What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

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 ...

Quite a bit of longarming went on this week:) One quilter did a great freehand job on her daisy appliqué quilt and someone else came for an introduction to longarm quilting, intending to do a traditional Devon / Welsh style quilt.

While they were busy quilting away, I did some basic ruler work and freehand on the Bloom and Grow quilt which we hope to offer as an L890 class. 

We are gearing up for FoQ at work so I did some straightforward quilting and binding on a table runner that show cases some of the Accuquilt dies. Karen and I ...

I was regretting not bringing Nessie’s paddling pool to Devon since we have been melting in another heatwave. I thought about ordering a new one which was upwards of £20.00 but then I spotted one outside a house near to where I park my car. It appeared to be amongst the rubbish and I wanted to pluck up the courage to knock on the door to ask if I could have it. The house looked dodgy so I left it for a couple of days until a sign went up declaring that it was a building site. I ...

I had a handyman here for a couple of days to fix my leaky roof. He also took it upon himself to fix the gate, mend the door on the outside gas meter and install a water butt, all fixings cobbled together from bits that came off the extinct satellite dish! 

I thought I had better do some jobs while he was here on my day off so I cut up some OSB board scraps to make soffits for the shed using my very basic hand saw. I told Freya about my DIY plans when she phoned and she told ...

“Gardening” seems to be taking up quite a lot of my free time these days! I started off just doing a little tidying then I got some pots. I could have just weeded the bit of ground where there should be a shed but instead I seem to be creating a patio area. It could be a nice little spot for a bistro table but the view is of my neighbour’s rubbish and I have seen a rat out there so I will not be eating alfresco in that area!

I managed to remove most of the rogue sycamores ...

Whew – it has been hot this week in Devon although not as hot as London which reached 33 degrees! My first task at work each morning was to fling all of the windows open. I had a varied week, demonstrating the Q24, teaching an overlocker class, working on a customer quilt, reorganising the walk-in cupboard, and sorting out bolts of Grunge fabric. 

I did not venture far over the weekend, either staying in the shade or inside, just wilting. I tidied the shed and put together a shockingly flimsy shelving unit. When it cooled down I cleared the rubble out ...

I had a super week with all three of my children. They get along amazingly well with each other as young adults. We had outings to Hound Tor, Welcombe Beach, Polzeath, Looe and Exeter! The weather was mixed, the house fitted everyone in and we had a bonfire. I planted up some wee plants and herbs and put busy lizzies into my favourite green (15 year old) Docs which now have smooth soles and great big holes! It is very quiet here now that everyone has gone back to Glasgow and Norwich but they have promised to visit again soon:)

Nella arrived on Monday evening and my other two children will arrive on Sunday so we will all be on holiday this coming week! I am hoping that it will be dry after an absolute deluge on Saturday where Nella and I binge-watched the latest series of “Outlander”.

Nessie had a cat visitor who won a staring contest before sauntering off on its way. 

On Friday we ventured to a Cornish village called Minions then walked up to see the weird geological rock formation, The Cheeswring. It was quite a calm day but it was blowing a hoodie at the ...

I really got stuck into things this week, maybe because I have visitors coming soon? I continued working on the strippy quilt top and got it finished so I could move the sewing machine out of the back bedroom. It is a bit galling that I will actually have to buy batting and backing for this project as I have 2 or 3 rolls in Scotland. I often dyed a sheet for the back of my quilts but I don’t have any dye or dare to use the washing machine here;) 

At work the new Bernina Hoop Frame arrived ...

Don’t be too shocked – I have done some actual sewing at last! At work I did a very nice Liberty star quilt for a customer and finally got to grips with the L890 project, “Bloom & Grow”. There were parts that I really liked on the project but others that I would probably change if I do it again or teach it as a Quilt-Along. Mainly, it is not super accurate but it is fast. The point of the project is to experience lots of techniques that the L890 excels at but sometimes I felt that it would have been ...