Packing It All In

September 1st is officially the start of autumn and I have noticed a chilly nip in the air and worst of all, darkness is falling earlier. My week was all about packing to the point that I can’t pack any more until almost the final day. The kitchen pantry is almost empty and there is a yurt frame sized space in the garage (sold for peanuts but better than nothing, I guess). 

I found that if Mo was not around to chivvy me along I tended to faff a bit aimlessly. Despite selling and chucking out all sorts of things I still seem to have an awful lot of stuff. I lay awake worrying where I will put it all once I eventually find a place to live because I can’t afford keep it all in storage indefinitely. 

My lovely Volvo estate car seems to be dead! Mechanics have declared the wiring loom melted which will cost too much to fix on a 2010 car. The worst thing is that the nicest car I have ever had is now worth £180 for scrap! I did not have long to look for a new vehicle so I have bought a Mini locally which I hope will serve me well in Devonshire lanes. It is a nice wee car, although the radio does not seem to work - and it is not the Volvo;)

This week is going to be a bit weird - I have no sewing projects and most of my stuff is packed. I have a couple of folk to see and I plan to visit my kids in Glasgow. I guess this time next weekend I will be dismantling my bed and wondering what can be left behind when we can’t shove any more into the removal van.

Packing Has Begun

 

Thank goodness my great friend, Mo decided she would help me get organised for my move to Devon because without her I would be running around like a headless chicken. We always were a good team when it came to us having adventures so we shrink wrapped, packed, chucked stuff out, took things to the Red Cross shop, and did some wheeler-dealing at a vintage emporium. I have also been selling things on Facebook - some very popular items and many where the prospective buyers did not turn up. Gradually though, I have made enough for my van hire!

As if that was not busy enough, I gave an in-person longarm quilting lesson and a ruler tutorial via Zoom. The final job for my Q24 was to quilt a mermaid tea towel that I plan to bead and hand-stitch if I have time on my hands in the evenings;)

Mo helped me to dismantle and pack both Q24s. It was done carefully enough but not necessarily to a Swiss standard. I know where everything is and I know that it is all safe to travel without coming to any harm. I have also packed up my domestic machines, quilting books, sold my fabric stash and sorted through my clothes but there is still so much to do. Thank goodness I am not packing up the entire house, only my belongings. It seems relentless but it will get done in the end - I have no idea where it will all end up though because I can’t imagine I will ever have a workshop like the one here.

In addition to all that moving related stress, I finally heard back from the garage about my dead Volvo. They had to strip it out in order to get at the fuel pump which turned out not to be the culprit. The mechanic was amazed that the car had not burst into flames as its wiring was all melted and he could see that it had also happened previously. He has “hotwired” it for now but it is not happy and because its brain has been fried is displaying every single error message. It will take quite some time to fix and there is no guarantee that it won’t happen again so I will have to get a new-to-me car. And the arm snapped off my favourite specs. Oh well, as the the warthog, Pumbaa in The Lion King says -  “Hakuna matata;)”

A New Chapter

I have taken hundreds of photos this week - of things to sell on Facebook Marketplace. The local rumour mill has been convinced for months that something is more afoot here than me decluttering. When I moved here 24 years ago I said that I would only leave if carried out in a box but things change and I am going to make a huge move on my own. I am heading for Devon to start a new job as the Longarm Expert (amongst other things) at Quilt Direct. It is exciting, terrifying and sometimes overwhelming. To start with I will live in a static caravan on a farm because it is too hard choosing a place to rent on the internet. I have 3 weeks to pack up my stuff and start out on my adventure with my machines, essentials and Nessie.

The kids are on board with the move although they wish I had done it years ago. Reality has now hit and they know we will never all be at Brigton Farm together like before unless we are clearing it out. If they decide to visit I won’t be there. There were a lot of last times this week, Morning pancakes, making jam, walks along the river, sunsets, starry skies… The girls were sad when I dropped them off at Stonehaven station. 

I have spent the week on a preliminary sort-out in the workshop, advertising all sorts of things to raise funds for my removal van. I did my last customer quilt here and had the last customer quilt pick-up from one of my most long-standing clients. I have two lessons to give this week then need to dismantle the machines. I had a roaring bonfire getting rid of unnecessary paperwork and defunct business cards. 

I am going to have to be ruthless and leave many things behind. I have filled this house with all sorts of junk but I cannot take half a dozen teapots. I am reconciled to the fact that  much of what I have is just “stuff” but at the same time I don’t want to regret some of my decisions. I don’t actually intend to take everything in one trip but I do want to get pretty packed up and store it in my workshop until I find a house that might work. 

For those of you who read this blog, I hope you will stick with me on my new chapter. I will still be quilting for customers on behalf of Quilt Direct and they will offer free postage for my existing customers. It is going to be a VERY busy few weeks!

A Not Going Anywhere Week

 

My journey home from FoQ was not entirely straightforward. I made it to Fergus’ flat in Glasgow with no problems but when we decided to nip to the supermarket my car would not start, just like it did in June. I called the AA just after 9am the next morning and a patrol truck came about 2 hours later and declared that we would need to be taken to a garage. At 1.30pm we got towed as far as Asda in Cumbernauld where we hung around for 5 hours waiting for another  truck to take us further. This was also meant to be a staged journey but the fantastic female driver decided that she would take us all the way back and we finally reached Banchory at midnight. All of the garages and mobile mechanics seem to be busy and nobody will even look at it until late next week. The only other car available car at home is an ancient VW Golf with defective brakes so I won’t be going anywhere for a while unless I hire a car!

All 3 children came home for a few days which was lovely and I even persuaded them that I would like a photo in the summer evening sun. 

I did not want to disappear into my workshop to do customer quilts while they were visiting so I pottered around and even tidied up my jungly plant windowsill after a bird got in and pooped everywhere. 

We cooked together and just enjoyed each other’s company. As young adults all living away from home, they love the kitchen space, gadgets, and food stores that I have. We used a silly rice scoop to make duck shaped rice balls and Nessie was thrilled to have all of her favourite people for a visit. 

I will have an empty nest again next week so will get the customer quilts done and have a ruthless workshop sort-out.

Festival of Quilts 2024

I first attended FoQ in 2006, missed out 2007, can’t remember whether I went in 2009 and 2020 was cancelled which means I have been to 17 (I think) and at least 14 of those years I was working as a longarm demonstrator. 

Birmingham is often hot while FoQ is on and set-up day was around 30 celsius so we all melted as we got the stand ready. Thank goodness for the good humour of the UK Bernina team and everything was made ready, with just a few swear words, for the crowds on Thursday.

Thursday and Friday were pretty busy but Saturday was oddly quiet and we dreaded that Sunday might be a slow day but it turned out better than expected. Working on a stand means that you don’t get the same opportunity to wander around at a leisurely pace, browsing the competition quilts or doing shopping. To be honest, I have reached the point where I rarely make any purchases  because I really don’t need any more quilting “stuff”. In the end I bought a pattern for a stuffed toy Axolotl and a signed copy of Nicholas Ball’s book. 

I zoomed around making a silly video on my scooter early one morning, ignoring a security person who warned  me, “No whizzing!” On the last morning I was more sensible and made several short clips on my phone which I plan to make into a Youtube video about quilts that grabbed my attention. 

For once, I was in total agreement with the Best in Show quilt, “Dear Humans”, a pictorial quilt which was exquisitely done. 

The gallery that I enjoyed the most was by an American quilter, Sidnee Snell. The pieces were a mixture of photographic and abstract. They all had saturated, solid colours but seemed felted or like watercolours. The quilting was actually very simple but the pieces were washed when the stitching was completed so had a more textured finish. 

I enjoyed seeing old friends and made some new ones. I missed having the Qmatic computer on the longarm stand as it always bring people in out of curiosity. It is always fun to show people a longarm who have never seen one before and the reactions vary from those who think it is cheating to those who are blown away by the possibilities. 

Quite a few people asked why I did not have a quilt in the competition. The answer to that is perhaps that a) I have been busy with Life, b) I am not sure that I have been hit by sufficient inspiration and c) my personal standards are higher and I know that I have to devote far more TIME than I can to such an endeavour. Who knows what will happen by 2025?!

A BIG Week

I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to throw together a quilt for FoQ at the last minute - not for the competition, just for the Bernina UK longarm stand. I had to get it done by the weekend, with 2 days away in Glasgow, so that meant putting in 11ish hours quilting on each free day. I did eventually get it done in 51 hours!

I had pieced the butterfly quilt accurately and loaded, pinned and basted it well BUT there was so much quilting that everything shrank in and it was difficult to get the background areas to fit, I signed up for a Quiltalong Facebook group but I did not have time to watch 3+ hour live videos to get the tips that I wanted so I just bashed on regardless. I think it might have been “better” if I had opted to do the background first but ultimately it would have been better to have allowed more time;)

Anyway, I have bound it, still have a million threads to trim on the back where I opted for jump stitches.  As long as nobody scrutinises the circles which I did without the computer in the end - it looks pretty good.

Fergus and his pals, Joe and Connor aka “Ample House” had their debut gig in Glasgow at the iconic venue, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut. The turnout, sound, vibe were great and they were fantastic. I hope it will lead to other successful gigs and build up a loyal fan base.

Who Wants to Buy My Stuff?

I am trying to sell all sorts of things on Facebook Marketplace. After some to-ing and fro-ing I have at least sold my caravan. This is both sad and a relief. I spent a lot of time and money doing it up but I have not used it at all this year and would only have gone on solo expeditions which I don’t think is as fun. The new owners want to go on occasional trips but mainly use it as a nail salon.

My second longarm machine is also up for sale because I don’t use really use it and could do with some extra space. The same goes for the electric piano! This house and my workshop is full of stuff that nobody uses and if I can make a little money from sales that would be a bonus. Except that nobody seems to be interested in any of my listings. 

Summer is going by in a bit of a grey blur with the occasional sunny day. I decided that I would try to finish the Tula Pink butterfly quilt to display on the Bernina longarm stand at FoQ but that means I have a week and a bit to quilt and bind it and I will have 2 days out of that in Glasgow this week as Fergus has his debut gig at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut.

I have basted the butterfly quilt on the frame, ready to start the complex digital quilting on Monday. I just hope everything fits correctly and fingers crossed, if necessary I can morph the designs to fit. 

Not Summer in Norfolk

 

                                                 Late Summer in Norfolk, Sunlight After Rain - Ian Houston 1934-2021

I spent just over a week with family in Norfolk with very non summery weather. We did not do very much at all - we did not even go to the seaside! It was nice to see them but quite dull really;) I did not take a single photo or even make any amazing junk shop buys. The highlight of my week was attending a virtual speed awareness course after being caught on camera on my last trip, exceeding the motorway limit briefly. I decided not to drive all the way back North in one day so Nella and I stayed overnight with Fergus in Glasgow where it was far sunnier. It was nice to break the journey but because we arrived late on Monday night, I did not unpack the car or sort anything out so my working week won’t start until Wednesday and I will feel a bit short of time for the rest of the week until I “catch up”.

I probably will NOT get a job as a Van Driver;)

 

For 2 days I drove a big van around Glasgow helping Fergus and his pals move all of their belongings from the East End to the Southside. They were still shifting their beds from one top floor flat to another top floor flat after midnight. There was a fridge pickup in the middle of the evening after refuelling with a takeaway curry. The boys are delighted with the new digs which have been recently redecorated. Luckily, they are all respectful lads and will make an effort to keep it nice. I thought I was was a great van driver but would be unlikely to be employed in that role as I did not help move any furniture and had to get Fergus to do the parking;)

I did a little more piecing on the Tula Pink butterfly but most of my week was taken up with teaching longarm quilting in person and online. 

Freya came home to bring her tortoise on holiday so she can go trekking in Slovakia and inter-rail /backpack to a few European cities on the way. 

Nella and I have come down to Norfolk for the week which looks like it may be damp. I am regretting leaving Nessie’s raincoat behind. It took 11.5 hours which is longer than usual. It is really better to start off the journey in Glasgow but then it becomes a 2 day trip. I did not bring any craft projects with me - perhaps I will just watch some Youtube tutorials this week instead;)