Feels Like Spring

The weather has been perfect all week - no wind, highs of 18C, frosty in the morning. The birds have been singing, trees all have buds on, beautiful sunsets, and I even took off my thermal vest. However, snow is forecast next week:)

I managed to get 2 quilts done for customers. One of them took far longer than it should have because I was trying to use the customer’s Aurifil 40 cotton variegated thread on batiks and the machine hated that combination. After a lot of footering around, I used an 80 needle, reduced the top tension to almost nothing, coated the thread in silicone and ran the machine at its slowest speed. 

For the first time in ages, I caught up with a friend for coffee and she gave me plant pot stickers for the caravan. I finished my quite-posh bunting so really the caravan interior is done, apart from working out how the gas and water works. 

I saved a picture posted on Instagram by Mister Domestic since I thought it particularly apt.  Much has changed indeed over the past couple of years. Nella has reserved a Uni Halls room in Norwich! I have decided to be OK with having no plans other than to keep my business chugging along, hope to enjoy a more carefree summer, get Nella settled into Uni then wait and see what direction (if any) to take…

Not So Swift

 

My caravan is a Challenger SWIFT so I chose a digital quilt design that looked a bit like swallows in flight. I had trouble getting the design to line up as it was not a Bernina file so I spent a morning faffing around in Art and Stitch until I got it to link up nicely. It is a really nice design from Intelligent Quilting but it was slow to stitch out as there is a lot of back-tracking on the wings. I also had some trouble with thread breaking, possibly due to the mix of fabrics used, so I had to slow the speed right down. The quilts look great on the bunks so all I really “need” to do inside the caravan is make bunting.

I picked up some 50p saucers and a cute milk jug to emphasise the kitsch look. I am probably going to go all out and paint the caravan’s exterior so I got some pastelly sample cards. So much for getting an OK caravan and just using it “as-is”…

I had a really nice Tula Pink customer quilt this week and used a Karlee Porter design (Swivel Circle 2) on it which I think has a modern look. The customer sent airy wool wadding so the texture is lovely!

At this rate I will have to get back to some unfinished projects or even have a well needed spring clean in my workshop.

Shall I Make Bunting Next?

 

I was flicking through old notebooks looking for the contact details of a customer who left the wrong number on my answerphone and it was obvious how much more I used to do. There were pages of scribbles of things to do and projects that were underway. Whenever anyone asked what I was up to I would always answer that I was super-busy. Nowadays, I think it is an achievement if I make my bed or collect eggs from my hens.

I did actually do 3 customer quilts this week - one freehand babygro quilt, a small Starwars alphabet quilt and an enormous Christmas one. I am thinking of squeezing in my 2 caravan quilts after the next customer one;)

Despite many spam messages from made-up names on Messenger, I have sold 2 of my microwaves on Facebook Marketplace. If only I could purge more “junk” from the house I might feel inclined to do some dusting. I have no idea how junk shop owners manage. Maybe I should just advertise that my whole house is a junk shop so people can call in and make offers on whatever they fancy. 

I bought a cheap rug online for the caravan that I knew was too big and hoped that I would be able to trim it to size. I hacked it into 2 pieces using kitchen shears and gingerly sewed binding onto the raw edges with a hefty needle inserted into my sewing machine. The caravan interior is probably complete now except that I still have to decide if it would benefit from some bunting…

Too Many Microwaves!

 

Microwave ovens have been mysteriously multiplying here. There is one in the kitchen - as you would expect. There is a rusty-ish one in the workshop which I might use on a rare occasion for dyeing fabric that is too small to go in the washing machine - in other words,  never. I bought one last year to take to Birmingham so Nella could heat food up in the hotel and the caravan came with another one. I was killing time the other day while Nella was in college for the afternoon. Rather dangerously, I found myself aimlessly wandering around Dunelm and spotted a reduced pink retro style microwave hidden behind some boxes. I simply could not resist getting it for my increasingly pink caravan, even though it is not really a necessity;) Now I really must advertise 2 of the unused microwaves for sale and maybe even ditch the old, rusty one. 

Somehow it was a busy week but not much to “show” for it. Nessie had a haircut, I made several phone calls (as yet unanswered) to try and arrange a mobile caravan service. I fitted in a Qmatic lesson for a pupil via Zoom, and Freya came home for the weekend. 

I think I have almost pieced enough blocks for the second caravan quilt…

I quilted one customer quilt. It was nice and straightforward except that with rather a lot of borders, it did get a bit out of hand in places but I managed to get it under control.

I am missing my overlocker which has been in repair for weeks. I did look on Ebay to see if I could get one the same as a backup but there is only one up for sale and its starting price is £800!!

Lovely weather this weekend has hinted that Spring is on its way. I could do with catching up on customer quilts and I should give the outside of the caravan some attention. I have seen some on Pinterest that have been painted with fabulous flowers but for now I may just try to tidy up the scruffy vinyl stripes so it looks less shabby. We have decided to see about getting tickets for a Scottish festival, “Doune the Rabbit Hole”. It is exciting that Nella has suggested this trip since we last went to “Latitude” in 2019, just after she was first diagnosed with anorexia so this one should be a far happier experience:)

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;)

Shabby to Chic

 

It was refreshing to work on some straightforward customer quilts this week. I loved the mixture of fabrics used in the 3 “scrappy” quilts. This eclectic approach made me reconsider ordering a batch of Liberty prints for my caravan quilts and I found all sorts of floral prints already in my stash. I almost could not be bothered to start a quilt and I struggled to get going but once I had made up a test block, I decided to cut out enough for an entire quilt.

Nella had some college deadlines to fulfil, one of which was a transformation of men’s shirts into a different wearable garment. I think she did rather well, attaching a skirt of ruffles onto a halter top. 

The caravan got a thorough clean inside then it was sugar-soaped and sanded because I decided that it would look fresher all painted white. I have realised that it has suffered from significant damp at some stage, hopefully not leaking now but there are bubbles on its inside walls. I started painting it using a chalk paint and it feels like it will take me ages! The first coat looks streaky so I hope a second covering will be an amazing transformation. I just want to get to the point where we will be able to dress it up with fake plants and a disco ball:)

Big Stuff Happening

 

What a week of Big Stuff happening… I finished the tricky customer quilt re-do after 30 hours of work. It would hardly have taken more time if I had worked on the entire thing in the first place. Considering that it had issues, I think it turned out pretty well:)

Nella was offered a place at the Norwich University of the Arts to study a BA in Fashion & Communications. She was also offered a place at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen but she has already accepted Norwich. This is monumental progress for her and she has to work hard to get anorexia under control by September. I am thrilled for her but also have concerns - in a way, a major goal is what she needs to get her life back on track. We both know and love Norwich so it is not quite as daunting as going to an unknown city. 

Freya came home for my birthday weekend and we collected the caravan. It towed home successfully and we gave it a good scrub. There are a few teething problems like not getting the gas cooker going but hopefully nothing major. We will make sure that we get it serviced and familiarise ourselves with everything before we attempt a sleepover in the garden, let alone go on a road trip! We will certainly have plenty to keep us occupied in the next few weeks.