What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I don’t know why I am surprised every December by how quickly Christmas looms. I was feeling some dread that I had not done any Christmas shopping or making and could not see how I could fit it in. Additionally, it is Fergus’s birthday 2 weeks before Christmas and I just have not got the funds to send something amazing, especially as I won’t be there and he is doing his last big gig of the year at Oran Mor in Glasgow’s West End on his actual birthday! He had expressed an interest in a cross-body ...

I had a lovely week with Nella staying and Nessie loved the company. I made lemon curd then thought about how I could attempt to make vegan lemon curd for Nella using custard powder. Nella had a couple of weeks off Uni, waiting for dissertation results so she went to stay with Freya then came here via her friend, Daisy’s house in Ilkley. She had a relaxing week doing crochet projects and despite worrying about her marks, was awarded a First which is fantastic. With the big essay out of the way, she has the rest of the year ...

I had Celebrity Quilter, Matt Wilding, staying with me this week as he was teaching his tessellated heart bag at Quilt Direct. He was a model guest, bringing shortbread hearts for me and snacks for Nessie. He decided to do a little shopping of his own and picked out lots of Grunge fabrics for his next top secret entry to FoQ. We were both delighted to learn that each of us enjoy going to bed around 9pm so I have invited him to stay with me again for his next workshop in February. 

We actually had a wee flurry of ...

I went on a road trip around Devon this week with a box full of leaflets to promote my long-arm quilting service. I left all the photographing to Clair, the Quilt Direct marketing person. Ridiculously, the only photo that I took was of an enormous stuffed dinosaur that would make a hilarious cushion if Nessie would leave it alone. 

Most of the shop owners were enthusiastic about my leaflets and business cards, particularly a very nice shop in Totnes. However, one shop owner was downright rude. She said that they already had a long-arm quilter and had no need of ...

It has rained a lot this week, apart from a glorious sunny day on Saturday. People keep reminding me that this is normal in Devon and at least it is not freezing. I am trying to embrace the cosiness of the season, making soup and bread, even knuckling down to the tiniest amount of hand sewing. 

At work I had a lovely, traditional log cabin quilt and I was most impressed by the new copper metallic thread from the “Kingstar” range, that I quilted on a small table runner.

I caught up with Mel at the very posh Duchy cafe ...

I had a nicely varied week at work with a couple of customer quilts and teaching sisters to sew on their half term holiday. I really enjoyed tutoring the young people but could have done without the one who put on a baby voice, who did not particularly like being instructed;)

I am really not a fan of getting home to long dark evenings and dog walks with a torch. I was not in the mood for doing anything much after work which annoyed me. It was far too wet and dark to cut the grass and rake up leaves ...

I have had a lovely week with Family, culminating in celebrating Nella’s 22nd birthday. We did not “do” much but went for walks, did some baking, and had lunch on Norwich market. Nella’s house-share this year is just off Pottergate, one of my favourite streets. It is right in the city so a perfect base for just popping out for a coffee or quick mooch around Jarrold’s Department Store. 

The clocks go back this weekend so it will be dark early which will feel a bit sad after such a lovely sunny summer and autumn. I will ...

For years my children had 2 weeks off school in October for the Tattie Holidays. Up until around the 1970’s children could take part in the potato harvest in Scotland, gleaning what was left and earning pocket money. We no longer have those holidays since they have all left school but we like to get together to celebrate Nella’s birthday on October 24th. 

I had a lot to do before my break from work as I had a few quilts with a tight deadline that had to be returned to their owners by the end of October. I ...

Another autumn week went by in a flash! I am busy with customer quilts, several of which also required binding. I have a couple of tight deadlines because the clients are flying off to Australia and Houston and want to take the quilts with them. I went along to the Doughtys Fabric roadshow in a Cornish village Hall where I bought 3m of fabric to line the coat that has been on the go for ages since I “lost” its lining fabric in my move.

Nessie had a fancy haircut and the groomer decreed that she should attend the hairdresser ...

Despite telling myself that after a busy work week I should try to do fewer weekend chores, I seemed to still be buzzing around with my hoover and checklist. It was a very busy week at work with classes running every day, including my 2 day overlocker workshop. Everything went very well but there was a lot of reorganising to do at the end of each day to make the classroom ready for the next round of tuition.  

I decided not to go anywhere over the weekend and I don’t know how I would have fitted in an outing ...

I have far too many self imposed chores that are hampering potential sewing time! This weekend I have planted a pot of bulb lasagne, washed floors, cleaned windows, erected a fairy light bedecked rose arch, made lime pickle, blanched and frozen veg, done laundry, put up more kitchen shelves, dealt with cobwebs, and sterilised jam jars!

At work a retreat was in full swing which means lots of washing up, cutting fabric, finding matching threads and getting a large customer quilt done for one of the course participants. 

I should have been making more samples for my L890 course this ...

I had such a busy doing nothing in particular weekend that I almost forgot to update my blog! Firstly, I had quite a few quilts to do at work then I went in on my day off to quilt the strippy quilt that I made myself from fabrics bought at Malvern last autumn.

One of the customer quilts was a vintage 1980s hand pieced quilt that its maker was finally persuaded to get finished. The filigree design really lifted it I think. 

My own quilt was done with a modern baptist fan design and neon pink thread. I considered adding ...

It is exactly a year since I ran away from home to Devon and lived in an old caravan until I found my wee cottage. I have now experienced all of the seasons, including what seems to be an early, wet autumn. The conkers on the trees in the park are huge. Nessie and I are now familiar with the regulars in the park, including the 2 resident geese. I was glad that I invested in a decent second hand raincoat and have now added some reflective heat-press flowers so cars can see me in the dark. 

I have done ...

Matt Wilding visited Quilt Direct to discuss his bag making class and brought amazing patchwork shortbread.

I finished an autumnal customer quilt and started 2 Halloween quilts.

I made a silly video about some fairly useless clip-on lenses for your specs.

I had a play with some Aurifil spools to consider what colours I might put in a Quilt Quine collection.

My friend at work had completed an amazing Ethereal embroidered quilt so I did some stitch in the ditch to hold it together then added the binding.

Nessie and I had a lovely walk on Dartmoor and was amazed ...

Top of my weekend job list was to paint over the water damage in my bedroom, having had a nice long hot summer to dry out. However, we have had some “proper” rain bursts this week and the wall was wet again. I have not really encountered horribly wet weather since living here, unlike the relentlessly wet winter the year before. Everything is so dry that the trees are dropping their leaves very early and when it rains it dries up almost straight away. I have ordered a waterproof raincoat (second-hand from Vinted), not just a shower Mac. I have ...

Taking photos of sewing machines is not as easy as you might imagine. Quilt Direct had a media and marketing apprentice for a while and she did most of the social media posts but I am now responsible for the “on the fly” studio posts. I had to take pictures of the new Bernina 7 Series Pro machines but they looked grey or had glare because I was not getting the lighting right. There is a bit of a weird phenomenon where videos of the machines can be flickery so I had to turn off their LED lights. I am ...

While I was working this week Fergus, Nella and Nessie had several adventures to the beach, moors, Totnes and Exeter. He really enjoyed negotiating the narrow lanes in my Mini. We also had a couple of evening outings, including driving across Dartmoor to Holne where 2 companies of Morris dancers put on a spectacle outside a 14th century inn. 

At work, I quilted a machine embroidered class sample. It was quite different to a pieced quilt because some areas were bulkier than others according to how much stabiliser was used. The instructions for the quilting were almost non existent and ...

I had one quiet, lazy day at home in Tavistock, not even watering my plants since it was raining then drove to Glasgow to see all 3 of my children. I stayed with Freya and Fergus which was all a bit of a student experience since Nella also had 2 Uni friends visiting and Fergus’s flat does not have a hoover. 

We did not “do” much, no sightseeing, just our typical mooching around in charity shops and coffee shops. I dragged the girls along to a Mossarium making workshop at Tramway Arts Centre. I had imagined artsy little glass ...

I can’t believe that I am already back from FoQ! The journey from Devon is only around 4 hours including stops, rather than a 2-day marathon to NE Scotland. One minute we were setting up the full range of Bernina longarms and a few short days later we were packing everything up again. 

I felt that this year the show was buzzing again with more international visitors, great quilts and enthusiastic traders. It seemed as almost as busy as it was pre-Covid. With 2 large halls in use, there was plenty of space and places to stop and reflect ...

Another busy week has flown by! At one point I had 2 customer quilts on the go using the Bernina Q-Matic automated system. There was a very big quilt that I had to finish on time so its maker could take it home after she finished her sewing machine mastery course.

This week’s find was a small red swivel chair that was put out on the street. It is in good condition except when you lift it up and 2 of the wheels fall off. I expect some duck tape will fix that. I hope to take it to ...