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Last week was hot – it got up to the mid 30’s C and was just as warm inside at work which is not ideal for making quilts. I even missed my old workshop which rarely went above 10 degrees C and was always colder inside than out. All I wanted to do after work was sit very still in my cool cottage with a cup of tea.

Apart from watering my plants every day, trying to keep the tomatoes alive, I planted some flowers and seeds in an old paddling pool. Slightly foolishly – I climbed down a ladder to ...

I used to be somewhat addicted to a Nintendo game called “Animal Crossing” where I would run around planting, watering and weeding on my virtual island. That was ME in real life this weekend, planting up a veritable farm in containers, taking over any unclaimed patch of ground. If it was my own garden I would probably put in lots of raised beds but Nessie crashes around on the grass playing footie and when I eventually move on I will have to shift an awful lot of plants in pots!

Last week when I had visitors it was unseasonably cool ...

I had a lovely week with all 3 of my children coming to stay in my tiny Tavistock cottage. We love being with each other, doing outings and just hanging out together. It is a pity we are all so far away but at least none of them lives in Australia!

We visited Cotele and Killerton House National Trust houses, had a day out in Falmouth and Totnes then an evening watching Beltane Morris dancers. 

We cooked, had many cups of tea, sat around a bonfire and laughed a lot. Nessie and I will really miss them when they all ...

It was a short, quick week at work and varied with an overlocker lesson, a videography tutorial, customer quilts and everything in between. 

In my garden a naughty dog made a wee hole in the greenhouse playing footie and I planted a row of hollyhocks on the other side of my rotting fence. My trowel broke in the stony ground so I had to resort to using a screwdriver and a spoon. I was advised that slugs might enjoy my new plants so I put pot scourers around them to put them off. Hopefully my neighbourhood hedgehog will eat all ...

After a long Bank Holiday weekend it is easy to get confused about what day of the week it is. Nella is still staying and I only worked for 2 days before going to Cardiff on a 2 day training course for a new job working remotely on Fridays. I will be answering emails for the Singer sewing machine helpline and trouble-shooting problems. Singer and Bernina are actually part of one UK distribution company so it is not that weird for me to have a side hustle involving a different brand. 

I brought home a “heavy duty” model to familiarise ...

I had quite a varied week at work with some teaching, some quilting and making a movie about a new Accuquilt die with Karen. 

Nella came to stay and we had a super 4 day weekend. Plenty of chocolate was consumed, we went to see Mel in Looe and visited Lydford Gorge with its stunning White Lady waterfall. 

The sun came out at last so I could cut my grass. I was glad of an assistant to put my pop-up budget greenhouse from Lidl together. I was sorely tempted to purchase a hanging egg chair from Tesco but common sense ...

I have been enjoying lovely spring weather this weekend and got stuck into some serious garden tidying. I borrowed a more powerful pressure washer and got rid of the winter slime. It was a messy job but worth it. I had to stop when the old flaky paint looked like it might wash off the walls. I repainted the front of my shed which had gone green and most of the fence which is pretty rotten. After mowing the grass and buying Nessie a new basketball, I felt very satisfied. I even cut down a sycamore tree that was growing ...

 On the whole I am content with my new life but much of the past week was a bit “Meh”. There was one sunny day but I spent it at work. It feels like it would be nice to get out in the garden again and tidy up but it it is all still too wet. At least some daffodils in a pot are trumpeting their heads off. 

I went on a road trip to the seaside and had very good fish and chips but did not come home with any fun purchases. I know I don’t need anything ...

Don’t tell my guests but I removed some stuffing from one of the guest room pillows to finish stuffing all 291 puffs. Some may be under stuffed and some may be too plump. It is tempting to make them nice and fat but then they are impossible to join together. I suppose if I was going to be exact I would have to use some “drug dealer” scales but I went for what size of fluff ball could fit into my closed fist. The next thing will be to put them together in blocks of 9 to distribute the ...

I have survived a long, wet January. I am thankful that I did not have several feet of Scottish snow, icy temperatures and probably power cuts but it seemed like every time I stepped out of my door I got very wet. It made a lovely change to wander into town on Nessie’s 6th birthday to see a spring-like display of crocuses. 

I had a different week at work – due to a last minute cancellation, I was able to be a pupil in the 4-day intensive B990 training course. There are interesting crossovers between the B990 and the computerised ...

I only worked a 3 day week so I could have 2 days off with Freya. She was working her job from home with Nessie’s help and it was so nice to have some company. She took Nessie for midday walks and cooked something delicious most evenings. We made a successful vegan apple cake and even delicious vegan Scottish tablet. 

It was great to have help to do some jobs that I had been putting off like hanging up some string lights (which have only come on once so far) and repotting some house plants. We had a blustery ...

Customer Quilt

This week I have been entertaining my 2 lovely girls, Freya and Nella. There has been a lot of washing up but plenty of helpers to deal with it. I made some genuine Scottish tablet which turned out perfectly but you can feel your teeth rotting!

I had another go at working out the best way of constructing a puff quilt and have decided that French seams are the answer. 

At work I reconstructed a table runner for B990 using Q-Matic. I also tried using its own built in jumbo stitches to embellish the project which I found ...

Do I miss proper snow? – certainly not;) There has been severe winter weather in Aberdeenshire since New Year’s Day and I can imagine how wet it will be in my workshop when that all melts. We had a mere sprinkling of snow in Tavistock and rather icy roads for a few days. A gritter lorry actually tipped over on the edge of Dartmoor, which is ironic. We had a red storm warning at the end of the week but it really landed in Southern Cornwall. In bed in my stone cottage I hardly noticed it ...

If I was going to continue with last week‘s theme on Christmas hosting I might mention that it’s annoying to arrive somewhere and find there is no food in the house and nowhere to sleep. Fortunately I found a mattress and some bedding and made myself a little nest up on a landing. 

It is very frustrating to realise how much of my stuff is still here in Aberdeenshire but I don’t have room for it in Devon. 

I am trying to work out how I am going to fit a couple of boxes, 2 adult children ...

I like to think that I am a very good hostess and when people come to stay, they have clean bedding and towels and there is plenty of food in the house. I made the long drive up to Glasgow and stayed with one of my children who will remain nameless as this is not trip advisor Nella and I had a couple of lovely days together, but it was very much like staying in student digs. The area is not very salubrious and Nessie was having to pick her way between poo vomit and fast food on the patch ...

My work week was a lot of admin, mostly streamlining the sewing machine inventory. During the evenings I put together 2 basic patchwork projects for Nella’s Christmas – a hot water bottle cover and laptop sleeve. They were not fancy, just rectangles with flaps and walking foot quilted with a wiggly stitch but both will do their job perfectly well.

I spent more in Lidl on chocolate, nuts and bubble bath than I usually do on my whole month’s groceries but I have pretty much finished my gift buying. I “just” have to wrap it all and stuff it ...

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 ...

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 ...