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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 ...

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 ...

All 3 of my grown up children and Nessie came with me on a working holiday to Quilt Direct in Devon and we all had a wonderful time! I was so busy teaching and doing some filming that I did not take a single photo but the gang took lots of good ones on their travels  along the North and South coasts of Devon and Cornwall. I had a couple of days out with them to explore the area and enjoyed local delicacies, obviously! The weather was pretty good and we stayed in a delightful cottage in Tavistock, an historic ...

I write this blog update from (so far) sunny Devon! I had a busy week – finishing off the now green chairs, trimming all of the Tula Pink butterfly HSTs to a uniform 2.5” square, filming how to make the stationery supplies pouch, under packing clothes and over packing on tech. My car was full on my way to Glasgow as I had a table and 4 chairs for Freya, one small dog and myself. After I finally got rid of the furniture at Freya’s new place on the Southside, I created a lot more space but had to ...

After I finished teaching in Tavistock last Saturday, my friend, Mel who moved from Banchory to Looe in Cornwall, picked me up and we had a lovely couple of days exploring the area. The sun even came out – everyone told me that it seemed to have rained every day since last autumn. I met some lovely people who said, “Proper Job!” a lot, sampled pasties, fudge, and had fun seeking out the filming locations in the light-hearted BBC detective series “Beyond Paradise”. I really had a lovely time, just like being on holiday. 

Unfortunately there was Drama waiting for me ...

I was so determined to make a good impression at Quilt Direct that I got everything organised and was pretty much packed by Monday! I had got all of my customer quilts out of the way so I had to give myself something straightforward to do for a couple of days. I received the new Bernina 475QE that I intend to take with me on teaching trips when I go by car. It is smaller and more modern than the 710 that I have set into a table. I had coveted the turquoise Kaffe Fassett version but there are no ...

As a person who owns several cameras, these days I take very few photos which does not adequately document my week. I had a huge customer quilt that took 2 days and a DIY quilter who spent 2 days here custom quilting. 

I considered starting on my Tula Pink butterfly quilt kit but that would require my full attention so I decided to dip in and out of the Art & Stitch manual. I think I am absorbing it more easily and it was pointed out to me that I don’t actually need to know it off by heart – I ...

This week was rather busy as I got myself organised to teach 2 workshops in Glasgow. I had 3 customer quilts to complete, hand-outs to prepare and some samples to produce. I drew several examples of quilting designs and laminated them until my aged laminator decided to swallow some whole. I tried taking it apart but I decided it was a lost cause. I think in future I might actually stitch the examples as well for reference. 

I stopped in Dundee on the way to Glasgow to visit the Tartan Exhibition at the V&A. It was a really diverse ...

Well, Festival of Quilts 2023 has already been and gone! I arrived at lunchtime on Wednesday for set-up after an overnight stop in Glasgow. It takes quite a team effort to set up a longarm stand where we had 2 Bernina Q-Series frame machines and 6 sit-down machines. Things can be a bit fraught until everything is all sorted out. When you finally get dinner and a long awaited beverage you wonder if you will be able to get up bright and early the next day. Of course, you always do;)

Imagine my surprise the next day when people said ...

This week I had visitors which is very unusual. My favourite cousins from The New Forest were on an epic caravan tour of Scotland and spent a couple of days with us before starting their journey back south. We had a lovely time eating together, playing board games and visiting Crathes Castle. We visited them last year when Nella was still unwell so this time was so much more fun. We decided that we would love to meet up with our caravans some time, maybe in the Lake District. 

Speaking of caravans, I have been adorning mine with hundreds of ...

I made a concerted effort to catch up on a few customer quilts this week in anticipation of going on my first longarm teaching trip since 2019 (apart from FOQ last year). The quilts were not very big so I made good progress and completed 4! 

I was slightly nervous that I had not taught pupils in real life for a while but it was just like getting back on a bike;) I had to fly to Birmingham to launch a new longarm studio with Frank Nutt. The studio space is great – light ...

Nella and I drove down to Birmingham last Friday in Freya’s VW Beetle and it was probably the longest that trip has ever taken. There were roadworks, hold-ups for an accident and a ridiculous volume of traffic since many British holiday makers are staycationing in the UK. We made it in the end, picked Freya up from the train station and heated soup using the microwave that I took for Nella to be able to cope with the food situation. The girls explored Birmingham and visited the show, which they enjoyed.

It was a very different FOQ to normal ...