandinavian. I used to paint walls in bold colours but I seem to be choosing paler shades nowadays – I hope it is not a sign of age! I can't say it was exciting decorating when the colour was an undramatic off-white and by the second coat I couldn't see where I had been.

I finally decided to order a Kitchenaid mixer this week as I came across a very good offer. This promotion did not apply to any of the gorgeously coloured ones so at least I was spared that difficult decision – the classic model only comes in white. This was partly prompted after I grated my thumb amongst the carrots again and I admit that I found the video clip on potato mashing impressive.

After working with all of these neutral shades there was some unexpected colour here this week – Fergus discovered a very old bottle of fake tan lotion in the bathroom cupboard and decided to apply it liberally to see whether it would work. The offending bottle had long passed its sell-by date and had a potent smell. Fergus maintained that the bottle "fell" on him. He did not consider rubbing the cream in or washing his hands afterwards so he gradually developed a patchy orange tan that fascinated everyone at school.

I ended the week getting frustrated by a program that is meant to make life simpler by synchronising my calendars and contacts between PC, phone and ipad – except that I can't get it to function in the first place and all it tells me is that my new phone is actually 4 miles away from where it really is so I expect I will have to waste some more time sorting that quirk out...

Stirling

 

There has been something wrong with my coffee this week. It seemed to lack flavour so I went on a quest to source some more interesting blends. I researched different types of coffee grinders, wondering if I should make a ritual out of preparing my own beans for elevenses. Ferret had made me a cup of Blue Mountain coffee at the Region 15E weekend that had strength without bitterness. I eventually ordered an extravagant tin direct from Jamaica to see if it really is worth it. I had coffee with Mo midweek and came home with two new hens. She is constantly downsizing her free range flock so we captured a couple using fishing nets and I put them in my empty pigsty. They have laid two eggs each every day while my other lazy four have produced one in total. I had to stock up on layers' pellets before my trip to Stirling so picked up several new pairs of dressage gloves which are perfect for domestic machine quilting.

As well as preparing for a lecture & workshop away from home, helping to make sets of wings for the school show, registering for North East Open Studios and typing away on Yurt related documents, I also began dyeing fabric for the USA Yurt roof. Disappointingly, I realised that I am short by almost 40 metres! This large miscalculation is because I had forgotten that the first roof was tweeds on the top side with dyed backing but the second one will have dyed fabrics on both sides. On a positive note, I experimented and found that one sachet of Hungarian dye will colour an impressive 6 metres at once.

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Stirling Castle Quilters this week. It only took 2 ½ hours to drive to Stirling which is a compact city and I soon found my way around. The evening talk was held at the very well appointed Raploch Community Campus which had modern conference facilities. It was rather nice not to have to set up the entire yurt as I only took the panels. These were all laid out on tables - there are almost 36 now which is almost enough for two yurts but I aim to complete a minimum of 40 by the summer so that I have "spares" that can be swapped around. I managed to borrow a digital projector so the audience could see pictures of how the frame is constructed. They were really impressed by the scale of the project; they gave me a really very warm welcome and I felt that the talk went down really well. I was told that everyone was looking forward to seeing the fully dressed yurt at the Scottish Regional Day in Perth in September.

I took my Husqvarna sewing machine to Pemberton's in the centre of Stirling and was most impressed by the customer service. I looked at a couple of machines in case I decided to trade it in and tested them out on a piece of army canvas and quilted tweed. I felt that Andrew Pemberton imparted sound advice based on experience and knowledge. The technician looked at my machine straight away so that it could be diagnosed and discussed before I would head home the next day. I took some leaflets away to read overnight and I decided to trade in my embroidery machine for something better suited to quilting. An Elna Excellence 740 with an 11" throat is going to be delivered on Monday...

I pre-quilted a set of 9 Celtic kaleidoscopes for the Stirling workshop and wondered if it would be possible to draw them out instead to save some preparation time. I looked up spiro drawing applications on the computer but it was all a bit mathematical and I couldn't work out how to echo the lines. I ended up ordering a selection of books on circles, mandalas and vectors as I decided it would be far easier to photocopy, enlarge and trace the patterns. The books that have arrived so far seem to be written for people who have exceptional understanding of geometry and computer programming so I hope that the colouring books that have yet to be delivered will be easier for me to follow. The students in my workshop commented on how fun it was that the basic quilting had already been done so they could concentrate on the more intricate fillers and embellishments. They all worked very hard and produced super pieces which they all seemed to be pleased with!

I coerced Freya into helping me rearrange my workshop at the weekend as it seemed to be getting overcrowded and I was climbing around rolls of wadding. It looks much better and I have created enough space to accommodate Lenni, the smaller longarm that I will take to Festival of Quilts. Fenella helped me to clean out a 1950's kitchen cupboard which most sensible people would have taken to the dump. It is impossible to work out what its original colour may have been and it really could do with a total revamp but I can't spend days doing it up when I have so many other things to do, including considering repainting my bedroom for the first time in 10 years!

 

Full-on Formal

Sometimes I have customer quilts that don't get quilted as soon as they arrive. This one came last year as a "no hurry" quilt then its owner eventually took it back to complete herself before returning it recently since it looked rather challenging. This customer makes perfectly pieced quilts and she always warns me not to overdo the fancy quilting. This quilt required formal quilting, particularly stitch in the ditch. I am usually reluctant to use rulers as I once ran over one and had to retime my machine. I think that using rulers on a longarm machine is actually quite tricky to begin with – you certainly have to sew far more slowly and concentrate. It is all a matter of confidence – I used a really small ¼" thick ruler that couldn't slip for the straight lines and a 2" circle template for all of the pumpkin seeds. I eventually became faster but it still took me 5 full days of quilting to finish this quilt. I am really pleased with the results and know that I will not be afraid to use rulers again. However, I was conscious of how long it took to be so precise and how I was spending the entire week on just one project. 

The formal quilt kept me mostly out of mischief. I had coffee with Mo one morning and came home with 2 new laying hens. Mine are lazy layers so I wanted two everyday chooks with no airs and graces. They have already shamed the other lot by laying a brown egg each every day.

It was a week of very variable weather – we had gale force winds that threatened to pull off my canvas yurt's roof. The anchoring straps worked themselves loose so I had to go out and haul them in to avoid a catastrophe. I had planned to drive to Perth for the QGBI Scottish Regional Day but we had a severe weather warning for heavy snowfalls. I spent the spare day usefully catching up on correspondence for the Yurt tour in the USA and browsing for internet special offers on Kitchenaid mixers. It will take me ages to decide whether to buy one as they come in so many lovely colours.

I have packed up all of the accessories belonging to my recalcitrant sewing machine to take for a service in case I decide to trade it down. I can only justify doing this if I can get a good deal as it originally cost me a frightening amount of money and I have hardly used any of its fancy functions. I have to pre-quilt some kits for a class that I will be doing for Stirling Castle Quilters this week and maybe I will get started on quilting one of the new Yurt panels. I am dying to get started on Mo's fabric collage hare but really need to think about how this should be quilted. I also need to decide whether to make something for FOQ this year – if the hare works well then we could consider entering it into the reinstated two-person category.

First Yurt Road Trip

I spent most of the week preparing for my trip to QGBI Region 15E near Durham after getting in touch with Region 15W to apologise profusely for muddling the two groups together and taking the latter out of my diary. Luckily, Ferret has agreed to take my place at their Regional Day in October as I plan to be out of the country. I rooted around my computer to find lots of construction and work-in-progress pictures to make a PowerPoint presentation. This was a really interesting exercise as it meant that I had to create a chronological sequence of photos and make notes. For the first time ever, it made me realise quite how much was involved from planning, to gathering materials, making, enlisting help, putting it all together with the invaluable help from the Stunt Quilters and then starting to work out how to continue developing the project after LLQS. Bizarrely, on the night before the trip, I dreamt about Kitchenaid Mixers rather than having nightmares about driving several hundred miles with a Yurt on the roof of my car.

 Packing everything up was relatively easy as it was already organised. The tweed roof sections had been packed into vacuum bags which took up very little space. The most challenging thing was working out how to use the ratchets on the roof-rack straps. I think I have it sussed now, after catching a finger in one of them.

The 6 hour journey was pretty smooth all the way to Newcastle then a couple of angry motorists shook their fists at me while meant to be keeping to the 40mph speed limit during roadworks as they wanted to overtake. I almost made it to my final destination then had a last minute doubt that I was in the right place so stopped at a corner shop to ask for directions. In my haste to get away, I backed up the Landy but somehow just did not see a parked car behind as I crunched its plastic bumper. The driver emerged from the shop, understandably annoyed and I apologised profusely while also getting lip from some cheeky teenaged bystanders. I was SO annoyed with myself! There wasn't a scratch on the Landy, of course.

During the evening some of the Region 15E committee members gathered and finally after 10pm we gained access to the venue. The janitor was most concerned about his newly varnished floor but we were very careful. Miraculously, the small team of ladies managed to put up the wooden frame within an hour but it made me realise that however independent I claim to be, this is one job where Manpower is essential.

We arrived early the next morning to hang the wall panels and get the huge tweed roof up.  Despite not having time to hang bunting and fairy lights on the Yurt, it was great to see it in all of its finery again. The visitors were impressed and seemed to enjoy my talk which actually overran a little. I normally worry that I will be over concise and finish talking too soon. I received many compliments and admiration for my crazy project, and for the amazing support of the Stunt Quilters. I was delighted to sell some of my hand-dyed packs and postcards. I even met 2 longarmers who were keen to undertake some tuition and it was really nice that Kath from Darlington came specially – she even volunteered her son to help pack up the Landy afterwards, which was hugely appreciated.

It was fun to meet up with Ferret again as we always seem to get along rather well. We were amused that some members of the audience didn't know which of us was which and wondered vaguely whether we should plan a joint road trip in the future. Her talk also went down very well and it looked like everyone managed to stay awake all day – this has not always been the case at other Regional days that I have attended as there often seems to be some surreptitious afternoon snoozing going on.

I must thank Ann for being a lovely hostess and looking after me this weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting quilters from another area. It was a long drive home but I was able to listen to Radio 4 for most of the way. I stopped at IKEA for lunch on the way home and bought a bolt of black cotton which I daresay wiped out the modest profit that I might have made if I had not ruined someone's bumper. Unfortunately I didn't remember to ask anyone to take photos on my own camera so I hope that someone might send me a picture or two. I believe that Ferret may have taken a quick snap as I climbed on the Landy to load up my floral trimmed army canvas roof-rack bag – I don't suppose it was a particularly flattering shot!

My sewing machine hates me...

I have really fallen out with my domestic sewing machine this time. I don't think our relationship will ever be the same. It just isn't prepared to try hard enough these days so I have decided that after it has a good sort-out, it will be time to sell or trade in. It really did not want to sew the army canvas that I was using to construct a roof-rack bag for the Yurt. I tried using a great big needle but it still struggled so I ended up having to make a gigantic army-issue laptop bag with a daisy print binding to finish off the edges, since a double seam was out of the question. Then the so-called-top-of-the-range sewing machine balked at the industrial Velcro that I should have remembered it didn't like when I sewed the Yurt roof panels. It continued to sulk when I wanted to satin stitch onto a quilted Yurt panel with metallic thread and it kept snagging up the bobbin until I became hoarse with shouting at it. All seemed well with attaching binding until I pressed the reverse button and suddenly that was all it could do – it got stuck going backwards! I got out my more basic but (actually) made in Sweden machine and it was more than happy to oblige. I have decided that I don't use the posh (not actually made in Sweden) machine for any of the fancy embroidery that I thought I would when I first bought it and it is pointless keeping it unused in a box. I will have to get it serviced and fixed then decide whether I need to replace it with a different machine altogether; maybe I should even consider an industrial one.

I have been completing American Quilt Society forms to be considered as a teacher at Des Moines. I had to list exact quantities of fabrics and supplies, so it became a useful planning exercise. This prompted me to try out circles quilted with a twin needle on a domestic machine as an alternative to using the circle-making attachment on the longarm.

This week was busy with non-quilting happenings. On Monday I attended school as an observing teacher to see how teaching maths in primary school may have changed in the 10 years that I have been away. Of course, the concepts remain the same but the emphasis is on more active learning and the interactive computer screen has replaced the blackboard. I now have to wait for a formal interview and hope that drastic cutbacks in education have not closed the list of relief teachers in my area. It would be good to know that I could have a reliable income that would help fund my USA Yurt tour. Fenella was thrilled to start Brownie Guides and was adamant that she would need the uniform straight away. Fergus played Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" on guitar for the school talent show and was delighted to be chosen as the winner. Freya had her first senior school prom and persuaded a friend to help operate the hair-curling gadget to make her look glamorous. I expect she was worried that I might burn her hair or make her put on too much glittery eye shadow. Blue Cat accidentally stayed out all night for the first time and was most disgruntled in the morning.

I ordered a couple of unusual items online; antler buttons from The Highlands and a pair of builder's props from a tool merchant in The Midlands. Both of these are Yurt related. The buttons will look good on one of the new curved Yurt panels and the props are to hold the Yurt crown in place, rather than make someone balance on a ladder to wait with aching arms until all of the roof spars are lined up. The alternative to these would have been plasterer's stilts but I thought these would have been quite tricky to master!

Highland Rake

The mid-term break was grey, wet and cold so I decided that the children could do with a dose of culture at Aberdeen Art Gallery. Although they were not excited at the prospect, they enjoyed the visit. I was bemused by some of the artist statements, wondering whether they are taught how to write enigmatically at art school. I was impressed by the range of the collections. There were several famous Impressionist and Pre-Raphaelite artists' works as well as pieces by Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. I was still fuming after a phone call with a representative of the Scottish Arts Council that had started encouragingly regarding artist travel grants. It ended quite quickly after I explained that my exhibition involves textiles and I was informed that this puts me in the "craft" category for which there is no current funding. I constantly find this distinction between Art and Craft infuriating. I appreciate skill and technique in any medium. I wonder what William Morris and his followers would have made of the separation of his key principles. I have been asked to write an article about the Yurt with regard to "Form & Structure" by C June Barnes for a chapter in a forthcoming book. I will try to write a suitable piece that is esoteric enough for the subject but that is not incomprehensible arty drivel. Before I am bombarded by emails from incensed artists, let me say that I daresay that most of them are perfectly sensible, creative people who do not usually wear smocks and berets while smoking French cigarettes. Admittedly, I did not meet anybody like that at the North East Open Studios AGM. I have decided to join NEOS this year and will open my studio for a week in September.

I worked away at drafting and typing projects for the Yurt book. I had to calculate the yardage for each project and check that I was giving the correct sizes for each unit. I will pass the notes on to some quilter friends to proof-read when I have sketched out some accompanying diagrams. I am still not completely satisfied with the precision of some of the joins in my Celtic Drunkard's Path piece. I was lent a book on "Piecelique" by Sharon Schamber that offered another method of dealing with curves then discovered that there are several books on the subject on Amazon and I wondered why I had made myself figure it out by trial and error. My inaccuracies were probably caused by the loosely woven fabrics and in the end I decided that some antler buttons could be used to disguise them.

I investigated how I could print my blog out in book form since it would be useful to flick back and pick out references to the Yurt for the book. If I had used Blogger from the beginning then it would be relatively easy to "slurp" the entire blog into a publishing website but my website based blog is not recognised. I spent a very long time figuring ways around this and even worked out how to export it all BUT still got stuck with an error code. As a distraction I also became an electric guitar online-buying geek, shopping around for a full sized guitar for Fergus, reading reviews and watching demo clips on YouTube!

Mo and I went on a jaunt to see Yurtman, Paul Spencer, at the edge of The Highlands near Balmoral. We drove along the very scenic South Deeside Road all the way. The sun was glimmering on the birch trees despite the leaden sky. He was working on 5 yurts in various stages of construction. He has a large yurt that he rents out as a weekend retreat. It has an outdoor shower with a twisted birch branch as a rustic door handle. He has agreed to be interviewed for my book when he is less busy. He let me have a length of sturdy green canvas to make a waterproof bag for the Yurt to travel on the Landy roofrack. We stopped in Ballater to look for antler buttons but none of the shops had any. We each ended up buying something trendy to wear in a boutique then were advised to try the charity shop for buttons. I didn't get any buttons but ended up buying a 15 metre roll of hand printed linen that I could use for bedroom curtains. I'll just have to redecorate the room to match the fabric!

Sorting Circles

I was determined to make significant progress on writing some projects to go in the Yurt book. I wrote instructions that I think are simple to follow but I am aware that anyone who makes a claim that their pattern is "easy" is either optimistic about the skill of the person tackling the project or is just lying. It will be imperative that someone else can understand what I am trying to explain. I have taken several photos of various stages but some publishers prefer diagrams. I realised that I could use Smartpen to sketch the pictures and an editor could find someone who can actually draw to present them properly. However, the trouble with having gadgets and software that are not used frequently is that the operator tends to forget how they work. I could do all sorts of things with EQ6 if I had enough patience to remind myself how it works. It took a whole evening for me to figure out how to upload a scribble and save it as a PDF. It would have been quicker to scan in a sketch but there is really no point in having a Smartpen and not using it. It struck me that when I attended the meeting for parents about the school intranet, I should have won a prize for Geekiest Parent since I was able to comment authoritatively on uploading and plug-ins.

The abilities of computer literate quilters can be staggering. My parents are touring around the USA and they emailed to tell me that they had visited a small quilt show in Tombstone, bought a raffle ticket and left their mobile phone behind. I posted a message onto a forum, a quilter elsewhere in Arizona contacted the guild in Tombstone, the phone was found and they called the number that was stored to my parents' friends in California to ask how they could return it!

I decided that I would figure out the most accurate and easiest way of attaching bias tape to circles. Sally kindly posted a link to her method on Facebook and it worked really well. Not satisfied by that major achievement, I just had to crack the "Easy" method of sewing a closed bias loop around a circle. Several attempts ended up in the bin but I finally got good results and can now describe a blow by blow account of how to do it. I make sure that a piece of wadding goes underneath to add stability and to bulk out any fullness. The next challenge was to construct some Drunkard's Path type blocks to reform into a simple Celtic design. I used a variety of methods of turning under the edges of circles. It just goes to show that if you are going to write a pattern that works properly, it has to be thoroughly tested. I had to work out circle sizes or curved templates that included the correct seam allowance and would fit exactly next to a 4-patch block. Since I am not a mathematician and because I never studied a proper course in patchwork, I find resizing can be a bit tricky. It may seem sensible to use a template from a book but I often want to adjust the size of the project. I will make the other half of my Celtic ring before I decide which method gives the best results. Maybe I will decide that I should just make the templates using EQ6 and piece the Drunkards Path pieces together with a curved piecing foot.

I made carrot cake #3 using Nigel Slater's recipe. It was a good cake, although separately egg whites and yolks was a bit of a faff. I thought the texture was a touch dry if I am being really critical but the mascarpone and cream cheese icing was superb.

I contacted the British Council to enquire about travel grants for artists exhibiting overseas but I was told that all future funding has been cut. I emailed Radio 4 "Woman's Hour" to see if they would be interested in interviewing me as I could really do with finding sponsorship to help fund the Yurt tour. I sent a package of postcards off to Terri in Wisconsin to publicise the Yurt exhibition in the USA. I phoned Creative Exhibitions to see if I would be allowed to exhibit the Smart Car cover on an actual car at FOQ. The answer was that I may be allowed to enter it if I could obtain a car without a battery or petrol tank for Health & Safety reasons. The marketing department of Mercedes Smart in Birmingham is looking into my request since they could gain free advertising at Europe's largest quilt festival. The latest thing that I have decided to investigate is publicising my blog to date. I don't mean to sell any copies; it would just make it easier to flick through to pick out any suitable excerpts for the real book. I was fascinated to discover that I can see where my readers come from on the Blogger site. I was amazed to note that there are viewers worldwide. I think I will now go and frustrate myself with EQ6 for a couple of hours or perhaps I will go off at a tangent and look up some other international quilters' blogs!

Flying Teuchter

I flew down to London this week to be at the APQS technical training course in Surrey. Despite being "Europe's Oil Capital", Aberdeen airport is accessed via twisty country roads and it is decidedly compact compared to Terminal 5. I have been through Heathrow before but I had not actually tried to meet anyone there. I did not even occur to me that there would be more than one way out. Luckily, Yvette managed to phone me and find me! On arrival at her house I was delighted to be offered a large gin and introduced to Boris (Johnson) the golden retriever. Yvette dropped me off at Chris' studio for the class the next morning after ploughing through traffic hold-ups caused by school runs, commuters and roadworks. It was great to meet up with several APQS owners and to refresh my memory on machine servicing with experienced technician, Mark Caraher. After the class Yvette and I assisted him with major surgery on Ferret's hard working machine, replacing many of its moving parts. I joked that it would now be bionic and that she might have to "bond" with it all over again.

I spent the next day discussing the stand that Yvette and I will run together at FOQ 2011, she demonstrated the capabilities of her Intelliquilter system and we paid a visit to her shop in Horsley High Street, Woking called "Needle & Thread". It was encouraging to see several customers popping in for fabric, haberdashery and cards. There were a few simple quilts hanging up and I took a fancy to the Tanya Whelan collection and some other Fabric Freedom fat quarters. I decided that I will make Freya and Fenella a new bed quilt each using charm squares; maybe I will sneak a Featherweight into the car in the Easter holidays if I can wait that long before cutting it up. I think it is probably therapeutic to run up something easy now and again.

My flight home was delayed due to high winds in Scotland. In the end, the turbulence was not quite as bad as I expected but I was very relieved to arrive in Aberdeen. I had left the Landy at the airpark where they had warmed it up for my late arrival – it was like being met by a big, green, friendly dog with a waggy tail. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip down south but it felt great to be back home with bright stars overhead and virtually no other vehicles on the road. It looks like I have become a teuchter (Scots word for a country bumpkin).

I cut up fabric for a couple of so-called-simple Yurt panels involving circles. I wanted to run a wide bias binding around some 6" circles. I got extremely frustrated with the bias binding machine and even tried making the bias without it simply using the iron. Both methods kept missing an edge or crumpling everything. I watched several YouTube clips on bias binding making. I had cut the binding from a large square as shown in the Fons & Porter book. I think that the width of my strips must have been variable and certainly some fabrics co-operated better than others. I even got the gadget to behave eventually. Once I had made the wide bias, I then had to work out the circumference of my circle, add a bit for the end join and pin it into position by matching up some pinpoints. Explanations in books never seem to cover all of my questions. Should I use the outer circumference or an average midpoint so everything got covered properly? Should I use a tape measure or do calculations involving pi? In the end I seemed to get it all fudged in and pinned down without using any stupid pinpoints. I decided that a trapunto layer of wool wadding would help to bulk out any misfitting.

I experimented with the dyeing method that I use for yurt backs. I wondered if the dye would work at lower temperatures so I don't have to use the hot cycle of the washing machine which takes ages. I just filled a large bowl with hot water, salt and vinegar and let it soak in for a while. The colour was absorbed fine but it took so long to rinse that I'm not sure whether it all got "set" properly. I don't really need to wash yurt panels; there was a lot more effort involved in doing the dyeing by hand. I could have done with a mangle to squeeze out the excess water. I will definitely dye the new roof sections in the washing machine.

I have finally made some rough notes for Yurt Book projects and I will have to decide whether to include this one. I have to work out whether to attempt badly drawn diagrams or take lots of photos. I expect that many of my ramblings will have to be edited out since most patchwork books have to conform to a set number of pages. Perhaps it would be better to write a (quilt) recipe book instead as they seem to be pretty thick. In the meantime, perhaps I could produce some patterns to sell as it could be some time before the book is finished.

 

Focus!

 

I expect that I really do have plenty of time for writing a book except that I have a tendency to get a little side-tracked. I have just spent about an hour searching on the internet for a folk singer that I heard on the radio one evening. I memorised her name and meant to write it down but then forgot. After a circuitous trawl via Mike Harding and the Folk Awards, I remembered that I was looking for Emily Portman. Incredibly, when I asked Fenella who the singers were on Jools Holland's Hootenany, she immediately reminded me that they were called "The Secret Sisters". I am mentioning this because I have made a very simple gift quilt this week with large flying geese and rectangles. Surely nothing could go wrong? The thing is that when things are simple, I must let my mind wander and not concentrate fully. There was a good couple of inches difference between the two sides of the finished quilt top because I wasn't accurate enough. I don't know whether this was because the large triangles made things extra stretchy or whether I really should have used some pins to keep things together. I will tell the recipient that the quilt must absolutely never be hung on a wall as it has been specially designed to go on a spare bed.

I had similar lapses in attention when I made the effort to read through the Scottish primary curriculum guidelines that had supposedly been endorsed by the Plain English society. Either it has been deliberately written by a government quango in Gobbledegook or I am incapable of concentrating for long enough to reach the end of each flow diagram. However, while I was doing that I figured out how to draft some quilt blocks with curves, and even worked out the best construction method so it turned into a pretty useful multi-tasking exercise.

Something that preoccupied me greatly was whether we should consider putting in an offer on Durris Manse that came up for sale this week. It is a fantastic large Victorian house in wonderful grounds that requires substantial modernisation. It is also well out of our price range and doesn't even have a workshop. Somehow it appealed to me and I could actually imagine myself living there but it would be far more sensible and much cheaper to extend the house we already have.

I intended to start on some new Yurt panels but I realised that I did not have sufficient yardage to do what I had planned. I ordered some super pieces of organic, fair-trade cotton from http://www.fairtradefabric.co.uk that I will incorporate the other shot cotton and dyed yurt scraps. I want to work on some more panels that involve circles so I spent an afternoon mass producing bias binding that will cover up some raw edge appliqué. I decided that the bias binding can include prints which did not appear in the other panels; the main fabrics will remain as earthy plains.

The patchwork Smart Car cover appeared in "Popular Patchwork" and "Patchwork & Quilting" magazines this month and got some very good coverage. Taking it to a couple of the Ribbon Walks is something else I have to organise soon. I also have to find out whether I will be allowed to display it on a car at Festival of Quilts... I have now booked the APQS stand at FOQ 2011 and my book-keeper ensured that my accounts were all in order in time to complete my online tax self-assessment. But I did not realise that I had to allow time to receive a code in the post before I can complete this. I decided to send in a cheque to show willing even though HMRC will probably end up refunding it later!

I had a look at the draft of the Yurt book and was pleased to see that I have written more than I remembered. I need to concentrate on getting the instructions done for another 10 projects then can spend more time waffling on about Yurts and the wonderful stunt quilters. I even made Carrot Cake #2 which was too fluffy, although technically still delicious. By the time I have made all 6 recipes that I want to trial, we will either be utterly fed up with carrot cake or will have decided on the ultimate combination and it will deserve a place in the Yurt book.

 

 

 


 

Brringg, Brringg!!

I had a birthday this week and celebrated in style with my friends and family, surrounded by pink balloons; the lucky recipient of a retro phone, books by Nigel Slater and peanut M&M's. The 1960's rotary dial phone is great fun – Tania gave it to me as I am always complaining that my cordless phones are defective. The children had absolutely no idea how to answer or dial; I deliberately let it ring a few more times than strictly necessary as its old-fashioned bell tone makes me laugh. I decided that I would make a carrot cake so asked for recipes on Facebook. I now have 6 variations to test thoroughly in my quest for the definitive carrot cake recipe. I am classifying this as research of sorts, since I would like to include a few essential Quilters' recipes in the Yurt Book.

I have made a start on the Yurt tour plans, trying to work out dates, venues and logistics. I looked at the possibility of hiring an RV so that I could consider taking the children on tour to the USA for a few weeks but it looks pricey without even adding fuel, berths and food.  Perhaps I will need to think about making more than one trip across the Atlantic instead. Whatever I decide, my accounts show that I cannot guarantee making enough money for a grand Yurt tour based on quilting alone. This has prompted me to complete an application form for some work as a Primary relief teacher, hoping that I can save towards my air fare and Yurt shipping costs. I need to read up on the latest curriculum guidelines and spend some time in school as a volunteer. I am sure that will have to practise my patience skills considerably as they seem to have disappeared since I had children of my own!

I have cut out an easy scrappy quilt project that I will make for my book-keeper as a Thank-You gift for sifting through my receipts and notebooks so that I can get my tax return done by the end of January. This will have to be the last non Yurt project before getting started on some new panels, the USA Yurt roof, and some serious book writing sessions. With this attitude of getting sorted out to concentrate on more important projects, I bound a large piece of quilted tweed because I decided that the Blue Cat shouldn't really spend all day sleeping on my antique Welsh blanket. I also completed the quilting and binding on the Fresh Start spring quilt. It is wide enough to go right down to the floor and since it has been such a cold winter so far, I used a double layer of cotton and wool wadding. I tried Sew Simple waddings for the first time but they are flatter than I like so I think the quilt feels a bit rigid; hopefully it will soften up as it gets used. However, I decided that it was actually pretty warm and I could probably take off the other quilt and wool blanket that are usually on top of the duvet as it was quite becoming difficult to turn over in bed under all of that weight!

 

 

Ready 4 (x4) Adventure

January 16th - text got lost so I'm reposting...

 

I really felt that I got some things done this week as I worked my way through TO DO lists. In between all of the admin tasks I worked on piecing my king-sized Spring quilt. Basic sewing seemed to help me come up with ideas and possibilities for how to organise the Yurt's tour of America. It looks like I will need to travel around the USA for a few weeks or fly over more than once. Three fairly major snags in that plan are my children so I am even considering looking into RV hire and taking them with me. In order to save up enough money for this grand scheme I have investigated signing up as a primary school supply teacher. However, first I have to get references, attend an interview, refamiliarise myself with the curriculum and hope that enough teachers go sick that some nice jobs come up where and when I want them, despite Aberdeenshire Council making major cutbacks to their education budget!

I ordered 35 metres of fabric to dye for the USA Yurt roof and some procion dyes since I was inspired by pictures posted on Tamarack Shack's BlogSpot about snow dyeing techniques. I have avoided the mix it yourself dyes before because I couldn't quite figure out the recipe. The mention of potash, bicarb, salt, heat, differing amounts, calgon and synthrapol has previously put me off but the results look great. As soon as I placed my order, our lingering snow finally melted but I will at least be ready for the next lot. I have to decide whether to overdye coloured fabric or whether to see if I can get good results on white. It should give a crystalline-batik effect so it will be interesting to see what happens.

The result of the slow thaw was that our track turned into a lethal luge run of 4" thick ice running with surface water. It became impossible to drive or walk on it until the Farmer came along and gritted it. Freya stood still and slid downhill for 150 yds to catch her school bus. Our new glass shower enclosure was delivered to the end of the track where the driver shoved it into the back of my Landrover and tied the door shut with rope. The missing roof-rack finally turned up on Friday and was also dropped off at the end of the track. I am disappointed that I paid £50 carriage to get it delivered but it took a month to get here, got lost and then I had to carry it up from the main road with Tania's help.

I have handed over my accounts books to a friend who is putting everything all onto Excel. It is such a relief to hand it over to someone who seems to know how to organise it all properly so I should get the tax return sorted out by the end of January deadline.

I made enquiries into reserving a stall at Festival of Quilts – this year I hope to share the pitch and get something a bit bigger on a corner so I will complete the booking and tick that off a list as well.  I also booked flights to London to attend the APQS technical training day at the beginning of February. It is important that I spend a bit of time networking with some of the UK longarmers and I will be able refresh my knowledge so that I can run a technical class myself for APQS owners in the North.

There was a thought provoking series of documentaries on TV this week hosted by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage. He is campaigning for the wasteful practice of discard to be abolished, raising awareness of the impact of catching small fish from the other side of the world to make fish-food for farmed salmon, and exposing tuna fisheries that catch endangered marine animals as a by-catch. Hugh has become a most articulate environmental activist for sustainable fishing methods. The River Cottage team has tried introducing a tasty alternative to cod in UK Fish & Chip shops; we made battered mackerel in a bap for supper on Saturday and declared it delicious. I urge you to pledge your support at http://dev.fishfight.net so that Hugh F-W can go back to the European Parliament with a petition showing overwhelming public support for sensible and sustainable fishing, particularly in the North Sea.

Finally this week, I even tackled one disorganised kitchen cupboard. It was only a small cull from the recipe book shelves. I threw away all of the unused free leaflets from the supermarket and jotted down the scribbled post-it-note recipes that actually work into a proper notebook with alterations in temperature to accommodate my oven that burns everything. I removed the bag full of cookie cutters that fell out every time I opened the door and stashed them in the pantry. That is also due for an overhaul because I can't fit any more stuff on the shelves. There are flowerpots on the top shelf just in case I ever decide to make a Barbie-doll cake and about a dozen ice-cube trays from the era when I mistakenly believed that my babies would eat frozen vegetable puree, so that should create a bit more space...

Fresh Start

As the holidays drew to a close, I felt compelled to reorganise everything that I could think of that required sorting. Shelves went up in the workshop and Music Room and the decorations were tidied and put away until next Christmas. I made an effort to be a "Yummy Mummy" a couple of times and involved the children in some cooking or baking; I even let Fenella have a sleepover that involved making decorated gingerbread men and popcorn. I bought a trendy skirt in the sale when I went to get more hen food at the Farm Supply Store and wore it with smart leather boots to go out for coffee with friends. My children thought that I looked unusually smart so just to reassure them that I was just the same, I took them into Banchory wearing my old green Doc Martens and ancient multicoloured patchwork knitted cardigan so that Freya felt obliged to walk behind me and pretend that I was not her Mother.

One of my greatest bugbears is all of the wire spaghetti hidden in drawers that belong to gadgets and chargers. I am convinced that we have a collection of cables that belong to cameras or mobile phones that are now obsolete but no-one even knows what they are. I have kept all of my cables in labelled sandwich bags but whenever I go on a trip they get all muddled up and I am sure that one day I will be stopped by Security, questioning why I may need to travel with all of that wiring. I decided to make a few small drawstring bags with embroidered labels but when I laid all of the cables out separately on the table it became obvious that I would have to make at least a dozen just for my own stuff – the house is still full of many more cables for IPods, Nintendo DS, headphones and cameras!

I cut out 3 sizes of squares for a large, everyday bed quilt so that I can put the Christmas quilt away. I pieced a small section but wonder if it is a bit too girlie for me. I wanted something light and fresh for Spring but it feels odd to be using pretty prints after working with plain fabrics so much last year.

Despite endeavouring to crack on with my book-keeping and prioritising my projects, I got bogged down in making phone calls to chase up the long overdue heating oil delivery and trying to find out why my LandRover roofrack had still not been delivered. The roofrack seemed to have disappeared entirely between couriers and will need to be tracked down again this week. I felt that all of these mundane tasks had to be done in order to clear the way for greater focus during the coming week, as long as school transport is running since we have now had more fresh snow...

Glad it's all over?

I cannot believe that it is now 2011 and that two weeks of holiday have sped by...

 

The week before Christmas was hectic with snow and ice continuing. The children's piano concert was the only event that was not cancelled; there was no end of term carol service or party. My husband thought it might be fun to take his lowered Golf GTi for a drive in the snow one evening but then could not get back up our track. Even the Landy couldn't pull it out on solid ice so it had to stay there until the farmer arrived the next morning. He has been terrific at clearing our track of snow as usual so I left a few bottles and chocolate on his doorstep on one of the festive supermarket runs. I made an effort to buy plenty of local produce from a farm shop this year despite it being more expensive.

Mo, Tania and I exchanged gifts with Christmas cake, truffles, salmon pate, champagne and coffee. We had chosen each other exactly what we would have picked ourselves, such as scented candles, home-made cushions, incense and in my case, a ceramic book that actually hides a secret gin stash! The children were delighted with their haul of presents that included a violin, camera, Xbox, Lego and hair gadgets. We spent a lot more time than usual preparing, cooking, eating and washing up. We ploughed our way steadily through gammon, turkey, smoked salmon, pate, cheese, nuts, cake, chocolate, relishes and other tasty treats until I began to dream of enjoying a more frugal diet.

I was amazed to be offered a vintage fur coat that had previously belonged to a friend's Great Aunt. It is very heavy but incredibly warm, ideal for watching a Hogmanay firework display. I think it will be well used this winter. I had to splint one of the garden Yurt roof spars that snapped due to the weight of wet snow. I lit the wood stove to dry the canvas out but the damp logs just spluttered – I need to get some peat to get it to burn hotter.

Every now and then I thought about clearing out some junk and old clothes before deciding it could turn into a much bigger chore. I deliberately put off making any To Do lists for the coming year as I didn't want to start worrying during the holidays. I can wait until the children return to school, then panic. I hope to make an everyday bed quilt in frivolous fabrics while working on mundane January tasks like book-keeping. Instead of using up leftover Yurt fabrics or existing stash fabrics, I ordered a Heather Bailey selection just for fun. I have made a few New Year resolutions that I hope to keep... I will try to be better organised, waste less time on the computer, make more use of the gadgets and software that I thought would be so useful, eat less chocolate and dress smartly on occasion – hmm, Good Luck for 2011!!